Hybrid Playful Experiences : Playing between Material and Digital - Hybridex Project, Final Report

Some of the future’s most important product innovations will be made at the borderline of physical and immaterial realities. New technologies enable development where immaterial products become materialized in novel ways, while material products and environment will be augmented with digital services. In this evolution immaterial, digital services will form multifaceted value networks with material products. The creative and playful design solutions and user cultures will form the basis for the utilization of these novel potentials in design of innovative and engaging experiences

Towards Playful Office Culture: Final Report of the OASIS – Playful Spaces for Learning and Collaboration at Work (2014–2015) research project

In the project OASIS – Playful Spaces for Learning and Collaboration at Work (2014–2015), funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, the experience of playfulness and the incentives and thresholds of adult play at the workplace were examined. The research focused on a single academic work community, and it was closely connected to research enabled by OASIS, an informal social space for students and staff at the university and a living lab for research. The primary component of the research project comprised three playful experiments involving staff members

Positioning students as (non)writers: A case study of disengaged pedagogy in a suburban primary school

Given the challenges facing the South African education system, suburban schools are often assumed to be sites of excellence, and therefore seldom the objects of research. This notion, as well as the persistently poor literacy rates in South African primary schools and the need for more research on the teaching and learning of writing at the upper-primary level across school systems, motivates this case study. This research maintains a sociocultural view of literacy and learning. The linguistic ethnographic approach, carried out with classroom observations, field notes, video-recording and semi-structured interviews, necessitated particular attention to the specific practices of this 'niche' (Nystrand, Gamoran & Carbonaro, 1998) environment. Therefore, although I planned to analyse classroom discourses and students' writing to determine if and how students identify as writers, the teacher's profound disengagement with her pedagogy, her dominant procedural discourse and the closing down of opportunities for her students to take up positions as writers needed to be centred. This focus was particularly important, as in the broader context of her school and the South African education system, Miss King is perceived to be a 'good teacher;' this notion was substantiated by the feedback Miss King received from the Department of Basic Education representative who inspected the school during my field work. Critical Discourse Analysis (Gee, 2008; Janks, 1997; Rogers et al., 2005), Positioning Theory (Davies & Harré, 1990) and Ivanič's (2004) Discourses of Writing were used as conceptual resources in the analysis of the data gathered. These tools enabled an examination of how the participants in a Grade 6 classroom use and navigate discourses to position themselves and others. The teacher self positioned as the authoritative 'knower' through her use of monologic speaking turns and a restrictive Initiation-Response-Evaluation discoursal structure. Despite her assessment driven language and her insistence on students using the process approach when writing, her disengagement from her pedagogy, inability to talk about her learners as writers and unnecessarily prescriptive parameters for compositions, demanded an adaptation of Ivanič's Discourses of Writing framework; in order to capture the superficiality of her discourse, I have added a 'procedural discourse' category. Through this discourse, Miss King can be seen to position her students as nonwriters. In spite of the limiting opportunities to engage meaningfully with their teacher and their learning, the students' abilities to reposition themselves illustrate their continued agency in this space. That they control the classroom discourses during writing sessions, after the teacher delivers her introductions, demonstrates their power in this classroom, their ability to manage their teacher. Still, that some students are able to resist Miss King's positioning to maintain identities as writers occurs despite her pedagogy, not because of it; and those who struggle to reposition themselves are unfairly denied access to identities that should be open to them within the space of the classroom

A holistic view of the creative potential of performance practice in contemporary music

