Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine how game framing and task framing influence experienced meaningfulness (eudaimonia) and perceived enjoyment (hedonia), which, in turn, can account for user participation behavior in citizen science projects.

The authors designed and implemented a citizen science system, Citizen Sort, and used a survey method to investigate to what extent game framing and task framing influence participation behavior. PLS–SEM was used to test research hypotheses with 76 Citizen Sort participants.

Analysis confirmed that game framing and task framing have a significant impact on perceived enjoyment, but showed that only task framing has a direct effect on experienced meaningfulness. The effects of experienced meaningfulness on participation were fully mediated by perceived enjoyment. Content analysis of qualitative data revealed additional insights.

This research is limited due to its sample size and considered as an exploratory study, in which PLS–SEM was used to identify the impact of game framing and task framing as well as support the theory development regarding the dual nature of citizen science games.

This research provided suggestions for scientists, designers and project initiators that game framing and task framing should be effectively integrated to provide enjoyable and meaningful experiences so as to promote user contribution.

This research is one of initial studies which explored the impact of dual nature of citizen science games. The findings of this study provide the groundwork for guidelines and strategies to facilitate user contribution in citizen science projects.

This paper analyses the divide between the information professional and the community. It focuses on topics such as social exclusion and the bibliographical explosion; information and knowledge production; the social impact of public libraries; the role of the information specialist in a developing society; reading habits; critical reading education; and the role of public libraries in an information society.

This paper studies the role of heritage walks and tours in promoting inclusive education. It assesses if these walks are an effective method of exhibiting culture and facilitating inclusive heritage learning. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to establish that walks can play an imperative role in creating greater sensitivity towards heritage and conservation.

The study uses a case study approach using mixed methods. Participants for qualitative interviews were chosen using purposive sampling and six interview schedules were sent to walk leaders. Walk participant data were collected through participant observation and standardised survey with randomly selected participants of the case walks. Surveys were sent to participants electronically.

Heritage walks play a crucial role in not only imparting knowledge about history and heritage but also as a tool for learning other crucial skills, competencies, values, attitudes, etc. This paper attempts to highlight that walks are an effective and inclusive way to shed light on the alternative and forgotten stories. As an educational tool these walks can not only encourage the development of historical knowledge and appreciation but also assist in the development of competency to “de-construct” mainstream “grand narratives”, questioning and learning about the forgotten.

This paper has limited itself to the study of select cases in New Delhi. Since the study has followed a case study design, it does not produce a largely generalizable result, but rather examines and understands the dynamics of particular walks and produces insights that may well be applicable in other contexts. Whilst this paper makes an attempt to understand the changes in perception and attitudes, it does not study behavioural changes.

In the long run, walks allow for meaningful citizen engagement with tangible heritage such as monuments as well as intangible heritage such as practices and festivals. This allows for appreciation for the value of heritage resources and leads to a demand for better conservation and preservation from the authorities. In a few cases, local citizens themselves lead heritage management and development activities in a bid to promote their local culture. This paper has shown that heritage walks can be helpful tools in giving “forgotten” voices and stories recognition in contemporary society.

As heritage walks have recently gained popularity, there has been very limited research in the field especially linking heritage walks to heritage education. This is especially true for India. Even a city like New Delhi, which boasts of a robust heritage and is one of the tourism hubs of the country, heritage walks have been a very recent phenomenon. This research aims to address this lacuna in academic research and contribute meaningfully to the field of heritage education and conservation by studying how heritage walks support and promote inclusive heritage education.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the research techniques used by the author in collecting, analysing and writing life histories of women in the war during Namibia's independence struggle. The interest in recording and writing about these women arose because writing about the independence struggle of Namibia is dominated by men and little has been written about women; the little that is written tends to portray women as victims rather than as independent actors conscious of their decisions and the consequences of such decisions. This history is in danger of being lost if not tapped while these women are still alive.

A life history approach was followed to appraise the methods used to listening to the women narrating their life stories and to listen to their life stories narrated by those who knew them, worked with them, and shared a prison experience with them. These stories were collected through open interviews followed by more structured interviews with list of open-ended questions with each woman. Life history follows an induction approach, starting with the story and using the stories to create themes and a method or framework guiding the interview recordings, analysing, writing and presentation of the story.

The stories of the five women led to the demystification of woman as mere victims of repressive regimes and military conflicts. In collecting oral history sources on a subject such as the liberation struggle in a society that was torn apart by a prolonged military conflict, apartheid and repression, a researcher must respect the stories as told, but an extensive verification of the credibility and reliability of the sources may be required. Authenticity is undermined by the fact that the current society glorifies the independence struggle, and everybody wants to be on the side of the winners, even those that fought against liberation have today become its evangelists.

The sources for the paper depend on what the women could still remember and there are no local institutions such as archives and or newspapers to document the events when they happened.

This paper argues the case that publishing women's life stories promotes interests in local history and makes significant impact on the socioeconomic status of women. It further recommends methodological approaches in documenting local histories; dealing with authenticity and integrity in each story.

