Semantics in the wild : a digital assistant for Flemish citizens

Public service fragmentation across more than 800 digital channels of government administrations in the region of Flanders (Belgium), causes administrative burden and frustrations, as citizens expect a coherent service. Given the autonomy of the various entities, the fragmentation of information and budget constraints, it is not feasible to rewire the entire e-gov ecosystem to a single portal. Therefore, the Flemish Government is building a smart digital assistant, which supports citizens on the governmental portals, by integrating status information of various transactions. This paper outlines our ongoing research on a method for raising semantic interoperability between different information systems and actors. In this approach, semantic agreements are maintained and implemented end-to-end using the design principles of Linked Data. The lessons learned can speed-up the process in other countries that face the complexity of integrating e-government portals

Eating Disorder Curriculum: In-Service for Elementary Teachers

The purpose of this project is to highlight the significant need for an eating disorder curriculum and/or in-service for educators in the school system. This project includes an in-service that is tailored for elementary school teachers in the areas of eating disorder identification, warning signs, resources, lesson planning cautions, where to turn for help, and what to do when dealing with a student who is struggling. The research behind this project highlighted an extreme deficit in teacher preparedness for students with eating disorders and a self-identified lack of confidence in their ability to handle such situations. I hope this training module will be helpful to educators facing the issues of eating disorders in their classrooms

Expectations to mentoring as support for professional development

Mentoring is acknowledged as a means to support professional development for teachers. However, mentoring has multiple meanings and may be practiced as supervision, support or collaborative self-development for new as well as experienced teachers. The aim of this Norwegian study is to get an understanding of what expectations newly-qualified teachers, their mentors and their leaders have to mentoring and professional development and thereby to identify what kind of mentoring is needed. Data is collected through questionnaires and focus group conversations. The result shows a discrepancy between school leaders’ expectations on one hand and those of mentors’ and newly qualified teachers’ on the other. While school leaders call for supervision and for teachers’ opportunities to join external courses, mentors and newly-qualified teachers ask for mentoring rooted in classroom- activities. One implication of the study is to introduce an induction period for novice teachers where they are gradually included in the organization. Another implication is to use educated mentors as resources for school development, not only for newly-qualified, but also for experienced teachers. Implications for politicians are to provide resources and for school leaders to provide space and protected time for mentoring and professional learning at all levels to ensure sustained school development.publishedVersio

Sykkelhotell og deres brukere

På ti år har flere enn 40 sykkelhotell blitt bygget i Norge, og ofte i tilknytting til knutepunkt. Sykkelhotell kan øke sikkerheten for sykkelen, skjerme sykkelen for nedbør og forbedre integrasjonen mellom sykling og kollektivtransport. Samtidig eksisterer det lite kunnskap om hvem som faktisk velger å benytte sykkelhotell i stedet for gratis parkering nærmere stasjonen. Denne oppgaven har ved hjelp av tellinger og spørreundersøkelse undersøkt hvilke grupper som bruker sykkelhotell, og hvilke grupper som ikke gjør det. Fem togstasjoner med sykkelhotell er undersøkt. Europeisk forskning har tidligere vist at syklister med elsykkel sykler lengre, oftere og reduserer bilkjøringen. Samtidig er slike sykler dyrere, og er dermed et naturlig mål for en sykkeltyv. Denne oppgaven finner at elsyklister foretrekker sykkelhotell, og det er over fem ganger så sannsynlig at en sykkel parkert i et sykkelhotell er elektrisk enn at en sykkel i et offentlig stativ er det. I tillegg svarer kun 20 % av denne gruppen at de ville ha syklet med samme elsykkel til stasjonen hvis sykkelhotell ikke eksisterte. En annen undersøkt gruppe er vintersyklister. Sykkelhotellbrukerne svarer at de sykler oftere om vinteren enn brukerne av offentlig sykkelparkering. Dette finner også tellingene av parkerte sykler. Der 44 % av de parkerte syklene vinterstid stod i et sykkelhotell var den samme andelen 30 % om våren. Sykkelhotellbrukere har dyrere sykler, sykler lengre, og har en høyere preferanse for sikker sykkelparkering. I tillegg har en større andel sykkelhotellbrukere bilkjøring som alternativ transport til stasjonen sammenlignet med andre syklister. Flere av funnene i oppgaven er korrelerte, men illustrerer hvilken funksjon sykkelhotell har på transportsystemet.For the last decade, “bike hotels” (secure bike parking facilities) have been built in Norway and are often close to public transportation hubs. Such facilities can offer increased security against theft, protection from the weather, and improved integration between cycling and public transportation. Despite the increased number of facilities, the knowledge about the users of bike hotels is limited. Through counting parked bikes and surveying bike users at train stations, has this thesis tried to identify which groups use bike hotels, and which do not. European research has previously shown that cyclists who obtain an e-bike cycle longer, more often, and reduce their number of car trips. Such bikes are also more costly, and in danger of being stolen. This thesis finds that it is five times more likely that a bike in a bike hotel is electric than a bike parked other places around the station. In addition, only 20% of e-bike users state that they would travel to the station with the same bicycle if the bike hotel didn’t exist. Winter cyclists are another explored group. Respondents who use the bike hotel are more likely to cycle to the station during the winter season. 45% of the bikes parked at the station area in the winter are in a bike hotel, Only 30% of the bikes parked in the spring are in a bike hotel. Users of the bike hotels have more expensive bikes, bike longer, and have a higher preference for secure bike parking. Compared to other cyclists, are these users also more likely to have a car as their alternative mode of transportation. Some of these findings are correlated but illustrate which functions secure bike parking could have for the transportation system