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel UniversityThe creative potential and work of the performer in new music extends from the moment of conceptualising a concert to the moment of presenting it on stage and comprises many areas between and around those two points. In this thesis I explore the nature of this activity, from the act of playing itself to the commissioning and creating of new pieces, curatorial and collaborative tasks, and the actual concert presentation. I deliberately include interrelations between performer and music promoters, composers and the audience. This leads me to further areas of investigation, namely the question of the performer’s leadership, the charismatic bond with the audience and the creation of what I call “concert aura”. I do not strive to offer all-purpose formulae for the “perfect concert” or for the ideal collaboration. I investigate performance practice not as an absolute art but rather as something embedded in and shaped by social relations and society. Accordingly I understand this thesis as an empirically based study of the questions performers could ask, as well as processes in which they might want to engage, to find meaningful solutions for each new situation. Not all of the questions I raise will be new to each performer, but in their collaborative and concert practice many performers rely on a random, unsystematic, empirical understanding that has been gained by chance. In contrast, I attempt to draw a theoretical basis for my investigation from the fields of psychology, philosophy, media science and sociology, together with the evaluation of my own and other artists’ performance practice. In this way I hope to develop an academic foundation and a comprehensive, systematic approach that can be applied to different collaboration and concert situations. Part 1 of my thesis is concerned with theories and concepts relating to creativity, collaboration and presentation (concert aura and charisma) and aims to establish a firm theoretical basis for application in practice. Part 2 presents, discusses and analyses a selection of case studies from my own practice, considered in relation to the theories discussed in the first part. I conclude by offering guidelines to collaboration and giving a model example of how one might plan a future performance, aiming to create a Gesamtkunstwerk through the totality of the preparation and presentation, its social and psychological connotations. The thesis includes two DVDs with Quicktime Movies and two CDs with recordings of the compositions, commissioned as part of this research and discussed throughout the thesis. The Appendix contains three sample-CDs with an accompanying commentary which give an introduction to contemporary playing techniques for the acoustic and electronic violin and acoustic viola. This CD is intended as a guide for composers to get acquainted with the instruments and was given to each composer involved in this research

Breaking silence: gendered and sexual identities and HIV/AIDS risk amongst youth in Kenya, 2007

The voices of youth are typically absent in research on African communities. The assumption is that children are not really active subjects, and that adults can speak and act on their behalf. This study addresses the walls of silence between children and parents; teachers and learners and between boys and girls, on matters of gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Within these walls, youth construct and re-construct their roles as either feminine or masculine. We see them challenging social constructs and reclaiming their voices and their right to be heard as experts about their own gendered and sexual lives. Using interviews and focus group discussions, a tri-site study was carried out in Kenya, and the findings presented illustrate how boys and girls construct their identities, negotiating, adapting to and resisting common articulations of masculinity and femininity. It demonstrates why it is wrong to constantly associate gender with women and girls, focusing on masculinity and femininity, not in isolation of each other, but as relational identities which derive their meaning from each other. "Breaking Silence" focuses on gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS risk amongst youth, demonstrating how youth can empower themselves to steer their agenda and articulate what it means to be particular boys or girls, while developing strategies to deal with their issues

Cine y Televisión: Construcciones televisivas en el Universo fílmico español

324 p

Thinking fan's rock band : R.E.M. fandom and negotiations of normativity in Murmurs.com

This thesis analyses how normative behaviour is negotiated within Murmurs, an online community for fans of rock band R.E.M. Undertaken as a cyber-ethnography, I examine the manner in which normative identity is constructed in Murmurs through masculinised Liberal intelligentsia "central values" of the R.E.M. fan's subcultural homology, such as tolerance, good will and equality, the rejection of which works to define the Other in the community. I demonstrate how the object of fandom as the "thinking fan's rock band" works to reflect and reinforce these "central values" and the processes through which they are explicitly enforced by the community hierarchy through strategies of power. My findings therefore show that normative behaviour in Murmurs is not a given, but requires continuous maintenance and governance. In conjunction with compliance to the homologous values, I identify in Murmurs how normativity can be achieved by strict adherence to four other key practices: reading in the "right way," assuming the correct gendered discourse, participating in the exchange of knowledge with other fans and maintaining a focus on the object of fandom. To analyse the processes of negotiation further, and in an effort to redress the inadequacies in the field of literature surrounding online communities and fan cultural norms regarding oppositional intra-communal fan identities, I examine through case studies the activities of three non-normative groups within Murmurs (Trobes, Droolers and Pointless Posters), determining how the community negotiates different types of fan behaviour that are seemingly a threat to normative conduct. However, quite notably, my analysis is conducted from a unique "insider" position in that, in addition to being an ethnographic researcher in the virtual field, I am both an R.E.M. fan and member of Murmurs' subcultural police, an official role which involves my active participation in the enforcement and governance of this non-normative Other in Murmurs. By doing this, I challenge the assumed existence of a consistently singular, or cohesive, identity in an online fan community. My conclusion in the thesis therefore rests upon a recommendation that future studies in this field should move away from assumptions of singularity and instead attempt to understand oppositional fan identities by examining the power relations surrounding them, and the processes through which fans negotiate normative identity within a community.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Merging and Demerging in Organisations: Transforming Identities

