The Representation of the Canadian Government’s Warrantless Domestic Collection of Metadata in the Canadian Print News Media

In January 2014, the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that Canada’s foreign intelligence agency CSEC was engaging in warrantless electronic surveillance of Canadians by monitoring communications metadata. Prior to these disclosures Canadians knew very little about metadata and about how the CSEC used information technology to collect electronic intelligence. Media outlets such as newspapers are important sources through which Canadians learn about issues such as warrantless surveillance of citizens. However, to date no research analyzes how Canada’s warrantless domestic collection of metadata has been represented in the Canadian new media. This thesis addresses this gap by analyzing the representation of the Canadian government’s warrantless domestic collection of metadata in three Canadian news publications, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and the National Post, from January 2013 to December 2016. This project performs a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of 91 articles on this topic. The following factors were studied: how the CSEC and the OPC define metadata, how the stories define metadata, the topics observed in the introductory paragraphs of the articles, and how the topics develop over time. The study found a highly significant relationship between the year that the articles were published and the topics that were observed in the introductory paragraphs of the stories. Furthermore, across all news publications there was a fairly even distribution of articles that define metadata by including either the CSEC’s or the OPC’s definition of the term. This means that if Canadians learned about this issue by reading any of the three news publications, they would develop a range of perspectives of how metadata is defined. In addition, if Canadians only read the introductory paragraphs of the articles in any of the three publications they would be equally informed about how the coverage on this issue changes over time

The effect of September 11, 2001 and subsequent terrorist events upon Australian public libraries' policies, and collections and services to Muslim clients

This research addresses the responses by the Australian library profession to the series of national and international terrorism events that commenced with the attacks on the United States on September 11th 2001. It specifically investigates the response of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) in the light of changes to Commonwealth Government policies and legislation, and the subsequent impacts on the policy environment in which Australian public libraries operated, and their delivery of collections and services to Muslim clients

The Impact of Culture and Religion on the Perception of Freedom of Expression Between Older and Younger Generations in South Africa and State of Kuwait: an International and Comparative Study

ABSTRACT THE IMPACT OF CULTURE AND RELIGION ON THE PERCEPTION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION BETWEEN OLDER AND YOUNGER GENERATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND STATE OF KUWAIT: AN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY by Dalal Albudaiwi The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Professor Johannes Britz Freedom of expression as a right has been protected by many nations\u27 Constitutions and human right organizations. Freedom of expression has a long history in both the Western and Islamic worlds. Each viewed, defined, and analyzed the term differently based on their values and principles. Unsurprisingly, the Western and Islamic worlds do not completely agree on the meaning of freedom of expression. Though, they do share an agreement on certain aspects of freedom of expression. In particular, freedom of expression is to speak, write, act, and believe freely without causing harm to the society or any individual. The disagreement is on the limitations of freedom of expression. Further, it is central to mention that the existence of the Internet has impacted how people perceive freedom of expression in both worlds. On the other hand, as a basic human right, freedom of expression has been examined, analyzed, and compared substantially by legal experts. More importantly, several studies within the legal arena have compared the notion of freedom of expression among countries\u27 legislations. Therefore, freedom of expression has been studied solidly through the legal lens. However, social science scholars started to study freedom of expression when the Internet appeared. There are not any comparative studies in any social science field that examine freedom of expression among countries. More significantly, no studies relating between individuals\u27 cultural background and/or religious beliefs and how these individuals shape their perception of freedom of expression exist. For that reason, I plan to examine how culture and religion may impact how older and younger generations perceive the notion of freedom of expression in the digital-technology era. My study will compare South Africa as a Western-based values country and Kuwait as Islamic country. To better understand the influence of culture and religion on people\u27s perception of freedom of expression, I intend to describe the culture and the religion of both countries. Additionally, my research will compare legislations concerning freedom of expression and its limitations in each country and examine the views and perceptions of people. In order to examine the complexity of the topic of freedom of expression, I will conduct an international and comparative study through the mixed-methods research approach. Drawing from social science and information studies perspectives, I hope this study will lead to understanding of culture and religion\u27s influence on people\u27s conceptualization of the notion of freedom of expression in digital-technology era and hopefully reach valuable results that help legal experts better understand freedom of expression and its limitations

