Paralelas Cruzadas: propostas poéticas em arte móvel apresenta uma pesquisa teórico-prática que mergulha no potencial criativo dos dispositivos portáteis tecnológicos com conexão em rede a distância, inseridos no contexto da computação ubíqua, pervasiva e sensiente. Foram retomados temas relacionados à conexão poética existente entre a mobilidade, a tecnologia e a cibercultura, em especial arte móvel, arte locativa, realidades mistas e realidade aumentada. Durante o percurso, três práticas artísticas se concretizaram: Paralelas Cruzadas, projeto híbrido que envolve arte móvel, arte locativa, artes visuais, performance e realidades mistas, desenvolvendo-se durante residência artística em La Paternal Espacio y Proyecto (Buenos Aires/Argentina), Fundación Casa Tres Patios (Medellín/Colômbia); São Paulo/Brasil; Corpo In (Visível), criação de Cássia Aranha e Danilo Patzdorf, contemplado no edital Dança em Site Specific do CCSP / 2015; Código Facial, criação artística de Cássia Aranha e Luciana Mantovani; obra de arte híbrida que envolve artes visuais, realidade aumentada, dramaturgia e videoperformance, a partir de uma criação em site specific, contemplada no Edital da ProACArtes Integradas/ 2015 da Secretaria de Cultura do Estado de São Paulo. / Crossed Parallels: poetic proposals in mobile art presents a theoretical-practical research that plunges into the creative potential of technological, portable devices, with distance network connection, within the context of ubiquitous, pervasive, and sentient computing. Themes and issues were taken up related to the poetic connection existing in between mobility, technology, and cyberculture, in special the mobile art, locative art, mixed realities, and augmented reality. Along the way, three artistic practices materialized: Crossed Parallels, hybrid project developed during artist residency in La Paternal Espacio y Proyecto (Buenos Aires / Argentina), Fundación Casa Tres Patios (Medellín / Colombia); São Paulo / Brazil, and involving mobile art, locative art, visual arts, performance and mixed realities. Body In (Visible) (creation of Cassia Aranha and Danilo Patzdorf contemplated in the Dance Edicts for Site Specific CCSP / 2015); FaceCode (a site specific artistic creation by Cassia Aranha and Luciana Mantovani; hybrid work of art involving visual arts, augmented reality, drama, and video performance, addressed in the Edicts of ProAC - Integrated Arts/ 2015, by the Government of the State of São Paulo - Secretary of Culture).

Abordamos os romances Guia afetivo da periferia, do escritor brasileiro Marcus Vinícius Faustini, e Marginais, do escritor cabo-verdiano Evel Rocha, com o interesse de estudar seus protagonistas, personagens pobres que vivem em zonas urbanas. Motivou-nos o interesse de entender como estão representadas e, por isso, tratamos de investigar suas experiências cotidianas, a partir do que pudemos identificar algumas de suas características e atitudes. Essa investigação teve como suporte teórico textos que defendem a importância de uma hermenêutica do cotidiano, recomendando a sua realização como uma forma de se potencializar a documentação de experiências de vidas anônimas e de demandas sociais legítimas, mas escondidas para a conveniência dos grupos hegemônicos. Essa hermenêutica se baseia na compreensão de que aquilo que se vive informalmente deve ser entendido como uma alavanca para o conhecimento humano. Analisamos cinco unidades temáticas mínimas que se evidenciaram comuns aos romances: vida, morte, doença, trabalho e território. Constatamos que a forma como os dois textos retratam a vida na periferia são complementares, não obstante, individualmente, privilegiem visões unívocas da realidade social que retratam. Também constatamos que os romances tanto inovam na abordagem de alguns temas, como o combate à tuberculose e a opção pelo autoemprego, como, de algum modo, ratificam posições que cerceiam os seres humanos, como quando atrelam a noção de decência ao fato de se estar ou não empregado e a pobreza à criminalidade. / We have addressed the novels Guia afetivo da periferia, by the Brazilian writer Marcus Vinícius Faustini, and Marginais, by the Cape Verdean writer Evel Rocha, in order to study their protagonists, characters that live in poverty in urban areas. Our motivation was the need to understand how they are portrayed. We therefore delved into the investigation of their daily experiences, and from that we were able to identify some of their characteristics and attitudes. The investigation was based on theoretical texts that defend the importance of a hermeneutic of everyday life, pointing to it as a way of optimizing the recording of anonymous life experiences and legitimate social demands that are hidden at the hegemonic groups\' convenience. Such hermeneutic is based on the understanding that informal life experiences should be understood as leveraging human knowledge. We have analyzed five motifs that proved to be common to both novels: life, death, disease, work and territory. We found that the way both texts portray life in the inner cities are complementary, although, individually, they emphasize one-sided visions of the social reality they portray. We have also found that the novels innovate in the way they address some themes, such as the fight against tuberculosis and the option for self-employment, and at the same time somehow ratify positions that restrain human beings, for example when they link the notion of decency to having or not employment contract and poverty to criminality.

