No / The use of first-hand service user accounts of mental illness is still limited in the professional literature available. This is, however, beginning to change, with a new ‘recovery’ focus in mental health services meaning that the voices of service users are finally being heard. Recovering from Psychosis: Empirical Evidence and Lived Experience synthesises a narrative approach alongside an evidence-based review of current treatment by including Stephen Williams’ own personal experience as it relates to psychosis, recovery and treatment. A mental health professional himself, the author’s account of his own recovery from severe mental health difficulties, without sustained intervention, challenges the orthodoxy of representation of service users in mental health. Recovering from Psychosis critically explores and reviews the current state of the art of research and knowledge about the nature and treatment of psychosis. Working simultaneously from empirical, lived experience and philosophical perspectives,Stephen Williams: Evaluates political and power related issues in professional understanding, knowledge-creation and treatment of people with psychosis; Introduces the current ‘recovery movement’, unpacking its origins and implications for the future development of ‘recovery oriented services’; Reviews, summarizes and critiques the current state of ‘recovery’ research, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach, examining how this is influencing the transformation of UK mental health services; Analyses the difficulties in organisational implementation of recovery approaches, summarises the most empirically robust approaches to practice, personal and service delivery measurement; Reviews current ‘models’ of psychosis and how various professional scientific groups explain the experience and nature of psychosis; Uses lived-experience accounts taken from the scientific literature, portraying the nature of such experiences and analysing them in the face of contemporary psychological models. Recovering from Psychosis is an essential comprehensive guide for mental health professionals, psychologists, social workers and carers, who are working with people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties diagnosed as psychosis. It addresses the practical implications of working with such difficult conditions and serves as a hopeful story of recovery for service users.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This reflexive narrative traces the development of the author’s authentic leadership fingerprint. The document outlines the author’s developmental journey from the streets of North-End in Port Elizabeth, to the boardroom tables of major telecommunications organisations in Africa, Continental United States and Europe. Utilising autoethnography as a vehicle of enquiry, the author relates his life story, with a specific focus on significant trigger events, individuals who had a positive or negative influence on the development of his world view; and the dynamic of a racially reclassified family living in Apartheid-era South Africa. The author recounts specific incidents and reflects upon significant learnings that continue to influence his leadership style as corporate manager today. The author concludes with a reflection of the transformative power of the autoethnographic process and it’s potential use as a leadership development tool, before defining an authentic leadership fingerprint that is unique to his management style. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie persoonlik reflekterende dokument weerspieël hoe die deurlopende ontwikkeling en persoonlike groei van die outeur se leierseienskappe verfyn is deur sy lewenservaringe en ondervinding. Die roete wat die outeur in sy persoonlike omstandighede moes onderneem om die oorbrugging, vanuit Port Elizabeth se noordelike voorstede, tot in die beheer van vergaderings in raadsale van een van Suid-Afrika, die VSA asook Europa se voorste telekommunikasiespelers te bemeester. Met behulp van outoetnografie, koppel en vereenselwig die outeur die ontwikkeling van sy lewensverhaal met spesifieke gebeurtenisse, positief sowel as negatief, asook met die individue wat ‘n moontlike impak gehad het op sy uitkyk op die lewe sowel as die leierseienskappe wat die outeur vandag in sy daaglikse lewe so suksesvol weerspieël en implimenteer. Die dokument raak ook aan die historiese rasse klassifikasie en apartheidswette van Suid-Afrika en watter impak dit op die outeur se familielewe asook persoonlike opvoeding en ontwikkeling gehad het. Die proporsionele bydrae van hierdie eksterne insette soos vergestalt deur staatsregulasies en diskriminasie word bespreek met spesifieke verwysing na die invloed wat dit gehad het op die ontwikkeling van die outeur as leier en watter impak dit moontlik kon gehad het met verwysing tot die outeur as leier en bestuurder soos wat spanlede en mense in sy daaglikse lewe hom ervaar. Die outeur sluit af met ‘n oorsig gefokus op die moontlike impak wat ‘n outoetnografie proses op verandering in ‘n werkshoedanigheid kan hê met betrekking tot die moontlike insluiting in die leierskap onwikkelingsproses van maatskappye. Die klem val op die ontwikkeling van die toekomstige leier en hoe die outoetnografie proses ‘n roete of handleiding kan verskaf vir die omskrywing van die leier se individuele en unieke styl van leierskap.

