Empirical research into white racialized identities in Britain

The intellectual project of using whiteness as an explicit tool of analysis is not one that has taken root in Britain. However, there are a number of empirical studies that investigate the racialization of white identities. In this article, I look at some empirical sociological fieldwork carried out on white identities in Britain since the early 1990s and identify the key themes arising. These themes are (in)visibility, norms and values, cultural capital and integration, contingent hierarchies and Empire in the present. In Britain, a pertinent distinction is between rural and urban settings for the enactment of white identities vis-a`-vis those of minorities, and there is an exploration of some of the contingency that draws the boundary between ‘white’ and ‘Other’ in different places. Areas of commonality and distinctiveness are noted in terms of the American work. In the last section, I argue that there are a number of issues to resolve around continuing such studies, including linking the micro-level to the macro-level analysis, and expanding to international comparative work.

Classroom implications of recent research into literacy development: from predictors to assessment

We outline how research into predictors of literacy underpins the development of increasingly accurate and informative assessments. We report three studies that emphasize the crucial role of speech and auditory skills on literacy development throughout primary and secondary school. Our first study addresses the effects of early childhood middle ear infections, the potential consequences for speech processing difficulties and the impact on early literacy development. Our second study outlines how speech and auditory skills are crucially related to early literacy in normally developing readers, whereas other skills such as motor, memory and IQ are only indirectly related. Our third study outlines the on-going impact of phonological awareness on reading and wider academic achievement in secondary-school pupils. Finally, we outline how teachers can use the current research to inform them about which assessments to conduct, and how to interpret the results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sensemaking tools for understanding research literatures:design, implementation and user evaluation

This paper describes the work undertaken in the Scholarly Ontologies Project. The aim of the project has been to develop a computational approach to support scholarly sensemaking, through interpretation and argumentation, enabling researchers to make claims: to describe and debate their view of a document's key contributions and relationships to the literature. The project has investigated the technicalities and practicalities of capturing conceptual relations, within and between conventional documents in terms of abstract ontological structures. In this way, we have developed a new kind of index to distributed digital library systems. This paper reports a case study undertaken to test the sensemaking tools developed by the Scholarly Ontologies project. The tools used were ClaiMapper, which allows the user to sketch argument maps of individual papers and their connections, ClaiMaker, a server on which such models can be stored and saved, which provides interpretative services to assist the querying of argument maps across multiple papers and ClaimFinder, a novice interface to the search services in ClaiMaker.

Digital Humanities Research Through Design

Humanities Computing gave rise to the Digital Humanities, which brought considerations of a wider scope of the digital turn to humanities research. Increasingly, the area is understood to include the field of design, exemplified by definitions that describe the Digital Humanities as a “generative enterprise”. We suggest that design contributes not only to the making of digital artefacts. Design practiced with the aim to generate new knowledge constitues a research method. Design research contributes to the Digital Humanities expertise in addressing complex problems and methods for making the knowledge that is generated during a design process explicit.

Gaining by Giving? Peer Research into Service User and Carer Perceptions of Inclusivity in Higher Education

Service users and carers (SUAC) have made significant contributions to professional training in social work courses in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade in the UK. Such participation has been championed by government, academics and SUAC groups from a range of theoretical and political perspectives. Most research into the effectiveness of SUAC involvement at HE has come from the perspectives of academics and very little SUAC-led research exists. This qualitative peer research was led by two members of the University of Worcester’s SUAC group. Findings were that SUAC perceived their involvement brought benefits to students, staff, the University and the local community. Significant personal benefits such as finding a new support network, increased self-development and greater confidence to manage their own care were identified in ways that suggested that the benefits that can flow from SUAC involvement at HE are perhaps more far-reaching than previously recognised. Barriers to inclusion were less than previously reported in the literature and the humanising effects of SUAC involvement are presented as a partial antidote to an increasingly marketised HE culture.

User-centered, research-based design of futuristic intensive care units

Cooperative Design, Cooperative Science: Investigating Collaborative Research through Design with Floracaching

This dissertation presents a case study of collaborative research through design with Floracaching, a gamified mobile application for citizen science biodiversity data collection. One contribution of this study is the articulation of collaborative research through design (CRtD), an approach that blends cooperative design approaches with the research through design methodology (RtD). Collaborative research through design is thus defined as an iterative process of cooperative design, where the collaborative vision of an ideal state is embedded in a design. Applying collaborative research through design with Floracaching illustrates how a number of cooperative techniques—especially contextual inquiry, prototyping, and focus groups—may be applied in a research through design setting. Four suggestions for collaborative research through design (recruit from a range of relevant backgrounds; take flexibility as a goal; enable independence and agency; and, choose techniques that support agreement or consensus) are offered to help others who wish to experiment with this new approach. Applying collaborative research through design to Floracaching yielded a new prototype of the application, accompanied by design annotations in the form of framing constructs for designing to support mobile, place-based citizen science activities. The prototype and framing constructs, which may inform other designers of similar citizen science technologies, are a second contribution of this research.

Research into crown rot and wilt diseases of strawberries in Queensland

Plant losses due to fungal diseases in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) can potentially cause total loss of production. Three fungal pathogens, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Macrophomina phaseolina, cause similar crown rot and wilt symptoms in strawberries in Queensland. Since the withdrawal of methyl bromide in 2005, no effective chemical control of any of the three pathogens has been available. This study aims at identifying sources of plant genetic resistance that can be used in the breeding program to develop resistant cultivars for use as part of an integrated disease management plan in commercial strawberry production. Results from glasshouse pathogenicity and screening trials on the three pathogens showed that when breeding for resistance against a pathogen, resistance to other pathogens also needs to be considered, e.g., cultivar 'Festival' is resistant to F. oxysporum f. sp. fragariae, but is highly susceptible to C. gloeosporioides. The cultivars 'Earlisweet', 'Kabarla' and 'Phenomenal', two seedling clones and four DAFF breeding lines were resistant to C. gloeosporioides. Cultivar 'Suncoast Delight' showed the most promising level of resistance to M. phaseolina. These cultivars, breeding lines and seedling selections have been made available for incorporation into the crossing program to support the Queensland strawberry breeding program.

Contributos para uma visão estratégica da investigação na área do design em Portugal

Dissertação para a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Design, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitectura.