bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Canada's Telecommunications Policy Environment
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

This paper provides an overview of the telecommunications policy environment in Canada. Like Milner's (2009) article on New Zealand, this paper offers insights on international approaches to telecommunications policy. Canada's telecommunications history reveals a mix of private and public sector investment in regionally-based service providers. Canada did not have a single, publicly owned telecommunications carrier as was the case in Australia. Liberalisation of the telecommunications marketplace encouraged the development of competing infrastructures, with cable companies (traditionally focused on broadcasting distribution) and telephone companies now both providing wireline and wireless, voice, Internet and television services. Competition for wireline services remains regionally based, while wireless providers compete nationally.

Although competition is intense, the broadband and wireless markets are highly concentrated. Competition in these markets has not resulted in extensive consumer choice, low prices or innovative services. Most Canadian consumers have access to broadband connectivity, but uptake rates now lag other OECD countries, for services that are slower and more expensive than those available in many other locations. Mobile phone penetration in Canada is on par with that of developing nations. The paper explores the characteristics of Canada's telecommunication markets, discusses the policy environment and notes that government has not offered a vision of a digital future for Canada.
The Next Broadband Challenge: Mobile
Authors: Middleton Catherine A. , Given Jock
Published: May 2021

Presentation to the Experts Workshop -- The Broadband Act of 2011: Developing a Communications Act for the 21st Century.

Washington, DC, September 2010 
Women’s voluntary organizations and the restructuring of Canada’s voluntary sector: a theoretical perspective
Authors: Meinhard Agnes G. , Foster Mark K.
Published: May 2021

Creative and innovative strategies will be required as voluntary organizations find themselves under increased pressure in response to changes in their relationship with government funders. In the past, women’s voluntary organizations shaped the character of the voluntary sector; similarly today, they may be the harbingers of future trends.

Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management

Citation:
Conceptualizing the (non) users of the internet
Authors: Sora Park , Middleton Catherine A. , Allen Matthew
Published: May 2021

Most studies about internet use examine how usage differs among users and why. Less attention has been paid to the varied degrees of non-use or low levels of use. Non-adopters of digital media are usually understood as not having access to digital media. However, there is a considerable variation among them with regards to how and why they lack the connectivity. Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge those who do have access but use the internet only in a limited capacity. Digital exclusion does not only occur among those who do not have access but expands to those who cannot use the internet effectively. A new type of digital exclusion is emerging due to this variation of usage and appropriation. We propose a nuanced approach in defining the various levels of internet non- and low use. Rather than highlighting how social exclusion, therefore the lack of connectivity, leads to digital exclusion, this paper looks at the various contexts in which people might be digital disengaged and therefore digitally excluded.
Discrimination experienced by landed immigrants in Canada
Authors: Nangia Parveen
Published: May 2021

Immigrants land in Canada with great hopes and multiple dreams, but the General Social Survey 2009 shows that one-fifth of them face discrimination in various situations once they have arrived. Ethnicity, race, language, and religion are the major grounds of discrimination. In this paper, the experiences of discrimination of landed immigrants are compared with those of non-immigrants. A logistic regression analysis is used on GSS data to predict the probability of facing discrimination based on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of a person. Separate models are prepared for landed immigrants and non-immigrants. Results show that immigrants are much more likely to face discrimination than non-immigrants. Visible minorities and younger persons face higher levels of discrimination compared to non-visible minorities and older persons. Irrespective of their gender, household income, language, region of domicile, and number of evening activities, landed immigrants have similar chances of facing discrimination; whereas, for non-immigrants, these characteristics make a significant difference in their experiences of discrimination.

Key Words: Discrimination, immigrant, race, ethnicity, and human rights.
A human-health risk assessment of dietary methylmercury exposure in Fort Albany First Nation
Authors: Ahmed Fatima
Published: May 2021

In Northern First Nations communities, traditional diets are a primary pathway for essential nutrients and exposures to environmental contaminants. Due to long-range transport and industry pollution, Fort Albany First Nation is a community at risk of methylmercury exposures through fish. It’s ability to bioaccumulate, and its neurotoxic and developmental impacts, make its presence a concern. This study assessed five fish species for methylmercury from the Albany River. All species, except for Pike, demonstrated a positive relationship with mercury concentrations increasing with length. A human health risk assessment was conducted and demonstrated twice the risk of exceeding the reference dose for children ages 3 to 6 for all species, and 6 to 11 for all species, excluding Whitefish. It is recommended that vulnerable populations consuming certain species of fish reduce their intakes or encourage community trading. Furthermore, there is a need for more thorough testing for mercury along the river basin
Broadband Internet Usage Outside the Home: Insights from a Study of Toronto Internet Cafés
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

