Objectives: The objective of this study was to better understand the needs of users of an academic health sciences library. Methods: A focus group was conducted using structured interviews. The groups interviewed consisted of three students each from Medicine, Pharmacy, and PhysicalTherapy. Interviewees were probed as to their experience with the library facility and the information training they received in their professional schools. Another focus group was conducted with six participants. Two faculty members each from Medicine, Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy were interviewed. Faculty were asked about the information training they provided students. The data was analyzed for trends using qualitative software. Results: Better relationships were developed between library users and staff. Staff enjoyed learning the focus group methodology and thought it was a valuable tool. New insights were gained for current and future library operations. Conclusions: A focus group is an excellent research tool for assessing the information needs of users, the degree to which the library is filling those needs, and learning of new needs

Many Inuit feel they are not benefitting from research activities that come from colonial research licensing practices and laws enabling state control over research. In Nunavut, research licensing also helped to increase community engagement in research. The Nunavut Research Institute (NRI), based in Iqaluit, Nunavut manages research and issues physical/natural, health, and social science research licenses in the Territory. In partnership with the NRI, we examined social science and Inuit knowledge research licensed between 2004-2019, to understand the scope of research trends in Nunavut. Using the 568 project summaries from social science research licenses, thematic content analysis was conducted to: i) identify research topics in social science and Inuit knowledge projects; ii) determine frequency and diversity of topics according to leadership, location, and timeframe; iii) develop new metrics to improve tracking of research topics; and, iv) contribute to the development of a Nunavut research portal making NRI research applications/reports public. Through this analysis we learned that social science research in Nunavut increased over time. Research projects are predominantly led by Canadian academics, with the highest concentration of research being in Iqaluit. Social science research is mainly focused on cultural topics, conducted using interviews, and shared in peer-reviewed journal articles. Community engagement has also increased over time in Nunavut, and research intensity appears to be connected to the availability of research-related capacity and infrastructure in a community. This research is an important starting point in making research trends more accessible to Nunavummiut (people of Nunavut), and more useable by decision-makers regarding research intensity and potential fatigue in some Nunavut communities. Long term, improving tracking of metrics such as funding sources and reporting mechanisms can contribute to policy reform and to advancing the NRI licensing database. This is an initial step contributing to Nunavut-specific approaches to Inuit self-determination in research. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / Many Inuit feel they are not involved in the research process or seeing benefits from research outcomes. For my MA research, I am working with the Nunavut Research Institute (NRI) licensing database analyzing summaries of social science research applications from 2004-2019. The objectives are to: 1) Identify research topics addressed in social science projects; 2) Determine the variation of research topics across Nunavut over the past 16 years; 3) Develop new metrics to improve tracking of research topics; 4) Contribute to the development of a Nunavut research database making NRI research applications publicly accessible Through this analysis we learned that social science research in Nunavut has increased over time. Research projects are mainly led by Canadian academics, focused on cultural topics, and concentrated in Iqaluit. Community engagement has also increased over time in Nunavut and appears to be linked with the availability of research-related capacity and infrastructure in a community. This research is an important starting point in making research trends more accessible to Nunavummiut (people of Nunavut). This work is also an initial step contributing to Nunavut-specific approaches to Inuit self-determination in research.

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<p>Empathy is increasingly recognized as a critical skill and disposition for engineering practice. Empathy enhances the ability to understand and connect with the thoughts and feelings of others, which helps engineers design concepts and products that are both innovative and aligned to actual user needs and desires. With increased competition and need to innovate in this global economy, there is a growing need for more empathic engineers and an increasing need for more research in the area to prepare future empathic engineers. Previous research indicates community-engagement as a pedagogical approach that provides a context for empathic development. Understanding how empathy changes through a community-engaged design experience can inform the development of a wide range of design and community-engagement experiences. Therefore, this dissertation sought a deeper understanding of the impact of community-engaged design learning on empathic growth and the factors that contribute to that growth for engineering undergraduate students. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods design focused on the empathic development of students enrolled in a community-engaged design course. In the first phase, empathic development was assessed using pre- and post-data collection of empathy and community partner interaction surveys. In the second qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students to build on the results from the quantitative phase and provide insights into the empathic development and import of community relationships identified therein. This study defined empathy as a tripartite phenomenon comprised of the (1) affective dimension emphasizing feelings of concern for another, (2) cognitive dimension emphasizing knowing what another is feeling, and (3) behavioral dimension emphasizing the act of responding based on the cognitive and affective experience. The results highlighted students engaging in how they empathized by showing concern/sympathy—affective dimension—and took the perspective of users –cognitive dimension—in order to understand and make informed design decisions for their projects –behavioral dimension. The quantitative phase did not find any statistically significant practical changes for the overall population. However, based on interviews of students who increased in all three constructs—empathic concern, perspective taking, and interpersonal self-efficacy, which served as proxies for the affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of empathy, empathy manifested and developed due to different factors. These factors included impactful experiences, leadership positions, long-term participation and diverse team members. The results also highlighted prior experiences and overestimating as factors that students attributed for their high pre-test scores in interpersonal self-efficacy.  </p>

