Digital Commons Network^™

A Decolonial Approach To International Education: Insights From A Cal Poly Global Program In Palermo, Sicily, Elvira Pulitano, Iyad Jamaly

csuglobalaction

This article presents a critical intervention in the current debates about decolonizing international education. It is based on a Global Program in Palermo, Sicily, offered by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in summer 2023. As both program creator/director and student participant in the program, the authors rely on their personal experience and insights along with expertise in coloniality and decolonial theories. The article focuses on a series of pedagogical activities led by a young group of migrants and refugees who, in the city of Palermo, have come together to form two associations designed and structured to offer new contemporary models …

A Complementary Document Approach – What Are The Challenges?, Roswitha Skare

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This article examines the significance of the "neo-documentary turn" in Library and Information Science (LIS), as described by Jenna Hartel, and argues for its continued relevance. Niels W. Lund’s complementary document analysis, inspired by Niels Bohr’s principle of complementarity, is highlighted as a key contribution, offering a framework to explore the physical, mental, and social dimensions of documents. Using examples such as Sophus Tromholt’s Sámi photographs, the article demonstrates how complementary analysis can uncover overlooked aspects of documents. However, challenges arise due to the interdisciplinary expertise required for such analyses. The article concludes by advocating for collaboration among specialists to …

Reading Hair As A Document, Bhuva Narayan

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper is an exposition of the documental being, becoming, and unbecoming of hair, wherein I argue that although human hair is a corporeal material, and an object that can be viewed through various perspectives and theories, it can also be read as a document imbued with meaning, intention, and perception by humans, and fulfills Suzanne Briet’s criteria (Briet, 2006; Buckland, 1997) for an object to be considered a document: it has materiality (it must be a physical thing), intentionality (intended as evidence), needs processing (to be made part of a documentary system), and is an object of phenomenological perception …

Reading Ourselves: Self-Documentation, Infamy, And Collective Health In Brazilian Peripheries, Asy Pepe Sanches Neto

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper explores self-documentation as a social instrument for surviving misrecognition and constructing situated forms of care. Drawing from Foucault’s Lives of Infamous Men, it examines how lives become visible only when touched by power, through brief administrative inscriptions. Building on Documental Fixity (Sanches & Day, 2020), the argument shifts from the stabilizing power of documents to the anticipatory actions of those who know they are read. Rather than asking what a document is, I treat “document” as a modeling frame imposed upon things to manage indexicality. From passports to school uniforms, documentation organizes visibility and authority. In racialized and …

Cerebral Documents And Algorithmic Sensemaking: Searching For Expressions In Human And Artificial Cognitive Collaborations, Rebekah L. Cowell

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Generative Artificial Intelligences (AIs) and current advanced large language models (LLMs) are algorithmically designed to generate text-based conversations as conversational agents (CAs), by replicating human language and conversational communication. Pairing human cognition with generative computationally coded cognition. We have never been here before: cerebral and artificial information collaborations and processing producing expressions that may or may not become visible as second-hand/secondary source documents.

Sensemaking or sense(un)making is a unique autonomous human drive cognitively, our information processing is sensemaking in action and expressions and articulations are evidence of the sensemaking cycle. Documentation [expressed or articulated through various mediums] are a product …

Artificial Intelligence And The Palimpsestuous Nature Of Image Documents, Brian C. O'Connor, Laurie J. Bonnici

Proceedings from the Document Academy

We propose that document engagements are palimpsestuous - meaning emerges through layered interactions between viewers and documents rather than inhering within documents themselves. A photograph of a coffee mug prompts the question "Who's Blake?" for one viewer while evoking decades of family ritual, community relationships, and funeral flowers in ice cream containers for another. Traditional cataloging systems capture surface-level nouns (coffee mug, ice cream parlor) while systematically excluding the epidata and proximity relationships where meaning lives.

Through conversations with Claude.ai about photographs - including a Lewis Hine child labor image, everyday objects, and landscapes - we demonstrate that AI systems …

Living Faithfully In An Economic Revolution, Part Ii: Ai's Impact On Productivity And Labor, Joshua E. Hollinger

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"AI is unlikely to eliminate human work entirely. But it may radically reshape which skills are valuable, how labor is compensated, and how widely the gains from productivity are shared."

