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Exploring the Role of Visibility in Hybrid Work
No full textHybrid work, combining remote and onsite work, has become the norm, evolving from the concept of telecommuting (nowadays more commonly known as remote work) introduced nearly half a century ago. Advances in information and communication technologies have enabled work across distances, challenging traditional office-centric models. As hybrid work adoption has increased, concerns about reduced visibility persist, becoming more pronounced as organizations mandate a return to the office (RTO). Visibility is critical for various organizational functions, including monitoring, mentoring, coordination, and execution. However, visibility as a concept in hybrid work has remained unclear and poorly defined, making it challenging to establish empirical studies for its exploration. This thesis refines the concept through a conceptual framework (Study 1), identifying seven dimensions and sixteen characteristics, thereby redefining visibility. It reveals visibility as a continuum and a double-edged sword, necessitating balance to avoid extreme consequences of too much or too little visibility. The scope of this study was expanded by examining avatars as visibility artifacts representing employees in digital work (Study 2). This research identified five key aspects of avatar-enabled visibility and introduced a theoretical framework of avatar visibility, emphasizing contingent factors that shape avatars' dual capacity to enable or limit visibility. The first two studies established a foundation and framework for the subsequent two empirical studies, which deepened the investigation of visibility in hybrid work through a case study involving insights from 42 interviews across diverse roles in two countries. The first empirical study (Study 3) explored visibility artifacts as technologies channeling visibility for work and workers, finding these artifacts to be interconnected and subject to interpretation, with miscommunication leading employees to temporarily obscure their visibility. The second empirical study (Study 4) showed the central role of visibility in hybrid work, introducing the concept of “visibility dumping” and presenting the “vicious cycle in hybrid work” as a product of theorizing. It demonstrated how imbalances in visibility—either too little or too much—can transcend time (e.g., delays in interaction) and space (e.g., shifting visibility to the office). This thesis underscores the pivotal importance of visibility in hybrid work, advocating for shared understanding and common ground to balance the benefits of remote and onsite work, advancing theoretical and practical insights for sustaining hybrid work and digital contexts.</p
Blurred Traditions: The Ongoing Change of Rites and Rituals, including Digitization, in Indo-Fijian Hindu Funerals
No full textAbstract Indo-Fijian Hindus have experienced two significant waves of mass migration: the first as indentured labourers taken from India to Fiji, and the second from Fiji to western countries in response to political coups that made Fiji unsafe for Indians. Each wave of migration has brought with it significant adaptation to rituals; Indo-Fijian Hindus have established their rituals to comply within the laws and regulations of the countries they live in. This research project considers the landscape of Indo-Fijian Hindu funerals, exploring three facets. Inevitable change is considered from a ritualistic perspective, and it is compared with a digital point of view through the lens of funeral livestreaming on Facebook. Finally, changes adapted by pandits (Hindu priests) are considered and discussed. The data collated in this research project comes from interviews with individuals and responses to anonymous online surveys. This is a pilot study in the field, and is the first to explore Indo-Fijian Hindu funerals in academia.This research project considers the importance of documenting Indo-Fijian Hindu funeral rites and rituals, and how they have changed with waves of mass migration from India to Fiji, and later Fiji to the western world. Keywords: Girmit; Hindu funeral rites; funeral livestreaming; pandits</p
A Causal Analysis of Five Population-Wide Health Interventions: Evidence From New Zealand Panel Data
No full textIn the health sciences, robust causal inference methods have been developed to provide evidence of causality particularly in contexts in which conducting randomised experiments are impractical. These methods are rarely employed in psychological research. This thesis employs causal methods to investigate the effects of five macro-level public health interventions on outcomes in prejudice and human flourishing — areas that are of considerable interest to both psychological inquiry and public health. Utilising national panel data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, I adapt VanderWeele’s (2017a) multidimensional model of human flourishing into five domains: reflective well-being, health, social well-being, self-directed well-being, and embodied well-being. Prejudice is operationalised through feeling thermometers measuring warmth toward social groups. In a series of five studies, I employ a natural experiment (Study 1) and modified treatment policies (Studies 2-5) to address causal 'what-if' questions, estimating the impact of these interventions (exposures) on their outcomes.Study 1 uses the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns that occurred during 2020 in New Zealand