Legalizing Oral History: Proving Aboriginal Claims in Canadian Courts

Large areas of Canada are still subject to land claims by the Aboriginal peoples, who include the Indian, Inuit, and Metis. These claims arise mainly in regions where land-surrender treaties were not signed in the past, notably in British Columbia, Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces, and the North. Most of them get resolved through negotiation and agreement, but a few end up in court. When that happens, the onus is on the Aboriginal peoples to prove their claims in accordance with the requirements of the Canadian legal system. This article will examine some of the difficulties Aboriginal peoples encounter when they rely on their oral histories for this purpose

En utforskning av språk og form: Fremstillinger av representasjoner gjennom et skapende arbeide, utfra Virginia Woolfs tekst Sketch of the Past

Dette masterprosjektet skisserer en metode for hvordan man kan arbeide med en skjønnlitterær referanse gjennom en skapende prosess, innenfor fagområdet kunst og håndverk, og i forskning gjennom kunst. Metoden skal legge til rette hvordan man kan utforske eget språk, i en utvidet betydning av begrepet. Fremgangsmåten består i å bruke en tekst av den engelske forfatteren Virginia Woolf (1882- 1941) som litterær og kunstnerisk referanse. I den skapende arbeidsprosessen er det brukt manuelle skrivemetoder, deriblant teknikker fra eldre skriveteknologi. Gjennom en tett veksling mellom tekstlesing, notatskriving og å skrive for hånd, med skolekritt, direkte i materialer som ligger på golvet, påvirker de ulike delene hverandre. Ved å bruke iterative handlinger og å gjenta de samme virkemidlene i alle faser av den estetisk skapende arbeidsprosessen, bygges det opp et tilstandsrom for utforskningen. Underveis i prosessen rettes oppmerksomheten mot utforskningen av materielle grunnlag, som bunnmaterialer og materialitet, som fargekontraster-og nyanser og utforskninger av skrift, som linje, flate og strukturer. Fordi deler av krittskriften blir til støv, det vil si til et annet materiale, inkluderer utforskningen også formløshet. Innholdet i det som skrives på tavlene er bare synlig i de første lagene på tavlene. Tilsammen skaper handlingene noen materialiseringer som består av lag, og spor av tekstlige lag. Denne prosessen og fremstillingene som oppstår i møtet med teksten forsøker å gripe noen av Woolfs tidlige minner fra barndommen, og mine egne erfaringer og erkjennelser i møtet med teksten. Den siden ved språket jeg har utforsket mest er hvordan og hva språket kan romme av pre-perseptuelle og førspråklige sansninger og hvordan man kan arbeide med språklige representasjoner utfra dette, gjennom passasjer i teksten Sketch of the Past, og ved å knytte egne erfaringer til teksten. Ved å skissere en metode for å utforske hva språk kan være, herunder det ikke-uttalte (tacit knowledge), kan dette masterprosjektet ses som et av flere mulige svar på hvordan man, gjennom et skapende arbeide kan utforske sitt eget språk, innenfor fagområdet kunst og håndverk og i forskning gjennom kunst. Prosjektet inkluderer også en utforskning av hvordan barn kan tilegne seg og ta i bruk en lignende prosess. Utfra barnas erfaringer reflekterer jeg over sannsynligheten for at det kan arbeides med flere nivåer av språk, gjennom å bygge opp et rom for barns skapende arbeide. Barnas umiddelbare erfaringer med en skjønnlitterær tekst kommer til uttrykk i skriftlige, muntlige og billedlige fremstillinger uten å gå via en eksplisitt fortolkning eller formidlerens egne erfaringer med den samme teksten. ABSTRACT This master’s thesis sketches out a method for how you can work with a literary reference in a creative process, within the field of arts and craft, and as research through art. The method seeks to address how we can explore our own language, in an extended meaning of the concept. The exploration is done by using a text from the English writer Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) as a literary and artistic reference. The creative process includes using manual methods of writing such as techniques from older writing technologies, like palimpsest. Through constantly switching between reading the text, taking notes and writing by hand with chalk, directly on materials positioned upon the floor, these different components interact with each other. By using these iterative acts and using the same means and techniques repetitively the aesthetic and