Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Department of Visual and Environmental Studies'

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
Includes bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The importance of global and local change and transformation is emphasised through initiatives such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (2012) and the Earth Charter Initiatives (2011) for constructing a just, sustainable and peaceful global society. In South Africa, the need for transformation has been underlined by the South African Department of Education in the Education White Paper of 1997 (DOE 1997). At Stellenbosch University, the Pedagogy of Hope (US) project aims to find concrete ways to reflect on historical influences and current SA society. Tremendous progress has been made in transformation regarding legislative policies, but personal transformation within people is proving to be slow. As a response to these realities, a module called Critical Citizenship was introduced for first-­‐ to third-­‐year Visual Communication Design students at the Visual Arts Department at Stellenbosch University. The aim of this research project was to explore the perceptions and attitudes of students, learners and lecturers regarding personal transformation through teaching and learning in the Critical Citizenship module. As a framework for the study, I emphasised the importance of giving consideration to the emotional dimensions of learning (Illeris 2007), meaning considering the learning being (Barnett 2009) as a thinking, feeling and acting person (Jarvis 2006). The objectives of the study were to identify such emotional reactions to the Critical Citizenship module and to establish what the emotional reactions revealed about the immediate and broader context of the teaching and learning context in which students, learners and lecturers learn and teach. I followed an interpretative approach and a case study research design that aimed at exploring and providing an in-­‐depth investigation of the Critical Citizenship module was used. The themes that surfaced from reflections written by students and learners and from group interviews, comprised feeling unprepared for this type of project; feelings of guilt and shame; resistance to this type of project; asymmetry and assimilation, but also feelings of hope. Other responses, suggesting feelings of empathy, privilege, humility, re-­‐ evaluation of priorities and values, sameness and difference, feeling out of a comfort zone and reflecting on blackness and whiteness were also interweaved with the main themes. The results of the research included that taking into consideration the emotional aspects in critical citizenship education is important because we are thinking, feeling and acting beings, but moving beyond emotional reactions toward rational actions is crucial. Critical citizenship cannot be taught in isolation because the context in which it exists plays a vital role and an inclusive critical citizenship curriculum within community interactions for the wider society is suggested.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die belangrikheid van globale en plaaslike verandering en transformasie word beklemtoon deur inisiatiewe soos die Verenigde Nasies se Millennium-­‐ ontwikkelingsdoelwitte (2012) en die Aardemanifes Inisiatiewe (2011) vir die daarstelling van ‘n regverdige, onderhoubare en vreedsame globale gemeenskap. In Suid-­‐Afrika is die behoefte aan transformasie deur die Suid-­‐Afrikaanse Departement van Onderwys deur die Onderwys Witskrif van 1997 (DvO 1997) onderstreep. By die Stellenbosch Universiteit beoog die Pedagogie van Hoop (US) projek om konkrete maniere te verkry om historiese invloede en die huidige SA gemeenskap te oordink. Geweldige vooruitgang in transformasie is reeds ten opsigte van wetgewende beleid bewerkstellig, maar dit blyk dat persoonlike transformasie binne-­‐in mense traag gebeur. ‘n Module genaamd Kritiese Burgerskap is as reaksie tot hierdie realiteit by die Visuele Kunste Departement te Stellenbosch Universiteit ingestel vir eerste-­‐ tot derdejaarstudente in Visuele Kommunikasie Ontwerp. Die doel van die huidige navorsingsprojek was om die persepsies en houdings van studente, leerders en dosente ten opsigte van persoonlike transformasie deur die onderrig en leer van die Kritiese Burgerskap module te ondersoek. As ‘n raamwerk vir die studie het ek beklemtoon dat dit belangrik is om die emotiewe dimensies van leer (Illeris 2007) in ag te neem, wat inagname van die lerende wese (Barnett 2009) as ‘n denkende, voelende en handelende persoon (Jarvis 2006) behels. Die doelwitte van die studie was om emotiewe reaksies op die Kritiese Burgerskap module te identifiseer en vas te stel wat deur sulke emotiewe reaksies ontbloot word ten opsigte van die onmiddellike en breër konteks van die onderrig en leer konteks waarbinne die studente, leerders en dosente leer en onderrig gee. Ek het met ‘n interpretatiewe benadering en lens te werk gegaan en ’n gevallestudie navorsingsontwerp is gebruik. Temas wat na vore gekom het uit refleksies wat deur studente en leerders geskryf is en uit groep onderhoude het die volgende behels: ‘n gevoel van onvoorbereidheid vir dié soort projek; gevoelens van skuld en skaamte; weerstand teen hierdie soort projek; asimmetrie en assimilasie, maar ook gevoelens van hoop. Ander reaksies wat ook met die hooftemas deurvleg was, was verteenwoordigend van gevoelens van empatie, bevoorregting, nederigheid, herevaluering van prioriteite en waardes, eendersheid en verskil, die gevoel van buite die gemaksone te wees en nadenke oor swartheid en witheid. Die resultate van die navorsing het behels dat dit belangrik is om die emotiewe aspekte by die onderrig van kritiese burgerskap in ag te neem omdat ons denkende, voelende en handelende wesens is, maar dat dit van kritieke belang is om verby emosionele reaksies na rasionele handeling te beweeg. Kritiese burgerskap kan nie geïsoleerd onderrig word nie omdat die konteks waarbinne dit bestaan ‘n deurslaggewende rol speel; ‘n inklusiewe kritiese burgerskap kurrikulum binne gemeenskapsinteraksies word vir die breër gemeenskap voorgestel.

