Earth Island is a core metaphor of activist thought often applied in Environmental Analysis and related fields as a tool for thinking about the planet’s limited resources. It puts forth the claim that if only we thought of the earth as more like an island, we would better understand our connectivity to other living things and be drawn to develop better and more extensive practices of environmental stewardship. This thesis uses personal accounts of environmental life philosophies and political practices collected from residents of the Discovery Islands in British Columbia as a site for analytical comparison between the theory and practice of "Earth Island." First providing an overview of the history of Earth Island and exploring existing Anthropology and Island Studies scholarship on island community dynamics and environmental perspectives, this thesis examines how the environmental relationships experienced by Discovery Islanders reflect or differ from the type of activist consciousness theoretically proposed by Earth Island. This creates a context for critically reflecting on the limits and applications of the Earth Island metaphor, and suggesting shifts in current approaches to the use of island imagery in environmental political and philosophical thought, promoting a focus on more community cooperation-oriented, less fatalistic themes.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has for centuries been known as an isolated island of archaeological mysteries; yet after a rapid modernisation this is today an international tourist destination, a World Heritage Site and a glocalised community. This anthropological study based on long-term fieldwork among young Rapa Nui on the island and away, describes how it can be to grow up in and to belong to such a place. Place is seen as a continually constructed social space and is influenced by Miriam Kahn??s use of Henri Lefebvre??s concept thirdspace. Rapa Nui, as a place, people and community, is here understood as continuously formed by global and local influences. Thus, although historical, global and national influences can seem overwhelming in such a small tourist destination with a turbulent colonial history, this study also sees the opinions and practices of the inhabitants as important agents. This thesis shows how young Rapa Nui are both influenced by and influencing what Rapa Nui is and becomes. Above all, their guiding principle seems to be a continuing strong attachment to their land ??also called Te Pito o te Henua (??The Navel of the World??).

SEMINARIO PARA OPTAR AL TITULO DE INGENIERO COMERCIAL, MENCIÓN CIENCIAS ECONOMICAS / Esta tesis analiza el Sistema de Educación instaurado en Rapa-Nui, y su rol en la revitalización del idioma y cultura local. El estudio parte visualizando los problemas del actual sistema educacional, con un análisis desde los mismos programas que se han desarrollado en las escuelas, junto con determinar las causas político, sociales y educacionales de la inminente perdida del manejo y uso del idioma rapa nui en la comunidad escolar y en general. Este trabajo se centra en justificar la educación de medio rapa nui y los cursos de inmersión, como pilar fundamental para avanzar en un sistema educacional propio, que se haga cargo de revitalizar el idioma rapa nui y su cultura. El análisis utiliza como ejemplo a seguir, dos experiencias internacionales exitosas en revitalización de idioma y cultura, el maorí y el hawaiano. El estudio termina con una discusión en materia de educación indígena, aterrizados a la realidad Rapa-Nui y la relación con las políticas educacionales del Estado de Chile, describiendo como debería ser el sistema educacional rapa nui, que hay que hacer para lograrlo, y que costos se deberían tomar en cuenta en grado de prioridad estratégica.

Esta disertación examina diversas expresiones artísticas y literarias de finales del siglo XX y principios del XXI desde una perspectiva ecocrítica. La tesis sostiene que la literatura contemporánea y el arte en general ofrecen experiencias por medio de las cuales se puede reconceptualizar lo que hoy se conoce como crisis medioambiental, para dar a conocer su dimensión ética y entenderla como una crisis moderna del conocimiento. Como una intersección de teoría crítica y estudios ambientales la ecocrítica ha abordado la dicotomía cultura-naturaleza como un dualismo cartesiano convencional. Este trabajo complejiza la dialéctica de sujeto y objeto, integrando perspectivas de la teoría poscolonial y los estudios de performance, y examina cómo la representación se apropia de espacios retóricos y epistémicos para intervenir en la percepción que el individuo tiene de la realidad. Del estudio surge un marco analítico que se identifica con la sustentabilidad y responde a tensiones sociales y culturales contemporáneas que se tejen entre el conocimiento local y las fuerzas globales. Mediante la inclusión de perspectivas acotadas de investigación, el estudio mantiene la referencialidad de las obras y permite plantear interrogantes sobre la naturaleza ontológica y epistémica de los estudios culturales. La tarea se aborda a lo largo de tres ejes: un análisis de las instalaciones de la escultora mexicana Helen Escobedo y de los artistas argentinos Nicolás García Uriburu y Marta Minujín, un examen de obras literarias -principalmente La loca de Gandoca de Anacristina Rossi (Costa Rica) y Un viejo que leía novelas de amor de Luis Sepúlveda (Chile)- y un trabajo de campo llevado a cabo con la comunidad Rapa Nui de Isla de Pascua (territorio chileno). Este último eje revela aspectos de una cosmovisión diferente, perteneciente a una identidad colectiva en búsqueda de reconocimiento dentro del mundo multicultural latinoamericano. La tesis concluye con un epílogo que analiza brevemente El libro del silencio de Ricardo Chávez Castañeda (México). A modo de síntesis, mediante juegos del lenguaje, esta novela expone la modernidad contemporánea como una crisis mucho mayor que se reproduce en múltiples dimensiones, donde el desequilibrio medioambiental se reconstituye en síntoma de una crisis de la civilización.

