Browsing by Subject "Participation"
Now showing 1 - 16 of 16
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item The brave new world : the social and participatory behaviors of the modern suburban African American(2011-08) McGowen, Ernest Boyd, III; Philpot, Tasha S.; Shaw, Daron R; Roberts, Brian E; Luskin, Robert C; White, Ismail KHave steady increases in socioeconomic status (SES) and occupational prestige along with changes in residential context and subsequently social networks necessitated a shift in our understanding of Black political participation and group identity? Specifically, how does the unique political environment facing African-American residents in majority Anglo suburbs attach unique utilities to participation, different from their neighbors or even their own co-ethnics that reside in the central city? I argue that African Americans in majority Anglo areas who expend political resources in the most proximate races will derive a negligible benefit. Further, these citizens’ most proximate residential and social network contexts heighten feelings of minority status. Consequently, I contend this class of Black voters are pushed away from the traditional forms of participation (i.e. voting for the congressman or local school board representative) and towards non-traditional, and more resource costly, forms of group directed participation which also come at much higher utilities.Item Car sharing as an alternative to car ownership: opportunities for carsharing organizations and low-income communities(2016-08) Sanchez, Alvan-Bidal Timothy; Mueller, Elizabeth J.; Greenberg, SherriCar sharing organizations (CSOs) have established themselves as a formal mode of transportation across the United States. These systems purport to offer their members the benefits of a private vehicle, without any of the accompanying pitfalls. Despite these benefits, low-income individuals are less likely to be a member of a CSO than higher-income individuals. This paper synthesizes the major transportation issues facing low-income individuals, explores possible opportunities between CSOs and low-income communities, and examines 7 CSOs for best practice in encouraging participation by low-income individuals. The findings show that when viewed as one piece of the transportation puzzle, CSOs can fill gaps in the transportation system and provide numerous benefits. With community partnerships, innovative solutions, and active outreach, CSOs can broaden awareness of carshare systems and facilitate increased usage among low-income individuals.Item The curiosities of participation : a community's practice of participatory governance(2013-05) Mudliar, Preeti; Browning, Larry D.This study employs the heuristic of practice to understand a community's experience of participatory governance in India. The purpose of the study was three-fold: 1) understand what the organizing principle of participation means to a community, 2) how participation is enacted in the community, and 2) how participatory sites of governance are conceptualized by the community. The study was based in KMG- a village in western Maharashtra, India where a total of 40-in-depth interviews (n = 40) were conducted. As a part of the Indian constitution, institutions of participatory governance are a part of the process to decentralize governance and devolve power to the people. While the vast body of literature on this topic assesses many different contexts of participatory governance, the literature has not paid adequate attention to what people themselves make of the practice of participation and how it is embedded in the routine of everyday life. The study contributes to the study of governance by identifying how the notion of participation becomes meaningful to people and how it is practiced. Through interviews and field observations, the dissertation constructs a thick ethnographic text that describes the experiences and interactions of the residents of KMG with participation and the governance structures in their village. The data was analyzed using the constant comparative method of grounded theory to identify the different 'acts' of participation that together provide the blueprint for governance in KMG. The three macro themes that came together to inform both the practice and barriers to participating in the KMG's governance were "The Material" -- the built environment of governance, "The Conceptual" -- the imagined nature of governance and the gram panchayat , and "The Personnel" -- the representatives of the governance structure in the village. Together, these themes contribute to the way the residents of KMG spoke about practicing and experiencing participation in their everyday life. Lastly, the study animates and deconstructs the notion of participation through a people-centered interrogation. In the process, it illuminates how the links between existing institutions and organic practices of a community drive the practice of participation and the implications it has for the inclusive governance of a community.Item Effects of choir participation and gender on fifth and sixth graders' attitudes towards music and intentions to enroll in secondary music ensembles(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) Kaufman, Elizabeth D.Research has shown that students involved in music at a young age, with teacher and parental support, have a higher occurrence of participating in music at the secondary level. This research project compares two groups of elementary students (those in choir and those not) to determine whether participation in a choir at a younger age leads to higher participation in secondary music ensembles.Item Forced and unforced participation in group brainstorming and free discussion(Texas Tech University, 1980-12) Kinnison, Henry LeeNot availableItem Fostering youth engagement:(2009-05-15) Maynard, Karen KimberlyYouth-adult partnerships are collaborations between