Identifying Sediment Contamination Sources in Watersheds of Austin, Texas

Contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals are hydrophobic, will adsorb onto sediments, and thus are overlooked when water chemistry analysis is performed. However, laboratory costs of sediment analyses can prohibit the number of samples that can be analyzed, limiting the ability to isolate sources. The City of Austin Watershed Protection Department (WPD) has used enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) as a fast, cost effective screening method to perform numerous analyses for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments. This method has been used successfully in identifying several localized sources of sediment contamination on four creeks in the Austin area. The contamination had previously been attributed to unknown sources due to lack of spatial resolution when laboratory expenses limited sampling. Using ELISA as a screening tool has increased WPDs ability to identify sources of pollutants and eliminated the need for costly laboratory analyses for screening. The ability to collect up to 21 samples, run the analyses and obtain results immediately has increased the cost and time efficiency of sampling. The results have subsequently been verified using standard methods of sediment analysis. Verification of the ELISA results at contract laboratories have identified other pollutants such as heavy metals and pesticides at sites that are heavily contaminated with PAHs. These sites are under consideration for remediation and construction of stormwater controls under other WPD programsWaller Creek Working Grou

A Dissonant Digital Ontology

I propose we think about a digital ontology from the perspective of how things work, rather than how things are. What does it mean for conversations about what there is to take place within a representational field that might break down or fail at the last minute, diminishing our potential to access the world? How can software and code as both representational forms and performative media intervene in the tensions between epistemology and ontology that underpin anthropological discussions about multiple ontologies

Post-photographic presences, or how to wear a digital cloak

This article explores some of the tensions that digital processing introduces to our understanding of photography by focusing on digital images of a Māori cloak from New Zealand held in the UCL Ethnography Collections. The complex, energetic/electrical networks established not only by digital communication technologies but also between Māori people and their taonga (treasured possessions) expand the understanding of both photographic indexicality and Runia’s definition of presence. The wairua, or spiritual energies, channelled in Māori relationships as they are transmitted through important cultural treasures creates a profound experience of co-presence in which objects are understood as simultaneous links to the past, present and future. The article argues that the experience of co-presence in both Māori engagements with important museum objects and the experience of networked digital communications technologies (including digital photographs) allows us to develop an expanded understanding of provenance, or where objects come from (and who they belong to) in museums

The Biography of a Scale: Contextual Factors That Influence the Measurement of Family Functioning

The subject of instrument relevance is addressed by examining issues that have arisen in the use of a single scale over a forty year period. The issues revolve around the impact of varying social conditions, changing ethos, differential respondent receptiveness, and evolving research technology. Extended use of an instrument, it is argued, yields information that transcends the conventional techniques for testing instrument adequacy. The lack of opportunities in social work for accessing information on extended use of measurement tools is due, among other factors, to a preoccupation with working on subjects that are new and original and to a lack of coordination among research endeavors

Participatory Development and Menstrual Health Management in South Africa: A Case Study of Project Dignity

Menstrual health management (MHM) poses a significant public health concern in many South African communities. Though the national government is beginning to devote attention and resources to MHM, civil society organizations play a critical role in providing menstrual health products and education to female-bodied individuals who may otherwise lack access. This study examines the praxis and impact of Project Dignity, a nongovernmental organization which distributes washable, reusable sanitary pads and panties to students in public schools. The researcher collected qualitative data through participant observation as well as interviews and focus group discussions with Project Dignity’s staff and intended beneficiaries. Using participatory development as a theoretical lens, the study evaluates the organization’s impact on students’ educational experiences and menstrual health practices. Findings illustrate the practicality of the pads and panties and suggest a limited but positive effect on students’ understanding of menstruation and ability to manage their periods comfortably at school. The researcher outlines recommendations for Project Dignity and suggestions for further research

Curating the Crowd: Social Media and the Choreography of Affective Experience

The advent of social media and the ever more sophisticated functionality of our mobile phones have had a profound effect on the way we view and record events. This is particularly true for large gatherings of people. Haidy Geismar, Professor of Anthropology at University College London, explains how it was once possible to ‘choreograph’ an audience, but nowadays the audience choreographs itself, with thousands of simultaneous viewpoints that are disseminated in multiple, personal yet often public ways

Landfill and Health, a Municipal Concern or, Telling it Like it Was

Land reclamation in port cities is a worldwide phenomenon that clearly represents economic considerations and, often, intensifying urbanization. Analysis of the fill matrix of two New York City sites suggests that the imposition of municipal controls may be one facet of the urbanizing process documented in the archaeological record. Differences between the fill from the 175 Water Street site, an East River block filled in the 18th century, and Site 1 of the Washington Street Urban Renewal Area adjacent to the Hudson River, an early 19th-century fill site, are best explained by the introduction of city ordinances to regulate land reclamation activities. The historical record, which documents a growing concern with mounting health problems, provides a rationale for these controls

Museum Object Lessons for the Digital Age

Museum Object Lessons for the Digital Age explores the nature of digital objects in museums, asking us to question our assumptions about the material, social and political foundations of digital practices. Through four wide-ranging chapters, each focused on a single object – a box, pen, effigy and cloak – this short, accessible book explores the legacies of earlier museum practices of collection, older forms of media (from dioramas to photography), and theories of how knowledge is produced in museums on a wide range of digital projects. Swooping from Ethnographic to Decorative Arts Collections, from the Google Art Project to bespoke digital experiments, Haidy Geismar explores the object lessons contained in digital form and asks what they can tell us about both the past and the future. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience working with collections across the world, Geismar argues for an understanding of digital media as material, rather than immaterial, and advocates for a more nuanced, ethnographic and historicised view of museum digitisation projects than those usually adopted in the celebratory accounts of new media in museums. By locating the digital as part of a longer history of material engagements, transformations and processes of translation, this book broadens our understanding of the reality effects that digital technologies create, and of how digital media can be mobilised in different parts of the world to very different effects