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1
Stuart, Kathy Louise. "Emotional labour and occupational identity : passionate rationality in the New Zealand parliamentary workplace : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/833.
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This thesis explores parliamentarians’ emotional labour in their workplace, and argues the enactment of passionate rationality is crucial to how parliamentarians accomplish vocational authenticity. The New Zealand parliamentary workplace is characterised by an elaborate set of feeling rules and a complex emotional culture. On entry to parliament, parliamentarians go through a period of identity transformation akin to a moral career. Parliamentarians must manage emotion to achieve their occupational identities according to local feeling rules. Based on analysis of in-depth group and individual interviews with parliamentarians, and focusing on the passage of the Civil Union Bill as an exemplar of parliamentarians’ emotion work, three interpretative repertoires were identified in their accounts of emotion in the workplace. These repertoires, The Game, The Performance and The Crusade are work-place specific meaning-making resources whose flexible deployment enabled parliamentarians to assert claims of occupational identity and vocational authenticity. These repertoires show the emotional labour involved in parliamentarians’ negotiation of shared meanings around ‘entering’ the occupational role and asserting the authenticity of their new identities. In particular, The Crusade repertoire makes available the subject position of the Knight, the subject position important for accomplishment of being a passionately rational worker. In this thesis, I introduce two new concepts for emotional labour in complex workplaces where that labour has both exchange and use value; emotional convocation and personified emotion. Together these concepts allow for a more thorough theorisation of emotion work than do existing concepts of emotional labour. Although developed in relation to the work of parliamentarians, personified emotion and emotional convocation have utility for understanding other contemporary experiences of work where emotion management within a complex emotional culture is fundamental to both occupational identity and the accomplishment of vocational authenticity.
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Martin, Donna. "Narrative connections : promoting the moral economy of fair trade : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1174.
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Fair trade is an alternative approach to international trade. It is both a social movement and an economic approach that aims to make trade fair for the many small scale producers disadvantaged in international trade. This thesis explores the discursive devices used by fair trade organisations to promote fair trade. These devices have two roles: to promote an ethical connection from consumer to producer and to involve the consumer in the work of fair trade through purchasing behaviour and political action. This second role refers to the politicisation of consumption whereby shopping becomes an act of political solidarity with disadvantaged producers. I explore these devices through narrative analysis, focusing on a thematic analysis of Trade Aid’s publication, Vital. My research is framed by Michael Goodman’s (2004) work on the semiotic production of fair trade. The concept of a reflexive consumer is explored. This is the idea that consumer awareness of the conditions surrounding production can lead to purchasing decisions that reflect care for the distant producer. This opening up of the concept of consumption involves an active and engaged consumer who chooses to purchase fair trade because they feel a connection to the work of these organisations. I am interested in the particular form this information takes in Vital. I apply narrative research methods to explore the meta-narrative of fair trade promoted in Vital that tells the reader about the work of fair trade organisations, the impact this has on the lives of producer and how they can be involved in the story as a consumer and as a global citizen.
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Dantis, Trudy Mary. "Journeying with God: spirituality and participation in faith related activities among Catholic youth in Whangarei : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Work in the Social Policy and Social Work Programme, School of Health and Social Services at Massey University." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1036.
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This thesis examines the spirituality and participation in faith-based activities of young Catholics in Whangarei, New Zealand. Six youth aged 16-17 years have shared their experiences in several areas of Catholicism such as religious attendance, Catholic identity and Catholic faith, morals and values, peer group socialisation and religious commitment. Using a qualitative mixed-methodological approach with the underlying philosophical stance of interpretivism, the intent of the study is to discover ways in which these young Catholics integrate their faith into their daily lives and make meaning out of it. It also compares the religious beliefs and values of Catholic youth in Whangarei to those reported worldwide. The findings reveal many similar themes to those from international studies. Although all of the participants in this study possessed a distinct sense of ‘spirituality’ and being ‘Catholic’ was a very important part of their identity, not all of them seemed to consider it practical to live out their Catholic beliefs. Similarly, although they did not face any insurmountable challenges in practicing their faith in daily life, only a few of them had strong convictions about their faith and, like their peers in other countries, only a few could concretely list the core Catholic beliefs. Concepts of moralistic therapeutic deism were found to affect half the participants while nuances of moralistic relativism were also prevalent. Results also showed a growing disinterest in attending Mass, participating in the sacrament of Confession, leading an active prayer life, being a part of church youth activities and some difficulty in finding similar peer group support. Overall, the findings presented in this thesis suggested that the participants involved in the study could be separated into two groups on the basis of their differing spiritual levels and commitment to the Catholic faith The findings suggest a need for Catholic youth in Whangarei to be supported in their spiritual development in order to help them grow in their Catholic faith. Accordingly, the main recommendations are for community-based services such as providing a variety of youth programmes/groups to engage young people and finding ways to facilitate the secure engagement of youth in a dialogue about their faith and religion, in order to spiritually encourage, nourish and sustain them at whatever stage they might be at.
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Thompson, Andrew Paul. "Whanau/family meetings in the paediatric intensive care unit: content, process, and family satisfaction : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy, Social Work, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1102.
