The ‘miracle’ of Fatima: Media framing and the regeneration of a Dublin housing estate

This article examines media coverage of one local authority housing estate in Dublin with a difficult past. Fatima Mansions was built between 1949 and 1951 as part of a government policy to re-house the city’s poor. The estate enjoyed a relatively unremarkable history up until the 1970s. A heroin problem developed in the estate in the 1980s and contributed to its negative media construction, such that by the end of the 1990s the estate was widely viewed as being in crisis. Beginning in the early 2000s and recently completed, a major regeneration project has seen the estate transformed with the potential finally to dislodge the negative stereotyping embedded in the estate’s past. An empirical analysis of two media spaces that represented this change process shows how the media tuned into the change agenda promoted by local residents, in the process widening its frame of reference and allowing for representations with a more positive valence. The article argues that media representations of social problems may not be authoritative and media agenda-setting is more provisional and open ended than is commonly assumed

The “miracle” of Fatima : Media Framing and the regeneration of a Dublin Housing Estate (NIRSA) Working Paper Series. No. 47

This paper examines media coverage of one local authority housing estate in Dublin city with a difficult past. Fatima Mansions was built in the late 1940s and enjoyed an unremarkable history up until the 1970s. A heroin problem developed in the estate in the 1980s and contributed to its negative media construction. Beginning at the end of the 1990s and continuing to the present, a regeneration project worked hard to dislodge earlier interpretations of the estate. A qualitative analysis of different media spaces that represented this change process shows how the media tuned into it and that earlier negative meaning-making in the late 1990s was later displaced by visual imagery, audio recordings and textual accounts with a more positive valence. The paper argues that media representations of social problems may not be authoritative and media agenda-setting is more provisional and open-ended than is commonly assumed

The analysis of coda clusters in Jizani Arabic: An OT perspective

This paper explains how native speakers of Jizani Arabic (henceforth, JA) treat final consonant clusters in superheavy syllables (CVCC) using a parallel Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993, 2004) to show how the theory can account for the cross-linguistic variations of coda clusters through the ranking of different constraints. JA is a Saudi dialect spoken in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia in Jizan city. It is common among many Saudi Arabic dialects like Najdi, Hijazi, Taifi and Qassimi that rising sonority in coda clusters is avoided by using vowel epenthesis to comply with the Sonority Sequencing Principle (henceforth, SSP), where there is no difference between nasals and liquids. However, in JA, we observe that vowel epenthesis occurs only if the last segment in CVCC is a liquid (/l/ or /ɾ/); for instance, /tʕifl/à [tʕifil] ‘child’ and /ħibɾ/à [ħibiɾ] ‘ink’. The vowel has been epenthesized because the last consonant in both examples is more sonorous than the preceding obstruents. However, the vowel will not be inserted if the final consonant is a nasal preceded by an obstruent; for instance, /laħm/à[laħm] ‘meat’ and /ɡutʕn/à[ɡutʕn] ‘cotton’. Although the universal sonority scale ranks nasals as more sonorous than obstruents, nasals in JA behave as they are equally sonorous as obstruents. In other words, nasals in this dialect group with stops and fricatives in the sonority scale

Sussex by the sea: a descriptive analysis of dialect variation in the South East of England based on English Dialect App data

Dialects in the South East of England are very often perceived as one homogenous mass, without much regional variation. Rosewarne introduced the notion of Estuary English and defined it as ‘variety of modified regional speech [ . . . ] a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation’ (Rosewarne, 1984). However, studies such as Przedlacka (2001) and Torgersen & Kerswill (2004) have shown that, at least on the phonetic level, distinct varieties exist. Nevertheless, very few studies have investigated language use in the South East and even fewer in the county of Sussex. It is often claimed that there is no distinct Sussex dialect (Coates, 2010: 29). Even in the earliest works describing the dialect of the area (Wright, 1903) there are suggestions that it cannot be distinguished from Hampshire in the west and Kent in the east

Evaluation of Centre for Global Education through Education project Report 2011

There is no abstract available for this item

Natural language processing in CLIME, a multilingual legal advisory system

This paper describes CLIME, a web-based legal advisory system with a multilingual natural language interface. clime is a 'proof-of-concept' system which answers queries relating to ship-building and ship-operating regulations. Its core knowledge source is a set of such regulations encoded as a conceptual domain model and a set of formalised legal inference rules. The system supports retrieval of regulations via the conceptual model, and assessment of the legality of a situation or activity on a ship according to the legal inference rules. The focus of this paper is on the natural language aspects of the system, which help the user to construct semantically complex queries using wysiwym technology, allow the system to produce extended and cohesive responses and explanations, and support the whole interaction through a hybrid synchronous/asynchronous dialogue structure. Multilinguality (English and French) is viewed simply as interface localisation: the core representations are languageneutral, and the system can present extended or local interactions in either language at any time. The development of clime featured a high degree of client involvement, and the specification, implementation and evaluation of natural language components in this context are also discussed

