title: The Coconut Tree and the Computer Tiger: Information Technology in Traditional Pacific Societies

authors: Philp, Roger

subjects: information technology

abstract: This literature review explores the extent to which Information Technology (IT) has affected the cultures of small traditional Pacific societies, with the South Pacific region as the point of focus. The assumption is that the educational systems of Pacific nations are in the developmental stage with the associated sophisticated technological applications. The thesis asks what if any, cultural challenges of adopting information technology have arisen? The review finds that traditional culture and information technology are in competition in the power stakes of human consideration, reflected in South Pacific indigenous academics seeking independence as researchers and acceptance in their own right. The realisation that culture and technology need to function together requires attaining academic freedom in the aftermath of post-colonial restrictions placed on the indigenous sociological and anthropological imagination. The first part examines the history of  information technology generally, and the significance of work already done, providing a perspective of how the subject has developed and become established, assisting in the development and acquisition of the appropriate vocabulary. The review explains and describes the occurrence of information technology in the South Pacific, the effect of globalisation and shared knowledge through ethno-methodology, every day culture in action, describing the ways in which people make the sense they do and through the ways they communicate. In the second part the focus is on the detail of the commonsense character of everyday life and the practices by which they make their actions understandable by others. Scrutiny of how people do what they do provides an explanation of what those people do and why they do it in the way they do. Western form of governance is a reality, with nation building based on Western models of development. National independence and  sovereignty with a wave of neo-colonialism and aid dependency led to economic globalisation, with resentment against value systems that erode indigenous values, producing a wave of re-indigenisation facilitated by the revolution known as  information technology . There is a coherent body of Pacific thought, with a shared philosophy and ethic on the public agenda. In the material covered, elements standing out are the awareness among growing numbers of Pacific academics of the need for a genuine and far-reaching contextualisation, acknowledging the relevance and applicability of indigenous cultural values in contemporary settings. Second is the success of communities whose initiatives have followed familiar traditional ways they know and understand, reaping rewards. The region has development and governance failures in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji to name a few; the national state of affairs in some countries is not encouraging. Where  good development and governance are occurring, it is usually through the direct initiative of local communities using their knowledge base. The information upheaval is creating new opportunities in the lives of people from small traditional societies. Information Technology expands throughout the social structure of the Pacific in direct proportion to personal computer access literally at one's finger tips.

text: The Coconut Tree and the Computer Tiger: Information Technology in Traditional Pacific Societies This literature review explores the extent to which Information Technology (IT) has affected the cultures of small traditional Pacific societies, with the South Pacific region as the point of focus. The assumption is that the educational systems of Pacific nations are in the developmental stage with the associated sophisticated technological applications. The thesis asks what if any, cultural challenges of adopting information technology have arisen? The review finds that traditional culture and information technology are in competition in the power stakes of human consideration, reflected in South Pacific indigenous academics seeking independence as researchers and acceptance in their own right. The realisation that culture and technology need to function together requires attaining academic freedom in the aftermath of post-colonial restrictions placed on the indigenous sociological and anthropological imagination. The first part examines the history of  information technology generally, and the significance of work already done, providing a perspective of how the subject has developed and become established, assisting in the development and acquisition of the appropriate vocabulary. The review explains and describes the occurrence of information technology in the South Pacific, the effect of globalisation and shared knowledge through ethno-methodology, every day culture in action, describing the ways in which people make the sense they do and through the ways they communicate. In the second part the focus is on the detail of the commonsense character of everyday life and the practices by which they make their actions understandable by others. Scrutiny of how people do what they do provides an explanation of what those people do and why they do it in the way they do. Western form of governance is a reality, with nation building based on Western models of development. National independence and  sovereignty with a wave of neo-colonialism and aid dependency led to economic globalisation, with resentment against value systems that erode indigenous values, producing a wave of re-indigenisation facilitated by the revolution known as  information technology . There is a coherent body of Pacific thought, with a shared philosophy and ethic on the public agenda. In the material covered, elements standing out are the awareness among growing numbers of Pacific academics of the need for a genuine and far-reaching contextualisation, acknowledging the relevance and applicability of indigenous cultural values in contemporary settings. Second is the success of communities whose initiatives have followed familiar traditional ways they know and understand, reaping rewards. The region has development and governance failures in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji to name a few; the national state of affairs in some countries is not encouraging. Where  good development and governance are occurring, it is usually through the direct initiative of local communities using their knowledge base. The information upheaval is creating new opportunities in the lives of people from small traditional societies. Information Technology expands throughout the social structure of the Pacific in direct proportion to personal computer access literally at one's finger tips.

year: 2009

title: The geology of the Te Aroha mining district

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: When gold was discovered on the slopes of Te Aroha mountain, its geology was unknown to geologists and miners alike. After initial hasty examinations, later investigations produced more reliable details, and by late in the twentieth century much more detailed and technical information was available. Originally, prospectors hoped to find alluvial gold, but instead discovered that, through volcanic action, the minerals permeated the quartz.
Despite intensive prospecting, payable ore was rarely found. At Waiorongomai, the large main lode was mostly a buck reef, the best patches of ore being found where it abutted side reefs. Hopes for a prosperous field soon faded because the various battery processes were unable to treat the ore profitably, a failure largely explained by its poverty and complexity. The output from the Te Aroha district proved to be one of the lowest of the Hauraki fields.

text: The geology of the Te Aroha mining district When gold was discovered on the slopes of Te Aroha mountain, its geology was unknown to geologists and miners alike. After initial hasty examinations, later investigations produced more reliable details, and by late in the twentieth century much more detailed and technical information was available. Originally, prospectors hoped to find alluvial gold, but instead discovered that, through volcanic action, the minerals permeated the quartz.
Despite intensive prospecting, payable ore was rarely found. At Waiorongomai, the large main lode was mostly a buck reef, the best patches of ore being found where it abutted side reefs. Hopes for a prosperous field soon faded because the various battery processes were unable to treat the ore profitably, a failure largely explained by its poverty and complexity. The output from the Te Aroha district proved to be one of the lowest of the Hauraki fields.

year: 2016

title: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context

authors: Te Arihi, Kylie

subjects: English Reading Skills

abstract: One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

text: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

year: 2014