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Family Meetings occur frequently in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) yet little data existed to guide clinicians in the conduct of these meetings. The medical team is required to deliver complex medical information and navigate complex decision-making with a traumatised family during a meeting. The objectives of this study were to describe the content and process of 15 whanau/family meetings in the PICU, identify family meeting characteristics and patient and family attributes that influence family satisfaction and recommend guidelines for health professionals working in the PICU. The study was conducted in a PICU in a university-affiliated children’s hospital in New Zealand (NZ). The process and content of 15 family meetings were analysed using a coding framework previously developed through a qualitative study of family meetings in the adult intensive care unit (Curtis, 2002a). A questionnaire providing a quantitative assessment of family satisfaction drawn from the same study was administered to 30 family members. Demographic data for the study were collected from the patient’s hospital record and these were combined with data relating to the meeting recording and transcript to identify family meeting characteristics and attributes that might influence family satisfaction. The content and process of family meetings in the PICU were described using a framework detailing 28 codes from the six domains: introductions, informational exchange, discussions of the future, decisions, discussions about death and dying, and closings. A comparison of family meeting characteristics and patient and family attributes revealed that longer meetings (40 minutes plus) were associated with lower family satisfaction and should therefore prompt clinicians to consider whether there are unresolved conflicts, difficulties or misunderstandings between the medical team and the family. Recommendations are proposed to guide health professionals in family meetings in the PICU. This is the first study to record and code the content of family meetings in the PICU. The findings from this study will assist clinicians in their meetings with families. The description of the family meeting content will also provide a foundation for future communication training and research in the health environment.
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Jones, Michelle. "Less than art - greater than trade : English couture and the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers in the 1930s and 1940s." Thesis, Royal College of Art, 2015. http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1676/.
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This study examines the creation and professionalisation of a recognisable English couture industry in the mid-twentieth century and in particular the role designer collaboration played within this process. The focal point is the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, a design group established as a wartime measure in order to preserve and protect a number of London’s made-to-measure dress houses and to promote the creative aspirations of the wider British fashion industry. The focus on this specific design group and collaborative practice, rather than the individual couturiers, offers an exceptional case study of designers working in association and the impact this can have on design practice. A number of central themes emerge that focus on the networks and mediated representations that supported this field of design. In dealing with these themes this study recognises that the Incorporated Society’s formation and operation did not occur in a vacuum but within a specific industrial, political, economic and social infrastructure. It therefore explores the networks and narratives that were used to sustain its specific form of luxury fashion production throughout a particularly turbulent period. Today London is acknowledged, alongside Paris, New York and Milan, as one of the world’s major fashion cities and this thesis aims to achieve a better understanding of the role couturier-collaboration played in the early development of this recognition. Through the analysis of an extensive range of previously unconsidered primary material it questions whether and how, through the process of collaboration, the London couturiers established unprecedented and much needed cohesion for British design talent and the exact nature of their role within the construction and understanding of London as an internationally recognised fashion centre. The period under consideration allows not only an exploration of the creation of a London couture industry but also the cultural politics of design practice throughout a difficult period of economic depression, war and post-war reconstruction. In so doing, it explores the wider significance of the Incorporated Society’s elite made-to-measure dressmakers both for and beyond the discipline of Design History.
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Howard, Susan. "A Christian perspective on enabling spiritual formation in relation to work." Thesis, University of Winchester, 2017. http://repository.winchester.ac.uk/721/.
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This thesis is an action research investigation into the influence of my Christian habitus on my consultancy practice. My research question: How does my Christian faith inform the work I do? is located within the academic field of Spirit at Work. The complexity and difficulties of my professional practice are explored using the literature on Christian spirituality. My investigation uses the research method of practical theology to explore: my own Christian perspective; my role as a spiritual mentor; the nature of spiritual formation; and, faith in relation to work. The analytical methods of theological reflection, narrative inquiry, and autoethnography support the critical reflection. Five themes emerge: the evangelical basis of my Christian perspective; an understanding of the grace of God; the consideration of resistance as sin; strategies to enable spiritual formation; and complex combinations of faith in relation to work. This study has enabled me to interrogate my approach to spiritual formation in relation to work. My inquiry in a variety of contexts – with colleagues, one individual, and with a client –has developed my ability as a reflexive practitioner, and has strengthened my vocation as a spiritual mentor. I have used the Holistic Development Model (HDM) to underpin my approach to spiritual mentoring, and created a Christian interpretation of it. Spiritual formation is explored through the topics of: church, faith, purpose and mission using scripture, adventure and leadership, and difficulty and struggle. The research provides insights into my work as a professional consultant in the area of leadership development. My reflexive learning, combined with participative inquiry, provides an insider perspective on living within an evangelical Christian worldview. Difficulties over how to interpret Christian faith in work contexts are explored, particularly with regard to inclusivity. The research links spiritual formation with leadership, concluding that, in my practice, faith takes precedence.
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Orticio, Gino C. "Towards configuring the Internet for social development in the Philippines." Thesis, University of the Philippines, 2003. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/57711/3/Towards_Configuring_the_Internet_for_Social_Development_in_the_Philippines.pdf.
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The Internet is one of the most significant information and communication technologies to emerge during the end of the last century. It created new and effective means by which individuals and groups communicate. These advances led to marked institutional changes most notably in the realm of commercial exchange: it did not only provide the high-speed communication infrastructure to business enterprises; it also opened them to the global consumer base where they could market their products and services. Commercial interests gradually dominated Internet technology over the past several years and have been a factor in the increase of its user population and enhancement of infrastructure. Such commercial interests fitted comfortably within the structures of the Philippine government. As revealed in the study, state policies and programs make use of Internet technology as an enabler of commercial institutional reforms using traditional economic measures. Yet, despite efforts to maximize the Internet as an enabler for market-driven economic growth, the accrued benefits are yet to come about; it is largely present only in major urban areas and accessible to a small number of social groups. The failure of the Internet’s developmental capability can be traced back to the government’s wholesale adoption of commercial-centered discourse. The Internet’s developmental gains (i.e. instrumental, communicative and emancipatory) and features, which were always there since its inception, have been visibly left out in favor of its commercial value. By employing synchronic and diachronic analysis, it can be shown that the Internet can be a vital technology in promoting genuine social development in the Philippines. In general, the object is to realize a social environment of towards a more inclusive and participatory application of Internet technology, equally aware of the caveats or risks the technology may pose. It is argued further that there is a need for continued social scientific research regarding the social as and developmental implications of Internet technology at local level structures, such social sectors, specific communities and organizations. On the meta-level, such approach employed in this research can be a modest attempt in increasing the calculus of hope especially among the marginalized Filipino sectors, with the use of information and communications technologies. This emerging field of study—tentatively called Progressive Informatics—must emanate from the more enlightened social sectors, namely: the non-government, academic and locally-based organizations.
