1,460 research outputs found
Community Arts: Sustainability in Austerity
The aim of the research project about which this document reports was to explore some of the ways in which three case study community-based organisations in Norwich â and especially those with either a current or previously significant involvement in arts activity â have been affected by the current period of financial austerity
"A step into the abyss" Transmedia in the UK Games and Television Industries
This article uses a media industries studies perspective to investigate the current state of transmedia production in the UK. Analysing the discursive statements of a range of industry participants from both UK television and games industries, the article reveals a series of contradictions and misunderstandings that may be limiting the effectiveness of multi-platform projects. By comparing overlapping discursive patterns around attitudes to risk, measures of success, authorship between the two industries, and repeated concerns over the balance of creative and commercial imperatives, the article argues that existing hierarchies of power between media industries threaten to derail future convergence
MÄori farming trusts - A preliminary scoping investigation into the governance and management of large dairy farm businesses.
This preliminary scoping study investigates areas for possible improvement in the governance and management of large MÄori dairy farm businesses. Building on the innovative practices of their tĆ«puna â including Rawiri Taiwhanga, the countryâs first commercial dairy farmer â MÄori are defining their own aspirations, realities and goals in the dairy farming world (Durie 1998, 2000). This report outlines these, and their accompanying challenges, as expressed by individuals and collectives currently engaged in MÄori Dairy farm businesses.
The MÄori way of doing business is described in this study as having a âQuadruple Bottom Line of Profit, People, Environment and Communityâ business objectives. More specifically, âMÄori farms often have an inverted Quadruple Bottom Line. People, Environment and their Community often come before ProfitâŠ.but without Profit none of it happens.â
MÄori strategic plans and business values place emphasis on relationships, responsibilities, reciprocity and respect. These are exemplars of a MÄori world-view, which explicitly acknowledges particular historic and cultural contexts (Tapsell and Woods 2010).
The strategic management plans of the MÄori Farming Trusts illustrate the spiral or matrix of values âHe korunga o nga tikangaâ envisaged by Nicholson, HÄnare and Woods (2012). They prioritise the development of social capital to create competitive advantage. Such strategic plans reflect MÄori vision and aspirations. These are to sustain and grow the land base; to provide leadership and guidance for the whÄnau; to develop capacity and resources within the Trusts and to perform better as businesses.DairyNZ Ltd, Ministry for Primary Industries (NZ
Smaller scale New Zealand dairy farmers: long term plans and key challenges
Farmer wellbeing has been defined as âa dynamic process that gives people a sense of how their lives are evolvingâ (Nimpagariste & Culver, 2010). In order to support and enhance the wellbeing of farmers in New Zealand, the farmersâ goals, future plans and challenges to their plans all need to be understood. A particular group of interest is smaller scale dairy farmers. The average size of dairy farms in developed agricultural nations is increasing and New Zealand is no different. A high proportion (62%) of NZ dairy herds are smaller scale, milking less than 400 cows at peak. Their wellbeing, now and in the future, is important to the New Zealand dairy industry as a whole. Consequently, the aim of this study is to develop an understanding of smaller-scale dairy farmersâ future goals, plans and challenges so that recommendations can be made to enhance and support their wellbeing in the future.
Farms who peak milked less than 400 cows were surveyed via telephone. A total of 346 surveys were completed, in Taranaki (n=103), the Waikato (n=144) and Northland (n=99). The majority of respondentsâ were owner-operators (75%), male (67%), born and bred in a rural area (79%), and between 40 and 60 years old (57%). Overall, the mean farm size was 97ha, with 240 cows producing 86,789kgMS with 0.83 of a full time employee. Respondentsâ had high (67%) equity levels in their businesses and a third (35%) had non-farming investments. Farmersâ most likely future investments were related to their current farming business, that is reducing debt to very low levels and increasing production by more than 10%.
Based on farmers future plans and challenges reported and discussed in this study, it is clear the smaller scale dairy farmers would like knowledge and assistance in five key areas; succession, regulation and compliance, staff, technology and cash-flow/profitability. This report concludes with suggestions for each of these areas, which has the potential to maintain or increase the wellbeing of smaller scale dairy farmers in New Zealand. [Executive summary]DairyNZ Ltd, Ministry for Primary Industry (NZ
Understanding the Cultural Value of 'In Harmony-Sistema England'
This research project on which this paper reports was designed to explore questions of cultural value in relation to the schools music project In Harmony-Sistema England. Our core research focus has been upon the ways in which children, their teachers and tutors, and their families understand the value of their participation in IHSE initiatives. The project engaged with three case studies of IHSE initiatives (based in Norwich, Telford and Newcastle) and qualitative data was gathered with primary school children, school staff, parents and IHSE musicians in all three cases
Fandom and beyond: online community, culture and Kevin Smith fandom
Fan studies literature has frequently been pervaded by the prevailing assumptions of what constitutes âfansâ and their associated activities: fan art or fantext, cosplay, conjecture, activism â the things that fans supposedly do by definition âare those to which scholarly attention has most been paid. Yet the assumption that fandom can be defined by such explicit practices can be dangerous because of the subjective nature of respective fan cultures. Presenting a fan culture that questions the âassumedâ nature of fandom and fan practices, this thesis is an examination of the fans of filmmaker and comedian Kevin Smith, investigating the ways in which community members negotiate and categorise their fandom and relationships with both each other and a communicative, media-literate producer.
Since 1995, the View Askew Message Board has provided a dialogical, communicative platform for fans of Kevin Smith to define themselves as a collective group â or more frequently â a community. Through autoethnographic discussion, as well as qualitative research conducted both
online and in person, this examination of users of the Board considers the nature of audience-producer relations, the intersection between on- and offline fannish and communal practices, and the extent to which the identity of âKevin Smith fanâ can be attributed within alternate contexts of fan productivity and (non) communal practice.
Contextualised by ongoing scholar-fan debate (Hills 2002; Gray et al. 2011), this thesis interrogates notions of fan practice, community, and classification, proposing further methodological and ethical considerations of the research of both explicit and implicit âfannishâ practices. Through a netnographic framework (Kozinets 2010), this thesis is able to present a participatory approach to the study of online cultures, looking at how producer and fans simultaneously inhabit and inform the same cultural sphere, and how such
practices help to inform a communityâs perception of their own fan culture
Pathways to Higher Education
Presents case studies from Ford's initiative to support efforts to transform universities abroad to enable poor, minority, and otherwise underrepresented students to obtain a university degree. Outlines selected best practices from grantees
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