101 research outputs found
Media Research and Psychoanalysis: A Suggestion
This short commentary outlines psychoanalysis as a theory and method and its potential value to media research. Following Dahlgren (2013), it is suggested that psychoanalysis may enrich the field because it may offer a complex theory of the human subject, as well as methodological means of doing justice to the richness, ambivalence and contradictions of human experience. The psychoanalytic technique of free association and how it has been adapted in social research (Hollway and Jefferson 2000) is suggested as a means to open up subjective modes of expression and thinking â in researchers and research participants alike â that lie beyond rationality and conscious agency
A Hybrid Learning Space for Physically-Active Mathematics: the case of Numberfit
This paper presents the case study of an intervention called
Numberfit that aims at capturing primarily studentsâ interest in mathematics by combining team games and physical activity. We describe
the hybrid learning space that is created through this approach that
includes an online platform that allows the teachers and facilitators to
design a lesson plan, input student scores and visualise a leaderboard. At
the same time, various digital and tangible resources engage students in
group (collaborative or competitive) activities while practising a range of
topics in mathematics. We examine the changing role of the teacher and
provide some methodological insights for conducting research in relation
to studentâs affect, motivation and behaviour in this context
Towards a new theory of practice for community health psychology
The article sets out the value of theorizing collective action from a social science perspective that engages with the messy actuality of practice. It argues that community health psychology relies on an abstract version of Paulo Freireâs earlier writing, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which provides scholar-activists with a âmapâ approach to collective action. The article revisits Freireâs later work, the Pedagogy of Hope, and argues for the importance of developing a âjourneyâ approach to collective action. Theories of practice are discussed for their value in theorizing such journeys, and in bringing maps (intentions) and journeys (actuality) closer together
Translational challenges and opportunities in biofilm science:a BRIEF for the future
Biofilms are increasingly recognised as a critical global issue in a multitude of industries impacting health, food and water security, marine sector, and industrial processes resulting in estimated economic cost of $5 trillion USD annually. A major barrier to the translation of biofilm science is the gap between industrial practices and academic research across the biofilms field. Therefore, there is an urgent need for biofilm research to notice and react to industrially relevant issues to achieve transferable outputs. Regulatory frameworks necessarily bridge gaps between different players, but require a clear, science-driven non-biased underpinning to successfully translate research. Here we introduce a 2-dimensional framework, termed the Biofilm Research-Industrial Engagement Framework (BRIEF) for classifying existing biofilm technologies according to their level of scientific insight, including the understanding of the underlying biofilm system, and their industrial utility accounting for current industrial practices. We evidence the BRIEF with three case studies of biofilm science across healthcare, food & agriculture, and wastewater sectors highlighting the multifaceted issues around the effective translation of biofilm research. Based on these studies, we introduce some advisory guidelines to enhance the translational impact of future research
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Everyday life and environmental change
This paper explores how daily changes in the physical environment intersect and connect with peopleâs everyday lives, routines and practices in the Maldives. Day-to-day life is often regarded as mundane and ordinary, and therefore not particularly worthy of study. As this paper argues, however, the everyday is central to understanding how environmental change occurs and how people respond to it. Much recent work has challenged the ontological separation of the human and non-human, yet approaches to examining environment-everyday connections have, to date, been largely one-directional, focusing on either how the environment impacts on human practices or is impacted by them. Using the notion of the everyday, this paper explores how âimpacting onâ and âimpacted byâ are entangled, ongoing cyclical processes that unfold daily. It draws on a series of innovative methodologies conducted with island-based communities to examine three keys changes in the physical environment that are taking place in the context of the recent and rapid development of tourism on inhabited islands: sand excavation and erosion, the appearance and removal of rubbish and debris, and the expansion of the built environment. The paper reveals the significance of these day-to-day changes and the ways in which they are accommodated by, and incorporated into, the spatial and temporal dimensions of peopleâs daily practices. It concludes by suggesting that an appreciation of the everyday can contribute to new understandings of human/non-human entanglements
"The Great Event of the Fortnightâ: Steamship Rhythms and Colonial Communication
