613 research outputs found
Defining Functional Illiteracy to Empower Inclusive Technology Design
Limited literacy presents a significant challenge in HCI research, yet the field lacks consistent definitions and measurement criteria. Researchers often interchange terms such as 'functional illiterates,' 'low literates,' and 'semi-literates,' further complicating the field. This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of 33 HCI studies, revealing concerns about the absence of a definition in 41% of the studies and the lack of measurement technique in 74%. Based on the results from our SLR and relevant research beyond HCI, we propose the following work-in-progress definition. 'Functional illiterates are motivated adults with some familiarity with text but insufficient to fully comprehend meanings and low skills in the measured digital skill, with enough language proficiency in the study language if they are literate in their native language. This understanding, coupled with addressing the identified issues, will empower the HCI4D community to design more inclusive technology solutions for functionally illiterate users in developing countries
Facebook's Crowds and Publics: Law, Virality and the Regulation of Hate Speech Online in Contemporary India
A key feature of the material infrastructure of hate speech online on Facebook is virality â the rapid transmission of content over large distances through key nodes and actors on the platform. Virality is enabled by the bringing together of collectivities (crowds and publics) and connectivity provided by Facebook, which is accessed widely through Internet-enabled mobile phones. In contemporary India, increased connectivity provided by the material infrastructure of Facebook has reconfigured the relationship between crowds, publics and media, facilitated virality, and led to deadly illocutionary and perlocutionary effects such as inter-group violence and the subordination of minority groups. This thesis investigates how Facebook, through its content moderation policies and related institutional mechanisms and infrastructures, regulates the virality of hate speech online on the platform. Drawing on contemporary developments in India and the historical development of Indian hate speech doctrine, this thesis identifies emerging tensions between the global scale of hate speech regulation on Facebook and local context. These emerging tensions are visible in Facebookâs framing of its community standards on hate speech, and in the relationship between Facebook and national and subnational actors in India. These tensions are also visible in differences and contradictions in how actors who are part of Facebookâs governance model, including the Oversight Board, have approached the question of the regulation of hate speech online. This thesis employs mixed methods including a law-in-context reading of doctrine, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the Facebook Oversight Board, employees of Facebook and lawyers, academics and policy experts in the field. This thesis is part of a growing body of scholarship that examines the regulation of hate speech online and virality on Facebook through a non-United States and non-European lens
Songs of life from fluvial worlds: A river, the state and Bengali Muslim char-dwellers in Assam, India
This dissertation looks at state-society relations of marginalized people living in liminal and (now) vulnerable ecologies. It is set in the fluvial and unstable landscapes called Chars or river-islands in Assam, a northeastern state in India. Using ethnography and archival sources, it looks at the historically marginalized Bengali Muslims living in these âcharsâ and their interactions and experiences with a post-colonial majoritarian state, not just in the background of âjatiyotabaadâ or Assamese nationalism but also the rise and consolidation of a Hindutva regime both in India and Assam.
This narrative of state-society relations between Bengali Muslim char-dwellers and a majoritarian state is complicated by the fluvial and unpredictable ecological processes and Assam being a borderland state, sharing boundaries with other nations. Thus, as much as this dissertation understands char-dwellersâ relationship with the state through their everyday interactions, it also evaluates this relationship through events such as the âanti-immigrationâ2 Assam Movement or the more recent citizenship project called the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
This dissertation thus, in its quest to understand state-society relations, has been informed by and makes commentary on concepts such as violence, fluvial environment, immigration, citizenship, bureaucracy, affect, among others. Using the works of Baruch Spinoza (2002), Gilles Deleuze (1994, 1997) Pierre-FĂ©lix Guattari (1987 co-authored with Deleuze) and Sara Ahmed (2014), this dissertation finds affect to be rhizomatic which is a principle guiding both this dissertationâs methodology and as it will be established, the state-society relations in this context. Thus, while
it evaluates the violence that is characterized of this state-society relationship, the thesis will show that it is marked by beyond violence.
What are the varied dimensions, the other elements that characterize this state-society relation in a borderland state that historically has grappled with âanti-immigrationâ sentiments but now also faces a fascist Hindu regime, while a river erodes and floods even more violently?
