Motivation and behavioural patterns of students accessing a peer-facilitated support for learning program

This paper describes the development and use of personas, a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research methodology, within the STIMulate peer learning program, in order to better understand student behaviour patterns and motivations. STIMulate is a support for learning program at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. The program provides assistance in mathematics, science and information technology (IT) for course work students. A STIMulate space is provided for students to study and obtain one-on-one assistance from Peer Learning Facilitators (PLFs), who are experienced students that have excelled in relevant subject areas. This paper describes personas – archetypal users - that represent the motivations and behavioural patterns of students that utilise STIMulate (particularly the IT stream). The personas were developed based on interviews with PLFs, and subsequently validated by a PLF focus group. Seven different personas were developed. The personas enable us to better understand the characteristics of the students utilising the STIMulate program. The research provides a clearer picture of visiting student motivations and behavioural patterns. This has helped us identify gaps in the services provided, and be more aware of our assumptions about students. The personas have been deployed in PLF training programs, to help PLFs provide a better service to the students. The research findings suggest further study on the resonances between some students and PLFs, which we would like to better elicit.

Musicalising theatre, theatricalising music: Writing and performing intermediality in composed theatre

This investigation combined musicality and theatricality in the creation of four shows: Bear with Me, The Empty City, Gentlemen Songsters and Warmwaters. Led by creative practice, the research identified four polyvalences that characterise Composed Theatre, a transformational artistic domain which offers distinct challenges for performance makers. These include tensions and resolutions between compositional and theatrical thinking; music and words; setlist and script; and finally persona and character. The research finds that these interplays not only lend Composed Theatre its distinct qualities, but offer a potential set of balances to strike for writers, performers, composers and musicians who mix music and theatre in intermedial performance.

A methodological survey of future mobility literature: Opportunities for design research

This research establishes that the study of mobility and transportation is multi-disciplinary and highly complex, involving the diverse interplay between infrastructural and psychological factors. Coincidently, a new paradigm in personal mobility is developing. A new generation of mobility solutions is becoming widely available in the form of car and ride sharing services. These services build on the assumption that customers no longer need ownership of a product in order to benefit from it. With the emergence of this new paradigm, this paper presents a methodological review of current practises used by the wider research community. Therefore, this research piece aims to explore methodological approaches involved in the study the effect of community on an individual’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of future mobility solutions. The results of this review indicate that the majority of published literature uses quantitative methods as opposed to qualitative and even fewer studies have sought to understand the human factors in these new mobility solutions. This gap in knowledge is a valuable opportunity for design. Inherently qualitative and human focused, design research can fill this gap in knowledge by applying distinctly user-centred methods such as persona design, narrative storytelling, and in-depth observations to discover deeper human insights.

Ylirajaisia suhteita : Helsingin olympialaiset, Armi Kuusela ja ylikansallinen historia

