Thesis (M.S.M.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 18, 2006). Includes bibliographical references.

Yes / Measures to manage demand include implicit and explicit messages about domestic water-users which have important potential impacts on their perceptions and practices. Drawing on recent literature, this paper identifies three different ¿dimensions¿ along which demand management measures¿ constructions of the water-user may vary: these relate to whether the water user is passive or active, whether they are motivated by individual or common needs, and whether they perceive water as a right or a commodity. Demand management measures currently used in England and Wales are then discussed and analysed. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of communications associated with demand management, and in particular, notes the need to consider the cumulative impact of messages and their interactions with people¿s existing understandings.

Clearly understanding and specifying Extension’s role in community resource and economic development (CRED) programming will allow Extension to more effectively serve the communities in which it operates and communicate a clear purpose to stakeholders. All levels of management might not know how CRED efforts are defined at the national/regional or state level, how much human and financial support is allocated, or what upper level administrators think might be some external/internal constraints. A valid image of national and regional organizational capacities in community resource and economic development will allow for clearer understanding and communication of this programmatic area to potential partners and sponsors. Identifying programming shortfalls, weaknesses and external constraints will allow for strategic planning to address organizational deficiencies. This study sought to inform this process by providing up to date data on CRED Extension programming from across the nation. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the attitudes and perceptions of Extension administrators and directors in regards to the perceived role, function and direction of CRED Extension programming as well as the social-environmental factors that could be affecting system resources. The researcher e-mailed all 115 administrators and associate administrators of the Extension System due to their administrative responsibility. The study found limited regional overall variation among respondents regarding perceptions on the role of Extension in CRED. Consistent perceptions on programming and research priorities were identified. It was perceived that the CRED Extension programming and research being done was failing to meet the needs of the people they serve. Regional variation was found in human and financial resource allocations to CRED. Full-time-equivalents devoted to CRED programming and research was perceived as being insufficient. Resources were seen as primarily decreasing in all programmatic areas. Respondents perceived that increased external linkages and mass media could build support and awareness for all that Extension has to offer. The results of this study should prove to be useful in obtaining a better understanding of all that Extension has to offer and how the organization might improve its efforts in CRED research and programming.

The cooperative enterprise has seemed, to many contemporary 'green' theorists, to be a socially sustainable economic alternative to conventional corporate capitalism, based on the ideas of grassroots participation, democracy, egalitarianism, community, social equity and empowerment. I argue, however, that there has been no attempt in 'green' thought to analyze gender relations within the cooperative enterprise. Instead, 'green' theorists view the cooperative as a homogeneous social entity with a shared subjectivity; and assume that the cooperative's 'sustainable' attributes - decentralized, democratic, and equitable principles - will ensure gender equity and empowerment through social sustainability. Reviewing 'green' theories of cooperatives and social sustainability, this thesis challenges 'green' interpretations of participation and social sustainability that ignore members' gendered identities, relations, and interests, particularly in resource-dependent communities. 'Green' definitions of participation have tended to narrowly focus on access to the cooperative without paying attention to cooperative member dynamics. By focusing attention on the nuances of participation and the implications for equity and empowerment, this thesis explores the complexities and contradictions of gender and participation as they apply to a mixed-gender community resource cooperative on Malcolm Island, British Columbia. Using a labour-knowledge-authority framework, the case study of the Malcolm Island Community Resource Cooperative (MICRC) illustrates that while the cooperative may be socially sustainable according to 'green' community and social economic ideals, actual participation in the cooperative enterprise is more complex, contradictory, and gendered than 'green' thought has typically assumed.

The overall aim of this research was to enhance the understanding of what affects the social impact of ICT in lifelong learning on disadvantaged women. In contributing to the field of social informatics, this research employs behavioural theories as strategy and analytic possibilities. This research mainly used the Kenyan digital villages as CRCs as settings but did also look beyond such establishments to provide a more solid picture. The studies were located in Kenya with complementary studies in Bolivia, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, and Sweden. The main strategies and methods used were case study, comparative education approaches, and observations and interviewing techniques. The findings suggest that ICT and CRCs have the potential to support disadvantaged women and their lifelong learning. However, the positive social impacts are limited because the arrangement of them generally does not favour vernacular languages, illiterate users, female owners and users, or non-students. In general, the use of ICT was sometimes perceived as forced, which is both a barrier and a stressor in the use of ICT in lifelong learning. It also emerged from the comparative studies that discussions among the participants in the CRCs largely covered issues in respect to 1) family and reproduction and 2) self-esteem, i.e. what settles the matter of the social impact of ICT in lifelong learning depends on change attitude among men and women. With minimal if not zero self-esteem a change that would make the difference or break a woman’s “legendary status quo” in order for a woman to feel that she can reach her goal or ambitions in lifelong learning would be difficult. Hence the lack of self-esteem is a stressor in itself. This research is valuable for stakeholders delving into issues of development and learning using ICTs, not only in Kenya but in a broader, global perspective. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 6: Submitted.</p>

