Redeeming the Monster: The God of War Subreddit\u27s Narrative of Rebirth for Hegemonic Masculinity

In a 2019 documentary on the development of the video game God of War (2018) for the Playstation 4, Cory Barlog, the game’s creative director, openly discusses his desire to give the toxic, hypermasculine protagonist, Kratos, a “second chance” after nearly a decade since the franchise’s previous installment. In giving Kratos his second chance, Barlog decided to make him a father, claiming that becoming a father changes one’s perspective on everything. Video games scholars have argued that games are a noteworthy element of players’ identities and interactions due to their promotion of the manufacture of player narratives. The following research is a virtual ethnography of the God of War subreddit community where I seek to understand how God of War’s (2018) ludonarrative, the intersection between a game’s narrative and gameplay elements, serves as a sense-making resource for players to defend hegemonic masculinity. Through a textual analysis of God of War subreddit threads, I identify and discuss the implications of the community’s construction of three narratives (“Disparaging His Past;” “Affirming His Struggle;” and “Acknowledging His Embrace”) that support and defend Kratos’s “second chance” from feminist critique

Choice-based Games and Resilience Building of Gender Non-conforming Individuals: An Exploratory Study

Research on gaming and user experience of the general population has been abundant, but gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals’ experiences had been largely overlooked until recent years. Using a phenomenological approach, the goal of this study is to find deeper understanding of this phenomenon by exploring what gaming experiences shape the identity of the participants. The exploration of gaming and gender non-conforming experiences through interviews can fill a gap in the current literature on gaming culture regarding this specific population. By taking a closer look at this topic, patterns and themes within games may provide insight to potential resilience building activities for GNC people

Interaction-aware development environments: recording, mining, and leveraging IDE interactions to analyze and support the development flow

Nowadays, software development is largely carried out using Integrated Development Environments, or IDEs. An IDE is a collection of tools and facilities to support the most diverse software engineering activities, such as writing code, debugging, and program understanding. The fact that they are integrated enables developers to find all the tools needed for the development in the same place. Each activity is composed of many basic events, such as clicking on a menu item in the IDE, opening a new user interface to browse the source code of a method, or adding a new statement in the body of a method. While working, developers generate thousands of these interactions, that we call fine-grained IDE interaction data. We believe this data is a valuable source of information that can be leveraged to enable better analyses and to offer novel support to developers. However, this data is largely neglected by modern IDEs. In this dissertation we propose the concept of "Interaction-Aware Development Environments": IDEs that collect, mine, and leverage the interactions of developers to support and simplify their workflow. We formulate our thesis as follows: Interaction-Aware Development Environments enable novel and in- depth analyses of the behavior of software developers and set the ground to provide developers with effective and actionable support for their activities inside the IDE. For example, by monitoring how developers navigate source code, the IDE could suggest the program entities that are potentially relevant for a particular task. Our research focuses on three main directions: 1. Modeling and Persisting Interaction Data. The first step to make IDEs aware of interaction data is to overcome its ephemeral nature. To do so we have to model this new source of data and to persist it, making it available for further use. 2. Interpreting Interaction Data. One of the biggest challenges of our research is making sense of the millions of interactions generated by developers. We propose several models to interpret this data, for example, by reconstructing high-level development activities from interaction histories or measure the navigation efficiency of developers. 3. Supporting Developers with Interaction Data. Novel IDEs can use the potential of interaction data to support software development. For example, they can identify the UI components that are potentially unnecessary for the future and suggest developers to close them, reducing the visual cluttering of the IDE

A Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry Into Positive Involvement Trends of Contemporary Fathers and Influence of Parenting Programs

