title: KidsQuestions: Assisting Children’s Digital Information Seeking

authors: Vanderschantz, Nicholas

subjects: Internet Search

abstract: The work presented in this thesis aims at supporting children’s digital information seeking. Children are known to have difficulties effectively using the information technologies that are available to them. We hypothesize that an interaction model specifically designed to align with the inquiry-based pedagogies common in education today would be beneficial for children’s digital information search. 

This thesis verifies this hypothesis by considering the example of the New Zealand education system. Within this context, a requirements analysis is undertaken involving children, parents, and teachers. Through a range of user studies, we identify the information seeking practices and the issues school children encounter when using contemporary digital information seeking technology. We found that contemporary internet search engines are used regularly during daily educational pursuits, and identify children’s issues constructing and reconstructing search queries, identifying websites that will contain relevant information, and mistaken repeat visiting of websites. Internet search engines do not align with how children are taught to search for information. In particular, inquiry-based learning approaches taught in schools, are not appropriately supported by the available information search systems. 

We begin addressing our hypothesis by identifying a target age range of children for which support for information seeking could be improved. We also analyse the interfaces of current commercial internet search engines to highlight the design decisions and to assist with the development of requirements. Activity theory is used as a lens to analyse the results of our studies in order to develop a list of requirements for an interaction model for children’s information seeking. These requirements are then used to design our interaction model. To examine this interaction model we developed an interface prototype, KidsQuestions. A final user study evaluates the effectiveness of our interaction model by exploring school children’s use of our KidsQuestions prototype. 

Our approach to designing a child-oriented interaction model differs from the common approach of using child-specific design devices such as colour, avatars, or results list simplification. Instead, our interaction model explores the requirements for children’s information seeking by aligning with appropriate phases of the inquiry-based learning frameworks children are taught. By addressing the inquiry practices of children through interface elements that support query construction, query reconstruction, along with search planning tools, KidsQuestions can assist children’s digital information seeking. 

While our interaction model and interface prototype are developed and designed particularly with children in mind, KidsQuestions is not a system that should be considered solely a children’s search engine. We believe that its features can be beneficial to children and adults alike, and future work will investigate the use of our prototype with a wider audience.

text: KidsQuestions: Assisting Children’s Digital Information Seeking The work presented in this thesis aims at supporting children’s digital information seeking. Children are known to have difficulties effectively using the information technologies that are available to them. We hypothesize that an interaction model specifically designed to align with the inquiry-based pedagogies common in education today would be beneficial for children’s digital information search. 

This thesis verifies this hypothesis by considering the example of the New Zealand education system. Within this context, a requirements analysis is undertaken involving children, parents, and teachers. Through a range of user studies, we identify the information seeking practices and the issues school children encounter when using contemporary digital information seeking technology. We found that contemporary internet search engines are used regularly during daily educational pursuits, and identify children’s issues constructing and reconstructing search queries, identifying websites that will contain relevant information, and mistaken repeat visiting of websites. Internet search engines do not align with how children are taught to search for information. In particular, inquiry-based learning approaches taught in schools, are not appropriately supported by the available information search systems. 

We begin addressing our hypothesis by identifying a target age range of children for which support for information seeking could be improved. We also analyse the interfaces of current commercial internet search engines to highlight the design decisions and to assist with the development of requirements. Activity theory is used as a lens to analyse the results of our studies in order to develop a list of requirements for an interaction model for children’s information seeking. These requirements are then used to design our interaction model. To examine this interaction model we developed an interface prototype, KidsQuestions. A final user study evaluates the effectiveness of our interaction model by exploring school children’s use of our KidsQuestions prototype. 

Our approach to designing a child-oriented interaction model differs from the common approach of using child-specific design devices such as colour, avatars, or results list simplification. Instead, our interaction model explores the requirements for children’s information seeking by aligning with appropriate phases of the inquiry-based learning frameworks children are taught. By addressing the inquiry practices of children through interface elements that support query construction, query reconstruction, along with search planning tools, KidsQuestions can assist children’s digital information seeking. 

While our interaction model and interface prototype are developed and designed particularly with children in mind, KidsQuestions is not a system that should be considered solely a children’s search engine. We believe that its features can be beneficial to children and adults alike, and future work will investigate the use of our prototype with a wider audience.

year: 2016

title: "Motherhood", "the family" and Murphy Brown : New Zealanders' receptions of an American sitcom text

authors: Michelle, Carolyn

subjects: Motherhood

abstract: This interdisciplinary study examines the role of American entertainment television in the social construction of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in New Zealand. It investigates how differently positioned viewers made sense of, and responded to, a particularly controversial episode of the American sitcom Murphy Brown. It also assesses the extent to which this programme was able to 'set the agenda' for discursive understandings of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in contemporary New Zealand society.

Drawing on various insights derived from poststructuralist theory and audience reception studies, the first aspect of this tri-partite investigation examines the macro context of this episode's production in the United States in 1992, and identifies competing constructions of 'motherhood' and 'the family' circulating within that wider environment. The representation of these debates within the text itself is then assessed through an analysis of its narrative structure and discursive content. The second aspect of this project outlines the macro context in which this episode was broadcast in New Zealand, and identifies competing understandings of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in this country. The third aspect comprises a reception analysis in which in-depth individual interviews were used to explore participants' interpretations of this American sitcom text and their responses to its propositional content around 'motherhood', 'the family' and Murphy Brown. Twenty-two adults from a range of backgrounds participated in this qualitative audience research.

On the basis of this research, it is argued that this particular American television programme and viewers in this country both play an active part in defining the social meaning of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in contemporary New Zealand. While such texts clearly work to establish certain parameters for audience receptions of their content, both cultural location and social group membership(s) provide New Zealand viewers with access to experiences, knowledges and discourses of the wider social world that potentially enable them to renegotiate and even reject the privileged meanings of American entertainment programming.

text: "Motherhood", "the family" and Murphy Brown : New Zealanders' receptions of an American sitcom text This interdisciplinary study examines the role of American entertainment television in the social construction of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in New Zealand. It investigates how differently positioned viewers made sense of, and responded to, a particularly controversial episode of the American sitcom Murphy Brown. It also assesses the extent to which this programme was able to 'set the agenda' for discursive understandings of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in contemporary New Zealand society.

Drawing on various insights derived from poststructuralist theory and audience reception studies, the first aspect of this tri-partite investigation examines the macro context of this episode's production in the United States in 1992, and identifies competing constructions of 'motherhood' and 'the family' circulating within that wider environment. The representation of these debates within the text itself is then assessed through an analysis of its narrative structure and discursive content. The second aspect of this project outlines the macro context in which this episode was broadcast in New Zealand, and identifies competing understandings of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in this country. The third aspect comprises a reception analysis in which in-depth individual interviews were used to explore participants' interpretations of this American sitcom text and their responses to its propositional content around 'motherhood', 'the family' and Murphy Brown. Twenty-two adults from a range of backgrounds participated in this qualitative audience research.

On the basis of this research, it is argued that this particular American television programme and viewers in this country both play an active part in defining the social meaning of 'motherhood' and 'the family' in contemporary New Zealand. While such texts clearly work to establish certain parameters for audience receptions of their content, both cultural location and social group membership(s) provide New Zealand viewers with access to experiences, knowledges and discourses of the wider social world that potentially enable them to renegotiate and even reject the privileged meanings of American entertainment programming.

year: 1998

title: Te kiri ka tōkia e te anu: Ko ētahi āhuatanga ki ngā kāinga o Hiruhārama me Te Horo