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Day, Catherine. "Being storied; a lived experience in time : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/957.
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Being storied; a lived experience of time discusses selected aspects of the research and studio practice undertaken in the course of the year 2008. Central to the process has been attending to the mundane acts of everyday life in the rural environment in which I live. It discusses actions such as walking, listening, collecting and documenting as well as experiments with a waste material, used baling plastic that is installed in various ways into the landscape. Parallel to this are investigations with sound and text, which have drawn on my varied musical background. There is an exploration of time - the idea of durée, human experience of time, quality of attention through intense focus, and memory as it accumulates over time. Art of the everyday has also been a key area of research. Life changing events have occurred during the course of the year. The death of parents has substantially influenced the work. The practice described is multi-faceted, involving the use of text, sound, photography and film.
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(9844208), Barbara Webster. "'Fighting in the grand cause': A history of the trade union movement in Rockhampton 1907-1957." Thesis, 1999. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/_Fighting_in_the_grand_cause_A_history_of_the_trade_union_movement_in_Rockhampton_1907-1957/13421954.
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"Research of a wide range of primary sources informs this work, including hitherto unstudied local union records, oral testimony, contemporary newspapers, government and employer reports. Conclusions reached in this dissertation are that while the founders of the local trade union movement shared a vision of improving the lot of workers in their employment and in the wider social context, and they endeavoured to establish effective structures and organisation to this end, their efforts were of mixed success. They succeeded eminently in improving and protecting the employment conditions of workers to contemporary expectations through effective exploitation of political and institutional channels and through competent and conservative local leadership. However, the additional and loftier goal of creating a better life for workers outside the workplace through local combined union action were much less successful, foiled not only by overwhelming economic difficulties, but also by a local sense of working-class consciousness which was muted by the particular social and cultural context of Rockhampton." -- abstract
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(9839195), Davina Taylor. "Family inclusion and people with profound intellectual disabilities: An exploration of policy-practice interface and the experiences of adult siblings." Thesis, 2008. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Family_inclusion_and_people_with_profound_intellectual_disabilities_An_exploration_of_policy-practice_interface_and_the_experiences_of_adult_siblings/13436594.
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"Investigates [Queensland] government documents relating to family inclusion and disability service provision using content analysis.... [and] explores the experiences of adult siblings of people with profound disability living in group home supported accommodation"--Abstract.
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(9827189), Kim Polistina. "Minions, mates and linchpins: A qualitative examination of the local social-ecological context of neoliberalist bullying impacting on sustainability domains and responses through community sustainability frameworks." Thesis, 2019. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Minions_mates_and_linchpins_A_qualitative_examination_of_the_local_social-ecological_context_of_neoliberalist_bullying_impacting_on_sustainability_domains_and_responses_through_community_sustainability_frameworks/13447520.
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The current global sustainability crisis is a cultural crisis (Bokova, 2013; NASA, 2018). This crisis is due largely to the negative effects created by the amorphous nature of neoliberalism (Gittins, 2010; Latouche, 2010a; Washington, 2015). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2011) outlined seventeen goals sought to rectify this crisis. The practical realisation of these goals has proven elusive to those seeking social change as they navigate negative human behaviours in local social contexts. This research explored adult bullying behaviours as one way to examine the clash between neoliberal and sustainable systems and the dysfunctionalities found in this social dynamic at a local community level.
Cross-case study research methodology generated qualitative data from economically focussed developments in two communities in regional Australia. The presence in each case study of social interactions between individuals advocating for the perpetuation of neoliberalism and people seeking sustainability aims guided the selection of cases for this research. This first case context was a community (Arendelle community) living, and co-existing, near a non-towered aerodrome. Historically a holiday destination, the community had a range of socio-economic groups and encompassed a number of nature reserves. The case begins in 2006 with the introduction of a regional aviation company moving into the area for the purpose of implementing a portion of an international aviation contract. The second case (Gumnut Landcare) was a semi-rural community near forest and protected natural areas. Evident in the daily life of the community was a high level of understanding and implementation of sustainability practices including many forms of sustainable eco-centric lifestyle. The area also had a European dairy farming history. This case began in 2001 with the initial negotiations to purchase a parcel of land for a community site development and the desire for a special interest group to develop much of the land for an 18-hole golf course. The cross-case analysis allowed the examination of issues that represented not only the comparison of adult bullying by those advocating neoliberal aims in each case but current topical concerns relating the impacts on elements of sustainability domains and achieving sustainability aims.
This methodology and associated methods were suitable for a critical social constructionist form of interpretivist research. The data collection instruments included in-depth interviews (seven in the first case and six in the second); continual personal communication with key individuals in each case (a long-term RA committee member in Arendelle case and long-term permanent employee of Gumnut Landcare); documentary analysis of public, organisational and historical records; and researcher observations. This research contributed to the extension of our understanding of cross-case study research through the discovery of interconnected units of analysis. This strengthened the value of case study methodology in social-ecological research.