This paper addresses a simple question. In an environment where more and more people have broadband internet access at home, what is the role of internet cafés? In answering this question, a contribution is made to the limited existing knowledge of how consumers use public internet points, with a specific focus on how broadband services are used. This study is novel because work to date has focused on understanding how consumers use broadband in their homes, with the assumption being that once everyone has residential broadband connectivity, public access points like internet cafés will disappear. This paper offers a description of user behaviours observed in 28 internet cafés and 4 free public access points. The paper documents diversity in users and usage patterns, and suggests that internet cafés continue to offer valuable services to their users. Broadband connectivity is used for gaming, but few other uses that required broadband connectivity were observed.
Modeling Asymmetric Volatility Clusters Using Copulas and High Frequency Data
Authors: Ning Cathy , Xu Dinghai , Wirjanto Tony
Published: May 2021

Modeling Asymmetric Volatility Clusters Using Copulas and High Frequency Data
Setting the stage: wireless broadband networking in North America
Authors: Middleton Catherine A. , Clement Andrew
Published: May 2021

Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project Presented at Wireless Cities Summit, Toronto, January 23, 2007 

Objectives: 

Provide an overview of wireless networking initiatives 

Highlight issues to consider as you listen to the case studies presented at the Wireless Cities Summit 

Identify desiderata for wireless initiative
The Dependence Structure of Macroeconomic Variables in the US
Authors: Ning Cathy Q , Chollete Loran
Published: May 2021

A central role for economic policy involves reducing the incidence of systemic down-turns, when key economic variables experience joint extreme events. In this paper, we empirically analyze such dependence using two approaches, correlations and copulas. We document four findings. First, linear correlations and copulas disagree substantially about the nation’s dependence structure, indicating correlation complexity in the US economy. Second, GDP exhibits linear dependence with interest rates and prices, but no extreme dependence with the latter. This is consistent with the existence of liquidity traps. Third, GDP exhibits asymmetric extreme dependence with employment, consumption and investment, with relatively greater dependence during downturns. Fourth, money is neutral, especially during extreme economic conditions.
Systematic evaluation of observational methods assessing biomechanical exposures at work
Authors: Takala E-P , Pehkonen I. , Forsman M. , Hansson G-A , Mathiassen S. E. , Neumann Patrick , Sjogaard G. , Veiersted K. B. , Westgaard R. , Winkel Jorgen
Published: May 2021

The aim of this project was to identify and systematically evaluate observational methods to assess workload on the musculoskeletal system. Searches in the electronic databases and other sources identified 29 observational methods. The methods were evaluated for the aspects related to their reliability and usability for different purposes. The results of evaluation will be found in internet with a tool that helps the user to search for most suitable method by sorting the methods according to the several items evaluated.
Critical Geographies: Preface
Authors: Bauder Harald , Engel-di Mauro Salvatore
Published: May 2021

"Compiling key works of critical geographies is an impossible task. We began this task by conducting a survey among the editorial board members of the journal ACME: An E-Journal of Critical Geographies, asking their opinion for the three most important texts of critical geographies. We anticipated a few key works to emerge from this survey, which we would then include in this collection. However, the survey revealed that no consensus existed among ACME board members and other colleagues we consulted on what the key texts in the field are. In fact, not a single text was even mentioned twice by the survey participants. Furthermore, the idea of compiling “key” texts of critical geographies is highly problematic. Initially, we intended to call this collection “A Reader in Critical Geographies.” A colleague, who heard about our intention, remarked that a “reader” suggests “authorization and authority” and cynically added: “Not exactly the natural positions of „critical geography‟...”. We began to realize the impossibility of our project. Yet, we decided to continue with it because critical scholarship to us means precisely to engage with the contradictions of our discipline at the practical level." -- from p.viii
When Reality Meets the Mobile Imaginary: Exploring Constraints in Mobile Technology Use
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

A presentation to the Materialities and Imaginaries of the Mobile Internet Conference, February 2011.
Intensity of Internet Use in Canada: Exploring Canadians' Engagement with the Internet
Authors: Middleton Catherine A. , Leith Jordan
Published: May 2021

