title: Understandings and social practices of medications for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand

authors: Kamutingondo, Stanley

subjects: healthy communities

abstract: Medications are a central part of health care. How medications are understood and used by people in everyday life remains unclear. This study looks at understanding and social practices of medications in everyday life for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand. This project investigates understandings of medications and their use, taking account of all forms of medications, medical drugs, alternative medicines, traditional medicines and dietary supplements. Four Zimbabwean migrant families who all reside in Hamilton took part in this study. Data were collected using a variety of methods which included individual interviews with the families, household discussions, photographs, diaries, material objects, and media content to capture the complex and fluid nature of popular understandings and use of medications. This research provides insight into the cultural values and practices of these four families pertaining to how they acquired, used, shared, and stored indigenous and biomedical medications. Four key themes were identified: the preference of biomedical over traditional medications, storage, sharing and safety of medications; availability and affordability of medications; and the influence of the media in making decisions to purchase medications. Knowledge of how meanings are linked to the things people do with medications will inform strategies for ensuring that medication use is safe and effective.

text: Understandings and social practices of medications for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand Medications are a central part of health care. How medications are understood and used by people in everyday life remains unclear. This study looks at understanding and social practices of medications in everyday life for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand. This project investigates understandings of medications and their use, taking account of all forms of medications, medical drugs, alternative medicines, traditional medicines and dietary supplements. Four Zimbabwean migrant families who all reside in Hamilton took part in this study. Data were collected using a variety of methods which included individual interviews with the families, household discussions, photographs, diaries, material objects, and media content to capture the complex and fluid nature of popular understandings and use of medications. This research provides insight into the cultural values and practices of these four families pertaining to how they acquired, used, shared, and stored indigenous and biomedical medications. Four key themes were identified: the preference of biomedical over traditional medications, storage, sharing and safety of medications; availability and affordability of medications; and the influence of the media in making decisions to purchase medications. Knowledge of how meanings are linked to the things people do with medications will inform strategies for ensuring that medication use is safe and effective.

year: 2011

title: Insurance as maladaptation: Resilience and the "business as usual' paradox

authors: O'Hare, Paul

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Insurance and compensation are cited as critical elements of resilience to natural and non-natural hazards alike. As a strategy of risk management, it emphasises peace of mind, financial recompense and the swift restoration of a ‘business as usual’ status for civil, social and commercial life. Yet despite the contribution of insurance to risk management, the synergies with progressive or adaptive articulations of resilience are not sufficiently explicated. This paper explores the fundamental contradictions of insurance as a form of resilience through a study of flood risk management. It demonstrates how insurance regimes serve to structurally embed risky behaviour and inhibit change after detrimental events. As such, transformative interpretations of resilience conflict with the long-standing principles and operational norms of insurance that privilege normality. The paper concludes that, despite its currency within resilience discourses, insurance is maladaptive and that insurance regimes reinforce exposure and vulnerability through underwriting a return to the ‘status-quo’ rather than enabling adaptive behaviour.

text: Insurance as maladaptation: Resilience and the "business as usual' paradox Insurance and compensation are cited as critical elements of resilience to natural and non-natural hazards alike. As a strategy of risk management, it emphasises peace of mind, financial recompense and the swift restoration of a ‘business as usual’ status for civil, social and commercial life. Yet despite the contribution of insurance to risk management, the synergies with progressive or adaptive articulations of resilience are not sufficiently explicated. This paper explores the fundamental contradictions of insurance as a form of resilience through a study of flood risk management. It demonstrates how insurance regimes serve to structurally embed risky behaviour and inhibit change after detrimental events. As such, transformative interpretations of resilience conflict with the long-standing principles and operational norms of insurance that privilege normality. The paper concludes that, despite its currency within resilience discourses, insurance is maladaptive and that insurance regimes reinforce exposure and vulnerability through underwriting a return to the ‘status-quo’ rather than enabling adaptive behaviour.

year: 2016

title: Indigenous Language Usage in a Digital Library: He Hautoa Kia Ora Tonu Ai.

authors: Keegan, Te Taka Adrian Gregory

subjects: indigenous language

abstract: The research described in this thesis examines indigenous language usage in a digital library environment that has been accessed via the Internet.

