title: Prompt-GAN – Customisable hate speech and extremist datasets via radicalised neural language models

authors: Govers, Jarod

subjects: Artificial Intelligence

abstract: Online hate speech and violent extremism knows no borders, no political boundaries, no remorse. Researchers face an uphill battle to collect hate speech data in volumes and topical diversity suitable for training state-of-the art content-moderation systems. Neural language models ushered in a new era of synthetic data generation in use across various businesses, all despite calls for research to protect against unintended toxic output. We present a method for radicalising pre-trained neural language models to identify real online hate speech, as well as present the risks of rouge radicalised AI bots which could undermine our trust in social media. We present Prompt-GAN, a prompt-tuning adversarial approach with three achievements. We demonstrate prompt-tuning’s ability to generate realistic types of hate and non-hate speech which mimics political extremist discourse. Prompt-GAN’s architecture offers a twofold reduction in memory and runtime requirements compared to fine-tuning. Finally, Prompt-GAN improves hate speech classification F1-scores by up to 10.1% and sets a new record in neural language simulation compared to the current state-of-the-art across three benchmark datasets.

text: Prompt-GAN – Customisable hate speech and extremist datasets via radicalised neural language models Online hate speech and violent extremism knows no borders, no political boundaries, no remorse. Researchers face an uphill battle to collect hate speech data in volumes and topical diversity suitable for training state-of-the art content-moderation systems. Neural language models ushered in a new era of synthetic data generation in use across various businesses, all despite calls for research to protect against unintended toxic output. We present a method for radicalising pre-trained neural language models to identify real online hate speech, as well as present the risks of rouge radicalised AI bots which could undermine our trust in social media. We present Prompt-GAN, a prompt-tuning adversarial approach with three achievements. We demonstrate prompt-tuning’s ability to generate realistic types of hate and non-hate speech which mimics political extremist discourse. Prompt-GAN’s architecture offers a twofold reduction in memory and runtime requirements compared to fine-tuning. Finally, Prompt-GAN improves hate speech classification F1-scores by up to 10.1% and sets a new record in neural language simulation compared to the current state-of-the-art across three benchmark datasets.

year: 2022

title: The Rock Concert Experience: The Self-Authentication Process and Wellbeing

authors: Hopper, Daniel James

subjects: Rock Concerts

abstract: The purpose of this research was to understand consumers’ experiences at rock concerts. Growth in the live concert industry over the past 20 years suggests that these experiences provide value that consumers cannot attain through other means. Music fans can stream rock music or watch concerts without cost, while concert tickets are often over $100 each. Marketers need to understand more about the value derived from the live rock concert experience.
The researcher gathered data over a period of six months in 2013, utilising three data collection methods: 1) in-depth interviews with eight participants; 2) observation of nine rock concerts; and 3) analysis of responses to concert reviews on news website Stuff.co.nz. Constructivist Grounded Theory guided the research process: theoretical sampling, grounded theory coding, constant comparison, and memo-ing.

Findings indicate that consumers derive enhanced wellbeing from attending rock concerts. Consumers want to repeat concert experiences to maintain or further enhance their wellbeing. This could explain why the live music industry is growing rapidly.

Findings also indicate authenticity is an important value-providing process to rock concert consumers. Value occurs through two main processes: the co-created experience and the self-authentication process. The band, fans, and the venue co-create the rock concert experience, enabling hedonia and short-term happiness. Fans experience a rock concert as something extraordinary. The extraordinary experience is composed of a utopian atmosphere and a state of transcendence. Fans live out their fantasies of seeing their favourite bands perform, escape from everyday life, and have cathartic experiences. Fans also experience the rock concert as community. Through playing (e.g., dancing, drinking, singing, being in the mosh pit) with like-minded others, fans feel like they belong to a community.
Secondly, via the self-authentication process, eudaimonia contributes to wellbeing through lasting meaning. By authenticating the band through its performance and the audience’s communal participation, fans authenticate the concert experience.

Through authenticating the experience, and through their own activities in it, fans are able to self-authenticate. Consequently, rock concert experiences are important for the long-term wellbeing of avid rock music fans because they can validate their own identities as rock music fans.
In summary, by responding to calls for research into rock concert consumption, this thesis ties together previously fragmented knowledge. The findings and resultant framework explain how hedonic happiness, eudaimonic meaning, extraordinary experiences, and a self-authentication process work together to create short-term and long-term wellbeing for avid rock music consumers. Moreover, the findings and framework suggest how authenticity appears to be a process towards the goal of enhanced wellbeing, rather than being a goal in itself as treated by most marketing scholars.

text: The Rock Concert Experience: The Self-Authentication Process and Wellbeing The purpose of this research was to understand consumers’ experiences at rock concerts. Growth in the live concert industry over the past 20 years suggests that these experiences provide value that consumers cannot attain through other means. Music fans can stream rock music or watch concerts without cost, while concert tickets are often over $100 each. Marketers need to understand more about the value derived from the live rock concert experience.
The researcher gathered data over a period of six months in 2013, utilising three data collection methods: 1) in-depth interviews with eight participants; 2) observation of nine rock concerts; and 3) analysis of responses to concert reviews on news website Stuff.co.nz. Constructivist Grounded Theory guided the research process: theoretical sampling, grounded theory coding, constant comparison, and memo-ing.

