Participatory Form Research Articles

Making Meaningful Places: Augmented Reality for Digital Placemaking in Clearwater, Florida

Enhancing public art installations with augmented reality (AR) merges the physical and digital worlds and creates a strong sense of place attachment in urban settings. AR is an established tool for digital placemaking, which is a participatory form of embodied space-based social practice. While there is disagreement over whether digital placemaking is best achieved through organic engagement with locative media, deliberate urban planning initiatives, or a combination of both, it is increasingly clear that well-designed AR can impact how citizens perceive and engage with their physical surroundings and can invigorate urban spaces. In this article, we explore the design and development of ARTours Clearwater, an AR app that was developed as part of a city-led public art initiative aimed at increasing foot traffic and enlivening a downtown district through the creation of vivid, memorable, “imageable” spaces. The app development workflow encompassed terrestrial lidar scanning of the murals, the identification of tracking images in Vuforia, the development and scaling of digital animations in Unity, and onsite testing to evaluate environmental conditions. The project came to fruition at a public launch, which promoted novel forms of people-place interactions by bringing together multiple stakeholder groups in a synchronous event that enlivened the city’s downtown.

Conceptualizing United States democracy: insights from government content standards

ABSTRACT Objectives In this Paper, I examine how high school social studies content standards in the United States address fundamental concepts of American governance, particularly the concept of democracy. Methods I conducted a qualitative textual analysis of government/civics content standards from all 50 states, Washington DC, and the Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics (AP Gov) course materials. I applied a framework that distinguishes between 'thick' and 'thin' democracy, drawing on theoretical insights from scholars like Michael Apple and John Dewey. Results My findings reveal how democratic ideals are framed and conceptualized within secondary government and civics education in the United States. I identified significant variations in how democracy is addressed in state academic content standards, with important implications for how democracy is taught in American schools. Conclusion I advocate for curricular approaches that promote a more robust and participatory form of democracy, emphasizing critical engagement and collective well-being. This study underscores the importance of recognizing democracy as both a political and governmental concept in shaping educational discourse and policy as well as a practice and way of seeing society.

The experience of living with vitiligo in Nigeria: A participatory Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

Vitiligo is a visible depigmenting skin condition, particularly noticeable on Black skin. There is widespread misunderstanding of the condition. Using a participatory form of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), we conducted eight semi-structured interviews with Nigerians living with vitiligo. Participants described their initial attempts to understand the condition, which typically drew on both traditional illness beliefs, religious influences, and the biomedical disease model. All participants reported experiencing marked stigmatization and discrimination. Participants experienced distress associated with thoughts about the personal meaning of the disease including its impact on their appearance and from concerns about anticipated and direct discrimination. Despite the wide-ranging impact, the participants' narratives also contained references to the development of strategies that maintained wellbeing. This study provides valuable insights into the role of faith and traditional beliefs in both the experience and management of vitiligo in Nigeria. These insights can be used to develop individual and community interventions.

Students’ Councils Involvement in the Formulation of Rules and Regulations on Discipline in Secondary Schools Migori County, Kenya

Students’ councils leadership is a participatory form of governance, which exist worldwide and can improve discipline of learners. In Kenya, it was established in 2009 after the burning of caporal punishment, between the years 2015-2018, 21.2 % of secondary schools in Migori County went on strike, 11.7% in Homa Bay, 10.2 in Kisii and 5.7% in Narok despite government directive that these student councils to be involved in the management of schools among other policies to reduce the conflicts. This is therefore prompting a study in Migori County. The objective which guided the study was to analyze the influence of student councils’ involvement in the formulation of rules and regulations on discipline in secondary schools Migori County. The study used conceptual framework. The study used descriptive survey and ex-post facto research designs. Targeted population was 1140 respondents. Principals, Deputy Principals (DPs), heads of guidance and counseling (HGC) and Presidents of Student Councils (PSCs) and 8 Sub- County Education officers (SCDE). The researcher used purposive sampling to find 8 SCDEs and use 30 percent to get a sample of 85 Principals, DPs, HGC and PSCs from a population of 283 respectively. Data collection instruments will be questionnaires for principals, DPs and students. Interview schedules for HGC and SCDEs. Two experts from the department of Educational Administration at Maseno University will scrutinize the instruments to ensure their validity. Reliability of the instruments will be determined by employing Pearson’s product moment for the test-retest and reliability coefficient of 0.75 up to 0.99 was realized, hence the instruments were termed reliable. The study findings indicated that there was weak, positive correlation between the two variables [r =.428, n=63, p> 0.01], with high levels of Students’ councils formulation of rules and regulations connected with high levels of students discipline in secondary schools, and it was statistically significant as p-value (0.211) ˃ 0.01 level (2 tailed). The study concluded that students’ council should be more involved in the formulation of rules and regulations on their’ discipline. It was recommended that students’ councils should be sufficiently prepared in their involvement in formulation of school rules to enhance discipline. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was significant to students; principals and education stakeholders. The researcher adhered to research ethical considerations.

