title: Digital reading: From the reflective self to social machine

authors: Peters, Michael A.

abstract: Using the form of dialogue, this paper analyzes reading in the digital age. The paper reveals the history of reading from Augustine to Wittgenstein as a changing and evolving set of practices such as the cultural invention of silent reading, mass reading, and rise of specialized reading publics. It analyzes various 153 ￼ changes to these practices in the age of digital technologies, and links digital reading practices to the bundle of related practices such as writing, viewing, listening, and surfing the Web. The paper shows that digital reading is a fundamental question in education at all levels. Situated within radical concordance of various media, digital reading expands human artificial memory and causes profound changes in human natural memory. The paper inquires these changes from various perspectives includ- ing neuroscience and psychology, and concludes that digital reading is predominantly a social phenomenon. It looks into the relationships between digital reading and cognitive capitalism, and shows that the theory of digital reading should recognize the topology and dynamics of the Web. It inquires this dynamics using the per- spective of cultural studies, and analyses digital reading in the context of cyber- cultures, community cultures, and algorithmic cultures. Finally, it develops the view to digital reading as a cybercultural concept which understands reading as a cultural behavior that emphasizes an ecosystem of digital practices.

text: Digital reading: From the reflective self to social machine Using the form of dialogue, this paper analyzes reading in the digital age. The paper reveals the history of reading from Augustine to Wittgenstein as a changing and evolving set of practices such as the cultural invention of silent reading, mass reading, and rise of specialized reading publics. It analyzes various 153 ￼ changes to these practices in the age of digital technologies, and links digital reading practices to the bundle of related practices such as writing, viewing, listening, and surfing the Web. The paper shows that digital reading is a fundamental question in education at all levels. Situated within radical concordance of various media, digital reading expands human artificial memory and causes profound changes in human natural memory. The paper inquires these changes from various perspectives includ- ing neuroscience and psychology, and concludes that digital reading is predominantly a social phenomenon. It looks into the relationships between digital reading and cognitive capitalism, and shows that the theory of digital reading should recognize the topology and dynamics of the Web. It inquires this dynamics using the per- spective of cultural studies, and analyses digital reading in the context of cyber- cultures, community cultures, and algorithmic cultures. Finally, it develops the view to digital reading as a cybercultural concept which understands reading as a cultural behavior that emphasizes an ecosystem of digital practices.

year: 2016

title: Three essays on stated choice experiments  for nonmarket valuation of landslide protection

authors: Mattea, Stefania

subjects: choice experiments

abstract: This thesis consists of three essays that improve the general understanding of the public demand for safety programmes in the context of natural hazards. With the growing importance of this topic around the world, this study provides a practical and methodological contribution to the literature on Environmental Economics and Policy, especially local policy.
In particular, this research examines people’s preferences and their willingness-to-pay for landslide mitigation programmes. The primary aim is to assess how the residents of and visitors to a mountain valley in the Alps value and trade off the multiple attributes of protection programmes for landslide risk reduction by applying Discrete Choice Modelling methodology. To address the current needs of local decision-makers, the investigation of the determinants of preference heterogeneity is the central theme of the research. The study is based on a panel choice dataset created from a Discrete Choice Experiment, based on full ranking, administered in person by the author to 250 respondents in the Boite Valley, Italy.
The first essay examines the stability of preferences, investigating to what extent additional information has an impact on estimated values. Specifically, it studies whether respondents adjust their preferences based on scientific information provided on one specific attribute. A mixed logit model in willingness-to-pay space is implemented to account for preference heterogeneity. The findings suggest that respondents perceive the existing protection measures as insufficient. The provision of information affects only the attribute subject to additional information and the consideration of the current status of protection. Preferences for the other attributes remained stable. Preliminary evidence of spatial heterogeneity is also detected.
The second essay addresses the issue of the stability of parameter estimates obtained through simulation using choice models with latent variables. Specifically, it analyses the stability of the coefficients to the number of simulation draws and the increasing number of latent variables. Three Random Parameter logit models with respectively one, two and three latent variables are fitted with six sets of increased numbers of draws. The landslide risk perceptions of respondents are modelled as latent sources of heterogeneity in the consideration of the riskiest scenario. Overall, the results show very stable estimates for the attributes’ coefficients but not for the latent variables. Thus, increasing the complexity by adding more latent factors into the model implies the necessity of additional draws in the simulation process to ensure empirical identification. The results also show how preferences are strongly related to the underlying perceptions of own mortality risk due to landslides and risk severity.
The third essay explores multiple sources of preference heterogeneity, accounting for its spatial determinants. It emerges that the inclusion of more observables allows for a better segmentation of the policy based on respondents’ and municipalities’ characteristics. The findings show the importance of distinct spatial effects, such as geographical characteristics, spatial error components for road tracts and site-specific choice-sets, with relevant insights into the priority of intervention. In addition, residual unobserved heterogeneity is analysed at a higher hierarchical scale using spatial models at the municipality level.
Overall, the empirical results of this thesis provide important policy implications for local decision-makers in charge of public safety, given the relevant information on the distributional effects of protection across different groups of beneficiaries.