This paper engages with Tim Cresswellâs âcontellations of mobilityâ in order to contribute some understanding of historical maritime rhythms. The empirical focus is upon a steamship mail service in the post-emancipation Caribbean. In examining this communications network, it is stressed that while those managing the network valorised predictable efficiency, âfrictionâ was prized by mercantile groups at the steamersâ ports of call. Thus, the different aspects of mobility signified differently across the network, and this historical case study reinforces the resonance of slowness and stoppage time. The synchronisation of steamship arrivals with sociocultural norms in the Caribbean colonies also necessitated the adaptation of mail service rhythms. Through a focus on shipping operations, this paper proposes to temper our understanding of the role of steamship technology in empire. The influence of colonies on the metropole encompassed an alteration of the rhythms of imperial circulation, and it is within the maritime arena that these realities came into sharp focus
Aesthetic Perspectives on Urban Technologies : Conceptualizing and Evaluating the Technology-Driven Changes in the Urban Everyday Experience
The pervasiveness of technology has undeniably changed the way the urban everyday is structured and experienced. Understanding the deep impact of this development on the everyday experience and its foundational aesthetic components is needed in order to determine how the skills and capacities to cope with the change, as well as to steer it, can be improved. Urban technology solutions â how they are defined, applied and used â are changing the sphere of everyday experience for urban dwellers. Philosophical and applied approaches to urban aesthetics offer perspectives to understand technologically mediated sensory experiences within the urban realm. This chapter shows how new urban technologies act as an agent of change within the familiar urban environment. We outline how the perspective of philosophical aesthetics can be used to understand urban technologies and their role in the constitution of everyday urban lifeworlds.The pervasiveness of technology has changed the way urban everyday is structured and experienced. An understanding of the deep impact of this development on everyday experience and its foundational aesthetic components is necessary in order to determine how skills and capacities can be improved in coping with such change, as well as managing it. Urban technology solutions â how they are defined, applied and used â are changing the sphere of everyday experience for urban dwellers. Philosophical and applied approaches to urban aesthetics offer perspectives on understanding technologically mediated sensory experiences within the urban realm. This chapter shows how new urban technologies act as an agent of change within the familiar urban environment. We outline how the perspective of philosophical aesthetics can be used to understand urban technologies and their role in the constitution of everyday urban lifeworlds.Peer reviewe
'It's just superstition I suppose ... I've always done something on game day': The construction of everyday life on a university basketball team
Research in sport has tended to focus on âspectacularâ or âextra-ordinaryâ experiences, at the expense of discussing how particular phenomena are embedded in everyday life. Drawing on ethnographic research with a university basketball team in the North of England, this article considers the meanings that amateur players attach to basketball and how such meanings go beyond their participation in competitive games. Analysis reveals the rhythms and rituals which are hugely important in determining the playersâ sense of self. It also highlights the carnivalesque celebrations which allow the players to temporarily disrupt the status quo and experiment with alternative identities. In conclusion, it is argued that the meaning of sport should not be seen as rigid, determining and predictable, but rather a creative experience that is largely dependent on the subjective appropriation of time and place
Rethinking therapeutic strategies in cancer: wars, fields, anomalies and monsters
This article argues that the excessive focus on cancer as an insidious living defect that needs to be destroyed has obscured the fact that cancer develops inside human beings. Therefore, in order to contribute to debates about new cancer therapies, we argue that it is important to gain a broader understanding of what cancer is and how it might be otherwise. First, in order to reframe the debate, we utilize Pierre Bourdieuâs field analysis in order to gain a stronger understanding of the structure of the (sub)field of cancer research. In doing so, we are able to see that those in a dominant position in the field, with high levels of scientific capital at their disposal, are in the strongest position to determine the type of research that is carried out and, more significantly, how cancer is perceived. Field analysis enables us to gain a greater understanding of the complex interplay between the field of science (and, more specifically, the subfield of cancer research) and broader sources of power. Second, we draw attention to new possible ways of understanding cancer in its evolutionary context. One of the problems facing cancer research is the narrow time frame within which cancer is perceived: the lives of cancer cells are considered from the moment the cells initially change. In contrast, the approach put forward here requires a different way of thinking: we take a longer view and consider cancer as a living entity, with cancer perceived as anomalous rather than abnormal. Third, we theorize the possibility of therapeutic strategies that might involve the redirection (rather than the eradication) of cancer cells. This approach also necessitates new ways of perceiving cancer
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