In the future, as world markets become more diverse, designers will be increasingly asked to create products for people dissimilar to themselves. Human issues, such as product pleasure, will also become more important as advances in manufacturing (enabling companies to produce high quality goods more cheaply) will mean companies will look elsewhere to achieve a competitive edge. These changes will affect designers who presently work with little or no user information. This thesis investigates the attributes designers need in resources that offer them an immediate yet broad understanding of users. The research presented in the thesis has a philosophical strand and a design strand. In the design strand, two mock up resources and a prototype resource are developed. These creations are used in the philosophical strand: the mock ups are used to provide focus while collecting opinions from participants and the prototype is evaluated at the end of the research as if it were a real resource. The thesis starts with a literature review; this review reveals that designers need to understand users' physical, psychological and social needs as well as their environments if they are to design appropriate products for them. It explains that designers find much ergonomics information too technical and not visual enough and reveals that no tools or methods exist that offer a broad and instant understanding of users at the start of the design process. Following this, the results from a set of interviews and a focus group are presented. These studies reveal that designers want both personal and general user information that is reliable, video based, contextual and authentic. The results also show that designers want a fast, online resource that allows information to be easily tagged, compared and shared. Next, the thesis describes the development of the prototype resource and its examination using a heuristic inspection. This resource is then evaluated by designers. The evaluation reveals that designers perceived that the resource would be of value to the design process and thought that the videos showing people going about their everyday lives and the virtual tours around people's homes would be particularly useful. The thesis concludes that designers want contextual user information presented as easily navigable video in an Internet based resource. In doing so, it provides an original contribution to knowledge.

<p>A close reading of a series of books by Eoin Colfer that enjoyed universal success showed a change in the language between the books especially with respect to minor linguistic features such as choice of location and abstract vs. concrete language. The books are about the boy Artemis Fowl, and were presumably conceived as children’s books.</p><p>My original thesis was that the writer could not be sure of the success of the first book, but would definitely be aware of a worldwide audience for at least his third book, due to, for example, questions raised by the translators. If the original audience was expected to be Irish, or British, with very much the same cultural background as the author’s, the imagined subsequent audiences would change with success. My hope was to be able to show this by comparing linguistic features. And indeed, even though some changes could be due to coincidence there was a specific pattern evolving in the series, in that the originally Irish cultural background became less exclusive and more universal. The writer also used more details concerning locations, with added words to specify a place. What could thus be expected in the translated versions would be omissions and additions in especially the first book, but less need for that in later books. This, however, could not be proven in the Swedish translations. I thus conclude that the books became easier to follow for a wider, in this case Swedish, audience mostly because of efforts by the author and less because of the translator.</p>

A close reading of a series of books by Eoin Colfer that enjoyed universal success showed a change in the language between the books especially with respect to minor linguistic features such as choice of location and abstract vs. concrete language. The books are about the boy Artemis Fowl, and were presumably conceived as children’s books. My original thesis was that the writer could not be sure of the success of the first book, but would definitely be aware of a worldwide audience for at least his third book, due to, for example, questions raised by the translators. If the original audience was expected to be Irish, or British, with very much the same cultural background as the author’s, the imagined subsequent audiences would change with success. My hope was to be able to show this by comparing linguistic features. And indeed, even though some changes could be due to coincidence there was a specific pattern evolving in the series, in that the originally Irish cultural background became less exclusive and more universal. The writer also used more details concerning locations, with added words to specify a place. What could thus be expected in the translated versions would be omissions and additions in especially the first book, but less need for that in later books. This, however, could not be proven in the Swedish translations. I thus conclude that the books became easier to follow for a wider, in this case Swedish, audience mostly because of efforts by the author and less because of the translator.