A obra O Romance d\'A Pedra do Reino, do autor brasileiro Ariano Suassuna, é marcada pela cultura regional do Nordeste do Brasil. Ao ser confrontada, através da tradução, com o contexto linguístico-cultural francês, as marcas de regionalidade nela presentes se sobressaem, impondo ao tradutor dificuldades de transposição do texto. Dessa forma, a tradução desse texto para essa outra língua-cultura de chegada não se faz sem conflitos, uma vez que não existem equivalentes exatos na Língua Francesa que deem conta de traduzir os termos culturalmente marcados, as particularidades sintáticas e as nuances semânticas da Língua Portuguesa. Ao tradutor cabe a difícil tarefa de buscar soluções para resolver os problemas referentes à diferenciação linguística e à complexidade cultural, valendo-se, para tanto, de profundo conhecimento da língua cultura de partida, bem como do contexto social, histórico e cultural em que se insere a obra literária a ser traduzida. Nesse sentido, a presente pesquisa volta-se para a problemática da tradução dos termos culturalmente marcados, apontando e comentando as soluções adotadas pela tradutora Idelette Muzart, ao verter para a Língua Francesa, esse romance de Ariano Suassuna, publicado na França, no ano de 1998. / The novel O Romance d\'A Pedra do Reino, by the Brazilian writer Ariano Suassuna, is characterized by the regional culture of the northeast of Brazil. When it is compared with the French linguistic-cultural context, the regional traits which are present in this work come to the fore and impose difficulties to any translators. Thus the rendering of this Brazilian novel to a different target language/culture is achieved with conflicts, since there are no exact equivalents in French which allow for the translation of this culturally-marked text, with a very particular syntax and with all the semantic nuances of the Portuguese language.The translator is then faced with the hard task of having to search for solutions which can solve the problems regarding the linguistic and cultural differences of the source text. The translator is also expected to have a profound knowledge of the source language and culture as well as of the social, historic and cultural context to which the literary work to be translated belongs. In this sense this research focusses on the translation of the culturally marked words by showing and discussing the solutions adopted by Idelette Muzart, the French translator who rendered Ariano Suassunas novel into French in 1998.

Human realities are formed in particular contexts, and can be understood through telling the story of experiences related with these realities. Homelessness is a reality for many in various parts of the world. The condition of homelessness involves various discourses, each of which can be dominant in different people. Dominant discourses bring with them inherent understandings which in the case of the reality of homelessness can negatively influence the daily activities and future prospects of homeless people. These dominant discourses define the experiences of the homeless people and cause them to assess themselves negatively. This study is in the field of Practical Theology, based on a social constructionist paradigm which holds that meanings are socially constructed and there is no single “Truth”. The processes of telling stories, listening to these stories and constructing new meanings make up a narrative approach to counselling, which I use in the context of interactions with homeless youth at the Street Centre run by Pretoria Community Ministries. My approach is qualitative, and the data are evolved from narrative interventions and unstructured interviews with homeless youth. As this process is a journey into the experiences and stories of these young people, empirical sampling is irrelevant. Listening to the stories of the young people from the streets filled me with enthusiasm to take this narrative journey with them through their stories. Examining the impact of economic factors in their discourses and narrations gave me new understanding of their meanings and challenged me, because many of these were unpredictable. The epistemological approach of postfoundationalism used on this journey allowed a wide range of knowledge types and interactions, which I elucidate through interdisciplinary investigation and identification of the traditions that inform the dominant discourses. The seven-movement methodology used for this work is relevant in the context of the homeless youth, because it allows me as researcher to continue the full length of the journey with the homeless youth, leading eventually to new possibilities. On the way certain themes evolved and their meanings constructed. Listening for the discourses and identifying their economic factors helped me to deconstruct these discourses, and so guide the stories into more hopeful channels. Of course, constructing alternate stories and acknowledging the importance of economic factors will not alone change the future of these young homeless people. Economic restructuring of society is needed. This possibility challenges jobless, homeless individuals not to acquiesce in the negative patterns of society, but rather to work with conviction to create new possibilities. In this project I listened to the stories of ten homeless young people, for each of which two sessions are presented in this report. These stories show that the story tellers are the real researchers, who create new alternate stories of hope in the course of this project. “God-talk” and the discussion of “God-experiences” throws light on the role of God in their lives and in their stories. The research journey charted in this report describes first the theological context and research model, and then the particular context of these young people’s lives. This is followed by descriptions of the discourses. Description of the context of the stories and interpretation of the stories themselves moves into assessment of the stories in their individual context. Interdisciplinary investigation and identification of the traditions that inform the discourses thicken our understanding of the realities experienced by these young people, and deeper interpretations arise which are applicable beyond the local context. Each petal of this flower blooms with new colours of understanding and new fragrances of possibility. The findings of this project are not the final end of this journey, but rather lights for future journeys into the experiences of homeless youth. / Thesis (PhD (Pastoral Family Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / PhD / unrestricted

In order to produce work that prompts the viewer to undergo a process of personal exploration resulting in discourse and the understanding of feelings, it is necessary to balance ideals and realities, combine experience and creativity, and blend concepts and materials. Ideals and realities are discussed in this paper, using an approach that concentrates on foundational principles. The ideals of morality, beauty, goodness, acceptance, and unity form a foundation for the motivation behind my work. They are described in relationship to the philosophy of aesthetics. Ideals are contrasted with realities of life which have patterns and rhythms. These repetitive patterns bring experience and predictability, which can give us peace of mind and comfort. Predictability needs to be balanced with creativity, so that life remains interesting and challenging, and so that we can handle the unexpected. There is a natural tension when combining ideals and realities, experience and creativity. Alleviating that tension in my work necessitates working cognitively as well as using the skill of my hands — blending concepts and materials. The balance and tension between ideals and realities, concepts and materials, is discussed in connection with my first installation, Matter Out of Place (2002), and my final project, Perennial (2005). By using principles as a foundation for my work, and incorporating a combination of experience and creativity, concepts and materials, I hope to successfully convey meaning to viewers in a manner that will cause discourse and reflection.

[ES] Las eventualidades laborales ocasionan pérdidas significativas en los ámbitos social y económico, con irreparables. La falta de conocimientos adecuados y la conciencia insuficiente acerca de los riesgos son factores clave vinculados a comportamientos inseguros y accidentes laborales.La señalización de seguridad desempeña un papel crucial como instrumento informativo, aunque en ocasiones no sea percibida durante un accidente. Los avances tecnológicos abren la posibilidad de mejorar significativamente este tema sin incurrir en costos económicos excesivos. Esta tesis investiga el uso de avances tecnológicos como herramienta para optimizar el comportamiento humano en situaciones de riesgo. Su propósito es fomentar la conducta adecuada en situaciones críticas mediante tecnologías digitales, proponiendo enfoques metodológicos innovadores para la formación. Las hipótesis iniciales son las siguientes: (1)El uso de herramientas tecnológicas como la realidad virtual inmersiva, variables de señalización de seguridad, juegos serios y la manipulación de emociones impacta positivamente, enriquece y mejora la formación en seguridad y prevención de riesgos laborales; (2) La inclusión de variables tecnológicas en la señalización de seguridad en entornos estresantes puede mejorar su eficacia y percepción; (3) El perfil y la experiencia del usuario pueden influir en su comportamiento en seguridad, y esta relación afecta a la percepción de las señales. Se proponen tres líneas de investigación principales: (1)Evaluar la señalización de seguridad, su naturaleza y sus cambios recientes; (2)Evaluar el perfil etnográfico y las características del usuario que pueden influir en su comportamiento, correlacionando emociones, experiencia, satisfacción y señalización para mejorar la prevención del riesgo; (3) Probar la usabilidad, experiencia emocional y motivación de los juegos serios inmersivo-virtuales y las variables de señalización, evaluando los resultados obtenidos. El desarrollo de la tesis consta de cuatro etapas: (1) Revisión de literatura; (2) Aplicación de la metodología de co-creación para el diseño del entorno de realidad virtual; (3) Estudio mixto con especialistas y(4) Estudio cuantitativo con usuarios. La revisión bibliográfica identificó la investigación previa en el tema, explorando la relación entre tecnologías digitales y educación, nuevas tecnologías y señales de seguridad, comportamiento humano en entornos estresantes y realidad virtual