Within a highly complex and interconnected system of cities, community involvement tools that engage citizens in developing the urban context could move towards more sustainable solutions while bringing social change. Literature shows that urban agriculture conducted in the form of shared community gardens can be a significant component of sustainable community development strategies, particularly in disadvantaged neighbourhoods (Ohmer et al, 2009).  In the last decades, several socioeconomic challenges combined with the climate change has resulted in social and economic polarization within the cities. Greece, witnessed numerous transitions regarding the degradation of urban space (Latinopoulos, 2022). Severe lack of public green spaces, abandoned open spaces in neighbourhoods, limited access to natural settings, indifference of residents to participate to collective activities are some of the main characteristics of Greek cities highlighting the need to further explore the reasons behind it. Thessaloniki is selected as a representative paradigm of a contemporary city that deals with these challenges providing a limited number of urban agriculture and social entrepreneurship initiatives. The study aims to point out the significance of urban agriculture as a participatory tool that, when combined with the concept of social entrepreneurship can be the spark for social change within the city of Thessaloniki. Findings are supported by primary data given from interviewees who are users of seven urban gardens in the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki. Data also demonstrate that, in spite of acknowledging the positive impact of urban agriculture, participants show limited awareness on the concepts of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. To conclude, identifying beliefs and behaviours of civilians can be the starting point towards a more sustainable future for our cities. As Brenner &amp; Schmid attest (2015), the city is re-emerging as the key site in which pioneering solutions and responses to the global challenges will occur.

ABSTRACTYoung people, I believe, are the future of every society because they are the ones who will inherit our mistakes and who can potentially drive the change that we all aspire to, through their ideas, creativity and belief. Yet all too often they are marginalised, disregarded, even demonised. In Tanzania, 50% of the population is under the age of 18 years but they are rarely given a voice. This thesis reports on an experiment aimed at giving a voice to a group of marginalised young people in Northern Tanzania – former street children living in the town of Moshi, being cared for by an organisation called Mkombozi. The aim of the research was to investigate whether participatory radio converged with new ICTs, such as mobile telephony and the internet, could be effective communication tools to enable Mkombozi strengthen its youth empowerment and community engagement agenda and thereby help it move from being a ‘provider’ of services to a ‘facilitator’ that helps the community to bring sustainable change. The four young people who took part in the experiment were given free rein to make a radio programme about street children, backed by my technical expertise as a radio journalist. The programme was broadcast on a regional radio station and the audience was invited to take part in a live discussion using the phone, text messages and email. The results showed this to be an effective way of empowering the participants by giving them a voice to articulate their hopes and dreams, by inspiring them with self-confidence and self-respect and by allowing them to formulate their own demands for a better life. The programme they made provoked an overwhelming audience response, which connected the street children through dialogue with the community and engaged them in finding solutions to the issues themselves. Subsequently, there was a widespread consensus on the need for more participatory youth programming and investigation into how these communication tools might be developed further in order to find sustainable solutions at the grassroots level rather than through a ‘top-down’ approach.

The thesis focuses on understanding the relationship between remotely collaborative team members and the community userbase. This is done through a series of experiments where both workshops and interviews led to the development of a framework. The methodology developed melded workshops and interviews together with evaluation and iteration periods in what is called ‘workshop rounds’. Prototypes transitioned into ‘living prototypes’ as they involved an actual set of live users which furthermore required high-fidelity implementation. The framework created established team-to-team communication with considerations for eventual users in an open dialog. Suggestions in different directions towards collaborative contributions completed the efforts of a scaffolding approach. The project is relevant to collaborative media methodology where the case studies constructed understandings in design research on the topic of remote collaboration in community engagement and development.

In this paper, I explore digital history and community engagement. I do so by exploring intersections between public history and new media theory, distilling a set of nine best practices, and applying these to several digital history initiatives: Historical Society of Pennsylvania's PhilaPlace, Baltimore County's Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth, and two projects initiated and hosted by Temple University. / History

People with mental illness (PMI) are at a 67% greater risk of arrest and 16 times greater risk of being killed during a police incident than other civilians. Indeed, law enforcement officers (LEOs) report lacking expertise when addressing mental health calls, and existing trainings aimed at reducing violence in LEO encounters with PMI do not account for challenges specific to rural LEOs. Additionally, many trainings are severely lacking in assessing outcome changes pre- and post-training with more than half of trainings relying on survey-based knowledge subject to social desirability bias and inaccurate self-assessment. This study aimed to address limitations in the research on de-escalation trainings by testing the efficacy of a one-hour deescalation training adapted from the Crisis Intervention Team training program for rural LEOs. Furthermore, this study aimed to establish initial evidence of validity and reliability in using standardized actor simulation as a behavioral measure for de-escalation training. Simulation-based education and assessment has been a mainstay of medical education for several decades and is used in medical school curricula worldwide. Results suggested that the one-hour curriculum offered several benefits for participants’ self-reported attitudes and behavioral application of de-escalation strategies. Results also suggested that simulation-based assessment is a reliable and valid measure of the application of de-escalation strategies. Such standardized actor simulations may pave the path for computer-based simulations, such as virtual reality (VR) simulations, with LEOs. This will represent a notable advance for rural police departments as VR is far more scalable and accessible than simulated actors. VR may provide the same evaluation and training benefits while reducing costs.