Posting about the influence of AI on labor from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Living Faithfully in an Economic Revolution, Part II

One Love: An Exploration Of The Rhetoric And Culture Of Bob Marley’S Lyricism, Kaitlyn Vasilko

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Sky High Reggae (SHR) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting multicultural community connections by ensuring access to reggae music by Bob Marley and other artists that centers on global healing. SHR helps build up reggae artists, minority business owners, other nonprofit organizations, and community members through art events, concerts, and classes, all with a focus on cultural awareness. SHR aims to “enrich lives through music” (Sky High Reggae, 2022) and also partners with local schools to provide access to art supplies to “empower youth through supporting creative expression.” While conducting research on the culture of reggae music and the …

Colorism And The Black Family: Effects Of Colorist Messages Among Black Women, Carolyn Frink

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem examined in this study is how colorism affects Black families. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the lived experiences of Black women and the colorist messages they received from family members, how those messages were internalized, and the messages perceived effects. The conceptual framework for this study was based on the colorist-historical trauma framework, and data were obtained through individual interviews with Black women ages 22–70, from various socioeconomic backgrounds and selected through purposeful sampling. A multiple case study approach was used to examine similarities and differences among the participants. A thematic analysis was …

Confinement And Consent: A Comparative Analysis Of Sexual Abuse In Finnish And U.S. Prisons, Madison A. Greico

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

The Bangkok Rules and The Basic Principles for The Treatment of Prisoners are a specific outline of protections and rights for individuals( Bangkok specifically about women) within prisons adopted by the United Nations compromising states. While The United States is a leader in the United Nations and adopted this set of rules, their failures of commitment are extremely apparent. Every year, thousands of prison rapes occur behind bars in New York alone by the very guards meant to protect them. In Finland, another United Nations member, however, has virtually no record of sexual abuse within their prisons. In investigation of …

Protecting ‘Punks’: The Shortcomings Of The Prison Rape Elimination Act, Rachel Goldsmith

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse is widespread in US male prisons, with inmates “turning each other out” by sexually assaulting each other. While the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) received unanimous support in Congress in 2003, motivated by the Human Rights Watch Report “No Escape: Male Rape in Prisons,” scholars argue that the PREA fails to protect prisoners from prison rape: for example, its standards may be ineffective or criminalize consensual sex between prisoners. This essay will examine the shortcomings of the PREA, drawing on current legal scholarship, and propose solutions to enhance the law's effectiveness in protecting prisoners. The US government …

2026 Psalms Of Lament: Lenten Devotionals, Benjamin Wagner, Stephenie Hovland, Jonathan Landrey, Christopher Genszler, Matthew Byrd, Jonathan Poppe, Amy Genszler, Joshua Camp, Lydia Grabau, Ezekiel Grabau, Henry Eising, Jonathan Lehms, Mark Squire, Wesley Clark, Stephen Christian, Kyle Bliss, Brian Schneck, Jack Engelder, Nicholas Vukalovich, Cole Carlson, Aaron Halboth, Rick Crain, Ezekiel Potts, Zachary Benkert, Natnael Kebede, Jacob Stefanec, Joshua Fields, Peter Ventimiglia, Andrew Borseth, Jesse O’Shell, Isaiah Mudge, Erik Osmundson, Stephen Moore, Nathaniel Hall, Matthew Younghouse, Corrie Steel, Nathaniel Pekari, David Gray, Jarod Vorseth, Ryan Skove, Samuel Held, Joseph Musolino, Chris Atlee, David Krueger

Other Student Publications

The Psalms of Lament comprise nearly a third of the Psalter, making them one of the most prominent prayer forms in Scripture. These psalms give voice to human suffering, doubt, and struggle before God—not as expressions of weak faith, but as honest cries from those who trust God enough to bring their deepest pain into His presence. A lament typically moves through several stages: addressing God, describing the complaint or distress, asking "how long?" or "why?", petitioning God for help, expressing trust despite circumstances, and often concluding with praise or a vow to praise. Through lament, the psalmists model a …

Visual Healing In Visual Communication Design: Exploring Calm Aesthetics For The Psychological Well-Being Of Urban Society, Siti Indah Lestari, Ivo Ramadhani

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This study investigates the concept of visual healing from a Visual Communication Design (VCD) perspective, focusing on its potential contribution to emotional comfort and psychological well-being among urban office workers. Contemporary workplace environments are increasingly characterized by prolonged screen exposure, dense visual information, and sustained cognitive demands, conditions that intensify visual fatigue and psychological strain. In this context, the study positions visual design not merely as an aesthetic practice, but as a psychologically responsive medium capable of shaping users' emotional experiences in everyday work settings. Employing a qualitative Research through Design (RtD) methodology, the study treats the design process as …

Discourses On Homosexuality And The Paradox Of The Closet In The New Life (2023) By Tom Crewe, Paramita Ayuningtyas, Shuri Mariasih Gietty Tambunan, Asri Saraswati

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This article offers a critical examination of Tom Crewe's biographical novel The New Life (2023), focusing on its representation of homosexual subjectivity in Victorian England—a historical context defined by restrictive moral norms and punitive legal regimes that criminalised same-sex relationships. Drawing on Michel Foucault's theory of discursive power, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's concept of the closet, and Michael Boucai's topology of the closet, the study demonstrates that the novel portrays the closet not merely as a private site of concealment but as a complex social mechanism shaped by legal regulation, gender norms, and class-based power relations. Building on this theoretical framework, …

