Public servant schools in Canada: A concept for reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments of Canada to educate public servants about the history and legacy of Indian residential schools and related topics, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This article advances this call to action by conceptualizing “public servant schools” as government organizations that provide learning opportunities to public servants. The Canadian adult education literature, however, is largely silent on this topic, even though numerous examples can be found across branches and levels of governments within Canada. Drawing on material acquired through the Access to Information Act, this article breathes life into this topic by documenting the Canada School of Public Service and elements of its curriculum related to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Review: Access in the academy: Bringing ATI and FOI to academic research

This article reviews Access in the Academy: Bringing ATI and FOI to academic research

New approaches to rural policy : lessons from around the world

Rural areas ; Rural development

New governance for a new rural economy : reinventing public and private institutions : a conference summary

A growing chorus of rural leaders agrees that new opportunities are on the horizon for rural America. Economic consolidation and outmigration need not be rural America’s future. The question most rural regions now face is this: How to claim the new opportunities? At root, this question is all about governance—how regions make economic decisions quickly and effectively. Simply put, regional governance is about how public and private leaders work together to build new economic engines that can compete in globalizing markets. More than 150 rural policy experts and leaders gathered in Kansas City in May to discuss new approaches to regional governance at the fifth annual rural policy conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Center for the Study of Rural America. This article summarizes the proceedings. Participants agreed that new models of governance are long overdue in rural America. While rural communities value cooperation, all too often city limits and county lines paralyze new economic development strategies. Participants were encouraged, however, by a number of innovative partnerships now being forged in rural regions. These partnerships are often sparked by higher education and philanthropic institutions, but governments and businesses are also participating.Rural areas ; Rural development ; Economic conditions - Indiana

New approaches to rural policy : lessons from around the world : a conference summary

New approaches to rural policy are badly needed, as past reliance on subsidies and policies focused on a single sector are yielding diminishing results. Fortunately, a new frontier of policy experiments is emerging, and this frontier holds great promise in helping rural regions seize new economic potential. ; This was the consensus of more than 120 leading officials and rural policy experts from around the world who gathered near Washington, D.C., on March 25-26, 2004, to explore new approaches to rural policy. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Rural Policy Research Institute, and The Countryside Agency (UK). ; Amid a flurry of new initiatives, participants agreed that new rural policies generally have two distinguishing features. First, they focus on exploiting each region’s distinct economic assets instead of trying to develop a sector that will “lift all boats,” as in most developed nations historically, where the sector of choice for rural regions has been agriculture. Second, public funds are aimed at constructing the public goods that will spur private sector investments. Indeed, investment is a strong theme of many new initiatives, with a deliberate attempt to scale back subsidies.Rural areas ; Rural development

New governance for a new rural economy : reinventing public and private institutions : a conference summary

Rural areas ; Rural development

Computer games to visualize music: a 270 year-old tradition for digital imaginaries

Within the field of game studies, narratological or ludological discourses provide different lights to understand computer games. Yet the digital design space is still young and one might wonder if there are other ways of approaching the design of games? With the purpose of opening a new line of thought, this paper turns to the historic past and examines a 270 year-old tradition called "color-music." Beginning first in 1735 in France, this paper traces color-music through various turns in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and into the 21st century as designers and artists attempted to build machines capable of allowing a user to manipulation visual elements, often in some relationship with music. This paper then uses this tradition to propose a direction for the design of games in which players are given radical control over the graphics engine as they listen to MP3s

Improving para sports concussion care:The blind leading the blind

Very little is known about para sports injuries in general, despite organised para sports competitions having been held 112 years ago. Only recently have consensus guidelines been published on the recording and reporting of data for injury and illness surveillance studies in para sport. Faced with this emerging field, even less is known about the incidence and prevalence of concussions, perhaps because of a research vacuum in the assessment, diagnosis, and management of concussions in para sport. The primary objective of this thesis is to begin the process of building an evidence-informed foundation for para concussion care. Achieving this objective will require understanding the context of para concussions, of adapting existing clinical guidelines on sports concussions for para athletes and of developing guidelines specific to this athlete population. This thesis will use mixed methods. Chapter 2 describes a systematic review of existing prospective injury surveillance studies in para sports to understand the quality of what is thought to be known on the wider subject of injuries within para sports. Chapter 3 contains a prospective injury surveillance study in a para football cohort, which will give insight into whether the risk of head injuries can be determined longitudinally rather than in short-term studies looking at shorter competitions. Chapter 4 compares preseason baseline SCAT3 scores for a range of England international footballers (with and without impairments). In the absence of normative data for SCAT3 scores and insights into the usability of SCAT3 for athletes with a disability, this study will aim to determine whether differences exist between baseline SCAT3 scores for footballers with and without disability. Chapter 5 is a Position Statement providing specific recommendations and guidance related to para athletes and their attending medical professionals in case a para athlete sustains a suspected concussion. A multidisciplinary group of experts and para athletes was convened with clinical or academic expertise within the para sport and para concussion (Concussion in Para Sport - CIPS) Group. Chapter 5 includes an Infographic representation of the Position Statement. Chapter 6 contains an exploratory qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews with current or retired (still playing club football) male English blind footballers. This chapter assesses the athletes’ perceptions of concussion, concussion risks, and concussion prevention based on their experiences in para football. This chapter should lead to new insights into concussion care for para athletes (and possibly non-para athletes). Chapter 6 includes an Infographic representation of the study. Chapter 7 is a general discussion in which the results of the various studies conducted are discussed in a broader context