The cooperative enterprise has seemed, to many contemporary 'green' theorists, to be a socially sustainable economic alternative to conventional corporate capitalism, based on the ideas of grassroots participation, democracy, egalitarianism, community, social equity and empowerment. I argue, however, that there has been no attempt in 'green' thought to analyze gender relations within the cooperative enterprise. Instead, 'green' theorists view the cooperative as a homogeneous social entity with a shared subjectivity; and assume that the cooperative's 'sustainable' attributes - decentralized, democratic, and equitable principles - will ensure gender equity and empowerment through social sustainability. Reviewing 'green' theories of cooperatives and social sustainability, this thesis challenges 'green' interpretations of participation and social sustainability that ignore members' gendered identities, relations, and interests, particularly in resource-dependent communities. 'Green' definitions of participation have tended to narrowly focus on access to the cooperative without paying attention to cooperative member dynamics. By focusing attention on the nuances of participation and the implications for equity and empowerment, this thesis explores the complexities and contradictions of gender and participation as they apply to a mixed-gender community resource cooperative on Malcolm Island, British Columbia. Using a labour-knowledge-authority framework, the case study of the Malcolm Island Community Resource Cooperative (MICRC) illustrates that while the cooperative may be socially sustainable according to 'green' community and social economic ideals, actual participation in the cooperative enterprise is more complex, contradictory, and gendered than 'green' thought has typically assumed. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as a concept to address the multiple challenges and interdependencies of agriculture and climate change. Within CSA debates, equity and agroecology are especially contested. In Ghana, the concept of climate-smart cocoa (CSC) has emerged to simultaneously respond to high rates of deforestation, climate change pressures and low productivity of cocoa – Ghana’s principal agricultural export. Since CSC in Ghana is a nascent concept, it has received very little academic or critical appraisal. By applying a meta-discourse framework, this study aimed at gaining insights into local CSC discourses in Ghana and how these reflect global environmental meta-discourses. The adoption of certain discourses can reveal insights into subsequent policies and their implications for already marginalised cocoa smallholders. My findings are based on 37 qualitative interviews with cocoa smallholders, extension officers as well as governmental, non-governmental and private sector representatives of Ghana’s cocoa sector. Overall, my results suggest that an ecological modernisation discourse was the most pronounced meta-discourse reflected within CSC. A sustainable intensification discourse was the most common CSC practice to achieve a win-win between environment and development aspirations. Agroecological practices within CSC were mainly adopted to serve ecological modernisation discourses and are thus diametrically opposed to those promoted by more radical meta-discourses. Issues of contextual equity, especially regarding tree tenure, were ubiquitous, and discussed by a large majority of cocoa stakeholders. I caution that an overly simplistic win-win approach risks side-lining contextual equity issues and complexities regarding shade cover and agrochemical input. Community Resource Management Area Mechanisms (CREMAs) and other local governance mechanisms represent promising ways to balance trade-offs within the dominant CSC discourse by giving cocoa smallholders a stronger voice. However, given the dominance of large agricultural actors – such as foreign chocolate companies – within the current political economy of Ghana’s cocoa sector, this study cautions not to overestimate the potential of these local governance structures.

Collaborative conservation partnership frequency is increasing in natural resources management; however, few successful examples exist in the United States. These groups seek to address land stewardship through cooperative, communicative, bottom-up approaches that engage local stakeholders. A better understanding of member characteristics and successful group characteristics may enhance collaborative conservation partnership outcomes. A survey was conducted to quantify partnership member characteristics and advertising mediums. Results were compared with the National Woodland Owner Survey. Collaborative conservation partnership members tend to be well-educated, middle-aged, upper-middle class individuals with large landholdings. They span previously identified family forest owner clusters but may be classified as earlier adopters by Diffusion of Innovations theory. Word-of-mouth is the most common way members learn about partnership opportunities. Qualitative data was analyzed to identify key features related to the ability to achieve group goals. Multi-disciplinary literature review points to the likely influences of leadership, task type, social capital, resource inputs, processes, and temporal change attributes on collaborative conservation partnership goal achievement. Key informant interviews demonstrate that resource and social capital inputs derive disproportionately from particular actors, partnerships need flexibility to adapt to changes in available resources, leaders establish partnership activity levels, social capital is the foundation of resource access, and groups are diverse in the ways they deal with context-specific tasks, resources, and processes. Overall, collaborative conservation partnerships demonstrate potential to positively influence land stewardship and technology transfer. Growth requires expanding membership, establishing partnerships as a legitimate conservation medium, and maintaining diverse groups tailored to local contexts. / Master of Science