A key concept that emerged in this research but was absent in the literature on social change towards sustainability, was the need for an understanding of human behaviours considered detrimental to achieving sustainability aims, in particular, adult bullying, and the skills to alleviate those behaviours. The research extended, therefore, on the theoretical understanding of adult bullying in the social-ecological contexts of sustainability at a local community level. Firstly, it extended on the literature that examines bullying in corporate settings by constructing a normalised pattern of bullying behaviour for business development at the community level. Secondly, three categories of social connections between bystanders who utilised bullying behaviours to support individual neoliberalists emerged in each case—minions, mates and linchpins. A deeper understanding of the perpetuation of this social normalisation of bullying transpired through the surfacing of the linchpin as a new type of bystander pivotal in linking the bullying events in both cases and these cases to the broader neoliberal system.
The research contributed to greater theoretical clarity around the barriers to implementation of social change towards sustainability at the local community level. It filled a gap in the literature by providing a critical understanding of human behaviours detrimental to change towards sustainability, such as adult bullying behaviours, and their use to implement neoliberal aims. This included a heightened understanding of how community residents in both cases failed to identify or acknowledge the behaviours they experienced as bullying. The community residents’ lack of understanding of how bullying was normalised in the local context meant it was difficult for them to respond in ways that supported sustainable alternatives. This conundrum was exacerbated with the identification that some community members also lacked awareness that many of their everyday actions supported sustainability.
This research provided a framework for future research into the social-ecological context of adult bullying behaviours in local community settings, particularly as they are manifested in the behaviours of those implementing neoliberal aims. Future research needs to extend on two knowledge bases in local communities. The first is local community identification and responses to alleviating neoliberal bullying. The second is a greater ability to identify, understand and safeguard sustainable behaviours at the community level. One avenue of future research identified was the development of community sustainability frameworks (CSFs) that incorporate these knowledge bases. These CSFs would need to be developed to coincide with the increased recognition that social change towards sustainability requires a transdisciplinary and in some communities a supradisciplinary approach to policy, research, and practice at all social levels.
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(87659), M. Lee. "Smark Power : the collective intelligence of the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) and its influence on the career of former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit." Thesis, 2010. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Smark_Power_the_collective_intelligence_of_the_Internet_Wrestling_Community_IWC_and_its_influence_on_the_career_of_former_WWE_World_Heavyweight_Champion_Chris_Benoit/13453472.
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Typically they are known as ‘smarks’, collectively they are known as the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC). This study of the mostly internet-based texts of the IWC shows that members of that informal alliance largely conform to the norms of fan culture and behaviour described in previous studies of fans in other entertainment genres. Celebrity is shown to be a product of publicity, promotion and fanaticism, and audiences connect with stars through involvement with the characters they portray and they identify with actualities as presented in the media. Fan culture involves obsession to know everything about the stars, worship and moral judgement. However, it is contended in this dissertation that there are factors that distinguish the IWC from other large fan groups. These arise in part from the unique format of pro-wrestling as a blend of theatrical and sporting product, and in part from the convergent technological ground that enables such a widely-disbursed, anarchic and yet cohesive body to exist and exert influence. It is argued that the collective intelligence of the IWC members who produce, filter and remediate all manner of source material from gossip, rumour and speculation, to news, to secret wrestling ‘insider’ information has forced the dominant industry player, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to revaluate its production strategies. The role of the IWC in the breaking of kayfabe—the industry code of silence on the illusory aspect of wrestling—is highlighted. Using textual analysis technique this study focuses on the career rise and tragic downfall of former WWE performer Chris Benoit. It is contended that this wrestling veteran became a significant marketing image of the WWE’s global media empire as a direct result of the influence of the smarks of the IWC.
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(9776384), Wayne Ah-Wong. "Living between cultures: Reflections of three Mackay elders: Aboriginal, Torres Strait Island and South Sea Island residents in Mackay from the 1930s to 2000." Thesis, 2007. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Living_between_cultures_Reflections_of_three_Mackay_elders_Aboriginal_Torres_Strait_Island_and_South_Sea_Island_residents_in_Mackay_from_the_1930s_to_2000/13420676.
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The Thesis explores the life situations of the three Mackay-based groups: Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander through oral history research and the lived experience of an Elder from each of these groups. Using a combination of oral and written approaches, the project seeks to document ongoing interactions between the three groups from the 1930s and assess their implications for culture, identity and mobility
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Li, Xun. "Palynological evidence of vegetation dynamics in relatively undisturbed and disturbed sites in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1751.