A critical socio-historical analysis of the evolution of freedom of expression in the three most recent government of Ethiopia (1930-2014)

This historical study analyses the holistic dynamics of Ethiopia, taking into account political, social, economic, cultural, religious, and media development aspects, with a focus on the three most recent governments (1930–2014), in relation to freedom of expression. The analysis indicates that the Feudalist-Imperial system was clearly the extension of centuries-old imperial hegemony which had used religious, cultural and patriotic hegemony to stifle freedom of expression. During the Socialist-Military regime every sphere of society, including acts of expression, were oriented towards the revolution and socialist political ideology. During the current ethnically based so-called Revolutionary-Democratic regime, freedom of expression has been stifled by means of legislation, government and party structures, complex surveillance, and social networks. While the instruments of repression have differed, relatively speaking, from government to government, the extent of repression has remained similar over a number of centuries. Threats to freedom of expression derive from rulers or governments, in which instances they are entrenched through policies, laws and bureaucracies, from religious and cultural hegemonies, from poverty and a related lack of education and access to information, and from conflicts, rivalry and wars. These threats have their origins in three main interrelated causal or determining factors, namely the Certainty–Uncertainty Dilemma, Ethno-Luminary Thought and Narcissism, which together form a pyramid beneath which freedom of expression in Ethiopia has been trapped. This pyramid is identified in the study as the Social Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Repression Instruments, and it in turn gives rise to an overall web of suppression, that is, the Pyramid Trap of Repression. The study concludes that the repression of freedom of expression in Ethiopia is likely to remain intact, insofar as the threats to freedom of expression and the factors giving rise to those threats persist. While limited gains concerning the right to freedom of expression are achieved periodically, these are routinely undone and rolled back, since the Pyramid Trap of Repression is not dismantled.In hierdie historiese studie word die holistiese dinamika van Etiopië ontleed, met inagneming van politieke, sosiale, ekonomiese, kulturele, religieuse, en media-ontwikkelingsaspekte. Daar word op die drie mees onlangse regerings (1930–2014) gefokus, ten opsigte van vrye meningsuiting. Die ontleding dui daarop dat die feodalisties-imperialistiese stelsel duidelik die uitbreiding van eeue-oue imperialistiese hegemonie was wat religieuse, kulturele en patriotiese hegemonie gebruik het om vrye meningsuiting te onderdruk. Gedurende die sosialisties-militêre regime was elke sfeer van die samelewing, insluitende dade van uitdrukking, georiënteer tot die revolusie en sosialisties-politieke ideologie. Tydens die huidige, etnies gebaseerde sogenaamde revolusionêr-demokratiese regime, is vrye meningsuiting onderdruk deur wetgewing, regering- en partystrukture, komplekse bewaking, en sosiale netwerke. Hoewel die instrumente van onderdrukking relatief gesproke verskil het van regering tot regering, het die mate van onderdrukking oor ʼn aantal eeue heen soortgelyk gebly. Bedreigings vir vrye meningsuiting is afkomstig van heersers of regerings (en in sulke gevalle word hulle beveilig deur beleide, wette en burokrasieë), van religieuse en kulturele hegemonieë, van armoede en ʼn verwante gebrek aan opvoeding en toegang tot inligting, en van konflikte, mededinging en oorloë. Hierdie bedreigings het ontstaan vanweë drie vernaamste kousale of bepalende faktore wat onderling verwant is, naamlik die sekerheid-onsekerheid-dilemma, etno-voorligter-denke en narsisme, wat gesamentlik ʼn piramide vorm waaronder vrye meningsuiting in Etiopië vasgevang is. Hierdie piramide word in die studie as die sosiale piramide, of die piramide van onderdrukkingsinstrumente, geïdentifiseer, en dit lei op sy beurt tot ʼn algehele web van onderdrukking – die piramidelokval van onderdrukking. Die gevolgtrekking van die studie is dat die onderdrukking van vrye meningsuiting in Etiopië waarskynlik onaangeroer gaan bly, so lank as wat die bedreigings vir vrye meningsuiting en die faktore wat tot daardie bedreigings aanleiding gee, onveranderd bly. Hoewel beperkte suksesse van tyd tot tyd behaal word rakende die reg tot vrye meningsuiting, word sulke prestasies dikwels ongedaan gemaak, omdat die piramidelokval van onderdrukking nie afgebreek word nie.Communication ScienceD. Litt. et Phil. (Communication