國民閱讀力是一個國家很重要的競爭力，國民閱讀力也是一個國家最有效益的投資項目。網際網路的發達促使地球村的生活圈更為緊密，因此群體生活中的個體都要有解決問題的能力，但面對多元及瞬息萬變的資訊快速變化世代，要擁有帶得走的閱讀能力才是讓未來學子應付社會變化的基本能力。 國中生介於兒童與成人磨合期，生理上的改變也影響到心理及對知識的需求。面對十二年國教來臨，師生的互動模式也有了改變，因此教學現場的老師教、學生學單行道方式默默地修正了，而要滿足教學現場的變化就要讓國中生有更完整的資訊素養。 資訊素養的養成需要完善的配套措施做配合，硬體上可由公共圖書館與國民中學圖書館提供圖書資訊的服務；軟體上，課程教學的設計規劃及圖書資訊利用教育的教導，都是讓國中生擁有資訊素養很重要的基礎架構。國民中學圖書館主要是服務全校師生，在經費和資源上確實受限於政府資源及圖書資訊專業能力，公共圖書館主要的服務對象是全體民眾，在經費和圖書資訊專業能力相較更為充裕，配合資訊素養的螺旋性課程規劃，若能讓國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館社區資源共享，相信可以營造書香的社會及培育國中擁有帶得走的終身學習能力。 本研究探討國外的南韓、新加坡、香港三個國家，國內的台北市、新北市、高雄市三個公共圖書館，就國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館社區資源共享的狀況，透過國內外的文獻探討與基隆市的現況做對照討論，讓未來社區資源共享的規畫更為妥善。 基隆市有台灣首座的私立公共圖書館，基隆地理位置有其歷史性，但氣候潮濕多雨影響了國中生戶外活動的機會，而行政轄區位於大台北生活區的邊緣地帶，因此如何增加學生休閒活動的場所，滿足學生在資源貧乏下的閱讀需求，國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館就得承擔起責任。 研究結果發現： (1)基隆市國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館社區資源共享有40%。 (2)社區資源共享的類型主要為「與作家有約」。 (3)國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館社區資源共享的動機及需求很強烈。 最後，本研究亦提出針對國民中學圖書館與公共圖書館社區資源共享後續研究可以討論的方向與目標。 / National reading ability is a very important competitiveness of a country, and it is also a most effective investment for a country. Internet promotes global village living area more closely, so the individual should have the ability to solve problems. In order to face the diversity and rapid changes in information generation, it is nessary to have the ability of reading comprehension. Middle school students are at the run-in period between children and adults period, changes of the physical edffect psychological needs and knowledge needs. With the coming of 12-year compulsory education policy, the teacher-student interaction mode has also been changed. One way mode that teachers teach and students learn amended, and it’s necessary to cultivate the information literacy of middle school students. To improve students’ information literacy do need the coordination and cooperation between the public libraries and the national middle school libraries. Both of the libraries can provide library and information services to the students on hardware part, and provide curriculum and teaching design or library instruction on software part. And both parts are the basis of information literacy. National middle school libraries service mainly on teachers and students, so the government funding and resources are indeed limited. The main target of public libraries is the entire population, and compared to school libraries, government funding and professional capacity are abundant. If middle school libraries and public libraries can share the resources with each other, and also implement the information literacy curriculum with spiral planning at the same time, the scholarly community can be created and middle school students can be cultivated with reading comprehension ability. This study investigate the resources sharing between national middle school libraries and public libraries of overseas areas, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong and also three domestic areas including Taipei, New Taipei and Kaohsiung. Through the literature review of resource sharing between libraries, and compared it with the situation of keelung, a better future plan can be make. Although there is a Taiwan's first private public library in Keelung and it has historic location, the humid and rainy weather and the frontier location of Taipei City affecte the middle school students’ opportunities of outdoor activities. Therefore, national middle school libraries and public libraries have the responsibility to increase students' leisure activities places and meet the students need of reading. The results found that: (1) 40% national middle school libraries and the public libraries share community resources. (2) the main types of shared community resource is the speech of "about the writer." (3) the motivation and demand of community resources sharing between national middle school libraries and public libraries are very strong. At the end of this study, issues of the community resources sharing between national middle school libraries for follow-up study are suggested.

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