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New Zealand forest has been affected by both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Protecting and restoring indigenous forest is one of the focal issues in conservation of New Zealand, and understanding vegetation dynamics is a key part of management strategies. The longevity of most of New Zealand trees impedes short-term vegetation dynamic studies. Instead fossil pollen records provide one of the most valuable sources of long term data to trace vegetation development. In this study, pollen records are used as proxies of vegetation population to test the roles of long-term climate change and transient environmental disturbances in vegetation dynamics. Two sediment cores, from Sponge Swamp, Haast, and Tiniroto Lakes, Gisborne, were collected as representatives of undisturbed and disturbed sites, the former being used as a reference site to separate out the effects of climate and evaluate the impact of disturbance on the vegetation. Pollen data were inspected using Tilia, and zones defined. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on pollen data to summarise the change in species composition over time, and the sample scores of the first PCA axis were exploited as an index of vegetation dynamics for further comparison. Redundancy analysis (RDA) is also applied to help interpretation of the vegetation change with respect to environmental factors. The result of this study indicates that the vegetation development in both sites is characterized by non-equilibrium dynamics, in which vegetation composition is changing continually through time. In Sponge Swamp, this change is steady and consistent over the whole time span, with a consistent decline of Ascarina lucida and a progressive increase of cold tolerant or moisture-stressed taxa, like Gleichenia and Lycopodium australianum. Subsequently there is a partial replacement of swamp forest taxa such as Dacrycarps dacrydioides and tree ferns by Prumnopitys taxifolia, and further expansion of Nothofagus and Phyllocladus is distinguished. A climate gradient, from mild and wet to cooler and/or drier is suggested from the pollen evidence, and appears the driving force for the vegetation dynamics at that undisturbed site. At Tiniroto, however, the vegetation development is divided into two stages. Before c. 2300 yr BP, the vegetation change is steady and consistent which is comparable to that from Sponge Swamp. A forest invasion, a process of gradually replacing open land and light-adapted taxa, such as Dodonaea viscosa, Coprosma, Pseudopanax, Schefflera digitata, Pteridium, Hebe and members of the family Fabaceae and Asteraceae, by increasing proportions of forest taxa, characterise this change. Climate amelioration with increased rainfall is responsible. After c. 2300 yr BP, this trend was frequently punctuated by disturbances, in which sudden changes of vegetation occur, generating substantial fluctuations about the trend. From RDA, sample age explains more than 20% of the variance of species data at both sites. The long-term directional climate change derived from pollen evidence of Sponge Swamp and at least partly at the Tiniroto site, may be represented by the explanatory variable age. At Tiniroto, additional variance is also explained by the explanatory variables charcoal and pollen taxonomic richness, suggesting the impact of disturbance on vegetation dynamics. The impact of disturbance on vegetation dynamics becomes clearer after the climate gradient is removed. Autocorrelation analysis on detrended sample scores of the first PCA axis suggests further differences between the two sites, in response to local disturbances. There is little dependence of the present state of vegetation composition on its past state in the Sponge Swamp site; instead, the vegetation composition is affected by various "random" events, implying small disturbances such as floods, or landslides caused by earthquakes etc. At Tiniroto, the change of vegetation composition is more "successional", and the present state of vegetation depends only on the immediate past state, due to the impact of catastrophic disturbance. Despite the Tiniroto site having been subjected to a long history of disturbance, the climate gradient, which is distinct at the earlier stage, becomes less identifiable and partially masked by outbreaks of disturbances only since c. 2300 yr BP. This implies that the relative role of disturbance on vegetation dynamics with respect to climate is depended on different types or different levels of disturbances and different responses by the vegetation. Short-term vegetation responses to different types of disturbance were examined by fine resolution pollen analyses around five disturbance episodes, including the Taupo (1850±10 yr BP), Waimihia (3280±20 yr BP), Whakatane (4830±20 yr BP) eruptions, and two charcoal peaks (c. 1100 yr BP and c. 2300 yr BP). Almost no vegetation change occurred relative to the eruption within the Whakatane and Waimihia episodes, except that a temporary rise of shrubs and ferns corresponded with intermittent occurrence of charcoal particles. Substantial vegetation change relative to disturbance was found within both the Taupo episode and the fire episode around c. 2300 yr BP, in which establishment of ensuing semi-open vegetation was encouraged for decades. The fire c. 2300 yr BP transformed part of the forest into fernland, while the Taupo eruption turned part of the shrubs and tree ferns into bracken field. Although it is difficult to judge the effect of the fire around 1100 yr BP as the result was unreliable due to contamination, the vegetation at Tiniroto is suggested to be more vulnerable to fire than tephra. Non-equilibrium dynamics are common in New Zealand forests, even at stable sites such as Sponge Swamp, due to climate change. Locally these non-equilibrium dynamics appear highly responsive to disturbances, esp. at Tiniroto. Even disturbances at Tiniroto are dynamic and a change of disturbance regime is suggested around the later disturbance episodes. This change is possibly due to climate increasing the fire frequency, but an alternative explanation is the presence of humans earlier than currently accepted. Forests and forest ecological studies in New Zealand are very dynamic, and forest management needs to improve to incorporate these dynamics.
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Rees, Daniel. "Role of age and physical disability in person perception." 2005. http://arrow.unisa.edu.au:8081/1959.8/46714.
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This thesis has three key aims, firstly to explore the effects that perceived age and ability have on person perception. Secondly to discover how these two constructs add to the theory on person perception and thirdly, to test a new methodological approach to the study of person perception.
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Davy, Carol. "Primary health care: knowledge development and application in Papua New Guinea." 2009. http://arrow.unisa.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/unisa:38312.