Involvement of Student Councils in the Supervision of their Welfare on Discipline in Secondary Schools in Migori County, Kenya

Students’ councils leadership is a participatory form of governance, which exist worldwide and can improve discipline of learners. In Kenya, it was established in 2009 after the burning of caporal punishment, between the years 2015-2018, 31.2 % of secondary schools in Migori County went on strike, 11.7% in Homa Bay, 10.2 in Kisii and 5.7% in Narok despite government directive that these student councils to be involved in the management of schools among other policies to reduce the conflicts. This is therefore prompting a study in Migori County. The objective which guided the study was to establish the influence of involvement of student councils in the supervision of their welfare activities on discipline; The study used conceptual framework. The study used descriptive survey and ex-post facto research designs. Targeted population was 1140 respondents. Principals, Deputy Principals (DPs), heads of guidance and counseling (HGC) and Presidents of Student Councils (PSCs) and 8 Sub-county Education officers (SCDE). The researcher used purposive sampling to find 8 SCDEs and use 30 percent to get a sample of 85 Principals, DPs, HGC and PSCs from a population of 283 respectively. Data collection instruments will be questionnaires for principals, DPs and students. Interview schedules for HGC and SCDEs. Two experts from the department of Educational Administration at Maseno University will scrutinize the instruments to ensure their validity. Reliability of the instruments will be determined by employing Pearson’s product moment for the test-retest and reliability coefficient of 0.75 up to 0.99 was realized, hence the instruments were termed reliable. The findings revealed that involvement in supervision of students’ welfare on students discipline had weak positive correlation (0.071) and it was statistically significant as p-value (0.211) ˃ 0.01 level (2 tailed). The study concluded that students should be more involved in the supervision of their welfare on students’ discipline. It was recommended that students’ councils should be sufficiently prepared in their supervisory roles in school management to enhance discipline. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was significant to students; principals and education stakeholders. The researcher adhered to research ethical considerations.

From Celebrity Stage to Digital Space: Mapping Discourse, Sensationalism, and Viralilty of Chris Rock vs. Will Smith’s 2022 Oscar Memes

Memes, in their actual and potential forms, are an expressive media phenomenon. They are being used in a participatory form of communication to describe any event in the most inventively sarcastic way possible. Given elusive meanings and alluring contextual embodiments, one might hypothesize that memes could decide the virality and sensationalism of an event. This article examines the elements in a few celebrity-event-based memes to determine whether there is an intersectional or interdisciplinary link between virality and sensationalism via the discourse they spread across digital spaces. It concludes that the participatory culture of communication is influenced by factors such as high arousal emotions provocation and human interest in constituting memetic virality.

Measuring Individual Pro-Environmental Behavior Transformation: Contextualizing Individual Learning Behavior

This paper proposes an experimental design that policy makers can use to reduce and minimize the environmental catastrophes. This paper uses an experimental design and questionnaire survey to assess the effectiveness of students’ participatory approach to achieve pro-environmental behavior (PEB) and behavioral change strategy. The experiment comprises of assessing the effectiveness of (1) a video on the environmental catastrophe, (2) pictorial reading materials on environmental catastrophe, (3) a labbased simulated eco-tourism trip, and (4) the socialization process towards building PEB. Three time-phase studies could be employed as a participatory form of PEB. The first phase will assess the pro-environmental attributes; the second phase will be the experimental-based treatment; and the third phase assess the behavioral change (the third phase will assess the behavioral change through the same set of questionnaires as stage one). We will assess the changes based on the questionnaire surveys (phase 3 minus phase 1). The four stimuli will be administered randomly (each respondent will get the four sequences of the stimulus differently; the reason is to minimize the sequence order bias of the stimulus). The findings have the potential to position the effectiveness of different stimuli in promoting positive PEB outcomes among individuals. Through the study, we hope a major change will occur around the globe through the manifestations of the four stimuli to understand how it will affect behavioral change. We propose to target the student groups as they are the voices of the future, and their behavior has important implications for now and the future.
 Keywords: video on the environmental catastrophe, pictorial reading materials on environmental catastrophe, lab-based simulated eco-tourism trip, socialization process, pro-environmental behavior