adults and youth in the decision-making and planning processes. When adults enable youth to be a part of the decision-making and planning processes, youth voice, empowerment, and participation become important tools for facilitating engagement. Better understanding these processes can be beneficial for practitioners and programmers. Incorporating these tools increases support and opportunity for youth developmental benefits and increases program retention rates. This thesis focuses on better understanding the relationship between youth voice, empowerment, and participation and critical factors in developing youth engagement and utilizing the power of adult-youth partnerships in youth development. A preliminary model of Systematic Degree of Engagement specifying the relationship between youth voice, empowerment, and participation has been developed and discussed. One of the key issues in developing the model has been that existing literature has rarely made distinctions between voice, empowerment, and participation. The terms have been used interchangeably and, when distinctions have been made, overlaps between the terms have not been fully explored. Therefore, this thesis built on existing literature by defining distinctions among these constructs. After distinctions between concepts were made a model was derived: Systematic Degree of Engagement. From this research, program designers are able to develop programs and assess existing programs that foster youth engagement. Researchers benefit from this thesis in understanding the distinctions in voice, empowerment, participation, and engagement. The findings of this thesis are the distinctions in terminology of voice, empowerment, participation, and engagement; as well as, a model illustrating these terms independence and inter-relatedness.Item How varying levels of community participation affect brownfield redevelopments : case study comparisons in Pittsburgh, PA, Portland, OR, Dallas, TX, and Fort Worth, TX(2012-05) Dunlop, William Scott; Dooling, Sarah; Paterson, RobertBrownfield developments offer cities and developers an opportunity to engage with the public in ways unavailable to greenfield developments as brownfield redevelopments are generally found in established neighborhoods where the site’s history has been deeply intertwined with the history of the neighborhood. However, the levels of public participation vary widely from state to state, city to city, and even project to project; resulting in an array of positive and negative outcomes for all the stakeholders. It is under these varying participatory requirements and engagement strategies this research is grounded. First, the research addresses how varying levels of public participation affect stakeholders’ definitions of success or failure and how it was measured. Secondly, stakeholder’s perceptions of each other are analyzed to determine whether projects that had higher levels of participation also had higher instances of cooperation and collaboration. Thirdly, the research examines how stakeholders perceive the outputs and outcomes of a project and whether varying levels of participation affect stakeholders’ satisfaction with the project. Specific sites for this research were the Summerset at Frick Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Watershed at Hillsdale, Portland, Oregon, the Alta Design District, Dallas, Texas, and Montgomery Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas.Item Journalism innovation and the ethic of participation : a case study of the Knight Foundation and its news challenge(2010-08) Lewis, Seth Corwin; Reese, Stephen D.; Buckley, Cynthia J.; Chyi, Hsiang I.; Gil de Zúñiga, Homero; Lasorsa, Dominic L.The digitization of media has undermined much of the social authority and economic viability on which U.S. journalism relied during the 20th century. This disruption has also opened a central tension for the profession: how to reconcile the need for occupational control against growing opportunities for citizen participation. How that tension is navigated will affect the ultimate shape of the profession and its place in society. This dissertation examines how the leading nonprofit actor in journalism, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has sought to help journalism innovate out of its professional crisis. This case study engages a series of mixed methods—including interviews, textual analysis, and secondary data analysis—to generate a holistic portrayal of how the Knight Foundation has attempted to transform itself and the journalism field in recent years, particularly through its signature Knight News Challenge innovation contest. From a sociology of professions perspective, I found that the Knight Foundation altered the rhetorical and actual boundaries of journalism jurisdiction. Knight moved away from “journalism” and toward “information” as a way of seeking the wisdom of the crowd to solve journalism’s problems. This opening up of journalism’s boundaries created crucial space in which innovators, from inside and outside journalism, could step in and bring change to the field. In particular, these changes have allowed the concept of citizen participation, which resides at the periphery of mainstream newswork, to become embraced as an ethical norm and a founding doctrine of journalism innovation. The result of these efforts has been the emergence of a new rendering of journalism—one that straddles the professional-participatory tension by attempting to “ferry the values” of professional ideals even while embracing new practices more suited to a digital environment. Ultimately, this case study matters for what it suggests about professions in turbulent times. Influential institutions can bring change to their professional fields by acting as boundary-spanning agents—stepping outside the traditional confines of their field, altering the rhetorical and structural borders of professional