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Recasting "shadows": Expanding respectful hierarchies in participatory design practices
No full textParticipatory design (PD) often prioritises being vocal and equal as signs of empowerment in enabling social change. But what can such preference inadvertently ignore, like silence and passivity? What relationships might be prevented or put at risk when hierarchies are flattened? This paper examines the subtle and relational power dynamics experienced as various hierarchies that shape multitudinous interactions. We identify hierarchies that embody relationalities such as respect, intimacy, and learning, configured through cultural structures and commitments. We distinguish these plural ‘respectful hierarchies’ to contrast with ‘disempowering hierarchy’ to prevent collapsing vertical power structures. We share discoveries from reflexively attending to unspoken, overshadowed dimensions in a transcultural mentoring program that brought together women in Asia and Australia to support their personal and professional development. In recasting hierarchy, we join with emerging movements to expand PD's intersectionally situated practices that support social change, as part of embracing plurality of worldviews.</p
Living Together: Exploring the Economy of Shared Resources in Melbourne’s Collective Housing
No full textSince the early 2010s, collective housing has increased in Melbourne’s middle-ring suburbs. Instead of focusing on dwellings as purely speculative financial tools these models aim to offer alternative strategies, based on an attitude towards sharing. In comparison to speculative counterparts, they are seen as a means to provide more achievable purchase/rental costs, improved environmental performance and construction quality, collaborative design decision-making, and to encourage community interaction. This study identifies the integral notion of sharing in collective housing as an ‘economy of shared resources’ and aims to understand how this occurs in projects. The shared resources encompass three main areas: land, social capital and amenities. They typically occur at a range of scales: from the acquisition of land, to communal amenities such as laundries or flexible rooms, as well as social networks fostered between residents and neighbourhoods. To examine these aspects of collective housing in the middle-ring, eight selected case studies at varied scales were explored, including market-led counterparts. The research adopted mixed methods of qualitative, quantitative and creative practice research. Together, this approach provided the means to understand resident lived experiences and to analyse the impact of similar and differing housing design strategies. Emerging analyses began to reveal eight key design themes of collective housing. Meanwhile, data of lived experience began to describe how these homes were conceived and lived in and – of particular interest – how shared elements were adapted or used in unexpected ways. Collectively, the findings aimed to establish original recommendations for collective housing in Melbourne, and to speculate on their cumulative effects at an individual, neighbourhood, suburb and civic levels.</p
The Marketing Systems Approach for Designing Effective Marketing Interfaces and a Circular Economy
No full textIn this article, we argue that Layton's Marketing Systems approach is important to tackle the triple-bottom-line (TBL) of economic, social, and environmental challenges holistically. We discuss how this system approach can contribute to designing effective marketing interfaces for a more sustainable circular economy (CE). Marketing has a legacy of understanding and increasing consumption, but it is also an essential element to drive toward a more sustainable society, as demonstrated by cases on eco-communities and sustainable food marketing systems. The article concludes by encouraging (Marketing) scholars to utilize Layton's work on multi-level systems to its fullest potential to address the pressing TBL challenge and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) missions in a holistic way.</p
Differential Responses to Aging Among the Transcriptome and Proteome of Mesenchymal Progenitor Populations
No full textThe biological aging of stem cells (exhaustion) is proposed to contribute to the development of a variety of age-related conditions. Despite this, little is understood about the specific mechanisms which drive this process. In this study, we assess the transcriptomic and proteomic changes in 3 different populations of mesenchymal progenitor cells from older (50-70 years) and younger (20-40 years) individuals to uncover potential mechanisms driving stem cell exhaustion in mesenchymal tissues. To do this, we harvested primary bone marrow mesenchymal stem and progenitor cells (MPCs), circulating osteoprogenitors (COP), and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) from younger and older donors, with an equal number of samples from men and women. These samples underwent RNA sequencing and label-free proteomic analysis, comparing the younger samples to the older ones. There was a distinct transcriptomic phenotype in the analysis of pooled older stem cells, suggestive of suppressed proliferation and differentiation; however, these changes were not reflected in the proteome of the cells. Analyzed independently, older MPCs had a distinct phenotype in both the transcriptome and proteome consistent with altered differentiation and proliferation with a proinflammatory immune shift in older adults. COP cells showed a transcriptomic shift to proinflammatory signaling but no consistent proteomic phenotype. Similarly, ADSCs displayed transcriptomic shifts in physiologies associated with cell migration, adherence, and immune activation but no proteomic change with age. These results show that there are underlying transcriptomic changes with stem cell aging that may contribute to a decline in tissue regeneration. However, the proteome of the cells was inconsistently regulated.</p
Should you buy gold stocks or paper gold?