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Research into the use of information by health care professionals has generally been conducted in countries dominated by the biomedical model. In these contexts, illness is considered to have a scientifically identifiable physical cause, and treatment practices within the formal health care sector are prescribed and managed in accordance with this definition. Yet there are also contexts where other belief systems inform and guide the way that people think about their health. In comparison to the biomedical model, these contexts have contributed very little to our understanding of how health professionals develop their knowledge. This research investigates how primary health care workers (PHCWs) in one such context, Papua New Guinea (PNG), develop their knowledge about the health services they provide. In order to discover and understand the differing views of these PHCWs, 69 semi-structured interviews were conducted in three culturally and geographically diverse regions of PNG. In explaining the diagnostic and treatment practices they use, these participants provided insights into not only how PHCWs engage with information but also how it informs their professional practice. These data were analysed, interpreted and discussed using a framework consisting of four, primary but interconnecting aspects: the context in which information was provided, the interactions with the sources of information, the processes by which information was understood, and the outcomes realized as a result of the information being used. Findings indicated that the majority of participants in this study acknowledged, if not incorporated, information pertaining to biomedicine, Christianity and Indigenous belief systems into their diagnostic and treatment practices. Even when these belief systems clearly contradicted each other, PHCWs did not in general feel the need to make a conscious choice between them. From their comments it would appear that four factors contributed to this ability to incorporate diverse and often conflicting ideas into the way that patients were cared for. First, all of the belief systems were considered legitimate by at least one group of people connected to the community in which the PHCW worked. Second, although varying in degrees of availability and accessibility, members of these groups were able to disseminate information pertaining to the belief system they supported. Third, the PHCW had no particular affiliation with any one of these groups but instead regularly interacted with a range of different people. Lastly, the PHCW worked in situations where health practices were not generally well supervised by their employers and therefore they were relatively free to choose between various diagnostic and treatment practices. The qualitative interpretive approach adopted in this thesis contributes to the field of human information behavior by affirming that conflict is in the eye of the beholder. When a number of belief systems coexist and all are considered legitimate, information about them is freely available, and the recipients actions are neither constrained by their own dogma, nor imposed upon by others, individuals may quite comfortably embrace diverse beliefs. These findings may also contribute to a better understanding of health management practices in developing countries by suggesting that health professionals are not merely personifications of a biomedical model. Instead, the study demonstrates that multiple belief systems can be combined by PHCWs, and that in turn this benefits the formal health care sector through increased treatment options that are both appropriate and effective in such circumstances.
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(6630641), Mackenzie M. Sullivan. "The Role of Differentiation of Self and Gender on the Experience of Psychological Aggression by a Romantic Partner." Thesis, 2019.
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The study aimed to understand and advance the dynamics that influence psychological aggression. Psychological aggression can be defined as, verbal and non-verbal communication with the intent to harm another person mentally or emotionally, and/or control another person. In our society, the occurrence of psychological aggression in relationships is far more tolerated then physical aggression, but the effects can be more long term and harmful. The study hypothesized that an individual’s level of differentiation of self--a person’s ability to differentiate between feeling and thinking in times of stress--and their gender have a role in the severity of psychological aggression. The study was approved by IRB and using an online survey through MTurk asked participants about experiencing and perpetrating psychological aggression in their romantic relationships. The study had 192 participates in the multiple regression analyses, who provided some support that the level of differentiation of self and severity of psychological aggression, experiencing and perpetrating, have a negative significant relationship. Gender was found to not impact the relationship between differentiation of self and severity of psychological aggression. Clinical implications, limitations, and future directions for research were addressed.
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Kalaitzidis, Evdokia. "professional ethics for professional nursing." 2006. http://arrow.unisa.edu.au:8081/1959.8/30081.
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The thesis proposes and defends a maxim which can serve as a foundation and guideline for professional ethics in nursing, the maxim that nurses should act so far as possible to promote patient's self-determination. The thesis is informed by philosophical ethics and by knowledge of professional nursing practice.
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(6581261), Christa L. Jennings. "Social Media in Politics: Exploring Trump's Rhetorical Strategy During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign Within Twitter's Discursive Space." Thesis, 2019.
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The prevalence of social media in political campaigns are changing the face of politics in the United States and abroad. The rapid pace at which this change is occurring demands inquiry into the previously unexplored area of unconventional political campaign messaging practices on social media. Investigation of Donald Trump’s use of tweets as rhetorical strategy in the discursive space of Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign revealed a bypass of traditional media and its source verification processes. This circumventing of mainstream media channels facilitated Trump’s deployment of an unchecked ‘broken system’ narrative alleging government corruption
and a rigged system. Trump’s tweet discourses tapped into existing feelings of disenfranchisement and disaffection felt by a self-identified politically marginalized segment of society. This study
investigates how social media use in political campaigns can serve as a public sphere for contestation of social and political norms. An interdisciplinary theoretical frame comprised of Feenberg’s critical theory of technology, McLuhan’s media ecology, Fraser’s counterpublic spheres, and Iser’s implied reader offer new understandings about the power of anti-establishment discourses and a hybrid discursive space to destabilize governing institutions and redefine social and political identities. Study of Trump’s tweets as rhetorical strategy granted insights into the social and political capacity of alternative truth to undermine the political process. Further, it uncovered the power of social media to awaken and leverage existing political identities for personal political gain.
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(9037970), Negin H. Goodrich. "ENGLISH IN IRAN: CULTURAL REPRESENETATION IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS." Thesis, 2020.
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This investigation into the status of English in Iran and cultural presentations in Iranian English has two areas of emphasis. The first is a sociolinguistic profile of English in Iran in which the status, functions, uses and users of this language are described within in the country’s social and political contexts. In this part, contributing factors to the growth of English in three political periods, including the Qajar dynasty (1796 -1925), the Pahlavi era (1925-1979) and post-Revolutionary time (1979 – present), are elaborated upon to establish the historical and political bases for the second area of focus.
The second focus is the cultural content in the locally developed English textbooks used from 1939 to the present time (2020). Accordingly, the content of four generations (across five textbook series) of Iranian high school English textbooks are analyzed based on an evaluation scheme which the author has developed. This research finds answers to the questions on the status of culture in the Iranian English textbooks; distribution of Iranian and non-Iranian cultures; dominance of cultural elements (products, practices and perspectives) in each English textbooks series; and the political and ideological influence of each era on the content of English textbooks.
