Who wears the pants? The (multi) cultural politics of 'The sisterhood of the travelling pants'

Novels that prioritise the connectedness and strength of girls’ friendships without employing the pervasive trope of “mean girls”—those who typically divide in order to conquer other girls—are potentially empowering in their refusal to perpetuate limited and binary accounts of adolescent femininity. While Ann Brashares’ cult novel (now film), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005a; originally 2002) appears to be representative of this textual shift, underpinning the overt call to value girls’ relationships is a deeply conservative, assimilationist narrative that relies on an acceptance of traditional patriarchal values. This article analyses the ways in which the novel appropriates “multicultural difference” to valorise, sustain and naturalise the central position and authority of patriarchy in the lives of young girls, regardless of their cultural heritage.

Maximizing real-time streaming services based on a multi-servers networking framework

In recent years, we have witnessed substantial exploitation of real-time streaming applications, such as video surveillance system on road crosses of a city. So far, real world applications mainly rely on the traditional well-known client-server and peer-to-peer schemes as the fundamental mechanism for communication. However, due to the limited resources on each terminal device in the applications, these two schemes cannot well leverage the processing capability between the source and destination of the video traffic, which leads to limited streaming services. For this reason, many QoS sensitive application cannot be supported in the real world. In this paper, we are motivated to address this problem by proposing a novel multi-server based framework. In this framework, multiple servers collaborate with each other to form a virtual server (also called cloud-server), and provide high-quality services such as real-time streams delivery and storage. Based on this framework, we further introduce a (1-?) approximation algorithm to solve the NP-complete "maximum services"(MS) problem with the intention of handling large number of streaming flows originated by networks and maximizing the total number of services. Moreover, in order to backup the streaming data for later retrieval, based on the framework, an algorithm is proposed to implement backups and maximize streaming flows simultaneously. We conduct a series of experiments based on simulations to evaluate the performance of the newly proposed framework. We also compare our scheme to several traditional solutions. The results suggest that our proposed scheme significantly outperforms the traditional solutions.

Strategies for the marketing of higher education with comparative contextual references between Australia and Turkey

Education is now a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ever more creative ways to satisfy student needs and preferences. With the continuing rise in the preference for flexible distance learning, educational institutions are finding that when students and faculty have significantly different cultural backgrounds and learning styles that the expectations of the learning experience can be unfulfilled. In Australia, international students have made education Australia’s third largest service export, earning $5.8 billion. This means that student populations have moved from being homogenous and captive to domestic constraints and expectations, to being multi-cultural, dispersed and subject to a plethora of constraints and expectations. Today in Turkey, education is the responsibility of government however, in recent years, the private sector has entered the market providing educational services at all levels. In particular, after the 1990s, private higher education institutions (HEIs) with a commercial focus have mushroomed.

In 2007, there are 25 private universities in Turkey with more than 2.000.000 students enrolled in these universities. Of these students, more than 1.000.000 are registered in distance education faculties. With such large student numbers competition between private universities for students has intensified particularly over the last 15 years. As a consequence the need to develop strategies for attracting students has become more important. Marketing strategies in Turkey have tended to concentrate on three distinct categories: strategies between governmental HEIs, private HEIs and distance education HEIs. The contribution of technologies to education processes has been immense with students and faculty each learning to adapt to an environment of continuous change and opportunities. This paper seeks to explore the notion that a competitive advantage in marketing of higher education can be attained by customizing learning experiences for particular student cohorts in a pro-active and constructive way.

Smaller steps into longer journeys : experiencing African music and expressing culture

This paper outlines an exploratory research project that draws on survey data from both primary and secondary school music teachers in Victoria. The research stems from a study that I undertook in 2002-2003 with final year Deakin University undergraduate students. That project investigated the potential of African music to enhance the generic musical experiences, learning, motivation, interest, confidence and competence of non-specialist primary teacher education students. The research project being reported in this paper is an extension of the previous study to focus on practising music teachers at both primary and secondary school levels. The research addresses the significance and contribution of African music and culture as a cross-cultural experience for music teachers, their students and the wider community. It further considers my role as an African music practitioner in terms of transformation and acculturation. This paper outlines the progress of, and provides preliminary data about, the emergence of an innovative area of teaching and learning based on African music in Victorian schools. It also explores the notion of why cross-cultural and multi-cultural engagement matters in the contemporary context of educational change.