en relación con las emociones. Este análisis orientó la dirección del trabajo de la tesis. Se llevó a cabo un estudio cuantitativo en un entorno virtual, evaluando el impacto de las tecnologías en diferentes perfiles de usuario. Se observó mayor atención en usuarios exploradores, resaltando la importancia de la interactividad para abordar los peligros de manera realista, aspecto valorado positivamente por los participantes. A partir de los experimentos, se concluye que las variables de señalización influyen en su percepción en el entorno, y la disposición adecuada genera mayor recuerdo. En cuanto al comportamiento, la señalización dinámica puede generar atención similar a la visualización del peligro. Respecto al recuerdo, la toma de decisiones recurrente es más eficaz que la ejecución de una tarea en respuesta a una señal de obligación, siendo valioso para la formación en prevención de riesgos y alineado con la metodología constructivista. La imagen muestra su relevancia en la comunicación, ya que la mayoría de los usuarios se enfocaron en el pictograma del cartel, considerando las limitaciones de tiempo. Entre las contribuciones principales, destaca el desarrollo de un entorno virtual inmersivo para mejorar el comportamiento del usuario en situaciones de riesgo y evaluar el impacto de elementos novedosos en la señalización. Se ha creado un protocolo para el diseño de señales de seguridad y para el diseño de entornos virtuales gamificados con fines formativos en prevención de riesgos laborales. / [CA] Aquesta tesi aborda l'aplicació dels avenços tecnològics com a eines per millorar el comportament humà davant situacions de risc. L'objectiu és fomentar la conducta adequada mitjançant l'ús de tecnologies digitals, introduint conceptes metodològics innovadors per a la formació. Les hipòtesis inicials són les següents: (1) La utilització d'eines tecnològiques com la realitat virtual immersiva, variables de senyalització, jocs seriosos i la manipulació d'emocions enriqueix i millora la formació en seguretat laboral; (2) La incorporació de variables tecnològiques en la senyalització de seguretat en entorns estressants pot augmentar la seva eficàcia i percepció; (3) El perfil i l'experiència de l'usuari poden influir en el seu comportament en matèria de seguretat, afectant, alhora, la percepció de les senyals. Es plantegen tres línies principals d'investigació: (1) Avaluar la senyalització de seguretat, la seva naturalesa i els seus canvis recents; (2) Avaluar el perfil etnogràfic i les característiques de l'usuari que poden influir en el seu comportament, establint correlacions entre emocions, experiència, satisfacció i senyalització per millorar la prevenció del risc; (3) Provar la usabilitat, l'experiència emocional i la motivació dels jocs seriosos immersius-virtuals i les variables de senyalització, avaluant els resultats obtinguts amb el seu ús. El desenvolupament de la tesi consta de quatre etapes principals: (1) Revisió sistemàtica de la literatura; (2) Aplicació de la metodologia de co-creació per al disseny de l'entorn de realitat virtual; (3) Estudi mixt amb especialistes i (4) Estudi quantitatiu amb usuaris. La revisió bibliogràfica va permetre explorar treballs previs relacionats amb l'àmbit de la tesi i identificar noves contribucions per orientar el treball. La co-creació, amb tècniques de "design jam", va conduir al desenvolupament d'un model de simulació d'accidents immersiu, que permet a l'usuari abordar diverses configuracions d'experiències amb càrrega cognitiva similar a la d'un accident sense causar-li perjudicis. La tercera fase, un estudi mixt amb professionals, va indicar que els avenços tecnològics poden millorar el comportament dels usuaris i proporcionar informació per a l'optimització de l'entorn en diferents escenaris i amb diferents perfils d'usuaris. Finalment, l'estudi quantitatiu va confirmar l'impacte positiu de les tecnologies aplicades, amb millor atenció en usuaris amb perfil explorador. En aquesta fase, es va ressaltar la importància de la interactivitat, destacant la capacitat de fer front als perills de manera similar a la realitat com un dels aspectes més ben valorats de l'experiència. Els experiments van concloure que les variables de la senyalització influeixen en la seva percepció, amb la disposició adequada que genera un major record. Pel que fa al comportament, la senyalització dinàmica pot induir un nivell d'atenció similar a la visualització del perill. Quant al record, es va observar que una acció de presa de decisions recurrents és més eficaç que l'execució d'una tasca en resposta a una senyal d'obligació. Aquest resultat és valuós per a la formació en prevenció de riscos i concorda amb la metodologia constructivista. La imatge, un cop més, va demostrar la seva rellevància en el procés de comunicació, ja que la majoria dels usuaris es van centrar exclusivament en els pictogrames del cartell, tenint en compte les limitacions de temps. Com a contribucions destacades, s'ha desenvolupat un entorn virtual immersiu vàlid per millorar el comportament de l'usuari en situacions de risc i avaluar els impactes d'elements innovadors / [EN] Accidents can result in significant social and economic losses, with severe and irreparable consequences. The primary causes of unsafe behaviors and, frequently, ensuing workplace accidents