This practice-led participatory action research project applied and adapted visual research methods such as photo voice and cultural mapping to facilitate community engagement in water management in the Solomon Islands. The insights and processes that were developed through the research led to the creation of an interactive community cultural map that documents cultural knowledge that traditionally protects the water sources. The creation of the map generated a conversation between the generations about the ways that cultural knowledge from the past can inform the present and future that could be used as model for dialogical community engagement in other contexts.

Scientific evidence that the ocean plastic crisis is larger in scale and more sinister than previously thought continues to mount, but the rate of plastic production is only rising. What will it take to decisively turn the tide against plastic? We need scientists, politicians, and industry changemakers to continue producing knowledge and positive change in the industry, but we need to go further still. This thesis explores art as an alternative visual communication strategy with the capacity to encourage curiosity, empathy, and positive engagement with the issue of ocean plastics. The series of work explores bacterial bioluminescence as an artistic medium in juxtaposition with objects of found ocean plastic. The photographs in the series build on the concepts of mutualism, illumination, critical densities, and interspecies communication to reimagine how we might further the discourse around ocean plastic.

Since 1984, public service occupations in New Zealand have been subordinated to the over-determined bureaucratic structures of contemporary managerialism. The reactions of front-line public servants to New Management’s unfamiliar ‘market-place’ imperatives and the concomitant loss of occupational autonomy have received very little rigorous qualitative analysis. This study addresses that shortfall, taking as its cue a key question in the sociology of ‘profession’—what arouses or subdues the inclination of bureaucratised occupations to professionalise as a means of reclaiming autonomy? It explains the nature and meaning of strategies adopted by front-line practitioners in New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) to defend their marginalised work conventions and collegial culture. Symbolic interactionist analysis shows that profoundly personal values and beliefs connect vocationally motivated practitioners with their ‘mission’ (to conserve natural and cultural heritage). These powerful intuitive connections play a crucial role in subduing interest in resistance and organised strategic action, principally by converting conservation labour into the pursuit of personal fulfilment. Practitioners respond to managerial intrusions on their core work (the source of their fulfilment) by defending these personal connections rather than group interests. As a result of this introversion, perceptions of ‘community’ and occupational identity are disorganised and become a further reason for inaction. Practitioners resolve the conflict between self-interested pursuit of fulfilment and the altruistic goals of conservation by negotiating an unspoken bargain with DOC’s authority structures. The ‘pay-offs’ for deferral to managerial authority win the space to pursue fulfilment through immersion and conspicuous achievement in work, obviating the need for more concerted defensive action. Accordingly, managerialism has not acted as a professionalising catalyst for this group. NB: The abstract has been revised by the author in the electronic version of this thesis, since the print edition was published.

This research advocates a multi-method approach to bioarts praxis, reflexively and critically questioning the contemporary contexts that frame our engagement with nonhuman life. In doing so, the research aims to generate further community engagement with nonhuman life and the environment, and engender critical discourse on the implications of developing biotechnologies. Hegemonic institutions influence the way culture is produced and how information is constructed and understood. Habermas (1987) suggests that these institutions will inevitably influence the individual’s lifeworld as they shape lived experience through the process of systemic colonisation. I assert that this process also shapes how individuals engage with or understand nonhuman life. Through the implementation of three major projects the research aims to develop the capacity of bioarts in challenging such institutions by providing the opportunity for hands-on life science activities and real-time interactions with nonhuman life. The research by employing such methods aims to counter-act the impact of urbanised living and indifference to environmental conservation. Each aspect of the creative praxis provides a reflexive case study to establish the research aims and answer the research agenda. This includes my creative bioartworks, an art-science secondary educational course and a curated group exhibition, symposium and workshop. This research provides an alternative communicative approach to hegemonic institutions such as the mass media, scientific biotechnological industries and traditional gallery spaces (Shanken, 2011).

