Action Pending: Four Years on from the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006

The granting of official language status to New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) through the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006 (NZSL Act 2006) is unusual in terms of the status of signed languages around the world. Many governments have accorded various forms of recognition to a signed language, but no others appear to have granted it official language status.  Language policy makes and promotes certain choices about language use at a particular socio-historical moment; such decisions thus have social and political meaning to the minority community and to wider society.  What motivated the government to recognise NZSL as an official language, and what has been achieved by it? Did cross-party support for this Act signal societal commitment to linguistic diversity and equity? Or did the negligible material implications of the Act ensure its approval by politicians as a compensatory gesture towards a disadvantaged community? This article critically examines the aims, provisions, and impacts of the NZSL Act 2006, and reports data from two recent surveys of stakeholders about priorities for further action to realise the purpose of the Act

Going Through the Motions: Participation in Interpreter-mediated Meeting Interaction Under a Deaf and a Hearing Chairperson

In multiparty meetings involving deaf and hearing participants, sign language interpreters are tasked to render talk ‘accessible’ to all by mediating differences across languages, modalities, interactional norms, and cultural statuses (Roy, 1989, 1993; Mindess, 1999; Van Herreweghe, 2002). Although this context of work is relatively common for interpreters, their practices and the interactional outcomes for participants are under-researched. This case study compares chairing and meeting practices under a deaf chairperson and a hearing chairperson, respectively. The impact of chairing on interpretability and deaf participation are discussed. An interactional sociolinguistics framework informs analysis of meeting data and retrospective participant interviews. Analysis shows that deaf participation is qualitatively different and experienced as more accessible under the deaf chairperson due to temporal alignment with the deaf chair, reduced conflict between visual inputs, and more confidence to clarify information and bid for turns. Interactional features that limit or enhance deaf participation are worthy of attention by interpreters and regular participants of interpreter-mediated meetings

Orchestrating Literacies:Print Literacy Learning Opportunities Within Multimodal Intergenerational Ensembles

This exploratory case study considered the opportunities for print literacy learning within multimodal ensembles that featured art, singing, and digital media within the context of an intergenerational program that brought together 13 kindergarten children (4 and 5 years) with 7 elder companions. Study questions concerned how reading and writing were practiced within multimodal ensembles and what learning opportunities were afforded the children while the participants worked through a chain of multimodal projects. Data were collected through ethnographic tools in the Rest Home where the projects were completed and in the children’s classroom where project content and tools were introduced and extended by the classroom teacher. Themes were identified through the juxtaposition of field texts in a multimodal analysis. Results indicate that the multimodality of the projects and the reciprocal intergenerational relationships forged in and through text-making afforded children opportunities to improvise and refine their print literacy practices as part of multimodal ensembles. The study is designed to contribute to the nascent, yet growing body of knowledge concerning print literacy practices and learning opportunities as conceptualized within multimodal literacy and intergenerational curricula

iPads and Paintbrushes: An Exploratory Case Study of Integrating Digital Media as Placed Resources into an Intergenerational Art Class

This exploratory case study integrated digital media as placed resources into an intergenerational art class. Its goals were to generate knowledge of how to bring young children and elders together to expand their opportunities for meaning making and seeing themselves in affirming ways so as to generate transferable understanding of digitally-enhanced multimodal curricula across the lifespan. Participants included 15 elders and 9 pre-schoolers. Focusing on how the digital media were used and with what implications for participants’ literacy and identity options as well as relationship building, data were collected through ethnographic methods, and a qualitative thematic analysis with multimodal elements was conducted. The study found that the digital media were used in tangent with non-digital media for the creation of digital portfolios, digital text-making, and teacher- and participant-led referencing for text-making. Findings suggest that the integration of digital media enhanced literacy options by providing new tools for meaning-making and expanded identity options by highlighting achievements and promoting intergenerational relationships. The study contributes to literatures concerning literacy curriculum and practices across the life course

The Planning of In-game Sponsored Events and Promotional Activities in Professional Sports

Marketing and promotion have been used in sports for years to help market and support the games and teams. However, the use of promotions during the game to endorse sponsors and their products or services is becoming more common. Marketing and promotion directors for sports teams are utilizing this important tool to connect with fans and add value to the overall experience of the game. They are using breaks in the games for sponsored activities that retain the fans’ attention and keep them entertained while promoting that sponsor’s product. This thesis contributes to the development of promotional planning in professional sports. In particular, it gathers research and data on the subject and offers insight into the growing importance of in-game promotions in sports. Information was collected from sports organizations along with other research that led to conclusions about the growing importance and use of promotional activities and sponsored events. It also discusses the processes and tools used to execute successful promotions. This paper gives an in-depth exploration of the planning and implementation of sponsored events and promotional activities used during games to promote a sponsor’s product. It also examines the effectiveness of promotions as they become a more prevalent part of sports marketing