as a natural experiment to infer population-wide changes in prejudicial attitudes. The results indicated reduced warmth toward Chinese, Asians (broadly defined), immigrants, Muslims, refugees, Indians, and the mentally ill. Notably, changes in warmth were not detected toward NZ Europeans, Māori, Pacific Islanders, the overweight, or the elderly. Overall, these findings suggest that in New Zealand, pandemic prejudice may spread beyond minority groups associated with the virus to other groups perceived as non-prototypical of national identity. In the context of this thesis, these findings demonstrate causal methods can be applied to panel data through a natural experiment design to investigate questions of psychological interest that would otherwise be unfeasible for experimentation. In Study 2, I shift focus to using the modified treatment policy design to study the effects of subjective empowerment on multidimensional flourishing. Using three waves of panel data, I compare the population’s outcomes under two exposure conditions: (1) the ‘null’ exposure, which is simply their actual level of subjective empowerment; (2) the subjective empowerment intervention, in which everyone’s level of subjective empowerment is increased by 1-point (on a 7-point Likert scale), capped at 7. By contrasting the effects of these interventions, I find that subjective empowerment causes wide-spread benefits on outcomes across the five measured dimensions of human flourishing, including enhanced subjective health, greater self-esteem, and reduced depression. These findings validate previous experimental results with real-world evidence and offer a road map for investigating causal questions of basic psychological interest.In Study 3, using a similar methodology to Study 2, I investigate how social belonging influences human flourishing outcomes. I contrast the expected outcomes under two different interventions: (1) a social belonging intervention, in which the population increases their level of social belonging by 1 point (on a 7-point Likert scale), and (2) the ‘null’ exposure, which is merely the population’s observed levels of social belonging. The findings reveal that social belonging positively affects multiple outcomes of flourishing, including more gratitude, meaning in life, self-esteem, and reduced vengefulness. These results build on previous experimental findings by providing causal evidence of the impact of 'real-world' social belonging on outcomes in human flourishing. Importantly, the effect sizes for improved subjective health, self-esteem, and meaning in life are smaller than those found in experimental literature.In Study 4, I evaluate the effects of exercise on human flourishing. Comparing the outcomes of increasing weekly exercise by 1 standard deviation (about 1 hour/day) to no exercise, the results indicate that exercise increases relationship satisfaction, gratitude, life satisfaction, and reduces depression; however, it also increases fatigue, reduces sense of neighbourhood community, and lowers sexual satisfaction. This study contributes to our understanding of the validity of observational causal methods by benchmarking results against experimental findings and provides causal evidence in areas less explored in the experimental literature.In Study 5, I evaluate the effects of spiritual identification on multidimensional flourishing. By simulating interventions that either enhance or diminish spiritual identification, I find that increased identification positively influences sense of meaning and purpose in life, gratitude, and self-esteem. Interestingly, spiritual identification also appears to increase anxiety and future insecurity. Because spiritual identification is challenging to study in experimental settings, these findings provide valuable causal evidence for social psychological theories on the role of spiritual identification in promoting human flourishing.In the discussion, I explore future directions for empirical research and potential applications for the findings from this thesis. The results from Studies 2-5 show evidence of benefits in human flourishing for the general population, but certain populations may respond more strongly to the modelled interventions. Future research may be interested in discerning whether effects are more pronounced within specific subgroups. Secondly, researchers may examine whether certain variables mediate causal relationships between exposures and outcomes. Finally, recommendations are offered for policymakers interested in using the insights from this thesis to guide decisions on promoting human flourishing.</p
Body, Threshold, Architecture
No full textIn architectural contexts, the human body and the built environment are often viewed as separate and disconnected. Historically, the body has been reduced to a symbolic role rather than an active participant in design, and modern architectural imagery further reinforces this separation. Despite this divide, connections between the body and architecture exist psychologically and spatially, particularly through thresholds which engage the senses and perception, as explored in Peri Bader’s concept of the ‘edge’ which describes the sensual experiences of engaging with threshold or “in-between” spaces. Thresholds challenge boundaries—spatial, functional, social, and temporal—through bodily movement, which explores the connection between the body and architecture. This research investigates how bodily movement through thresholds can inform architectural design to strengthen the