7,809 research outputs found

    Daily dyadic dynamics of social support at work

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    Facilitating prosociality through technology: Design to promote digital volunteerism

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    Volunteerism covers many activities involving no financial rewards for volunteers but which contribute to the common good. There is existing work in designing technology for volunteerism in HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) and related disciplines that focuses on motivation to improve performance, but it does not account for volunteer wellbeing. Here, I investigate digital volunteerism in three case studies with a focus on volunteer motivation, engagement, and wellbeing. My research involved volunteers and others in the volunteering context to generate recommendations for a volunteer-centric design for digital volunteerism. The thesis has three aims: 1. To investigate motivational aspects critical for enhancing digital volunteers’ experiences 2. To identify digital platform attributes linked to volunteer wellbeing 3. To create guidelines for effectively supporting volunteer engagement in digital volunteering platforms In the first case study I investigate the design of a chat widget for volunteers working in an organisation with a view to develop a design that improves their workflow and wellbeing. The second case study investigates the needs, motivations, and wellbeing of volunteers who help medical students improve their medical communication skills. An initial mixed-methods study was followed by an experiment comparing two design strategies to improve volunteer relatedness; an important indicator of wellbeing. The third case study looks into volunteer needs, experiences, motivations, and wellbeing with a focus on volunteer identity and meaning-making on a science-based research platform. I then analyse my findings from these case studies using the lens of care ethics to derive critical insights for design. The key contributions of this thesis are design strategies and critical insights, and a volunteer-centric design framework to enhance the motivation, wellbeing and engagement of digital volunteers

    Southern Adventist University Undergraduate Catalog 2022-2023

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    Southern Adventist University\u27s undergraduate catalog for the academic year 2022-2023.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/undergrad_catalog/1121/thumbnail.jp

    Interdisciplinarity in the Scholarly Life Cycle

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    This open access book illustrates how interdisciplinary research develops over the lifetime of a scholar: not in a single project, but as an attitude that trickles down, or spirals up, into research. This book presents how interdisciplinary work has inspired shifts in how the contributors read, value concepts, critically combine methods, cope with knowledge hierarchies, write in style, and collaborate. Drawing on extensive examples from the humanities and social sciences, the editors and chapter authors show how they started, tried to open up, dealt with inconsistencies, had to adapt, and ultimately learned and grew as researchers. The book offers valuable insights into the conditions and complexities present for interdisciplinary research to be successful in an academic setting. This is an open access book

    Dialogue without barriers. A comprehensive approach to dealing with stuttering

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    Co-Creating with the Senses: Towards an Embodiment Grammar for Conceptualising Virtual Reality (VR) Narrative Design

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    This creative practice thesis comprises two components, a dissertation titled Co-Creating with the Senses: Towards an Embodiment Grammar for Conceptualising Virtual Reality (VR) Narrative Design and a creative work, The Recluse, a fictional VR script written in the Maria Vargas Immersive Play template, available through Final Draft. The advent of publicly available virtual reality (VR) technologies has led to the emergence of a new genre of storytelling, henceforth referred to as ‘VR narratives’. There has therefore been a need to articulate its defining grammar and to contribute insights born out of artistic experimentation in a scholarly field which until recently was dominated by scientific points of view. Employing a somaesthetics approach outlined by researcher Kristina Höök, the dissertation draws on a qualitative study into 10 VR narrative works in order to propose an embodiment grammar through which the art form may be conceptualised. The study’s findings, a group of eight embodied states organised into a framework, urge for the relenting of authorial control in order to instead frame affective potential, thus echoing a Deleuzian concept of the assemblage. In particular, the framework draws attention to the way that VR’s deeper affective dimensions may be elucidated by framing co-creation through the medium’s distinct sensory possibilities. As interest gathers in a future metaverse, the insights raised by the study are significant, with potential applications in a range of affective design contexts. The Recluse is my original contribution to this emerging art form and a case study through which to interrogate the framework’s findings. A mystery with supernatural elements, the VR script aims to communicate an experience that transports the participant to the world of Alma Cohen, a famous artist turned recluse, where they are invited to experience the strange occurrences in Alma’s life through their own embodied actions. The VR script explores the potential for intimate encounters with virtual characters and the sensory, co-creational and affective possibilities which arise through these dynamics. It highlights, following the framework, the way that more open structuring approaches are required in order to access the medium’s deeper affective possibilities and also the present technological constraints in achieving this

    What works in co-producing assistive technology solutions with older people: A scoping review of the evidence

