Digital Commons Network^™

Municipal Pathways Towards Digital Government: Ontario’S Municipal Modernization Program And The Determinants Of Technology Adoption, Owen Jaggard

MPA Major Research Papers

Ontario’s municipalities exist at various stages of e-government adoption. Municipalities are faced with the challenge of adopting new technologies to meet expanding services demands. Both municipalities and the Provincial government face the challenge of developing policies to support information and communication technologies (ICT) adoption. Understanding the unique determinants of technology adoption can assist with this policy making. The study answers how organizational factors affect ICT adoption in small and rural municipalities; and how Ontario’s municipal modernization funding interacts with these determinants. The study examines the determinants of ICT adoption for ICT policies, online services, and electronic records management systems. Focusing …

Computation As A Planetary Scale Phenomenon, Payoshini Pandey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The concept of the ‘technosphere’ was advanced in the field of Earth Systems Science to capture technology as a geological phenomenon in the Anthropocene. What precisely, I ask, drives the technosphere to be so novel and unprecedented a planetary force? Part of the answer, I venture, lies in the nature of computation as a generative force that drives the expansion of the technosphere. To build an account of computation as a generative force of a planetary scale, I engage with and parse through various debates regarding its historical and ontological predispositions. To address computation in its full potential, I argue, …

“Literally, A Game-Changer”: Renegotiating The Aesthetics Of The Real, Moira Mckee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The affirmation of identity as a leitmotif throughout art history has become increasingly concerned with the conflation of the real and constructed, the material and immaterial, as technological developments engineer the fabric of reality with heightened sophistication. In the age of lifelike, digital avatar influencers such as Lil Miquela, Ai-Da, billed as “the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist,” algorithms developed to create The Next Rembrandt, and the rise of crypto art and non-fungible tokens (NFT’s), the ambiguity or removal of the hand of the artist prompts questions surrounding identity as a visualization of the data that follows us and is …

The Digital Extreme: Cinema's Reality Crisis In A Nostalgic Age, Lucas J. Dvorsky

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the trajectory and legacy of two streams of filmmaking born in the 1990s: extreme film and the digital film, which eventually fuse into the digital extreme film, a watershed moment of postmodern filmmaking. I analyze the rise of the digital extreme, probing its disturbing aesthetic, its grainy, blurry glitches, dark, mundane reality and connections to fear, surveillance and nostalgia. Looking at filmmakers as disparate as pop-culture mainstays like Martin Scorsese, breakout directors like Jane Schoenbrun, avant-garde artists like Michael Snow, and arthouse auteurs such as Catherine Breillat and Olivier Assayas, I consider what the moment of …

The Effects Of A Video-Enhanced Intervention Package On The Science Practices Of Students With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kailee Liesemer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) often experience barriers to accessing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction in the general classroom. The current research guiding equitable STEM education for this population lacks scope, primarily targeting vocabulary or content knowledge instead of the cross-curricular application of science practice skills in STEM. Using single-case research designs, the current paper examined the efficacy of an intervention package used to teach science practices in STEM education to students with ID and NDD. A multiple probe across participant design revealed that the intervention package was effective in teaching two students with …

The Experiences Of Virtual Kindergarten Educators In Technology-Enhanced Virtual Classrooms: A Guide To Providing Effective Virtual Teaching, Martin Wolak

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With the threat of future global pandemics and the possible necessity to mandate schools to transition to temporary online learning, it is imperative to provide kindergarten educators with effective pedagogical practices with the use of technological devices and resources in virtual classrooms. This study examined how kindergarten educators are currently implementing learning through digital screen-based devices in a way that promotes purposeful, meaningful, efficient and effective learning for FDK students virtually. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses examined what are the attitudes and beliefs towards digital screen-based technologies and digital resources by FDK educators, what educators need to know to effectively …

The Financial And Environmental Viability Of Municipally Operated Hybrid Ambulance Fleets In Ontario: Calculating The Return-On-Investment Of Hybrid Ambulance Assets In Oxford County From 2017-2021, Stephen Edwards

MPA Major Research Papers

On October 26, 2017 Oxford County became the first municipality in Canada to deploy gasoline-electric hybrid ambulances as part of their Community Sustainability Plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting low-carbon transportation. The Oxford solution utilizes aftermarket hybrid electric-gasoline propulsion systems that leverage two primary technologies: regenerative braking, which uses the inertia of the vehicle to store energy in a battery cell during deceleration; and acceleration assist, which uses this stored energy to assist propulsion of the vehicle during acceleration events and thereby reduces gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Due to high demand for aftermarket hybrid propulsion …

