title: Business communication as cultural text: Exchange and feedback of promotional video clips

authors: Zaidman, Nurit

subjects: intercultural communication

abstract: Our research is a response to the need to improve the understanding of the complexity of global professional communication. To investigate the complex cultural interpretations that producers and audiences apply to professional texts, we developed a two-year interactive project. Business students in New Zealand and Israel produced promotional “texts” – video clips to promote a university program – which they exchanged with their counterparts overseas to receive feedback. We adapted models of home-made visual communication and advertising which used the categories of participants, settings, topics, and style, to analyze the eight clips. Emergent findings suggested two more categories – information and language – as important analytical tools. Variables of age, gender, intra- and intercultural differences, and (cultural) context also resulted in student audiences’ multiple interpretations of the texts. The outcomes indicate the need to extend the culture-in-context approach for a “situation focused communication approach,” where the primary focus is a group of producers and their audience as they produce and interpret a professional text. This approach also foregrounds contextual variables and a plural understanding of culture to accommodate the potential for miscommunication of business and professional texts in pluricultural contexts.

text: Business communication as cultural text: Exchange and feedback of promotional video clips Our research is a response to the need to improve the understanding of the complexity of global professional communication. To investigate the complex cultural interpretations that producers and audiences apply to professional texts, we developed a two-year interactive project. Business students in New Zealand and Israel produced promotional “texts” – video clips to promote a university program – which they exchanged with their counterparts overseas to receive feedback. We adapted models of home-made visual communication and advertising which used the categories of participants, settings, topics, and style, to analyze the eight clips. Emergent findings suggested two more categories – information and language – as important analytical tools. Variables of age, gender, intra- and intercultural differences, and (cultural) context also resulted in student audiences’ multiple interpretations of the texts. The outcomes indicate the need to extend the culture-in-context approach for a “situation focused communication approach,” where the primary focus is a group of producers and their audience as they produce and interpret a professional text. This approach also foregrounds contextual variables and a plural understanding of culture to accommodate the potential for miscommunication of business and professional texts in pluricultural contexts.

year: 2009

title: Using Output Codes for Two-class Classification Problems

authors: Zeng, Fanhua

subjects: Machine Learning

abstract: Error-correcting output codes (ECOCs) have been widely used in many applications for multi-class classification problems. The problem is that ECOCs cannot be ap- plied directly on two-class datasets. The goal of this thesis is to design and evaluate an approach to solve this problem, and then investigate whether the approach can yield better classification models. To be able to use ECOCs, we turn two-class datasets into multi-class datasets first, by using clustering. With the resulting multi-class datasets in hand, we evalu- ate three different encoding methods for ECOCs: exhaustive coding, random coding and a “pre-defined” code that is found using random search. The exhaustive coding method has the highest error-correcting abilities. However, this method is limited due to the exponential growth of bit columns in the codeword matrix precluding it from being used for problems with large numbers of classes. Random coding can be used to cover situations with large numbers of classes in the data. To improve on completely random matrices, “pre-defined” codeword matrices can be generated by using random search that optimizes row separation yielding better error correction than a purely random matrix. To speed up the process of finding good matrices, GPU parallel programming is investigated in this thesis. From the empirical results, we can say that the new algorithm, which applies multi-class ECOCs on two-class data using clustering, does improve the performance for some base learners, when compared to applying them directly to the original two- class datasets.

text: Using Output Codes for Two-class Classification Problems Error-correcting output codes (ECOCs) have been widely used in many applications for multi-class classification problems. The problem is that ECOCs cannot be ap- plied directly on two-class datasets. The goal of this thesis is to design and evaluate an approach to solve this problem, and then investigate whether the approach can yield better classification models. To be able to use ECOCs, we turn two-class datasets into multi-class datasets first, by using clustering. With the resulting multi-class datasets in hand, we evalu- ate three different encoding methods for ECOCs: exhaustive coding, random coding and a “pre-defined” code that is found using random search. The exhaustive coding method has the highest error-correcting abilities. However, this method is limited due to the exponential growth of bit columns in the codeword matrix precluding it from being used for problems with large numbers of classes. Random coding can be used to cover situations with large numbers of classes in the data. To improve on completely random matrices, “pre-defined” codeword matrices can be generated by using random search that optimizes row separation yielding better error correction than a purely random matrix. To speed up the process of finding good matrices, GPU parallel programming is investigated in this thesis. From the empirical results, we can say that the new algorithm, which applies multi-class ECOCs on two-class data using clustering, does improve the performance for some base learners, when compared to applying them directly to the original two- class datasets.

