abstract: Traditionally, emergency response is in large part the role and responsibility of formal organizations. Advances in information technology enable amateurs or concerned publics to play a meaningful role in emergency response. Indeed, in recent catastrophic disasters or crises such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2011 Japan earthquake and nuclear crisis, participatory online groups of the general public from both across the globe and the affected areas made significant contributions to the effective response through crowdsourcing vital information and assisting with the allocation of needed resources. Thus, a more integrative lens is needed to understand the responses of various actors to catastrophic crises or disasters by taking into account not only formal organizations with legal responsibilities, but also volunteer-based, participatory groups who actively participate in emergency response. In this dissertation, I first developed an “event-driven” lens for integrating both formal and volunteer-based, participatory emergency responses on the basis of a comprehensive literature review (chapter 1). Then I conducted a deeper analysis of one aspect of the event-driven lens: relationships between participatory online groups and formal organizations in crisis or disaster situations. Specifically, I explored organizational and technical determinants and outcomes of forming such relationships (chapter 2). As a consequence, I found out three determinants (resource dependence, shared understanding, and information technology) and two outcomes (inter-organizational alignment and the effectiveness of coordinated emergency response) of the relationship between participatory online groups and formal organizations and suggested seven hypotheses. Furthermore, I empirically tested these hypotheses, focusing on the 2015 Nepal earthquake case (chapter 3). As a result, I found empirical evidence that supports that shared understanding and information technology improve the development of the relationship between participatory online groups and formal organizations. Moreover, research findings support that the development of the relationship enhances inter-organizational coordination. Lastly, I provide implications for future research (chapter 4). This dissertation is expected to contribute to bridging the disconnect between the emergency management literature and the crisis informatics literature. The theoretical insight from inter-organizational relations (IOR) theory provides another contribution. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration 2016

The civil society and civic engagement is a prerequisite for democracy (Putnam, 1994), and in the form of the popular movements it has in many ways defined the Swedish democracy. This thesis focuses on the locality Holmsund located in the municipality of Umeå, Holmsund has a history that are in ways defined by activeness from civil society in similarity with many other places in Sweden (Ambjörnsson, 2001). Through interviews with people active connected to voluntary associations in Holmsund, and the use of narrative analysis this thesis tries to understand how what roles civil society has in Holmsund today; with specific interest in the rural context. Central to this is the understanding of space as relational and in many ways defined by power relations, and in particular relationship between centre-periphery. The combination of the centre-periphery relationship and the neo-liberal restructuring of the Swedish economy from being characterized by wealth distribution to wealth contributing in order to prosper has among other things lead to a decrease in services and increase inequality, both in urban peripheral places or as in this case, rural places. A part of how voluntary associations perceive their role in a rural and local context, is a role of counteracting the effects of inequality but mainly voluntary association are occupied with creating a good living environment within their local community. A part of the increasing inequality is that it enhances the identification with the local context which creates a common social reality among the inhabitants which serves as ground for organization. Through place attachment there seem to be an identification in between a significant presence and importance of civil society and the place Holmsund, this contributes to Holmsund being constructed as a civic community.