jurisdiction to invite external contribution and correction, and altogether creating the space and providing the capital for innovation to flourish.Item Negotiating power in the ESL classroom : positioning to learn(2012-05) Kayi Aydar, Hayriye; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-; MALOCH, BETH; SCHALLERT, DIANE; BRUSTAD, KRISTEN; JOHNSTON, BILLThis qualitative case study drew on Positioning Theory (e.g., Davies & Harré, 1990) to explore the ways in which the negotiation of power and positioning affected language learning. Participants were nine students and their female teacher in a university-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Oral Skills (Listening and Speaking) class. Methods of data collection included the video- and audio-taping of classroom activities for 3.5 months, interviews with students and their teacher, field notes of classroom observations, diaries, and relevant teacher and learning artifacts. As a participant observer, I explored positioning, which refers to locating oneself and others with certain rights and obligations to allow or limit certain actions, in classroom talk and investigated its interaction with second language learning and use. After spending a certain amount of time in the field, I chose two male students as my focal participants, as their positioning and participation differed in terms of quantity and quality of their talk. Through a recursive micro-analysis of classroom interaction and qualitative analysis of other data sources, the findings indicated that the two focal participants constantly dominated classroom conversations and positioned themselves in ways beneficial to them, while other students in the same classroom experienced difficulties in negotiating symbolic power and gaining access to learning opportunities. Additionally the findings showed how interactive and reflexive positioning of learners, which were impacted by a large number of factors, including age, socio-cultural backgrounds, and beliefs, assigned students certain identities and social status over the course of the semester. If second language acquisition is fostered in the classroom by communicative interactions, teachers should attempt to minimize students’ differential access to second language learning opportunities as much as possible.Item Networked and disconnected : Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths, digital media, and assimilation into the U.S(2015-08) Lombana Bermudez, Andres Alberto; Watkins, S. Craig (Samuel Craig); Kearney, Mary Celeste; Jenkins, Henry; Straubhaar, Joseph; Kathleen, TynerThis study examines how a group of second- and 1.5-generation Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths (14-18) navigate the uneven process of assimilation into the United States by using digital tools and networks. Understanding Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth as social actors and creative agents, I investigate how their new media practices and skills help them assimilate into multiple dimensions of the host country. For this purpose, I use a transdisciplinary framework that combines sociocultural theories of media practice, critical theories of digital inequality, and sociological theories of assimilation. Through a series of case studies of five immigrant youths with Mexican origins (two girls and three boys, ages 14-18) and working class socioeconomic backgrounds, I analyze the mediated activities they have developed in the contexts of their homes, an after-school program, and social media networked spaces. I draw on qualitative data that I helped collect as a member of the Digital Edge project during a longitudinal ethnography (2011-2012) conducted at Freeway High School, a large, ethnically diverse, low-performing, and economically disadvantaged public school in the Austin Metropolitan Area. By revealing the local conditions and structural forces that shape how these Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths use technology in their everyday life, my analysis provides: new insights into digital divides and participation gaps; a grounded understanding of the role of new media practices and skills in the process of assimilation; and a nuanced description of the diverse media environments accessed by minority youth. My findings suggest that Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth use digital media technology to assimilate into cultural, linguistic, and social dimensions of U.S. society. Particularly, as the five youths developed new media practices and gained new media skills, their process of adaptation to the culture and language of the host country accelerated. However, although they obtained skills that helped them to advance in their process of assimilation, their abilities were not developed to high levels of expertise and their participation in new media cultures often remained peripheral. Evidence reveals that digital inequalities and participation gaps persist and continue to evolve in complex ways.Item New media’s support of knowledge building and 21st century skills development in high school curricula(2014-05) Jansen, Barbara A.; Immroth, Barbara FrolingThere is a growing consensus that the character of pedagogy must shift from one of teacher- and textbook-directed instruction to one of student-centered learning. This transition stems from the need to maintain the United States’ competitive edge in the world market and prepare young people for a society that is more socially, economically, and politically complex. Progressive educators advocate for a “learning reform” facilitated by digital media, and the skills and competencies that young people develop through using participatory media in an informal setting. This study examined how the use of new media can support subject-area knowledge building and 21st century skills development in nine classrooms in an independent high school. A constructivist