That is the story that this dissertation aims to understand
World History, Volume 1: To 1500
World History, Volume 1: to 1500 is designed to meet the scope and sequence of a world history course to 1500 offered at both two-year and four-year institutions. Suitable for both majors and non majors World History, Volume 1: to 1500 introduces students to a global perspective of history couched in an engaging narrative. Concepts and assessments help students think critically about the issues they encounter so they can broaden their perspective of global history. A special effort has been made to introduce and juxtapose peopleâs experiences of history for a rich and nuanced discussion. Primary source material represents the cultures being discussed from a firsthand perspective whenever possible. World History, Volume 1: to 1500 also includes the work of diverse and underrepresented scholars to ensure a full range of perspectives
The 'Swadeshi Jinish' from the 'Didima Company': an analysis of the connection between Thakurmar Jhuli by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder and nationalism in Bengal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
This thesis provides a critical analysis of the Bengali folktale collection Thakurmar Jhuli (1907) by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder linking it to the prevalent notion of Bengal folklore and Bengali nation of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengal. I focus on the ways in which the dominant scholarly and political ideologies of the time shaped the choice of tales in the collection. In particular, this study analyzes Majumderâs writing in its historical context by drawing upon Benedict Andersonâs theory of nationalism and Herderâs concept of romantic nationalism. Moreover, I discuss the content of this collection adopting Sadhana Naithaniâs idea of âprefaced spaceâ and Maurice Bloomfieldâs âHindu motifâ to discuss the connection between Bengal folklore and nationalism of the time. Taking a folkloric approach of analyzing the content and context of the collection, I demonstrate that this collection by Majumder introduced a Bengali folktale genre named ârupkathaâ against the colonial genre of folktales and fairy tales. In so doing, he also assumed a power position where he made representational choices in including and excluding the religious, linguistic and cultural elements of the people of Bengal. Finally, demonstrating examples from other Bengali folklore genres, the thesis asserts the importance of addressing the absence of Islamic elements in Majumderâs collection, and the investigation of different versions of rupkatha to create a more complete sense of the genre
âAnd by Publishing, to Preserve:â Envisioning Indigenous Futures in Anishinaabe Historical Writing, 1814â1893
This dissertation bridges intellectual history, biography, and ethnohistory to reveal how nineteenth-century Anishinaabeg used historical writing to historicize their past, speak to their colonial present, and offer future visions of a transformed colonial society. Historical writing was a key site of colonial struggle in which settler histories attempted to eliminate the Indigenous past and replace it with their own conception of the âIndian.â Between 1814-1893, a remarkable body of Anishinaabe historical writing in English was produced by at least ten different writers, all of whom worked from the stories and knowledge of elders, family members, and knowledge keepers. Through a focus on the lives and writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bamewawagezhikaquay), George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh), and Francis Assiginack, this dissertation analyzes expressions of Anishinaabe historical consciousness and the settler-colonial myths and ideas they engaged with. Their writings contended that elements of Anishinaabe ways of living and knowing were not only valid, but invaluable and had to be preserved in the face of permanent loss. In addition to producing immediate political and social change in Canada and the United States, these writers also sought to shape the development of future society. While their future visions called for Indigenous adoption of Euro-Canadian and Euro-American technology and religion, they also presented Anishinaabe knowledge as a gift that could potentially facilitate spiritual and moral renewal in settler society. Historical writing was a foundational aspect of this âenvisioning process.â By asserting an Anishinaabe understanding of history through this trans-cultural approach, these writers were able to challenge the historical and theological foundations of settler colonialism, argue for the value and historicity of Indigenous peoples, and posit visions of a settler colonial future that would transform both Indigenous and settler society
Essays on the Socioecological Implications of Sustainable Development Projects and the Role of Environmental Preferences
Essays on the Socioecological Implications of Sustainable Development Projects and the Role of Environmental Preference
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Designing Archival Collections to Support Language Revitalization: Case Study of the Boro Language Resource
Indigenous communities around the world are losing their languages at accelerating rates to the effects of the climate crisis and global capitalism. To preserve samples of these languages facing endangerment and extinction, samples of language use (e.g., audio-video recordings, photographs, textual transcriptions, translations, and analyses) are created and stored in language archives: repositories intended to provide long-term preservation of and access to language materials. In recent years, archives of all kinds are considering their origins and audiences. With the emergence of the community paradigm of archiving framework, the roles of archivists, communities, and institutions are under re-examination. Language archives too are reflecting this trend, as it becomes more common for speakers of Indigenous languages (also known as language communities) to document and archive their own languages and histories. As the landscape of language archiving expands, we now see increased emphasis on the re-use of archival material, particularly to support language revitalizationâefforts to increase and maintain the use of the language. There are calls for language documentation (and, by extension, language archiving) to prioritize revitalization efforts. This dissertation is a case study of one language archive collection: the Boro Language Resource in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive. The Boro Language Resource was created by Boro community members who are both experienced in linguistics and pedagogy and active in language revitalization efforts including research, educational, and cultural initiatives. This case study explores how the collection was designed, and how the material will be used in future language revitalization activities. Because this collection exemplifies the view of language documentation and archiving as revitalization-driven practices, the findings of this case study stand to inform future community archiving efforts aiming to support language revitalization
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National Languages, Multilingual Education, and the Self-proclaimed "Militants" for Change in Senegal
Education in Senegal has since Independence in 1960 relied on French, the language of the colonizer and a foreign language for most Senegalese learners. In Senegal, national languages refer to African languages, which are not officially enacted as languages of instruction in formal schooling in comparison to French, the former colonial and current official language. However, in 2015, the Ministry of Education adopted a bilingual education policy based on national (Senegalese) languages. This is due in no small part to the advocacy work of Senegalese national language activists or militants (strong advocates in French, drawing on a political connotation).
This study looks at these self-proclaimed militantsâ lived experiences with national languages and education, the extent of their multi-generational work and network, and their influence in shaping the language-in-education policy landscape at what appears to be a moment of âcritical junctureâ with the adoption of a bilingual education policy within the Ministry of National Education.
A qualitative case study, it draws on in-depth interviews with these militants, historical and policy document analysis, and participant-observations to answer the following question: âHow and why have self-proclaimed militants advocated for the use of national languages in the Senegalese educational system since the 1950s, and what are their current contributions at this critical moment in possible language-in-education policy change?â
Situated in a sociocultural framework, this study draws on Walter Mignoloâs (1991) decolonial theory of âborder thinkingâ and Senegalese decolonial authors to amplify the voices, innovations, and contributions of Senegalese bi-/multilingual education researchers, practitioners, and advocates. Decolonizing and delinking knowledge is particularly important in the field of bi-/multilingual education and literacy as research and practice are often exported from the Global North to Global South through international development and aid programs, when in fact, contexts of the Global North would gain more in learning from models of the Global South. In the context of Senegal, the militantsâ engagement in bilingual education is an act of self-determination and sovereignty, to move away from inherited and internalized patterns of colonial education and at the same time navigate the dynamics of aid and development in education, in particular, international donor agencies agendas and funding mechanisms
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