Networked Individualism of Urban Residents: Discovering the Communicative Ecology in Inner-City Apartment Buildings

Certain patterns of interaction between people point to networks as an adequate conceptual model to characterise some aspects of social relationships mediated or facilitated by information and communication technology. Wellman proposes a shift from groups to networks and describes the ambivalent nature inherent in an ego-centric yet still well-connected portfolio of sociability with the term ‘networked individualism’. In this paper we use qualitative data from an action research study of social networks of residents in three inner-city apartment buildings in Australia to provide empirical grounding for the theoretical concept of networked individualism. However, this model focuses on network interaction rather than collective interaction. We propose ‘communicative ecology’ as a concept which integrates the three dimensions of "online and offline", "global and local" as well as "collective and networked". We present our research on three layers of interpretation (technical, social and discursive) to deliver a rich description of the communicative ecology we found, that is, the way residents negotiate membership, trust, privacy, reciprocity, permeability and social roles in person-to-person mediated and direct relationships. We find that residents seamlessly traverse between online and offline communication; local communication and interaction maintains a more prominent position than global or geographically dispersed communication; and residents follow a dual approach which allows them to switch between collective and networked interaction depending on purpose and context

Innovative Education in Agroecology: Experiential Learning for a Sustainable Agriculture

The transdisciplinary field of agroecology provides a platform for experiential learning based on an expanded vision of research on sustainable farming and food systems and the application of results in creating effective learning landscapes for students. With increased recognition of limitations of fossil fuels, fresh water, and available farmland, educators are changing focus from strategies to reach maximum yields to those that feature resource use efficiency and resilience of production systems in a less benign climate. To help students deal with complexity and uncertainty and a wide range of biological and social dimensions of the food challenge, a whole-systems approach that involves life-cycle analysis and consideration of long-term impacts of systems is essential. Seven educational case studies in the Nordic Region and the U.S. Midwest demonstrate how educators can incorporate theory of the ecology of food systems with the action learning component needed to develop student potentials to create responsible change in society. New roles of agroecology instructors and students are described as they pursue a co-learning strategy to develop and apply technology to assure the productivity and security of future food system

Possibilities for pedagogy in Further Education: Harnessing the abundance of literacy

In this report, it is argued that the most salient factor in the contemporary communicative landscape is the sheer abundance and diversity of possibilities for literacy, and that the extent and nature of students' communicative resources is a central issue in education. The text outlines the conceptual underpinnings of the Literacies for Learning in Further Education project in a social view of literacy, and the associated research design, methodology and analytical framework. It elaborates on the notion of the abundance of literacies in students' everyday lives, and on the potential for harnessing these as resources for the enhancement of learning. It provides case studies of changes in practice that have been undertaken by further education staff in order to draw upon students' everyday literacy practices on Travel and Tourism and Multimedia courses. It ends with some of the broad implications for conceptualising learning that arise from researching through the lens of literacy practices

Using gaming paratexts in the literacy classroom

This paper illustrates how digital game paratexts may effectively be used in the high school English to meet a variety of traditional and multimodal literacy outcomes. Paratexts are texts that refer to digital gaming and game cultures, and using them in the classroom enables practitioners to focus on and valorise the considerable literacies and skills that young people develop and deploy in their engagement with digital gaming and game cultures. The effectiveness of valorizing paratexts in this manner is demonstrated through two examples of assessment by students in classes where teachers had designed curriculum and assessment activities using paratexts

Design and semantics of form and movement (DeSForM 2006)

Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM) grew from applied research exploring emerging design methods and practices to support new generation product and interface design. The products and interfaces are concerned with: the context of ubiquitous computing and ambient technologies and the need for greater empathy in the pre-programmed behaviour of the ‘machines’ that populate our lives. Such explorative research in the CfDR has been led by Young, supported by Kyffin, Visiting Professor from Philips Design and sponsored by Philips Design over a period of four years (research funding £87k). DeSForM1 was the first of a series of three conferences that enable the presentation and debate of international work within this field: • 1st European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM1), Baltic, Gateshead, 2005, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 2nd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM2), Evoluon, Eindhoven, 2006, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 3rd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM3), New Design School Building, Newcastle, 2007, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. Philips sponsorship of practice-based enquiry led to research by three teams of research students over three years and on-going sponsorship of research through the Northumbria University Design and Innovation Laboratory (nuDIL). Young has been invited on the steering panel of the UK Thinking Digital Conference concerning the latest developments in digital and media technologies. Informed by this research is the work of PhD student Yukie Nakano who examines new technologies in relation to eco-design textiles

Interacting places: networked public displays that stimulate community interaction

Networked public displays are envisioned as a new communications medium for the 21st century, potentially having the same impact on society as radio, TV, or Internet. This thesis examines the impact of networked public displays medium on society by focusing on understanding its use for stimulating community interaction – interaction between community members residing within and across public spaces. In other words, the thesis focuses on "Interacting Places" – networked public displays that stimulate community interaction in public spaces. By building on top of diverse literature – from Marshall McLuhan’s media theory and literature on interactions and processes in public spaces – I have first conceptualized the design space. Next I have designed, developed, deployed, and evaluated three networked public display applications "in the wild" and have analyzed their effects, uptake, and use. The outcome of the thesis are lessons learned in the process and conceptual tools for design and analysis of networked public displays that stimulate community interaction within place-based communities

A Review of the "Digital Turn" in the New Literacy Studies

Digital communication has transformed literacy practices and assumed great importance in the functioning of workplace, recreational, and community contexts. This article reviews a decade of empirical work of the New Literacy Studies, identifying the shift toward research of digital literacy applications. The article engages with the central theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic challenges in the tradition of New Literacy Studies, while highlighting the distinctive trends in the digital strand. It identifies common patterns across new literacy practices through cross-comparisons of ethnographic research in digital media environments. It examines ways in which this research is taking into account power and pedagogy in normative contexts of literacy learning using the new media. Recommendations are given to strengthen the links between New Literacy Studies research and literacy curriculum, assessment, and accountability in the 21st century

Pins and posters: paradigms for content publication on situated displays

Public display systems are still far from being a communication medium that people can appropriate to serve diverse communication goals. Moving towards open displays will require new publication paradigms that can overcome the challenges of meaningful engagement and enable users to fully understand and control the entire publication process. In this paper, we report on the study of two novel and complimentary communication paradigms for public displays inspired by the metaphors of pin badges and posters. The study is grounded on a 6 month deployment of Instant Places across 10 displays in diverse urban locations. We have collected user and system data regarding the emerging practices around these publication paradigms. The findings from this study constitute a novel contribution towards understanding the elements that may drive user-generated content in networks of urban displays, informing the design of new tools and procedures for situated publication in public displays.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 244011

Application diversity in open display networks

We envision that future public display networks will be more interactive and open to applications from third parties similar to what we already have with smartphones. This paper investigates the application landscape for interactive public displays aiming to understand what would be the design and usage space for this type of applications. In particular, we explore people’s perceptions and expectations regarding the diversity of applications that may emerge in future application ecosystems for public displays. We have devised a research methodology anchored on what is currently the rich and diverse range of applications in the mobile application market. We used a set of 75 mobile applications from Google Play application store and asked 72 participants about their relevance for public displays. The results showed that people had a clear preference for applications that disseminate content, and also that these preferences are affected by the type of location where the displays are deployed. These insights improve the understanding of the variables that may affect diversity in future display application ecosystems and inform the development of potential app stores in this context.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT