This paper analyzes a contentious road-building project by elucidating the different values involved and articulated in the decision-making process, delineating the various networks of institutions, individuals, organizations and materials formed around these values, and describing the outcome of the conflict as a function of the interactions between and among these networks. The project in question is the South Lawrence Trafficway, a section of Kansas Highway 10 (K-10) intended to route traffic south around the City of Lawrence, as opposed to its current alignment through the local streets of the city. This particular project has been contested for decades, primarily because of the historical, cultural and environmental values placed on the land through which the road is routed, known as the Wakarusa Wetlands, Baker Wetlands, or Haskell/Baker Wetlands. The analysis focuses on moments of value articulation- critical points during the conflict during which actors and networks of actors express their values with the intent of affecting the outcome of the decision. This paper’s analysis of the conflict draws on Henrik Ernstson’s framework for studying environmental justice and ecological complexity in urban landscapes, along with research on place meaning and desired outcomes for land-use decisions and natural resources planning efforts. The report will examine the decision-making process behind the proposal and approval of the South Lawrence Trafficway, taking into consideration the various institutional and individual actors (and networks of actors) involved, the positions, motivations and strategies of these actors, and the documents used in arguments for either side (maps, documents, court decisions, reports, etc.). The paper begins with an introduction, which includes a condensed summary and chronology of the South Lawrence Trafficway project. Literature review and research design sections follow. The next chapter discusses the actors, networks, values and materials involved in the conflict, as well as the legislative and institutional context within which the conflict occurs. The paper concludes with a summary of findings, and the proposal of future research questions. / text

This dissertation applies a mixed-methods model across three cases of climate risk in order to examine the rhetorical dynamics of uncertainties. I argue that a rhetorical approach to uncertainties can effectively scaffold civic agency in risk communication by translating conflicting interests and creating sites of public participation. By tracing the networks of scientists and their artifacts through cases of climate risk, I demonstrate how the performances of scientific ethos and their material-discursive technologies facilitate the personalization of risk as a form of scientific prudence, and thus a channel to feasible political action. I support these claims through a rhetorical model of translation, which hybridizes methods from discourse analysis and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) in order assemble a data-driven and corpus-based approach to rhetorical analysis. From this rhetorical perspective uncertainties expand on our notions of risk because they reveal associations between scientific inquiries, probability assessments, and the facilitation of political dialogues. In each case, the particular insight of the model reveals a range of rhetorical potentials in climate risk that can be confronted through uncertainties.

This work traces the relationship of individual persons to national economic phenomena associated with consumer finance. The work follows the assemblage of individual consumer credit/debt agents through credit reporting and credit scoring, through to the aggregation of these agents in student loan-backed securitization and credit ratings. The work focuses on the unique technico-cultural constructions produced when human subjects are operatively conjoined to other related discursive and material objects, including related legislation, private corporations, and governmental bodies. The work explores how these unique constructions form stable networks connecting individuals to larger socio-economic settings: networks at once revealing the profoundly distributed nature of both ‘agents’ and their ‘agency,’ and at the same time intimating alternative approaches to questions of individual and collective agency outside the agent/structure dichotomy. The work concludes by addressing the place of this research in consumer finance generally, and the role of consumer finance in contemporary US economics broadly.

Organic farming has often been described as a single unified entity. Further, this unified praxis is often discussed as an alternative approach to agriculture and as a particular social and environmental movement. There has been increasing acknowledgement in academia that there are many different organics, or versions, or knowledges of organic, but what this means to individual farmers and farms remains to be explored. This is the point of departure for this work. This is an interdisciplinary project situated at the intersection of human geography, cultural anthropology, and political science, informed by and engaged with actor-network theory and visual methodologies. My methods include ethnographic participant observation, interviews, and photovoice. For this project I visited 17 small-scale organic farms in southern British Columbia. My findings indicate that different ideas, opinions, and narratives of organic abound, but most importantly that reconciling difference and nostalgia amid vast change was an overwhelming theme for the farmers and farms in this project.