In 1952 Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympic Games and Armi Kuusela, the current “Maiden of Finland”, was at the same time crowned Miss Universe. In popular history writing, these events have been designated as a crucial turning point – the end of an era marked by war and deprivation and the beginning of a modern, Western nation. Symptomatically, both events were marked by Finnish women’s sexual relationships with foreign men. The Olympics were shadowed by a concern over Finnish women’s “undue friendliness” with the Olympic guests, and Armi Kuusela's world tour was cut short by her surprise marriage in Tokyo and subsequent emigration to the Philippines. This study is an inquiry into the Helsinki Olympics and the public persona of Armi Kuusela from the point of view of transnational heterosexuality and the constitution of Finnish national identity. Methodologically the two main components of the study are intersectionality, defined here as a focus on the mutual histories and effects of discourses of gender, sexuality, race and nation; and transnational history as a way of exploring the ways that both nations and sexual subjects are embedded in global relations of power. The analysis proceeds by way of contextual and intertextual readings of various sources. Part one, centering on the Olympics, involves a campaign mounted by certain women’s organizations before the Games in order to educate young women about the potential dangers of the forthcoming international event as well as magazine and newspaper articles published during and after the Games concerning the encounter between young Finnish women and foreign, especially “Southern,” men. It places the debates during the Olympics within the framework of wartime understandings of women’s sexuality; the history of the concept of decency (siveellisyys); post-war population policy; the intersectional histories of conceptions pertaining to race and sexuality; and finally, the post-war concerns over women’s migration from rural areas to the capital city and their potential emigration abroad. Part two deals with the persona of Armi Kuusela and the public reception of her world tour and marriage, based on material from both Finland and the Philippines (newspapers, magazines, advertisements, books and films). It examines the persona of Armi Kuusela as a figure of national import in terms of the East/West divide; the racialized images of different geographic climates and Oriental “Others;” the meaning of whiteness in the Philippines; the significance of class and colonial history for the domestication of sexual and racial transgressions implied by an unconventional transnational marriage; as well as the cultural logics of transnational desire and its possible meanings for women in 1950s Finland. The study develops two arguments. First, it suggests that instead of being purely oppositional to national discourses, transnational desire may also be viewed as a product of these very discourses. Second, it claims that the national significance of both the Olympics and the persona of Armi Kuusela was due to the new points of comparison they both offered for national identity construction. In comparison with the sexualized Southern men at the Olympics and the racialized Orient in the representations of Armi Kuusela’s travels and marriage, Finland emerged as part of the civilized North, placed firmly within the perimeters of Western Europe. As such, both events mark a “whitening” of the Finnish people as well as a distancing from their previous designations in racial hierarchies. At the same time, however, the process of becoming a white nation inevitably meant complying with and reproducing racial hierarchies, rather than simply abolishing them.

Laughing with the lecturer: The use of humour in shaping university teaching

This paper addresses the ways in which humour is used by university academics to shape teaching personas. Based upon the work of Mauss and Foucault, and employing semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a range of university teachers, this research suggests that most tertiary teachers deliberately fashion various kinds of teaching persona, which they then perform in lectures and tutorials. The use of humour is widely seen as an important component within this form of self-shaping, as it fits within dominant frameworks of expectation regarding contemporary models of “edutainment”. This research demonstrates that a wide range of practices of the self—including physical, verbal, and relational elements—are employed by academics as part of shaping various humorous teaching personas. Some boundaries exist limiting the use of these pedagogic characters; for example, arguments about natural ability with humour prefigure who is most likely to deploy humour as a practice of professional self-formation. Also, professional concerns regarding seniority and job security are also factored into decision-making regarding those humorous personas likely to be considered appropriate within particular tertiary teaching contexts.

Building personas of students accessing a peer-facilitated support for learning program

The modern student represents a change from the traditional learner. More than ever before, additional resources are available online and yet personalised learning and peer-assistance programs are becoming an essential part of tertiary education delivery. This paper presents the first stage in a user-centred design approach to the analysis of the completeness and efficacy of such a personalised, peer-based support for learning program. This approach used an iterative design methodology based on contextual interview, workshops and focus groups to develop personas representing students visiting the program. Initial uses of these developed personas have included training of new personnel as well as the evaluation of the program. Overall the use of this user-centred approach and iterative persona development methodology has yielded an invaluable resource for the design of support for learning programs across the higher education industry within Australia and beyond.

Can an Ecdysiast Fag speak the voice of transgender? Phoenix (un)rising and the assumptions in Re Kevin revisited

"Each night the men look so surprised I change my sex before their eyes Tell me if you can What makes a man a man" - Charles Aznavour, ‘What makes a man a man (Comme ils disent)’. In (the few) Western jurisdictions in which marriage remains a forensic artefact constructed on the basis of a man|woman binary, the anatomical and heteronormative assumptions which underlie the construction of marriage remain as artificial constructs which do not map well (if indeed at all) to current social, or even medical, approaches to gender. In Re Kevin (Validity of Marriage of Transsexual) [2001] FamCA 1074, Justice Chisolm sought to recast the forensic ascription of sex against a broader set of criteria, expanding the range of sexually dimorphic anatomy used to determine sex for the purposes of marriage in Australia and incorporating observations of psycho-social gender-differentiation as factors relevant to the ultimate question for the Court — ‘What makes a man a man?’ Yet neither expansion is unproblematic. This article explores this fundamental forensic question against the background of Aznavour’s ‘Comme ils dissent’, in which the persona of un(e) stripteaseuse travesti struggles to answer precisely the same question. It concludes that Re Kevin might offer no more sophisticated an analysis of the lived reality of trans than Aznavour’s ecdysiast fag — not trans, but un travesti: "I shop and cook and sew a bit Though mum does too, I must admit I do it better."