grounded theory approach guided the collection and analysis of empirical data. This process took the form of semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, classroom observations, and an examination of course-related documents. A symbolic interactionist perspective framed the data analysis. The study examined wiki use, blogging, microblogging, and document sharing in six high school subject areas: ninth grade History, Latin II, Advanced Placement Art History, twelfth grade English, Anatomy and Physiology, and Environmental Science. Conceptual categories derived from the findings suggest that the use of specific new media tools support subject-area knowledge building, both explicit and tacit. This occurs by promoting participation among all students, which helps students broaden their perspectives through universal access to their peers’ thinking. Findings also suggest that the integration and use of these specific new media tools support the development of certain 21st century cognitive and interpersonal skills. The findings from this study support two substantive theories: 1) The use of new media support knowledge building and skills development through increased participation, leading to broadening students’ perspectives about subject-area content, and 2) as students engage in knowledge building activities, specific features of new media support the development of specific 21st century skills within the cognitive and interpersonal domains. The results of this study provide educators with a set of guidelines to consider as they integrate new media into subject-area curricula, and offer an agenda for further research on a local and national level.Item Participants and Information Outcomes in Planning Organizations(2012-10-19) Bierling, DavidThis research presents empirical evidence and interpretation about the effects of planning participants and contextual factors on information selection in public organizations. The study addresses important research questions and gaps in the literature about applicability of planning theory to practice, about effects of planning participants and participant diversity on information selection, and about community and organizational factors that influence information selection in the planning process. The research informs emergency planning, practice, and guidance, as well as planning theory and practice in general. The research sample consists of survey data from 183 local emergency planning committees (LEPCs) about their conduct of hazardous materials commodity flow studies (HMCFS), along with data from other secondary sources. HMCFS projects collect information about hazardous materials (HazMat) transport that can be used in a wide range of local emergency planning and community planning applications. This study takes the perspective that socio-cultural frameworks, such as organizational norms and values, influence information behaviors of planning participants. Controlling for organizational and community factors, the participation of community planners in HMCFS projects has a significant positive effect on selection of communicative information sources. Participation of HazMat responders in HMCFS projects does not have a significant negative effect on selection of communicative information sources. The diversity of HMCFS participants has a significant positive effect on information selection diversity. Other organizational and community factors, such as vicarious experience, 'know-how' and direct experience, financial resources, and knowledge/perception of hazards and risks are also important influences on information selection behavior. Results of this study are applicable to planning entities that are likely to use planning information: proactive LEPCs, planning agencies, and planning consortiums. The results are also applicable to community planners in local planning agencies and emergency responders in local emergency response agencies, and public planning organizations in general. In addition to providing evidence about the applicability of communicative rationality in planning practice, this research suggests that institutional/contextual, bounded, instrumental, and political rationalities may also in influence conduct of planning projects. Four corresponding prescriptive recommendations are made for planning theory and practice.Item Participatory budgeting in Córdoba : a policy approach to strengthening democracy in Latin America(2010-05) Kihm, Hadyn Lindsey; Dietz, Henry A.; Spelman, WilliamParticipatory budgeting (PB) is a governing mechanism whereby citizens decide how to allocate part of a local budget. It promises greater accountability, efficiency, and citizen participation in the budgetary process with minimal cost and effort. The process is in place in hundreds of cities in Latin America, but what is unclear in the scholarship is what factors and pre-conditions determine its success. This case study of Córdoba, Argentina is useful for analyzing whether a consideration of pre-conditions is useful in predicting success. This study isolates the primary influential factors to determine why only 10% of projects have been completed and participation rates are declining by: examining the structure, funding, history, and political and social context of participatory budgeting; comparing Córdoba to other similar countries that have adopted participatory budgeting; conducting key informant interviews; and participating in PB workshops. Of the pre-conditions identified in the study, waning political will and political distractions most influenced the evolution of PB in Córdoba. Despite these setbacks, key individuals both inside the government, such as Director of Participatory Budgeting Jorge Guevara, and outside, such as the members of the Grupo Promotor de Participación Ciudadana (GPPC), operated as a web to generate social capital where institutional knowledge and political will were lacking. The