Alcohol prevention for school students: Results from a 1-year follow up of a cluster-randomised controlled trial of harm minimisation school drug education

Aims: The Drug Education in Victorian Schools (DEVS) programme taught about licit and illicit drugs over two years (2010–2011), with follow up in the third year (2012). It focussed on minimising harm and employed participatory, critical-thinking and skill-focussed pedagogy. This study evaluated the programme’s residual effectiveness at follow up in reducing alcohol-related risk and harm. Methods: A cluster-randomised, controlled trial was conducted with a student cohort during years eight (13–14 years old), nine (14–15 years old) and 10 (15–16 years old). Schools were randomly allocated to the DEVS programme (14 schools, n = 1163), or their usual drug education (7 schools, n = 589). Multi-level models were fitted to the data, which were analysed on an intent-to-treat basis. Statistically significant findings: Over the 3 years, there was a greater increase in intervention students’ knowledge about drugs, including alcohol. Their alcohol consumption did not increase as much as controls. Their alcohol-related harms decreased, while increasing for controls. There were fewer intervention group risky drinkers, and they reduced their consumption compared to controls. Similarly, harms decreased for intervention group risky drinkers, while increasing for controls. Conclusions: Skill-focussed, harm minimisation drug education can remain effective, subsequent to programme completion, in reducing students’ alcohol consumption and harm, even with risky drinkers

The impact of gender, socioeconomic status and locality on the development of student patterns of alcohol consumption and harm

Purpose. The consequences of problematic alcohol consumption fall heavily on Australian adolescents, with this population at increased risk of death, serious injury and other harm. Research regarding whether gender, socioeconomic status (SES) or locality play a role in young people’s alcohol consumption and related harm is limited in Australia. This study aimed to determine whether Victorian students’ patterns of alcohol uptake, consumption, and related harm differed between gender, SES and locality. Design/methodology/approach. The study involved secondary analysis of student data from the Drug Education in Victorian Schools (DEVS) harm minimization drug education program, undertaken in 21 Victorian government schools over three years The initial cohort of 1752 students was followed during years eight, nine and ten, when their average age would have respectively been 13, 14 and 15 years. Findings. There were no gender differences in drinking uptake, consumption or harm. Students with low SES were more likely to have consumed a full drink of alcohol and also experienced more alcohol related harm. Students living in a Regional/Rural area were more likely to have engaged in high alcohol consumption. Originality/value. The findings of this study highlighted that different student demographics have an impact on patterns of alcohol consumption, vulnerability and harm. Students with low SES, living in a Regional/Rural area, are more at risk than students with higher SES living in a Fringe Metro/Major Regional or Metro area. Future harm minimization drug education programs delivered in schools need toshould consider the needs of students with demographics that make them more susceptible to higher consumption and harm

Drug education in victorian schools (DEVS): the study protocol for a harm reduction focused school drug education trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study seeks to extend earlier Australian school drug education research by developing and measuring the effectiveness of a comprehensive, evidence-based, harm reduction focused school drug education program for junior secondary students aged 13 to 15 years. The intervention draws on the recent literature as to the common elements in effective school curriculum. It seeks to incorporate the social influence of parents through home activities. It also emphasises the use of appropriate pedagogy in the delivery of classroom lessons.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A cluster randomised school drug education trial will be conducted with 1746 junior high school students in 21 Victorian secondary schools over a period of three years. Both the schools and students have actively consented to participate in the study. The education program comprises ten lessons in year eight (13-14 year olds) and eight in year nine (14-15 year olds) that address issues around the use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drugs. Control students will receive the drug education normally provided in their schools. Students will be tested at baseline, at the end of each intervention year and also at the end of year ten. A self completion questionnaire will be used to collect information on knowledge, patterns and context of use, attitudes and harms experienced in relation to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drug use. Multi-level modelling will be the method of analysis because it can best accommodate hierarchically structured data. All analyses will be conducted on an Intent-to-Treat basis. In addition, focus groups will be conducted with teachers and students in five of the 14 intervention schools, subsequent to delivery of the year eight and nine programs. This will provide qualitative data about the effectiveness of the lessons and the relevance of the materials.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The benefits of this drug education study derive both from the knowledge gained by trialling an optimum combination of innovative, harm reduction approaches with a large, student sample, and the resultant product. The research will provide better understanding of what benefits can be achieved by harm reduction education. It will also produce an intervention, dealing with both licit and illicit drug use that has been thoroughly evaluated in terms of its efficacy, and informed by teacher and student feedback. This makes available to schools a comprehensive drug education package with prevention characteristics and useability that are well understood.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): <a href="http://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12612000079842.aspx">ACTRN12612000079842</a></p