No full textWe analyze which type of gold investment is better for investors by studying the determinants of returns on gold mining stocks (gold stocks) and gold exchange-raded commodities (gold ETCs) over the period from March 2012 to February 2024. We find that gold ETCs outperform gold stocks in both returns and risk, and respond significantly more positively to economic policy uncertainty (EPU), offering investors more favorable safe-haven properties. Gold stocks are also more sensitive to oil price increases than are gold ETCs, and their relative price performance is negatively related to both oil price changes and Gold VIX. We conclude that investing in gold stocks is less suitable for investors who buy gold as a safe-haven asset.</p
The emergence of a hybrid market for social enterprises
No full textSocial enterprises (SEs) are hybrid organizations that employ business activities to pursue both economic and social goals. Extant research describes SEs as catalysts for social change that not only address social issues and fill gaps in social needs but also solve system problems and make evolutional social changes (Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, & Shulman, 2009). Hence, SEs could make valuable contributions in developing countries where social issues are prevalent, yet, most studies on SEs are conducted in developed countries (Gupta, Chauhan, Paul, & Jaiswal, 2020). In this thesis, I explore the emergence of social enterprises (SEs) in a developing country.
Furthermore, SE is a multilevel phenomenon but studies on SEs often focus on only one level of analysis (Saebi, Foss, & Linder, 2019), namely, the macro environment and the emergence of SEs (e.g., Defourny & Nyssens, 2010; Hoogendoorn, Pennings, & Thurik, 2010; Kerlin, 2010); SEs as hybrid organizations (e.g., Doherty, Haugh, & Lyon, 2014; Pache & Santos, 2013; Tracey, Phillips, & Jarvis, 2011); or social entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurship process (e.g., Mair & Marti, 2006; Miller, Grimes, McMullen, & Vogus, 2012; Zahra et al., 2009). In this thesis, I offer a multilevel examination of the emergence of SEs in a developing country by adopting the theory of markets and viewing the emergence of SEs as a market emergence process.
Drawing on the theory of markets as a social system (Giesler & Fischer, 2017) and market emergence as a legitimation process (Humphreys, 2010a), I examined the emergence of SEs in a developing country by exploring how the SE market legitimacy is negotiated. In particular, I investigated the SE market emergence through key market actors and their market legitimation practices. Additionally, since SEs are hybrid organizations that span between the public, private, and non-profit sectors (Doherty et al., 2014; Pache & Santos, 2013; Tracey et al., 2011), I assumed that the SE market is a hybrid market formed by SEs transitioning from multiple roots. Hence, I also investigated how the SE market emerges through SEs' transition from their traditional markets to the hybrid SE market.
The context of this study is Vietnam, where the emergence of SEs is a recent phenomenon. I adopted the interpretivist paradigm and employed multiple qualitative research methods, including archival research, observations, and in-depth interviews to collect data. By triangulating the data collected from the multiple qualitative research methods, I explored the market emergence of SEs in Vietnam through market legitimation practices of key market actors and the transition of SEs from their roots into the SE market.
The findings reveal that market intermediaries played crucial roles in negotiating the SE market legitimacy in Vietnam. I defined market intermediaries as intermediary organizations that aim to drive new market emergence or shape existing markets. In the context of Vietnam, market intermediaries included local and international organizations, which aimed to promote social entrepreneurship. In collaboration, market intermediaries defined and framed SEs, negotiating the market's cognitive and normative legitimacy. Market intermediaries also conducted policy advocacy, negotiating the market's regulative legitimacy. Furthermore, they negotiated the pragmatic legitimacy among potential and existing SEs by offering SE support activities and facilitating the SE community.
The findings also show two types of SEs in Vietnam that emerged from two different backgrounds and underlying logics. The two types of SEs are SEs that emerged from the private sector with underlying market orientation logic and SEs that emerged from the non-profit sector with underlying social value creation logic. Their paths to becoming SEs were motivated by the founders' compassion towards disadvantaged communities and the encouragement of market intermediaries and the SE community. The potential SEs became SEs by selectively retaining, abandoning, or adjusting traditional logics from their roots while selectively adopting new logics and creating new logic combinations. Hence, the hybrid SE market emerged with the co-existence of multiple logics, including the traditional logics from the roots of SEs and new combinations of logics created by SEs in their paths to becoming SEs.