Hållbarhet och miljökommunikation har allt mer kommit att bli en viktig del av marknadsföring, profilering och varumärkesbygge hos företag. Det blir en paradox då företag ska kommunicera hållbarhet och samtidigt vara lönsamma i dagens konsumtionssamhälle. För en tid sedan släppte Uppdrag Granskning ett reportage där det framkom att klädjätten H&M rutinmässigt bränt nyproducerade kläder. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur budskap i form av text och visuell kommunikation används för att övertyga och påverka i Hennes & Mauritz externa miljökommunikation på företagets webbplats. Frågeställningarna som ställts är följande;  1. Vilka retoriska budskap är framträdande?  2. Hur framträder dessa?  3. Vilka visuella argument tillämpas?  4. Hur profilerar företaget sig som hållbara i miljöfrågor?  För att besvara uppsatsens frågeställning har en kvalitativ kritisk retorikanalys- samt den visuella retorikanalysen tillämpats på mitt material.  Texterna använder motsatsförhållanden. Konsumtion och produktion är två motsatser som måste mötas och förenas i argumentationen. Hur mode och kläder påverkar vårt klimat och vår miljö negativt går att lösa, genom att återvinna och inte kasta kläder på soptippen. Sändaren, alltså H&M har tidigt definierat problemet åt dess mottagare, det vill säga konsumenten och på så sätt utesluts produktionen ur argumentationen. Att återvinna kläder blir alltså det enda (sanna) alternativet för hållbarhetsarbetet. Tesen från ”hållbart mode” etablerar tidigt i texten ”vi vill” som blir ”vi gör” till ”ni kan” sedan ”vi tillsammans” och avslutas med ”du vill” som en sista uppmaning till mottagaren. Rollerna kastas på så vis om. Budskap förstärks genom stilfigurer som är ett medel för att förklara, förtydliga och framhäva. Stilfigurer kan också användas för att få publiken att se på företeelsen ur en bestämd vinkel. Som användningen av metaforen ”ge sina kläder nytt liv” och kontrasteras av begreppet ”soptippen”, som representerar ett större problem förpassat till ett ting, en synekdoke som anspelar på delen av det hela. Definitionstopiker används då ”hållbart” och ”hållbara källor” utgör nyckelord som utelämnas och anspelar på mottagarens tolkning genom begreppets positiva associationer och argument kan legitimeras utan vidare förklaring. Priset utgör kausaliteten mellan marknad och miljö och är talande för de motsättningar som modebranschen möter idag. Budskapet som implicit läggs fram är den att pris och hållbarhet kan förenas. H&M erbjuder det bästa av två världar.  Den visuella analysen av bilden påvisar samt upplyser och fungerar som komplement till texten. Modellerna bär upp jeans, det mest resurskrävande plagget med stolthet som en positiv effekt av att göra rätt, att återvinna och återanvända. Den visuella analysen av filmens framställning bygger på den doxa som är rådande i samhället. Budskapet berör våra känslor om ansvar och frihet.  Företaget profilerar sig genom ethos-argumentation för att legitimera sig som ett medvetet företag gentemot sina intressenter. Genom att kategorisera konkurrenterna och själv ta avstånd från kategoriseringen ”modebranschen” - pekar företaget på sin storlek som fördel. Sändaren vill framstå som förnuftig och kunnig i frågan, välvillig genom att upplysa och bidra, samt dygdig då moral står i fokus och uppfyller därigenom kriteriet för en god talare. Att de flesta argument bygger på sändarens ethos kan vara ett resultat av ett anseende som gått förlorat.
Sustainability and environmental communication have increasingly become an important part of marketing, profiling and brand building at companies. It becomes a paradox when companies communicate sustainability while being profitable in today's consumer society. Recently, ”Uppdrag Granskning” released a documentary showing that the clothing giant H&M routinely burned newly manufactured clothes. The aim is to investigate how messages in the form of text and visual communication are used to convince and influence in Hennes & Mauritz's external environmental communication on the company's website. The questions raised are as follows:  1. What rhetorical messages are prominent?  2. What are these?  3. What visual arguments are applied?  4. How does the company profile itself as sustainable in environmental matters?  In order to answer the essay's question, a qualitative critical rhetorical analysis and the visual rhetorical analysis have been applied to my material.  The texts uses opposite conditions. Consumption and production are two opposites that must be met and combined in the argumentation. How fashion and clothing affect our climate and our environment negatively can be solved by recycling and not throw clothes into the garbage. The  sender, H&M, has thus defined the problem early, when excluding production from the argument. Recycling of clothing becomes the only (true) option for sustainability. The text "Hållbart Mode" thesis establish early in the text "we want" that becomes "we do" to "you can" then "we together" and end with "you want" as a last call to the receiver. The roles are reversed and replaced. Messages are enhanced by style characters that are a way to explain, clarify and highlight. Style figures can also be used to make the audience look at the phenomenon from a certain angle. The use of the metaphors "give your clothes new life" contrasts with the term "dumpster", which represents a bigger problem then the thing in itself, when the figure synekdoke are used. "Definitionstopiker" are used when "sustainable" and "sustainable sources" constitute keywords that are omitted and reflect on the recipient's interpretation through the concept's positive associations and arguments can be legitimized without further explanation. The price represents causality between the market and the environment, shows the contradictions that the fashion industry faces today. The implicit message is that price and sustainability can be combined. H&M offers the best of both worlds.  The visual analysis of the image serves as a complement to the text. The models wear jeans, the most resourceful garment with pride. As a positive effect of doing right, to recycle and reuse. The visual analysis of the film is based on the doxa prevailing in society. The message speaks to our feelings of responsibility and freedom.  The company profiles through ethos argumentation to legitimize itself as a conscious company towards its interests. By categorizing the competitors and even distancing themselves from the categorization "fashion industry" - the company points to its size as an advantage. The sender wants to appear rational and knowledgeable in the matter, benevolent by enlightening and contributing, as well as virtuous as moral is in focus, thereby fulfilling the criterion of a good speaker. The fact that most arguments are based on the sender's ethos may be the result of a reputation lost.

Cecilia Mörner var examinator för den här uppsatsen medan Per Vesterlund var examinator för kursen och den som attesterade kursens betyg (och därför står som examinator på titelsidan men inte i metadata).