Using Canadian Internet Use Survey data, this paper explores measures of engagement with the Internet. Measures of engagement provide a means of understanding how Internet users interact with the Internet. While the concept of engagement cannot directly measure users’ skills, competences or comfort levels with the Internet, it can provide a proxy understanding of Internet users’ readiness to embrace the Internet in their daily routines. This allows for a discussion of Internet usage that moves well beyond simple questions of access toward an understanding of how (and/or whether) Canadians can become full participants in an information-based society.
Developing Municipal Wireless Infrastructure
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

Today, the municipal wireless landscape is much different from what it was just a few years ago. The early hype and excitement has been replaced with a much more realistic outlook on what wireless networks can and cannot do for municipalities. There are fewer projects under development, but those that are being planned are now generally based on solid business cases. Project leaders are often willing to share their successes and failures, and it is understood that building municipal networks is not a simple task.
Telling scholarly stories: Translating research outcomes into multimedia stories for the purposes of dissemination
Authors: Fatima Sahar
Published: May 2021

Introduction:

Universities have always focused on research, but the dissemination of research results beyond the scholarly community is often less of a priority (Armstrong, 2011) and poses serious challenges for scholars. Research is regularly published in books and in specialized scholarly journals, but both are expensive and often not readily available to the general public. The presentation of research papers at scholarly conferences is also problematic in that audiences tend to be limited to other scholars. Lack of ready access to upto-date research results means that individuals, communities and sometimes even government policy makers do not have the information they need for decision-making purposes. Moreover, students’ preoccupation with day-to-day studying and their focus on class-related work means they too are often unaware of advances in knowledge and the work professors do in their role as researchers in the academy. To address the challenge of making research results available to a wider audience, my Undergraduate Research Opportunity award focused on the creation of multimedia journalism stories for a research-focused website. Ryerson University School of Journalism professor
Examination of Contrast Mechanisms in Optoacoustic Imaging of Thermal Lesions
Authors: Richter Christian , Spirou Gloria , Oraevsky Alexander A. , Whelan William M. , Kolios Michael
Published: May 2021

Optoacoustic Imaging is based on the thermal expansion of tissue caused by a temperature rise due to absorption of short laser pulses. At constant laser fluence, optoacoustic image contrast is proportional to differences in optical absorption and the thermoacoustic efficiency, expressed by the Grneisen parameter, Γ. Γ is proportional to the thermal expansion coefficient, the sound velocity squared and the inverse heat capacity at constant pressure. In thermal therapies, these parameters may be modified in the treated area. In this work experiments were performed to examine the influence of these parameters on image contrast. A Laser Optoacoustic Imaging System (LOIS, Fairway Medical Technologies, Houston, Texas) was used to image tissue phantoms comprised of cylindrical Polyvinyl Chloride Plastisol (PVCP) optical absorbing targets imbedded in either gelatin or PVCP as the background medium. Varying concentrations of Black Plastic Color (BPC) and titanium dioxide (TiO2)were added to targets and background to yield desired tissue relevant optical absorption and effective scattering coefficients, respectively. In thermal therapy experiments, ex-vivo bovine liver was heated with laser fibres (805nm laser at 5 W for 600s) to create regions of tissue coagulation. Lesions formed in the liver tissue were visible using the LOIS system with reasonable correspondence to the actual region of tissue coagulation. In the phantom experiments, contrast could be seen with low optical absorbing targets (μaof 0.50cm−1down to0.13cm−1)embedded in a gelatin background (μa=0.13cm−1andμs′=4.2cm−1). Therefore, the data suggest that small objects (<5mm) with low absorption coefficients (in the range<1cm−1) can be imaged using LOIS.PVCP-targets in gelatin were visible, even with the same optical properties as the gelatin, but different Γ. The enhanced contrast may also be caused by differences in the mechanical properties between the target and the surrounding medium. PVCP-targets imbedded in PVCP produced poorer image contrast than PVCP-targets in gelatin with comparable optical properties. The preliminary investigation in tissue equivalent phantoms indicates that in addition to tissue optical properties, differences in mechanical properties between heated and unheated tissues may be responsible for image contrast. Furthermore, thermal lesions in liver tissue, ex-vivo, can be visualized using an optoacoustic system.
A Developer Chooses, a Player Obeys: a Study of the Enactment of Objectivism in BioShock
Authors: Trueman Douglas
Published: May 2021