text: Three essays on stated choice experiments  for nonmarket valuation of landslide protection This thesis consists of three essays that improve the general understanding of the public demand for safety programmes in the context of natural hazards. With the growing importance of this topic around the world, this study provides a practical and methodological contribution to the literature on Environmental Economics and Policy, especially local policy.
In particular, this research examines people’s preferences and their willingness-to-pay for landslide mitigation programmes. The primary aim is to assess how the residents of and visitors to a mountain valley in the Alps value and trade off the multiple attributes of protection programmes for landslide risk reduction by applying Discrete Choice Modelling methodology. To address the current needs of local decision-makers, the investigation of the determinants of preference heterogeneity is the central theme of the research. The study is based on a panel choice dataset created from a Discrete Choice Experiment, based on full ranking, administered in person by the author to 250 respondents in the Boite Valley, Italy.
The first essay examines the stability of preferences, investigating to what extent additional information has an impact on estimated values. Specifically, it studies whether respondents adjust their preferences based on scientific information provided on one specific attribute. A mixed logit model in willingness-to-pay space is implemented to account for preference heterogeneity. The findings suggest that respondents perceive the existing protection measures as insufficient. The provision of information affects only the attribute subject to additional information and the consideration of the current status of protection. Preferences for the other attributes remained stable. Preliminary evidence of spatial heterogeneity is also detected.
The second essay addresses the issue of the stability of parameter estimates obtained through simulation using choice models with latent variables. Specifically, it analyses the stability of the coefficients to the number of simulation draws and the increasing number of latent variables. Three Random Parameter logit models with respectively one, two and three latent variables are fitted with six sets of increased numbers of draws. The landslide risk perceptions of respondents are modelled as latent sources of heterogeneity in the consideration of the riskiest scenario. Overall, the results show very stable estimates for the attributes’ coefficients but not for the latent variables. Thus, increasing the complexity by adding more latent factors into the model implies the necessity of additional draws in the simulation process to ensure empirical identification. The results also show how preferences are strongly related to the underlying perceptions of own mortality risk due to landslides and risk severity.
The third essay explores multiple sources of preference heterogeneity, accounting for its spatial determinants. It emerges that the inclusion of more observables allows for a better segmentation of the policy based on respondents’ and municipalities’ characteristics. The findings show the importance of distinct spatial effects, such as geographical characteristics, spatial error components for road tracts and site-specific choice-sets, with relevant insights into the priority of intervention. In addition, residual unobserved heterogeneity is analysed at a higher hierarchical scale using spatial models at the municipality level.
Overall, the empirical results of this thesis provide important policy implications for local decision-makers in charge of public safety, given the relevant information on the distributional effects of protection across different groups of beneficiaries.

year: 2018

title: Responding to the message: Responsive written feedback in a Maori to English transition context

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This paper reports on the writing component of a community and
school Maori to English literacy transition programme implemented in a kura
kaupapa Maori (Maori language immersion school. 21 Year 6, 7 and 8
students received responsive written feedback for their writing in English,
over a ten-week period, during their weekly independent writing time.
Students’ stories were mailed to a young Maori woman (the third author) in a
provincial city 100 kilometres from the kura . She was not known to any of the
students prior to the study, but she acted as an interested audience, and
responded in writing by focussing on the content or messages in students’
stories. She did not provide any corrective feedback on students’ writing.
The study employed an intra-subject multiple-baseline research design across
four school terms, with the responsive written feedback being introduced
sequentially to each of three student Year groups. Measures were taken of
total words written, adventurous words written, as well as holistic ratings of
audience impact and language quality. Data demonstrate positive gains in
both the quantity and quality of students’ writing, as well as maintenance of
high levels of writing accuracy for all Year groups.

text: Responding to the message: Responsive written feedback in a Maori to English transition context This paper reports on the writing component of a community and
school Maori to English literacy transition programme implemented in a kura
kaupapa Maori (Maori language immersion school. 21 Year 6, 7 and 8
students received responsive written feedback for their writing in English,
over a ten-week period, during their weekly independent writing time.
Students’ stories were mailed to a young Maori woman (the third author) in a
provincial city 100 kilometres from the kura . She was not known to any of the
students prior to the study, but she acted as an interested audience, and
responded in writing by focussing on the content or messages in students’
stories. She did not provide any corrective feedback on students’ writing.
The study employed an intra-subject multiple-baseline research design across
four school terms, with the responsive written feedback being introduced
sequentially to each of three student Year groups. Measures were taken of
total words written, adventurous words written, as well as holistic ratings of
audience impact and language quality. Data demonstrate positive gains in
both the quantity and quality of students’ writing, as well as maintenance of
high levels of writing accuracy for all Year groups.

year: 2005