This investigation finds that the English textbooks which were developed before the Islamic Revolution (first and second generations) were highly cultural compared to the post-Revolution materials (third and fourth generations). Also, non-Iranian cultural components (particularly the American and British cultures) were more represented in the English textbooks of the Pahlavi period, whereas Western cultures were all eliminated in the post-Revolution textbooks, replaced by the Islamic/Revolutionary cultures. Additionally, cultural perspectives outnumbered cultural products and practices in the first and second generations of English textbooks (Pahlavi era) whereas cultural products dominated the post-Revolutionary English materials. This study finds that political and ideological hegemony of each era have directly influenced the textual and illustrative content of locally developed English textbooks in Iran.
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(9779444), Nathan Barrett. "Rainbow suits at work: Disclosure and discrimination in the workplace against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex employees." Thesis, 2011. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Rainbow_suits_at_work_Disclosure_and_discrimination_in_the_workplace_against_gay_lesbian_bisexual_transgender_and_intersex_employees/13457786.
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"This exploratory study examined people who self identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex (GLBTI) to determine the extent of workplace discrimination based on sexual identity in Queensland" -- Abstract.
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(9816983), Andrew Maybanks. ""Shut the gate": A social history of beef cattle exhibiting at the Mackay Show and its relationship to the region's beef industry." Thesis, 2003. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/_Shut_the_gate_A_social_history_of_beef_cattle_exhibiting_at_the_Mackay_Show_and_its_relationship_to_the_region_s_beef_industry/13426811.
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"Shut the Gate" was a project initiated and sponsored by the Beef Cattle sub-Committee of the Mackay and District Agricultural, Pastoral and Industrial Association Inc., in collaboration with Central Queensland University. Its goal was to research, write and publish an attractive, engaging and informative account of the history of cattle showing in Mackay, with particular emphasis on the relationship between the regional industry and the 123 year old annual Mackay Show. While the project throws considerable light on the influence that cattle showing has had on the development ofthe beef industry, and the important role it plays in generating and maintaining a positive awareness of the industry among town folk, it is essentially about people. The book celebrates the trials, tribulations and triumphs of those who breed, raise, and compete with beef cattle in the Mackay district. "Shut the Gate" was a commissioned work, with the Beef Cattle sub-Committee its primary sponsor. The essential brief was to prepare 'a readable social history' for possible publication. This in effect meant that the book needed to be written in a style accessible to its anticipated target audience, such as participants in the beef industry, rural primary producers, regular patrons of the Mackay Show, and local history enthusiasts. Its content and tone therefore, reflects this audience. It is a work ofacademic scholarship presented in the form of a textually accessible local history that is not only informative but also a pleasurable experience for the intended reader. The book is introduced by a dissertation that reflects on the research and writing process.
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(6564809), Elisabeth Krueger. "Dynamics of Coupled Natural-Human-Engineered Systems: An Urban Water Perspective on the Sustainable Management of Security and Resilience." Thesis, 2019.
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The security, resilience and sustainability of water supply in urban areas are of major concern in cities around the world. Their dynamics and long-term trajectories result from external change processes, as well as adaptive and maladaptive management practices aiming to secure urban livelihoods. This dissertation examines the dynamics of urban water systems from a social-ecological-technical systems perspective, in which infrastructure and institutions mediate the human-water-ecosystem relationship.
The three concepts of security, resilience and sustainability are often used interchangeably, making the achievement of goals addressing such challenges somewhat elusive. This becomes evident in the international policy arena, with the UN Sustainable Development Goals being the most prominent example, in which aspirations for achieving the different goals for different sectors lead to conflicting objectives. Similarly, the scientific literature remains inconclusive on characterizations and quantifiable metrics. These and other urban water challenges facing the global urban community are discussed, and research questions and objectives are introduced in Section 1.
In Section 2, I suggest distinct definitions of urban water security, resilience and sustainability: Security refers to the state of system functioning regarding water services; resilience refers to ability to absorb shocks, to adapt and transform, and therefore describes the dynamic, short- to medium-term system behavior in response to shocks and disturbances; sustainability aims to balance the needs in terms of ecology and society (humans and the economic systems they build) of today without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations. Therefore, sustainability refers to current and long-term impacts on nature and society of maintaining system functions, and therefore affects system trajectories. I suggest that sustainability should include not only local effects, but consider impacts across scales and sectors. I propose methods for the quantification of urban water security, resilience and sustainability, an approach for modeling dynamic water system behavior, as well as an integrated framework combining the three dimensions for a holistic assessment of urban water supply systems. The framework integrates natural, human and engineered system components (“Capital Portfolio Approach”) and is applied to a range of case study cities selected from a broad range of hydro-climatic and socio-economic regions on four continents. Data on urban water infrastructure and services were collected from utilities in two cities (Amman, Jordan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia), key stakeholder interviews and a household survey conducted in Amman. Publicly available, empirical utility data and globally accessible datasets were used to support these and additional case studies.
The data show that community adaptation significantly contributes to urban water security and resilience, but the ability to adapt is highly heterogeneous across and within cities, leading to large inequality of water security. In cities with high levels of water security and resilience, adaptive capacity remains latent (inactive), while water-insecure cities rely on community adaptation for the self-provision of services. The framework is applied for assessing individual urban water systems, as well as for cross-city comparison for different types of cities. Results show that cities fall along a continuous gradient, ranging from water insecure and non-resilient cities with inadequate service provision prone to failure in response to extant shock regimes, to water secure and resilient systems with high levels of services and immediate recovery after shocks. Although limited by diverse constraints, the analyses show that urban water security and resilience tend to co-evolve, whereas sustainability, which considers local and global sustainable management, shows highly variable results across cities. I propose that the management of urban water systems should maintain a balance of security, resilience and sustainability.