Findings indicate that consumers derive enhanced wellbeing from attending rock concerts. Consumers want to repeat concert experiences to maintain or further enhance their wellbeing. This could explain why the live music industry is growing rapidly.

Findings also indicate authenticity is an important value-providing process to rock concert consumers. Value occurs through two main processes: the co-created experience and the self-authentication process. The band, fans, and the venue co-create the rock concert experience, enabling hedonia and short-term happiness. Fans experience a rock concert as something extraordinary. The extraordinary experience is composed of a utopian atmosphere and a state of transcendence. Fans live out their fantasies of seeing their favourite bands perform, escape from everyday life, and have cathartic experiences. Fans also experience the rock concert as community. Through playing (e.g., dancing, drinking, singing, being in the mosh pit) with like-minded others, fans feel like they belong to a community.
Secondly, via the self-authentication process, eudaimonia contributes to wellbeing through lasting meaning. By authenticating the band through its performance and the audience’s communal participation, fans authenticate the concert experience.

Through authenticating the experience, and through their own activities in it, fans are able to self-authenticate. Consequently, rock concert experiences are important for the long-term wellbeing of avid rock music fans because they can validate their own identities as rock music fans.
In summary, by responding to calls for research into rock concert consumption, this thesis ties together previously fragmented knowledge. The findings and resultant framework explain how hedonic happiness, eudaimonic meaning, extraordinary experiences, and a self-authentication process work together to create short-term and long-term wellbeing for avid rock music consumers. Moreover, the findings and framework suggest how authenticity appears to be a process towards the goal of enhanced wellbeing, rather than being a goal in itself as treated by most marketing scholars.

year: 2014

title: Mates at the school gates:Investigating peer relationships among rangatahi Māori

authors: Knowles, Anthea Heather

subjects: school attendance

abstract: As a teacher, I have found that while some rangatahi feel connected to school, many others do not. In an attempt to reduce the gap between Māori and non-Māori educational achievement, there have been significant nationwide initiatives implemented into schools across New Zealand. These programmes have been centred mostly around improving school engagement. Despite these efforts, school attendance rates among Māori continue to decline. This thesis explores the role of peer relationships among rangatahi Māori, including how these relationships may influence various domains of engagement at school, such as participation, belonging and orientation to learning. 

This research involves focus group interviews with six rangatahi Māori aged 17-18, and in Years 12 and 13 in a small-town New Zealand High School. The wāhine Māori who contributed to the study, had been identified by the school as successfully engaged through regular attendance and participation of school activites. The findings from this study identify some critical aspects to building strong peer relationships, including: having a social space to gather, practicing manaakitanga, recognising equity, maintaining connection with each other, and welcoming humour. The rangatahi in this study value their peers and social relationships and they freely access these resources as needed. In doing so they are able to collectively critique experiences of marginalisation and acquire a collective source of resilience. The participants in this study then draw on this collective resilience during challenging situations.

text: Mates at the school gates:Investigating peer relationships among rangatahi Māori As a teacher, I have found that while some rangatahi feel connected to school, many others do not. In an attempt to reduce the gap between Māori and non-Māori educational achievement, there have been significant nationwide initiatives implemented into schools across New Zealand. These programmes have been centred mostly around improving school engagement. Despite these efforts, school attendance rates among Māori continue to decline. This thesis explores the role of peer relationships among rangatahi Māori, including how these relationships may influence various domains of engagement at school, such as participation, belonging and orientation to learning. 

This research involves focus group interviews with six rangatahi Māori aged 17-18, and in Years 12 and 13 in a small-town New Zealand High School. The wāhine Māori who contributed to the study, had been identified by the school as successfully engaged through regular attendance and participation of school activites. The findings from this study identify some critical aspects to building strong peer relationships, including: having a social space to gather, practicing manaakitanga, recognising equity, maintaining connection with each other, and welcoming humour. The rangatahi in this study value their peers and social relationships and they freely access these resources as needed. In doing so they are able to collectively critique experiences of marginalisation and acquire a collective source of resilience. The participants in this study then draw on this collective resilience during challenging situations.

year: 2019