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Environmental activism and the Internet : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology at Massey University
(Massey University, 1999) White, Clem
Environmentalism is used as a case study to investigate the value of the Internet for activism, protest and social change. The effectiveness of the Internet for helping environmental groups to achieve their goals and the implications of this medium for the future of the environmental movement are explored. An online (Internet) survey of environmental groups who are currently using the Internet was conducted. Two hundred and forty four requests to take part were emailed to environmental groups, eight of which were returned with invalid email addresses. Over the course of a three month period 79 completed surveys were collected, giving a response rate of 33%. Other methods utilised include face-to-face, telephone and email interviews with environmental group representatives, content analysis of Internet sites and the construction of a database of online environmental groups. Secondary data is also drawn upon extensively. This thesis examines the Internet's role in helping environmentalists achieve more with limited resources, network across wide geographic distances and create new forms of collective action. The changing role of other media and the ways in which the Internet may be influencing the dynamics between environmental groups and their opponents are also explored. Difficulties with this mode of communication must also be acknowledged. The concentration of Internet use in already privileged sectors of society may mean that participants in mainstream environmentalism are likely to have access, but it may also mean that the medium holds less promise for emerging ecojustice groups. It is also true that computers and network infrastructures are major causes of environmental harm, so it may appear contradictory to use these to try to protect the environment. This research suggests that the Internet offers a great deal of opportunity for environmental groups, but it also supports elements of contemporary society that many environmentalists oppose - increased consumerism, unfettered globalisation and direct environmental harm by its very existence. Activists should approach the Internet with optimism but not complacency. Those who seek to preserve aspects of the medium that promote community and democracy should endeavour to advance an alternative construction of the medium to that which is prevalent in the mainstream media.
Catching the next wave : the use of the Internet by justice and development voluntary organisations and people organisations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
(Massey University, 1998) Seymour, Joanne
This thesis examines the extent to which third world organisations have participated in the shaping, control and benefits of development theory and practice. It concludes that development theory has been a creation of the first world acting upon the third world which is often perceived as powerless to help itself. Modernisation theory, development theory, alternative theories and neo-liberalism are all theories that developed out of the first world experience of development. Development theory has not been shaped by the third world rather it has been manipulated and controlled from within the first world. The very poor of the poorest countries have not benefited from development theory. Participation, also perceived as empowerment, has been lauded by development practitioners as the new panacea for development ills. Even though such participation is not so evident in reality, third world organisations are becoming more participatory, especially where first world organisations have changed their role from funder and provider to solidarity partners and advocators (within their own country). This thesis examined the potential of the Internet to increase the participation of third world organisations in voicing their justice and development issues to the first world. The Internet is only a participatory tool when used in a participatory environment. Its use will not necessarily ensure greater participation, of the third world, in development issues. As yet the Internet's potential is largely unrealised. This thesis conducted descriptive research into the extent that third world organisations use the Internet to further their justice and development objectives. The research found that third world use of the Internet was low compared to first world use of the Internet. This thesis recommends that the use of email subscription lists and World Wide Web sites by grassroots organisations from within third world countries is a unique opportunity to promote the third world perception of development issues to the first world.
Main strategies of internet-based Japanese language teaching and the associated risks : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Japanese at Massey University
(Massey University, 2000) Tretiakov, Takako
This study formulates two models of using Internet in classroom based Japanese language education. The models identified, the static model and the dynamic model, can be used in planning the strategy of introducing Internet as an educational medium in Japanese language classroom. Apart from elaborating the features of the models, and clarifying their relationships to recognized foreign/second language teaching approaches, we determine the risks, associated with Internet based Japanese language education and consider the ways to mitigate them. Our study is backed by 2 surveys, and by qualitative and quantitative analysis of Internet search engine data and of a database of teachers' beliefs data. This study may be of value to Japanese language teachers and learners, education administrators and to designers of CALL software.
