title: Towards the digital music library: tune retrieval from acoustic input

authors: McNab, Rodger J.

subjects: computer science

abstract: Music is traditionally retrieved by title, composer or subject classification. It is possible, with current technology, to retrieve music from a database on the basis of a few notes sung or hummed into a microphone. This paper describes the implementation of such a system, and discusses several issues pertaining to music retrieval. We first describe an interface that transcribes acoustic input into standard music notation. We then analyze string matching requirements from ranked retrieval of music and present the results of an experiment which tests how accurately people sing well known melodies. The performance of several string matching criteria are analyzed using two folk song databases. Finally, we describe a prototype system which has been developed for retrieval of tunes from acoustic input.

text: Towards the digital music library: tune retrieval from acoustic input Music is traditionally retrieved by title, composer or subject classification. It is possible, with current technology, to retrieve music from a database on the basis of a few notes sung or hummed into a microphone. This paper describes the implementation of such a system, and discusses several issues pertaining to music retrieval. We first describe an interface that transcribes acoustic input into standard music notation. We then analyze string matching requirements from ranked retrieval of music and present the results of an experiment which tests how accurately people sing well known melodies. The performance of several string matching criteria are analyzed using two folk song databases. Finally, we describe a prototype system which has been developed for retrieval of tunes from acoustic input.

year: 1995-10

title: Trans and non-binary people’s experiences of cancer care in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Brown, Keziah

subjects: Cancer treatment

abstract: Cancer is a severe and life-threatening disease affecting many people and their loved ones. Much is still unknown about cancer as a disease; however, it is known that the care that patients receive can play a vital role in producing better illness outcomes and improving quality of life during treatment. Understanding people’s experiences of cancer care is important for creating better care protocols, understanding barriers to care access, and ensuring patients receive care that meets their needs. This thesis explores the gap in knowledge surrounding trans and non-binary (TNB) people’s experiences of cancer care in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There is limited cancer research internationally regarding TNB communities and cancer, and little-to-no known research has been published specific to Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research question of this study was, what are the cancer care experiences of TNB people in Aotearoa/New Zealand? To understand this question, I undertook an interpretive qualitative study theoretically informed by community psychology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three participants who identified as trans or non-binary and had received treatment in Aotearoa/New Zealand within the last ten years. A narrative case study approach was utilised, in order for the complexity and diversity of each participant’s experiences to be recognised. 
It was found that TNB people experience barriers in accessing cancer care and receiving quality cancer care. These barriers are related to wider structural issues resulting from cisgenderism that are reflected within cancer care. Cisgenderism acts to constrain how TNB patients define their own narrative of illness and interrupts the ability to move forward through cancer in ways that are personally meaningful. The study also found that TNB people are not passive in the face of constraint, as the participants each found ways to maintain a sense of agency within their experience of cancer care. There was significant diversity within the participants’ experiences, which was an important finding in-itself. This diversity particularly demonstrated the benefit of a methodological approach that could account for complexity and intersectionality, when seeking to understand TNB people’s experiences of cancer care. Overall, this thesis provides new insight into an underexplored topic and has important implications for TNB cancer patients in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

text: Trans and non-binary people’s experiences of cancer care in Aotearoa/New Zealand Cancer is a severe and life-threatening disease affecting many people and their loved ones. Much is still unknown about cancer as a disease; however, it is known that the care that patients receive can play a vital role in producing better illness outcomes and improving quality of life during treatment. Understanding people’s experiences of cancer care is important for creating better care protocols, understanding barriers to care access, and ensuring patients receive care that meets their needs. This thesis explores the gap in knowledge surrounding trans and non-binary (TNB) people’s experiences of cancer care in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There is limited cancer research internationally regarding TNB communities and cancer, and little-to-no known research has been published specific to Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research question of this study was, what are the cancer care experiences of TNB people in Aotearoa/New Zealand? To understand this question, I undertook an interpretive qualitative study theoretically informed by community psychology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three participants who identified as trans or non-binary and had received treatment in Aotearoa/New Zealand within the last ten years. A narrative case study approach was utilised, in order for the complexity and diversity of each participant’s experiences to be recognised. 
It was found that TNB people experience barriers in accessing cancer care and receiving quality cancer care. These barriers are related to wider structural issues resulting from cisgenderism that are reflected within cancer care. Cisgenderism acts to constrain how TNB patients define their own narrative of illness and interrupts the ability to move forward through cancer in ways that are personally meaningful. The study also found that TNB people are not passive in the face of constraint, as the participants each found ways to maintain a sense of agency within their experience of cancer care. There was significant diversity within the participants’ experiences, which was an important finding in-itself. This diversity particularly demonstrated the benefit of a methodological approach that could account for complexity and intersectionality, when seeking to understand TNB people’s experiences of cancer care. Overall, this thesis provides new insight into an underexplored topic and has important implications for TNB cancer patients in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