By exploring the complex phenomenon of the emergence of SEs in a developing country, I offer three theoretical contributions. First, I contribute to the theorization of SEs by providing insights at the macro, market, organizational, and individual levels into the emergence of SEs in a developing country. Second, I enrich the growing literature on hybrid markets and hybrid market emergence by demonstrating how the SE market emerged from multiple roots. Third, I extend the theoretical discussion on market and market emergence by revealing the roles of market intermediaries in driving market emergence and delineating their market legitimation practices. Based on the findings, I also propose a model of strategic actions for market intermediaries to drive the emergence of new markets or shape existing markets
Regenerative: the making of social media savvy neo-farmers
No full textFood is often taken for granted with little thought given to its multilayered complexities and conflicts. Historically, its production and consumption created civilisations and continually sustain human survival over the centuries and beyond. Presently, when we think of food we often think of industrial agriculture, which is the dominant narrative of food provenance in affluent industrialised society. Running against this industrial agriculture meta narrative of food provenance in Western society is the small-scale family run farming sector, which is experiencing a renaissance. Here in Victoria, Australia, many people (mostly tertiary educated but untrained in farming) are migrating to rural areas to take up farming as a vocation, bringing with them a new perspective and approach to farming. In my research, I refer to this new breed of farmer as regenerative small-scale farmer, or neo-farmer. The neo-farmers in this study use social media to tell their stories of farming inspiration and aspiration. The analysis emerging from this research challenges the current and dominant rural narrative of farmers and farming practices. Food sovereignty is at the forefront of this emerging narrative, which is underpinned by the new moral economy framework of Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies, facilitated and enabled by digital technologies.
This multidisciplinary study deploys qualitative methods of in-depth interview and case study to analyse transcripts, images and social media feeds. The ethnographic approach in combination with observation technique focuses on the interconnection between agency and empowerment nestled within alternative food systems, and the sense of "farming freedom” supported by the new moral economy framework, which is aided by both strategic and non-strategic adoption of social media. My research investigates the interrelations and entanglements between many actors: human and non-humans. It also looks at the intersectionality between socio-economic and political clout (or lack of it) to help shape a new narrative for a fledging farming sector, with the help of digital media. It is basically a story about food—ethical and sustainable food—and the provisioning of such food, from production to mode of distribution.
In my study, I am proposing that food provenance by regenerative small-scale farmers is a social media communication performance staged by human and non-human actors. This novel approach to food provenance delinks the regenerative small-scale farmers from colonial and post development agricultural structures, paving a new direction for the future small-scale farming sector in Victoria. Insights from this research lay the groundwork for future investigation into social media communication performance by regenerative small-scale farmers and other emerging/marginalised sectors
Transilience: A phenomenology of 'leaping across'
No full textThis research is the reflexive account of participatory encounters between a social design practitioner (me, the researcher) and a group of rural migrant youth in Delhi, to construct imaginaries that interweave our disparate but connected experiences of living and working in the city through relational themes that are recorded through art, poetry, photography, and mind maps. The word ‘transilience’ is rooted in studies of evolution and indicates a ‘speciation shift’ as a form of transformation. In this research, transilience is interpreted as the transformation that a practitioner can undergo when encountering other worlds, and the methodological impact this can have on a participatory experience through the interrogation of issues of power and identity in complex social contexts of difference.
The study is a phenomenology of my own ‘leaping across’, as I mediate the experience at three levels:
The first is as the implementation of a qualitative research initiative through interviews and collaborative workshops that took place during the disruptions of the COVID pandemic, causing the research to be conducted online in a virtual contact zone, which resulted in pivots in positionality and methodology.
The second is as a reflexive meta-inquiry of the pivots in positionality that I was experiencing in encountering a complex space of my practice through an ontological lens, causing me to interrogate the power and misrecognition in the way I was situated with the youth participants in my earlier practice, and re-situating myself in a series of adjustments that I record through the research.
The third is responding to the pivots by modelling a participatory methodology that is based on reflexivity and relationality; situating and re-situating within the research, and repositioning self and other as a factor of ‘attuning’ within each participatory encounter. I frame this methodology as ‘transilience’ or ‘transformation through encountering’ that I present as my research contribution.
The contribution of ‘transilience’ is methodological, conceptual, and disciplinary. I present this as an example of the messy work of critical reflection that practitioners of social design need to undergo, to examine their own positioning in social hierarchies, and to build stronger assemblages within accelerated social change
On the impossibility of being a good teacher: a journey in three acts
No full textThis thesis is framed by an ontological question of how can a good teacher exist when being good feels impossible? The question will be explored as a narrative journey in three acts that investigates theoretical understandings of the possibilities of a teacher’s being in relation to contemporary standardised professional practices. The journey will make hermeneutical readings of a diverse set of texts including from philosophy, educational policy, artworks, films, and literature to speak to many unspoken dimensions of being a good teacher. Throughout the journey, personal stories will also be shared as voiceovers that narrate and lead the reader through the project. As a form of philosophical non-linear deconstructive phenomenology, the structure and content of the thesis resists conventional academic structures and embraces an entangled attitude. Each Act reflects on discrete experiences in an experimental manner that attempt to elucidate an implicit interconnectedness. The Acts are polychronomorphic, in the sense that they overlap, coexist, and change in relation to each other in asynchronous arrangements. The Acts present a diffused and gaseous causality where the journey leaps and bounds around its logos in a playful and intuitive manner.