In 1997, Governor Paul Patton of Kentucky asked the state Cabinet of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to develop administrative regulations for industrial hog farms in the state. The regulatory process has been contentious. From 1997 through 1998, the Cabinet held five public hearings to elicit comments on the proposed regulations. This study is designed to answer two questions. First, how, within parameters of participation established by the Kentucky Cabinet of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, have participants in the debate deployed notions of risk to privilege certain gendered and sexualized farming identities, farming practices, and notions of rurality? Second, how will the spatial arrangements proposed by participants alter social relationships? A theoretical framework that draws from Foucaults work on governmentality and power/knowledge, feminist theories and Latours actor network theory was developed for this analysis which combines discourse analysis with participant observation. The study examines texts produced by the Cabinet and three groups: the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and Community Farm Alliance. Texts include transcripts of hearing comments, published histories, newspapers and web sites produced by three studied, law suits related to the debate, and newspaper coverage of the debate. Participant observation was conducted at public hearings and meetings of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and Community Farm Alliance. Results from this project suggest that gender and sexualization play very important roles in establishing hierarchies between organized groups and government agencies. Results also indicate that the constructions of farmers, farming and rurality produced by hierarchical relationships are largely dependent on distinct spatial arrangements which have very real effects on human-human, human-environment and human-animal relationships.

The orders of linkages that stabilise evolving media worlds are far from obvious. Often undertaken in media ‘laboratories’, the collaborative processes which combine a range of disciplines to develop media worlds are also far from straightforward. Enablers and constraints are as likely to be non-human as they are the people associated with the project. Plugs, wires, switches, protocols and standards - things whose detail can be mind numbingly boring - all have to be worked into effective and stable sets of associations. This thesis describes two knowledge pathways that track through such a project. The first describes the development of a prototype for a website, imagined as a portal for a range of interests around children and media in New Zealand/Aoteoroa. As media worlds are continually being reconfigured and as data circulates across increasingly linked access technologies, many non-government organisations are migrating their work to ‘the web’. ‘The Media Clearinghouse’ project was one of these. Latour’s analytical concept of immutable mobiles provides a way to make sense of some of the work observed whilst his direction to ‘simply follow’ worlds of interest provided the methodological challenge. The second pathway, traces the bibliographic threads of literatures that come from the descriptive genres of Science Technology Studies (STS). Significant amongst these are Leigh Star and Geoffrey Bowker who have elaborated the concept of boundary objects and infrastructures. Star and Griesemer’s seminal description of the Museum of Invertebrate Zoology is compared with a description of an early laboratory by Bruno Latour. These and other writers elaborate on methods that offer ways to render visible the messy, chaotic performances of design and invention. They follow inscriptions - tables, lists, maps, sketches and so on. These things work between the micro and the macro and enable very huge terrains to be assembled in small, ordered spaces. The thesis assembles a list of methods that have some utility for following and describing web design work and perhaps, other information worlds. Having followed and described this writer’s work through the invention of the prototype it is argued that a combinative method has successfully enabled a description that moves in and out of a new information ‘laboratory’.

The increasing importance of media, especially digital media, in society has been studied widely, from identity formation to activist movements. In international relations studies digital media’s impact has focused considerably on public diplomacy 2.0. This focus has caused a more holistic view of digital diplomacy to be neglected. This study explores how digital media’s impacts as a part of mediatization are seen within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Semi-structured interviews with 11 officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were conducted. These led to the creation of three thematic fields. The first one looks into how the agency of the Ministry is seen to be impacted by digitalization. The second section looks into how community building is seen as essential. And the third part investigated how the ministry evaluates the impacts of digitalization on other ministries of foreign affairs in the light of its own experience. The finding is that the ministry is expanding into a new digital sphere and that in the process of so doing the Ministry is not a tabula rasa, but it mirrors the cultural and political context of the country within the online sphere.

Införande av en HR Shared Service-organisation syftar till att omfördela HR-funktionens personalarbete och separera det administrativa personalarbetet från det strategiska. Med hjälp av ny teknologi kan HR administration flyttas över till HR/IT-system och HR-arbetet kan i större utsträckning ske via självservice som hanteras av ledare och medarbetare i organisationen. Den senaste tidens forskning kring HR Shared Service och det nya sättet att leverara HR-service visar att gamla sampels- och handlingsmönster fortfarande lever kvar mellan ledare och HR-medarbetare. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur HR Shared Service har införts på ett Telekom företag och vilka konsekvenser det fått för ledarna på företaget. Den empiriska undersökningen har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod i form av 11 intervjuer med ledare och projektdeltagare för införandet av HR Shared Service-organisationen. Tre deltagande observationer genomfördes med avseende på hur ledare söker information på HR-portalerna. Actor Network Theory (ANT) är ett perspektiv som används för att analysera hur människor och teknik sammanbinds i ett nätverk vid teknologiska och organisatoriska förändringar. Resultaten visar att införandet av Shared Service-organisationen har medfört en positiv utveckling för ledarna efter ett antal år. Förkortade handläggningstider och lättillgänglig information och support gav en effektivisering i det administrativa arbetet. Vidare framkommer att informationen på HR-portaler inte alltid är anpassad efter ledarens behov, vilket ger en osäkerhet i ledarskapet. Gamla samspelsmönster mellan ledare och HR Managers har i stor utsträckning omdirigerats till HR Shared Service. För att ledaren ska kunna utföra sitt HR-arbete och ledarskap på ett tillfredsställande sätt måste HR-service vara lättillgänglig, HR/IT-system lätta att använda samt att innehållet på HR-portaler ska vara verksamhetsanpassat. Det handlar om en kontinuerlig översättningsprocess mellan HR och ledare för att öka förståelsen för ledarens och verksamhetens behov både ur ett socialt och tekniskt perspektiv.