year: 2023

title: Eke panuku, eke tangaroa! How Black Ferns 7s athletes navigate Instagram and inspire the next generation in Aotearoa

authors: Keet, Thandiwe Maia

subjects: Gender

abstract: This thesis considers the role of Instagram in the lives of players on the New Zealand Black Ferns 7s rugby team, and audience engagement with players’ social media accounts. Using a mana wāhine methodology, this study explores how Black Ferns 7s players utilize and navigate Instagram, through mixed-methods enquiry, including a social media analysis of 8 players’ accounts, interviews with 3 Black Ferns 7s players, and talanoa sessions with members of the women’s rugby community in the Bay of Plenty, supplemented by input from Black Ferns players and fans via direct messages on Instagram. The quantitative social media analysis identified 4 key themes in players’ Instagram posts: achievement, team & rugby, life outside rugby, and culture & vulnerability. The analysis reveals that players post the most regarding their “team & rugby”, generating an “athlete first” self- representation. It finds a statistically significant difference in the thematic content of Instagram posts based on squad seniority and the number of followers a player has. Followers were found to engage most with posts regarding “achievement”, and the least with posts regarding “culture and vulnerability”.
The interviews elaborate upon these quantitative differences by highlighting why athletes specifically use Instagram, insights into Black Ferns aspirational team dynamics, and the importance of a player’s life outside of rugby. The thematic analysis also reveals the digital economic and collective labour involved in producing social media content as a member of this team, and what it means to be culturally “authentic” online in Aotearoa. It reveals the unique elements generated by the team-sport context of this study, including intra-team differences in social media usage. Furthermore, hauora, Indigenous role modeling, and Tall Poppy Syndrome emerge as factors particularly unique to the cultural context within which this study takes place. The discussions culminate in the establishment of a layered understanding of the external, internal, and individual factors which shape Instagram posting habits, and the features which most significantly impact why audiences follow the curated displays Black Ferns 7s athletes provide online.
This project contributes to international literature on sportswomen’s use of social media, demonstrating the powerful ways that players support one another in what, when, and how they post, and the importance of cultural identity in Māori and Pasifika players’ social media engagement. It further reveals the importance of team culture in shaping individual players’ social media and audience engagement. This thesis also highlights the significance of sporting and cultural histories and intersectional identities in digital self-representation and fan engagement with sportswomen’s social media usage.

text: Eke panuku, eke tangaroa! How Black Ferns 7s athletes navigate Instagram and inspire the next generation in Aotearoa This thesis considers the role of Instagram in the lives of players on the New Zealand Black Ferns 7s rugby team, and audience engagement with players’ social media accounts. Using a mana wāhine methodology, this study explores how Black Ferns 7s players utilize and navigate Instagram, through mixed-methods enquiry, including a social media analysis of 8 players’ accounts, interviews with 3 Black Ferns 7s players, and talanoa sessions with members of the women’s rugby community in the Bay of Plenty, supplemented by input from Black Ferns players and fans via direct messages on Instagram. The quantitative social media analysis identified 4 key themes in players’ Instagram posts: achievement, team & rugby, life outside rugby, and culture & vulnerability. The analysis reveals that players post the most regarding their “team & rugby”, generating an “athlete first” self- representation. It finds a statistically significant difference in the thematic content of Instagram posts based on squad seniority and the number of followers a player has. Followers were found to engage most with posts regarding “achievement”, and the least with posts regarding “culture and vulnerability”.
The interviews elaborate upon these quantitative differences by highlighting why athletes specifically use Instagram, insights into Black Ferns aspirational team dynamics, and the importance of a player’s life outside of rugby. The thematic analysis also reveals the digital economic and collective labour involved in producing social media content as a member of this team, and what it means to be culturally “authentic” online in Aotearoa. It reveals the unique elements generated by the team-sport context of this study, including intra-team differences in social media usage. Furthermore, hauora, Indigenous role modeling, and Tall Poppy Syndrome emerge as factors particularly unique to the cultural context within which this study takes place. The discussions culminate in the establishment of a layered understanding of the external, internal, and individual factors which shape Instagram posting habits, and the features which most significantly impact why audiences follow the curated displays Black Ferns 7s athletes provide online.
This project contributes to international literature on sportswomen’s use of social media, demonstrating the powerful ways that players support one another in what, when, and how they post, and the importance of cultural identity in Māori and Pasifika players’ social media engagement. It further reveals the importance of team culture in shaping individual players’ social media and audience engagement. This thesis also highlights the significance of sporting and cultural histories and intersectional identities in digital self-representation and fan engagement with sportswomen’s social media usage.

year: 2022