Thirty Days in a British Columbia Transition House: Feminist Governance on the Frontline of the Settler-State

The goal of this thesis is to elucidate how British Columbia transition houses function through the intersection of the Canadian neoliberal economy and settler-state: do transition houses become an indirect branch of the welfare system that contributes to a Canadian settler-state? Between 2016-2017, approximately seventy percent of women who used Lake House services identified as First Nations, according to demographic statistics we gather during intake. Therefore, I argue that BC transition houses not only give an impression that a neoliberal government is trying to ameliorate violence against women, transition houses play a part in sustaining a settler-state through its policies, protocols and paperwork that co-terminously create and monitor subjects who bolster the neoliberal class divide. Transition houses (in their best intentions) continue to reproduce marginalized subjects whose scarce economic “rights” allow the new neoliberal class, one that is formed by “restrict[ing] in favour of the freedoms of the few” (Harvey 2005: 70), to maintain hegemony through property and land ownership. Consequently, residents of the transition house are left with few housing options: monitored social housing, an unaffordable BC housing market or returning to an abusive situation. Through autoethnography, I plan to unpack my argument from the position of the transition house worker in relation to a woman calling the crisis line (the point of first contact) to her outtake (exit out of the house), parsing the development of “our” (the workers) relationship with her through our policies, protocols and paperwork. Furthermore, I ask the following question about the role of workers in Canadian NGOs: Are we on the frontlines of change or protecting the settler-state

Access to information by high school learners in selected schools in the Fort Beaufort Education District, Eastern Cape Province

The level of access to educational information is pertinent to the attainment of quality education by learners. Librarians play a key role in facilitating access to such information. Access to educational information equips the possessor with the power of knowledge to assert their rights under any right regime, and a right to education cannot be fully exercised without corresponding access to educational information. Set in the Fort Beaufort Education District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, this study evaluates the level of access to educational information as an enabler of quality education. Research revealed that despite the acclaimed educational improvement in South Africa, the quality of education in many black constituencies and provinces remains low. Therefore, the objectives of this study include inter alia an investigation of the educational information needs of high school learners in the Fort Beaufort Education District, the educational information available and accessible to them, how the learners access information, the services and technologies accessible to the learners, challenges confronting their access and means of improving learners’ access to educational information in the district and by extension in South Africa

Access to information by high school learners in selected schools in the Fort Beaufort Education District, Eastern Cape Province

The level of access to educational information is pertinent to the attainment of quality education by learners. Librarians play a key role in facilitating access to such information. Access to educational information equips the possessor with the power of knowledge to assert their rights under any right regime, and a right to education cannot be fully exercised without corresponding access to educational information. Set in the Fort Beaufort Education District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, this study evaluates the level of access to educational information as an enabler of quality education. Research revealed that despite the acclaimed educational improvement in South Africa, the quality of education in many black constituencies and provinces remains low. Therefore, the objectives of this study include inter alia an investigation of the educational information needs of high school learners in the Fort Beaufort Education District, the educational information available and accessible to them, how the learners access information, the services and technologies accessible to the learners, challenges confronting their access and means of improving learners’ access to educational information in the district and by extension in South Africa

No End in Sight: A Critical Discourse Analysis of U.S. National Newspaper Coverage of the Iraq War