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    Assistive technology for older people promises much, but the research evidence suggests that it delivers little. One hypothesis to explain the lack of positive impact is that assistive technology is often implemented with little involvement of older people or other stakeholders, such as family members or care staff. The suggestion is that co-production may ensure that assistive technology solutions are better tailored to people's needs, capacities and living situations. In this article, we review existing studies to examine what works in co-production in relation to processes of design and implementation of assistive technology for older people. Our results show a growing interest in co-production as an approach in this field, with a wide range of approaches being employed. We highlight a number of key lessons from the research, including key issues around who needs to be engaged in the co-production, as well as essential elements of the process itself. Our review suggests that there is considerable potential in using co-production to improve effectiveness of technological solutions to the challenges of age-related impairments. However, we also emphasise the need for more longitudinal research in this area, to examine whether such collaborative approaches can truly deliver the promise of assistive technology for older people

    Defining Dementia-Friendly Communities From the Perspective of Those Affected

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    More and more communities across the globe are pledging to become more dementia friendly, yet many initiatives lack direction as to what this pledge might entail. The intent of this qualitative study, conducted in the metropolitan area of Portland and several other cities in Oregon, was to better understand how communities can increase their dementia friendliness – from the perspective of people living with dementia and their care partners. The study further aimed to clarify if and how age- and dementia-friendly efforts can be integrated. Twenty-five community-dwelling individuals living with dementia and their 25 informal carers participated separately in semi-structured in-person interviews. The interview questions were centered on the participants\u27 day-to-day experiences, barriers to and opportunities for engaging in activities, and the interviewees\u27 thoughts on how communities might become more inclusive places for people affected by dementia. The analysis of the interviews yielded eight common themes constituting a conceptual framework of dementia friendliness that proved largely congruent with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) framework of age friendliness which served as the theoretical foundation for this research. Technology was added as an additional domain, and respite and peace of mind, as well as preserving self and identity were identified as important aspects interwoven with the nine domains. The results of this study can provide guidance for planning and implementing dementia-friendly initiatives and serve as foundation for a synergistic integration of dementia-friendly efforts into the greater context of age friendliness

    Art and Creativity for HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention, and Empowerment of Young People in Uganda

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    Art, youth engagement and informality in the context of HIV prevention have been generally ignored by most researchers and stakeholders within the HIV programming and policy arenas, thus silencing the plight of urban youth infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. In response, this thesis draws on the case of peri-urban settings of Kampala, Uganda to bring geographies of applied sculpture, HIV/AIDS prevention, and youth empowerment into dialogue, informed by the notions of art having the capacity to move beyond the spaces of galleries into an expanded field, and thus, beyond the visual and into the social spheres. In liaison with local NGOs (The Uganda AIDS Support Organisation - TASO, National Guidance and Empowerment Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS - NGEN+ and Lungujja Community based Health care Organisation – LUCOHECO, it adopts a mixed methodological approach, including applied art and participatory techniques - observation, video, storytelling, and interviews, to understand the lived experiences of young people (15-24 years) in marginalized spaces in Kampala. The thesis first examines the general context of using ethnography and applied social sculpture to explore every day experiences by facilitating the engagement of young people in open communication about the epidemic. This is intended to enable them to act in confronting stigma, taboos, and their precarious existence, while raising their awareness about HIV/AIDS. The thesis then explores the everyday precarious existence of young people in informal settings in Kampala. It proceeds to examine how workshops with these young people allowed collective engagement which, in turn, influenced the creation of artworks envisioned to act as communication tools for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS with the potential for livelihood benefits. Finally, the thesis examines young people’s active involvement in participatory workshops for HIV/AIDS prevention, providing ethnographic evidence regarding the artmaking process, the conversations that ensued as they worked, and the creation of applied objects/forms that enabled them to build their confidence to freely express about the precarities affecting their lives, countering taboos, and encouraging them to change their behaviours and practices while potentially acting as change agents in their own communities. It highlights the significance of stimulating open conversations about HIV/AIDS - as a starting point towards confronting stigma and other aspects of precarity, while advocating for the incorporation of the approach into practice by public health experts, policymakers, and development practitioners. The thesis shows the strengths of applied sculpture as an approach that has potential for making sense of ordinary everyday experiences, finding meaning and crafting clarity of young people’s lived experiences in the context of HIV/AIDS. It concludes that applied sculpture is potentially an important tool in tackling HIV/AIDS and its attendant problems by engendering and facilitating open conversations and social economic development through an engagement with the voices and agency of young people in Uganda and beyond

    Making friends with failure in STS

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