Browsing by Author "Brown A"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    An earthquake early warning for Aotearoa New Zealand?
    (2021-08-05) Brown A; Parkin T; Tan ML; Rahubadde Kankanamge R; Becker J; Stock K; Kenney C; Lambie E
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    Digital Council for Aotearoa New Zealand. (2020). Towards trustworthy and trusted automated decision-making in Aotearoa.
    (Toi Āria: Design for Public Good, 2021-04-16) Brown A; Law M; Mark S; Parkin T; Reade A; Shibata S; Tobin A
    We spoke to over 180 people throughout Aotearoa about different situations where ADM has specific impacts on the lives of individuals, whānau and communities. We heard loud and clear that ADM and other decision-making systems should be built for — and with — the people who are impacted. This is essential for ensuring trusted and trustworthy systems. When workshop participants talked about ADM, they focused on more than the technology itself. Instead, they talked about algorithms as being part of a much wider system that also included the way data is collected and used, the people and organisations that develop the systems, and the interventions resulting from decisions. Participants thought that ADM, with its ability to process data fast and at scale, is well suited to some situations. However, they were clear that it can be harmful in other situations and can intensify pre-existing bias and discrimination — especially when the decision has major impacts on the lives of individuals and their whānau. Participants provided clear and concise suggestions of what would make them feel more comfortable in situations where ADM is used. They want systems that are built to meet the needs and reflect the values of the communities impacted. To achieve this, it is important to participants that people who have similar lived experience to them are involved in the development of decision-making systems and the interventions that result from them. Participants told us they would be more comfortable if there was transparency and clear communication about how the government uses ADM and how it is used to make decisions. We took these clear and urgent suggestions and used them as a basis to develop a set of recommendations to the government. We looked at work already underway and the barriers preventing systemic change, and gathered input from experts to inform our thinking
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    Games and Sloth: Working for the Common Good in Late Medieval Flanders
    (Oxford University Press, 2021-04) Brown A
    Games, sloth and the common good are familiar subjects to scholars of late medieval Europe, yet the connections contemporaries made between them have never been properly explored. How these rhetorical ideas were aligned, how they were used and by whom, across a wide social spectrum, are the central questions in this article; and examining them reveals how malleable (and gendered) they were. Discourses on games, developed by schoolmen and other churchmen in relation to recreation, and integrated with ideas of sloth and the common good, were harnessed to serve the authority of rulers in late medieval Flanders and Burgundian lands. Yet they were also deployed to suit other agendas, especially during the troubled period of civil war from 1477 to 1492, by the rulers’ subjects—urban magistrates, elite or middling groups, but also men from lower social strata. Valuable evidence for the latter appears within the numerous pardon letters that survive from 1386 to 1500: these were specially granted by rulers to suppliants, many of whom were craftsmen, labourers and artisans. Suppliants often referred to their game-playing and recreational activities; while these cases suggest a process by which subjects were disciplined, they also show how discourses on games offered suppliants strategic room for manoeuvre.
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    It's my life: Evaluation report
    (School of English & Media Studies, Massey University, 2014-11-28) Tilley EN; Page W; Balasubramanian R; O'Meara R; Gee S; Hazou R; Galloway C; Waterworth C; Brown A; Steelsmith M; Sligo F; Kingi TK; Jones L; Page R; Love TR; Soma J
    This report presents a snapshot of some outcomes from the by-youth for-youth It's My Life youth smokefree research project, which was funded by the Pathway to Smokefree New Zealand 2025 Innovation Fund. The report includes quantitative data from the It’s My Life pre and post evaluation surveys, campus cessation reporting, and social media analytics, plus qualitative data from youth participants in the project. Two key results from the Massey University surveys are that over the It’s My Life campaign timeframe, smokers’ desire to quit increased and tolerance of the tobacco industry, in general but also particularly among smokers, reduced. We interpret these results as an endorsement of the decision by the young people who designed the campaign not to vilify smokers but to use positive empowerment themes to make smokers feel supported and encouraged to take back control of their lives from tobacco companies.
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    Multi-modal sleep intervention for community-dwelling people living with dementia and primary caregiver dyads with sleep disturbance: protocol of a single-arm feasibility trial
    (PeerJ Inc., 2023-01-01) Verma S; Varma P; Brown A; Bei B; Gibson R; Valenta T; Pietsch A; Cavuoto M; Woodward M; McCurry S; Jackson ML; Keogh J
    Background. Disturbed sleep is common among people living with dementia and their informal caregivers, and is associated with negative health outcomes. Dyadic, multi-modal interventions targeting caregiver and care-recipient sleep have been recommended yet remain limited. This protocol details the development of a singlearm feasibility trial of a multi-modal, therapist-led, six-week intervention targeting sleep disturbance in dyads of people living with dementia and their primary caregiver. Methods. We aim to recruit 24 co-residing, community-dwelling dyads of people living with dementia and their primary informal caregiver (n D 48) with sleep concerns (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index ≥5 for caregivers, and caregiver-endorsed sleep concerns for the person living with dementia). People who live in residential care settings, are employed in night shift work, or are diagnosed with current, severe mental health conditions or narcolepsy, will be excluded. Participants will wear an actigraph and complete sleep diaries for two weeks prior, and during the last two weeks, of active intervention. The intervention is therapist-led and includes a mix of weekly small group video sessions and personalised, dyadic sessions (up to 90 min each) over six weeks. Sessions are supported by a 37-page workbook offering strategies and spaces for reflections/notes. Primary feasibility outcomes are caregiver: session attendance, attrition, and self-reported project satisfaction. Secondary outcomes include dyadic self-reported and objectively-assessed sleep, depression and anxiety symptoms, quality of life, and social support. Self-report outcomes will be assessed at pre- and postintervention. Discussion. If feasible, this intervention could be tested in a larger randomised controlled trial to investigate its efficacy, and, upon further testing, may potentially represent a non-pharmacological approach to reduce sleep disturbance among people living with dementia and their caregivers.