connection between body and built environment. Using a design-as-research approach, this research uses the concept of “edge” as a design catalyst to explore bodily movement and thresholds through three iterative design interventions: installation, mid-scale, and public-scale. The installation examines the sensory qualities of thresholds to prompt bodily movement through changing perspectives. The mid-scale project translates these ephemeral qualities into architectural design, focusing on public/private thresholds of co-housing. The public-scale intervention integrates site, program, rhythm and structure, building on earlier findings to propose a public art gallery. In conclusion, this thesis uses design to explore provoking bodily movement using thresholds as a design tool to explore connection between the body and architecture.</p
Symmetry and Completeness in Relevant Epistemic Logic
No full textIn this paper, we provide an axiom system for the relevant logic of equivalence relation frames and prove completeness for it. This provides a partial answer to the longstanding open problem of axiomatizing frames for relevant modal logics where the modal accessibility relation is symmetric. Following this, we show that the logic enjoys Halldén completeness and that a related logic enjoys the disjunction property
Effects Of Environmental Stimulation On Lecture Retention For Students High In ADHD-Related Traits
No full textAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a profound impact on functioning that is linked with academic underperformance. Despite this, many studies on academic learning in ADHD are limited to lab settings and fewer have tested learning strategies in applied learning environments like a university lecture. Presentation speed and white noise are two manipulations that have been studied in lab contexts. Research indicates that increasing presentation speed and adding white noise both improve prolonged attention. There is some limited evidence that both manipulations improve certain aspects of learning, such as memory, and that white noise improves executive functioning and speech perception.Our aim was to test whether white noise and increased presentation speed improved information retention in an online university lecture-context. Undergraduate participants watched a 20-minute lecture with no manipulation, and one with increased speed (Experiment 1) or white noise (Experiment 2). Participants completed short quizzes after each lecture as well as the self-report WURS-25 ADHD metric. We expected, firstly, a negative correlation between ADHD-related traits and accuracy in the control condition, and secondly, a positive correlation between ADHD-related traits and improvements in recall from the control to the white noise and increased speed conditions.We found no significant relationship between ADHD-scores and either performance in the control conditions, the effect of white noise or the effect of lecture speed. Neither white noise nor speed had a significant effect on overall scores. Providing context for these primary results, scores on the WURS-25 metric were unexpectedly high overall. We also excluded an unexpectedly high proportion of students in experiment 2 because they did not complete the tasks as instructed; excluded participants had significantly higher scores on the WURS-25.One possible implication of our results is the WURS-25 is not a valid assessment of ADHD in our online context, meaning we cannot draw firm conclusions about the links between ADHD, white noise, presentation speed and recall. We also discuss the possibility that white noise and increased lecture speed are not useful strategies to support students with ADHD to learn from lectures.</p
Rights Infringement, Compensation, and Luck Egalitarianism
No full textThis paper presents two arguments against the compensation thesis—the proposition that an agent who infringes on another’s moral claim right acquires a remedial duty to compensate the latter for any costs imposed by the infringement. First, it argues that rejecting the compensation thesis is the best way to resolve a trilemma that arises in cases where an agent blamelessly infringes on another’s claim. Second, the paper argues that the thesis is incompatible with (a plausible interpretation of) luck egalitarianism. Thus, those who accept the thesis will find their position yoked to the controversial rejection of (a plausible interpretation of) an influential theory of distributive justice. Finally, the paper considers and rejects six quick arguments in favor of accepting the compensation thesis
Putting collections back on the ground: mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and NATHIST museum collections
