3,584 research outputs found
Now mainstreaming : queer phenomenology, techno, and the transnational in 'Beat' and 'Futur Drei'
As queer television and film become central to streaming providers, it raises questions about the relationship between the âtransnationalâ and the âmainstream.â This chapter argues for a differentiation between uses of âtransnational,â and suggests that queer and postmigrant works in particular challenge such categories. Sara Ahmedâs queer phenomenology and work on Black womenâs internationalism suggest the importance of transnational engagements that center queer and postmigrant voices and collectivity over global mobility or flows of finance. I contrast Amazon Prime series 'Beat' (Marco Kreuzpaintner, 2018) with 'Futur Drei' (No Hard Feelings, Faraz Shariat, 2020), an independent film by queer of color collective JĂŒnglinge. Whereas 'Beat' draws on transnational funding, multinational production, and global streaming distribution, it shows queer storylines as irritants or blockages in the flow of mainstream genres. It critiques the Berlin club sceneâs mainstream status and shows clubs bound up in exploitative flows of people and capital. 'Futur Drei', by contrast, is locally grounded in Hildesheim but draws on collective organizing and centers queer postmigrant perspectives on Germany. Mainstream pop culture here has potential to bring together queers internationally, as characters and filmmakers reimagine a small city as a site of transnational queer creativity and activism.Publisher PD
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Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on Ethnic Minority Students: a Case Study of Open University Level 1 Computing Modules
As reported in [1] âOf the disparities that exist within higher education, the gap between the likelihood of White students and students from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds getting a first- or upper-second-class degree is among the starkestâ. In the Open University (OU) for example, a recent research [2] found students from ethnic minorities to be at least 20% less likely to achieve excellent grades and to spend 4-12% more of study time to achieve the same performance as white students. Moreover, with the advent of COVID-19, a growing body of research suggested that students from these groups of the population, suffer disproportionally from the impacts of the pandemic [3], which inevitably impacts on their study experiences. However, recent research in the OU found that some COVID-19 arrangements such as the change of examination mode and change in work-life patterns have impacted students from ethnic minority backgrounds differently. In this paper we present findings from a project aiming to understand the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority studentsâ study experiences and performance. By means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative data analytics we first analysed the study performance and the patterns of progression, then by conducting focus groups with the teaching staff we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the lived experiences of the students.
[1] Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Student Attainment at UK Universities (2022). Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk.
[2] Nguyen Q., Rienties B. Richardson J.T.E. (2020) Learning analytics to uncover inequality in behavioural engagement and academic attainment in a distance learning setting, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45:4, 594-606.
[3] Arday, J. and Jones, C. (2022) âSame storm, different boats: The impact of covid-19 on black students and academic staff in UK and US higher education,â Higher Education. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00939-0
NEMISA Digital Skills Conference (Colloquium) 2023
The purpose of the colloquium and events centred around the central role that data plays
today as a desirable commodity that must become an important part of massifying digital
skilling efforts. Governments amass even more critical data that, if leveraged, could
change the way public services are delivered, and even change the social and economic
fortunes of any country. Therefore, smart governments and organisations increasingly
require data skills to gain insights and foresight, to secure themselves, and for improved
decision making and efficiency. However, data skills are scarce, and even more
challenging is the inconsistency of the associated training programs with most curated for
the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Nonetheless, the interdisciplinary yet agnostic nature of data means that there is
opportunity to expand data skills into the non-STEM disciplines as well.College of Engineering, Science and Technolog
Are animal breeding and digital technologies shifting gender norms and dynamics? The case of Tanzanian small-scale dairy farming households
Gender dynamics and norms are crucial for rural livelihoods and achieving food security. While norms related to ownership, management, product distribution, and sales methods are prevalent in dairy production, more research needs to be conducted in this area. This study hypothesized that innovative technologies introduced without considering gender dynamics and norms may limit the extent of transformative change. Using gender-sensitive mixed methods, this study investigated the potential implications of introducing technologies for intra-household dynamics and gender norms in dairyproducing communities. The African Asian Dairy Genetic Gains Programme (AADGG) has been introducing improved genetics, precise breeding techniques, and telemetric data recording technologies in smallholder dairy farms in Tanzania, and this served as the study case. Intra-household data were collected from 180 smallholder farmers surveys, gender-aggregated focus group discussions involving 80 farmers, and six expert interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis, descriptive statistics, the percentage rate of change, and the coefficient of variation. Age, education, gender, household size, household role, and farming system practiced were found to be significant determinants of the adoption of digital dairy applications (DDAs). Introducing dairy breeding technologies reduced womenâs control over milk incomes in two ways. First, improved breeds led to women and men participating in milking, previously carried out solely by women. The increased profitability of the dairy enterprise raised the outlook and status of some chores related to dairy farming. The shift, although linked with womenâs economic empowerment and gender-equal distribution of household responsibility, resulted in the transfer of milk income from women to men in most cases. The transfer of milk income from women to men demonstrates a marked shift in womenâs traditional roles, from exclusive homemakers in charge of the overall well-being of the household to dependents on their husbands for money to meet household nutritional and welfare needs. The study revealed that both male and female male and female dairy farmers are now venturing into and taking control