Learning from Toronto: An Experiment in Participatory Urban Data Visualization

Despite the unprecedented amount of data about the world that is collected and produced in our increasingly information-dependent societies, the possibilities for significant differences between human perception and actual data on the same phenomena are all but reduced, as are their potential effects on environments and communities. This thesis explores the opportunities offered by data visualization and interaction design to reveal and address such disconnect and to challenge widespread misconceptions by generating a deeper and more engaging understanding of information. These principles inform the proposal for a methodology for visual, interactive communication of data within urban environments, aimed at generating an iterative exchange of information between citizens and institutions. A concrete application of this proposal is investigated through the development of a digital platform for urban data visualization addressing issues within the city of Toronto

Dimensions of embodiment: Towards a conversational science of human action

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, especially as subsumed within the “conversational science" paradigm developed by Thomas and Harri-Augstein, is fundamentally a framework for a geometry of personal meaning in which all of the dimensions of distinction within a person’s experience are like the dimensions of geometric space. A person's system of constructs is not just a framework for predicting the attributes of future events; it is a coordinate system for navigating the dimensionality of experience. The work of F. M. Alexander is primarily concerned with the "psycho-physical unity of the individual," and thus with the continuity of experience. The present work has two aims. The first, drawing on the work of Merleau-Ponty and John Dewey, and culminating in the concept of "Conductive Reasoning", is to lay a theoretical foundation for a synthesis of the practical work of Kelly and Alexander. The primary premise is that the act of comprehending is an embodied act, and as such is as subject to the conditions of the coordination of the whole person as is any other act. The second, practical, aim has been to develop a conversational methodology for dealing with learning in a more fully embodied way. This method of "conductive conversation," formally derived from the "Learning Conversation," evolved from the author's teaching experience with the Alexander Technique. Appendix 1, "A Conversational Introduction to Conductive Reasoning," is an interactive conversational structure which incorporates a development of these concepts in the context of personal experiments for generating the kinds of experiences from which the reader may draw something of the intended meaning, and some skill in using the conductive conversational tools for exploring embodied dimensions in their own meaning. It is intended as a piece that will stand on its own as a conversational research instrument for personal scientists

Study of young infants as social beings

In theories of development, an important but controversial question is whether or not young infants are social beings. For example, it is often argued that, while infants may appear to interact with adults, this is a mistaken impression until such a time as they have fulfilled certain theoretically defined criteria for sociability. The aims of this study were first, empirically to evaluate arguments for and against the view that infants have an EtXel,i sensitivity to other persons, and secondly, if such a sensitivity were found, to discover how it develops during the first six months of life. Both an experiment and detailed naturalistic observations were made to answer the first question. The experiment produced preliminary evidence that the behaviour of two- month -olds is consistently different with persons and with graspable objects. This finding was supported by fine -grain analysis of a filmed interaction between a two -month -old and her mother which produced conclusive evidence that young infants are sensitive not only to the form of others' actions but to the social significance of their actions, insofar as those actions affect the infant's immediate interests. Subsequent observations and experiments were made to find how social sensitivity or 'intersubjectivity' develops during the first six months of life. These involved comparisons between infants' behaviour when interacting with their mother, with strangers and with novel and familiar face -masks. Behaviour was recorded on video-tape for approximately four minutes in each condition, twice a month, between six and twenty -eight weeks of age. Findings showed that there is a peak of social interest between six and ten weeks of age which is followed by a decline. This decline was due to a general increase in infants' ability to take active control of their surroundings - typified by their increased interest in objects and in playing interpersonal games (as opposed to participating in 'conversational' adult-infant exchanges). Associated with this decline of interest was increased 'negativity' during interactions with the mother and with other stimuli (i.e. actions of refusing or shutting out contact with other entities). Twelve examples of negativity are described in detail. The thesis also includes a theoretical contribution to Lacan's and Winnicott's notion of 'mirroring', based on the analysis of maternal babytalk. This suggests that mirroring is not simply a social phenomenon but is also an ideological phenomenon and constitutes, therefore, a complex and salient form of social influence during early infancy. The thesis concludes with a Spinozan argument that, notwithstanding their innate sensitivity to other persons, the development of infants as persons should be viewed as a more all- embracing process than is usually connoted by the phrase 'social development'; namely, as just one expression of the essential process by which humans increase their power of self - determination