stem from a lack of adequate knowledge and low risk awareness.Safety signals serve as tools to communicate hazards when they cannot be eliminated. However, they are often not visualized at the time of an accident. Technological advancements are enabling various enhancements in the approach to these courses, without incurring excessively high economic costs. This thesis explores the use of technological advances as a tool to enhance human behavior in risky situations. It aims to promote correct behavior in critical conditions through the use of digital technologies for training, proposing an innovative methodological concept for effective training. The initial hypotheses are as follows: (1)The utilization of immersive virtual reality technology, safety signaling variables, serious games, and emotional manipulation positively impacts, enriches, and enhances Safety and Occupational training; (2)The incorporation of technological variables in safety signaling within stressful environments can improve their efficiency and perceptibility; (3) User's profile and experience can influence their behavior concerning safety, and this relationship, in turn, affects the perception of signals. Three main lines of research are proposed: (1) Evaluate security signage, its nature, and recent changes; (2)Evaluate the ethnographic profile and user characteristics that may influence behavior (user, technological, emotional, and cognitive profile). Determine the correlation between emotions, experience, satisfaction, and signaling to improve risk prevention; (3)Test the usability, emotional experience, and motivation of immersive virtual serious games and signaling variables. Evaluate the results obtained with their use. The thesis development occurred in four main stages: (1)Literature review;(2) Application of the co-creation methodology for the design of the Virtual Reality environment used in the experimental part; (3)Mixed study with specialists, and(4)Quantitative study with users. The literature review provided an in-depth understanding of previous works related to the thesis's scope, guiding the thesis work. Co-creation involved the use of design jam techniques. Consequently, an immersive accident simulation model was developed, enabling users to engage in various cognitive load experiences similar to those of an accident without causing harm. The third phase comprised a mixed study with professionals, indicating the potential for technological advances to improve user behavior and provide insights for model optimization in different scenarios and user profiles. In the final phase, a quantitative study verified the impact of applied technologies on different users, highlighting better attention in explorer gamer profiles. Interactivity's importance was evident, with action to solve dangers in VR recognized as the optimal experience. Furthermore, the experiments revealed that signage variables influence perception, and the most appropriate disposition generates better recall. In terms of behavior, dynamic signaling can induce a level of attention similar to hazard visualization. Regarding recall, the perception that recurrent decision-making is more effective than executing a task in compliance with mandatory signs was noted.The image once again demonstrated its high relevance in the communication process, as a significant portion of users focused solely on the pictograms on the poster, considering time constraints. Among the primary contributions, an immersive virtual environment has been developed to improve user behavior in risky situations and evaluate the impacts of signaling. Additionally, a protocol has been established for the design and implementation of safety signs and the creation of gamified virtual environments for training purposes. / Ferreira Cavalcanti, J. (2024). Un enfoque neuroeducativo en la integración de tecnologías de realidad virtual en el desarrollo de juegos serios: caso de estudio en el ámbito de la seguridad y prevención de riesgos laborales [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/202753

La biomédecine en tant que médecine nouvelle a changé plusieurs réalités dans son contexte occidental original. Dans d'autres contextes dans le monde où la religion est présente au niveau politique et légal, la question biomédicale peut être problématique puisqu'elle peut entrer en conflit avec la normativité religieuse ou la construction religieuse de la réalité sociale. Dans tous les contextes, il incombe au droit positif de répondre à la question biomédicale tout en trouvant un équilibre entre la demande de solutions médicales et les questions ethico-religieuses. L'analyse du droit de la biomédecine dans les contextes étudiées (Egypte, Israël, Tunisie) s'avère être intéressant à plus d'un niveau.D'abord lors de la production de la norme positive entre Etat et religion. / Biomedecine as a new form of medecine changed many social realities its original context. In others conttexts of the world where religion is present on a political and legal level, biomedecine can be more that problematic as it may be in contradiction with religious rules or religious consturctions of social realities. In all contexts, it' is up to the law to solve these problems and find a way to balance the need for medical solutions and religious and ethical issues.