The paper shows that publishing the life stories of five village women in a book with the title Tears of Courage had positive impact on their individual lives; and that publishing such oral accounts is an excellent way to lift the contributions by women out of obscurity into the mainstream of Namibian history.

It is an original paper written from practical research experiences of identifying sources, documenting, interviewing, analysing, writing and constantly cross referencing to verify authenticity and integrity of both written and oral sources.

Stories are powerful teaching tools because of their potential to stimulate the imagination of students and engage them with the material. The short story gives meaning to abstract concepts, aids memory, makes learning fun, and is time efficient. This article explains the approach to teaching information literacy through the use of short stories, including how to create vivid connections to the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Provides course instructors with examples of how the short story can be used as a platform to discuss information literacy standards.

THE new library building has been open for six months now. It is pleasantly situated in an area of new buildings, and occupies a prominent island site just on the edge of the shopping centre. The old library was in the middle of a shopping area, and it has been interesting to note that our removal from that site has had a more considerable effect on the traffic pattern than one would have thought.

This paper aims to reintroduce to proponents of natural disaster readiness worldwide the history and content of the most renowned tsunami mitigation tale in Japan, “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) for the purpose of reconnecting with its many virtues that have made it a cross-cultural pedagogical catalyst for tsunami preparedness education. At a time in the planet's history when global warming mitigation and pandemic advertence in a milieu in which equity, diversity and human rights are highly valued, the insights it contains pertaining to tsunami preparedness, plot design and the politics of its popularity make it particularly instructive.

The study used methods, approaches and techniques prevalent in cultural anthropology, i.e. primary texts, historical analysis, linguistic natural hazard preparedness education theory and ethnographic insights to assess how and why “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) has come to be used so broadly on an international scale as a tsunami preparedness teaching tool and the politics involved in this process.

The study revealed that the cross-cultural relevance of “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) is related to its unique authorship and development which has cultivated in it three qualities highly compatible with effective disaster mitigation at the international level. These are the simplicity of its message, the practical advice it dispenses and the universally agreeable morality it supports. However, the way in which the Japanese Government has promoted this story does not effectively encourage equity, diversity, or a respect for human rights as a major facilitator of preparedness among the many nations like itself in the region and in the world that are vulnerable to natural hazards.

The main limitations of the study are that it is based on a historic investigation of the origins of “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) using materials in English and Japanese, a genealogical interpretation of the story using approaches prevalent in translation studies and a qualitative analysis of historical uses of the story, all of which are difficult to quantify. Since the study seeks to find social and cultural patterns in the relevant material presented, the analysis reflects a subjectivity common in all social scientific studies of this kind.

Educating its readers about tsunami preparedness is one of the most important functions of this paper. The study confirms that “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) provides Japanese and non-Japanese alike with the opportunity to envision and construct a customized culturally specific sense of tsunami readiness by harnessing this dynamic. For Japanese, the story provides a chance to contemplate an astute view of Japanese-style tsunami management from the viewpoint of an outsider who became a well-respected citizen. For non-Japanese, the story offers an opportunity to be reflexive about tsunami readiness based on a cross-culturally adaptable template that Hamaguchi's protagonist Gohei provides.

Pedagogically speaking, “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) makes the most sense when regarded as a starting point for preparing for any natural disaster anywhere. The story reminds us that the most educational, globally relevant tsunami preparedness narratives are those that complement and extend the latest of what the world knows about these destructive ocean waves to keep vulnerable citizens safe and alive. This study reveals that as important as the story is the politics of its delivery to provide the best first line of defense against tsunami amnesia which in Japan and many other countries has historically taken far too many lives.

The paper argues that “Inamura no Hi” (“The Rice Bale Fire”) is an example of a tsunami preparedness story that contains a variety of insights that continue to contribute to tsunami awareness education cross culturally that must not be underestimated. However, the way it is currently promoted by the Japanese Government needs to be improved, so that more representatives from more countries involved in tsunami preparedness and natural hazard readiness worldwide can benefit. These are insights not accessible by a researcher who is not bilingual in English and Japanese; thus, by using an ethnographic approach and participant observation utilizing both languages as part of long-term fieldwork, the researcher can gain these insights.

OUR issue devotes special attention this month to the subject of the library for children. There is a common inclination to regard this subject as the most over‐written in all branches of library literature. It certainly is the part of our work which leads to much sentimental verbiage. These are dangers against which we are on our guard; they may be inevitable, but we do not think they are. As a matter of fact there has been a great deal of talk about this matter by people who have ideas and ideals, but who have had no real experience in applying them. The paper by Mr. Berwick Savers, written for the Library Association Conference, points out very cogently what has been wanting in library work in this country. This question of the children's librarian has not been faced anywhere in what may be called the ultimate manner; that is, as a distinct, specialist branch of library work, requiring high qualifications and deserving good payment. There will be no really successful library work of the kind in Great Britain until this is done.

The authors explore the concept of leaders as storytellers and suggest that this approach to leadership is helpful as a way of communicating effectively with people. The authors conclude that story skills are also helpful for people with mental health problems to create their own recovery stories, frontline staff designing their professional development and leaders negotiating organisational change.