title: COVID-19 and blind spaces: Responding to digital (in)accessibility and social isolation during lockdown for blind, deafblind, low vision, and vision impaired persons in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Graham, Rebekah Sarah

abstract: In this chapter we, as Indigenous (Māori) and non-Indigenous (Pākehā) academics, practitioners, and disability advocates critically examine the experiences of people who are blind, deafblind, low vision and vision impaired (BLV) during the COVID-19 lockdown of Aotearoa New Zealand. We pay particular attention to the ways in which access (or lack thereof) to digital spaces facilitated experiences of social inclusion (and exclusion). Digital connectivity was heavily relied upon during lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand to disseminate health information and to connect people socially. The use of digital technologies during lockdown extended the interpersonal space of the home beyond the physicality of the urban home people were confined to, drawing people together across the country and creating a sense of shared experience. However, these experiences were not shared equally across the citizenry. Conversations during lockdown with disability advocates and practitioners working with BLV persons identified that. For example, the government website on COVID19 was initially inaccessible for BLV persons and there were assumptions of digital accessibility and literacy within the domestic space of the home. Taken together, these exacerbated existing inequities for BLV persons, some of whom experience multiple domains of exclusion (for example, Indigenous BLV persons with reduced access to services and for whom English is their second language). Drawing on Lefebvre’s (1991) work on the dialectics of space and Lewin’s (1936/2013) construction of the life-space, we consider the interplay of space and experience with regards to the digital and physical space(s) available and inhabited during the shared social experience of lockdown. We discuss possibilities for co-creating socially inclusive (digital) spaces of belonging that reflect and refract life-space relational connections across social groups. Our reflections on the lockdown experience include opportunities post-pandemic for policy makers and practitioners to address digital accessibility inequities.

text: COVID-19 and blind spaces: Responding to digital (in)accessibility and social isolation during lockdown for blind, deafblind, low vision, and vision impaired persons in Aotearoa New Zealand In this chapter we, as Indigenous (Māori) and non-Indigenous (Pākehā) academics, practitioners, and disability advocates critically examine the experiences of people who are blind, deafblind, low vision and vision impaired (BLV) during the COVID-19 lockdown of Aotearoa New Zealand. We pay particular attention to the ways in which access (or lack thereof) to digital spaces facilitated experiences of social inclusion (and exclusion). Digital connectivity was heavily relied upon during lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand to disseminate health information and to connect people socially. The use of digital technologies during lockdown extended the interpersonal space of the home beyond the physicality of the urban home people were confined to, drawing people together across the country and creating a sense of shared experience. However, these experiences were not shared equally across the citizenry. Conversations during lockdown with disability advocates and practitioners working with BLV persons identified that. For example, the government website on COVID19 was initially inaccessible for BLV persons and there were assumptions of digital accessibility and literacy within the domestic space of the home. Taken together, these exacerbated existing inequities for BLV persons, some of whom experience multiple domains of exclusion (for example, Indigenous BLV persons with reduced access to services and for whom English is their second language). Drawing on Lefebvre’s (1991) work on the dialectics of space and Lewin’s (1936/2013) construction of the life-space, we consider the interplay of space and experience with regards to the digital and physical space(s) available and inhabited during the shared social experience of lockdown. We discuss possibilities for co-creating socially inclusive (digital) spaces of belonging that reflect and refract life-space relational connections across social groups. Our reflections on the lockdown experience include opportunities post-pandemic for policy makers and practitioners to address digital accessibility inequities.

year: 2021

title: Mōteatea Kau Te Ngākau: He aha ia nei i tuā atu i ngā kupu, i te rangi o te waiata?