This research brings together two concepts that are often depicted as polar opposites. Sutton-Smith (2001) however suggests that the opposite of play is not work, but depression, and moreover echoes other scholars in reclaiming play as an essential human expression, even for adults. This study, therefore, argues that, given the precarious wellness territory our workplaces are in, something about work is not working. It is furthermore proposed that, given all the evidence of the therapeutic potential inherent to play, there is indeed something nutritious at play in play. Despite these well-supported arguments, play remains hidden away in the academic shadows of more serious industrial psychological preoccupations. Surprisingly, the same conspicuous absence is even mirrored in Positive Psychology, a bustling field that claims to celebrate glee, fun, and happiness (Seligman, 2002a). Entitled “An autoethnographic exploration of play at work,” this dissertation leans on the metaphor of “exploration”, or more specifically, exploratory play. This results in two distinct yet interwoven dimensions to the research study. Firstly, the research approaches the phenomenon of play and play-based methods in workshop contexts through the lived experience of the researcher. Secondly, the research project in itself is conceptualised as work, and the methodology of autoethnography is conceptualised as a playful approach to this work of conducting research. Aside from widening the research scope, this also appropriately matches research methodology to the research domain. Aside from being about play at work, this research also is play at work. Autoethnography, as a recent development in qualitative research, remains unconventional and somewhat controversial in the South African social sciences. Autoethnography, as an offspring of ethnography, offers a method to reflexively incorporate the researcher’s own lived experience in the study of culture as a primary source of rich phenomenological data. Instead of minimising the emotive and subjective, this research amplifies and celebrates it. Given a fair degree of unfamiliarity in terms of autoethnography as well the accusation of being overly self-centred, the experience of the researcher is then complemented by the views of a number of co-creators to the culture being studied. This is done through external data-gathering in the forms of a focus group as well as number of semistructured, dyadic interviews. While therefore leaning more toward postmodern themes, this research also incorporates what has been termed analytical autoethnography (Anderson, 2006), wherein the researcher is a full-member of the setting being studied, is portrayed as such and is committed to theoretical analysis. This study can therefore be summarised as an autoethnographic case study that balances evocative and analytical styles (Vryan, 2006) while emanating from the philosophical assumptions of interpretivism and subjectivism. Internal realities and meaning-creation are thus emphasised rather than the received views of positivism. The central research question being explored is how play and play-based methods promote work-related well-being. To answer this question, firstly, play and play-based methods are explored, both from a theoretical and practical point of view. From within workshop (pedagogical) contexts, the play-based methods considered throughout this study include metaphor and story, creative-arts-based play, physical-body play and also the uncelebrated yet essential methods of icebreakers and games. A preliminary taxonomy is proposed for play-based methods to offer description and to facilitate reflection and learning. Descriptive elements in this taxonomy include interactive vs. solitary, competitive vs. cooperative, motor-sensory vs. cognitive-mind, participative vs. vicarious and rule-bound vs. improvisational. Building on this exploration of play-based methods, the second aspect explored in more detail has to do with the more internal and subjective experiences of participants, or players, if you like. These experiences are then related to prominent concepts encountered in Positive Psychology to, by proxy, understand how they relate to work-related well-being. Significant themes that emerge from this include play as fun, play as mind-body integration, play as authenticity, play as community, and play as stress-relief and resilience. This is then woven