Global now : searching for meaning

How do teacher educators prepare students to become teachers for a world which is global in its outlook and influences? There are now strong imperatives for teacher educators to develop pre- service students' understandings about a world which is 'global'. It is not only curriculum statements, textbooks, films, videos, that are the carriers and resources in global education but teachers themselves through their own stories
and narratives and the meanings attached to these. The role of teachers' lived experiences in teaching global education is often silenced in teacher education courses, policy documents and school classrooms.

In searching for meaning in global education, it is the capacity of the teacher to reflect not only on their own multiple identities but on the nexus between their local and global worlds and the struggle often evident here. A resource teachers have to teach global education is their own stories, lived experiences of being in a global world. This comes from giving meaning to travel, of living in a multi-cultural multi-faith world of viewing and noticing similarities and differences and giving meaning to these.

Despite increasing demands from education systems and governments for teachers to teach with a global focus, many teachers do not feel confident or prepared to do so. Importantly curriculum policy statements are carrying imperatives to teach to a global world that is rapidly changing. Curriculum statements in Society and Environment area in Australia include 'global' in their rationale. However this does not mean that global education is taught nor understood by teachers who translate these documents to practice. In curriculum documents such as those
produced by the state and territory governments there is some inclusion of global education. Singh (1998) argues that there is a marginalisation of global education in official curriculum policies in Australia. Integrating global education into different subjects is really up to the creativity, expertise and experience of teachers. If it is up to teachers to teach global education as stated by Singh then it will be the capacity of the teacher to draw on a range of resources, pedagogy and approaches to teach global education. One resource is teachers' stories and
narratives and students own lived experiences and stories.

Banks (2001, p. 5) states that "teachers must develop reflective cultural national and global identifications themselves if they are to help students become thoughtful caring and reflective citizens in a multicultural world society." Teacher educators who wish to embed global perspectives in their teaching require reflective practices on their own identities, prejudices, choice of curriculum content and pedagogy.

Teaching global education requires a conscious understanding and reflection to begin the journey of self as located in the classroom. The central issue of this paper is to bring forth emphasis on the lived experiences of teachers and teachers educators in order to develop deeper global understandings in students.

Southern drift: the learning styles of first and third year students of the built environment

This paper focuses on learning processes across the design curriculum of Deakin University School of Architecture and Building (Australia) through the recognition of the four learning styles - 'accommodating', 'diverging', 'assimilating' and 'converging' - that are defined in the Experiential Learning theory of Kolb. The research has been conducted to evaluate the effects of
learning style preferences on the performance of built environment students from diverse backgrounds and cultures in projects across a range of learning situations. The results of the research are being used to inform andragogical refinements that will be tested in design studio and technology lecture units studied by students of Architecture and Construction Management. The paper will focus on the results of a cross-curriculum learning style survey. The sUivey was conducted as part of a Strategic
Teaching and Learning Grant funded project currently running at Deakin as a reflexive research program aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of students collaborating in multi~disciplinary and multi~cultural team assignments. By addressing the issues of multidisciplinarity, cultural inclusiveness and the internationalisation of higher education, the research program aims ultimately at the education of graduates who are able to bring leadership to multidisciplinary design collaborations co-operating across international boundaries towards a global sustainable future.

The need for a culturally inclusive andragogy for collaborative design learning

In recognition of the apparent paradox between the cultural-systems of Asia and the West and the teaching and learning styles they promote, this platform paper aims to propose how research might investigate differences between achievement and diverse learning preferences at various stages of the design process in the multi-cultural studios of Deakin University. The paper presents a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant project currently running at Deakin as a reflexive research program aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of international students collaborating in three undergraduate design studios. The primary aim of this program is to inform a new culturally inclusive andragogy for problem-based design teaching through experiential
learning theory.