year: 2011

title: Ngā kura a Hineteiwaiwa: The embodiment of Mana Wahine in Māori fibre Arts

authors: Campbell, Donna

subjects: Mana Wahine

abstract: Imagine you are on a continuum of past present and future, in the present while connected to the past and creating for the future. Kairaranga  are constantly in this experience through engaging with the materiality of the practices of raranga and raranga whatu.  
The key focus of this thesis is to provide theoretical discussion of the raranga and whatu practices that are the creative component of this doctoral research.  The theories that inform the analysis are Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine both of which, like raranga, are organic to this place, Aotearoa , and have grown as descendants of Papatūānuku  and Ranginui . The connection between these theories and the creative practices of raranga and whatu form a cultural praxis through which I argue enables the transformative power of raranga and whatu practices.  This too is the essence of Te Whare Pora, a weaving house that embraces kairaranga both conceptually and materially and which provides the approach to the project. Te Whare Pora is a place of knowledge and a place of practice. Like Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theories it is a cultural form and expression of praxis. As kairaranga we create taonga  informed by the creative genius of our tūpuna  from the native plants of the land. These ageless practices and the taonga we create are permeated with our own present realities. The taonga then carry this tūpuna knowledge into the future in multiple forms. To highlight this, I explore a range of practices that exemplify raranga and raranga whatu as cultural embodiment.  This is articulated through notions of raranga as an expression of cultural bodies of knowledge, creative practice and regenerative praxis that span the past, present and future.  As such, this thesis is an expression of the creative journey of theory and practice inspired by tūpuna knowledge in the art forms of raranga and raranga whatu. The practices of raranga and raranga whatu not only transform the materials the kairaranga is using, but also the kairaranga themselves. These practices become self-affirming, culturally affirming and ultimately decolonizing.

text: Ngā kura a Hineteiwaiwa: The embodiment of Mana Wahine in Māori fibre Arts Imagine you are on a continuum of past present and future, in the present while connected to the past and creating for the future. Kairaranga  are constantly in this experience through engaging with the materiality of the practices of raranga and raranga whatu.  
The key focus of this thesis is to provide theoretical discussion of the raranga and whatu practices that are the creative component of this doctoral research.  The theories that inform the analysis are Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine both of which, like raranga, are organic to this place, Aotearoa , and have grown as descendants of Papatūānuku  and Ranginui . The connection between these theories and the creative practices of raranga and whatu form a cultural praxis through which I argue enables the transformative power of raranga and whatu practices.  This too is the essence of Te Whare Pora, a weaving house that embraces kairaranga both conceptually and materially and which provides the approach to the project. Te Whare Pora is a place of knowledge and a place of practice. Like Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theories it is a cultural form and expression of praxis. As kairaranga we create taonga  informed by the creative genius of our tūpuna  from the native plants of the land. These ageless practices and the taonga we create are permeated with our own present realities. The taonga then carry this tūpuna knowledge into the future in multiple forms. To highlight this, I explore a range of practices that exemplify raranga and raranga whatu as cultural embodiment.  This is articulated through notions of raranga as an expression of cultural bodies of knowledge, creative practice and regenerative praxis that span the past, present and future.  As such, this thesis is an expression of the creative journey of theory and practice inspired by tūpuna knowledge in the art forms of raranga and raranga whatu. The practices of raranga and raranga whatu not only transform the materials the kairaranga is using, but also the kairaranga themselves. These practices become self-affirming, culturally affirming and ultimately decolonizing.

year: 2019