As a critical unit for identifying family-constructed meanings of education, a deeper contextual understanding of Korean immigrant parents' cultural/ethnic perceptions in relation to educational beliefs should be central to culturally responsive education designed to support Korean immigrant families. It is necessary for educators to examine the beliefs and practices of Korean immigrant families around education in order to broaden the educational conversation and mutual understanding between parents and teachers for effectively facilitating their children's learning and socialization. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the variations in cultural/ethnic perceptions and educational beliefs about childrearing and early schooling among three Korean parent groups: (a) 79 Korean immigrant parents in the U.S., (b) 98 Korean parents with no transnational experiences outside of the country of origin, Korea, and (c) 42 transnational parents in Korea who have returned from the U.S. to Korea. It examined the relationships between cultural/ethnic factors and Korean parents' educational beliefs about young children's learning and socialization. This study was a mixed methods design. Research findings from the quantitative survey data indicate several significant intracultural variations in cultural/ethnic perceptions and educational beliefs and noteworthy relationships among variables (e.g., between socio-demographic factors and acculturation, between enculturation and educational beliefs, etc.). Probing further through interviews, this study qualitatively explored four Korean immigrant parents' cultural/ethnic experiences with their children's schooling to raise additional questions regarding beliefs, attitudes, and values emerging in daily family lives. The findings indicate that Korean immigrant families encounter dual processes of acculturation and enculturation, that is, integration rather than assimilation, that can be potentially challenging for facilitating their children's learning and socialization. (Cho, Chen, & Shin, 2010; Miyoshi, 2011; Song, 2010). The findings suggest that Korean immigrant families develop particular culture-belief structures derived from experiences of socio-cultural transformations between their own socio-cultural contexts and the mainstream school settings of their children. This study provides a critical foundation for a contextual understanding of Korean immigrant parents' educational beliefs and practices related to early school schooling while being acculturated into the dominant school culture and curriculum. The implications are discussed for culturally responsive education.

This thesis is an endeavour to participate in the call for the African Renaissance from a missiological perspective. The study observes how the debate about this African ‗dream‘ persists in the domain of intellectuals and political leaders. It recognises as timely the opportunity to contribute theologically to the development of the renaissance concept. It also observes that ordinary people have jumped onto the African Renaissance bandwagon albeit for reasons that are mainly sentimental. Hence a two-fold appeal to protagonists of the African Renaissance movement: firstly, to be inclusive of all stakeholders especially ordinary people who should be both participants and co-beneficiaries; secondly, to consider spirituality as an indispensable factor in birthing this African ‗dream‘. To help arrive at a well-considered argument the study discusses a brief history of Africa‘s economic, social and political development. Central to this history is how the human factor, actively or inadvertently, and the natural factors have devastated the continent thus necessitating a rebirth. The study notes how especially the political economy and issues of good governance of African states are key concerns to the protagonists of the renaissance movement. It also notes the establishment of structures and policies in addressing these concerns. These interventions are hoped to improve the continent‘s image towards its global counterparts and to lift the hopes of distraught African peoples. The prospect of their success in terms of probabilities and/or perceptions is discussed and Missiologically critiqued. An overview of these endeavours has led to the observation of a lingering chasm of the absence or the apparent sidelining of African spirituality as a necessary component of the African Renaissance discourse. As a major thrust of this thesis the spiritual notion of ‗rebirth‘ is advanced. The basis for this argument lies in the ‗rebirth‘ concept that is inherent in many religions, faith formations and philosophies akin to African spirituality. It is on this understanding that a Missiological dimension is build. In introducing this spiritual dimension towards an African Renaissance a Missiological methodology of a seven pointed praxis cycle is proposed and unpacked. In deconstructing this methodology real models are presented as examples to illustrate Missiology‘s contextual life-long learning philosophy. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is an endeavour to participate in the call for the African Renaissance from a missiological perspective. The study observes how the debate about this African ‗dream‘ persists in the domain of intellectuals and political leaders. It recognises as timely the opportunity to contribute theologically to the development of the renaissance concept. It also observes that ordinary people have jumped onto the African Renaissance bandwagon albeit for reasons that are mainly sentimental. Hence a two-fold appeal to protagonists of the African Renaissance movement: firstly, to be inclusive of all stakeholders especially ordinary people who should be both participants and co-beneficiaries; secondly, to consider spirituality as an indispensable factor in birthing this African ‗dream‘. To help arrive at a well-considered argument the study discusses a brief history of Africa‘s economic, social and political development. Central to this history is how the human factor, actively or inadvertently, and the natural factors have devastated the continent thus necessitating a rebirth. The study notes how especially the political economy and issues of good governance of African states are key concerns to the protagonists of the renaissance movement. It also notes the establishment of structures and policies in addressing these concerns. These interventions are hoped to improve the continent‘s image towards its global counterparts and to lift the hopes of distraught African peoples. The prospect of their success in terms of probabilities and/or perceptions is discussed and Missiologically critiqued. An overview of these endeavours has led to the observation of a lingering chasm of the absence or the apparent sidelining of African spirituality as a necessary component of the African Renaissance discourse. As a major thrust of this thesis the spiritual notion of ‗rebirth‘ is advanced. The basis for this argument lies in the ‗rebirth‘ concept that is inherent in many religions, faith formations and philosophies akin to African spirituality. It is on this understanding that a Missiological dimension is build. In introducing this spiritual dimension towards an African Renaissance a Missiological methodology of a seven pointed praxis cycle is proposed and unpacked. In deconstructing this methodology real models are presented as examples to illustrate Missiology‘s contextual life-long learning philosophy. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)