The Unbearable Unaccountability of Academia: A Critical Review of Implicit Bias Training for the Racialization of Discipline

Implicit racial bias has gained attention as a central contributor to enduring racial disparities in various systems in the United States, such as in criminal justice, particularly regarding police violence—and in education as related to school discipline. Scholars in education have suggested multiple strategies and products (e.g., professional development modules) to raise awareness among practitioners about their implicit biases. Similar to other individualistic approaches, such as the concept of grit, the implicit-bias approach has gained popularity in academia and practice as a remedy for racial disparities. This paper criticizes these product-oriented, individualistic solutions, targeting changes in an individual’s psychological traits. Building upon a collective, participatory form of knowledge production activity led by a rural high school serving American Indian youth, we call for redirection to systemic transformation in the dysfunctional discipline system to address racial injustice in discipline with—not for—educators, students, families, and community members.

Thematic Abstraction at Work in the World: A Case Study from China with Global Implications

ABSTRACT: Starting with Ron and Suzanne Scollon's ideas about thematic abstraction as a participatory form of storytelling in Athabaskan culture, this paper extends these ideas to a radically different setting, that of modern day China and its internal cultural wars over the economy, freedom, and leadership. We look at how internet catchphrases in China function as a form of thematic abstraction, one that is giving rise to major consequences in China and across the world. Both thematic abstraction and catchphrases state a concise theme that audiences must fill out into a detailed story based on their own experiences in life. In Athabaskan culture thematic abstraction gives rise to in-group solidarity based on a respect for, and a refusal to impose meaning on, others. In China today, catchphrases are giving rise to a solidarity among the younger generation based on a rejection of governmental and societal impositions on their own stories about their own lives.

Toyota Kata for continuous improvement; an action research project in the construction industry

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how Toyota Kata can be effectively applied in the engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing within the construction industry. The objective is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for the Toyota Kata implementation in this environment and to develop a continuous improvement (CI) method – based on Toyota Kata and adapted to the ETO manufacturing within the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach An action research (AR) approach was applied, which includes a participatory form of inquiry and learning from both intended and unintended outcomes, while simultaneously building up scientific knowledge about successful implementation of Toyota Kata. Findings All the CSFs in the AR project are addressed by the earlier literature, thus confirming the existing body of knowledge. Moreover, the existing knowledge was arguably extended through the modified Toyota Kata as an approach for CI. New elements regarding how to run the small experiments by extending the core team with personnel who work with the problem on a daily basis. Originality/value This research addresses a gap identified in the literature regarding how Toyota Kata can be adapted to the ETO manufacturing within the construction industry. It also presents an overview of CSFs for the Toyota Kata implementation in this environment.

Unveiling the past, shaping the future: Analyzing three centuries of data to explore China's trajectory towards carbon neutrality

China is under enormous pressure - at home and abroad - to mitigate its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which threaten its carbon neutrality target by 2060. The historical emissions growth and the factors affecting this growth can be instrumental in designing China's carbon neutrality target by 2060. However, a study focusing on China's historical emissions is rare, creating a substantial gap in the literature. As such, this study aims to analyze China's historical emissions path and how China's carbon neutrality is affected by economic growth, education, population growth, and political regimes. These variables have been chosen based on theory and empirical literature. We employ extensive time-series data from 1850 to 2021 and deploy the novel Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) simulation model. Carbon neutrality has been measured using greenhouse gas emissions per capita. The study finding reveals an inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP and GHG emissions, proving that Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid for China when participatory form of governance is considered. But the study fails to validate the EKC hypothesis when the liberal form of governance is employed. Population growth and education boost GHG emissions in the long run in the model with participatory form of governance. Contrarily, in the model with liberal form of governance, the population increases GHG emissions in the short and long run, while education increases GHG emissions only in the long run. Participatory form of governance decreases GHG emissions in the long run, but liberal one decreases GHG emissions only in the short run. Overall, the variations in the political system can have heterogenous effects on China's environmental integrity. As such, Beijing's policy should focus more on the development of a political sphere that is pro-environmental and that stresses on the implementation of environmental governance to tackle China's environmental dilemma. Our findings provide numerous policy suggestions to achieve China's carbon neutrality target by 2060.