authors: Tahi-Rangihau, Te Hauāuru Raeleen

subjects: Tūhoe waiata, composition, te reo Māori

abstract: ARIĀ
Māori have always expressed themselves through the medium of song, and the various stanzas contained within the many Māori compositions that exist are a rich depositary of knowledge, offering people an insight into the Māori world. Māori compositions are mirrors into the past reflecting the issues, language, and beliefs of the people of that era, and in many instances immortalising the feelings and ideas of the people. Such was the importance of traditional composition to Māori, that individuals skilled in this art form where held in high regard, and even in a modern context we still celebrate our revered composers.
This study is concerned with Tūhoe composition, and in particular the songs that have been composted for Te Wharekura o Huiarau. This school is located within the Tūhoe settlement of Ruatāhuna, and since its establishment a host of songs have been composed for the school to express its unique identity, as well as the feelings and beliefs of the different composers. This thesis argues that the various songs that have been sung by the children of Te Wharekura o Huiarau throughout the decades are clear markers of the children‟s identity, and by examining these songs a clear picture of the language, issues and influences of the different generations can be examined and investigated.
In addition, this study is concerned with the wider role of composition within Tūhoe society, exploring how this has developed across time, understanding the current state of Tūhoe composition and ultimately looking towards the future. This thesis will highlight many of the famous Tūhoe composers and their compositions, as well as various songs that are connected to Te Wharekura o Huiarau. These compositions will be studied with the view of creating a foundation for further work, that will ultimately support the development of a new generation of Tūhoe composers.

text: Mōteatea Kau Te Ngākau: He aha ia nei i tuā atu i ngā kupu, i te rangi o te waiata? ARIĀ
Māori have always expressed themselves through the medium of song, and the various stanzas contained within the many Māori compositions that exist are a rich depositary of knowledge, offering people an insight into the Māori world. Māori compositions are mirrors into the past reflecting the issues, language, and beliefs of the people of that era, and in many instances immortalising the feelings and ideas of the people. Such was the importance of traditional composition to Māori, that individuals skilled in this art form where held in high regard, and even in a modern context we still celebrate our revered composers.
This study is concerned with Tūhoe composition, and in particular the songs that have been composted for Te Wharekura o Huiarau. This school is located within the Tūhoe settlement of Ruatāhuna, and since its establishment a host of songs have been composed for the school to express its unique identity, as well as the feelings and beliefs of the different composers. This thesis argues that the various songs that have been sung by the children of Te Wharekura o Huiarau throughout the decades are clear markers of the children‟s identity, and by examining these songs a clear picture of the language, issues and influences of the different generations can be examined and investigated.
In addition, this study is concerned with the wider role of composition within Tūhoe society, exploring how this has developed across time, understanding the current state of Tūhoe composition and ultimately looking towards the future. This thesis will highlight many of the famous Tūhoe composers and their compositions, as well as various songs that are connected to Te Wharekura o Huiarau. These compositions will be studied with the view of creating a foundation for further work, that will ultimately support the development of a new generation of Tūhoe composers.

year: 2013

title: Text Augmentation: Inserting markup into natural language text with PPM Models

authors: Yeates, Stuart Andrew

subjects: Markup

abstract: This thesis describes a new optimisation and new heuristics for automatically marking up XML documents. These are implemented in CEM, using PPMmodels. CEM is significantly more general than previous systems, marking up large numbers of hierarchical tags, using n-gram models for large n and a variety of escape methods.

Four corpora are discussed, including the bibliography corpus of 14682 bibliographies laid out in seven standard styles using the BIBTEX system and markedup in XML with every field from the original BIBTEX. Other corpora include the ROCLING Chinese text segmentation corpus, the Computists’ Communique corpus and the Reuters’ corpus. A detailed examination is presented of the methods of evaluating mark up algorithms, including computation complexity measures and correctness measures from the fields of information retrieval, string processing, machine learning and information theory.

A new taxonomy of markup complexities is established and the properties of each taxon are examined in relation to the complexity of marked-up documents. The performance of the new heuristics and optimisation is examined using the four corpora.

text: Text Augmentation: Inserting markup into natural language text with PPM Models This thesis describes a new optimisation and new heuristics for automatically marking up XML documents. These are implemented in CEM, using PPMmodels. CEM is significantly more general than previous systems, marking up large numbers of hierarchical tags, using n-gram models for large n and a variety of escape methods.

Four corpora are discussed, including the bibliography corpus of 14682 bibliographies laid out in seven standard styles using the BIBTEX system and markedup in XML with every field from the original BIBTEX. Other corpora include the ROCLING Chinese text segmentation corpus, the Computists’ Communique corpus and the Reuters’ corpus. A detailed examination is presented of the methods of evaluating mark up algorithms, including computation complexity measures and correctness measures from the fields of information retrieval, string processing, machine learning and information theory.

A new taxonomy of markup complexities is established and the properties of each taxon are examined in relation to the complexity of marked-up documents. The performance of the new heuristics and optimisation is examined using the four corpora.

year: 2006