In 2003, Espen Aarseth proposed a framework for analyzing computer and video games, saying current methodologies borrowed too much from literature and film criticism, writing that video games exist in a “virtual environment” and that “this label fits games from Tetris to Drug Wars to EverQuest” (Aarseth, 2003, p.2). While it is fair to say that both Tetris and EverQuest are video games, this is all they have in common: Tetris is a game where a single player sorts falling geometric shapes while EverQuest is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game with millions of players and a fantasy world similar to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Cognitive mapping links human factors to corporate strategies
Authors: Village Judy Lynn , Salustri Filippo , Neumann Patrick
Published: May 2021

Human factors (HF) can improve business performance. Our objective is to harness individual tacit knowledge from senior directors about human factors as it relates to strategic goals and to make explicit their shared managerial thinking with an aim to identifying improvement opportunities using HF. Individual cognitive maps were drawn during one-hour interviews with seven senior directors of a large electronics firm. The maps were then merged on a common strategic goal of 'improving quality' into a group map containing 221 concepts and 900 loops. In a two hour workshop with the directors, reducing fatigue, improving systems design, and reducing repetitive activities were concepts that emerged as critical-to-quality. Workshop discussions identified untapped improvement opportunities.Directors viewed the maps as a dynamic indicator of their HF performance. Making the connection between HF and strategic goals explicit can help an organisation identify opportunities to improve human, and therefore business, performance.
New Communication Technologies: Understanding How Intranets and the Internet Can Be Used By Organizations
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

This paper outlines seven actions recommended for businesses considering the establishment of an intranet or Internet presence. It places emphasis on understanding business communication needs, and indicates how they can be met with a variety of electronic communication technologies.
Doing Business on the Internet: Insights From Information Systems and Organizational Theory Research
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

The Internet is becoming an essential communication tool for North American businesses, but to date there has been little research on the expected impacts of using the Internet in a business context. This paper will examine theories of communications, information systems, and organizations, in order to understand what existing research can offer to businesses venturing onto the Internet. It will note lessons that can be learned from previous adoptions of new technologies, and identify instances where existing theory does not inform business use of the Internet and its associated new communication technologies1.
What is my Child Learning at Elementary School? Culturally Contested Issues Between Teachers and Latin American Families
Authors: Bernhard Judith K. , Freire Marlinda
Published: May 2021

This study is part of an extensive research project on children of Latin American immigrants, their teachers and families. Through participant observation in one designated Canadian school, we captured the perspectives of ten students, their parents and teachers. An additional thirty-five families from other elementary schools in Toronto were interviewed to test the trustworthiness of the initial analysis. From the stories of these families and our knowledge of their children's schools, we describe how the parents' practices interact with mainstream practices and how the former are constructed within the present school system. Findings reported include: 1) Issues in communication involved teachers' use of educational terms that the parents did not understand. Teachers' positively slanted reports of the children's progress were not understood as indicating the genuine weakness of the child's performance. 2) In most cases, the family's support was not effective in helping children improve their grades at school, and this resulted in family conflicts and parents becoming disengaged from their children's academic tasks. 3) Children and parents expected a more personal approach than the teachers provided. It is concluded that a critical interrogation of the structures of educational delivery is needed as well as attention to the perceptions, beliefs, goals and knowledge of minority parents.
A Sketch of the Digital Page
Authors: Sedov Artur
Published: May 2021

With today’s increasingly digitized culture, we are witnessing an ideological shift toward paperless communication and the emergence of the digital page. Yet, we continue to conceptualize the visual structure of information using the language of print, imposing unnecessary limitations. Recent efforts in e-book development most vividly highlight the need for study of the distinct features of the electronic format and, in turn, the associated range of effects on the way we interact with information. In the first half of the present paper, I situate the notion of the page in multiple socio-historic and theoretical contexts, rationalizing its broad viability as a visual solution for the digital display environment. In the second half, I describe some of the characteristics of digital pages, as viewed with a conventional personal computer, using examples from a cross-section of functional contexts, including Adobe Reader, NYTimes.com, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Maps. Drawing on the field of information design, I apply visual analysis to general characteristics (an exploratory term comprising dimensions, blank space, colour, content, printability, and interactivity), composition, and typographic legibility. Based on a very limited data set, my findings indicate that digital pages currently have a distinctly vertical orientation, requiring extensive use of scrolling, and do not utilize the full area of the computer screen. They offer a dynamic multimedia experience that does not lend itself to printing. Simple, streamlined grid structures and proven proportional relationships are found to produce the most balanced and accessible compositions, while typographic legibility is found to suffer from excessive column width. I thus generate an introductory sketch of the basic structure of the digital page to help advance our understanding of the electronic interface
Exploring the potential for crowdsourced spatial information to inform debate related to the changing Canadian local news landscape
Authors: Corbett Jon , Lindgren April
Published: May 2021

