Hyperlocal Online Deliberation and Civic Governance: A Sociotechnical Perspective

This dissertation concerns the role of online deliberation in hyperlocal governance, that is the self-governance of a small geographically bounded neighbourhood or community. The research has three closely related but distinct purposes: to assess the impact of online technology in terms of the emergent character of self-governance; to describe the social and technological relations that produced the observed impact; and to suggest explanations that link those socio-technical relations with the observed governance effects. The work draws upon concepts at the intersection of theories from human-centred computing, especially those that relate to online deliberation, and from political science, where direct deliberative democracy offers an evaluative benchmark for democratic governance. This interdisciplinary theoretical framework provides the basis for a case-based analysis of empirical observations of online interactions relating to hyperlocal governance. The study describes and analyses patterns of "governance conversation" observed in interactions on local e-mail lists, and shows how they facilitate the pluralist deliberation required to manage complex local governance problems. The analysis suggests how geographic proximity presents both distinctive opportunities and constraints for online deliberation that aspires to support direct, democratic process and practice

Multi-Robot Systems: Challenges, Trends and Applications

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue entitled “Multi-Robot Systems: Challenges, Trends, and Applications” that was published in Applied Sciences. This Special Issue collected seventeen high-quality papers that discuss the main challenges of multi-robot systems, present the trends to address these issues, and report various relevant applications. Some of the topics addressed by these papers are robot swarms, mission planning, robot teaming, machine learning, immersive technologies, search and rescue, and social robotics

Adaptive Psychomotor Learning and the Young Child

This dissertation aimed to spotlight a prevalent issue in lifespan development and learning that is under-appreciated in educational research and practice. Many children in the United States and abroad learn to coordinate fundamental motor actions with maladaptive postural deviations that impose excessive stress and strain on musculoskeletal structures. The stabilization of maladaptive movement patterns during a critical period of psychomotor development produces non-structural sagittal misalignments of the spine, including Forward Head Posture (FHP) and Postural Thoracic Hyperkyphosis. Moreover, the reproduction of maladaptive movement patterns may be associated with the development of musculoskeletal disorders and associated chronic pain conditions that impact the global public. The researcher employed philosophical synthesis to describe and explain the adverse effects of maladaptive postural coordination on lifespan human development while amplifying its origins in early childhood. Principles from the traditions of Pragmatism and Dynamical Systems Theory are applied to develop a positive model of adaptive psychomotor learning and development that is seamlessly integrated into Early Childhood Education curriculum and learning formats. To this end, Early Childhood Education should structure learning experiences to guide the discovery and stabilization of adaptive movement patterns that (1) accomplish fundamental action goals in the here-and-now and (2) support the health of the changing neuromuscular-skeletal system across its lifetime. Therefore, the researcher proposes a model of early learning in which the study of the body-self is seamlessly woven into all aspects of the general ECE curriculum

Understanding Collaborative Sensemaking for System Design — An Investigation of Musicians\u27 Practice

There is surprisingly little written in information science and technology literature about the design of tools used to support the collaboration of creators. Understanding collaborative sensemaking through the use of language has been traditionally applied to non-work domains, but this method is also well-suited for informing hypotheses about the design collaborative systems. The presence of ubiquitous, mobile technology, and development of multi-user virtual spaces invites investigation of design which is based on naturalistic, real world, creative group behaviors, including the collaborative work of musicians. This thesis is considering the co-construction of new (musical) knowledge by small groups. Co-construction of new knowledge is critical to the definition of an information system because it emphasizes coordination and resource sharing among group members (versus individual members independently doing their own tasks and only coming together to collate their contributions as a final product). This work situates the locus of creativity on the process itself, rather than on the output (the musical result) or the individuals (members of the band). This thesis describes a way to apply quantitative observations to inform qualitative assessment of the characteristics of collaborative sensemaking in groups. Conversational data were obtained from nine face-to-face collaborative composing sessions, involving three separate bands producing 18 hours of recorded interactions. Topical characteristics of the discussion, namely objects, plans, properties and performance; as well as emergent patterns of generative, evaluative, revision, and management conversational acts within the group were seen as indicative of knowledge construction. The findings report the use of collaborative pathways: iterative cycles of generation, evaluation and revision of temporary solutions used to move the collaboration forward. In addition, bracketing of temporary solutions served to help collaborators reuse content and offload attentional resources. Ambiguity in language, evaluation criteria, goal formation, and group awareness meant that existing knowledge representations were insufficient in making sense of incoming data and necessitated reformulating those representations. Further, strategic use of affective language was found to be instrumental in bridging knowledge gaps. Based on these findings, features of a collaborative system are proposed to help in facilitating sensemaking routines at various stages of a creative task. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of collaborative sensemaking during non-work, creative activities in order to inform the design of systems for supporting these activities. By studying an environment which forms a potential microcosm of virtual interaction between groups, it provides a framework for understanding and automating collaborative discussion content in terms of the features of dialogue

