Impostering: Complicating Power in Social Practice

How can we complicate the dynamics between insider and outsider in socially engaged art? Through ficto-criticism, this thesis explores the intricacy of power and position and place and practice in crossing boundaries. Socially engaged art is by nature an imposter practice, reaching out into communities, institutions, and other disciplines. This act is not currently always done intentionally in a way that fully owns up to power (particularly funding), identity, and context. As a result, we as social practice artists and arts organizations often sometimes do work we are inexperienced to handle, labour for projects misaligns with available resources, thinking can be co-opted by boosterist social innovation frameworks, and other problematic engagements. Social practice writing is currently divided between those who dismiss it as anti-aesthetic and overly utopian and those who are uncritically hopeful about its liberatory potential. With this work I instead seek a self-reflexive operator working intentionally within shifting hierarchies and contexts to pursue complexity. I use ficto-critical writing as a methodology for implicating myself in the work and gaining a nuanced perspective—both critical and generous—after four years of work in the field. I weave in three coherent conversations with artists—Cristóbal Martinez, Orev Katz, and cheyanne turions—as a way of articulating difficulties and possibilities. I conclude by determining that making boundaries and crossing them are parallel impulses each with a multitude of motives, and propose a process of owning up both inwardly in relation to subject position and externally in relation to context as a way of acting with intention. I articulate this as impostering, an intentional crossing of boundaries, leveraging or ceding power from within, or interfering in relation to difficulty and complexity

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in patients with liver disease in eastern China

The role of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in the pathogenesis of liver disease has recently gained much interest. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in patients with liver disease from three cities in Shandong and Henan provinces, China. A case–control study was conducted from December 2014 to November 2015 and included 1142 patients with liver disease and 1142 healthy controls. Serum samples were collected from all individuals and were examined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the presence of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies. Information on the demographics, clinical, and lifestyle characteristics of the participants was collected from the medical records and by the use of a questionnaire. The prevalence of anti-T. gondii IgG was 19·7% in patients with liver disease compared with 12·17% in the controls. Only 13 patients had anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies compared with 12 control individuals (1·14% vs. 1·05%, respectively). The highest seroprevalence was detected in patients with liver cancer (22·13%), followed by hepatitis patients (20·86%), liver cirrhosis patients (20·42%), and steatosis patients (20%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that consumption of raw meat (odds ratio (OR) = 1·32; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·01–1·71; P = 0·03) and source of drinking water from wells (OR = 1·56; 95% CI 1·08–2·27; P = 0·01) were independent risk factors for T. gondii infection in liver disease patients. These findings indicate that T. gondii infection is more likely to be present in patients with liver disease. Therefore, efforts should be directed toward health education of populations at high risk of T. gondii infection and measures should be taken to protect vulnerable patients with liver disease

Dataverse Depositor Checklist

This checklist is intended to streamline pre-deposit work for submission in Dataverse. Sent to depositors, it supports them as a one-page "pre-flight" document in preparing for data deposit (documentation, sensitive data considerations, citations and credit, and file formats and organization). It also outlines considerations for depositing data - adding a license, making sure data are findable through thorough metadata, linked by researcher persistent identifiers, and more. This document augments our more comprehensive McMaster Dataverse Data Deposit Guidelines (https://rdm.mcmaster.ca/sites/default/files/2022-06-Data-Deposit-Guidelines-McMaster-Dataverse_0.pdf) and McMaster Dataverse Deposit Walkthrough (https://rdm.mcmaster.ca/sites/default/files/2022-06-McMaster-Dataverse-Deposit-Walkthrough.pdf) documents. Items marked with an asterisk * are mandatory for submissions

McMaster Dataverse Curation Log

This McMaster Dataverse Curation Log was adapted from the Dataverse Curation Guide (https://zenodo.org/records/5579820 - framed around the acronym CURATION) which itself was updated and adapted from the Data Curation Network’s CURATE(D) Steps (https://datacurationnetwork.org/outputs/workflows/). Our list aligns with on-the-ground needs and realities of data sharing at McMaster and is intended to be updated as the program expands. Questions are phrased such that “YES” always indicates the dataset is ready for publication