Abstract Around eighty percent of cross-border mergers do not succeed. Despite a substantial body of literature offering guidance on how to make them work, success remains elusive. Regardless of strategic direction, involving macro-level planning, restructuring of positions and improved remuneration, repeated failure indicates there is clearly a gap in our understanding. It is proposed that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) constitute a threat to social identity by disrupting longstanding patterns of relating between people. This is experienced as emotional anxiety, which is personally felt and collectively shared. In response, social defences are invoked that alleviate this distress but simultaneously inhibit the processes of recognition and conflict necessary to effect identity transformation. New relationships and connections do not therefore form and, consequently, new identity does not emerge. Hence, M&A fail. Attending to complex responsive processes of relating, particularly pertaining to the preservation and transformation of identity is crucial to the successful outcome of any M&A project. Using reflexive narrative, I have shown how anxiety and protective processes arise and offer insight into executive interventions that may be helpful. This research offers a new approach and an advance in our understanding of the social processes at work during M&A

Feminist Futures of Spatial Practice: Materialisms, activisms, dialogues, pedagogies, projections

Architecture and the arts have long been on the forefront of socio-spatial struggles, in which equality, access, representation and expression are at stake in our cities, communities and everyday lives. Feminist spatial practices contribute substantially to new forms of activism, expanding dialogues, engaging materialisms, transforming pedagogies, and projecting alternatives. Feminist Futures of Spatial Practice traces practical tools and theoretical dimensions, as well as temporalities, emergence, histories, events, durations – and futures – of feminist practices. Authors include international practitioners, researchers, and educators, from architecture, the arts, art history, curating, cultural heritage studies, environmental sciences, futures studies, film, visual communication, design and design theory, queer, intersectional and gender studies, political sciences, sociology, and urban planning. Established as well as emerging voices write critically from within their institutions, professions, and their activist, political and personal practices. Feminist Futures of Spatial Practice deepens and broadens how we can understand and engage with different genders, bodies and peoples, diverse voices and forms of expression, alternative norms and ways of living together

Morph ; Constructing identity : how the experience of cyberspace contributes to the emerging story of self in young people

PhD ThesisThis thesis develops from the belief that young people construct identities for themselves which inevitably surprise their parents, particularly where so much of their coming-of-age is influenced by hidden virtual experiences. The novel which explores this is Morph . Joey, the protagonist, is uneasy about her gender. She has a loving family, intelligence, a satisfying way of life, but loathes her body. She investigates alternative futures, initially online. Her closest friend also has a secret, revealed after a suicide attempt that Joey averts: sexual abuse by her father. Each has to discover how to live with the evolving sense of self. If Joey wishes to change gender her character may alter, too; she finds she can be violent when confronting the abusive father. The story is told through Joey’s eyes and activities in cyberspace, which she thinks of as a free place, parallel to the mountains over which she loves to run. She feels at ease in both places. Eventually she decides to live as both male and female (Other) because she does not have a ‘condition’ needing to be cured. Classification in the natural world allows for infinite variety, and she want similar opportunities for herself. The critical aspect of the thesis begins with those aspects of my experience which affect my conception of the narrative, including how, as a teacher, I drew upon insights from neuroscience about the malleability of the self. I analyse a series of interviews with young people about how they present themselves online. Since the trigger for the novel is online disclosure of gender variance, I explore what is available online, current medical attitudes and policies; I set the interview findings in the context of theoretical frameworks for personal and group identity. I conclude that where young people lack frameworks for interpreting virtual experience, the emerging sense of self may be destabilised, or even impaire