Adaptive hypertext and hypermedia : workshop : proceedings, 3rd, Sonthofen, Germany, July 14, 2001 and Aarhus, Denmark, August 15, 2001

This paper presents two empirical usability studies based on techniques from Human-Computer Interaction (HeI) and software engineering, which were used to elicit requirements for the design of a hypertext generation system. Here we will discuss the findings of these studies, which were used to motivate the choice of adaptivity techniques. The results showed dependencies between different ways to adapt the explanation content and the document length and formatting. Therefore, the system's architecture had to be modified to cope with this requirement. In addition, the system had to be made adaptable, in addition to being adaptive, in order to satisfy the elicited users' preferences

Strategic approach to psychotherapeutic intervention with male institutionalized white adolescents to control absconding

Bibliography: pages 92-98.Using a systems theoretical orientation the objective of this study was to implement a strategic approach for psychotherapeutic intervention with six male institutionalized white adolescents at a local custodial school. It was hypothesized that a strategic approach would control absconding for the duration of the investigation. Surveys of the literature were undertaken to provide the background to psychotherapeutic intervention with adolescents in custodial institutions, strategic psychotherapy and absconding. Absconding was selected as the condition for evaluating the interventions because it was an unambiguous indicator of school-based recidivism, viz., the adolescent was either on the property or he was not. The study was structured as a design-and-demonstrate investigation. Audiotape recordings were made during the sessions. Transcriptions of characteristic procedures and sequences of the strategic approach to psychotherapeutic intervention were presented, inter alia, paradoxes, reframing, metaphors, rituals, the declaration of therapeutic impotence. Evaluation of the interventions was based on follow-up interviews with the subjects and a qualitative analysis of risk of absconding aver the course of the intervention process. At the end of the investigation there was some evidence which suggested that five out of the six subjects were not as committed to absconding as they had claimed to be at the beginning of the study. The design of the study did not allow for the conclusion that the strategic approach for controlling absconding was of greater merit than any other form of intervention or no intervention at all. It was noted, however, that twelve of the eighteen potential subjects for the study indicated that they would abscond as soon as the opportunity arose. Therefore it was recommended that the issue of absconding be given priority in therapy on the admission of each new pupil. Given a strategic approach to addressing the issue of absconding in therapy, attention was drawn to a major aim of this type of intervention, viz., to generate a sense of personal autonomy. Hence a further recommendation was that once a pupil had made a commitment not to abscond, his sense of autonomy would need to be supported by an expeditious transfer to one of the more open hostels

Adaptive hypertext and hypermedia : workshop : proceedings, 3rd, Sonthofen, Germany, July 14, 2001 and Aarhus, Denmark, August 15, 2001

This paper presents two empirical usability studies based on techniques from Human-Computer Interaction (HeI) and software engineering, which were used to elicit requirements for the design of a hypertext generation system. Here we will discuss the findings of these studies, which were used to motivate the choice of adaptivity techniques. The results showed dependencies between different ways to adapt the explanation content and the document length and formatting. Therefore, the system's architecture had to be modified to cope with this requirement. In addition, the system had to be made adaptable, in addition to being adaptive, in order to satisfy the elicited users' preferences

Examining the food landscapes of young women of colour and the impact of community food resources on their health and communities survival

Research aim: The aim of the project is to look at how food consumption and/or food landscapes function as determinants of health. The term 'foodscapes' refers to the food environment within urban communities and describes the kinds of foods (whether they are 'healthy' or not) residents have access to (Engler-Stringer, 2010). I will also address how food operates as a marker of socio- economic status amongst residents of low income communities

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality