The WWW Prototype of the Alexandria Digital Library

The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) is focussed on providing broad access to distributed collections of spatially-indexed information. ADL has a four-component architecture involving collections, catalog, interfaces, and ingest facilities. The first stage in the construction of ADL resulted in the design and implementation of a rapid prototype (RP) system. The second stage, which is described in this paper, involves an expansion of the functionality of the RP and its extension to the World-Wide-Web (WWW). We describe issues arising in each of the components of the architecture in extending the library to WWW as well as our current resolution of these issues. We also discuss an extension of the class of supportable queries to include simple, contentbased queries involving geographic "features" and image textures. The metadata of ADL has been extended to include gazetteer information supporting the first class of extended queries. We discuss image processing and parallel computing sup..

Learning with Mobiles in Developing Countries: Technology, Language, and Literacy

In the countries of the global South, the challenges of fixed infrastructure and environment, the apparent universality of mobile hardware, software and network technologies and the rhetoric of the global knowledge economy have slowed or impoverished the development of appropriate theoretical discourses to underpin learning with mobiles. This paper addresses one specific and fundamental component of such discourses, namely the role of language and literacy as they interact with mobile technology. The paper makes three points, that mobile technology is culturally and linguistically specific, not universal or culturally-neutral; that mobile technology does not merely store and transmit language(s) and literacy within communities, it disturbs and transforms them, and that the digital literacy agenda that might underpin learning with mobiles has not yet been developed in relation to mobile technology or in relation to the global South. These are the foundations of understanding learning with mobiles in the global South

Indigenous Cultural Knowledge for Therapeutic Landscape Design

The meanings of place and the relationship between place and health have culturally specific dimensions. This is of particular importance for indigenous people and communities as often regarding landscape as part of a circle of life, establishing a holistic perspective about health and wellbeing. The indigenous Māori of Aotearoa/New Zealand contend that their relationship with the land shapes how the cultural, spiritual, emotional, physical, and social wellbeing of people and communities are expressed. Few studies have explored the influence of the cultural beliefs and values on health, in particular the intricate link between land and health. This chapter broadens the understanding of therapeutic landscapes through the exploration of specific cultural dimensions. It contributes to the expanding body of research focusing on the role of therapeutic landscapes and their role in shaping health, through the development of new research methods