It’s less the destination and more the getting there: urban development, emergence and co-production in Galway, Ireland

This article presents the case for a reconceptualised form of engagement around development at a local scale within a medium-sized city. Deploying ideas gleaned from literature on emergence, the article explores how a non-teleological form of development might engage with stakeholders in an urban regeneration area. Focusing on three distinct social practices – co-production, activism and policy – the article sets out to unfold the example of Nuns’ Island in Galway, Ireland to chart a participatory form of development in the absence of previously defined goals. Honing in on ‘storytelling’ as a key cultural strategy in this process, the article concludes with a view from Europe’s West towards locally embedded urban development practices. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/

Practice improvement: workshops for caregivers

The transmission of good practices is one of the missions of the mobile geriatric outreach teams (EMGE). In this context, the EMGE Centre-Nord 92 has proposed two activities for caregivers in residential care facilities for the dependent elderly (Ehpad) in a concrete and participatory form, called "workshop". The purpose of the workshop on handling hearing aids is to help caregivers handle these technologies used to correct hearing loss in the elderly. The etymology-card game workshop is designed to help caregivers review and use medical vocabulary.

Legitimacy Of Public Participation In The Establishment Of Law In Indonesia

The most participatory form of the public continues, especially since the making process of the omnibus law at Law about Job Creation. Unfortunately, there is no ideal model of public participation. Even though the constitutional court has provided guidelines regarding meaningful participation. There is guaranteed access to public participation, the unanswered question is the aspect of public legitimacy. The review the weaknesses of the public participation model in the formation of the law process in Law about the Establishment of Legislation and Constitutional Court decision. Participation model only answers the formality side, not the substance in the formation of the law, and becomes a validation tool for the academic side, not the aspirations aspect or the legitimacy of the public itself. The problem will be discussed using the normative method. The problem regarding the method of legal development lies in the provisions of the development of the law itself

Standing here: rituals, rights, and the radical democratization of football spectatorship

ABSTRACT Since the mid-1990s, a hermeneutic struggle has unfolded within English football between those spectators who wish to stand at matches, and the ‘risks’ associated with this practice. Here, the authorities have sought to constrain this form of leisure through an anti-democratic, authoritarian regime of discipline and control. By designating the ritual of standing as ‘a right to leisure’, however, this article draws upon radical democratic theory to re-imagine this practice as a contested activity; one which has the potential to challenge the neoliberal basis of football spectatorship itself and restore the collectivism that was a much-loved feature of the terraced community. By restating the social value of free-standing terraces, and the potentialities that standing itself offers for political emancipation, we argue that this ritual might itself become a rights-based resource of radical democracy for spectators to engage in an altogether more participatory form of leisure.

Conservation, collaboration, and claims: Saemie inclusion and influence in a Swedish national park process

In Sweden, environmental governance and management has historically been centralized, with low levels of local influence and control. Although a large proportion of the areas set aside for environmental protection in Sweden are located in Saepmie, the traditional lands of the Saemie people, Saemie influence in the governance and management of these areas has been limited. However, recent events and ongoing processes indicate a potential change in both discourse and policy practice. This paper critically examines the planning process for a proposed national park in the southern part of the Swedish mountain range. It was organized in a collaborative and participatory form, including Saemie representatives on both local and central levels. After several years of planning, local Saemie opposition to the park led to the termination of the process. We investigate discursive constructions of the local Saemie actors’ inclusion in the process and their effects on possible Saemie influence. Our results show that state and Saemie actors articulate inclusion in different ways, limiting and enabling varying forms of influence. The landscape and the state of nature were central constructions affecting the process, and the project’s aim transformed over time – with significant consequences for the process and, possibly, also its results.