of dairy breeding activities by the opposite gender. The situation shows that tasks and responsibilities in dairy breeding, traditionally assigned to either men or women, are now actively pursued and led by both genders. In the majority of survey responses (99.9%), the study showed that technological improvement led to milk increase. The milk increase did not, however, necessarily correspond to higher income for farmers during the wet seasons, as the milk market would easily oversaturate due to excessive supply, culminating in low prices. The study views this situation as perception-based low milk pricing because the majority of respondents interviewed for this study were âborderline educated farmersâ (farmers with primary education) who might not be able to understand the economics of production (input and output). These farmers might be unable to calculate the labour input, time, and opportunity cost of producing milk in the wet season against the milk price. The shifting dynamics in gender norms may have positive and negative consequences on household food security, nutritional status, and general livelihoods. However, the severity within households depends on the dairy farmerâs household type and marital status. These findings suggest innovative technologies are more likely to have transformative outcomes if tailored to suit the needs of different gender groups, consider prevailing societal and gender norms, and be accompanied by requisite training on further innovations that would mitigate the consequences of the current innovations. Also, introducers of dairy breeding technologies should consider training farmers on dairy farming input, output recording, and basic profit and loss calculation to better understand milk prices in different production seasons
Exploring the Information Needs of Somaliland Pastoralists: Design Considerations for Digital Climate Adaptation Services
Pastoralists in Somaliland are suffering the impacts of climate change, and need relevant, timely, and practical information about water resources and pastures. However, these communities are sparsely distributed and distant from decision-making centres, which impedes rapid dissemination of climate-related information that could allow them to build resilience to climate impacts. Although smartphone adoption rates are low, mobile services are widespread across Somaliland, presenting opportunities for supporting communities through mobile technologies. We interviewed 30 Somali pastoralists to understand their climate information needs, access to technology, and the potential for technology support. We also conducted a focus group with four Somali development experts to explore the cultural context and possible impacts of different design choices. Our results highlight and explore tensions around different design directions, and suggest possible ways to mitigate these. Designing systems that navigate such considerations can contribute to much-needed climate resilience for pastoralist communities in Somaliland and beyond
The Globalization of Artificial Intelligence: African Imaginaries of Technoscientific Futures
Imaginaries of artificial intelligence (AI) have transcended geographies of the Global North and become increasingly entangled with narratives of economic growth, progress, and modernity in Africa. This raises several issues such as the entanglement of AI with global technoscientific capitalism and its impact on the dissemination of AI in Africa. The lack of African perspectives on the development of AI exacerbates concerns of raciality and inclusion in the scientific research, circulation, and adoption of AI. My argument in this dissertation is that innovation in AI, in both its sociotechnical imaginaries and political economies, excludes marginalized countries, nations and communities in ways that not only bar their participation in the reception of AI, but also as being part and parcel of its creation.
Underpinned by decolonial thinking, and perspectives from science and technology studies and African studies, this dissertation looks at how AI is reconfiguring the debate about development and modernization in Africa and the implications for local sociotechnical practices of AI innovation and governance. I examined AI in international development and industry across Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, by tracing Canadaâs AI4D Africa program and following AI start-ups at AfriLabs. I used multi-sited case studies and discourse analysis to examine the data collected from interviews, participant observations, and documents.
In the empirical chapters, I first examine how local actors understand the notion of decolonizing AI and show that it has become a sociotechnical imaginary. I then investigate the political economy of AI in Africa and argue that despite Western efforts to integrate the African AI ecosystem globally, the AI epistemic communities in the continent continue to be excluded from dominant AI innovation spaces. Finally, I examine the emergence of a Pan-African AI imaginary and argue that AI governance can be understood as a state-building experiment in post-colonial Africa. The main issue at stake is that the lack of African perspectives in AI leads to negative impacts on innovation and limits the fair distribution of the benefits of AI across nations, countries, and communities, while at the same time excludes globally marginalized epistemic communities from the imagination and creation of AI
Ethnographies of Collaborative Economies across Europe: Understanding Sharing and Caring
"Sharing economy" and "collaborative economy" refer to a proliferation of initiatives, business models, digital platforms and forms of work that characterise contemporary life: from community-led initiatives and activist campaigns, to the impact of global sharing platforms in contexts such as network hospitality, transportation, etc. Sharing the common lens of ethnographic methods, this book presents in-depth examinations of collaborative economy phenomena. The book combines qualitative research and ethnographic methodology with a range of different collaborative economy case studies and topics across Europe. It uniquely offers a truly interdisciplinary approach. It emerges from a unique, long-term, multinational, cross-European collaboration between researchers from various disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, geography, business studies, law, computing, information systems), career stages, and epistemological backgrounds, brought together by a shared research interest in the collaborative economy. This book is a further contribution to the in-depth qualitative understanding of the complexities of the collaborative economy phenomenon. These rich accounts contribute to the painting of a complex landscape that spans several countries and regions, and diverse political, cultural, and organisational backdrops. This book also offers important reflections on the role of ethnographic researchers, and on their stance and outlook, that are of paramount interest across the disciplines involved in collaborative economy research
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