Examining Connected And Automated Vehicle (Cav) Policy In Ontario: A Modified Multiple Streams Framework Analysis, James Scott

MPA Major Research Papers

This research paper utilizes Kingdon’s (1984) Multiple Streams Framework to systematically analyze influential agenda-setting variables in the policy domain of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) in Ontario, Canada. The paper also leverages the Five Stream Confluence Model, a model which builds on the Multiple Streams Framework and is designed by Howlett et al. (2015) to analyze policy formation. The two foundational research questions that will guide the overall direction of this paper are: (1) What influenced Ontario to be the first province in Canada to legislate connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) in 2015? (2) Have influential agenda-setting variables translated through …

Systematic Review Of Stem Attitude Measures, Meagan Koufis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of this review was to identify measurement tools used to assess students’ attitudes towards science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM) in publications, and evaluate their usefulness and appropriateness based on reported psychometric properties. Researchers look to also evaluate the content/subject area coverage as well as the attitude construct coverage of identified measures. Electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles that utilized a STEM attitude measurement tool with elementary or high school students. Publications were examined for reported psychometric properties of tools and the quality of each measure was evaluated using the psychometric grading framework (PGF). A total of …

Pharmakon: From Body To Being, Jérôme Y. C. Conquy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis dossier is separated into the following distinct sections: an extended artist statement; a portfolio documenting artworks made during my MFA candidacy and my exhibit Pharmakon: Acts, Traces, and Maps; and a case study of artist Tony Oursler, whose video and multimedia installations explore the psychological and social relationships between individuals and technologies. Together, they present my exploration of the body’s ‘power of acting,’ or potentia agendi, in relation to the modificatory capacity of technology, or affectus, on the human body. In particular, I investigate the body’s habits, or capacity for habit-building, what Bourdieu calls habitus, and the interconnection …

Preparing Communities For The Golden Years: Approaches For Developing Age-Friendly Communities For Seniors, Shivi Darubra

MPA Major Research Papers

The heterogeneous nature of aging has led policymakers to reconsider how seniors are impacted by localized decision-making and implementation efforts (Remillard-Boilard, 2018). Forecasted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the population of seniors (60+) is expected to reach over two billion worldwide, surpassing the number of children being born across the world for the first time in human history (United Nations, 2006). To better address the local challenges faced by the aging population, WHO devised an Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) framework to guide urban communities into redesigning policy and intervention models to better reflect the needs of seniors while also allowing …

Streamlining Information Technology Services In Local Government, Michael Ben

MPA Major Research Papers

This research paper examines the outcome of the City of Toronto's Shared Services foundation project. Drawing on the lessons learned from previous shared services projects at the City, it aims to answer the question: "What factors promote or discourage shared services between a local government and its agencies?" The paper conducts a systematic literature review with the aim of discovering a candidate set of factors that promote or discourage participation in shared services between a local government and its agencies. It then uses the literature review to explore the potential for future shared services between the City of Toronto and …

Patterns Of Problem Behaviours Among A Representative Sample Of Youth In Ontario, Chantal Williams

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Behavioural addictions among adolescents are becoming a growing public health concern. It is well established that problem behaviours, particularly substance use behaviours, tend to cluster together. Some research indicates that gambling is associated with substance use, aligning with Problem Behaviour Theory, which suggests that problem behaviours stem from an underlying disposition toward deviance. This study sought to assess whether a) behavioural addictions, including gambling, video gaming and technology use, cluster together and with substance use and b) profiles of problem behaviours are associated with age, race, socioeconomic status, grade achievement, school connectedness, and antisocial behaviour in the total sample and …

Building A Smart City: Insights And Perspectives From The Winners Of Smart City Challenge, Andi Maloku

MPA Major Research Papers

When Canadian Government launched smart city initiative over 130 municipalities, large and small have submitted their innovative ideas. On May 14, 2019, the four winners of the Canadian Smart Cities Challenge were announced in Ottawa: Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia winning $5M Prize Category; the Nunavut Communities, Nunavut winning $10M Prize Category; the City of Guelph and Wellington County, Ontario winning $10M Prize Category and the City of Montréal, Quebec winning $50M Prize Category. This paper focuses on these four cities by exploring two main research questions: (1) what does “smart cities” mean for Canadian municipalities; and, (2) what are …

Multimodal Dissertations: Opportunities For Multimodality In Higher Education, Annie Tran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

multiliteracies, multimodality, higher education, technology, communication, dissertations, graduate education

