Bridging cultural heritage and communities through digital technologies: Understanding perspectives and challenges

We present and discuss the results of a qualitative study aimed at identifying what role interactive digital technologies could play in facilitating the participation of communities at risk of exclusion (particularly migrants and refugees) in cultural and heritage-related activities. Culture and heritage are known to be key factors in fostering social inclusion, and this has the potential for contributing to both the wellbeing of these communities and to cultural institutions themselves. Through surveys and interviews with two cohorts of participants (cultural heritage professionals and community facilitators), we gathered insights about their perspectives on how ICT tools could support their work with and for communities, as well as the challenges they face. This work sheds light on the opportunities and barriers surrounding the use of digital technologies for participation in the cultural heritage sector, which is timely due to the increasing focus on grassroots and community-led heritage initiatives and to the growing body of work on participatory ICT in disciplines such as human-computer interaction and community informatics

Research relationships between the South and the North: Cinderella and the ugly sisters?

There has been an increase in the size and range of North-South health research partnerships since the 1990s. Current literature tends to stress the need for partnership and associated principles, but recognises the difficult context of structural inequality and historical legacies. Critics point to continuing neo-colonialist attitudes to research, which are unhelpful for the development of mutually beneficial collaborations. Such dynamics have parallels with the European folktale of Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters, the latter using their advantage of wealth and position to exploit their step-sister. Little literature is available on how to address this situation for the principles of partnership to be integrated into project design, implementation and dissemination. This article examines processes and dynamics within North-South collaborations in health research through two different case studies presented from Northern perspectives. Each case study focuses on distinct aspects of research collaborations. The first, a North-South partnership project in Bangladesh, highlights issues of capacity building, use of data and publications. The second case, a Doctoral study in Thailand, examines the reliance on contributions by Southern partners, responsibility to the local setting and the practice of reciprocity. The article then turns to Southern researchers' reflections, explored in semi-structured interviews, on themes identified by Northern researchers as important concerns in research collaborations. The authors conclude that advantage should be taken of the fact that Southern and Northern colleagues often share similar values regarding research collaborations, but difficulties exist in implementation partly due to historically rooted and current inequalities. Practical arrangements are suggested which may help to address the commonly assumed roles of the North as 'provider' of funding and ideas, and of the South as 'receiver' in an environment with little scope for action.North-South research partnerships Neo-colonialism Capacity building Authorship Dissemination Reciprocity

Female-Breadwinner Families in Germany: New Gender Roles?

Female breadwinning has recently gained in significance in Germany. This article examines the extent to which female breadwinning is linked to new gender roles, and the impacts the role reversal may have on families' everyday lives. Qualitative interviews with female breadwinners living in Western Germany were conducted to explore families' ways of doing gender and doing family as an interrelated process. The research examined, first, the female-breadwinner families’ division of employment and domestic labor and second, the relationship between individual gender self-concepts and factual income arrangements. Some examples of modernization of gender roles and arrangements in everyday life in female-breadwinner families were found, but traditional gender concepts and practices prevailed. The families achieved doing family results comparable to couples with other breadwinning arrangements, but this demanded extraordinary efforts. We reconstructed "practices of normalization," which couples used to reassure themselves and others of their "normalness" despite their gender-atypical roles

Nutzerakzeptanz von Aktiven Gefahrenbremsungen bei statischen Zielen: Nutzerakzeptanz von Aktiven Gefahrenbremsungen beistatischen Zielen

Durch das I-FAS der TU Chemnitz wurde im Rahmen des AKTIV-Projektes eine Probandenstudie zur Akzeptanz von Systemausprägungen einer Aktiven Gefahrenbremsung (AGB) bei PKW durchgeführt. Unter Verwendung eines stehenden Hindernisses wurden sechs Systemausprägungen verglichen, die von den AGB-Partnern in zwei Versuchsträger implementiert wurden. Die sechs Systemausprägungen werden nahezu identisch bewertet, solange Probanden keine Vergleichsmöglichkeit zu anderen Systemausprägungen haben. Wenn es zu einem Fahrereingriff kommt, ist der Eingriffszeitpunkt des Fahrers unabhängig von der gefahrenen Systemausprägung