On May 1, 2003, standing in front of a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished” aboard the warship U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, President Bush announced an end to major combat in Iraq, referring to the war as “one victory in the war on terror.” Over seven years later, on August 31, 2010, President Obama in a televised speech also announced an end to the combat mission in Iraq. On October 21, 2011, President Obama once again reaffirmed that U.S. military personnel would be leaving Iraq, saluting the troops on their “success” and remarking on the Iraqi government’s readiness for governing. And finally, on December 14, 2011, four days before the last U.S. troops left Iraq, President Obama, once again declared the end of the war and said: “we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq.” The informational battlefront is a salient feature of any war, and understanding the role the mass media play in the production and packaging of information in the form of news offers fertile ground for Library and Information Science scholars. This study examines U.S. national newspapers’ representations of and discursive construction of two of these ‘endings,’ 2003 and 2011. Using the method of critical discourse analysis, news coverage is analyzed in order to understand and explain the discursive constructions of meaning in news reports about the end of the war, with a focus on outcomes, consequences, and responsibility for these. The three-part analysis that follows consists of a contextual analysis, a textual analysis, and a historical-diachronic analysis identifying the dominant discourses, and comparing and contrasting these in the two ‘endings.’ By shedding light on these discursive structures, this study seeks to elevate and make clear the ideological basis to hegemonic news discourses. The findings showed the media offer a narrow range of discursive possibilities that delimit the parameters of discourse on the Iraq War; however, there is also some variation within these parameters which give the impression of information plurality. A pro-American bias permeates the news discourse that has implications for the democratic and educational function of news as an informational product

Information behaviour of the professoriate in selected federal universities in South West Nigeria.

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2017.This study investigated the information behaviour of the professoriate in selected federal universities in South West Nigeria. The study was guided by Wilson (1996) Information Behaviour Model and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis (2003). The study adopted the pragmatist paradigm and employed the mixed methods approach with quantitative method as dominant over qualitative method. A survey research design was employed using a structured mixed questionnaire to collect quantitative data from the professoriate and semi-structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data from the subject librarians. The population of the study comprised the professoriate and subject librarians in the faculties of social sciences and humanities drawn from the three universities purposively selected from south west Nigeria. A census survey was used to collect quantitative data from 246 professoriate, while qualitative data was collected from 28 subject librarians purposively selected in the three universities. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS, while qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results of quantitative data analysis were presented using tables and charts, while the results of the qualitative data analysis were presented in narrative description. Reliability and validity of survey instruments were ascertained through pre-test of data collection instruments and Cronbach Alpha test respectively. Overall, 165 questionnaires were collected from the professoriate, giving a response rate of 67%, while 11 subject librarians were interviewed, returning a success rate of 42%. Ethical guidelines of the university of KwaZulu-Natal ethics policy were duly followed. The findings showed that the professoriate needed information for developing contents for teaching, conducting research, and keeping abreast of developments in their fields. They rely heavily on journal articles and text books, and make frequent use of online databases and electronic journals for teaching and research. Interaction with colleagues and conference proceedings were their major informal sources of information. The professoriate encounters information more frequently in journal articles and text books, than in electronic journals and online databases. They use the encountered information to advance their general knowledge, for personal development and to advance their career. They share mainly academic, research information, and publish research outcomes in subscription-based and fee-based journals. The study shows that the mean scores for performance expectancy (2.90), effort expectancy (2.76), attitude (2.69), self-efficacy (2.61), and social influence (2.60) contribute to the high mean score of behavioural intention (2.87) to use electronic information resources. The mean scores of facilitating condition (2.32) and anxiety (1.57) is low. The originality of this study is based on the following premise: the study focused specifically on the information behaviour of the professoriate as a unique group scarcely covered in literature. It uniquely examines both active and passive information behaviour of the professoriate in using electronic information resources using two top models in behavioural research. The unique findings show how high self-efficacy and positive attitude influenced the professoriate intention to use electronic information resources. The study makes significant contribution in the areas of policy, theory, and practice. From the policy perspective, institutional policy which takes into cognisance the observed peculiarities of the respondents, could guide the development of a service framework that uniquely meets information requirements of the professoriate. The study provides indicators that focus on improving information provisions and services specifically for the professoriate. Theoretically the study suggests the improvement of the theoretical models to include the constructs observed in the study. In practice, the study contributes to understanding of factors that influence use of electronic information resources and serves as a framework for the academic library to improve information services to benefit the professoriate. The study makes the following recommendations based on the findings: university libraries surveyed should acquire current collections to meet the academic and research needs of professoriate; create continuous awareness of library digital resources and develop training programs to enhance the electronic information retrieval skills of the professoriate; create efficient and effective support services infrastructure to attend to the individual and technical challenges faced by the professoriate. Based on the gap identified, the study recommends the need for further studies to: examine the information behaviour of professoriate elsewhere to compare with the findings of this study; investigate in detail other aspects of human information behaviour such as serendipity, information sharing, information access, and information management of the professoriate