In an era when communication and higher education are rapidly changing, there is much to learn about multimodality and the dissertation. For example, how can multimodality be used to forward an argument or inform research in a dissertation? How is technology changing the format of the dissertation? And how might multimodality and technology change the experience of composing a dissertation? This study addresses dissertations and the problem of understanding how research can be argued, represented, and presented in multimodal ways, and considers the lived curriculum of Ph.D. graduate students. My work …

Exploring The Perceived Effects Of Student Online Sharing Of Environmental Artwork, Jocelyn Perras

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This case study research examined the process of secondary school students creating and sharing site-specific artworks online as part of their environmental art production assignment. Student participant perceptions of the production of their place-based sculptures, as well as their palimpsest artworks, are examined within the context of interactive posting of images and commentary within a social media platform. Participants’ responses point to several critical factors in the organization and active operation of visual art assignments in which students engaged via a digital sharing site (e.g., students’ online posting needs resemble their offline communication needs). Although enthusiastic about producing environmental artwork, …

The Event Of Blues Music And The Effects Of Technology On The Artistic Event, Adam Rejak

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this dissertation is to find out whether or not blues music is an event. I explore what constitutes a musical or artistic event in modern times and to see how this has changed in relation to earlier periods. I also identify its essential formal elements. I divide blues music into two categories, namely, its technical playing qualities (the micro) and its historical changes (the macro). This division frames the entire project and illustrates that in order to discuss an artistic event, we must account for both its technical and historical aspects. I examine several theories of the …

Shifting Directions: Conceiving, Implementing, And Navigating The Inherent Complexities Of Student Recruitment Customer/Constituent Relationship Management (Crm) Systems Within Higher Education, Colin Couchman

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

A Constituent (often and typically referenced as Customer) Relationship Management (CRM) system is utilized within organizations whose focus is on customer development and service. A CRM is both an organizational approach involving significant human and system processes, as well as a technological intervention. Typically, CRMs have been implemented within commercial enterprises, specifically those operations with direct contact with customers or consumers, possibly as end–users of products, or even middle–sales operators such as wholesalers and governmental agencies. Over the past number of decades, higher education institutions in Canada have developed strategic and tactical plans to more fully respond to the changing …

Industrial Stagecraft: Tooling And Cultural Production, Jennifer A. Hambleton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The tooling of theatrical spectacle requires collaboration between stagecraft technicians and designers in an increasingly globalized and standardized manufacturing process. While hand skills are still used and remain useful, digital fabrication and other tools are now incorporated in labour processes in scenery manufacturing workshops, altering collaborative work in complex ways. This thesis is an inquiry into the epistemological role of software and digital fabrication tools in stagecraft practices and explores how the politics of craft labour intersect with material practices in media production labour. The technical aspects of the fabrication of theatrical spectacles and display environments, the way objects are …

Shifting Temporalities: The Construction Of Flexible Subjectivities Through Part-Time Retail Workers’ Use Of Smartphone Technology, Jessica Fanning

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Drawing on past and recent literature in political economy and feminist media studies, this research extends current work on technology’s disciplinary and liberatory potential for labour. This is done using an investigation of part-time retail workers’ use of smartphones in the management and experience of always-on work styles, the encroachment of work on non-work time, and whether there are alternative uses of these same technologies. Semi-structured interviews with a sample of part-time retail workers analyzed with a grounded theory approach are used to investigate participants’ direct experiences. The data reveals that the theme of gender is not as strong as …

Can Applying A Gender Lens To Social Innovation Promote Women's Rights And Gender Equality?, Sarah Saska-Crozier

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social innovation is not new, but it is increasingly being called on to provide solutions to some of the world’s most pressing social and economic problems. Despite awareness about its importance, research in the field of social innovation is often vague, and there are competing definitions and understandings of the concept. There is also very little research that attempts to connect the field of social innovation with the fields of gender studies, women’s studies, feminist research, or men and masculinity studies. This dissertation applies a gender lens to the concept of social innovation. In doing so, it aims to develop …

Digital Strategies In Local Government: Private Sector And Early Adopters Lessons Learned, Robert Delorme

MPA Major Research Papers

In recent years, both the public and private sectors have been using digital strategies, which represent an integration of business and technology plans in an organization. This paper investigates the early adoption of digital strategies in the public sector at the local government level using case studies for southern Ontario that focus on existing academic and practice-based literature, along with documented government adoptions of digital strategies to identify trends and issues. The findings support the private sector lessons and further indicate that there is little consistency in approach, methodology, or stage of digital strategy implementation within the public sector. Research …

Driving Decision-Making: An Analysis Of Policy Diffusion And Its Role In The Development And Implementation Of Ridesharing Regulations In Four Canadian Municipalities, Lisa Shields