By examining discretionary use of the Māori Niupepa and Hawaiian Nūpepa digital libraries this research investigates how indigenous languages were used in these electronic environments in 2005. The results provide encouragement and optimism to people who are striving to retain, revitalise and develop the use of indigenous languages in information technologies. The Transaction Log Analysis (TLA) methods used in this research serve as an example of how web logs can be used to provide significant information about language usage in a bilingual online information system. Combining the TLA with user feedback has provided insights into how and why clients use indigenous languages in their information retrieval activities. These insights in turn, show good practice that is relevant not only to those working with indigenous languages, indigenous peoples or multilingual environments, but to all information technology designers who strive for universal usability.
This thesis begins by describing the importance of using indigenous languages in electronic environments and suggests that digital libraries can provide an environment to support and encourage the use of such languages. TLA is explained in the context of this study and is then used to analyse aspects of te reo Māori usage in the Niupepa digital library environment in 2005. TLA also indicates that te reo Māori was used by international clients and this usage differed to te reo Māori usage by national (Aotearoa) clients. Findings further reveal that the default language setting of the Niupepa digital library had a considerable impact on te reo Māori usage. When the default language was set to te reo Māori not only were there more requests in te reo Māori but there was also a higher usage of te reo Māori in the information retrieval activities. TLA of the Hawaiian Nūpepa digital library indicated that the Hawaiian language was also used in a digital library. These results confirm that indigenous languages were used in digital library environments. 
Feedback from clients suggests reasons why indigenous languages were used in this environment. These reasons include the indigenous language content of the digital library, the indigenous language default language setting of the digital library and a stated desire by the clients to use the indigenous language. The key findings raise some interface design issues and support the claim that digital libraries can provide an environment to support the use of indigenous languages.

text: Indigenous Language Usage in a Digital Library: He Hautoa Kia Ora Tonu Ai. The research described in this thesis examines indigenous language usage in a digital library environment that has been accessed via the Internet.

By examining discretionary use of the Māori Niupepa and Hawaiian Nūpepa digital libraries this research investigates how indigenous languages were used in these electronic environments in 2005. The results provide encouragement and optimism to people who are striving to retain, revitalise and develop the use of indigenous languages in information technologies. The Transaction Log Analysis (TLA) methods used in this research serve as an example of how web logs can be used to provide significant information about language usage in a bilingual online information system. Combining the TLA with user feedback has provided insights into how and why clients use indigenous languages in their information retrieval activities. These insights in turn, show good practice that is relevant not only to those working with indigenous languages, indigenous peoples or multilingual environments, but to all information technology designers who strive for universal usability.
This thesis begins by describing the importance of using indigenous languages in electronic environments and suggests that digital libraries can provide an environment to support and encourage the use of such languages. TLA is explained in the context of this study and is then used to analyse aspects of te reo Māori usage in the Niupepa digital library environment in 2005. TLA also indicates that te reo Māori was used by international clients and this usage differed to te reo Māori usage by national (Aotearoa) clients. Findings further reveal that the default language setting of the Niupepa digital library had a considerable impact on te reo Māori usage. When the default language was set to te reo Māori not only were there more requests in te reo Māori but there was also a higher usage of te reo Māori in the information retrieval activities. TLA of the Hawaiian Nūpepa digital library indicated that the Hawaiian language was also used in a digital library. These results confirm that indigenous languages were used in digital library environments. 
Feedback from clients suggests reasons why indigenous languages were used in this environment. These reasons include the indigenous language content of the digital library, the indigenous language default language setting of the digital library and a stated desire by the clients to use the indigenous language. The key findings raise some interface design issues and support the claim that digital libraries can provide an environment to support the use of indigenous languages.

year: 2007