Experiences of early adopters in changing their thinking regarding teaching practices for the online environment in a New Zealand university : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education at Massey University
(Massey University, 2005) Hallas, Julia Leah
The aim of this thesis was to investigate how early adopters changed their thinking regarding teaching practices for the online environment. The study investigated how early adopters adapted and developed their classroom based teaching practices for the online environment, the effect of online teaching practices on their students' learning, and the types of professional development lecturers engaged in to learn about online teaching practices. A mainly qualitative approach, within a case study method, was used to undertake the research in a medium sized, New Zealand university, where the researcher is an academic developer in the centralised professional development unit, jointly responsible for supporting staff in online teaching practices. Written informed consent was obtained from lecturers participating in this study. A mail-in survey, individual interviews and online course observations were used to gather data for the research questions. This is a limited case study owing to the small size of the sample. The study concluded that early adopters changed their thinking about teaching practices over time, adapting and developing student-centred approaches to learning for the online environment. The study found that early adopters' perceptions of student learning was of a higher quality online, than in the classroom, owing to student learning approaches being deeper, more interactive and collaborative. Finally, the study showed that a majority of early adopters did not engage in research based professional development activities, which made changing their thinking from teacher-centred to student-centred online teaching practices, difficult and stressful.
A thematic analysis of stories of workplace bullying told on the World Wide Web : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Industrial/Organisational Psychology at Massey University
(Massey University, 2009) Schlup, Josephine
This study explored how the experience of workplace bullying is described by targets of the phenomenon. The target's experience has been neglected by the research to date as it is difficult to gain access to their point of view. A qualitative approach was undertaken to develop the study in order to gain insight into this experience. Targets' stories were analysed for themes which revealed important aspects of this experience. The World Wide Web was utilised to harvest narratives from carefully selected websites which granted consent to access the stories. These websites provided anonymity for the targets to freely express their experiences of the phenomenon in an effort to provide self-help assistance to viewers. The World Wide Web is a new frontier for the research community which is still developing clear ethical guidelines for this arena. Therefore this project developed its own protocol for conducting its study which was informed by debates of the ethics of internet bases data collection. The analysis of harvested stories identified two global themes: acts of bullying and ongoing consequences. Acts of bullying included the following sub themes: a triggering event, hindsight, persistent and unrelenting negative criticism, scapegoat, tasks and duties changed, deadlines, basic rights denied, personal attacks and name calling, and temper tantrums. The second global theme encompassed ongoing consequences for the target. This theme consisted of the sub themes: rendered powerless, safety hazard, and psychological contract. These themes illustrated a trajectory for the progression of the phenomenon of bullying from targets' points of view. This trajectory provides a richer and more specific understanding of workplace bullying which can assist practitioners and researchers to develop ways for organisations to prevent workplace bullying and/ or undertake interventions when it occurs.
Ask away : digital infrastructure for a 21st century democracy : to what extent can design facilitate youth political engagement : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2015) Howie, Meg
The number of young people turning out to vote is declining in Western democracies (Sheerin, 2007; Donald, 2010). This issue is symptomatic of the growing gap between traditional political systems and the 21st century citizen. However, the emergence of internet technology makes large-scale participation easier, which presents an opportunity to change citizens’ relationship with government (Tapscott in Gormley, 2009). This research applies design processes to the way young people engage with candidates in elections. It suggests that an online platform can be an effective piece of infrastructure for alternative political participation. Ask Away is an open source question and answer web application for people to ask questions, vote for the ones they want answered and then compare responses from political candidates. Through participating on Ask Away, citizens are able to engage candidates in direct dialogue, shape discussions and set agendas. Human-centred, collaborative design thinking and making were used to develop the platform, which was used by 22,000 New Zealanders in the period leading up to the 2014 New Zealand General Election. Learning through doing was core to this research. By designing, creating and releasing a working prototype, this thesis not only makes a proposition, but demonstrates the impact initiatives like this can have on civic participation.