MPA Major Research Papers

Throughout the world, ridesharing services compete with the highly regulated taxicab industry and governments have been compelled by various interest groups to address the regulatory uncertainty that has resulted from the emergence of the sharing economy. This paper examines the literature on policy diffusion and applies the relevant concepts to explain the proliferation of ridesharing regulations in Canada. It chronicles the experiences of four large Canadian municipalities – Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto – and it documents the similarities in the regulatory frameworks adopted by these municipalities and other North American jurisdictions where transportation network companies are regulated. The research …

On The Internet By Means Of Popular Music: The Cases Of Grimes And Childish Gambino, Kristopher R. K. Ohlendorf

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

What is the internet? It began as a military research experiment, but the internet has since become a sweeping cultural phenomenon. One of the most prevalent areas of the internet’s cultural dominance is in popular music, and this thesis addresses how the internet is being understood and discussed by popular music artists. I study the works of Grimes and Childish Gambino, two popular music artists who grew up alongside the internet’s rise to cultural dominance and explicitly address this experience as an integral component of their lives and works. I look specifically at discourse surrounding Grimes’ “post-internet” music and Childish …

An Investigation Of The Marketing Practices Of Local Food Businesses In Southwestern Ontario, Mark D. Mcgregor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis presents research from two interrelated studies examining the marketing practices of local food businesses in Southwestern Ontario. Focus groups were held with food system stakeholders to examine their attitudes and insights toward developing new technologies (i.e., smartphone and web-based tools) to promote local food. A survey of direct-market farmers sought to uncover their marketing practices and motivations. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that although technology already plays a prominent role in marketing, there is a strong desire for more metrics to measure the efficacy of marketing efforts. Further, new technologies should facilitate producer-consumer connections, as …

Human-Machinic Assemblages: Technologies, Bodies, And The Recuperation Of Social Reproduction In The Crisis Era, Elise D. Thorburn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation argues that class composition, as defined and theorised by Operaismo and Autonomist thinkers, has had both a major and a minoritarian form. In fact class composition in its major form has always been subtended by a minor current. I examine both historical (the 1905 Russian Soviets, the 1919 Turin factory councils, the Italian social movements of the 1970s) and contemporary examples (the occupation of Tahrir Square in Egypt, the Indignados movement in Spain, and Occupy Wall Street in 2011, as well as the 2012 Quebec student strike) of class composition. From these examples I then argue that the …

For Keeps-Sake: Women's Experiences With Elective Prenatal Ultrasound Imaging In Canada, Jennifer Chisholm

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores women’s experiences with the practice of elective prenatal ultrasound imaging in Canada. Ultrasound technology was first introduced into obstetric practice in the late 1950s and has, since then, become a routine part of antenatal healthcare. More recently, ultrasound technology has expanded into private industry, with many businesses now offering keepsake or entertainment ultrasound to pregnant women and their families. I begin by offering a brief historical account of the development and diffusion of obstetric ultrasound, and situating the elective ultrasound industry within current debates about non-medical applications of ultrasound technology. Through in-depth interviews with women had who …

Transitioning The Canadian Democratic System Into The Era Of Digital Governance: A Longitudinal Study Of First Time Online Voting And Voter Turnout In Ontario Municipalities, Chris Bantock

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the relationship between online voting and voter turnout rates in Ontario municipalities. It uses a longitudinal research design to collect election data from municipalities that used online voting for the first time in 2014, which is compared to election data from the 2010 Ontario municipal elections, and it also uses a survey that was administered to the Clerks Department of randomly selected municipalities. The findings reveal a statistically proven relationship between online voting and increased voter turnout in Ontario municipalities.

Open Data And Big Data Programs In Local Government Policy Analysis, Susan Chase

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the development of policy around the open data programs for local government. Through a literature review, a survey of large municipalities in Ontario, and in-depth interviews, the research attempts to identify if there are factors that ensure whether the policy development process is more likely to be implemented along with the program or if there is a lack of policy development as a result of it. The findings reveal a definite lack of policy development with the open data program, which is likely due to the challenge for policy makers to ensure appropriate access and privacy protection, …

Examination Of The Usability Of The Ipad Among Older Adult Consumers, Mike J. Voumvakis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background and Purpose

In the current technological-era there is assumption of universal Internet access of citizens in North America. Many senior citizens have the desire to access the Internet, however have limited experience-using computers. There currently exists multiple options in addition to personal computers to access the Internet such as tablet computers, however there has been limited research performed on the use of these technologies by senior citizens.

Methodology and Methods

This paper describes the experiences and insight of five novice senior iPad owners as well as a detailed task and activity analysis of these seniors utilizing the device. Through …