No description available.

No description available.

Speech recognition has existed for a long time in various shapes, often used for recognizing commands, performing text-to-speech transcription or a mix of the two. This thesis investigates how the input affordances for such speech based interactions should be designed to enable intuitive engagement in a multimodal user interface. At the time of writing, current efforts in user interface design typically revolves around the established desktop metaphor where vision is the primary sense. Since speech recognition is based on the sense of hearing, previous work related to GUI design cannot be applied directly to a speech interface. Similar to how traditional GUI’s have evolved to embrace the desktop metaphor and matured into supporting modern touch based experiences, speech interaction needs to undergo a similar evolutionary process before designers can begin to understand its inherent characteristics and make informed assumptions about appropriate interaction mechanics. In order to investigate interface addressability and affordance accessibility, a prototype speech interface for a Windows 8 tablet PC was created. The prototype extended Windows 8’s modern touch optimized interface with speech interaction. The thesis’ outcome is based on a user centered evaluation of the aforementioned prototype. The outcome consists of additional knowledge surrounding foundational interaction mechanics regarding the matter of addressing and engaging a speech interface. These mechanics are important key aspects to consider when developing full featured speech recognition interfaces. This thesis aims to provide a first stepping stone towards understanding how speech interfaces should be designed. Additionally, the thesis’ has also investigated related interaction aspects such as required feedback and considerations when designing a multimodal user interface that includes touch and speech input methods. It has also been identified that a speech transcription or dictating interface needs more interaction mechanics than its inherent start and stop to become usable and useful.

No / Recognizable throughout the world, the stone statues (moai) of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) represent the largest monolithic architecture produced in Polynesia. The exquisitely carved and finished head and torso of each statue testifies to a skill in stone carving and dressing unmatched throughout the Pacific. Yet, approximately one thousand ‘classic’ statues were produced at the quarries within a few hundred years. What was the ritual status of the quarry and the labour necessary to produce the numbers of statues that allowed Heyerdahl to declare that the ‘whole mountain massif has been reshaped, the volcano has been greedily cut up’ (1958: 83)? What was it like to go to work at Rano Raraku? By drawing on a range of evidence we argue that walking to and labouring at Rano Raraku represented a spatial and temporal journey to a place of highly dangerous forces, a cosmogonic centre where prehistoric Rapa Nui people came face to face with their ancestors and the Polynesian gods.

I denna studie har problematik kring avancerad gestbaserad navigering bejakats. Detta främst för att de riktlinjer som länge studerats inom Människa-Datorinteraktion (MDI) inte har etablerats på de plattformar där gestbaserad navigering är central. Det råder tvetydigheter angående hur bra interaktion bör tillämpas, då främst genom att stora aktörer inom området valt att applicera sina egna riktlinjer på sina enskilda plattformar.   Tidigare har forskare undersökt naturliga gestmönster hos användare genom att simulera ett händelseförlopp och sedan ge användaren möjligheten att skapa interaktionen. Detta har genomförts med en användargrupp utan tidigare erfarenheter inom denna typ av plattform.   Det denna studie haft som mål att belysa är ifall erfarenheter och behov har en påverkan på hur användare kan tänkas använda sig av avancerad gester. Utöver detta har också designprinciper inom MDI studerats för att se dess relevans till gestbaserad navigation.    Metoden för att samla in denna data har varit två workshops som fokuserat på att finna nya användningsområden för fyra unika gester samt en diskussionsworkshop baserad på kort med frågor.   Från den data som samlats in från representanterna kan man tydligt se att tidigare erfarenheter har en stor påverkan på de konceptuella modeller som representanterna har av användningsområden för avancerade gester. Resultatet visar också på att representanterna fann syften för avancerade gesterna baserat på behov som de själva saknade i dagsläget. Generellt tenderade de förslag som representanterna tagit fram att vara anpassade för  en snäv målgrupp och för  expertfunktionalitet. I denna studie har det varit tydligt att designprinciper inom MDI har en stor påverkan på hur vi interagerar och uppfattar användning av digitala artefakter då främst rörande förståelse, återkoppling, effektivitet och synlighet. / In this study problems concerning advanced gesture-based navigation is affirmed. This is mainly because the guidelines that have long been studied within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has not been established on the platforms where gesture-based navigation is central. There is ambiguity about how good interaction should be applied, primarily by major players in the area which have chosen to apply their own guidelines on individual platforms.   Previously, researchers have investigated the natural gesture patterns of users by simulating a series of events and then give the user the ability to create interaction. This has been carried out with a group of users with no previous experience in this type of platform.   The present study had the objective to highlight if experience have an impact on how users may use advanced gestures. In addition, design principles within HCI where studied to see its relevance to gesture-based navigation.   The methodology for collecting data has been two workshops that focused on finding new uses for four unique gestures and a discussion workshop based on cards with questions.   From the data gathered from representatives its confirmed that past experiences have a major impact on the conceptual models of uses for advanced gestures. The results also show that representatives found the purposes for advanced gestures based on the needs that they themselves lacked in the current situation. The proposals that representatives developed for the gestures tended to be adapted to a narrow audience and expert functionality. This study, also confirmed that design principles of HCI has a huge impact on how we interact and perceive the use of digital artefacts, mainly regarding understanding, feedback, effectiveness and visibility.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.