Constructing 'ana' : pro-ana/anorexia women's understandings of themselves and their internet communities : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
(Massey University, 2003) De Faria, Natasha
This thesis is a study of pro-ana/anorexia communities on the Internet. In these communities women from around the world communicate through a range of message boards, bulletin boards, live journals and chat rooms. Here they 'talk' honestly about such 'taboo' topics as achieving weight loss goals, their ability to sustain their ana/anorexia and about the day to day issues of living with ana/anorexia. As a result these communities have been met with much opposition, and the women challenged on their position. My study of these communities was informed by the understanding that all meaning is constructed and that language plays a powerful part in this. As such I was not concerned with explicating the one 'true' meaning of pro-ana/anorexia. Rather my aim was to understand how pro-ana/anorexia women construct themselves and their communities. Through the method of passive analysis I obtained electronic archival records of the women's naturalistic discursive interaction ('talk'), from seven pro-ana/anorexia communities. These communities were selected on the basis of their compatibility with my ethical requirements, greater number of community members and variation in content. Through the analysis of this 'talk', it can be seen that the women's constructions of pro-ana/anorexia were inextricably linked with their understandings of what ana/anorexia is, what it is about and of themselves as ana/anorexic. I found that the women's constructions were based around three main issues. In the first, pro-ana/anorexia was constructed in relation to understandings of ana/anorexia as an 'illness/disorder'. In the second, constructions of what ana/anorexia is about were based on the 'objects' of 'the body' and 'the mind', and how these relate to 'self-discipline/self-control'. In the third, the women constructed the self in relation to the 'real' anorexic and ana/anorexia as a 'range' of'experience', and in doing this personified anorexia as 'ana'. These constructions were complex in that the women drew on and were positioned by existing understandings, and also constructed new meanings. In this way their 'talk' was both constitutive of meaning and constituted by meaning. The implications of these findings for the field of psychology are discussed.
Knowledge and learning in a service context : sensemaking in an online community of hair stylists : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Management at Massey University at Auckland, Albany Campus
(Massey University, 2013) Fachira, Ira
Little research is directly concerned with knowledge and learning in the service context, especially with how frontline service personnel learn to deal with the technical and social aspects of service encounters. This thesis aims to explore knowledge and learning in the service context by investigating how frontline personnel make sense of their workplace experiences in an online community of practice. This thesis uses Goffman‘s (1959) dramaturgical metaphor concepts to look at service encounters as similar to a theatre. Lave and Wenger‘s (1991) situated learning paradigm is used as an interpretive lens to examine learning as the development of practice and identities through participation in a community of practice. This research presents a qualitative study of a single case: an online community of hair stylists called Hair Pro Forum. Data was collected from the Forum‘s online discussions stored in the community‘s archive. Discussion threads are characterised by storytelling and collective interpretation of workplace events. There are two forms of data in this study: discussion strings and stories. The primary data for this study was 31 strings and 29 stories. Data was examined using thematic analysis. Knowledge and learning in the service context was analysed using Weickian (1995) ideas about collective and individual sensemaking activities. Gabriel‘s (1995) notion of =story-work‘ enabled sense to be made of hairstylists‘ sensemaking activities. Results of the study indicated that knowledge in the service context was constructed through narrative sensemaking, conducted online through discussion. Hair stylists created meaning by sharing stories about a service encounter as a specific event, consisting of technical and social interaction approaches suitable for the particular situation.Findings are that the initial stories of the hairstylists are posted as possible interpretations of an event, and this enables the community to respond and make collective sense of the event. Sensemaking activities enable hairstylists to gain deeper understandings of the significance of their actions in light of the flux of events in the workplace. Narrative performance invites collective interpretation, which enables learning, which in turn assists the construction of professional identity. This study provides an exemplar of how sensemaking and storytelling in an online community can help develop learning and professional identity. Further, the study shows how the activity of learning about customers is social, on-going and constantly being interpreted. The study also provides empirical evidence that knowledge about the service encounter is not static but is continuously generated.
