Photovoice: A Participatory Methodology by Counselor Researchers for Capturing Minor Client’s Perceptions and Experiences as Reflections of Their Self-Concepts

In-depth exploration on children’s self-concept is crucial because self-concept is able to show how a person thinks about, evaluates or perceives themselves. Children’s self-concept has largely been perceived through the adult’s lenses whereby previous research with children has fundamentally been on children due to them being viewed as inadequate and incomplete therefore unreliable sources. However, this view of childhood has changed with the emergence of the ‘new social studies of childhood’ and the children’s right discourse (the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, 1989; the Children’s Act, 2004). Children are now viewed as social actors who are ‘experts’ on their own lives with a competence to communicate a unique insight into their experiences and perspectives. Therefore appropriate approaches to include children’s viewpoints are necessary. This paper discusses the concept, methodology, benefits and ethics consideration in using Photovoice to investigate children’s self-concepts. Photovoice is a participatory research methodology with children where children take their own photographs to be used later to elicit discussion or dialogue, enabling their ‘voice’ to be heard. Their own photographs are probably more likely to capture what matters to them thus may yield a more accurate reflection of their self-concepts. A few self-concept theories, development of a concept of self, and self-concept of components are also discussed. In addition, recommendations for future research are suggested

Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a Framework to Understand Children's Play with Digital Technologies. In: paper presented at 1st Malaysia International Counselling Conference " Best Practices for Best Practitioners in Counselling Services:29-31 October 2014, Hilton Hotel , Kuching Sarawak.

This paper aims to introduce Engeström’s CHAT to ccounsellors working with minor clients addicted to digital technologies. The paper adiscusses the application of CHAT as a framework to understand the cultural and historical factors involved in an to inform the current dialogue on children’s ‘addiction’ to gadgets as tools for play. CHAT is able to clarify the root of ‘cognition and emotional disturbances’ in the thinking system of children’s addiction behaviour. Blame seems to fall solely on these digital tools without examining the social or environmental factors such as parental roles. Children’s predisposition to digital play could only be fully understood by looking at the wider context of the play activity; the children’s motives and goals, the tools used, the actions and interactions with the technologies, the larger community in which the play occurs, and the rules and norms informing what the children do and how they play. Exploring these facets may uncover the origins of children’s play with technology and the development of ‘addiction’ to such technologies. This understanding can be used to inform the best way forward in today’s world that have digital technologies permeating children’s everyday lives. Recommendations are presented for child counsellors in order to work with children (minor client) in understanding and intervening the addiction to digital technologies

Viewing Islamic Art Museum Exhibits on the SmartPhone: Re-examining Visitors’ Experiences

Mobile Guide technologies in public spaces, particularly museum are not new and have changed the way visitors’ access information during their visit. Smartphone applications (apps) are increasingly popular because it can be accessed before, during and after the museum visits. This has impacted the way exhibitions are designed and the resulting visitor experience. Therefore, it is important to measure what effect the use of smartphone technology has on visitor experience. An “in the wild” study was conducted to investigate visitor experience in Islamic Art museum, both with and without Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) Mobile Guide (smartphone apps). A total of 55 participants took part in the study. The Museum Experience Scale (MES) was used to measure visitor experience, whilst the Multimedia Guide Scale (MMGS) was used to measure visitors’ experiences with the IAMM Mobile Guide. Results showed that scores on all components of MES suggested a positive experience at the IAMM with the component of meaningful experience being the highest score, followed by the component of knowledge and learning. Scores on the MMGS also showed a positive experience in using the mobile guide with learnability and control scored the highest, followed by general usability

Heuristic Evaluation : Comparing Generic and Specific Usability Heuristics for Identification of Usability Problems in a Living Museum Mobile Guide App

This paper reports on an empirical study that compares two sets of heuristics, Nielsen’s heuristics and the SMART heuristics in the identification of usability problems in a mobile guide smartphone app for a living museum. Five experts used the severity rating scales to identify and determine the severity of the usability issues based on the two sets of usability heuristics. The study found that Nielsen’s heuristics set is too general to detect usability problems in a mobile application compared to SMART heuristics which focuses on the smartphone application in the product development lifecycle instead of the generic Nielsen’s heuristics which focuses on a wide range of interactive system. The study highlights the importance of utilizing domain specific usability heuristics in the evaluation process. This ensures that relevant usability issues were successfully identified which could then be given immediate attention to ensure optimal user experience

A Cognitive Approach To Designing Effective Implementation Of Industrial Policies : C-Solutions for Vehicle Maintenance Regulations (VMR) Implementation in Sarawak

Policy implementation science has moved from its traditional top-down ‘’how-to’’ approach that focuses primarily on the policy implementers while neglecting those affected by the implementation, to the hybrid ‘’what-and-how-to’’ approach, where the policy implementation mechanics incorporate the understanding of the ‘’meaning’’ and ‘’benefits’’ of the policy from the perspective of all the stakeholders - those who will be doing the enforcement, and those who will be impacted upon by the policy. Theories from the science of the mind, or cognitive science, such as the theories of social cognition and distributed cognition, have gained popularity in policy implementation science in the developed countries since a decade ago. This new approach however, is still at inception stage in many developing countries. This research explored the utility of cognitive science approach in designing the implementation of industrial policies, in the case of implementing the Vehicle Maintenance Regulations (VMR) regulations, a set of mandatory regulations passed to regulate safe and healthy vehicle maintenance industry in Malaysia. The benefits of the cognitive approach, over the ‘’implementer-oriented’’ rational choice theory approach conventionally adopted in policy implementation were explored. The cognitive science approach is expected to increase the effectiveness of the VMR policy implementation by integrating the ‘sense-making’ and ‘meaning-making’ of all stakeholders whose cooperation and cooperativeness are highly essential in ensuring successful implementation. This research yielded both, an industrial working model, and an academic model. The C-Solutions Model suggests a win-win implementation plan that could garner support from all VMR stakeholders – the car workshop operators, the car owners, and the government implementer agents. The ‘’Cognitive Model of VMR Implementation’ was produced to describe how understanding the cognitive functions of the stakeholders could be utilised to collect their best support for the VMR regulations implementation

An Empirical Study of Visitors’ Experience at Kuching Orchid Garden with Mobile Guide Application

This empirical study was conducted to measure visitors’ experiences with a mobile guide application at Kuching Orchid Garden (KOG). A between-group experimental design with 114 participants was conducted to test three groups; a group using the mobile guide application as an information aid, a control group (with no information aid), and a group using pamphlets to explore the KOG. The Museum Experience Scale (MES) was used to evaluate visitors’ experience for all participants, whilst the Multimedia Guide Scale (MMGS) was used to evaluate the visitors’ experience with the mobile guide group. The most notable result from the Museum Experience Scale (MES) showed an impact on the visitors in terms of knowledge and learning when using the mobile guide application. However, the study found that enhancing visitors experience goes beyond simply providing interactive technologies in public settings to aid with information delivery. A limitation was providing relevant information in a timely and seamless manner due to inaccuracies of mapping between physical and digital environments. Future works should consider beacons and other Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology to address the issues with location based devices. It is also important to highlight that the use of one’s own device had a significant impact on learnability and control of the device, thus suggesting that the BYOD concept should be widely used in informal educational settings implementing mobile guide applications. The use of MES and MMGS informs future researches with an understanding of the different dimensions of visitors’ experiences with mobile guide technology in public spaces to inform mobile application development that may further boost visitors’ engagement, emotional connection, and meaningful experience