This paper investigates an applied participatory mapping research project that enables members of the public to crowdsource information for Canada’s first community spatial database documenting contemporary changes to local news outlets. This data is presented on the Local News Map, which locates where news organizations are closing or cutting back services and where new outlets are launched or services are increased. The tool, released in mid-2016 by Canadian academics, is a web-based, interactive platform that displays map markers and descriptive information about changes to local television, radio, online sites and newspapers dating from 2008 to the present. Map filters allow users to select and view specific information about these changes. We explore the impact of the project, demonstrating that the map has enriched the public sphere by generating robust empirical data on news outlets that have shut down or launched or increased/decreased service in their communities. Specifically, we found strong and ongoing demand from journalists who use the platform’s data to provide context for stories about the ongoing disruption in the local news sector. We also identify other impact indicators for further investigation.
Toronto-Area Ethnic Newspapers and Canada's 2011 Federal Election: An Investigation of Content, Focus and Partisanship
Authors: Lindgren April
Published: May 2021

Canada's political class is embracing ethnocultural news media with increasing zeal, highlighting the need to understand the role of these news organizations in the political process. This study investigated coverage of Canada's 2011 federal election in five Toronto-area ethnocultural newspapers. The publications, which carried campaign news to varying degrees, provided coverage that was distinct in many ways from mainstream media. Content such as the focus on ingroup candidates had the potential to strengthen community bonds while more general election news equipped readers with information that would facilitate participation in society through informed voting. Analysis of reporting about the Conservative Party of Canada, which pursued an aggressive ethnic media strategy, identified no clear pattern of stories with explicitly biased content. In most newspapers, however, the CPC did enjoy an advantage in that it received more coverage than the competition.
Can God Choose a World At Random?
Authors: Kraay Klaas
Published: May 2021

On what basis does God choose a possible world to make actual? Theists typically claim that God freely selects exactly one world on the basis of its axiological characteristics. But suppose that there are infinitely many unsurpassable worlds from which to choose; or else that there are no unsurpassable worlds, but instead an infinite hierarchy of increasingly better worlds. On each of these scenarios, philosophers have alleged that God is unable rationally to choose a world for actualization. In the former case, God lacks sufficient reason to select any particular world, since there are infinitely many other equally good candidates. In the latter case, God lacks sufficient reason to select any particular world, since for any world there are infinitely many better candidates. These considerations generate arguments for atheism, as follows. On theism, God is supposed to be the explanation for this world ’s being actual, and God requires sufficient reasons for action. So on either scenario or, since there is an actual world, and since God could not have had a sufficient reason for selecting it, this world was not actualized by God. In response, defenders of theism have urged that God need not have sufficient reason for choosing a world on or : God may defensibly choose a world at random. In what follows, I evaluate this reply. I conclude that it succeeds only on the enormously implausible assumption that there is exactly one randomizer available to God

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Communication technologies in the information society : informing our understanding of Canada's digital economy
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

Presentation is on people in the information society and how internet and mobile technologies are used on an individual, organizational, infrastructure and policy levels. 

Presentation for the Canada Research Chairs 10th Anniversary Panel. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Montreal 2010.
International Perspectives on ICT Strategies: the Australian National Broadband Network
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

International Perspectives on ICT Strategies: the Australian National Broadband Network; 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit.
Beyond Access: Engaging Citizens in the Information Society
Authors: Middleton Catherine A.
Published: May 2021

Presentation: Expert Policy Forum on Building Capacity: Tackling Ontario's Digital Challenge, Toronto, September 2007.
Eye Movements in Map Comparison - Preliminary Results and Lessons Learned
Authors: Rinner Claus , Ferber Susanne
Published: May 2021

Comparing maps of different geographic phenomena, or maps of the same phenomenon at different points in time, is an important task in spatial data analysis and decision-making. The process of map comparison has been studied occasionally by cartographers since the 1970s, but recent improvements in neuropsychological testing equipment and GIS technology had us review this topic in a new light.

In a pilot experiment, we presented pairs of maps to volunteer participants and recorded their eye movements while judging the maps’ similarity. We analysed average values of eye movement parameters such as fixation duration and proportions of saccades between the two maps in relation to three factors: the participant’s experience in reading maps; the type of map presented; and the actual similarity between the two maps. We found, for example, that different map types engaged viewers in different comparison strategies while we did not find behavioural differences between expert and novice map readers.