“Do you have a brother? I have two!”: The Nature of Questions Asked and Answered in Text-Focused Pen Pal Exchanges

Authentic learning experiences are those in which students engage with texts as well as the behaviors of reading and writing within contexts of real-world use beyond traditional academic use. This study provides quantitative analysis of how students (n=200) engaged with an adult pen pal in a shared literacy experience. Findings indicate that students actively participated with their adult pen pals asking and answering more personal questions than literature-based questions. Data were disaggregated for reading ability and gender. Students who were considered above-grade level readers asked and answered significantly more questions than students considered below grade level in reading. Girls asked significantly more questions, both personal and literature-based, than boys, however there were no significant differences in the number of questions answered. Implications and need for future research are discussed

A Vision for Research Data Management (RDM) at McMaster

Submitted by the authors on behalf of the McMaster University RDM Institutional Strategy Working Group.Throughout 2021-2022, McMaster’s Research Data Management (RDM) Institutional Strategy Working Group (ISWG) has engaged with research stakeholders across the university to develop an institutional strategy for RDM that addresses the first requirement of the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy and establishes a clear vision for the infrastructure, resources, and services required to implement and support best practices at McMaster. The group is following the guidance provided by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Institutional Research Data Management Strategy Development Template, which includes the following steps: Stage 1: Assemble a Strategy Development Team Stage 2: Assess the Current State of RDM Stage 3: Envision the Future State of RDM Stage 4: Articulate the Institution’s Path Forward Stage 5: Assemble and Launch the Strategy This document presents an idealized, future state for RDM at McMaster, reflecting the third step in this process. Information has been compiled from environmental scan activities (analyses of previous IT reviews, environmental scan of current services and resources, a researcher RDM survey, and focus groups with RDM stakeholders) carried out during step 2 of this process, as well as through focus groups within the ISWG. Results are presented by theme, beginning with high-level considerations and recommendations specific to discrete aspects of Research Data Management. The cross-cutting themes of Services and Training are summarized at the end but are prominent throughout the preceding themes

The Current State of Research Data Management (RDM) at McMaster

Prepared by the authors on behalf of the McMaster University RDM Institutional Strategy Working Group.Research Data Management (RDM) is a suite of connected processes and practices, which are applied throughout the research lifecycle—i.e., as data is planned for, collected, organized, documented, stored, preserved, shared, and reused—in support of analysis, research, and dissemination that is beneficial to society. This process increases research visibility, generates new collaborations, enables verification of results, and fosters a culture of reproducible research. RDM is carried out by researchers—whether faculty, students, staff, or community members—and is supported by staff in research and privacy offices, institutional IT units, and libraries. To support high professional and disciplinary standards that make good use of public funds, the Tri-Agencies have released a Research Data Management Policy. (I. Government of Canada, n.d.) This policy has three pillars: data deposit, Data Management Plans (DMPs), and a requirement for each institution eligible to administer Tri-Agency funds to develop and share an Institutional RDM Strategy by March 2023. Strategies are expected to emphasize best practices and outline the requisite institutional support to apply them; aligning throughout with disciplinary norms, ethical/legal/commercial obligations, and principles of Indigenous data sovereignty. With the goal of developing McMaster’s Institutional RDM Strategy, a Working Group (ISWG) was assembled in April 2021 with representatives from faculties, research support offices, ethics boards, IT support units, libraries, and McMaster University’s partner research hospitals. The ISWG is following steps laid out in the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC)’s Institutional Research Data Management Strategy Development Template.(I. R. S. T. R. W. Group, 2021) This document represents the culmination of Stage 2 in the development process, which relates to understanding and describing the current state of RDM at McMaster. It situates McMaster RDM in context and shares results from four assessment activities: an environmental scan of RDM stakeholder groups, requirements, and services within and beyond McMaster, a scale and maturity assessment of McMaster’s extant RDM services, a survey of researchers’ RDM needs, and focus groups with researchers and research support units. Our high-level findings on the current state of McMaster Research Data Management reveal several areas of potential clarification and growth. Although many of these areas overlap, they are organized here around frameworks which support research—governance and policy, funding and support, culture, community, and collaboration—as well as needs related to RDM practices, tools, and infrastructure