Journalistic branding on Twitter: A representative study of Australian journalists’ profile descriptions

While journalism scholarship on Twitter has expanded significantly in recent years, journalists’ use of the social networking platform for self-promotion and branding has only recently received attention. Yet, as Twitter is becoming important for journalists to build economic and social capital, journalistic branding is increasingly relevant to study. This article reports the results from a study of 4189 Australian journalists’ Twitter accounts to examine their approaches to self-presentation and branding in their profile information. We find that journalists self-identify primarily through professional characteristics, but a significant number also mix this with personal information. Yet, they are also wary of providing personal information, with one-third including a disclaimer that their views are their own. Whereas only small differences could be found along gender lines, more significant differences existed in terms of whether journalists worked in metropolitan or regional areas and the nature of their employers’ main platform of distribution.

Looking out of the void : Scaffolds to assist drama higher research degree students on the path to artist–scholar

In recent years, a number of Australian and international universities have offered the ability to complete postgraduate qualifications using the research frame known as creative practice as research. This has been particularly prevalent in the Drama discipline in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). There has been a noticeable shift away from students undertaking a traditional research Master of Arts (Research) or Doctor of Philosophy to a higher proportion of research higher degree students undertaking research through their creative work. The somewhat ephemeral nature of the theatre and performance practice can generate anxieties for students about how to best represent, analyse and discuss the creative practice within a theoretical frame. The argument in this paper is situated in the experience of two artist-scholars who undertook their studies at QUT while under principal supervision of the author and explores the research scaffolds that supervisors in Drama at QUT have developed to assist research higher degree students to navigate the tricky persona of artist–scholar.

Vem vänder vindarna? – Vem tänder stjärnorna? Några metodiska grepp i analysen av Eva Dahlgrens rocktexter

Abstract (Vem vänder vindarna ? – Vem tänder stjärnorna? Methodological choices in the analysis of Eva Dahlgren’s rock lyrics): This article deals with some methods I have found useful in analyzing the lyrics in rock music, particularly the lyrics by the Swedish singer songwriter Eva Dahlgren (born 1960). The article is based on my doctoral thesis in progress, dealing with the relationship between the lyrics (in particular the “I” of the lyrics), and the public persona of Eva Dahlgren, as well as the process of "doing Eva Dahlgren" (the constructing of her artist persona). I take my starting point in the lyrics of Dahlgren’s big hit "Vem tänder stjärnorna" (Dahlgren 1991). First, I discuss the themes of the lyrics, mostly the spiritual or religious themes. Second, I present and discuss the methods in my own work. The first method is inspired by conversational analysis, and is based on a transcription of the performed lyrics, with the aim of grasping the dialogues between the words and the music, more specifically Dahlgren’s use of voice. My other methods are related to my aim to describe Dahlgren’s public persona, and the construction of “Eva Dahlgren”. I have used concepts and models developed by the musicologist Laura Ahonen and literary scholar Karin Strand, in an effort to describe the many levels in Dahlgren’s (performed) “I” as well as the different actors in the process of shaping and reshaping images of Eva Dahlgren.