Singing Our Song: The Affordances of Singing in an Intergenerational, Multimodal Literacy Program

This exploratory case study examined singing as a multimodal literacy practice within ensembles that featured art, singing and digital media produced in an intergenerational program that served a class of kindergarten children and community elders. The program that was set up by the study in collaboration with a rural school and home for seniors, saw participants meet one afternoon a week for most of a school year. Study questions concerned the meaning making and relationship-building opportunities afforded to the participants as they worked through chains of multimodal projects. Data were collected using ethnographic tools in the seniors’ home where the projects were completed and in the kindergarten where project content and tools were introduced to the children and extended by the classroom teacher. Themes were identified through the juxtaposition of field texts in relation to the literature and study questions. Results indicate that singing provided opportunities for participants to form relationships and share meaning making as a group while combining modes. Study findings forward the communicative power of singing and suggest how singing, when viewed through a multimodal lens might be a potent tool for multimodal literacy learning

Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: quasi-natural experiment of Europe's great recessions 2004–2012

Food insecurity rose sharply in Europe after 2009, but marked variation exists across countries and over time.We test whether social protection programs protected people from food insecurity arising from economic hardship across Europe. Data on household food insecurity covering 21 EU countries from 2004 to 2012 were taken from Eurostat 2015 edition and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Cross-national first difference models were used to evaluate how rising unemployment and declining wages related to changes in the prevalence of food insecurity and the role of social protection expenditure in modifying observed effects. Economic hardship was strongly associated with greater food insecurity. Each 1 percentage point rise in unemployment rates was associated with an estimated 0.29 percentage point rise in food insecurity (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.49). Similarly, each $1000 decreases in annual average wages was associated with a 0.62 percentage point increase in food insecurity (95$1000 spent per capita reduced the associations of rising unemployment and declining wages with food insecurity by 0.05 percentage points (95% CI:−0.10 to−0.0007) and 0.10 (95% CI:−0.18 to−0.006), respectively. The estimated effects of economic hardship on food insecurity became insignificantwhen countries spent more than $10,000 per capita on social protection. Rising unemployment and falling wages are strong statistical determinants of increasing food insecurity, but at high levels of social protection, these associations could be prevented

Textual analysis of sugar industry influence on the World Health Organization’s 2015 sugars intake guideline

Objective To determine whether sugar industry-related organizations influenced textual changes between the draft and final versions of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) 2015 guideline Sugars intake for adults and children. Methods Stakeholder consultation submissions on the draft guideline from seven sugar industry-related and 10 public health organizations were assessed using the Wordscores program. Document scores were rescaled using the Martin–Vanberg transformation to improve comparability. Draft and final guidelines were compared to identify changes influenced by the sugar industry and public health organizations. Findings There was a small shift in transformed Wordscores score between the draft and final guidelines, from 0.25 to 0.24, towards the industry position. The change was linked to increased use of the word “low” to describe the quality of the evidence, consistent with industry arguments. There was also a shift from use of the word “consumption” to “intake”, irrespective of policy position. Scores for World Sugar Research Organisation and Sugar Nutrition UK submissions ( 0.11 and 0.18, respectively) represented strong pro-industry positions and scores for European Public Health Alliance and Wemos submissions (1.00 and 0.88, respectively) represented the strongest public health positions. Industry tactics included challenging the quality of the evidence, distinguishing between different types of sugar and advocating harm reduction. Conclusion There was little change between draft and final versions of the WHO sugars intake guideline 2015, following industry consultation. The main change was linked to emphasizing the low quality of the evidence on sugar’s adverse effects. Guideline development appeared relatively resistant to industry influence at the stakeholder consultation stage

The Eyes Have It! Our Third Official Language: New Zealand Sign Language

The article discusses the background, scope and likely impact of the third official language in New Zealand - the New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), which was established in April 2006. The Deaf community has struggled to exercise their citizenship and fought for and managed to succeed in making NZSL as an official language

Austerity and health: the impact in the UK and Europe

Austerity measures—reducing social spending and increasing taxation—hurts deprived groups the most. Less is known about the impact on health. In this short review, we evaluate the evidence of austerity’s impact on health, through two main mechanisms: a ‘social risk effect’ of increasing unemployment, poverty, homelessness and other socio-economic risk factors (indirect), and a ‘healthcare effect’ through cuts to healthcare services, as well as reductions in health coverage and restricting access to care (direct). We distinguish those impacts of economic crises from those of austerity as a response to it. Where possible, data from across Europe will be drawn upon, as well as more extensive analysis of the UK’s austerity measures performed by the authors of this review