into a creative non-fiction, in accord with a trend in qualitative research called creative analytical practices (CAP) (Richardson, 2000). This creative non-fiction, detailed in Chapter 4, forms a key autoethnographic output that animates all these themes in a way that is accessible, evocative and playful. Chapter 5 complements this chapter with an in-depth exploration of the research journey as a confessional tale. While adopting the metaphor of hiking in mountains (exploring nature), this confessional tale clarifies the research process and incorporates an in-depth analysis of the themes, both in terms of research data as well as literature. This is supported by a number of separate appendixes, including interview transcripts, depictions of the interview analysis as well as a number of photos from the field. In terms of its uniqueness and unconventionality, this research joins in the choir of related work to incorporate more contemporary research genres into the social sciences in South Africa. By doing so, it opens up doors to phenomena that simply resist being studied with the ontological and epistemological assumptions of conventional modern science. Furthermore, the effect and impact of this research is that it provides accessible and practical ideas as to how a synthesis of play and work can help us renew and rejuvenate our work and workplaces. That is, how we can come alive in the work contexts that risk becoming sterile, clinical and inhuman in the wake of Taylorist reductionism and efficiency. Given that state of work and workplace, and the productive and therapeutic potential in play, indeed, we are too busy not to play. / Thesis (MCom (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

This practice-based research is concerned with a collection of fixed media compositions written between 2005 and 2012 with accompanying contextual writing. The primary focus of this research was to produce sound works, but the concept of place has played a significant role throughout both the compositional process and in the reflection of each composition. This research explores how place is ‘heard and felt’ (Feld, 2005) in a composition and how recollected memory impacts on the compositional process. Artistic decisions made with regard to creating the compositions reflect my personal place and associations with these sound materials at a given time whether they are field recordings or synthesised materials. The way in which sound material is subsequently processed and structured reflects this. Place and the compositional practice inform each other in a two-way process. This results in what Katharine Norman (2010) has referred to in her writing on sound art as an ‘autoethnographic’ journey; a representation of the creator’s personal experience. I have begun to reflect on these compositions as art works that represent a particular time or place. The artwork represents the trace of the place from which it was composed (Corringham, 2010). I believe that I cannot totally transport a person to my place; rather, I intend this creative representation to enable the listener to create and inspire their own narrative.

I propose a theoretical framework that describes how avatars incorporate media as an inherent part of their nature and find a hosting body in cyborgs to navigate and spawn in media. I propose the birth of a new scion that combines avatar, medium and cyborg into a conceptual being that I call “ICEVORG.” The ICEVORG expands beyond representation into the actual physical world by means of media transgression—more specifically, by the use of the Strange Loop also known as Metalepsis ICEVORG find an effective soil to thrive and interrogate our ideas of reality by means of iteration, expansion, fragmentation and naturalization. The development of the framework that explains the concept of ICEVORG happens in the interstices between fiction and reality. The ICEVORG transgresses boundaries to reach and transcend the concepts of the avatar and cyborg in order to generate meaning and pursue relevance in contemporary society. By dissecting the ICEVORG under the light of metalepsis that I am able to elaborate a framework to explain the world of post-hyperrealism and how ICEVORGS have become agents of change. Finally, in order to construct my argument, I employ autoethnography, a research methodology that allows for a more personal voice to be included as part of the research process.

