2,386 research outputs found

    Feminisms in Movement: Theories and Practices from the Americas

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    Feminist movements from the Americas provide some of the most innovative, visible, and all-encompassing forms of organizing and resistance. With their diverse backgrounds, these movements address sexism, sexualized violence, misogyny, racism, homo- and transphobia, coloniality, extractivism, climate crisis, and neoliberal capitalist exploitation as well as the interrelations of these systems. Fighting interlocking axes of oppression, feminists from the Americas represent, practice, and theorize a truly "intersectional" politics. Feminisms in Movement: Theories and Practices from the Americas brings together a wide variety of perspectives and formats, spanning from the realms of arts and activism to academia. Black and decolonial feminist voices and queer/cuir perspectives, ecofeminist approaches and indigenous women's mobilizations inspire future feminist practices and inform social and cohabitation projects. With contributions from Rita Laura Segato, Mara Viveros Vigoya, Yuderkys Espinosa-Miñoso, and interviews with Anielle Franco (Brazilian activist and minister) and with the Chilean feminist collective LASTESIS

    Information actors beyond modernity and coloniality in times of climate change:A comparative design ethnography on the making of monitors for sustainable futures in Curaçao and Amsterdam, between 2019-2022

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    In his dissertation, Mr. Goilo developed a cutting-edge theoretical framework for an Anthropology of Information. This study compares information in the context of modernity in Amsterdam and coloniality in Curaçao through the making process of monitors and develops five ways to understand how information can act towards sustainable futures. The research also discusses how the two contexts, that is modernity and coloniality, have been in informational symbiosis for centuries which is producing negative informational side effects within the age of the Anthropocene. By exploring the modernity-coloniality symbiosis of information, the author explains how scholars, policymakers, and data-analysts can act through historical and structural roots of contemporary global inequities related to the production and distribution of information. Ultimately, the five theses propose conditions towards the collective production of knowledge towards a more sustainable planet

    Planetary Hinterlands:Extraction, Abandonment and Care

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    This open access book considers the concept of the hinterland as a crucial tool for understanding the global and planetary present as a time defined by the lasting legacies of colonialism, increasing labor precarity under late capitalist regimes, and looming climate disasters. Traditionally seen to serve a (colonial) port or market town, the hinterland here becomes a lens to attend to the times and spaces shaped and experienced across the received categories of the urban, rural, wilderness or nature. In straddling these categories, the concept of the hinterland foregrounds the human and more-than-human lively processes and forms of care that go on even in sites defined by capitalist extraction and political abandonment. Bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the book rethinks hinterland materialities, affectivities, and ecologies across places and cultural imaginations, Global North and South, urban and rural, and land and water

    E-learning usage from a social constructivist learning approach: perspectives of Iraqi Kurdistan students in social studies classrooms

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    Background: Many schools in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region have incorporated information and communication technologies (ICT) into their environments. However, the results have shown that computer usage has had only a minimal effect on the classroom environment and learning outcomes. This minimal effect could be attributed to the teaching and learning of social studies subjects, which often rely on a traditional vision of teaching and an excessive inclusion of facts and dates in school textbooks. Consequently, students feel compelled to memorize all the information to pass tests. Yet, merely employing technology alongside traditional teaching and assessment approaches, such as lecturing or having students study in isolation without any form of collaborative learning, does not foster the development of students' higher-order thinking skills. It's time to revitalize school curricula and teaching practices to embrace a more contemporary, open-minded approach to social science education. This approach should incorporate a social constructivist perspective with technology to better instill international moral values such as democracy, respect for differences, and learning to live harmoniously with others. Aim: This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of a social constructivist learning approach on the acceptance of technology and its influence on perceived e-learning outcomes among students in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Additionally, this study examines the differences in the effects of the social constructivist learning approach and dimensions of technology acceptance on perceived e-learning outcomes between students studying social studies in Arabic and those studying social studies in English. Setting and participants: Data were gathered from both public and private schools in Erbil governorate, situated in northern Iraq and affiliated with the Ministry of Education-Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government. To select participants, a random sampling technique was employed, encompassing students in grades 8 through 12 of both genders. The data were obtained through a self-administered paper-based questionnaire. Instruments: Data were collected using a social constructivist learning environment survey (personal relevance, critical voice, shared control, uncertainty, student negotiation), dimensions of the attitude toward technology (attitude toward technology use, perceived usefulness, feeling ease of use, learning facility condition, and subjective norms), some additional external variables (investigation, respect for difference, student economic ability, and perceived e-learning outcomes), and socio-demographic data. Conclusion: This study is intended to emphasize the significance of employing constructivist pedagogy to enhance the technology acceptance model and improve learning outcomes. The findings of the study showed that a social constructivist learning environment had a favorable influence on perceived e-learning outcomes as well as ease of use, perceived usefulness, investigation, and respect for difference. Attitude towards technology use and perceived usefulness are contributory factors to the positive perceived e-learning outcomes. Furthermore, feeling ease of use technology has a positive effect on both attitude towards technology use and perceived usefulness. Perceived usefulness also has a direct positive impact on attitudes towards technology use. Finally, students’ technological experience is positively correlated with feeling ease of use but not with perceived usefulness. Additionally, regarding the comparison between students studying social studies in Arabic and those in English, the findings demonstrated that students studying social studies in English showed stronger positive effects from the social constructivist learning environment on their perceived e-learning outcomes. Conversely, students studying social studies in Arabic demonstrated a more potent positive effect of perceived usefulness on their attitudes towards technology. Moreover, the positive impact of an attitude towards technology use on perceived e-learning outcomes was more pronounced among the Arabic students compared to their English counterparts. Additionally, the influence of the learning facility on the perceived ease of use, as well as the perceived usefulness of technology, differed between the two groups. The English group experienced a more substantial positive impact. However, there was no significant difference observed in the effect of feeling ease of use on attitudes towards technology use between the English and Arabic student groups. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the effect of perceived usefulness on the social constructivist learning environment for either group. The findings from this research are expected to contribute to the development of effective and efficient counseling and support intervention programs. These programs can play a crucial role in transforming teachers