Ekofeminism figurerar i både politiska och filosofiska sammanhang och är en ideologi som kombinerar feminism med miljöpolitik. Den bygger sin ideologi på att motarbeta ett patriarkalt förtryck mot både kvinnor och natur och säger att detta förtryck härrör från en historisk föreställning om kvinnan som stående närmare naturen. Den vita mannens självupphöjande till Gud under industrialismen använde denna historiska föreställning i ett rättfärdigande av ett maktutövande gentemot både kvinnor och natur som sägs leva kvar i allra största grad än idag. Genom att betrakta hur svensk tryckt press framställt ekofeminism mellan åren 1995-2016 har denna uppsats ämnat utröna om detta maktförhållande lever kvar och hur det tar sig uttryck. Uppsatsen undersöker även om det medieras en diskurs om ekofeminism i svensk tryckt press. Centrala frågeställningar: Hur framställs ekofeminism i svensk tryckt press mellan åren 1995-2016 ? Vilka maktstrukturer framträder runt ekofeminism och vilka personer kommer till tals? Varför skrevs inget alls om ekofeminism under 5 av de 11 undersökta åren ? Metoder: För att ta reda på detta har denna uppsats använt sig av triangulering som övergripande metod innehållande en kvantitativ analys, innehållsanalys och analys av visuell kommunikation. Slutsatser: Denna uppsats kommer fram till att förtrycket lever kvar och visar sig tydligt i relationen mellan svensk tryckt press och ekofeminism. Ekofeminismen framställs som svårbegriplig för allmänheten och blandas ofta ihop med särartsfeminism i vad som tycks vara ett strategiskt syfte att genom desinformation utöva förtryck.
The silent years: ecofeminism in Swedish printed press 1995-2016 Ecofeminism figures in both political and philosophical contexts and is an ideology that combines feminism with environmental policy. It builds its ideology to counteract a patriarchal oppression against both women and nature, saying that this oppression stems from a historical perception of the woman standing closer to nature. The self-elevation of the white man to God during the industrialism era used this historical image in the justification to exercise power towards both women and nature, which is said to be ongoing to the greatest extent today. By considering how Swedish printed press depict ecofeminism between the years 1995-2016, this paper has been designed to determine if this relationship of power remains and define how it is expressed. The essay also investigates whether a discourse on ecofeminism is mediated in Swedish press. Central Issues: How is ecofeminism produced in Swedish printed press between 1995 and 2016? What power structures appear around ecofeminism and who get their voices heard? Why was nothing written about ecofeminism for 5 of the 11 investigated years? Methods: To find this out, this essay has used triangulation as an overarching method containing quantitative analysis, content analysis and analysis of visual communication. Conclusions: This essay indicate that the repression remains and becomes evident in the relationship between Swedish press and ecofeminism. Ecofeminism is expressed as difficult for the public and is often confused with specificity feminism in what appears to be a strategic goal of repression by means of disinformation.

Betygssättande lärare: Per Vesterlund. Formell examinator för kursen: Eva Åsén Ekstrand.

The ONE Exhibition explores an era in American history marked by intense government sponsored anti-gay persecution and the genesis of the LGBT equality movement. The study begins during World War II, continues through the McCarthy era and the founding of the nation’s first gay magazine, and ends in 1958 with the first gay Supreme Court case in U.S. history. Central to the story is ONE The Homosexual Magazine, and its founders, as they embarked on a quest for LGBT equality by establishing the first ongoing nationwide forum for gay people in the U.S., and challenged the government’s right to engage in and encourage hateful and discriminatory practices against the LGBT community. Then, when the magazine was banned by the Post Office, the editors and staff took the federal government to court. As such, ONE, Incorporated v. Olesen became the first Supreme Court case in U.S. history that featured the taboo subject of homosexuality, and secured the 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech for the gay press. Thus, ONE magazine and its founders were an integral part of a small group of activists who established the foundations of the modern LGBT equality movement.

While the role of photography in enforcing hegemonic ideologies has been amply studied, this thesis addresses the under-researched topic of how photography undermined dominant narratives in specific historical circumstances. I argue that, in the later part of the long nineteenth century, photographs were used to represent the natural world in contexts where their functions were uncertain and their capacities not clearly defined, and that these hesitations allowed for the expression of resistances to dominant social attitudes towards nature. I analyse how these divergences were articulated through three independent case studies, each addressing a corpus of photographs which has been marginalised in scholarly discourse. The case studies all concern photographs of vegetation. The first one discusses photographs produced around Fontainebleau during the Second French Empire, commonly understood as auxiliary materials for Barbizon painters, and argues that they were in fact autonomous representations, reflecting marginal modes of experiencing nature which resisted its prevailing construction as spectacle. The second case study examines a photographic series depicting Amazonian vegetation, published between 1900 and 1906, and shows how, in attempting to satisfy conflicting ideological demands, these photographs undermined the hierarchies enforced upon the natural world by colonial science. The third case study analyses photographs from an early twentieth-century environmentalist treatise, and demonstrates how, while the author's discourse seemingly complied with conventional attitudes towards nature, the photographs instituted an ethical stance opposed to early conservation's aesthetic focus and anthropocentrism. Throughout the case studies, I argue that the photographs were consubstantial to the emergence of these resistances; that dissenting representations stemmed from a tension between their producers' lived experience and the ideological frameworks which informed each context; and that this process engendered remarkable formal innovations, which are not usually associated to non-artistic images. I contend that radical renewals of visual expression occur in all representational contexts, as image producers adapt their tools or forge new ones according to circumstances, and that more attention must be paid to such visual innovations outside the field of artistic production.

In 1994, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) implemented a new audit tool developed by the US Department of Defense (DOD) called "The Environmental Assessment and Management Guide" (TEAM Guide). The TEAM Guide uses an extensive menu of checklists to determine compliance. In November 1994, the USACE Portland District conducted a TEAM audit of the North Pacific Division Laboratory in Troutdale, Oregon. The results showed serious deficiencies in environmental management and compliance that ultimately contributed to closure of the facility. Opportunities to improve the TEAM Audit process were identified and included the following: 1. Ensure that each facility develops an Environmental Management Plan using either ISO 14001 or the Global Reporting Initiative Environmental Standards 2. Utilize professionally-trained and independent auditors to examine Environmental Management Plans prior to conducting additional TEAM Audits 3. Change TEAM Audit intervals from 5-years to 3-years to increase facility oversight and be in agreement with audit intervals used by other DOD agencies 4. Continue to document "Findings" by using severity levels, photographs, and suggested corrective actions in TEAM Audit reports 5. Report environmental management and compliance audit results directly to senior management and hold managers accountable for corrective actions 6. Involve labor representatives on audits; use them to develop appropriate corrective actions; communicate to all employees the program's value.
Graduation date: 2002