Denna uppsats ämnar redovisa en kollaborativ autoetnografisk studie utifrån begreppen värdskap, sociologi, kommensalitet och främlingen. Studiens övergripande syfte är att skapa en förståelse kring hur måltidsevent anordnade i Umeå via mobil-applikationen Airdine upplevs ur värdens perspektiv. Studien bygger på tre event upprättade med aktionsforskning som grund, det vill säga en iscensättande och deltagande roll intas av oss som värdar. Metoden kollaborativ autoetnografi innebär i denna uppsats att två personer dokumenterar varsin uttömmande autoetnografi om sina innerliga tankar och reflektioner kring värdskapet, dessa reflektioner utgör studiens empiri. Studien har resulterat i djupa uttömmande reflektioner kring värdarna kopplat till det induktiva teoretiska ramverket. Slutsatsen pekar på aktionsforskning tillsammans med kollaborativ autoetnografi att kunna fungera som ett komplement till varandra och vara ett intressant nytt verktyg för framtida forskning inom hospitality-fältet. / This paper aims to account for a collaborative autoethnography study based on the concepts of hospitality, sociology, commensality and the stranger. The general purpose of the study is to create an understanding around how meal-events arranged in Umeå through the mobile-application Airdine are percieved from the perspective of the host. The study revolves around three events executed with action research as its base, in other words a staging and participatory roll is taken by us as hosts. In this paper collaborative autoethnograpy means that two people each document a complete and exhaustive field-journal regarding their innermost thoughts and reflections around their hospitality, these reflections will then make up the empirics of the study. The study has resulted in profound exhaustive reflections surrounding the hosts connected to the identified theoretical framework. The conclusion points at action research paired together with collaborative autoethnography to compliment each other and of being a possibly interesting tool for future research within the hospitality field.

This is a personal project about a fed-up woman who sits down on the chair by the pottery wheel simply because she craves it. It is about conducting a non-result oriented design process. A process where the making, the closeness between the mind and hand, is both the research and mediation. It is a project that acknowledges the potential care has in relation to design, while it's dealing with the controversial aspects of a woman caring for herself. The project is a snap, a feminist snap, represented and materialized through the objects of clay. Where a collapsed bowl, a blob, becomes a materialized revolt against everything women are being told to endure. It is a project that brings design and poetry together. Aiming to explore how objects can gain agency and be in dialogue with society. How objects can materialize both the resistance against, and the result of, the patriarchal structure.

<div>In the modern era where technology is constantly evolving, it is important to evaluate new technological tools and approaches in order to gauge their potential for adoption. Rapid Application Development (RAD) has highly evolved over the years, but it has not seen much response at the university level. Several studies show that perceptions of usability form the basis of acceptance or rejection of new tools and applications. Thus, running a usability study on a specific RAD tool coupled with autoethnographic documentation of specific development experience with that tool has the potential to encourage university faculty/staff to consider teaching/using it.</div><div><br></div><div>This research study seeks to understand developers' perceptions regarding the usability aspect of Mendix, a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed to discover and understand the extent of perceived usefulness, ease of use and satisfaction with the tool. The results of the study presented a case for academicians on the viability of teaching RAD or using Mendix for their web application development needs. The study ultimately sought to help university faculty understand what to expect while teaching RAD to students from computing background and also help them decide if they would like to use tools like Mendix for their software development projects or continue to use specific coding languages (traditional software development) for software development projects. </div><div><br></div>

Esta pesquisa lançou mão da autoetnografia, viés metodológico que transita entre a etnografia e a autobiografia, por meio de observações e auto-observações, para investigar em que medida as teorias de Letramentos (KALANTZIS; COPE 2000, 2008a, LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003, 2006, 2013, KRESS, 2003, 2010, GEE, 2004) se adequam ou não ao ensino de inglês nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental-I público, em uma escola da periferia do município de Osasco, na grande São Paulo. Buscou-se, assim, analisar uma proposta pedagógico-educacional orientada pelas referidas teorias, elaborada pelo pesquisador e implementada na escola investigada. O foco de observação e análise foi o desenvolvimento do senso crítico, no que tange aos alunos, e também as estratégias para o ensino de inglês e a atuação do professor-pesquisador nesta proposta. Objetivou-se examinar as epistemologias relacionadas às visões de ensino de língua deste contexto, bem como problematizar outras maneiras de se abordar o ensino da língua inglesa de forma crítica que levassem em conta as características específicas dos