Facing the Unexpected presents the wealth of information derived from disasters around the world over the past 25 years. The authors explore how these findings can improve disaster programs, identify remaining research needs, and discuss disaster within the broader context of sustainable development. How do different people think about disaster? Are we more likely to panic or to respond with altruism? Why are 110 people killed in a Valujet crash considered disaster victims while the 50,000 killed annually in traffic accidents in the U.S. are not? At the crossroads of social, cultural, and economic factors, this book examines these and other compelling questions. The authors review the influences that shape the U.S. governmental system for disaster planning and response, the effectiveness of local emergency agencies, and the level of professionalism in the field. They also compare technological versus natural disaster and examine the impact of technology on disaster programs.
How emergent practices and developments in young people's digital media can result in technological innovation or lead to unintended learning experiences and unanticipated social encounters. Young people's use of digital media may result in various innovations and unexpected outcomes, from the use of videogame technologies to create films to the effect of home digital media on family life. This volume examines the core issues that arise when digital media use results in unintended learning experiences and unanticipated social encounters. The contributors examine the complex mix of emergent practices and developments online and elsewhere that empower young users to function as drivers of technological change, recognizing that these new technologies are embedded in larger social systems, school, family, friends. The chapters consider such topics as (un)equal access across economic, racial, and ethnic lines; media panics and social anxieties; policy and Internet protocols; media literacy; citizenship vs. consumption; creativity and collaboration; digital media and gender equity; shifting notions of temporality; and defining the public/private divide. Contributors Steve Anderson, Anne Balsamo, Justine Cassell, Meg Cramer, Robert A. Heverly, Paula K Hooper, Sonia Livingstone, Henry Lowood, Robert Samuels, Christian Sandvig, Ellen Seiter, Sarita Yardi
In 1900 many assumed the twentieth century would be a Christian century because Western "Christian empires" ruled most of the world. What happened instead is that Christianity in the West declined dramatically, the empires collapsed, and Christianity's center moved to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. How did this happen so quickly? Respected scholar and teacher Scott Sunquist surveys the most recent century of Christian history, highlighting epochal changes in global Christianity. He also suggests lessons we can learn from this remarkable global Christian reversal. Ideal for an introduction to Christianity or a church history course, this book includes a foreword by Mark Noll.
In most IT system development processes, the identification or elicitation of user requirements is recognized as a key building block. In practice, the identification of user needs and wants is a challenge and inadequate or faulty identifications in this step of an IT system development can cause huge problems with the final product. The elicitation of user requirements as such changes according to age groups;, to gender,; to cultural settings,; and into time; and experience in the use of the system/software. User requirements, therefore, cannot be used between projects, IT systems, and different software. That makes the elicitation of user requirements an inherent part of any software development project and a resourceful activity as well. This book provides insights to the process of identifying user requirements and to different types by describing varying case studies in which technologies or software has been developed. A variety of user requirements are provided illustrating the effect of changing the targeted user group with respect to age,; to the context and the different technologies or software as well as to the difference in viewpoint on ways of involving users in the elicitation process. Cases and user requirement elements discussed in the book include: User requirements elicitation processes for children, construction workers, and farmersUser requirements for personalized services of a broadcast companyVariations in user involvementPractical elements of user involvement and requirements elicitationUsable security requirements for design of privacy
This book reviews the performance and effectiveness of the Community Development Quotas (CDQ) programs that were formed as a result of the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996. The CDQ program is a method of allocating access to fisheries to eligible communities with the intent of promoting local social and economic conditions through participation in fishing-related activities. The book looks at those Alaskan fisheries that have experience with CDQs, such as halibut, pollock, sablefish, and crab, and comments on the extent to which the programs have met their objectivesâ€"helping communities develop ongoing commercial fishing and processing activities, creating employment opportunities, and providing capital for investment in fishing, processing, and support projects such as infrastructure. It also considers how CDQ-type programs might apply in the Western Pacific.
This volume gathers stories about how various art and creative forms of expression are used to enable voices from the margins, that is, of underrepresented individuals and communities, to take shape and form. Voice is not enough; stories and truths must be heard, must be listened to. And so the stories gathered here also speak to how creative processes enable conditions for listening and the development of empathy for other perspectives, which is essential for democracy. The chapters, including some that describe international projects, illustrate a variety of art-making practices such as poetry, visual art, film, theatre, music, and dance, and how they can support individuals and groups at the edges of mainstream society to tell their story and speak their truths, often the first steps to valuing one’s identity and organizing for change. Some of the authors are community-based artists who share stories thus bringing these creative endeavors into the wider conversation about the power of arts-making to open up spaces for dialogue across differences. Art practices outlined in this book can expand our visions by encouraging critical thinking and broadening our worldview. At this time on the earth when we face many serious challenges, the arts can stimulate hope, openness, and individual and collective imaginations for preferred futures. Inspiration comes from people who, at the edges of their community, communicate their experience.
This book explores the meanings of educational interactions which aim to promote peace and positive relationships. This analysis is based on theories of communication and active participation in education systems, in particular in intercultural settings. The book investigates the cultural presuppositions of dialogues which can empower participants expressions in interactions through the management of discussions and conflicts. These presuppositions are observed in the use of language in participants narratives and interactions. The book draws on the fine-grained analysis of a large corpus of questionnaires, interviews and videotaped interactions collected in 12 camps promoted by CISV (Children s International Summer Villages), an international organisation which is active in 70 countries. The analysis encompasses both organisational meetings and educational activities involving adults, children and adolescents of several nationalities, and shows the importance of the different ways in which the adults who coordinate these meetings and activities act and use language. These different ways of acting in interactions can promote both empowering dialogues and disempowering monologues, with important consequences for the fulfilment of educational purposes. For its contents, theoretical framework and methodology, the book may be of interest for educators, teachers, experts in mediation, scholars and students in cultural sociology, sociolinguistics, communication studies, discourse studies and dialogue studies."
A comprehensive account of how India fought the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, Stop Predicting, Revisit Life offers a 360-degree account of the unprecedented health crisis brought on by the pandemic, from the reverse migration of millions of migrant workers to the debilitating impact of a lockdown that led to the biggest annual contraction of the Indian economy since 1952. It is based on deep analysis of official data and documents released by the government and international institutions, the debates in Indian Parliament, official reports tabled therein and information collected from the ground during the pandemic. While offering new policy and legislative measures to combat a COVID-19-like pandemic in the future, Stop Predicting, Revisit Life explores in detail issues of how we perceive life, what it takes to be resilient and how we can work together as society.