The thesis presents a philosophical reflection on the educational experience of teachers during the transition to the 21st Century within the Western context and of potential pedagogical futures. Along the journey, the thesis investigates philosophical and religious historical origins that have left traces on teachers, and then considers how contemporary educational policy and theories, including neoliberalism and feminism, contribute to metaphysical understandings of being good. It also considers and acknowledges the gendered, raced, classed and colonialist attitudes embedded within these traces that have constructed ideals about who a good teacher can be, which have, typically, privileged the figure of the white, affluent, rational and cis-gendered male.
This thesis responds to Ahmed’s (2014) not philosophy that ‘aims to create room within philosophy for others who are not philosophers” (p.15). I am not schooled as a philosopher and have no formal educational qualifications in the discipline of philosophy. I am a Visual Arts teacher. Having taught for over 20 years for me, the question of being a good teacher has become more than a technical question of asking how to teach well. It is a philosophical question of why educational experience is presented by institutions in a particular way and what, on a metaphysical level, does it mean and, what in turn can I do to be good after this investigation.
My experience of the lack of time to think and speak about teaching in professional settings has prompted this investigation in which, following Roland Barthes (1977) “writing begins at the point where speech becomes impossible” (p.190). The thesis is an attempt at writing a not philosophy for education to bring teaching into deeper philosophical questioning than otherwise permitted by the instrumental and institutional regimes that seem to govern professional practice. In doing so, it seeks to make visible some of the difficulties of being a good teacher as a 21st Century professional and to develop other ways of understanding being good
Biomimicry and additive manufacturing: from materials to functional structures
No full textThere has been a drastic change in the manufacturing industry over the years. In the past, conventional manufacturing, such as injection moulding, casting, and milling are used to produce simple monolithic parts at large quantities and low production costs. However, with the demand in part complexity, multi-material and multi-colour, it is challenging to achieve all requirements via conventional manufacturing. With the advancement of manufacturing technology, Additive Manufacturing or 3D printing allows the production of parts with a high degree of complexity layer-by-layer, requiring minimal post-processing. This has attracted various industries, including aerospace, automotive and construction, to convert part of traditional manufacturing to additive manufacturing.
In the effort to produce parts with exceptional mechanical performances, researchers find their source of inspiration from nature. Nacre, bamboo, bone, lobster shell and sea urchin spine are among several popular subjects for bioinspiration, known for their lightweight, graded or composite arrangements. Hierarchical and graded structures are among the most popular designs employed in flora and fauna. Various patterns are found in nature, including fractals, stripes, spirals, and tessellations.
Natural composites are made of simple organic materials but possess extraordinary toughness or stiffness. The uniqueness raises the interest of researchers in exploring growth patterns. The irregular puzzle-like patterns on the giraffe’s fur and dragonfly wing are known as Voronoi tessellation. This tessellation is created based on partitioning a plane with a number of seeds into polygons, where a point is closer to the generating seed within the polygon than any other. Despite the fact that the study of Voronoi tessellation has existed for more than a century, there is still a great interest in the mechanical properties of Voronoi-based structures.
This study aimed to bridge nature design and additive manufacturing to understand the mechanical behaviour of bioinspired structures. The material jetting technology is employed in this study due to its high resolutions and multi-material printing capability for mimicking biomaterials. The dimensional fidelity, mechanical performance and fractography of the 3D printed composites are explored.
Upon a thorough understanding of the 3D printing technology, the morphology of the biomaterial – porcupine quill is investigated. Micro-computed tomography is employed to explore the internal morphology of the sample through x-ray projection images. The mechanical performance of porcupine quill is explored. Compression of the whole, shell-only and foam-only porcupine quill is investigated. It is found that among the three sample types, the whole quill performed the best compared to the shell-only and foam-only counterparts. The presence of foam has greatly affected the failure mechanism of the porcupine quill, which motivated the design of the bioinspired structure carried out in the next section.
Following the revelation of the porcupine quill’s structures, porcupine quill-inspired designs are proposed in via 2D and 3D approaches. From a 3D perspective, random and reflected foam structures are designed according to the features observed on the cross-section of a porcupine quill. On the other hand, from a 2D perspective, Voronoi sandwich panels are designed to understand the flexural properties by incorporating graded seed distribution. In addition, finite element analysis is conducted for validation. A parametric study is conducted to understand further the effect of geometry variation on the Voronoi sandwich panels. The potential applications of the bioinspired structures include aerospace and automobile industry as a shock absorber and light weight structures