Dance ‘Becoming’ Knowledge

International audienceIn this article we discuss the possibility of presenting the unique qualities of ‘the body’ in contemporary dance practice through tailored digital choreographic objects. We reflect on some implications of abstraction in cognitive science, and on ‘the body’ as a site of exploration and knowledge in the realm of social, moral, and relational being

Altering micro-environments to change population health behaviour: towards an evidence base for choice architecture interventions.

BACKGROUND: The idea that behaviour can be influenced at population level by altering the environments within which people make choices (choice architecture) has gained traction in policy circles. However, empirical evidence to support this idea is limited, especially its application to changing health behaviour. We propose an evidence-based definition and typology of choice architecture interventions that have been implemented within small-scale micro-environments and evaluated for their effects on four key sets of health behaviours: diet, physical activity, alcohol and tobacco use. DISCUSSION: We argue that the limitations of the evidence base are due not simply to an absence of evidence, but also to a prior lack of definitional and conceptual clarity concerning applications of choice architecture to public health intervention. This has hampered the potential for systematic assessment of existing evidence. By seeking to address this issue, we demonstrate how our definition and typology have enabled systematic identification and preliminary mapping of a large body of available evidence for the effects of choice architecture interventions. We discuss key implications for further primary research, evidence synthesis and conceptual development to support the design and evaluation of such interventions. SUMMARY: This conceptual groundwork provides a foundation for future research to investigate the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions within micro-environments for changing health behaviour. The approach we used may also serve as a template for mapping other under-explored fields of enquiry

Poverty Alleviation: The Mission of Education

AT the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held in September 2000, all 191 member states unanimously adopted an action plan aimed at reducing the global poverty level by half by 2015 (using the 1990 level as a reference). The action plan promised to reduce the proportions of the world’s population with a daily income of less than one US dollar and those who suffer from hunger by half by the end of 2015, and to reduce the proportion of people who cannot obtain or afford safe drinking water by the same date. It aimed to ensure that by the same date, children from all over the world, regardless of gender, can complete all elementary school courses, and that boys and girls have equal opportunities to receive all levels of education. The action plan also promised to spare no effort to help more than one billion men, women and children around the world get rid of the miserable and indignant state of extreme poverty, and eventually realize the right of individual development, so that all mankind can avoid the situation of lacking