276 research outputs found
Vicky Henderson
No full textthis paper. The second author is supported by an Advanced Fellowship from the EPSRC. The third author acknowledges partial financial support from DAAD, EPSRC and KW
Bayesian mixture estimation for perceptual grouping
No full textPerceptual grouping is the process by which a set of image elements is divided into distinct “objects” or components. In this dissertation I propose a Bayesian framework for understanding perceptual grouping, in which the goal of the computation is to estimate the organization that best explains the observed configuration of image elements. I formalize the problem of perceptual grouping as a mixture estimation problem, where it is assumed that the configuration of elements is generated by a set of distinct components (or ”objects”), whose underlying parameters one seeks to estimate. In the first part of this dissertation I will propose a simplified version of the framework and show how it can be used to estimate the number of objects, more specifically clusters of dots, present in the image. Across two experiments I show how the model gives an accurate and quantitatively precise account of subjects’ numerosity judgments, while at the same time outperforming more standard accounts for dot clustering. In the second part of the dissertation this simplified framework is expanded to estimate a hierarchical representation of the image elements. This framework can easily be adjusted to different subproblems of perceptual grouping. Here I will show how an instantiation of our framework for contour integration, part decomposition, and shape completion can account for several key perceptual phenomena and previously collected human subject data.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Vicky Froye
Using diffractive activity to (re)configure parental choice of pre-compulsory education
No full textPrompted by the increasing number of children accessing alternatives to mainstream education, this research project was designed to investigate the activity of parents as they engaged in choosing different forms of education for their four-year-old child. The intention was to highlight the individual and entangled activity of parental choice in the English system of education. Facet methodology facilitated an exploration of the multi-dimensionality of each parent’s lived experience. It allowed for flexibility within the research process that used open interviews to follow the narratives of six sets of parents while they were thinking about and making different educational choices for their child. This included home education, the local primary school, a creative education, a Steiner school, a Montessori school and an independent selective school. Drawing upon Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of individual activity as a framework for thinking about educational choice, combined with the new materialist concepts of intra-action and diffraction, the conceptual framework of ‘diffractive activity’ has been developed. Diffractive activity brings to the fore the role of history, society and relationalities within the activity of choice. It is built upon five principles of complexity, intra-action, diffraction, entanglement and movement. Findings cast the activity of educational choice as a complex process of coming to know, influenced by possibilities, relationalities and entanglements. It starts as an internal process of thinking where educational choice is not limited by practical circumstances but is open to different possibilities. Relationalities emphasise how choice is not a linear process but a dynamic, iterative and entangled process. Entanglements bring choice alive, as a lived experience, an activity that is threaded through time, space, and place. My conclusions are two-fold, firstly that educational choice does not begin with a choice of school, but is a relational activity of thinking about education, and secondly through the introduction of diffractive activity as a framework for thinking about individual human activity
’We are teachers too’: reclaiming professionalism in early childhood education from within
No full textThe professionalisation of Early Childhood Education and Care(ECEC) has gained international prominence due to its role infostering children’s lifelong learning and contributing to societaleconomic growth. This paper explores professionalism in the ECECworkforce in England, focusing on tensions between policy, qualificationsand the experiences of early years educators. Drawing oncritical pedagogy and Bernstein’s pedagogic device, we explorehow power dynamics and inequalities have led to the deprofessionalisationof early years educators, positioning them assubordinate to teachers in compulsory education. Through narrativeinquiry with 15 participants, we highlight the challenges andopportunities for early years educators to reclaim agency, fostercriticality and transform their professionalism. The findings highlighta need to re-conceptualise ECEC professionalism, to prioritisepractitioner autonomy, equitable policies and develop an integratedapproach to workforce development through a sectorwidecommitment to change that empowers early years educatorsas agents of pedagogic and policy innovation
Small things / bigger picture: Foucault, Vygotsky and exclusionary practices in schools
No full textThis conceptual paper seeks to identify resonances between the theorising of Vygotsky and Foucault that can explain how events which may not be perceived to be exclusionary by educators may contribute to school exclusion or the self-exclusion of students through home education. We explore the subjective conditions of actions that deviate from the normative standards enshrined in school behaviour policies, drawing on Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie which, following Chisholm, we situate in an ars pathetica derived from Foucault. The small things of our title refers to incidents, interactions or micro-practices that may be perceived as insignificant by educators but which, nevertheless, have a variable and potentially profound effect on the subjective configurations or imaginings and future actions of students, while the bigger picture describes an educational landscape characterised by high rates of formal school exclusion and growing numbers of home-educated young people where, neither are in their best interests, some demographics are disproportionately represented, and both undermine claims around inclusivity. The concepts explored have relevance internationally as suggested by reports on exclusionary practices globally by transnational organisations. We argue that Vygotskian concepts can explain varied reactions to disciplinary regimes, while Foucauldian theorising introduces a reading of reactions as resistance
