title: Synergistic literacies: Fostering critical and technological literacies in teaching legal research methods at the University of Waikato

authors: Havemann, Paul

abstract: Nowadays, new law courses are not approved unless both the "needs analysis" is convincing and the "consumer demand" is certain. Needs and demands today are driven by new pressures for technological literacy accelerated by globalisation and the current revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs). The popular logic is that new global "knowledge economies" need "knowledge workers" or "wired workers" to labour in the new e-markets for goods and services and to use the burgeoning number and high quality of electronic information databases now essential to legal research. Students are acutely aware of these developments as well as of the highly competitive nature of the contemporary labour market for law graduates. Consequently, students are demanding more "how to" research skills training.
This article puts in context the reasons why, at the University of Waikato, we regard creating synergy between critical and technological literacy as essential for teaching and learning law-in-context research methods, and then describes the curriculum we designed for a legal research methods course in order to trial this approach.
From the start we have been clear that the new course was not just to be a "how to" course, and that we would be concentrating on critical literacy as much as technological literacy. For us, critical literacy is fundamental because it relates to the way in which one analyses the world, a process described as "becoming aware of the underlying structure of conceptions".1 This awareness includes the politics in the architectures that constitute the Internet and the assembly of information accessible on it.
We designed our curriculum for critical literacy around five types of analysis. Our shorthand for this is to call these "the five 'Cs'". Our five interrelated categories for analysis focus on:
 Change - in society, economy and culture
 Concepts - legal and sociological concepts and analytical frameworks
 Critique (and standpoint or perspective) 
 Comparisons (and Contrasts) 
 Contexts.
We argue that, at a minimum, these are the conceptual tools necessary to critique and engage the operation of the law in the context of society, noting especially inequalities and injustices. Throughout the course students are encouraged to harness technological literacy to each dimension of their analysis.
This article consists of two main parts. The first part ("Context and Assumptions") explores in some depth the reasons for the need to teach critical literacy alongside technological literacy. The second part ("The Legal Research Methods Course") describes our efforts to promote the synergy between critical and technological literacies in the context of a fourth year optional course, Legal Research Methods 2000, at the University of Waikato School of Law.

text: Synergistic literacies: Fostering critical and technological literacies in teaching legal research methods at the University of Waikato Nowadays, new law courses are not approved unless both the "needs analysis" is convincing and the "consumer demand" is certain. Needs and demands today are driven by new pressures for technological literacy accelerated by globalisation and the current revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs). The popular logic is that new global "knowledge economies" need "knowledge workers" or "wired workers" to labour in the new e-markets for goods and services and to use the burgeoning number and high quality of electronic information databases now essential to legal research. Students are acutely aware of these developments as well as of the highly competitive nature of the contemporary labour market for law graduates. Consequently, students are demanding more "how to" research skills training.
This article puts in context the reasons why, at the University of Waikato, we regard creating synergy between critical and technological literacy as essential for teaching and learning law-in-context research methods, and then describes the curriculum we designed for a legal research methods course in order to trial this approach.
From the start we have been clear that the new course was not just to be a "how to" course, and that we would be concentrating on critical literacy as much as technological literacy. For us, critical literacy is fundamental because it relates to the way in which one analyses the world, a process described as "becoming aware of the underlying structure of conceptions".1 This awareness includes the politics in the architectures that constitute the Internet and the assembly of information accessible on it.
We designed our curriculum for critical literacy around five types of analysis. Our shorthand for this is to call these "the five 'Cs'". Our five interrelated categories for analysis focus on:
 Change - in society, economy and culture
 Concepts - legal and sociological concepts and analytical frameworks
 Critique (and standpoint or perspective) 
 Comparisons (and Contrasts) 
 Contexts.
We argue that, at a minimum, these are the conceptual tools necessary to critique and engage the operation of the law in the context of society, noting especially inequalities and injustices. Throughout the course students are encouraged to harness technological literacy to each dimension of their analysis.
This article consists of two main parts. The first part ("Context and Assumptions") explores in some depth the reasons for the need to teach critical literacy alongside technological literacy. The second part ("The Legal Research Methods Course") describes our efforts to promote the synergy between critical and technological literacies in the context of a fourth year optional course, Legal Research Methods 2000, at the University of Waikato School of Law.

