32,906 research outputs found
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
Rhythmic constraints on read and rapped speech
No full textAnbari SA, Wlodarczak M, Wagner P. Rhythmic constraints on read and rapped speech. In: 14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Human Neuroscience Archive. Vol 7. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA; 2013
Language Change and SA-OT: The case of sentential negation
No full textSimulated Annealing for Optimality Theory (SA-OT) updates Optimality Theory by adding a model of performance to a theory of linguistic competence. Our aim is to show that SA-OT can contribute to language change simulations. Performance "errors" are considered to be one of the causes of variation and change. We have chosen to model the evolution of sentential negation (SN). The descriptive background adopts Jespersen's Cycle, according to which the evolution of sentential negation follows three main stages (1. pre-verbal, 2. discontinuous, and 3. post-verbal). Therefore, we advance a novel model for SN, based on SA-OT. It reproduces the three pure and the two observed mixed stages, whereas it correctly predicts the lack of an intermediate stage between 3 and 1. The success of the approach corroborates the computational, performance-based approach to the data. Finally, we employ the iterated learning paradigm to reproduce historical changes in a "simulated corpus study". This enterprise turns out to be more difficult than one would naively believe.Appeared open access as: Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands Journal (CLIN), vol. 1 (2011), pp. 21-40, and is available at http://www.clinjournal.org/sites/default/files/Lopopolo.pdfA. Lopopolo and Biró, T., “Language Change and SA-OT. The case of sentential negation”, Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands Journal, vol. 1, pp. 21-40, 2011.Peer Reviewe
Improving Reading Skills by Encouraging Children to Read: A Randomized Evaluation of the Sa Aklat Sisikat Reading Program in the Philippines
Get PDFWe evaluate a program that aims to improve children's reading skills by providing classes with age-appropriate reading material and incentivizing children to read through a 31 day read-a-thon. During the read-a-thon, the program significantly increases the propensity of children to read, causing 20 percent more children to have read a book in the last week at school and increasing the number of books read by 2.3 in the last week and 7.2 in the last month. These increases extend both after the end of the program and outside of school, although at lower rates. The program also increased students’ scores on a reading assessment, causing students’ scores to improve by 0.13 standard deviations immediately after the program. The effect persisted even after the program ended with an effect of 0.06 standard deviations three months later.education, reading, development
Guillaume Apollinaire. Correspondance avec les artistes, 1903-1918
No full textThis book presents hundreds of letters and cards addressed by over 100 artists to the poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire, accompanied wherever possible by Apollinaire’s side of the correspondence. The letters, most of which are published here for the first time, are accompanied by an Introduction, a presentation of each artist and detailed and comprehensive notes. The book thus provides a wealth of new information on the world of art and on interplay between artists and poets during a crucial period marked by the birth of cubism, the beginnings of abstraction and the four years of the Great War.
Ces lettres, en majorité inédites, forment la correspondance entre Guillaume Apollinaire et les artistes de son temps : peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, affichistes, décorateurs, illustrateurs... Français et étrangers, ils sont plus d'une centaine à entretenir des relations professionnelles ou personnelles avec le poète d'Alcools et de Calligrammes, dont la critique d'art révèle un goût sûr aux convictions vigoureuses. Les échanges avec Chagall et Gontcharova sont pleins d'estime et d'admiration. Avec André Derain, le Douanier Rousseau, Max Jacob ou Giorgio de Chirico, le travail et l'amitié s'unissent dans un même élan créateur. Entre Apollinaire et Marie Laurencin, la peinture et la poésie épousent l'amour et les regrets. Quand la Grande Guerre disperse les milieux artistiques, les lettres soutiennent Braque, en péril dans les tranchées, et Kisling, évacué après sa blessure dans un corps-à-corps.
Cette correspondance éclaire l'itinéraire et la personnalité des artistes les plus illustres, inventeurs de l'art moderne, sans négliger tous ceux qui, aujourd'hui oubliés ou méconnus, ont animé l'univers des ateliers, des galeries et des salons. Elle nous mène à travers l'Europe de la Belle Époque, creuset du cubisme et de l'abstraction. Elle nous conduit dans un monde déchiré par la guerre, où chacun tente de protéger son art dans les nécessités de l'heure. Elle nous plonge dans l'art vivant du début du XXe siècle
Development and leadership in computer-mediated collaborative groups
Get PDFComputer-mediated collaboration is an important feature of modern organisational and educational settings. Despite its ever increasing popularity, it is still commonly compared unfavourably with face-to-face collaboration because non-verbal and paralinguistic cues are minimal. Although research on face-to-face group collaboration is well documented, less is known about computer-mediated collaboration.
The initial focus of this thesis was an in-depth analysis of a case study of a computer-mediated collaborative group. The case study was a large international group of volunteer researchers who collaborated on a two-year research project using asynchronous communication (email). This case study was a window on collaborative dialogue in the early 1990s (1992-94) at a time when information and communication technologies were at an early stage of development.