authors: Parata, Patricia Hekia

subjects: Tangihanga

abstract: He mea waihanga e ahau, tēnei tuhituhinga, i runga i tēnei whakaaro, kia tirohia te hanga, me te āhua o te tangihanga, ki ōku marae e rua, o roto o Ngāti Porou, kei Hiruhārama me Te Horo. Kāore i whāia he wāhanga ki ngā pūtakenga mai o ngā tikanga. Engari, he mea tātaki haere noa iho ko ngā kaupapa tauira o ēnei tikanga. 
He mea raranga anō ngā kōrero nei, kia whiri ai i roto i ngā tauira kōrero nei, te tūpāpaku, te marae, ngā tāngata me ngā tikanga, e pā ana ki a rātau katoa. 
Ahakoa te nui, te huhua noa iho, o ngā tuhituhinga mō te āhua ki tēnei mea, ki te marae, te whaikōrero, te tangihanga, ēnei mea katoa, kore rawa anō nei, tētahi paku tuhituhi kua whakatakotoria i tēnei hanga nei. Ehara hoki tēnei i te tuhituhinga e whai ana i te āhua o ērā o mua atu. 
He mea kohikohi ēnei kōrero, nā ētahi kuia, me ētahi kaumātua, me ngā mea pakeke o tōku nei rohe, ā, he aronga nui nāku ki ngā mea i kite ai au i ngā wā i ahau i te kāinga, me ngā hui i tae ai au mai anō i tōku tamarikitanga. Nō reira, he whakapūteatanga ēnei mea katoa, nō ngā mea katoa i runga ake nei. 
Kua wehewehengia ēnei kōrero kia takoto pēnei ana nā: ko te wāhanga tuatahi, ko te takenga mai o Ngāti Porou, me ngā wehewehenga mai o ngā hapū; ko te wāhanga tuarua, e pā ana ki ngā whakamārama o ngā kupu, arā, te kirimate, te paemate, me te wharemate; tuatoru, ko te whakahoki o te tūpāpaku; tuawhā, kei ngā mahi ki runga i te marae; tuarima, ngā tikanga o te rā nehu; tuaono, ngā mahi whakatutuki. 
Hei whakamutu ake, kua whakarārangitia e ahau, ngā roherohenga mahi, me ngā tūranga e rite ana mō tēnā, mō tēnā, mō tēnā.

text: Te kiri ka tōkia e te anu: Ko ētahi āhuatanga ki ngā kāinga o Hiruhārama me Te Horo He mea waihanga e ahau, tēnei tuhituhinga, i runga i tēnei whakaaro, kia tirohia te hanga, me te āhua o te tangihanga, ki ōku marae e rua, o roto o Ngāti Porou, kei Hiruhārama me Te Horo. Kāore i whāia he wāhanga ki ngā pūtakenga mai o ngā tikanga. Engari, he mea tātaki haere noa iho ko ngā kaupapa tauira o ēnei tikanga. 
He mea raranga anō ngā kōrero nei, kia whiri ai i roto i ngā tauira kōrero nei, te tūpāpaku, te marae, ngā tāngata me ngā tikanga, e pā ana ki a rātau katoa. 
Ahakoa te nui, te huhua noa iho, o ngā tuhituhinga mō te āhua ki tēnei mea, ki te marae, te whaikōrero, te tangihanga, ēnei mea katoa, kore rawa anō nei, tētahi paku tuhituhi kua whakatakotoria i tēnei hanga nei. Ehara hoki tēnei i te tuhituhinga e whai ana i te āhua o ērā o mua atu. 
He mea kohikohi ēnei kōrero, nā ētahi kuia, me ētahi kaumātua, me ngā mea pakeke o tōku nei rohe, ā, he aronga nui nāku ki ngā mea i kite ai au i ngā wā i ahau i te kāinga, me ngā hui i tae ai au mai anō i tōku tamarikitanga. Nō reira, he whakapūteatanga ēnei mea katoa, nō ngā mea katoa i runga ake nei. 
Kua wehewehengia ēnei kōrero kia takoto pēnei ana nā: ko te wāhanga tuatahi, ko te takenga mai o Ngāti Porou, me ngā wehewehenga mai o ngā hapū; ko te wāhanga tuarua, e pā ana ki ngā whakamārama o ngā kupu, arā, te kirimate, te paemate, me te wharemate; tuatoru, ko te whakahoki o te tūpāpaku; tuawhā, kei ngā mahi ki runga i te marae; tuarima, ngā tikanga o te rā nehu; tuaono, ngā mahi whakatutuki. 
Hei whakamutu ake, kua whakarārangitia e ahau, ngā roherohenga mahi, me ngā tūranga e rite ana mō tēnā, mō tēnā, mō tēnā.

year: 1983