To inspire users in an application, different types of triggers can exist and can come in many different forms, but for this report, gamification as a trigger is investigated. Gamification itself exists in many different services available and has been around for a number of years, but the interesting question is if these type of design elements will have a positive effect on an altruistic community in a civic engagement application. To investigate how this group of users react on gamification, an extensive literature review of previous studies was conducted within UX, psychology and gamification. A civic engagement application was adjusted with the help of existing frameworks and theories which were later tested with usability tests and a questionnaire called IMI measuring intrinsic motivation. The findings showed indications of positive attitude and when using gamification, five out of seven said they liked the design. The report resulted in guidelines that can be used as an inspiration when applying any gamified elements to a civic engagement service where users are driven by helping others.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-07-21T18:47:50Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação de Mestrado - Guilherme Amorim.pdf: 691520 bytes, checksum: faf9df2d03171350e2b7678a0b3638e3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-21T18:47:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação de Mestrado - Guilherme Amorim.pdf: 691520 bytes, checksum: faf9df2d03171350e2b7678a0b3638e3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-02 / CNPQ / This article investigates the influence of broadband Internet availability in the occurrence of events of civil unrest, both with theory and empirical evidence. We first expand a recent model of protests considering the hypothesis that the Internet sets an environment for communication and information exchange that boosts collective dissatisfaction towards unfair policies. We then use collected data on the locations of 2011’s Occupy Movement in the United States to estimate the impact of one extra Internet Service Provider on the probability of evidencing protests in a given location. To identify the effect of broadband provision, we use an instrumental variable approach based on topographic elevation as a source of exogenous variations in the cost of building and maintaining cable infrastructure. As an alternative approach, we also use identification through heteroskedasticity, which does not rely on exclusion restrictions. In accordance with our theoretical predictions, our results show that the availability of broadband services during the time of the Occupy protests was greatly associated with the occurrence of such events. / Este artigo investiga a influência que o acesso à rede de Internet banda larga pode exercer na ocorrência de eventos de inquietação civil, através de uma argumentação teórica e de evidências empíricas. Primeiro, expandimos um recente modelo de decisão sobre o ato de protestar, considerando a hipótese de que a Internet define um ambiente para comunicação e troca de informações que aumentaria a insatisfação coletiva contra políticas injustas. Em seguida, utilizamos dados recolhidos sobre os locais das manifestações relacionadas ao Movimento Occupy nos Estados Unidos em 2011 para estimar o impacto que um provedor de serviços de Internet a mais exerceria sobre a probabilidade de evidenciar protestos em um determinado local. Para identificar o efeito do fornecimento de banda larga, usamos uma abordagem de variável instrumental utilizando elevação topográfica como fonte de variações exógenas no custo de construção e manutenção de infraestrutura de Internet a cabo. Como abordagem alternativa, também realizamos identificação através de heterocedasticidade, que não depende de restrições de exclusão. Em concordância com nossas previsões teóricas, nossos resultados mostram que a disponibilidade de serviços de banda larga durante a época dos protestos do Movimento Occupy esteve fortemente associada com a ocorrência de tais eventos.

Presented through the lens of the Theory of Relative Deprivation (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), this thesis aims to establish and quantify the link between inaccessibility in online contexts for people with low-vision or blindness, and the psychosocial impacts that may be associated with this inaccessibility. As there is existing research on this topic with elderly participants (Lagacé, Charmarkeh, Zaky, & Firzly, 2016), the focus for this research was working-aged people. The following research questions were addressed: 1) Does perceived lack of internet accessibility lead to perceptions of unfairness among low-vision or blind individuals? 2) In turn, do perceptions of unfairness negatively impact their level of self-esteem, and civic engagement? The hypothesized results were modeled as lower levels of perceived access lead to lower levels of perceived fairness, which in turn, lower the levels of civic engagement and self- esteem. Using a sample of 69 participants between the ages of 21-65, a self-report questionnaire was administered. It was found that perceived fairness was correlated on three of four scale items with self-esteem levels; the perception of fairness was not correlated with civic engagement; civic engagement and self-esteem were significantly correlated; and perceived access was correlated with levels of self-esteem.

This thesis sets out to examine the notion that social context throughout the life course plays an important role in the development of social capital. It explores this using the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), a longitudinal data set, using data from England and Wales. It argues that social capital can be thought of as being composed of different dimensions which develop differentially over time. It frames the research within the context of the local community and examines three distinct dimensions of social capital: participation in local groups, neighbourhood attachment, and interpersonal trust. Frameworks are developed within which each is hypothesised to develop at different times and within different contexts. Different expectations are outlined which suggest how they should develop within a view of social capital based on Putnam (2000) and his predictions concerning social participation and trust. These are contrasted with theories and findings form the literature on political socialisation and Uslaner’s (2002) conception of trust as a deep rooted moral trait. It is shown that participation in local groups, neighbourhood attachment and interpersonal trust, do develop at different stages and in different contexts. Moreover, it is shown that growing up in a highly trusting environment may predict participation and engagement later in life.