We will speculate about implications of experimental cartography for GIS design and report on challenges encountered with this approach.
Institutionalized Disadvantage in Education and the Right to Equal Benefit of the Law: The Next Step after Non-Discrimination
Authors: Bernhard Judith K.
Published: May 2021

Institutionalized Disadvantage in Education and the Right to Equal Benefit of the Law: The Next Step after Non-Discrimination
Evolution of the Week
Authors: Peng Amy , McKenna Francis
Published: May 2021

The purpose of this paper is to provide an intuitive explanation of the emergence and evolution of the week based on a historical precedent draw from ancient Egypt. In this paper, we view the week as a coordinating social institution that was created to resolve a fundamental problem of society - coordinating market exchange. Artificial adaptive agents are used to simulate the interactions among farmers going to market. The results show that the length of the week that emerges depends on the chosen cost and benefit specifications and random interactions. 
Commutative Prospect Theory and Stopped Behavioral Processes for Fair Gambles
Authors: Cadogan Godfrey
Published: May 2021

Commutative Prospect Theory and Stopped Behavioral Processes for Fair Gambles
Transforming spaces: Fostering student-centered learning through the intentional design of formal and informal learning spaces
Authors:   Technological University Dublin, Harvey Jen , McAvinia Claire ,   Technological University Dublin, O'Rourke Kevin ,   Technological University Dublin, FitzSimmons Jason ,   Purdue University
Published: May 2021

Transforming the academic experience and success of students by building Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) is increasing, but ALCs are still fewer than traditional classroom spaces. These new learning spaces create an inherent tension between increasing student enrollments and active learning environments. Accommodating increased class sizes does not have to exclude fostering an active learning space. We have an opportunity every time a classroom is renovated or a new building is built to intentionally acknowledge and engage this tension to positively influence student learning and success. As we renovate and construct new learning spaces on our campuses, it is not only important to understand how the “built pedagogy” (Monahan 2000, 2002) and “architecture as pedagogy” (Orr 1993, 1997) of our spaces can help or hinder more active learning pedagogies, but also how to support effective teaching in these spaces (Levesque-Bristol, 2019). While many institutions are prioritizing active learning as old classrooms get renovated, few are doing so at the broad campus-wide scope necessary to affect larger-scale culture change (Park & Choi, 2014). Two such institutions that are developing and supporting large-scale active learning spaces are the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and Purdue University (Indiana, USA). TU Dublin and Purdue are conducting collaborative research focusing on how each institution’s new, large-scale construction of formal and informal learning spaces is impacting teaching and learning.
UCC Open Arboretum Project: Trees as a teaching and outreach tool for environmental and plant education
Authors:   University College Cork, Griffin Alidair A. , Doyle Prestwich Barbara ,   University College Cork, Lettice Eoin P. ,   University College Cork
Published: May 2021

The University College Cork (UCC) Open Arboretum Project aims to re-imagine the original purpose of the University’s tree collection – as a teaching tool. The arboretum represents a unique on-campus learning space which has been under-utilised for teaching in recent times. The arboretum has the capacity to engage students, staff and visitors in a tangible way with important global issues (e.g. the climate emergency and biodiversity loss). It is also an opportunity to combat ‘plant blindness’, i.e. the ambivalence shown to plants in our environment compared to often charismatic animal species. Wandersee and Schussler (1999) coined the term “plant blindness” to describe the preference for animals rather than plants that they saw in their own biology students. Knapp (2019) has argued that, in fact, humans are less ‘plant blind’ and more ‘everything-but-vertebrates-blind’ with school curricula and television programming over-emphasising the role of vertebrates at the expense of other groups of organisms. Botanic gardens and arboreta have long been used for educational purposes. Sellman and Bogner (2012) have shown that learning about climate change in a botanic garden led to a significant shortterm and long-term knowledge gain for high-school students compared to students who learned in a classroom setting. There is also evidence that learning outside as part of a science curriculum results in higher levels of overall motivation in the students and a greater feeling of competency (Dettweiler et al., 2017). The trees in the UCC collection, like other urban trees also provide a range of benefits outside of the educational sphere. Large, mature trees, with well-developed crowns and large leaf surface area have the capacity to store more carbon than smaller trees. They provide shade as well as food and habitats for animal species as well providing ‘symbolic, religious and historic’ value in public common spaces. Such benefits have recently been summarised by Cavender and Donnolly (2019) and aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities by Turner-Skoff and Cavender (2019). A stakeholder survey has been conducted to evaluate how the tree collection is currently used and a tour of the most significant trees in the collection has been developed. The tour encourages participants to explore the benefits of plants through many lenses including recreation, medicine and commemoration. The open arboretum project brings learning beyond the classroom and acts as an entry point for learning in a variety of disciplines, not least plant science and environmental education generally.
Encountering difficult knowledge: Service-learning with Sociology and Political Science undergraduates
Authors:   National University of Ireland, Galway, Tansey Lorraine
Published: May 2021