Contemporary Farmer’s Movements in India: Hybrid Political Agenda and Modernisation of Protests

This study attempts to argue that the farmer’s encirclement of Delhi in 2020–2021 was not merely a sporadic form of protest or agitation as widely argued. Instead, it indicates the emergence of a new form of farmer movement in contemporary India. Formation of a hybrid political agenda is at the core of this movement. Temporally, organisationally and ideologically, this movement has been able to bring agrarian politics to the forefront of Indian politics after a gap of three decades. Temporally, there has been a continuity of protests by farmers since 2017 involving diverse issues which concern the rural economy and society. Organisationally, farmers adopted traditional as well as modern forms of mobilisation. Coming together of farmer unions from various parts of India is also an indicator of the innovative organisational methods. Ideologically, the current movements are an outcome of a hybrid agrarian politics that includes formation of an inclusive agenda, and a participatory form of farmer identity. The three sections of the article deal with each of these indicators.

Experiential learning through applied theatre in corporate training: a qualitative approach

PurposeExperiential learning pedagogy has been an increasingly popular mode of learning in educational and training programs. While there have been methods such as role plays which have been popular in training and educational programs, applied theatre in corporate training (ATCT) is gaining popularity because of its great potential in connecting intellect and emotions, to meaningfully challenge norms and assumptions. This article aims to present empirical and “participant-centric” evidences to posit ATCT as a potentially powerful participant-centric pedagogical tool in corporate training programs that is likely to make the learning process more engaging for participants and more fruitful for the organization.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used qualitative approach. Focused group discussion (FGD) and author's first-hand experience of observing ATCT helped gather data for further analysis. Review of related literature from management, organizational behavior and training and development was done to identify the major themes.FindingsThe findings suggest that ATCT is a novel, innovative mode of enhancing individual learning and development by utilizing all the four modes of experiential learning as conceptualized by Kolb. ATCT also helps in developing organizational aesthetics (OA) among participants that help businesses to better execute their strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe application of ATCT could enable greater involvement of employees from across different levels and of different backgrounds in looking at organizational issues. ATCT helps participants gain greater insights and understanding of organizational situations beyond technical nuances by establishing deeper connections between intellect and emotions and collectively contributing to resolving them.Originality/valueThe study points to the possibility and potential of using participant-centric ATCT in organizational learning which goes beyond basic skill development. It also draws attention towards a participatory form of organizational development via ATCT by improving OA among participants.

Buen Vivir under Correa: The Rhetoric of Participatory Democracy, the Reality of Rentier Populism

AbstractThis article seeks to understand the relationship between populism and participatory democracy through analysis of Rafael Correa’s left populist regime in Ecuador (2007–2017). It argues that rather than adhering to its own standard for participatory democracy, what the Correa regime referred to as the “Socialism ofBuen Vivir,” it employed the rhetoric of participatory democracy in the service of populist rule. As a result, the Correa regime failed to promote the participatory form of democracy and citizenship promised in Buen Vivir, its version of twenty-first-century socialism. Accordingly, analysis of the Correa regime demonstrates how the concentration of top-down executive power characteristic of populism in general, and rentier populism in particular, impedes the egalitarian and solidaristic mission of participatory democracy. Thus, inductive analysis of the Correa regime reinforces the conceptual understanding that populism is antagonistic and antithetical to participatory democracy.

Can service providing NGOs build democracy? Five contingent features

AbstractThis article studies the role of service providing NGOs in the Middle East in promoting democracy. Challenging the assumption that service providing NGOs are apolitical, the authors argue that service providing NGOs play important roles in promoting democracy. They do so by serving as public arenas, or spaces in which members and beneficiaries practice democratic habits such as discussion and debate, collective problem solving, free expression, rights claiming, and the like—all of which contribute to the cultivation of a participatory form of democracy. Drawing upon existing literature, interviews, and participant observation of NGOs in Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine, the authors argue that five features shape the role of service providing NGOs in promoting democracy. These include: (1) organizational readiness, or the organization's embeddedness in its beneficiary community and its organizational capacity; (2) organizational governance, or organization's commitment to participatory representation and transparency; (3) the nature of service an organization provides; (4) an NGOs' collaboration with other NGOs and the government; and (5) donor risk tolerance. The article's analysis contributes to our understanding of the varied, and often overlooked, roles of service providing NGOs, advancing the literature on NGO‐state relations, NGO‐donor relations, and democracy promotion.