Space and loss: spirituality and symbolic connectedness in contemporary culture

This paper examines the significance of space in the experience, stories and memories of loss and grief. While for many religions the earth is an important element in rituals around birth, death and burial, in increasingly secular and multi-cultural societies, church and public cemeteries are no longer the dominant sacred sites, nor is religion the only way of defining ‘spirituality’. The paper describes shifts in religious and secular practices in dealing with loss and grief, presents case studies of traditional and contemporary frameworks in which ritual, storytelling and space are important elements of meaning making processes, and invites further examination of the ways in which artmaking restores a sense of control and meaning after the experience of loss.

Getting old and heading south: the academic success of Southerner learners in design cohorts

This paper investigates the relationship between learning style, as determined by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, age and one measure of academic performance in design assignments for two cohorts of first- and third-year architecture students. The paper focuses on the results of a cross-curriculum learning style survey conducted as part of a project aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of students collaborating in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team assignments. The research was conducted to determine how learning style differences in heterogeneous teams might be addressed through pedagogy. In light of evidence in student cohorts of learning style changes towards the learning styles of design teachers as students progress through their studies, this paper demonstrates how these changes reflect a statistically significant relationship between learning styles and academic performance in design assignments.

Techno-literacy and learning in blended, multicultural course environments

For the last two decades, higher education institutions have been actively engaged in the use of online technology with the aim of transforming the way we teach and learn to improve students’ learning experiences and outcomes. However, despite significant investment in infrastructure and training and a wide-scale uptake of such technologies, the promised transformative effect on student learning is yet to be actualised outside of small pockets of innovation. In this paper, we argue that one of the factors contributing to lack of qualitative large-scale transformation is students’ lack of preparedness and experience in using online tools for learning purposes. Drawing on an ethnographic study of culturally diverse computing students and teachers within learning environments that blend online and face-to-face pedagogies, we argue that, although contemporary university students are largely operationally literate when using online learning tools, they often lack the cultural and critical skills required to use such technologies in a meaningful way to support powerful learning. We argue that, for online learning technologies to transform learning, students need to be supported to develop these higher order techno-literacy skills.

Cross-validation of the factorial structure of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and its abbreviated form (NEWS-A)

Background : The Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and its abbreviated form (NEWS-A) assess perceived environmental attributes believed to influence physical activity. A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) conducted on a sample from Seattle, WA showed that, at the respondent level, the factor-analyzable items of the NEWS and NEWS-A measured 11 and 10 constructs of perceived neighborhood environment, respectively. At the census blockgroup (used by the US Census Bureau as a subunit of census tracts) level, the MCFA yielded five factors for both NEWS and NEWS-A. The aim of this study was to cross-validate the individual- and blockgroup-level measurement models of the NEWS and NEWS-A in a geographical location and population different from those used in the original validation study.

Methods : A sample of 912 adults was recruited from 16 selected neighborhoods (116 census blockgroups) in the Baltimore, MD region. Neighborhoods were stratified according to their socio-economic status and transport-related walkability level measured using Geographic Information Systems. Participants self-completed the NEWS. MCFA was used to cross-validate the individual- and blockgroup-level measurement models of the NEWS and NEWS-A.

Results : The data provided sufficient support for the factorial validity of the original individual-level measurement models, which consisted of 11 (NEWS) and 10 (NEWS-A) correlated factors. The original blockgroup-level measurement model of the NEWS and NEWS-A showed poor fit to the data and required substantial modifications. These included the combining of aspects of building aesthetics with safety from crime into one factor; the separation of natural aesthetics and building aesthetics into two factors; and for the NEWS-A, the separation of presence of sidewalks/walking routes from other infrastructure for walking.

Conclusion : This study provided support for the generalizability of the individual-level measurement models of the NEWS and NEWS-A to different urban geographical locations in the USA. It is recommended that the NEWS and NEWS-A be scored according to their individual-level measurement models, which are relatively stable and correspond to constructs commonly used in the urban planning and transportation fields. However, prior to using these instruments in international and multi-cultural studies, further validation work across diverse non-English speaking countries and populations is needed.