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
建築與都市設計研究所
94
The main purpose of this study is to explore how during a fire internal staffs on non-fire-affected floors (the light is on) conduct fire evacuation in accordance with information from within the building. Field investigation reveals that new and old sign facilities may be in use at the same time in local department stores. That the layouts and arrangements of different floors of a department store are different also interfere with the sign facilities. The objectives of this study, therefore, are as follows: 1. To explore the degree to which department store employees understand the new and old sign facilities. 2. The visual interference of different floor layouts and arrangements with sign facilities. 3. To conduct the new sign facility satisfaction survey in accordance with the requirement of CNS10207. Research conclusions indicate: 1. Understanding of new and old sign facilities: (1) Understanding of old sign facilities is better than that of new sign facilities; (2) Employees’ understanding of both new and old sign facilities is superior to that of customers; (3) Professionals’ understanding of new sign facilities is superior to that of non-professionals; (4) The ability of people aged 60 and over to understand old sign facilities is poorer; (5) The more frequently people visit the department store, the better they understand the new sign facilities. 2. Disturbance of space of different purposes: Among others the following five factors are the main elements that affect the visibility of sign facilities: the influence of high racks and showcases, the influence of hanging objects, the influence of surrounding lights, the influence of background colors, and the influence of the mounting position. It is, therefore, recommended that future decoration of department stores should be based on consideration of these five main factors. 3. New sign facility satisfaction analysis: Statistical results indicate that most people approve the color, lightness and icon-indicated direction of the sign facilities and that most people are dissatisfied with the size of the Chinese words and icon illustration that appear on the sign facilities.

The study employed a quantitative research method, which is descriptive in nature, to determine the role of Human Resource Management in supporting the strategic objectives of the Department of Environmental Affairs. This interest was explored with particular reference to the Environmental Programmes branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs. Data was gathered from senior, middle and junior managers through self-administered questionnaires and it was then analysed using statistical methods and graphs. The findings reveal that the role of Human Resource Management in supporting the strategic objectives of the Department of Environmental Affairs is not efficiently elevated or viewed to have any influence on the desired goals of the Department of Environmental Affairs. As a result, the Human Resource Management component is not considered a strategic partner. Furthermore, the senior, middle and junior managers know very little about the Human Resource Management strategy and there exists a lack of emphasis on the development and implementation of joint strategic human resource management plans between the managers and the Human Resource Management component.
Public Administration
M.P.A.

To be successful citizen science projects need to do two key things: (1) they need to meaningfully engage the public and they must also provide people with the tools, expertise, and/or training needed to participate in rigorous research that can be used by the scientific community. In some ways, these requirements are potentially at odds. Emphasis on rigor and expertise risks excluding members of the public who do not feel qualified to participate in esoteric or technically difficult scientific research. Conversely, projects that eschew rigorous methods in favor of wider participation might lead to bad data that cannot be used to draw any meaningful conclusions to expand scientific understanding. How then do those who are aiming to design successful citizen science programs create tools and processes that facilitate both active engagement and meaningful scientific results for perceived non-expert researchers? This paper uses a case study of the Outsmart Invasive Species Project (Outsmart) to explore how visual media shape the experiences of citizen scientists participating in a data collection project. Outsmart uses visual media such as photographs and videos to train users in identifying invasive species, and asks them to submit their own location-tagged pictures to a central database for review by a trained research team. Using ethnographic field observation, we focused on how visual media serve to improve engagement in non-expert Outsmart users by building confidence and expertise. Our work can provide guidance to other citizen science projects in how to best use visual media to empower citizens and improve scientific outcomes.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Environmental education began in the late 1960s to early 1970s. At the same time, the NSW Department of Education started establishing field studies centres, later known as environmental education centres. They started developing and disseminating environmental education. Evolving from nature study and conservation education, environmental education crucially encompasses an action component of being “for” the environment as well as “about” and “in” the environment. The environmental education centres have embodied and encompassed that evolution. Antithetical to traditional forms of formal education, environmental education incorporates an intrinsically holistic, socio-political character. Centre environmental educators are unique professionals within the state education workforce who provide both a relevant connection between land, water and pedagogy, and essential support for educating for sustainability. Within this context, there are lessons to be learnt about the vagaries of the state political system and how environmental education centre personnel implemented change within that system. Over the last 20 or so years, many key environmental educators from within the NSW environmental education centre system have retired. Many of these people were very experienced within the environmental education centre network and were instrumental in progressing the development of environmental education/education for sustainability and the work of the centres within NSW. With history informing how things play out in the present day, it seems an important time to study the history of environmental education in NSW. This historical analysis narrates the establishment and development of these centres, and environmental education/education for sustainability, through the phenomenon of the 1970s growth in socially conscious governance, to the public managerialism of the 1980s and 1990s, into the tightening tentacles of neoliberalism. With an action-oriented ethos, the centres have made a significant contribution to shifting the agenda toward a more sustainable future, connected to our environment relative to a world heavily influenced by our consumeristic society.