Developing Peer-To-Peer Web Applications

As the virtual world grows more complex, finding a standard way for storing data becomes increasingly important. Ideally, each data item would be brought into the computer system only once. References for data items need to be cryptographically verifiable, so the data can maintain its identity while being passed around. This way there will be only one copy of the users family photo album, while the user can use multiple tools to show or manipulate the album. Copies of users data could be stored on some of his family members computer, some of his computers, but also at some online services which he uses. When all actors operate over one replicated copy of the data, the system automatically avoids a single point of failure. Thus the data will not disappear with one computer breaking, or one service provider going out of business. One shared copy also makes it possible to delete a piece of data from all systems at once, on users request. In our research we tried to find a model that would make data manageable to users, and make it possible to have the same data stored at various locations. We studied three systems, Persona, Freenet, and GNUnet, that suggest different models for protecting user data. The main application areas of the systems studied include securing online social networks, providing anonymous web, and preventing censorship in file-sharing. Each of the systems studied store user data on machines belonging to third parties. The systems differ in measures they take to protect their users from data loss, forged information, censorship, and being monitored. All of the systems use cryptography to secure names used for the content, and to protect the data from outsiders. Based on the gained knowledge, we built a prototype platform called Peerscape, which stores user data in a synchronized, protected database. Data items themselves are protected with cryptography against forgery, but not encrypted as the focus has been disseminating the data directly among family and friends instead of letting third parties store the information. We turned the synchronizing database into peer-to-peer web by revealing its contents through an integrated http server. The REST-like http API supports development of applications in javascript. To evaluate the platform’s suitability for application development we wrote some simple applications, including a public chat room, bittorrent site, and a flower growing game. During our early tests we came to the conclusion that using the platform for simple applications works well. As web standards develop further, writing applications for the platform should become easier. Any system this complex will have its problems, and we are not expecting our platform to replace the existing web, but are fairly impressed with the results and consider our work important from the perspective of managing user data.

Developing Peer-To-Peer Web Applications

As the virtual world grows more complex, finding a standard way for storing data becomes increasingly important. Ideally, each data item would be brought into the computer system only once. References for data items need to be cryptographically verifiable, so the data can maintain its identity while being passed around. This way there will be only one copy of the users family photo album, while the user can use multiple tools to show or manipulate the album. Copies of users data could be stored on some of his family members computer, some of his computers, but also at some online services which he uses. When all actors operate over one replicated copy of the data, the system automatically avoids a single point of failure. Thus the data will not disappear with one computer breaking, or one service provider going out of business. One shared copy also makes it possible to delete a piece of data from all systems at once, on users request. In our research we tried to find a model that would make data manageable to users, and make it possible to have the same data stored at various locations. We studied three systems, Persona, Freenet, and GNUnet, that suggest different models for protecting user data. The main application areas of the systems studied include securing online social networks, providing anonymous web, and preventing censorship in file-sharing. Each of the systems studied store user data on machines belonging to third parties. The systems differ in measures they take to protect their users from data loss, forged information, censorship, and being monitored. All of the systems use cryptography to secure names used for the content, and to protect the data from outsiders. Based on the gained knowledge, we built a prototype platform called Peerscape, which stores user data in a synchronized, protected database. Data items themselves are protected with cryptography against forgery, but not encrypted as the focus has been disseminating the data directly among family and friends instead of letting third parties store the information. We turned the synchronizing database into peer-to-peer web by revealing its contents through an integrated http server. The REST-like http API supports development of applications in javascript. To evaluate the platform s suitability for application development we wrote some simple applications, including a public chat room, bittorrent site, and a flower growing game. During our early tests we came to the conclusion that using the platform for simple applications works well. As web standards develop further, writing applications for the platform should become easier. Any system this complex will have its problems, and we are not expecting our platform to replace the existing web, but are fairly impressed with the results and consider our work important from the perspective of managing user data.

Opettajien roolit alakoulun samanaikaisopetuksessa

Teachers work is changing from independent work towards a collegial cooperation, and one form of cooperation can be co-teaching. Co-teaching is also discussed in the three level model of supporting in Special education strategy (Ministry of Education 2007). Efforts have been made to increase co-teaching in Helsinki with the help of a merit pay system. The purpose of this study is to describe teachers' roles in planning, implementing and evaluating co-teaching and to resolve how teachers have ended up with these roles, what advantages and disadvantages there are in different roles and what kind of roles are experienced meaningful. This study is made from a class teacher or a special class teacher point of view. The research material was collected using a qualitative web-inquiry in Autumn 2010. The questionnaire was answered by 35 teachers. The material was studied using content analysis methods. Three different co-teaching roles were formed on the basis of the research material. These roles differ in the way of dividing responsibility of planning and implementing co-teaching. Responsibility Sharers divided the responsibility evenly, Primary Responsible had one teacher with main responsibility and Single Responsible had only one teacher having all the responsibility of planning and teaching. The more responsibility the class teacher had, the more the special education teacher was limited to answer for students with special needs. Distribution of work with Responsibility Sharers was mostly based on good cooperation, while Primary Responsible and Single Responsible had work distribution mostly affected by absence of common planning time. The most satisfied with their co-teaching roles were the Responsibility Sharers, while the Single Responsible were the most unhappy group. However, it seems that individuals' persona affects to what kind of co-teaching was experienced meaningful.