Street art : Mirror reflections on and meshing with urban agriculture

Street Art: Mirror Reflections on urban AgricultureThis chapter will look at the way socio-political commentary exists in street art and how it has tended in recent times to be displayed overlooking community urban gardens. The urgency with which inner suburban councils in Melbourne Australia have dedicated themselves to carving out recreational spaces is a reflection on the expectations of multi-cultural groups whose culture incorporates the growth of vegetable and fruits close to their place of residence. Street art, famous for its commentary on urban ugliness, has integrated its philosophy and aesthetics, along side notable community gardens in Melbourne. The images incorporate the aims of urban agriculture whilst often simultaneously critiquing the alienation of the urban dweller cut so relentlessly from the means of growing food and from accessing land that might produce it. Community gardens in the twenty-first century go some way to reversing a state of being in which ‘workers’ were alienated from the source of their labor and their survival. This chapter will also probe the extent to which street art in the inner laneways of Melbourne incorporate in to their designs fauna and flora. This reference to all that is organic in environments devoid of vegetation draws attention not only to that absence but also for the need to address it. This work will therefore deal with two interrelating themes: 1. Street art that complements community gardens; 2. Street art that engages with agricultural imagery and images of fauna and flora with the aim of subverting the continual growth of unregulated concrete jungles. The chapter will be informed by interviews with well known Australian street artists and will also explore the work they have done in Paris, Jamaica, London and Miami on both themes stipulated above.

Coproduction and Casula's Pacifica Program: Initial research findings

This research takes Casula Powerhouse Art Centre’s Pacifica program as a case study to investigate the ways in which museum and galleries are involved in coproduction with culturally diverse communities. Coproduction is defined here as:Museum and gallery practice conducted jointly with communities or other external partiesThe benefits of coproduction are that it leads to more effective and efficient public services (including arts and cultural services) while also building the skills and capacity of the community. However coproduction is not easy, particularly because it requires public service providers and communities to work in ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships.As an organisation with strong and strategic alliances to its governing body (Liverpool City Council), Casula brings a strong capacity for coproduction. Internally it has support and commitment to coproduction from across the organisation. The staff at Casula bring exceptional relational skills. The organisation’s capacity to coproduce draws heavily on their skills as cultural brokers and experience in community cultural development practice. The communities Casula works with bring strong cultural knowledge and practice, along with a desire to maintain and preserve these community resources. Casula’s coproduction work also meets external political needs for public services to deliver increased public value as well as a greater diversity in the profile of arts audiences.The key challenge for Casula Powerhouse’s coproduction work is the extent to which it aims for joint delivery of public services through ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships with the community, or uses coproduction as a tool for community engagement and audience development. Advocates of coproduction in the public sector argue for its value as a means of delivering more effective and efficient public services while at the same time building the skills and capacity of local communities. A critical element of coproduction according to these writers and scholars is the development and delivery of public services through ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships between providers and users.The value of coproduction for Casula Powerhouse and the Pacifica program is its use as a means of community engagement and audience development. Coproduction is a feature of the components of Pacifica that enable the participation of the community and provide entry points for audiences to engage with contemporary art. Evidence of this approach to coproduction can be seen in the dual ‘stakeholder’ and ‘audience’ role that the community have within the Pacifica program. The community is therefore both a contributor to Pacifica and a beneficiary of this work. The benefits Casula Powerhouse receives from the community’s involvement in Pacifica are greater public value of its work and stronger engagement with communities and audiences.Although coproduction may not be the focus of all aspects of Pacifica, the involvement of Pacific Islander communities in the program results in exhibitions and public programs that are not typical contemporary art gallery offerings. Pacifica is further evidence of Casula Powerhouse’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach to gallery practice. The use of coproduction also ensures Pacifica offers an authentic and distinctive gallery experience.