After identifying the issues emerging from this early case study, another case study using technologies and virtual environments developed over the past decade, was designed to further understand how groups work together on a collaborative activity. The second case study was a small group of students enrolled in a unit of study at Murdoch University who collaborated on a series of nine online workshops using synchronous communication (chat room). This case study was a window on collaborative dialogue in the year 2000 when information and communication technologies had developed at a rate which few people envisioned in the early 90s.
The primary aim of the research described in this thesis was to gain a better understanding of how computer-mediated collaborative communities develop and grow. In particular, the thesis addresses questions related to the developmental and leadership characteristics of collaborative groups.
Internet research requires a set of assumptions relating to ontology, epistemology, human nature and methodological approach that differs from traditional research assumptions. A research framework for Internet research - Complementary Explorative Data Analysis (CEDA) - was therefore developed and applied to the two case studies.
The results of the two case studies using the CEDA methodology indicate that computer-mediated collaborative groups are highly adaptive to the aim of the collaborative task to be completed, and the medium in which they collaborate. In the organisational setting, it has been found that virtual teams can devise and complete a collaborative task entirely online. It may be an advantage, but it is certainly not mandatory to have preliminary face-to-face discussions. What is more important is to ensure that time is allowed for an initial period of structuration which involves social interaction to develop a social presence and eventually cohesiveness. In the educational setting, a collaborative community increases pedagogical effectiveness. Providing collaborative projects and interdependent tasks promotes constructivist learning and a strong foundation for understanding how to collaborate in the global workplace. Again, this research has demonstrated that students can collaborate entirely online, although more pedagogical scaffolding may be required than in the organisational setting. The importance of initial social interaction to foster a sense of presence and community in a mediated environment has also been highlighted.
This research also provided greater understanding of emergent leadership in computer-mediated collaborative groups. It was found that sheer volume of words does not make a leader but frequent messages with topic-related content does contribute to leadership qualities.
The results described in this thesis have practical implications for managers of virtual teams and educators in e-learning
United we read radio story-time
Get PDFUnited We Read is an early intervention program in the disadvantaged suburbs of Elizabeth Park and Elizabeth Downs (Adelaide) that aims to build foundation literacy skills in children aged from birth to 5 years, run by United Way South Australia. The program involves a monthly literacy kit posted to each child, which includes an age appropriate storybook and parent help sheet as well as family fun events focused on building a rapport with parents as well as literacy.
This research project aims to explore how a story-time radio show might add value to the United We Read program, and investigate if such a radio show can further engage children in their love of reading, and assist parents’ involvement, regardless of their own levels of literacy. United Way SA partnered with the University of South Australia (UniSA), to produce a radio show (the United We Read Radio Story-time) that broadcasts readings of the books that coincide with those that have been distributed to the United We Read clients each month. The radio show was broadcast on Internet radio station UniCast (unicast.com.au) and community radio station PBA-FM, and nine families currently registered with the United We Read program were recruited to participate in the research program and provide feedback on the radio story-time show.
Preliminary findings from this pilot research project demonstrate that radio can be used to assist the enhancement of children\u27s experiences of an early intervention book-reading program, however, the medium is more successful with children over the age of three. It also appears that radio can also assist to engage parents\u27 involvement, on a number of levels. Parents who struggle with reading aloud received direct benefits while others said it created spaces for increased one-on-one reading time with their child.
There is definitely scope for the United We Read Radio Story-time to expand nationally. United Way is a national organisation, and the United We Read book program is offered in a number of States and Territories. Further investigation is needed to consider how a national radio show could be coordinated, potentially through the Community Radio Network, which provides content to community radio stations around the country, or through existing children’s Internet radio stations
Short read Illumina data for the de novo assembly of a non-model snail species transcriptome (Radix balthica, Basommatophora, Pulmonata), and a comparison of assembler performance
No full textBackground: Until recently, read lengths on the Solexa/Illumina system were too short to reliably assemble transcriptomes without a reference sequence, especially for non-model organisms. However, with read lengths up to 100 nucleotides available in the current version, an assembly without reference genome should be possible. For this study we created an EST data set for the common pond snail Radix balthica by Illumina sequencing of a normalized transcriptome. Performance of three different short read assemblers was compared with respect to: the number of contigs, their length, depth of coverage, their quality in various BLAST searches and the alignment to mitochondrial genes. Results: A single sequencing run of a normalized RNA pool resulted in 16,923,850 paired end reads with median read length of 61 bases. The assemblies generated by VELVET, OASES, and SeqMan NGEN differed in the total number of contigs, contig length, the number and quality of gene hits obtained by BLAST searches against various databases, and contig performance in the mt genome comparison. While VELVET produced the highest overall number of contigs, a large fraction of these were of small size (< 200bp), and gave redundant hits in BLAST searches and the mt genome alignment. The best overall contig performance resulted from the NGEN assembly. It produced the second largest number of contigs, which on average were comparable to the OASES contigs but gave the highest number of gene hits in two out of four BLAST searches against different reference databases. A subsequent meta-assembly of the four contig sets resulted in larger contigs, less redundancy and a higher number of BLAST hits. Conclusion: Our results document the first de novo transcriptome assembly of a non-model species using Illumina sequencing data. We show that de novo transcriptome assembly using this approach yields results useful for downstream applications, in particular if a meta-assembly of contig sets is used to increase contig quality. These results highlight the ongoing need for improvements in assembly methodology. Keywords: next generation sequencing; short read assembly; Mollusc