Community based learning or service learning is a dynamic pedagogical opportunity for students to engage with their discipline in light of social concerns. This presentation will share the key challenges sociology students and lecturer encounter when working with charities and nonprofits with social justice missions. Students are asked to face what Pitt and Britzman (2003) call “difficult knowledge” in classroom readings and discussions on complicity to poverty and racism. The community engagement experience with local charities allows for a dialogue with the scholarly literature grounded in practical experience. Sociology students are challenged to see the institutional and wider structural inequalities upstream while working in community with a direct service role downstream. Taylor (2013) describes student engagement within this type of teaching tool that is critical of the status quo. Hall et al. (2004) argue that the classroom is best placed to navigate this new terrain whereas student volunteering independently might not facilitate reflection and academic literature. Students with a wide variety of needs engage with communities in different ways and lecturers may need to adjust and demonstrate flexibility to facilitate all learning environments.
Digital (Urban) Geography: Student-led research methodology training using smartphone apps
Authors:   University College Cork, Holloway Paul , O'Connor Raymond ,   University College Cork, Linehan Denis ,   University College Cork, Kenna Therese ,   University College Cork
Published: May 2021

In the last decade, opportunities have emerged to deploy new digital technologies to research agendas and research-led teaching at third level. For instance, research methods such as surveys and questionnaires are shifting into the digital environment, while at the same time there is increasing evidence to support the view that people who have grown up with technology have acquired distinctive new ways of learning, and that traditional methodologies fail to maximise student engagement (Lafuente 2018). Thompson (2013) suggests that these ‘new learners’ are constantly using technology, multi-tasking in interactive environments, and collaborating online, yet research shows that many students are unaware of the potential of their smartphone to support learning (Woodcock et al, 2012). Despite a widespread interest in mobile devices facilitating teaching and learning in third-level education geography departments (Welsh et al. 2013), many research techniques are still taught using traditional ‘pen-and-paper’ methodologies. The ESRI Collector for ArcGIS is a mobile application (app) that can be used with iOS, Android, and Windows smartphones. Collector for ArcGIS is beginning to emerge as a technology to support spatial thinking in geography at second-level education and third-level education (Pánek and Glass 2018). Here we report on our strategy of integrating mobile technology in GG1015 Applied Geography, a large (250+) class introducing first year BA Arts Geography programme students to a number of techniques that we use in Geography. This module sits between GG1013 Environmental Geography and GG1014 Society and Space in the first-year programme. Both of these modules are a block of 24 1-hour lectures, with multiple choice quizzes (MCQs) and essay-based exams. Subsequently, GG1015 was developed to compliment these modules and introduce different teaching styles that facilitate learning across a range of diversities. Throughout this module, students engage directly in fieldwork, photographic activities, essay writing, presentations, and small group work. As such, this module offers an excellent case study to explore new techniques to engage students in learning, particularly in geographic research.
Inclusion of research labs in Engineering as learning playgrounds
Authors:   University College Cork, Garcia Gunning Fatima C.
Published: May 2021

Traditional teaching practices in Ireland for “hard”-science subjects, such as Physics or Engineering, are still prevalently based on whiteboard content delivery, PowerPoint-based methods, and sometimes, within under-funded purposed-built teaching labs, leaving very little manoeuvre or willingness to incorporate student interaction, in addition to a strong focus on end of semester exam based assessment of learning. Very often any deviation from traditional methods of teaching and assessment are perceived as “dumbing down” the course. The proposal of this Lightning Talk is to show how enabling flexibility in the teaching environment, by incorporating either topical research discussions or bringing a high-tech research lab to a teaching module, can stimulate student engagement, curiosity, discovery and learning. Moreover, the talk will also contain a discussion on using different assessment techniques, such as consultation surveys and reports, where a richer picture of true understanding can be drafted, and compare outcomes between report-based and exam-based types of assessment, showing no signs of “dumbing down”.
Tuning into the unfamiliar
Authors:   University of Limerick, McNally Kevin
Published: May 2021