indivíduos e do contexto investigado. Considerando-se a existência de graves problemas, tais como a escassez de recursos didáticos e tecnológicos, a falta de espaços adequados para as práticas pedagógicas, o número excessivo de alunos por sala de aula e diversas outras questões de ordem econômica e social, a hipótese levantada é que tais fatores não seriam impedimentos para o desenvolvimento de práticas com um enfoque mais situado, promovendo um ensino plural, pautado na diversidade presente na escola pública, a fim de promover a agência dos alunos e uma educação mais crítica. Constatou-se, a partir da literatura consultada e da análise das orientações curriculares municipais, que as habilidades tradicionalmente trabalhadas no Ensino Fundamental-I público não levam em conta os novos paradigmas da comunicação e da educação. Além disso, a análise dos dados demonstrou haver certa desatualização pedagógica no campo investigado, bem como uma distância entre as práticas observadas e as orientações curriculares que existem atualmente. Finalmente, a tese defendida neste trabalho é a de que, para o desenvolvimento de propostas pedagógico-educacionais orientadas pelas teorias de Letramentos no Ensino Fundamental-I público, é importante considerar, sobretudo, o contexto dos sujeitos, da escola e da comunidade em que as práticas ocorrem. Acrescenta-se que o emprego de recursos de tecnologia digital não é imprescindível para o desenvolvimento da cidadania, da agência e da diversidade no contexto investigado. / This research resorted to autoethnography as a methodological perspective that transits across the ethnography and the biography, through observations and selfobservations, in order to investigate to what extent Literacies theories (KALANTZIS; COPE 2000, 2008a, LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003, 2006, 2013, KRESS, 2003, 2010, GEE, 2004) suit or not the teaching of English in the early years of Elementary School, in a school located in the outskirts of Osasco, in São Paulo. The study looked at a pedagogical/educational proposal guided by the referred theories, developed by the researcher and implemented in the aforementioned school. The focus of the analysis was the development of the critical sense, as regards the students; the strategies for the teaching of English; and the performance of the teacher/researcher in this proposal. Some of the main objectives were to examine the epistemologies related to the conceptions of language teaching in this context and to problematize other manners to approach the English language teaching in a critical way in view of the peculiar characteristics of the individuals and the field. Considering the existence of serious issues, such as the lack of didactical and technological resources, the lack of suitable spaces for the pedagogical practices, the large number of students per class and several other economic and social problems, the working hypothesis assumes that these issues do not impede the development of situated practices. These practices aimed to develop a plural teaching based on the diversity that takes place in the public school in order to promote the students\' agency and a critical education. Based on the theoretical framework consulted and the municipal curricular guidelines, the study verified that the skills traditionally worked in Elementary School do not take into account the new paradigms of communication and education. The data analysis demonstrated that the field was pedagogically outdated. Besides, there was a certain distance between the observed practices and the current curricular guidelines. Finally, we came to the conclusion that in order to develop pedagogical/educational proposals guided by Literacy theories in public Elementary School it is important to consider the context of the individuals as well as the context of the school and the community where the practices occur. Also, in the context investigated the use of digital technologies is not indispensable in order to develop concepts such as citizenship, agency and diversity.

This project is a multifaceted analysis of the Post Graduate Work Permit Program (PGWPP), a temporary work permit that allows international students to live and work in Canada following graduation. This dissertation explores a) the program’s development throughout the years, b) the lived experiences and the perceptions of the students who used the program for transitioning to permanent residency and, c) an art-based autoethnographic introspection about this transition. The research question focuses on how the PGWPP, which provides the government with economic projections regarding student migration, influences the social and economic integration of international students/graduates. This dissertation consists of three self-containing articles all of which employ mobilities paradigm to examine the following secondary questions and purposes: a)Article 1 is an archaeological review of the development of the program that assesses how well the program meets its objective to settle international graduates as successful future permanent residents, b)Article 2 investigates international graduates’ experiences and perspectives about their transition to permanent residency via the PGWPP, c) Article 3 investigates the impacts of migratory-related difficulties among international students on their trajectory as immigrants. Each article approaches the PGWPP from a different methodological angle to provide a comprehensive analysis of the program that ultimately considers the wellness of international students in their pathways to Canadian residency.