Storytelling, women's authority and the 'Old-Wife's Tale': 'The Story of the Bottle of Medicine'
No full textThe focus of this article is a single personal narrative – a Shetland woman’s telling of a story about two girls on a journey to fetch a cure for a sick relative from a wise woman. The story is treated as a cultural document which offers the historian a conduit to a past that is respectful of indigenous woman-centred interpretations of how that past was experienced and understood. The ‘story of the bottle of medicine’ is more than a skilful telling of a local tale; it is a memory practice that provides a path to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of a culture. Applying perspectives from anthropology, oral history and narrative analysis, three sets of questions are addressed: the issue of authenticity; the significance of the narrative structure and storytelling strategies employed; and the nature of the female performance. Ultimately the article asks what this story can tell us about women’s interpretation of their own history
Stakeholder research CoVE Water SA: CoVE Water SA the umbrella for all stakeholders
No full textThe water and sanitation sector faces well-documented issues that are challenging to address, leading to the establishment of the Platform of Vocational Excellence (PoVE) Water. This platform brings together five regional Centers of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) Water in Europe and South Africa to ensure high-quality skills and competencies in the water sector. These CoVEs facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, enabling the development of vocational education and training programs to increase awareness, responsiveness to industry needs, and address sector challenges. A few months ago, CoVE Water SA was established in South Africa to achieve the previously mentioned goals. Therefore, it is important that the following research question is answered in this initial set-up phase: What actions need to be taken to enhance the effectiveness of the CoVE Water SA? To answer this research question, several important stakeholders were interviewed. Subsequently, the interviews were analysed thematically in order to extract the most important themes and quotes, PI grids were created to assess power and interest dynamics among stakeholders, and a Social Network Analysis was conducted to understand the CoVE Water SA network and potential clusters.The research findings have unveiled key aspects for enhancing the effectiveness of CoVE Water SA. The current network in the water sector has a low density, implying that many collaborations are lacking. This leads to a high degree of interdependence within the network, resulting in a non dynamic system. The lack of collaborations, such as connections with TVET colleges, schools, farmers and local communities, results in a lack of knowledge, funding and connection to the labour market. Governmental stakeholders, like DWS, EWSeta, and BGCMA, have been identified as influential players with extensive networks and important resources, Local Authorities and Research Organizations also play important roles. Universities exhibit substantial international links, making them crucial contributors. These stakeholders have the potential to provide knowledge, collaboration, and power. These are valuable insights for CoVE Water SA, fostering network growth and effectiveness in the water sector. Furthermore, six key themes have been derived from the conducted interviews, addressing the needs of stakeholders and where CoVE can make a valuable contribution. These themes include raising awareness, reducing the skills gap in the water sector, fostering international collaborations, mitigating the labour shortage in the water sector, improving education material and establishing desired collaborations. For each theme, the interviewed stakeholders have presented their views and numerous suggestions on how CoVE Water SA can assist in addressing these issues. Additionally, stakeholders have also mentioned possible failures of CoVE Water SA, which can aid in preventing any shortcomings of the platform. Furthermore, stakeholders mentioned ongoing initiatives related to the six themes, through which they can contribute to the platform. From the Thematic Analysis, PI Grids and the SNA, a set of actions have emerged that are essential for enhancing the effectiveness of CoVE Water SA. These actions revolve around expanding and enhancing the network, organising activities and contributing to educational improvement. In terms of broadening and strengthening the network, the platform should focus on enhancing the collaborations among educational groups, building stronger relations with international institutions in Europe and Africa, involving TVETs and schools within the water network, improving stakeholder involvement and encouraging the involvement of Local Communities to increase awareness and knowledge about water issues. Furthermore, CoVE Water SA should play a role in organising activities to raise awareness of Water Resource Management. Additionally, it should assist in improving curricula, supporting students’ preparation for the workforce and making the education more practical instead of only theoretical. CoVE Water SA should also provide training and learning resources as well as comprehensive courses.However, this study recognizes several limitations that should be considered in future research and when implementing recommendations for CoVE Water SA. These limitations encompass factors like a limited scope due to resource and time constraints, minimal varied interviewee responses, and potential biases in responses. Addressing these limitations will be crucial in guiding future research and actions for CoVE Water SA.CEGM3000Civil Engineerin
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