Uncanny spaces for higher education: teaching and learning in virtual worlds

This paper brings together the theory of the uncanny as it emerges in cultural theory, with an understanding of the uncanniness and troublesomeness seen to be inherent in certain understandings of teaching and learning in higher education. Drawing on research into students’ experiences of learning in virtual worlds, it explores the sense in which teaching in such spaces materialises and extends the positive aspects of uncertainty, strangeness, disquietude and troublesomeness in online higher education

Development of a headrig process information system : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Technology in Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University

A computer-based process information system was developed to gather operational information about the headrig handsaw at the Timber Technology Centre (TiTC) sawmill in the Waiariki Institute of Technology, store the data in a database, and display the information in various forms to the user. The project was the first part of an encompassing programme to instrument an entire commercial sawmill. This research programme aims to determine which variables are crucial to quantifying the sawing processes and to investigate the best techniques for measuring the variables. The system developed was extremely modular. Both analysis modules and sensor hardware can be added or removed without any need for restarting the system. A client-server architecture using networking communications was used to facilitate this. A central server gathers and stores the data, and individual clients analyse the data and display the information to the user. This enables analysis modules to be added and removed without even restarting the system. An experiment to determine the effect of wood density on the variables measured was used to test the viability of the completed system. The system successfully gathered all of the information required for the experiment and performed 70% of the data collation and analysis automatically. The remainder was performed using spreadsheets as this was deemed to be the most suitable method. The loosely coupled design of the system allows it to be up-scaled to a mill-wide program easily. Experiments performed to gather information about pivotal process variables are currently being planned, and should be underway as the expansion into other machine stations is being designed

Doing without Deliberation: Automatism, Automaticity, and Moral Accountability,

Actions performed in a state of automatism are not subject to moral evaluation, while automatic actions often are. Is the asymmetry between automatistic and automatic agency justified? In order to answer this question we need a model or moral accountability that does justice to our intuitions about a range of modes of agency, both pathological and non-pathological. Our aim in this paper is to lay the foundations for such an account

Investigating visualisation techniques for rapid triage of digital forensic evidence

This study investigates the feasibility of a tool that allows digital forensics (DF) investigators to efficiently triage device datasets during the collection phase of an investigation. This tool utilises data visualisation techniques to display images found in near real-time to the end user. Findings indicate that participants were able to accurately identify contraband material whilst using this tool, however, classification accuracy dropped slightly with larger datasets. Combined with participant feedback, the results show that the proposed triage method is indeed feasible, and this tool provides a solid foundation for the continuation of further work

Objects, subjects, bits and bytes: learning from the digital collections of the National Museums

This paper is concerned with online museum education, exploring the themes of user-centredness, digitization, authority and control. Taking as its starting point the shift of focus in museum policy from the collection to the user-learner, it suggests that this movement from object to subject – this ‘de-centring’ of the cultural institution – is further complicated by a fundamental change in the nature of the object, as a result of digitization programmes which transform material, ‘possessible’ artefacts into volatile amalgams of bits and bytes. The ability of users to take, manipulate, re-distribute and re-describe digital objects is, we suggest, a primary source of their educational value. It is also, however, a source of difficulty for institutions as they come to terms with the changing patterns of ownership, participation and knowledge production we are experiencing as we move further into the digital age

Manner Posters as an Element of the Japanese Linguistic Landscape

　電車の駅は、どの都市においても、多岐にわたる言語景観の一つである。駅の周辺には、多種多様な文字や視覚的情報があり、掲示されているポスターはその一つである。本論文では、日本の駅に掲示されているマナー啓発ポスターを紹介する。マナー啓発ポスターは公共交通機関での間違ったマナーを正し、より良い行いを促すことを目的としている。本論文では、言語景観の概念を述べ、言語景観の環境としての駅の特徴を挙げる。最後には、マナー啓発ポスターの基本的な特徴、特に、駅に掲示されているマナー啓発ポスターの特徴について述べる。　 Train stations are one of many micro-landscapes in the wider linguistic landscape, certainly of any city or urban setting. The station environs contain a wide variety of textual and visual information, wall posters being one. This article will introduce manner posters found in train stations in Japan. Manner posters are those that aim to alter poor, or encourage better behaviour on public transport. It will first describe the concept of the ‘linguistic landscape’ and then point out features of train stations as a linguistic landscape milieu. Finally it will describe certain basic aspects of manner posters, which are a particular feature of that context