abstract: The study of American national parks provides invaluable insights into American intellectual, cultural, and sociopolitical trends. As very popular tourist attractions, parks are also depicted in art, film, television, books, calendars, posters, and a multitude of other print and visual media. National parks therefore exist both physically and in the American imagination. Comparing Yosemite National Park, one of the oldest and most popular national parks, to Mineral King, California, a relatively unknown and far less-visited region in Sequoia National Park, unveils the deep complexity of the national park idea. From the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries, the visual and written representations of each area, including art, photographs, advertisements, and government publications, evolved and shifted, sometimes rapidly and paradoxically, depending upon the aims and needs of historic societies. The power of imagery and production of knowledge to influence visitation, management, and land designation is revealed through this comparative study. Park representation and interpretation in the cultural consciousness, moreover, uncovers how societies perceive and, thus, will ultimately use certain environments. A place cannot truly become a national space until it is viewed and valued as such in the American imagination. The creation of cultural material, especially visual works, is vital for forming and sustaining national park narratives. Popular parks like Yosemite need to have their legacies reinforced, and lesser-known units, such as Mineral King, deserve the chance to have a cultural legacy created—thereby helping to ensure that both remain for future generations.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation History 2019

The primary aim of this study is to attempt to evaluate by means of a case-study, the appropriateness of fieldwork as a way of teaching the new ecology section of the high school geography syllabus viz. 'Ecosystems, Environmental Balance and Conservation'. The study shows the value and importance of fieldwork to develop in pupils an awareness of environmental issues and conservation principles. Evidence collected during the course of the case-study is used to evaluate the nature of fieldwork. The case-study which comprises this thesis concerns the ecological and environmental fieldwork undertaken by a randomly selected sample of 24 standard ten higher-grade pupils studying geography at Glenwood High School in Durban during August 1987. The case-study site was the Pigeon Valley natural area in Glenwood, Durban. The fieldwork undertaken used a field-research approach recommended for use by senior high school pupils. Various conclusions and recommendations arising out of ecological fieldwork and the case-study evaluation, are presented. These include: 1) Fieldwork is a particularly appropriate method to use to teach this new section of the syllabus, as shown by pupil enjoyment and pupil success in completing the fieldwork tasks set them in the exercise. 2) Two fieldwork methods should be used - a traditional fieldwork approach for junior high school classes and a field research approach (with a built-in problem/issue based component) for senior high school classes. 3) Fieldwork is important not only as a substitute for systematic teaching of the section but also for revision purposes. 4) Case-study evaluation and the use of triangulation are appropriate for the purposes of this study. This study is presented as a contribution to geography teaching, in South Africa, particularly the area of fieldwork, but the qualitative nature of the study and the very nature of case-study research, however, prevent totally conclusive results from being obtained.
Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

碩士
亞洲大學
數位媒體設計學系碩士班
101
When students in the design process, have a chance because the triggering imagination to improve the design and application of thinking, And improve the quality of the work. This research mainly triggered by experimental course to the imagination of students, to explore digital media design students in the learning process of visual design knowledge. The experiment is divided into two parts, The first part: "Photo" and "Image" and other materials into a narrative, Students to observe and sorted out before and put into operation after the results of the design differences; Part II: From the perspective of semiology spread through qualitative research methods to analyze students' work on the design of visual symbols, design techniques as well as messaging works, Summarized the students on this curriculum in experimental design imagination produced on the steps, Techniques and reflection. 　This research shows that students in the design, with imagination be triggered and operation Projected onto design works to produce a different thinking. Communication through the perspective of semiology decodes it and found that When imagination is triggered, Students work on the design of picture, Will begin to join the main body metaphorically, The concept is similar even do meaning extends Think of through objects, regroup, adding, replacing, etc. so that works more creatively. in the meaning to convey on Students Categories by experience, to explore illustrations, theme interpretation in three aspects, so that works to achieve the effect of visual metaphors. Such results for the future creation of imaginative visual design education help, Refer for future researchers summarized the results of the research curriculum planning.

This dissertation argues that critical and creative attention to contemporary stories from Oceania opens up new ways to address the past, present and future effects of colonialism on changing oceanic environments. Colonialism is connected to climate change through issues that include rising sea levels, biodiversity loss, changing weather patterns such as floods and prolonged droughts, and ecological devastation. By examining literature, visual art and performance that go against canonical Western ways of reading the ocean, I foreground how we can unsettle climate colonialism and its effects on oceanic multispecies environments. I address how scholars of contemporary feminist materialisms and the environmental humanities can extend their study of water and the ocean to centre anticolonial perspectives via art, literature, and theory. Analysing anticolonial narrative disruption from an Oceanic perspective, this dissertation engages with work from Aboriginal, Indigenous, migrant and settler colonial scholars, writers and artists to show that the future can be oceanic and anticolonial. The increased precarity of human-ocean relationships has been particularly visible in Oceania. Rising waters and environmental degradation do not affect all equally, nor are their causes evenly distributed. How we think about the colonial pasts of Oceania informs our imagination of oceanic futures. The effects of the mining industry, of nuclear testing, tourism, aquaculture, species extinctions, and the formation of the nation state, have had lasting consequences on oceanic spaces and how they are experienced and thought of in the present. From an anticolonial feminist materialist perspective, I aim to not only expand our ocean views but also to interrogate the perspectives that guide our gaze. I draw on research from the fields of Pacific and Ocean Studies to argue against a simplistic, oppositional and colonial relationship between human and ocean. Increasingly, but building on long legacies of oceanic thought, writers and artists from Oceania hold Western colonial discourse to account. By communicating oceanic realities in text, visual art and performance that offer alternatives to Western ways of reading the ocean, Oceanic art and literature unsettles the colonial afterlives apparent in contemporary human-ocean environments. I listen to and analyse published and publicly performed work — short stories, poetry, visual and performance art, and memoir — that redefines how we should think about the ocean in the twenty-first century. This dissertation comprises two contextual chapters followed by four in-depth readings of the work of several artists and writers from Oceania. The first chapter addresses recent ‘blue turns’ in environmental and feminist theories to show how the implications of colonialism have remained largely underexamined or only analysed from a Western and Northern hemispherical perspective. Blue is a colour with a distinct colonial history. It appeals to the Western colonial imaginary and drew European ships across the seas to mine blue pigment from Afghan rocks and raise indigo plantations on stolen land, with stolen labour. How has this oceanic coloniality resurfaced in climate change times? Following Sylvia Wynter, Ursula Le Guin, Donna Haraway, Deborah Bird Rose and Thom van Dooren, I articulate storytelling as a foundation method to disrupt racialised power structures in settled and colonised areas of Oceania. The work of Aboriginal, Indigenous, settler and migrant writers and authors across Oceania informs my critique of the lingering coloniality of Western engagement with the seas and its associated imaginations. Mining, nuclearisation, militarisation, extinction, erasure, borders, and migration shape my discussion in four thematic chapters, which focus respectively on short stories by Gina Cole and Ellen van Neerven; poetry by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner and Craig Santos Perez; installation and performance art by Lucienne Rickard and Mandy Quadrio; and Behrouz Boochani’s memoir No Friend but the Mountains. The ‘Blue Ocean Stories’ in this dissertation respond to the intersection of climate change, colonialism and the ocean, and take aim at the continued and reiterated coloniality of some Western oceanic imaginaries