Using novel methods to examine the role of mimicry in trust and rapport

Without realising it, people unconsciously mimic each other’s postures, gestures and mannerisms. This ‘chameleon effect’ is thought to play an important role in creating affiliation, rapport and trust. Existing theories propose that mimicry is used as a social strategy to bond with other members of our social groups. There is strong behavioural and neural evidence for the strategic control of mimicry. However, evidence that mimicry leads to positive social outcomes is less robust. In this thesis, I aimed to rigorously test the prediction that mimicry leads to rapport and trust, using novel virtual reality methods with high experimental control. In the first study, we developed a virtual reality task for measuring implicit trust behaviour in a virtual maze. Across three experiments we demonstrated the suitability of this task over existing economic games for measuring trust towards specific others. In the second and third studies we tested the effects of mimicry from virtual characters whose other social behaviours were tightly controlled. In the second study, we found that virtual mimicry significantly increased rapport and this was not affected by the precise time delay in mimicking. In the third study we found this result was not replicated using a strict, pre-registered design, and the effects of virtual mimicry did not change depending on the ingroup or outgroup status of the mimicker. In the fourth study we went beyond mimicry to explore new ways of modelling coordinated behaviour as it naturally occurs in social interactions. We used high-resolution motion capture to record motion in dyadic conversations and calculated levels of coordination using wavelet analysis. We found a reliable pattern of decoupling as well as coordination in people’s head movements. I discuss how the findings of our experiments relate to theories about the social function of mimicry and suggest directions for future research

USAID projects in the former Soviet Union: policy case studies

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston UniversityThe dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War are widely recognized as watershed events in the history of world affairs. Decision-makers and scholars in many fields are only beginning to understand the profound shifts and realignments in global political and economic relationships in a post-Cold War world. An important link between the United States and the former Soviet republics is the foreign assistance program in the region, since assistance efforts often serve as an important lens through which to view strategic relationships between nations. This evaluative policy research explores that link through qualitative case studies of three US Agency for International Development (USAID) projects in the region. Each qualitative case study represents a distinct approach to foreign assistance delivery in the region: classical technical assistance (represented by ZdravReform in contracts with Abt Associates), formal site partnership (in cooperative agreements with the American International Health Alliance), and experimental technology (a cooperative agreement with the former Selentec, Inc.). Three policy context chapters (Chapters I, II, and III) introduce the case studies, in which historical trends of the assistance effort and of the domestic foreign policy-making framework in Washington, DC, are highlighted. A final chapter (VII) examines the findings from the study and recommends a refocusing of the foreign assistance effort in the NIS toward more long-term developmental strategies. Theoretical and methodological assumptions in the study are informed by the constructionist approach to policy evaluation described by Guba and Lincoln (1989). This broad approach assumes that different constructions or interpretations exist concerning the nature and goals of projects. Unlike typical project evaluations, this approach does not assume that stakeholders in projects share common perceptions of the expected goals for and outcomes of their projects. Constructionist approaches to qualitative study fall within the interpretative stream of social science explored by theorists and researchers from a number of disciplines (Geertz, 1973; Denzin, 1992; Hammersley, 1989; Bruner, 1990). More specific conceptual assumptions also are explored in Chapter I, drawn from the literature on institutional research . Emphasis is placed in the evaluative analysis on how effectively conflicts that arose among the multiple stakeholders in each project were addressed

Examining participatory sense-making frames: how autonomous patterns of being together emerge in recurrent social interaction

This thesis investigates how recurrent face-to-face social interactions engender relatively invariant patterns of being together that cause those who instantiate them to act in ways that support their reproduction. Existing accounts within both cognitive science and sociology offer important insights into the consideration of patterns of being together. However, given their explanatory strategies, they struggle to integrate both ‘social’ and ‘individual’ levels of explanation. Herein a compatibilist account is developed, intended as a ‘third way’ that obviates the limitations of existing accounts. This compatibilist account — by integrating insights from across disciplines and theoretical frameworks — develops a philosophical vocabulary with which to maintain explanatory consistency when articulating patterns of being together and moving between individual and social levels of explanation. It relies heavily on an extension of the enactive notion of autonomous habits to the social domain, redescribing patterns of being together as habituated participatory sense-making frames. Participatory sense-making frames result from processes of coenhabiting, i.e. processes of ongoing social habit making implicit in the dynamics of recurrent social interactions. Such processes are one primary means by which we produce and reproduce the relatively stable forms that characterise our shared worlds. These habituated frames embed much of the normativity of social life, and can serve our felicitous coordinations therein, allowing us to feel well situated, particularly in contexts within which we have some history of interacting. However, when they are not well aligned, they lead to tensions that result in either the production of novel frames or breakdowns in social interaction. The account developed has implications for many domains of human action, from psychotherapy to epistemology, and from critical studies to the development of political and ecological praxes

A Practice-Based Study into the Composition and Performance of Polytemporal Music

This practice-based research explores the composition and performance of polytemporal music, culminating in ten new works in audio/visual format with accompanying commentaries and notation. Research is undertaken into concepts of rhythm and pulse in order to develop new techniques for composing music in multiple simultaneous tempi, particularly methods for managing rhythmic consonance and dissonance in the compositional process. Attention is also given to the practicalities and implications of performance, investigating issues of accessibility and ensemble in reference to the use of click tracks and headphones, as well as the form and function of notation. The approaches within this research stem from my experience as a commercial rock/studio musician fused with contemporary classical influences. As well as these musical influences, a background in visual art and design also contributes to the visual presentation of works and scores; musical works are presented in video format which is shown to enhance temporal perception, and a new form of rhythmically accurate western notation for polytemporal music is developed. Composing and performing in a strictly polytemporal setting has at the time of writing not been widely researched, and it is hoped this work displays new knowledge and approaches important for the development of composition in this area