Confronting Existential Dilemmas: An In-Depth Analysis of Vicky Cristina Barcelona through the Philosophies of Sartre and Camus
No full textIn this paper, the author analyzes Woody Allen's film Vicky Cristina Barcelona through an existential lens, drawing parallels with the philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The characters Vicky, Cristina, Juan Antonio, and María Elena embody existential dilemmas, exploring themes of individual freedom, choice, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world. The analysis delves into Sartrean concepts of bad faith and radical freedom, contrasting Vicky's societal conformity with Cristina's Camusian pursuit of meaning through experiences. The characters' interactions reflect the unpredictable and absurd nature of human relationships, echoing Camus's exploration of the absurdity of emotions. The non-linear narrative structure aligns with existential themes, emphasizing life's unpredictability, and Barcelona serves as a metaphor for the complexities of existence. Woody Allen's narrative and artistic choices invite viewers to reflect on the intricate interplay of love, desire, and chance encounters in the context of existentialism
From Pausanias to Baedeker and Trip Advisor: Textual proto-tourism and the engendering of tourism distribution channels
No full textThe key aim of this article is to provide an interdisciplinary look at tourism and its diachronic textual threads bequeathed by the ‘proto-tourist’ texts of the Greek travel author Pausanias. Using the periegetic, travel texts from his voluminous Description of Greece (2nd century CE) as a springboard for our presentation, we intend to show how the textual strategies employed by Pausanias have been received and still remain at the core of contemporary series of travel guides first authored by Karl Baedeker (in the 19th century). After Baedeker, Pausanias’ textual travel tropes, as we will show, still inform the epistemology of modern-day tourism; the interaction of travel texts with travel information and distribution channels produces generic hybrids, and the ancient Greek travel authors have paved the way for the construction of networks, digital storytelling and global tourist platforms
A Holding Space
No full textVicky Hunter is a Practitioner-Researcher and Professor in Site Dance at the University of Chichester,
UK. Her research explores site dance and corporeal engagements with space, place and lived
environments. Since 2004 she has presented site dance in a range of sites including basements,
woodlands and beaches. She is co-author of (Re) Positioning Site Dance: Local Acts, Global Themes (2019) with
Melanie Kloetzel and Karen Barbour, and editor of Moving Sites: Investigating Site-Specific Dance Performance
(Routledge, 2015). Her monograph Site, Dance and Body: Movement, Materials and Corporeal Engagement was
published by Palgrave in 2021
The real costs of Open Source Sustainability
No full textIn 2016 Nadia Eghbal released "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure," which shines a light on how few people maintain the software that underpins a large amount of the internet and the services that run on it.
The software world has rallied around Open Source Sustainability. Going with what they know, folks mostly focus on paying FOSS developers. Funding drives were funded. Foundations were founded. Startups started up. Venture capitalists ventured that capital.
Money isn't the only part of sustainable FOSS projects. Sustainability is a multi-faceted concept that can't work if people focus on only one of its many elements.
This talk will:
Review literature around the concept of sustainability
Propose a definition that more accurately details what "sustainable" means to FOSS
Provide tips for starting with your FOSS sustainability efforts
About the speaker
VM (aka Vicky) spent most of her twenty-plus years in the tech industry leading software development departments and teams, providing technical management and leadership consulting for small and medium businesses, and helping companies understand, use, release, and contribute to free and open source software in a way that's good for both their bottom line and for the community. Now, as the Director of Open Source Strategy for Juniper Networks, she leverages her nearly 30 years of free and open source software experience and a strong business background to help Juniper be successful through free and open source software.
She is the author of Forge Your Future with Open Source, the first and only book to detail how to contribute to free and open source software projects. The book is published by The Pragmatic Programmers and is now available at https://fossforge.com.
Vicky has been a moderator and author for opensource.com, an author for Linux Journal, the Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, and is a frequent and popular speaker at free/open source conferences and events. She's the proud winner of the Perl White Camel Award (2014), the O’Reilly Open Source Award (2016), and two Opensource.com Moderator's Choice Awards (2018, 2019). She blogs about free/open source, business, and technical management at {anonymous => 'hash'};.</p
Colonisation, globalisation and a pandemic: developing understandings of inclusive education in Malaysia
No full textThis is a theoretical paper that examines how colonisation, globalisation and a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic have had a significant influence on the development of inclusive education policy and practice in Malaysia. Drawing on the ideas of dependency from Farid Alatas, and Carol Bacchi’s focus on the identification of the underlying problem within policies, as well as Stephen Ball’s policy cycle, we highlight how global events have repercussions at a policy level now and into the future. This paper contributes to the wider inclusive education debate through the innovative use of these three different theoretical lenses, informed by Asian historical experiences and cultural practices. This is significant as together they emphasise the impact of colonisation, globalisation and a pandemic on the process of inclusive education policy development in Malaysia as we argue for a repositioning of education to recognise learning that goes on outside of the school gates
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