The larger architectural context of cities must be understood in order to effectively design buildings. If a building ignores its surroundings, it will not hold up to time and will adversely affect the city in which it stands. This can be seen in multiple of disarrayed cities and their commercial-driven building inventory. So, what makes a good city stand out, and how can this be applied to buildings? There are the four basic principles designers and planners seemed to have forgotten. The first is the layout of basic city components and their influence on current and future identity. The second is the aesthetic principles of scale and proportion. Choosing appropriate material permanence to your location is also important because it enhances or subtracts from the city’s identity. And finally, the experience of the observer must be impactful. If these principles are applied correctly and harmoniously, they can effectively heal the conflicting issues of transportation, pedestrian access, social venues, historic reverence and much more. But most importantly, they can be applied to buildings. Buildings can individually initiate the healing of an urban fabric if they are cognizant to their surroundings. Therefore in this thesis, I want to apply these four basic principles in the rehabilitation of a malfunctioning junction in my hometown of Helena, Montana. By designing a singular building with a guiding master plan, I hope to stimulate a chain reaction. This transformation would take the current issues and interweave these principles into an effective solution that will not only revitalize the area but also become a tourist destination.

Abstract in English, Zulu and Afrikaans
Environmental Education (EE) has been integrated into the school curriculum for many years. According to this study, integration has to be followed by implementation, therefore the process of implementation is successful when integration has been successfully carried out. This study aimed to understand how teachers meet the curriculum needs of learners in order to implement effective teaching and learning of EE and for learners to gain adequate knowledge of EE. The methodology employed by this study was a qualitative research method and a multiple case study design. The theories employed to guide this study were social learning theory and social constructivism theory. This study employed a purposive sampling technique and three secondary schools were sampled for observations, three Natural Science (NS) teachers in grade 8 classes were sampled for interviews and 24 learners were sampled for focus groups in grade 8 NS classes. The findings of this study reveal that there is a lack of knowledge regarding caring for the environment, of which there is a contradiction between EE guidelines and policies provided by the Department of Education (DoE) and the teaching practices of teachers. Although education is perceived to be an essential tool in the conservation of nature through the development of information, aptitudes, qualities and critical thinking by the general population, it does not seem to have a large impact. In this study the aim was to understand how learners and teachers perceive the environment. This study implicates that there is an important role for other stakeholder’s involvement. Thus far, it was recommended by this study for EE curriculum to be revisited and emphasises the importance of thorough teacher training in regards to the integration. The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers and learners in three selected secondary schools in the UGU education district perceive the integration of EE in classrooms.
I- Environmental Education (EE) ihlanganiswe nekharikhulamu yesikole eminyakeni edlule. Ngokwalolu cwaningo, ukuhlanganiswa kumele kulandelwe ngokusetshenziswa, ngakho- ke, inqubo yokusebenzisa iyaphumelela lapho kuhlanganiswa kwenziwa ngempumelelo. Lolu cwaningo luhlose ukuqonda ukuthi othisha bahlangabezana kanjani nezidingo zekharikhulamu zabafundi ukuze babe nokufundisa nokufunda okusebenzayo kwe-EE nokuthi umfundi athole ulwazi olwanele lwe-EE. Indlela esetshenziswe yilolu cwaningo yayiyindlela yokucwaninga eyejwayelekile, ukwakhiwa kwamacala amaningi okufundwa Kanye nemibono esetshenziselwe ukuqondisa lolu cwaningo kwakuyithiyori yokufunda ukuqondisa lolu cwaningo kwakuyithiyori yokufunda ngokuhlalisana komqondo kanye nomqondo wokuqina kwezenhlalo. Lolu cwaningo lusebenzise inqubo yokuhlampula enenhloso kwathi izikole ezintathu zenziwa amasampula ukuze kubhekwe zona, othisha abathathu be- Natural Science (NS) emabangeni e- 8 bavunyelwa ukuxoxisana nomcwaningi kwathi abafundi abangama- 24 batholakaliselwa ukugxila emakilasini e-NS ebangeni le- 8. Ukutholwa kwalolu cwaningo kuveze ukuthi kunokuntuleka kolwazi mayelana nokunakekela imvelo okukhona kuyo ukungqubuzana phakathi kwemihlahlandlela ye-EE nezinqubomgomo ezinikezwe nguMnyango Wezemfundo (DoE) nemikhuba yokufundisa yabothisha. Yize imfundo ibonwa njengethuluzi elibalulekile kulondolozo lwendalo ngokuthuthukiswa kolwazi, amandla, izimfanelo nokucabanga okubucayi kweningi labantu kodwa akubonakali kunje, ngale ndlela sakwazi ukuqonda ukuthi abafundi nothisha bayayibona imvelo. Lolu cwaningo lugcizelela ukuthi kunendima ebalulekile yokuzibandakanya kwabanye ababambiqhaza. Kuze kube manje, kuyahlongozwa yilolu cwaningo ukuthi ikharikhulamu ye-EE iphinde iphindwe futhi ukugcizelela ukubaluleka kokuqeqeshwa okuphelele kothisha madondana nokuhlanganiswa. Inhloso yalolu cwaningo bekukuthola ukuthi othisha kanye nabafundi ezikoleni ezintathu ezikhethiwe esikhungweni sezemfundo sase Ugu babona kanjani ukuhlanganiswa kwe-EE emakilasini.