Parent education programs offered by a variety of public health services are effective support and knowledge resources that enhance positive parenting competencies in early childhood and adolescence. However, parenting education programs are less effective and encompass fewer benefits for fathers in comparison to mothers. This study sought to investigate trends of paternal involvement in early childhood and to compare the influence of parenting education programs on paternal involvement and conceptualization of fathers. A sample of 52 fathers, between the ages of 19 to 54, with children 6 years old and younger completed an electronic or hard copy version of a survey questionnaire reporting on their fathering and experiences as a dad. Findings indicate the sample of Canadian fathers self-reported high levels of paternal involvement, including many who favoured play-based interactions with their children. Although no significant difference in levels of involvement was noted between fathers who had versus those who had not previously participated in a parenting education program, half of the Canadian fathers indicated that supports are needed to strengthen their role as fathers. Results suggest that future initiatives to strengthen parent education program services available in Canada should specifically consider the father’s role

Identification of Key Strategies for School Effectiveness and How They Are Implemented, as Perceived by Administrators and Teachers In Selected Exemplary Private Secondary Schools

Problem. Educators in the 1970s and early 1980s identified characteristics of effective schools. But researchers had not addressed the problem of identifying what strategies exemplary schools used to make the characteristics effective, nor how the strategies were implemented. Method. Administrators and teachers in selected exemplary private secondary schools responded to the Quality Schools Index for Private Schools (QSIPS). Key strategies for school effectiveness were ranked on the basis of mean weighted scores for: (a) extent of use of the strategies within the school; and (b) their importance to quality schooling. Selected personnel were interviewed in six schools to determine how strategies were implemented. Results. The 12 top ranking strategies for school effectiveness were: faculty (1) showing they care about the students as people; (2) being proud of school and student successes; (3) providing an all-round quality program for student benefit; (4) believing We are an effective school , (5) showing personal interest in each student; (6) taking time to listen to students; (7) providing a curriculum that meets the school\u27s purpose; (8) addressing the needs of the whole child; (9) developing a total school program students are proud of; (10) setting a positive example for students; (11) communicating regularly to parents about their students\u27 progress; and (12) making clear to students how they are expected to behave. The major findings on how schools implemented key high use/high importance strategies were: the schools selected willing trainable staff; provided continuous professional improvement; provided care and respect in positive relationships and example; communicated openly and freely with each other; were consistent; constantly evaluated programs against student needs and the school\u27s philosophy; treated each student individually; listened, talked with, and gave students positive recognition; corrected them with positive redirection, time out, and interactive guidance as needed; and kept the environment attractive. Conclusions. School effectiveness was achieved as faculty showed consistency in loving, personal care toward students, high academic professionalism, and cooperation in extracurricular activities with positive, open, two-way communication

Presenting the self in social media

Master's thesis in Literacy studiesThis thesis is concerned with the representation of self in new and social media such as blogs. The research question is: How do bloggers express the self in multi modal representations? The thesis objects of study are five blogs kept by five women preoccupied with interior decoration and life style projects. The blogs are self representational narratives and personal “push-button” publishing, hosted by the same bloghost (Blogger.com) and the study looks at the affordance of the blogging software

Leadership Characteristics, School Climate, and Employee Engagement in High Performing, High-Needs Schools

School leadership impacts student achievement through the development of a positive school climate and high levels of employee engagement. This dissertation examined the characteristics and behaviors of a school principal who positively impacted school climate and employee engagement. A case study was conducted at a high performing Title I school, as identified by the Georgia Department of Education. The school’s personal registered an above average grand mean score on the Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey. The school was located in a large urban school district. Social Exchange Theory provided a theoretical framework for this study. The behaviors of the principal were examined to determine specific characteristics that influenced school climate and employee engagement. Interviews, a focus group, and several observations were conducted to gather qualitative data pertinent to the principal’s approach to leadership. The results of the research identified six primary leadership characteristics that impacted school climate and employee engagement: the principal focused on (a) students, (b) building relationships, (c) creating a collaborative environment, (d) communicating clearly, (e) developing others, and (f) reflecting on practice. This study contributes information about leadership characteristics that support the academic performance of students in high-needs schools. This research identified six characteristics required of leadership for students to be academically successful in a positive school climate with highly engaged employees