No full textTechnological, cultural and climatic changes are shifting natural history collection management (NATHIST CM) more and more into a post-normal science environment, in which the pressures are more diverse, solutions less clear and straightforward, outcomes less predictable and impacts potentially greater than anticipated. This thesis explores how Te Papa’s core philosophy mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and the new biology as studied, for example, in Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), Third Way of Evolution and panbiogeography, have created new contexts for the management of biological specimen collections that can help NATHIST CM to adjust better to the dynamic and complex post-normal science environment. In the 1980s Te Papa’s collection management (CM) of cultural collections began transforming from using traditional museum practices of curation to co-management with source communities under mana taonga. CM of biological specimen collections has remained more or less unchanged in this respect. The beneficial impact mana taonga had on CM of cultural heritage collections, on source and user communities and other aspects of CM are hardly ever discussed among NATHIST CM professionals, who have mainly science but no museological backgrounds. Consequently, a dearth of publications exists that cover mana taonga and mātauranga Māori from a natural history museum viewpoint. My thesis is closing this gap by examining the space where mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and CM of biological collections meet. As a researcher of New Zealand (NZ) land snails and biogeography, I explore from my perspective and experience starting points for future efforts to revitalise collections by enhancing their ties with communities, but also through management of biological collections in a manner that advances epistemic justice, overcomes miscommunication and a lack of shared concepts, counterbalances CM operated purely with instrumental rationality and provides room for interaction with mātauranga Māori. To achieve this, I gauge the understanding of and commitment to mana taonga and mātauranga Māori in the NATHIST sector and investigate how both can enrich NATHIST CM and how standard CM practice could interact in meaningful ways with mana taonga and mātauranga Māori to put collections back on the ground and help advance testimonial and hermeneutical justice.In this thesis I am employing a combination of literature review, autoethnography and action research. The literature review covers aspects of museological literature, evolution, conservation and philosophy of science that are relevant to CM but cannot obviously be exhaustive. Through the literature review I connect my own experiences and observations of CM to broader cultural, political, and social concepts and debates. I use my experiences with collection management of NZ micro land snails at Te Papa and as a former member of the panel of the Department of Conservation’s New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS), NZ’s equivalent to the IUCN Red List of endangered species, to make recommendations. I use my insider knowledge to test theoretical claims in ways outsider knowledge is unable to do. The cases (exhibits) used in this thesis were selected for their suitability to describe the problems with interweaving two knowledge systems in Te Papa’s permanent Te Taiao│Nature exhibition, potential conflicts arising for NATHIST CM while juggling local and global interests, trends in conservation and data networks with regard to mana taonga, tikanga, mātauranga Māori and issues of epistemic injustice arising through operating CM from a purely technical perspective and adherence to concepts rooted in Neo-Darwinism. My thesis establishes that the application of mana taonga varies highly between the cultural and taxonomic collections at Te Papa. Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary openings appear sparse and professional development opportunities for NATHIST staff are limited and underdeveloped. I demonstrate how mana taonga, mātauranga Māori, EES, Third Way, panbiogeography and the Anthropocene provide the necessary tensions and contradictions for NATHIST professionals as means to step outside the knowledge and wisdom bubbles of their usual ‘peer’ groups to reassess concepts, opinions, arguments, means and ends of actions in order to stay and become more relevant to communities and society. As a result of my examinations, I propose strategies for putting collections back on the ground and better alignment with mana taonga in a post-normal science environment and for NATHIST CM to usher in postcolonial and post-Modern Synthesis NATHIST CM. Putting collections back on the ground involves a range of actions that contribute to the process: adopt rational pluralism, have an understanding for different ways of knowledge production, foster diverse documentation and complex system thinking, facilitate data repatriation and reinterpretation, employ thematic collecting, use local tikanga to inform CM, develop a nuanced understanding of differences.</p
Children's imitation of costly rituals: Insights into early cultural learning
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Constructing Sikh Identity
No full textThis research examines the absence of a cohesive architectural identity in Sikh gurdwaras in New Zealand, contrasting it with the consistent identity observed in gurdwaras in India. The study proposes a distinct architectural identity for Sikh gurdwaras in New Zealand, reflecting Sikh cultural values while integrating with the architectural context of Aotearoa.An analytical methodology, incorporating both analogue and digital tools is used to critically explore the work of Warren and Mahoney during their Brutalist phase (1960s - 1980s), a defining period for New Zealand architectural identity. By adapting their design principles to the programmatic requirements of gurdwaras, this research establishes a framework for creating spaces that meet the cultural and spiritual needs of the Sikh diaspora. The proposed architectural identity aims to foster unity within the Sikh community, contributing to New Zealand's architectural narrative, and support integration within the broader societal context.</p
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