Planning maps are not only, as is often silently assumed by planners, neutral technical tools to assist them in their design and analytical tasks or to communicate their findings to others. In complex multi-stakeholder planning processes maps are also inherently coloured representations of knowledge, the outcomes a specific way of learning resulting from the activity of mapping itself, and discursive means through which norms and interests are promoted as objective truths. This thesis research explored how members of a local stakeholder group representing farm business made sense out of, and judged the data quality of planning maps in a combined highway planning and environmental impact study in southern Ontario, executed by the province’s Ministry of Transportation. More specifically it was concerned with how participants evaluated the cartographic representation issues of interest to them in the context of a mayor decision in the transportation study: the location of the highway route, in which both its existing route and new route sections through rural lands were options. The research instruments were a map review workshop and a questionnaire. This research was theoretically underpinned by a framework that integrates three fields of knowledge: cartographic theory, planning theory, and theory on knowledge and sensemaking. The framework served as a sensitizing concept for the analysis and interpretation of the observations obtained from research participants. All three fields were explored with an emphasis on social constructivist understandings which facilitated the understanding of situations characterized by complexity and ambiguity where certain and objective knowledge becomes impossible and where the perspectives and interests of multiple stakeholders come to the foreground. The spatial data on the study cartography in general was judged as correct. The big exception was the data on water-related phenomena. Here participants, although they were familiar with the area, had access to the reviewed cartography for more than two years, and were well aware of the importance of water-related issues in the decision-making process, only during the workshop became aware that the data, recently released by an official data source, were strongly outdated. The findings confirmed the usefulness for planning processes of the simple review procedure followed in the workshop. The process of sensemaking by participants focussed strongly on two areas. First, the central issue of the group: the recognition of agriculture as strong and relevant business deserving recognition equal to urban businesses. Second, on an issue that was not part of the goals of the study, the identification of needs for compensation, not only for loss of assets, but also for ongoing increases of operational costs. Participants, in contrast to the study’s thematically organized overlay analysis which resulted in a fragmented determination of impacts based on readily available public information, emphasized the need to use the farm (business) as a functional whole against which to measure impacts, considering its overall operation and viability. In the workshop it became clear that determining impacts on a complex entity like a farm is equally complex, and hard to map in a comprehensive way. Using maps not for a comprehensive analysis but for learning by illustration or example, however, offers opportunities in these cases. In practice this would require a review of what is considered as legitimate knowledge in formal decision-making. Participants attitudes towards (the representation of) nature showed to widely divergent, and attachment to place was virtually not touched upon. The emphasis on agribusiness seemed to stem not only from material interests, but was also strongly related to identity. Participants judged that the study cartography reflected a strong urban bias. They found that agriculture was underrepresented compared to urban economic and ecological interests and sometimes also misrepresented. Numerous suggestions were made to include new layers of data in the cartography, and to visually emphasize already included data related to agriculture. Although some information was found as redundant, is was above all the lack of more detailed information on agriculture and agribusiness that participants emphasized as issues they would like to see corrected. Whereas some data on some issues where emphasized as missing altogether, in other cases, notably in drainage, participants emphasized missing complementary perspectives. Information suggested by participants to be included mostly served to emphasize the importance of the agricultural sector as a whole and to spare it from impacts, but would create both technical and political difficulties if it were to be used for the comparison between different route options through rural lands. Different types of metaphors played an important role in the sensemaking process by the participants. Some participants followed more rational approaches to sensemaking that emphasized the correctness and information content of the data, while others seemed to be stronger ware of the strategic-discursive role of the maps. Many participants judged the study cartography as little explicit and highly ambiguous in many aspects, an observation for which a plausible explanation is the MTO’s needs to make decisions not only based on technical evaluations, but also taking into account strong informal political forces which required the study team to be able to review its positions if necessary and justify them largely based on the maps. Based on the research some recommendations for better public map use are suggested in order to make better use of the potential of cartography in planning to facilitate learning and mediation between multiple perspectives and interest. Future research, using anthropological methods, observing the process of creation and use of maps in planning in action is suggested as important to move beyond the limitations of perspectives that emphasize maps as representations.