Omgewingsopvoeding (EE) is jare gelede by die skoolkurrikulum geintergeer. Volgens hierdie studie moet integrasie gevolg word deur implementering, daarom is de implementeringsproses suksesvol wanneer intagrasie suksesvol uitgevoer is. Hierdie studie het ten doel om te verstaan hoe onderwysers voldoen aan die kurrikulumbehoeftes van leeders voldoen om effektiewe onderrig en leer van EE te implementeer en om leeder voldoende kennis van EE te verwerf. Die metodologie wat by hierdie studie gebruik is, was ‘n kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetode, meervoudige gevallestudie- ontwerp en die teoriee wat gebruik is om hierdie studie te lei, was sosiale leerteorie en sosiale konstruktivisme teorie. Hierdie studie het ‘n doelgerigte steekproefnemingstegniek gebruik en drie sekondere skole is gemonster vir waarnemings, drie onderwysers in Natural Science (NS) in grad 8-klasse is geneem vir onderhoude en 24 leerders is gemonster vir fokusgroepe in grad 8-klasse. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie het aan die lig gebring dat daar ‘n gebrek aan kennis is met betrekking tot die versoging van die omgewing, en daar is ‘n teenstrydigheid tussen die EE- riglyne en –beleide wat deur die Departement van Onderwys (DvO) en die onderwyspraktyke van onderwysers aangebeid word. Alhoewel onderwys beskou word as ‘n noodsaaklike instrument in die bewaring van die natuur deur die ontwikkeling van inligting, aanleg, kwaliteite en kritiese denke deur die algemene bevolking, maar dit lyk nie meer so nie, kon ons op hierdie manier vestaan hoe leerders en onderwysers sien die omgewing waar. Hierdie studie impliseer dat die betrokeenheid van ander belanghebbendes ‘n belangrike rol speel. Tot dusver is deur hierdie studie aanbeveel dat die EE-kurrikulum herbesoek moet word en dit beklemtoon die belangrikheid van deeglike onderwyseropleiding met betrekking tot die integrasie. Die doel van hierdie studie was om te ondersoek hoe onderwysers en leerders in drie geselekteerde hoerskole in the UGU-onderwysdrik die integrasie van EE in die klaskamers waarneem.
Adult Basic Education (ABET)
M. Ed. (Environmental Education)

An ontology describing the constructs and their inter-relationships for business models has recently been built and evaluated: the Business Model Ontology (BMO). This ontology has been used to conceptually power a popular practitioner visual design tool: the Business Model Canvas (BMC). However, implicitly these works assume that designers of business models all have a singular normative goal: the creation of businesses that are financially profitable. These works perpetuate beliefs and businesses that do not create outcomes aligned with current natural and social science knowledge about long term individual human, societal and ecological flourishing, i.e. outcomes are not strongly sustainable. This limits the applicability and utility of these works. This exploratory research starts to overcome these limitations: creating knowledge of what is required of businesses for strongly sustainable outcomes to emerge and helping business model designers efficiently create high quality (reliable, consistent, effective) strongly sustainable business models. Based on criticism and review, this research project extends the BMO artefact to enable the description all the constructs and their inter-relationships related to a strongly sustainable business model. This results in the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Ontology (SSBMO). To help evaluate the SSBMO a practitioner visual design tool is also developed: the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas (SSBMC). Ontological engineering (from Artificial Intelligence), Design Science and Systems Thinking methodological approaches were combined in a novel manner to create the Systemic Design Science approach used to build and evaluate the SSBMO. Comparative analysis, interviews and case study techniques were used to evaluate the utility of the designed artefacts. Formal 3rd party evaluation with 7 experts and 2 case study companies resulted in validation of the overall approaches used and the utility of the SSBMO. A number of opportunities for improvement, as well as areas for future work, are identified. This thesis includes a number of supplementary graphics included in separate (electronic) files. See “List of Supplementary Materials” for details.

The City of Holyoke, Massachusetts is one of many aging, industrial cities striving to revitalize its economy based on the promise of increased digital connectivity and clean energy resources. But how do you renovate 19th century mills to meet the demands of the information age? This architectural study explores the potential impact of sensing technologies and information networks on the definition and function of buildings in the 21st century. It explores the changes that have taken place in industrial architecture since 1850 and argues for an architecture that supports local relationships and environmental awareness. The author explores the industrial history of Holyoke, appraises emerging uses of sensing technologies and presents a thorough narrative of her site analysis and conceptual design of a digital fabrication and incubation center within an existing textile mill.