L'arte di interazione musicale : new musical possibilities through multimodal techniques : a dissertation submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sonic Arts, New Zealand School of Music
(Massey University, 2013) Hochenbaum, Jordan Natan
Multimodal communication is an essential aspect of human perception, facilitating the ability to reason, deduce, and understand meaning. Utilizing multimodal senses, humans are able to relate to the world in many different contexts. This dissertation looks at surrounding issues of multimodal communication as it pertains to human-computer interaction. If humans rely on multimodality to interact with the world, how can multimodality benefit the ways in which humans interface with computers? Can multimodality be used to help the machine understand more about the person operating it and what associations derive from this type of communication? This research places multimodality within the domain of musical performance, a creative field rich with nuanced physical and emotive aspects. This dissertation asks, what kinds of new sonic collaborations between musicians and computers are possible through the use of multimodal techniques? Are there specific performance areas where multimodal analysis and machine learning can benefit training musicians? In similar ways can multimodal interaction or analysis support new forms of creative processes? Applying multimodal techniques to music-computer interaction is a burgeoning effort. As such the scope of the research is to lay a foundation of multimodal techniques for the future. In doing so the first work presented is a software system for capturing synchronous multimodal data streams from nearly any musical instrument, interface, or sensor system. This dissertation also presents a variety of multimodal analysis scenarios for machine learning. This includes automatic performer recognition for both string and drum instrument players, to demonstrate the significance of multimodal musical analysis. Training the computer to recognize who is playing an instrument suggests important information is contained not only within the acoustic output of a performance, but also in the physical domain. Machine learning is also used to perform automatic drum-stroke identification; training the computer to recognize which hand a drummer uses to strike a drum. There are many applications for drum-stroke identification including more detailed automatic transcription, interactive training (e.g. computer-assisted rudiment practice), and enabling efficient analysis of drum performance for metrics tracking. Furthermore, this research also presents the use of multimodal techniques in the context of everyday practice. A practicing musician played a sensoraugmented instrument and recorded his practice over an extended period of time, realizing a corpus of metrics and visualizations from his performance. Additional multimodal metrics are discussed in the research, and demonstrate new types of performance statistics obtainable from a multimodal approach. The primary contributions of this work include (1) a new software tool enabling musicians, researchers, and educators to easily capture multimodal information from nearly any musical instrument or sensor system; (2) investigating multimodal machine learning for automatic performer recognition of both string players and percussionists; (3) multimodal machine learning for automatic drum-stroke identification; (4a) applying multimodal techniques to musical pedagogy and training scenarios; (4b) investigating novel multimodal metrics; (5) lastly this research investigates the possibilities, affordances, and design considerations of multimodal musicianship both in the acoustic domain, as well as in other musical interface scenarios. This work provides a foundation from which engaging musical-computer interactions can occur in the future, benefitting from the unique nuances of multimodal techniques.
The Internet and the public sphere : a critical analysis of the possibility of online discourse enhancing deliberative democracy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University
(Massey University, 2000) Dahlberg, Lincoln James
The advent of the Internet has prompted a range of arguments about the political significance of new communications technologies. Some claim that the Internet offers a means by which to facilitate deliberative democracy. Such arguments point to an affinity between cyber-interactions and the notion of the public sphere. The two-way, decentralized communications of cyberspace are held to constitute sites of rational deliberation that are autonomous from state and economic interests. This thesis examines the extent to which the Internet does in fact enhance the public sphere and identifies ways in which it can be enabled to do so more effectively. Existing Internet practices are compared with a normative conception of the public sphere that draws upon Habermas' theory of communicative action and his analysis of the relations between system and lifeworld. Investigation at the system's level shows that state and corporate interests have placed extensive restrictions upon Internet access and autonomy. However, despite such restrictions many thousands of people continue to interact through non-commercial and non-governmental online spaces. Analysis of these everyday interactions identifies tendencies that facilitate the extension of the public sphere at large. These tendencies are further encouraged by a number of Internet projects that explicitly attempt to promote deliberative democracy. Through case study analysis, I show how such initiatives are able to structure online discourse to more fully approximate the public sphere conception. Unfortunately, participants within these online deliberative fora are representative of no more than a small and privileged sector of the offline population. Moreover, online discursive spaces are increasingly sidelined or incorporated by commercialized and privatized forms of interaction and political practice. In order to overcome such impediments, we must foster the political will towards deliberation that already exists within both cyber-interactions and the wider civil society. If the present Internet is to enhance the public sphere, online rational discourse must be protected, resourced, and linked to offline deliberative publics.

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