presence of such a web suggests that given the opportunity, PB in Córdoba may yet improve and thrive. I conclude by recommending a strategic planning methodology as a means for cities to independently evaluate their participatory budgeting performance.Item The effects of participation and feedback favorability on perceptions of fairness, satisfaction, and performance(Texas Tech University, 1995-12) Thompson, Richard CThis study examined the effects of participation practices and feedback favorability on perceptions of procedural, distributive, and interactional fairness, as well as satisfaction and performance. Participants worked in five-person groups on two sets of two intellective problems, and on a brainstorming task. Four participation conditions allowed increased control over decision making processes, from no control to both process and decision control. The performance feedback was manipulated to be either favorable or unfavorable for both sets of problems. Perceptions of the fairness of the decision making procedures, satisfaction with the group members and the decision making experience, and performance on the brainstorming task were measured. The results suggested that methods of participation which allow decision control tend to improve perceptions of procedural fairness, when feedback was favorable. When feedback was favorable and input or voice was the only form of control, people perceived less fairness than when they had decision control or no control. The perceived fairness of distributions was not affected by participation. Instead, favorable feedback lead to higher levels of perceived distributive fairness than did unfavorable feedback. Both perceptions of interactional fairness and satisfaction with group members were lowest when the type of participation provided both process and decision control but the feedback was unfavorable. When feedback was favorable, satisfaction with the decision making experience was higher than when feedback was unfavorable. Performance on the brainstorming task that followed repeated feedback was higher for people who had no control on the previous tasks than those who had voice or decision control. This result may have occurred because on the brainstorming task, each person had a direct influence on their outcomes. Overall, the results suggest that methods of participation that increase control tend to lead to higher levels of perceived procedural fairness. This finding may help account for some of the inconsistent findings in the participatory decision making literature.Item Toward a storytelling systems analysis model : a situational analysis of three global crowdsourced documentary media projects(2016-05) Moner, William Joseph; Strover, Sharon; Doty, Philip; Frick, Caroline; Stein, Laura; Straubhaar, JosephThis study investigates three participatory documentary projects that emerged in the 2011 to 2012 time period. Each project utilized crowdsourcing to generate primary source material for their respective endeavors. The projects — Life in a Day (2011), One Day on Earth (2011), and 18 Days in Egypt (2012) — are analyzed through situational analysis, a qualitative analytical framework that builds from grounded theory method, social worlds/arenas theory, and actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the relationships between human actors, non-human actants, spatial and temporal components, and political economic factors within a situation. Using this method, I created a situational map for each documentary system, finding that each emerges from a distinct economic system where value is determined through different treatments of the “crowd” and its contributed media, data, and stories. Subsequently, using political economy of communication theory (Mosco, 2009) and the concepts of structuration, spatialization, and commodification, I identified several control mechanisms apparent in each of the projects. These control factors – commodity control, spatial control, and structural control – and their subcategories – content and labor control (commodity), technological, temporal, and circulatory control (spatial), and contractual and organizational control (structural) – draw from the analysis of three very different economic systems and storytelling intents. The study offers a preliminary framework for a participatory systems analysis approach to grapple with technological and economic concerns in shared media production spaces.Item Vexations, volumes, and volunteers: institutionalization and the veneration of information at a small international NGO(2009-08) Letalien, Bethany Lynn; Doty, PhilipThe author performed action research over the two years between March 2006 and February 2008 with the Instituto Dois Irmãos (i2i), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in a low-income area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil consisting of a group of approximately 3-5 locals and 2-30 foreigners at any one time that in March 2006 offered few services and lacked the expertise or confidence to offer more. Together, participants and the author improved and increased the NGO’s services and implemented a reading room – a place of information and literacy – for Portuguese-speaking students of English. This dissertation describes participants’, the organization’s, and the author’s journey to transform the i2i into a better functioning organization and to create the NGO’s reading room. The analysis focuses on the practical learning that took place within the i2i. Throughout the research process, the author both made use of and questioned the concepts of participation and development. In the text, she also draws on the experiences of the i2i’s leaders and volunteers to question the prevailing notion of information as a social good. A critical understanding of these three notions is essential for the work of librarians, development professionals, and policymakers alike.