Because of contemporary unsatisfactory political situation in the Czech Republic, caused by presence of widespread corruption networks, many civic initiatives have been established to improve the status quo. This diploma thesis describes two NGO's, which focus on electoral system change of the lower chamber of the parliament of the Czech Republic. These organizations are Přímá volba poslanců 2014 (Direct election of Members of Parliament 2014) and electoral reform of Karel Janeček which is promoted by NGO Pozitivní evoluce (Positive evolution). The thesis is a comparative case study of these two organizations. The main goal is to do complex analysis of these two organizations, and identify interests, which lead them to pursue the electoral system change. Furthermore, basic effects of electoral systems and their changes are described. One of the chapters describes the development of the debate over the electoral system change in the past 20 years and mentions the attitude of contemporary political parties and their representatives to electoral system reform.

This dissertation investigates three questions: First, what conditions make dissident collective action such as protest, revolt, rebellion, or civil war more likely to happen in a country? Second, what conditions make citizens more likely to join in dissident collective action? Third, does Internet use play a role in dissident collective action, and if so, why? I argue that motives and resources are necessary rather than sufficient conditions for dissident collective action. I develop an analytical framework integrating motives and resources. Specifically, I theorize that state repression is an important motive, and that civil society is critical in providing resources. Four statistical analyses are conducted to test the hypotheses. Using aggregate level data on countries over time, I find that civil war is more likely to occur in countries where both state repression and civil society are strong. Moreover, the effect of civil society on civil war onset increases as the repression level rises. at the individual level using 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project surveys from 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries, I find individuals more likely to join in protest when they experience both more repression and greater civic engagement. Moreover, civic engagement’s effect on protest participation increases as people experience more repression. I further find that Internet use constitutes a kind of civic engagement and has effects similar to voluntary group involvement. the effect of Internet use on protest participation decreases as a person’s civic engagement increases. Finally, an individual is more likely to join in protest when experiencing more repression and using the Internet more frequently. Moreover, the effect of Internet use on protest participation increases as a person experiences more repression.

This is a qualitative, mixed-methods study that focuses on the dispositions that preservice teachers bring into teacher education programs in regard to homelessness. Teacher education programs play an important role in providing preservice teachers experiences teaching that prepare them for working with diverse populations of students. Students enrolled in an elementary art methods course and participated in a civic engagement experience, teaching children after school who were living in a transitional housing program. The results of this study showed evidence that working in community settings with diverse students can alter preservice teachers' notions and awareness of impoverished and homeless children. As a researcher, it is my hope that this alteration will significantly impact the way that pre-service teachers interact with all of their future students.

abstract: The Bharata-Natyam student in the United States (US) is challenged by how to effectively translate their dance into contemporary lived experiences. Research reveals that this dilemma is sometimes addressed by transplanting learnt choreographies into a new theme, sometimes adding verbal text to connect learnt choreography to contemporary issues, or sometimes simply giving up the dance form. Years of training in prevalent Bharata-Natyam education methods make students proficient in re-producing choreography but leave them without the tools to create. This is due to emphasis on guarding traditions and leaving interpretation for later stages that never arrive or get interrupted, because students leave their spaces of Indian-ness for college or a job. This work considers how Bharata-Natyam teachers in the US might support students in finding agency in their dance practice, using it to explore their lived experiences outside dance class, and engaging meaningfully with it beyond the Indian diaspora. The desire for agency is not a discarding of tradition; rather, it is a desire to dance better. This work reinforces the ancient Indian tradition of inquiry to seek knowledge by implementing the principles of Bharata-Nrityam, somatics and engaged pedagogy through the use of creative tools. This took place in three stages: (i) lessons in the Bharata-Nrityam studio, (ii) making Kriti with non-Bharata-Natyam dancers, and (iii) designing a collaborative action dance project between senior Bharata-Natyam students and community partners who are survivors of sexual/domestic violence. The results, in each case, demonstrated that the use of creative tools based in the principles above enriched the teaching-learning process through deeper investigation and greater investment for both student and teacher. Students in the early stages of learning thrived, while senior students expressed that having these tools earlier would have been valuable to their practice. These results suggest that when Bharata-Natyam education in the US is refocused through the lenses of Bharata-Nrityam, somatics and engaged pedagogy, teachers can access tools to empower their students in their practice of Bharata-Natyam not only within the context of the Indian diaspora but also beyond. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2020