The focus in Section 3 is on intra-city patterns and mechanisms, which contribute to urban water security, resilience and sustainability. In spite of engineering design and planning, and against common expectations, intra-city patterns emerge from self-organizing processes similar to those found in nature. These are related to growth processes following the principle of preferential attachment and functional efficiency considerations, which lead to Pareto power-law probability distributions characteristic of scale-free-like structures. Results presented here show that such structures are also present in urban water distribution and sanitary sewer networks, and how deviation from such specific patterns can result in vulnerability towards cascading failures. In addition, unbounded growth, unmanaged demand and unregulated water markets can lead to large inequality, which increases failure vulnerability.
The introduction of infrastructure and institutions for providing urban water services intercedes and mediates the human-water relationship. Complexity of infrastructural and institutional setups, growth patterns, management strategies and practices result in different levels of disconnects between citizens and the ecosystems providing freshwater resources. “Invisibility” of services to citizens results from maximized water system performance. It can lead to a lack of awareness about the effort and underlying infrastructure and institutions that operate for delivering services. Data for the seven cities illustrate different portfolios of complexity, invisibility and disconnection. Empirical data gathered in a household survey and key stakeholder interviews in Amman reveals that a misalignment of stakeholder perceptions resulting from the lack of information flow between citizens and urban managers can be misguiding and can constrain the decision-making space. Unsustainable practices are fostered by invisibility and disconnection and exacerbate the threats to urban water security and resilience. Such challenges are investigated in the context of urban water system traps: the poverty and the rigidity trap. Results indicate that urban water poverty is associated with local unsustainability, while rigidity traps combined with urban demand growth gravitate towards global unsustainability.
Returning to the city-level in Section 4, I investigate urban water system evolution. The question how the trajectories of urban water security, resilience and sustainability can be managed is examined using insights from hydrological and social-ecological systems research. I propose an “Urban Budyko Landscape”, which compares urban water supply systems to hydrological catchments and highlights the different roles of supply- and demand-management of water and water-related urban services. A global assessment of 38 cities around the world puts the seven case studies in perspective, emphasizing the relevance of the proposed framework and the representative, archetypal character of the selected case studies.
Furthermore, I examine how managing for the different dimensions of the CPA (capital availability, robustness, risk and sustainable management) determines the trajectories of urban water systems. This is done by integrating the CPA with the components of social-ecological system resilience, which explain how control of the different components determines the movement of systems through states of security and resilience in a stability landscape. Finally, potential feedbacks resulting from the global environment are investigated with respect to the role that globally sustainable local and regional water management can play in determining the trajectories of urban water systems. These assessments demonstrate how the impact of supply-oriented strategies reach beyond local, regional and into global boundaries for meeting a growing urban demand, and come at the cost of global sustainability and communities elsewhere.
Despite stark differences between individual cities and large heterogeneities within cities, convergent trends and patterns emerge across systems and are revealed through application of the proposed concepts and frameworks. The implications of these findings are discussed in Section 5, and are summarized here as follows:
1) The management of urban water systems needs to move beyond the security and resilience paradigms, which focus on current system functioning and short-term behavior. Sustaining a growing global, urban population will require addressing the long-term, cross-scale and inter-sector impacts of achieving and maintaining urban water security and resilience.
2) Emergent spatial patterns are driven by optimization for the objective functions. Avoiding traps, cascading failure, extreme inequality and maintaining global urban livability requires a balance of supply- and demand-management, consideration of system complexity, size and reach (i.e., footprint), as well as internal structures and management strategies (connectedness and modularity).
3) Urban water security and resilience are threatened by long-term decline, which necessitates the transformation to urban sustainability. The key to sustainability lies in experimentation, modularization and the incorporation of interdependencies across scales, systems and sectors.
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(11104764), Allegra W. Smith. "Digital Age: A Study of Older Adults' User Experiences with Technology." Thesis, 2021.
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Older adults aged 60+ represent the fastest growing segment of the US population, yet they are rarely seen as users of technology. Members of this age cohort often struggle with the material and conceptual requirements of computing—such as clicking small targets or remembering usernames and passwords for account logins—leading them to adopt technologies like smartphones and social media at much lower rates than their younger counterparts. Digital devices and interfaces are not typically designed with older adult users in mind, even though all users are always aging, and the “silver economy” represents a powerful, and often untapped, market for technological innovations. The little existing research in this area often conflates age with disability, framing elders according to a deficit model. While it is certainly important to consider the impacts that aging bodies have on technology use, they are not the sole factor shaping usage for older age cohorts. Moreover, if we reduce elder users to their “impairments,” we risk stereotyping them in ways that curtail design possibilities, as well as these users’ possibilities for full participation in digital life. For this reason, studies of technology users aged 60+ and their communities are necessary to shed light on the multifaceted needs of older age cohorts, and the interventions into technology design, documentation, and education that can help them reach their digital goals.
To build an understanding of the unique technology use of a group of the oldest Americans (aged 75+), as well as to assess their needs and desires for digital engagement, I conducted interviews and observations with computer users in a senior living community. Data collection revealed a great diversity of computing purposes and activities, ranging from social functions such as email and messaging, to managing finance and medicine, to art and design applications, and beyond. Moreover, participants’ accounts of how and where they developed their computing skills shed light on their motivations for engaging with technology, as well as their fears of technology’s intrusiveness. Analysis of participants’ performance on a series of digital tasks yielded insights into physical and cognitive factors, as well as a clear divide in forms of knowledge and mental models that older adults draw upon when attempting to engage with technology. To conclude, I provide recommendations for technology design and education, as well as future research to account for age as a factor mediating user experience.