This research project sits at the intersection of Community Music, Ethnomusicology and Arts Practice Research. The overall aim to explore a more ecological way of being in the world in which sound rather than vision is the primary source of knowledge. This acoustic epistemology (coined ‘acoustemology’ by ethnomusicologist Steven Feld) differs from standard ocular-centric epistemology in several respects. Where vision distinguishes objects as fixed and separate from the perceiving subject, sound is intensely relational. For sociologist Jean-Paul Thibaud, attending to sound produces “a resonant body that gets in tune and in sync with his environment.” (Thibaud, 2018) Sound does not belong to any object, but is a production of the interaction of objects, or “the event of the thing, not the thing itself.” (Connor, 2004, p.157) This form of knowing is familiar to musicians who interact in ensemble situations, but I wish to broaden the application of the idea, following ethnomusicologist Jeff Todd Titon, who imagines a “sound community” which, in concord with the qualities of sound, is “just, participatory and egalitarian.” (Titon, 2015, p.25)
From space to place; Non-hierarchical collaborative strategies of teaching and learning in the Crawford College of Art and Design
Authors:   CIT Crawford College of Art & Design, Nolan Collette , O'Flynn Bill ,   CIT Crawford College of Art & Design
Published: May 2021

What does Learning look like? What are the embodied roots of the thinking process? We have posed these questions in the process of developing our research, workshops and curricula. How do we understand, engage with and investigate the everyday teaching and learning environment? Art practice is a complex process, and successful induction into the forms of teaching and learning practiced in the studio is critical to a student’s progress through art college. For contemporary artist/researchers working at the interface of art and pedagogy, education continues to be a central concern in their research. Contemporary artists such as Annette Krauss and her long-term project Hidden Curriculum (2008), art theorists such as Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells (2012), Richard Hickman (ed.), Research in Art & Design Education: Issues and Exemplars (2008), Graeme Sullivan, in his book Art Practice as Research (2005), all use and discuss arts-based approaches in educational research, and are important references to the contextual framework of this project. In a series of action research projects, conducted over the last five years with student volunteers in the Crawford College of Art and Design, we have explored phenomenological, collaborative approaches to teaching and learning, space and place, that encourage students to be active agents in their education and co-creators of their own learning environment. Our overall project aims to create an artistic, collaborative, non- hierarchical framework that encourages students and teachers to actively question and investigate the teaching and learning situation and relationships.
Migration governance in Slovakia during the COVID-19 crisis
Authors: Privara Andrej , Rievajová Eva
Published: May 2021

Foreign-born population in Slovakia has been growing steadily over recent years. Since 2018, foreigners from the so-called third countries have become dominant within the immigrant population. The migration crisis due to the Pandemic seems not affected the patterns of migration to Slovakia. We would argue that the need in Slovakia‘s domestic labour market affected immigration flows more than anything else. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, due to emigration flows, there was a shortage of labour in the country. However, as a result of the restrictive measures taken by the government in response to the Pandemic, changes are taking place, which also has an impact on the employment of foreigners. During the Pandemic, several laws regulating the legal status of foreigners in the Slovak Republic have been amended. This article focuses on the legislative developments in shaping the Slovak migration policy in the near future.
SOCIOLOGICAL MEDIA: MAXIMIZING STUDENT INTEREST IN QUANTITATIVE METHODS VIA COLLABORATIVE USE OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Authors: Tucker Frederick T.
Published: May 2021

College sociology lecturers are tasked with inspiring student interest in quantitative methods despite widespread student anxiety about the subject, and a tendency for students to relieve classroom anxiety through habitual web browsing. In this paper, the author details the results of a pedagogical program whereby students at a New York City community college used industry-standard software to design, conduct, and analyze sociological surveys of one another, with the aim of inspiring student interest in quantitative methods and enhancing technical literacy. A chi-square test of independence was performed to determine the effect of the pedagogical process on the students’ ability to discuss sociological methods unrelated to their surveys in their final papers, compared with the author’s students from the previous semester who did not undergo the pedagogical program. The relation between these variables was significant, χ 2(3, N=36) = 9.8, p = .02. Findings suggest that community college students, under lecturer supervision, with minimal prior statistical knowledge, and access to digital media can collaborate in small groups to create and conduct sociological surveys, and discuss methods and results in limited classroom time. College sociology lecturers, instead of combatting student desire to use digital media, should harness this desire to advance student mastery of quantitative methods.
Key words: community college, digital media, sociological methods, transformative pedagogy.