Mano bakalauro darbas vadinasi “Matai, čia esu aš”. Šio darbo tikslas – panaudojant šiuolaikines išraiškos priemone ir technologiją įdomiai pateikti mane dominusią problemą: aktoriaus menamo personažo ir paties aktoriaus asmenybės sutapatinimas žiūrovo sąmonėje. Kuris yra tikrasis? Kuriuo lengviau būti? Ką apskritai reiškia būti savimi? Šiuo darbu noriu atkreipti mūsų dėmesį į tai, kad toks sutapatinimas neskatina žiūrovo kritiškai mąstyti, o aktorius būna labai destruktyvus, pavyzdžiui, skaudus V. Šapranausko atvėjis. Temą pateikti pasirinkau reklaminio plakato formą. Tačiau formatas nestandartinis – trys plakatai 70x290 (cm), atspausta ant audinio. Tai yra mano fotografuoti konkrečių aktorių portretai. Dalis veido yra aktorius realiame gyvenime, dalis su jo kuriamo personažo grimu. Papildoma priemonė dviprasmiškumui pabrėžti – dalinamas į spalvotą ir nespalvotą dalis. Portretai yra papildomi C. Chandler “Aš, Fellini” knygos mintimis apie aktoriaus darbą ir pateikiama pagrindinė darbo žinutė “Matai, čia esu aš”. Tokį plakatų dydį ir technologiją pasirinkau todėl, kad yra numatyta plakatus eksponuoti skirtingose aplinkose. Didelis mastelis tam, kad plakatai taptų ryškiu aplinkos akcentu, o atspaudas ant audinio pasirinktas tam, kad būtų lengva transportuoti ir eksponuoti. Atlikdama šį darbą turėjau pademonstruoti gebėjimus pabrėžti problemą, pasirinkti išraiškias priemones, labiausiai atitinkančias mano situacijoje. Sukauptas žinias ir praktiką galima pritaikyti mokykloje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / My Bachelor’s final thesis is titled "Look this is me". The aim - use of modern means of expression and technology to give perception of this problem: the character of an actor and the actor's personal identification in the minds of the viewer. Which is true? Which is easier to be? What does it mean to be true yourself? This work is trying to draw our attention to the fact that such identification does not encourage the viewer to think critically, and the actor is very destructive like in such severe case as V. Šapranauskas. This topic was chosen to be presented in a promotional poster form: non-standard format - three posters 70x290 (cm), printed on fabric. Portraits of specific actors were used from my personal photo shoot. Half of an actor’s face is from a real life and the other part is made with a makeup which represents its character. An additional measure to emphasize the ambiguity – photo division into colored and black and white parts. These portraits has added thoughts from a book of C. Chandler, "I, Fellini" and the main thesis message "Look this is me". The exact size and technology was chosen because this poster is supposed to be exhibited in different environments and places: a large scale in order to make posters bright and ambient accent and the printing on the fabric - for an easy transportation and display. While working on this thesis I had to demonstrate the ability to highlight the problem, to choose the means of expression most relevant to my situation... [to full text]

La presente Tesis desarrolla un estudio acerca de las modalidades discursivas mediante las que tres de los principales periódicos argentinos de capitales privados, Clarín, La Nación y Página/12, se consolidaron como actores políticos durante el primer kirchnerismo. Revalorizando la importancia del periodo presidencial 2003-2007 en la injerencia en la conflictividad entre prensa y kirchnerismo, se constató que los periódicos construyeron sus propios posicionamientos en una tensión permanente entre las respuestas a los acontecimientos políticos que marcaron el perfil del gobierno de Néstor Kirchner y sus propios marcos ideológicos e interpretativos institucionales. Se abordó un área en tensión por su hibridez entre la discursividad periodística y la política, que configuró el vínculo, el solapamiento, la disputa y/o la complementariedad entre los posicionamientos construidos por los periódicos en sus secciones de opinión cuando intervinieron políticamente en los debates y definiciones en torno al poder político, en un contexto en el que fueron ellos mismos cuestionados públicamente respecto de la validez y la transparencia de las prácticas productivas del periodismo.