title: Are media reports representative of host community support for mega-events? The case of Sydney world youth day 2008

authors: Locke, Mirrin

subjects: mega-event

abstract: World Youth Day 2008 (WYD08) held during July was the fourth mega-event to be held in Sydney in the past decade. All mega-events, such as WYD08, attract considerable media attention in the lead up to, during, and after the event. In the lead up to WYD08, media reports, particularly those in the Australian written press, were predominately negative. These reports gave the impression that there was little, if any, support for holding the event among the residents of Sydney. Data were collected through a combination of document analysis and host community interviews, in the lead up to, during, and immediately following the event. The document analysis included two local Sydney newspapers and one national newspaper. The findings show that printed media reports were not an accurate reflection of community support. Given that media is believed to be not only influenced by public opinion, but also capable of influencing public opinion, why was there such disparity between media reports and other sources of evidence regarding community support for this event? There is a call for more research investigating if what is reflected in the media is a fair approximation of community response to events.

text: Are media reports representative of host community support for mega-events? The case of Sydney world youth day 2008 World Youth Day 2008 (WYD08) held during July was the fourth mega-event to be held in Sydney in the past decade. All mega-events, such as WYD08, attract considerable media attention in the lead up to, during, and after the event. In the lead up to WYD08, media reports, particularly those in the Australian written press, were predominately negative. These reports gave the impression that there was little, if any, support for holding the event among the residents of Sydney. Data were collected through a combination of document analysis and host community interviews, in the lead up to, during, and immediately following the event. The document analysis included two local Sydney newspapers and one national newspaper. The findings show that printed media reports were not an accurate reflection of community support. Given that media is believed to be not only influenced by public opinion, but also capable of influencing public opinion, why was there such disparity between media reports and other sources of evidence regarding community support for this event? There is a call for more research investigating if what is reflected in the media is a fair approximation of community response to events.

year: 2011

title: Playing right: Some virtual wrongs are real wrongs

authors: Munn, Nicholas

abstract: Many computer games ask us to act in ways which would be morally unconscionable, were we to so act in the physical world. Within the game world, these actions are seen as unproblematic. As such, simple translations of concepts such as assault and murder from the physical to the virtual fail. Killing an opponent in World of Warcraft is not morally equivalent to killing someone in the physical world. However, this does not mean that virtual murder is impossible. Rather, the social reality of particular game-worlds is distinct from, but connected to, the social reality in which we operate in the physical world. In this paper, I examine the ways in which immoral conduct can occur in virtual environments. I discuss the particular problems of the ‘magic circle’ model of gaming in the context of online, massively interactive computer gaming as popularised by World of Warcraft, Rift, Aion. (Castronova 2005, Zimmerman 2012) The most important of these problems is perhaps the lack of distinction many participants in these worlds make between their avatars and themselves. (Lehdonvirta, 2010) This connection between the virtual and physical worlds enables us to generate a moral framework for guiding action within virtual worlds. With this background established, I argue that it is the subversion of game mechanics and intentions which generates the wrongness of particular types of action within virtual worlds.

text: Playing right: Some virtual wrongs are real wrongs Many computer games ask us to act in ways which would be morally unconscionable, were we to so act in the physical world. Within the game world, these actions are seen as unproblematic. As such, simple translations of concepts such as assault and murder from the physical to the virtual fail. Killing an opponent in World of Warcraft is not morally equivalent to killing someone in the physical world. However, this does not mean that virtual murder is impossible. Rather, the social reality of particular game-worlds is distinct from, but connected to, the social reality in which we operate in the physical world. In this paper, I examine the ways in which immoral conduct can occur in virtual environments. I discuss the particular problems of the ‘magic circle’ model of gaming in the context of online, massively interactive computer gaming as popularised by World of Warcraft, Rift, Aion. (Castronova 2005, Zimmerman 2012) The most important of these problems is perhaps the lack of distinction many participants in these worlds make between their avatars and themselves. (Lehdonvirta, 2010) This connection between the virtual and physical worlds enables us to generate a moral framework for guiding action within virtual worlds. With this background established, I argue that it is the subversion of game mechanics and intentions which generates the wrongness of particular types of action within virtual worlds.

year: 2019

title: Popoia te reo kia penapena: Nurture the language

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: Maori language

abstract: Research to develop a Māori language screening tool (Specialist Education Services, 2001), identified that students entering Māori Medium at five, could be classified into one of four Māori language competency, groups. Concurrently, teachers raised their need to identify the Māori language proficiency of five year olds entering Māori Medium so that more appropriate teaching strategies could be incorporated in preparation for literacy.
Accordingly, three Māori oral-language assessment tools, to help identify the Māori language competency of students entering Māori Medium settings at five years of age and provide formative information, were developed in response to this need. This paper details the development and trial of these tools.

text: Popoia te reo kia penapena: Nurture the language Research to develop a Māori language screening tool (Specialist Education Services, 2001), identified that students entering Māori Medium at five, could be classified into one of four Māori language competency, groups. Concurrently, teachers raised their need to identify the Māori language proficiency of five year olds entering Māori Medium so that more appropriate teaching strategies could be incorporated in preparation for literacy.
Accordingly, three Māori oral-language assessment tools, to help identify the Māori language competency of students entering Māori Medium settings at five years of age and provide formative information, were developed in response to this need. This paper details the development and trial of these tools.

year: 2009