This research examines the changing relationships of gender, place and identity wrought by women's entrance into Montreal's financial service sector between 1900 and 1930. I seek to answer two related questions. First, what kinds of identities were enabled in the new spaces created by the feminization of clerical work? In particular, how was gender, sexual, and ethno-linguistic difference constructed within the mixed-sex clerical workspace? Second, what effect did women's entrance into corporate workspaces in the financial district have on prevailing notions about gender, class and urban space? How did this change in labour markets affect representations of women in public more generally? / I make three arguments about women's entrance into Montreal's white-collar workforce. First, I argue that this process created a new kind of "contact zone" within and beyond the white-collar workplace. In these spaces, people came together across cleaves of difference, and ideas about nationalism, class, religion, and language were negotiated in new ways. Secondly, I argue that women's entrance into this sector of the labour market was marked by contradiction. On the one hand, women were held responsible for bringing sexuality into the white-collar workplace, and were sexualized within corporate culture. On the other hand, ideas about "respectability" defined through sexual propriety and corporeal restraint were central to the corporate image as well as media representations of female clerical workers. Finally, I argue that the feminization of clerical work re-mapped relations of gender, class and space. In the highly modernized offices of the financial district, ideas about public womanhood competed. I argue that this change in labour helped legitimize representations of modern womanhood which were consummately urban in nature.

Decision making is an inherent part of everyday work and learning processes. Superior decision outcomes can be achieved by structuring decision processes, encouraging domain experts to work collaborative1y, providing visualization ofdecisions as they develop, and providing decision makers with time and flexibility to better understand problems and to project outcomes. Evaluation of distributed synchronous virtual teamwork environments has eluded researchers. The theoretical foundation of this study was Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) enhanced by a distributed cognition framework. Discourse analysis was used to explore ways to evaluate effectiveness of newly-formed time-constrained self-directed virtual teams using computer-mediated communication (CMC) to solve ill-defined problems. Measures of work process performance were percentages of meeting time devoted to Situation Assessment, Resource Coordination, Idea Generation, and Model Building. Ten measures of work outcome for each of six teams were taken to assess change in decision model quality over time. The data informing this study were obtained during an elective computer science course. The author's course design focused on human-computer interaction (HCI) aspects of use, design, and deployment of computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) systems. Participants were randomly assigned to teams that remained intact throughout the semester. Teams assumed various roles during policy and software-design scenarios. Networked TeamEC decision-modeling software enabled team problem solving. NetMeeting provided connectivity, application sharing, and text chat for intra-team communication to simulate distributed virtual meetings. Discourse analysis revealed process performance patterns and development of shared mental models ofproblem solutions. The outcome variable (Model Score) improved over time for all teams, but degree of improvement varied greatly among teams. Qualitative analysis of group process variables indicated variance was due to how well teams understood scenario-role requirements and managed available resources. Time usage by process variable was analyzed to measure critical resource use to discover "best practice" guidelines for distributed synchronous teamwork. A Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) approach extended collaborative experiential learning to complex applied knowledge domains in order to improve problem solving and critical thinking skills. Constructivist learner-centered course design facilitated a clear task focus enabling participants to learn new work practices applicable to classroom and workplace.

"Back injuries have consistently been the most common types of injuries suffered by people at work. They have been a significant worker injury problem in most, if not all, industrialised countries for many years and manual handling has long been established as a significant task related back injury causal factor.[...] This research project established that the manufacturers of the jet airlines used by the airlines in this study had not previously been acquainted with the issue of baggage handler back injuries.[...] This study also canvassed the opinion of airline safety professionals and airline baggage handlers concerning baggage handling tasks and working environment related causal factors. [...] A major focus of this research project was also to measure the effect of ACE and Sliding Carpet, two commercially available retro-fit baggage systems, on the risk of back injuries to baggage handlers stacking baggage within Boeing B737 narrow-body aircraft." / Doctor of Philosophy

"Back injuries have consistently been the most common types of injuries suffered by people at work. They have been a significant worker injury problem in most, if not all, industrialised countries for many years and manual handling has long been established as a significant task related back injury causal factor.[...] This research project established that the manufacturers of the jet airlines used by the airlines in this study had not previously been acquainted with the issue of baggage handler back injuries.[...] This study also canvassed the opinion of airline safety professionals and airline baggage handlers concerning baggage handling tasks and working environment related causal factors. [...] A major focus of this research project was also to measure the effect of ACE and Sliding Carpet, two commercially available retro-fit baggage systems, on the risk of back injuries to baggage handlers stacking baggage within Boeing B737 narrow-body aircraft." / Doctor of Philosophy

Ergonomists have always been interested in studying work and especially the safety aspects of work. Studying work in dangerous situations is an area that presents particular challenges to the researcher and potentially to the worker. The objective of this study was to explore the use of new technologies in facilitating the field study of people engaged in dangerous work situations without disrupting the work or adding to the danger. This was achieved through the investigation of work activity in dangerous environments: tree felling and rural fire fighting. The two case studies formed the basis for an investigation into three aspects of work: first, to record, measure and understand the work (including physiological workload) of people engaged in dangerous occupations; second, to understand how hazards were identified and dealt with by individuals working in extreme conditions and third, to gain insight into hazardous work environments for the purpose of enhancing training for personnel working in dangerous conditions. An innovative suite of equipment was developed for the study, enabling data collection that did not disturb or inhibit the individual working in dangerous, and sometimes extreme, conditions. The results of the study have shown that, through triangulation of novel combinations of recording instrumentation and video-cued reflective interview, we can gain rich interpretative insights into the working world of the tree faller and rural fire fighter and understand how they manage the hazards they confront in their work. This in turn enables us to develop practices designed to minimise or avoid physical risk to the worker, Furthermore, the annotated video collected in the forests and at fires can be utilised as an authentic resource for training of both workers and trainers. My study has highlighted the value of, and need for, research that is situated in real work environments, and that captures the multidimensionality of workers’ activities without impeding or altering their behaviour.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-102). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.App.Psy.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed May 28, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-117)

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Debra A. Noumair. Dissertation Committee: Patricia M. Raskin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-143).