Sport, body and power: Reassessing the myth of President Kekkonen

Former President of Finland Urho Kekkonen was not only a powerful politician but also a well-known sportsman and keep-fit enthusiast. The president’s sports hobbies were covered and celebrated in the media and thus became an integral part of his public persona. This paper looks at Kekkonen’s athletic and able-bodied image and its significance for his power from the perspective of gender. In his exercise activities, Kekkonen was able to display his bodily prowess and demonstrate his version of masculinity, which emphasized both physical and mental strength. The union of mind and muscle in turn buttressed his political ascendancy. Kekkonen’s athletic body served as a cornerstone of his dominance over his country and, simultaneously, as a shield protecting Finland from both internal and external threats. Furthermore, Kekkonen’s sports performances were essential elements in the myth that was created around the president during his term and which was carefully conserved after his fall from power. Drawing upon scholarship on men and masculinities, this paper reassesses the still-effective mythical image of Kekkonen as an invincible superman. The article reveals the performative nature of his athletic activities and shows that in part, his pre-eminence in them was nothing more than theatre enacted by him and his entourage. Thus, Kekkonen’s superior and super-masculine image was actually surprisingly vulnerable and dependent on the success of the performance. The president’s ageing, in particular, demonstrates the fragility of his displays of prowess, strength and masculinity, and shows how fragile the entanglement of body and power can be.

Estudio sobre comercialización y consumo de carne de pollo en la zona urbana del municipio de Masaya

El presente trabajo se realizó en la zona urbana del Municipio de Masaya, entre los meses de Agosto y Noviembre de 1998, con el objetivo de caracterizar los canales de comercialización de la carne de pollo, así como también los factores que afecten el consumo de , El estudio se basó en el análisis de 148 encuestas sobre consumo de carne de pollo, realizadas a la población consumidora así como también entrevistas semi estructuradas a agentes la cadena de intermediación. Se utilizó el método de mínimos cuadrados para analizar el efecto sobre el consumo de carne de pollo de las variables propio precio, precio de sustitutos y el ingreso percapita. Además se realizó el cálculo de las respectivas elasticidades. Para el análisis se utilizó una serie de tiempo que comprende el periodo 1992-1998. Los productos avícolas se venden en 3 presentaciones: pollo de engorde (entero congelado y cortado en pieza), ponedoras de descarte y gallinas de patio. La oferta de pollo de engorde obedece un mercado oligopólico con características de monopolio, con un sistema de comercialización centralizado. El margen bruto de comercialización de la carne de pollo de engorde varía de acuerdo al tipo de presentación oscilando entre el 29 - 30 % del valor pagado por el consumidor. Así mismo el margen bruto de comercialización para las ponedoras de descarte oscila entre 18- 22%. Los precios de la carne de pollo varían de acuerdo a la forma en que se presente la canal y al tipo de establecimiento donde se oferta dicho producto (1O -12 córdobas por libra). Con respecto a otros tipos de carne, el pollo presenta un precio relativo menor. El consumo per cápita en la zona es de 28 libras por persona por año; siendo mayor ellos estratos de ingreso más alto, pero se consume aún en los estratos de ingresos más bajos. El incremento del precio del pollo tiende a reducir la demanda. Las preferencias del consumidor son hacia un pollo con poco contenido de grasa y de textura blanda pero no flácida. El 85% de la población consume pollo de engorde principalmente en la presentación de pollo cortado en pieza. La elasticidad precio resultó altamente elástica siendo esta de 2.72. La elasticidad cruzada de cante de pollo con carne de res resultó de 0.84 la cual demuestra que la carne de pollo alcanza ser un sustituto de la carne de res, así mismo la elasticidad ingreso es de -1.33 lo que indica que el pollo es un bien normal básico.