Exploring the Discourses of Compulsive Hair-Pulling: A Body-Mapping Study

Compulsive hair-pulling (which is sometimes diagnosed as the OCD-Related Disorder, Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviour, Trichotillomania) is an understudied experience that has significant social and emotional impacts on the women that it affects. This study focused on the meanings that are derived from the interactions that women with compulsive hair-pulling experience with social discourses surrounding mental illness, physical appearance, and behaviour. Guided by relativist ontology and the co-creation of understanding between researcher and participants, this qualitative exploration was guided by anti-oppressive practice and used an arts-based research method called Body-Map Storytelling. In group format, four women were invited to describe their knowledge, experiences, and journey visually on a life-sized tracing of their own body over five consecutive weekly sessions. The end result of these sessions was a life-sized depiction of each person\u27s visual telling of their story, which had been co-created within the context of guided facilitation through the sessions. The visual data and the participants’ personal narratives of creating the body maps were analyzed thematically. The participants shared contrasting experiences of wanting to be both visible and invisible, feeling whole and fragmented, and building oneself up and breaking oneself down. They shared the impacts of compulsive hair-pulling on the pressure that they feel; from self and others, around self-disclosure, to meet social expectations and how they resist this pressure. Participants shared the impacts of being labelled and how they accept, reject and resist labels. The final theme arising from analysis was that of self-guardianship. These findings add to current knowledge on compulsive hair-pulling, mental illness stigma and visual research methodologies as an example of a study guided by anti-oppressive theory conducted by a researcher who herself shares the identity of compulsive hair-puller with the research participants

Groupware and the simulation consultant

The paper recognises that good communication and interaction are key factors to the success of a simulation project and suggests that groupware technology can increase the chances of success. To underline this, the paper reviews the process of simulation to illustrate the amount of communication and interaction that must take place during a simulation project. The paper then discusses computer supported cooperative work and groupware, a research field and information technology that has successfully supported communication and interaction in other industries. To illustrate how groupware may by used by the simulation consultant, net-conferencing, exemplified by Microsoft's NetMeeting, is presented. The paper ends with some observations on the future of these applications in simulation modelling

Collaboration in online courses in Slovakia

Comprehensive analyses of online and collaborative learning methods in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe are nearly non-existent. Yet, these nations typically have authoritarian teaching and learning traditions which present unique and significant challenges to the development of these methods, and which are poorly understood at present. This thesis provides a thorough examination of how collaborative activities are used in online courses, and of student and teacher perceptions of these methods, in the Slovak Republic (Slovakia), and postulates that its findings are relevant and valuable for the many newly open societies in the region that are now entering the online teaching world. Research involved case studies of two Slovak higher education institutions, and interviews with administrators and teachers from a number of Slovak educational institutions. Findings can be summarized as follows: • Collaboration is rarely used as a teaching method in Slovakia, particularly in online settings • Students do not expect to be asked to participate in discussions, but when asked they seem to have no problem embracing the method. • Instructors at many Slovak institutions lack the motivation and training to promote and use collaborative methods in their online courses • The few instructors who make the effort to implement some of these methods use mostly asynchronous discussions. Further analysis of data and findings leads to suggestions for improving the use of collaborative methods in online learning on three key levels: the course level, the institutional level, and the national policy level

Framework for LL facilitation and data production

The Deliverable 5.1 “Framework for LL facilitation and data production” is intended for all Living Labs and all DIVINFOOD project partners. This document provides a framework to situate LLs’ definition and contribution to the overall aim of the DIVINFOOD project. It orients LL coordinators throughout the setting up and development of living lab interactions, experiments and data collection. It also suggests tools to support LL facilitation and interactions at local level