    Measuring the Impact of China’s Digital Heritage: Developing Multidimensional Impact Indicators for Digital Museum Resources

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    This research investigates how to best assess the impact of China’s digital heritage and focuses on digital museum resources. It is motivated by the need for tools to help governing bodies and heritage organisations assess the impact of digital heritage resources. The research sits at the intersection of Chinese cultural heritage, digital heritage, and impact assessment (IA) studies, which forms the theoretical framework of the thesis. Informed by the Balanced Value Impact (BVI) Model, this thesis addresses the following questions: 1. How do Western heritage discourses and Chinese culture shape ‘cultural heritage’ and the museum digital ecosystem in modern China? 2. Which indicators demonstrate the multidimensional impacts of digital museum resources in China? How should the BVI Model be adapted to fit the Chinese cultural landscape? 3. How do different stakeholders perceive these impact indicators? What are the implications for impact indicator development and application? This research applies a mixed-method approach, combining desk research, survey, and interview with both public audiences and museum professionals. The research findings identify 18 impact indicators, covering economic, social, innovation and operational dimensions. Notably, the perceived usefulness and importance of different impact indicators vary among and between public participants and museum professionals. The study finds the BVI Model helpful in guiding the indicator development process, particularly in laying a solid foundation to inform decision-making. The Strategic Perspectives and Value Lenses provide a structure to organise various indicators and keep them focused on the impact objectives. However, the findings also suggest that the Value Lenses are merely signifiers; their signified meanings change with cultural contexts and should be examined when the Model is applied in a different cultural setting. This research addresses the absence of digital resource IA in China’s heritage sector. It contributes to the field of IA for digital heritage within and beyond the Chinese context by challenging the current target-setting culture in performance evaluation. Moreover, the research ratifies the utility of the BVI Model while modifying it to fit China’s unique cultural setting. This thesis as a whole demonstrates the value of using multidimensional impact indicators for evidence-based decision-making and better museum practices in the digital domain

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Cycling Through the Pandemic : Tactical Urbanism and the Implementation of Pop-Up Bike Lanes in the Time of COVID-19

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    Provides an international overview on how tactical urbanism was implemented to give more space to cycling Demonstrates the conceptual framework surrounding tactical urbanism and how it plays out theoretically Proposes new methodological insights to understand the effects of tactical urbanism intervention

    Towards An Empirical Theory of Ideologies in the Open Source Software Movement

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    Encompassing a diverse population of developers, non-technical users, organizations, and many other stakeholders, open source software (OSS) development has expanded to broader social movements from the initial product development aims. Ideology, as a coherent system of ideas, offers value commitments and normative implications for any social movement, so does OSS ideology for the open source movement. However, the literature on open source ideology is often fragile, or lacking in empirical evidence. In this paper, we sought to develop a comprehensive empirical theory of ideologies in open source software movement. Following a grounded theory procedure, we collected and analyzed data from 22 semi-structured interviews and 41 video recordings of Open Source Initiative (OSI) board members' public speeches. An empirical theory of OSS ideology emerged in our analysis, with six key categories: membership, norms/values, goals, activities, resources, and positions/group relations; each consists of a number of themes and subthemes. We discussed a subset of carefully selected themes and subthemes in detail based on their theoretical significance. With this ideological lens, we examined the implications and insights into open source development, and shed light on the research into open source as a social-cultural construction in the future

    Sociotechnical Imaginaries, the Future and the Third Offset Strategy

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