Planning maps are not only, as is often silently assumed by planners, neutral technical tools to assist them in their design and analytical tasks or to communicate their findings to others. In complex multi-stakeholder planning processes maps are also inherently coloured representations of knowledge, the outcomes a specific way of learning resulting from the activity of mapping itself, and discursive means through which norms and interests are promoted as objective truths. This thesis research explored how members of a local stakeholder group representing farm business made sense out of, and judged the data quality of planning maps in a combined highway planning and environmental impact study in southern Ontario, executed by the province’s Ministry of Transportation. More specifically it was concerned with how participants evaluated the cartographic representation issues of interest to them in the context of a mayor decision in the transportation study: the location of the highway route, in which both its existing route and new route sections through rural lands were options. The research instruments were a map review workshop and a questionnaire. This research was theoretically underpinned by a framework that integrates three fields of knowledge: cartographic theory, planning theory, and theory on knowledge and sensemaking. The framework served as a sensitizing concept for the analysis and interpretation of the observations obtained from research participants. All three fields were explored with an emphasis on social constructivist understandings which facilitated the understanding of situations characterized by complexity and ambiguity where certain and objective knowledge becomes impossible and where the perspectives and interests of multiple stakeholders come to the foreground. The spatial data on the study cartography in general was judged as correct. The big exception was the data on water-related phenomena. Here participants, although they were familiar with the area, had access to the reviewed cartography for more than two years, and were well aware of the importance of water-related issues in the decision-making process, only during the workshop became aware that the data, recently released by an official data source, were strongly outdated. The findings confirmed the usefulness for planning processes of the simple review procedure followed in the workshop. The process of sensemaking by participants focussed strongly on two areas. First, the central issue of the group: the recognition of agriculture as strong and relevant business deserving recognition equal to urban businesses. Second, on an issue that was not part of the goals of the study, the identification of needs for compensation, not only for loss of assets, but also for ongoing increases of operational costs. Participants, in contrast to the study’s thematically organized overlay analysis which resulted in a fragmented determination of impacts based on readily available public information, emphasized the need to use the farm (business) as a functional whole against which to measure impacts, considering its overall operation and viability. In the workshop it became clear that determining impacts on a complex entity like a farm is equally complex, and hard to map in a comprehensive way. Using maps not for a comprehensive analysis but for learning by illustration or example, however, offers opportunities in these cases. In practice this would require a review of what is considered as legitimate knowledge in formal decision-making. Participants attitudes towards (the representation of) nature showed to widely divergent, and attachment to place was virtually not touched upon. The emphasis on agribusiness seemed to stem not only from material interests, but was also strongly related to identity. Participants judged that the study cartography reflected a strong urban bias. They found that agriculture was underrepresented compared to urban economic and ecological interests and sometimes also misrepresented. Numerous suggestions were made to include new layers of data in the cartography, and to visually emphasize already included data related to agriculture. Although some information was found as redundant, is was above all the lack of more detailed information on agriculture and agribusiness that participants emphasized as issues they would like to see corrected. Whereas some data on some issues where emphasized as missing altogether, in other cases, notably in drainage, participants emphasized missing complementary perspectives. Information suggested by participants to be included mostly served to emphasize the importance of the agricultural sector as a whole and to spare it from impacts, but would create both technical and political difficulties if it were to be used for the comparison between different route options through rural lands. Different types of metaphors played an important role in the sensemaking process by the participants. Some participants followed more rational approaches to sensemaking that emphasized the correctness and information content of the data, while others seemed to be stronger ware of the strategic-discursive role of the maps. Many participants judged the study cartography as little explicit and highly ambiguous in many aspects, an observation for which a plausible explanation is the MTO’s needs to make decisions not only based on technical evaluations, but also taking into account strong informal political forces which required the study team to be able to review its positions if necessary and justify them largely based on the maps. Based on the research some recommendations for better public map use are suggested in order to make better use of the potential of cartography in planning to facilitate learning and mediation between multiple perspectives and interest. Future research, using anthropological methods, observing the process of creation and use of maps in planning in action is suggested as important to move beyond the limitations of perspectives that emphasize maps as representations.

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