creative work process, generates an artistic space for the exploration. The process is meant to direct the attention to explorations of materiality, intrinsic to rudimentary foundational materials, contrasts and nuances in color, and explorations of writing as lines, surfaces and structures. When writing with chalk fragments of the chalk turn to dust, and thus transforms into another material, in this way it also becomes an exploration into formlessness. The content of what is written on the blackboards is only visible in the uppermost layers of the board. Together, these actions create a layered materialization and traces of textual layers. This process and the resulting portrayals attempt to grasp the relationship between some of Woolf’s early childhood memories and my own experiences and impressions from interacting with the text. My experience is that the text Sketch of the Past has made it possible to find a method for reading that can adapt, transform and enhance impressions from the text through a creative process. The process is also meant to emphasize how language can embed pre-perceptual and pre-linguistic sensations. In particular, how this process enables you to work with linguistic representations, in this case through tying in my own impressions and experiences from reading passages from the text Sketch of the Past. By outlining a method for exploring what language can be, including its tacit dimensions, this thesis can be seen as a way of answering how you, through a creative process, can explore your own language, in the field of arts and craft and as research through art. In addition, through trying out an adapted version of the process with children, I use the children’s experiences as a basis for reflecting on how you can work with different layers of language through building a space for the creative work of children. The children’s immediate experiences with a literary work are, as such, expressed in written, oral and pictorial form without being mediated by an explicit interpretation or a mediator’s account of the experiences with the same text

Live Remote Classroom: A Tool for Coherent Teacher Education

Teacher education has been criticised for a lack of coherence and for not preparing student teachers for teaching. To prepare student teachers for practicum and create connections between theory and practice and between schools and university, this study explores how the practice field can be brought onto the university campus through digital resources. Four teacher educators in secondary school teacher education in Norway collaborated with a schoolteacher and tested Live Remote Classroom. The tool provides student teachers with real-life classroom experiences while they are on campus by providing access to a streamed lesson. Using an action research design, the teacher educators evaluated their facilitation of the arrangement through an interview with the involved schoolteacher, a focus group interview with student teachers and the teacher educators’ own logs. The results show that by presenting authentic practice situations, Live Remote Classroom created opportunities to prepare for teaching. However, certain conditions need to be in place for that to happen. We see it as important to support student teachers in their analysis of the observed lesson and to collaborate with a schoolteacher who is able to make her professional choices explicit.publishedVersio

Reforming the Westminster Model of Agency Governance: Britain and Ireland after the Crisis

Conventional understandings of what the Westminster model implies anticipate reliance on a top-down, hierarchical approach to budgetary accountability, reinforced by a post-New Public Management emphasis on re-centralizing administrative capacity. This paper, based on a comparative analysis of the experiences of Britain and Ireland, argues that the Westminster model of bureaucratic control and oversight itself has been evolving, hastened in large part due to the global financial crisis. Governments have gained stronger controls over the structures and practices of agencies, but agencies are also key players in securing better governance outcomes. The implication is that the crisis has not seen a return to the archetypal command-and-control model, nor a wholly new implementation of negotiated European-type practices, but rather a new accountability balance between elements of the Westminster system itself that have not previously been well understood