year: 2002-01-01

title: Socio-economic drivers of freshwater fish declines in a changing climate: a New Zealand perspective

authors: Ling, Nicholas

subjects: biodiversity

abstract: New Zealand has a freshwater fish fauna characterized by high levels of national and local endemism and which is threatened by anthropogenic stressors including habitat destruction or deterioration, commercial harvest, pollution and interactions with invasive exotic species. Significant expansion of New Zealand's dairy production has recently created further deterioration of lowland water quality and greater pressure for water allocation in drier eastern regions of the South Island. New Zealand has large freshwater resources and its climate is predicted to experience less dramatic changes in mean annual temperature and precipitation than many other regions of the world as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Predicted changes in regional climate and further expansion of the dairy industry, however, will impose similar pressures on freshwater resources in northern New Zealand to those already acting to threaten freshwater biodiversity in the eastern South Island.

text: Socio-economic drivers of freshwater fish declines in a changing climate: a New Zealand perspective New Zealand has a freshwater fish fauna characterized by high levels of national and local endemism and which is threatened by anthropogenic stressors including habitat destruction or deterioration, commercial harvest, pollution and interactions with invasive exotic species. Significant expansion of New Zealand's dairy production has recently created further deterioration of lowland water quality and greater pressure for water allocation in drier eastern regions of the South Island. New Zealand has large freshwater resources and its climate is predicted to experience less dramatic changes in mean annual temperature and precipitation than many other regions of the world as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Predicted changes in regional climate and further expansion of the dairy industry, however, will impose similar pressures on freshwater resources in northern New Zealand to those already acting to threaten freshwater biodiversity in the eastern South Island.

year: 2010

title: The science and practice of Māori astronomy and Matariki

authors: Whaanga, Hēmi

subjects: Indigenous Knowledge

abstract: Ki te iwi Mäori me öna tüpuna, ko ngä hua o te noho tahi, o te äta pänui, o te körero anö hoki me ngä whetü, he mea äta tuitui ki te pütaiao, ki te ahureatanga, ki ngä tikanga aho atua, ki te taiao anö hoki. Ko ngä nekehanga o ngä kähui whetü he mea äta pänui, ka mutu he whakapono, he mätauranga atu anö hoki tö ia iwi, tö ia takiwä puta noa i a Aotearoa nei mö te ao tukupü. Ko te mätauranga whänui mö te kökörangi he mea äta whakatö ki ngä ähuatanga o te päpori Mäori o mua, he mea äta whakaora anö hoki ki ngä körero tuku iho, ki ngä tikanga hauhake whenua, ka mutu i äta whakaurua ki roto i ngä tikanga whakatü whare tupuna. Tau atu, tau mai, whakanuia ai te rewanga ake me te tönga iho o ngä whetü hiahira, ka mutu i kaha whakaatuahia ngä kaupapa katoa o te tuarangi ahakoa pëhea. Mä roto mai i tënei pepa ka körerohia te mätauranga me te pütaiao mätai arorangi e whai iho nei ki a Matariki, ka tahi, ka rua ka wänangahia te whakarauora haeretanga i ngä tikanga tuku iho e hängai nei ki taua kähui whetü me tana pänga nuitanga ki te ahurea o te whenua o näianei, o Aotearoa.

text: The science and practice of Māori astronomy and Matariki Ki te iwi Mäori me öna tüpuna, ko ngä hua o te noho tahi, o te äta pänui, o te körero anö hoki me ngä whetü, he mea äta tuitui ki te pütaiao, ki te ahureatanga, ki ngä tikanga aho atua, ki te taiao anö hoki. Ko ngä nekehanga o ngä kähui whetü he mea äta pänui, ka mutu he whakapono, he mätauranga atu anö hoki tö ia iwi, tö ia takiwä puta noa i a Aotearoa nei mö te ao tukupü. Ko te mätauranga whänui mö te kökörangi he mea äta whakatö ki ngä ähuatanga o te päpori Mäori o mua, he mea äta whakaora anö hoki ki ngä körero tuku iho, ki ngä tikanga hauhake whenua, ka mutu i äta whakaurua ki roto i ngä tikanga whakatü whare tupuna. Tau atu, tau mai, whakanuia ai te rewanga ake me te tönga iho o ngä whetü hiahira, ka mutu i kaha whakaatuahia ngä kaupapa katoa o te tuarangi ahakoa pëhea. Mä roto mai i tënei pepa ka körerohia te mätauranga me te pütaiao mätai arorangi e whai iho nei ki a Matariki, ka tahi, ka rua ka wänangahia te whakarauora haeretanga i ngä tikanga tuku iho e hängai nei ki taua kähui whetü me tana pänga nuitanga ki te ahurea o te whenua o näianei, o Aotearoa.

year: 2020