An Autoethnographic And Relational Exploration Of Identity Negotiation Within Romantic Relationships Between Nonbinary Partners And Cisgender Women, Maddison L. Russell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how trans and cisgender partners negotiate gender identity, care, and relational well-being through an autoethnographic examination of everyday communication. The study draws from eighteen personal narratives across family, academic, and romantic contexts to trace how gender-based microaggressions and cisnormative expectations become embedded in ordinary talk, gestures, and silences, shaping identity development and relational stability. At its core, this work argues that relationality emerges as a pervasive and constitutive condition that shapes how affirmation, misrecognition, and belonging are experienced within trans/cis relationships and across time. Through examining moments of misunderstanding, minimization, and avoidance, the study reveals how microaggressions …

Development Of Animation-Based Cooperative Learning Media On Lampung Folk Tales To Improve Learning Outcomes In Elementary School Students, Aprilia Nursanti, Farida Ariyani, Ryzal Perdana, Hendri Firmansyah

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

This study aimed to develop and examine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an animation-based learning medium integrated with Cooperative Learning for teaching Lampung folk tales in elementary schools. The study was motivated by low student achievement and the limited availability of culturally contextualized digital media in local language instruction. Using a Research and Development (R&D) approach, the learning media was developed through the ADDIE model, encompassing Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The participants consisted of 25 fourth-grade students from SDN 3 Rajabasa, Bandar Lampung. Expert validation indicated a high level of feasibility, with an average score of 88%. …

Media Review Of Recovering The U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Digital Collections, Lingyan Yang

Feminist Pedagogy

This media review of Recovering the U.S. Hispanic literary heritage digital collections encourages feminist teacher scholars to use them to teach and research Latino/a American culture and history, esp. in feminist classes.

We Got You Sis: Body Mapping As An Embodied Pedagogical Approach To Sexual And Reproductive Justice Studies, Renata J. Hall

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

(Introduction To The Special Issue) Restoring Women’S Literary Past: Exploring Digital Recovery Pedagogy Through An Intersectional Feminist Lens, Alice Martin, Tracy A. Fernandez Rysavy

Feminist Pedagogy

In Roopika Risam (New Digital Worlds, 2018) and Lauren Klein and Catherine D’Ignazio’s (Data Feminisms, 2020) recent work, they call for more attention to the intersecting relationships between feminist practice, content, and technical specifications through an awareness of the ways the design and implementation of technology can exclude and objectify people. In response to this, we introduce a special issue on teaching digital recovery in the classroom, with a focus on recovering women writers of America through digital projects.

Winter Olympics 2026 Part 2, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The first week of competition in the Winter Olympics has ended. Figure Skating is always a big story in week one, but no one could have anticipated just how big it would become, as I discussed previously. There were, of course, many other stories and performances, which revealed both highs and lows, and the occasionally silly.

Under The Guardianship: Experiences Of Mothers In Egypt’S El Nayaba El Hesbaya, Hana Khayry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersectional lived experience of El Nayaba El Hesbaya in Egypt. El Nayaba El Hesbaya, operating under Law 119/1952, is the administrative and judicial body responsible for overseeing the financial and legal affairs of minors whose father or mother had passed. Hundreds of thousands of mothers in Egypt have (had) children under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya. This research delves into the experience of mothers whose children are or were under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya, examining how it shape(s/d) their everyday life as women, mothers, widows or ex-wives, citizens, and legal subjects. …

Duties To The Self (Body And Mind), Rasha Essam

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contends that self-duties are of vital significance, representing the obligations we owe to ourselves, and examines them through different life phenomena. Chapter One defends the existence of self-duties against a challenge raised by an (alleged) paradox. Chapters Two and Three then explore two particular self-duties related to the body and the mind, analyzed through the philosophical notions of self-objectification and moral testimony. Each chapter elaborates on these concepts with detailed real-life examples that illustrate how such experiences can undermine one’s humanity—as preserving one’s humanity is a core duty toward oneself. The purpose of this thesis is not only …

Navigating Radical Indeterminacy In The Struggle For A Global Collective Consciousness: The Question Of Eco-Justice And Law Or Universalize The Pluriverse: A Manifesto, More Or Less, Omar Auf

Theses and Dissertations

The processes of interpretation, communication, and re-interpretation leads to the emergence of an approximated collective consciousness, for which it may be struggled and contested by hegemonic. The dominant forces of this contest, capitalism and nationalism, lead to an interdivided world: one that possesses the tools to empathize with each other but is instead leading people to keep their heads down and focus on surviving their own contexts, perceived as existing within different historical times on the same timeline. This leads to legal and justice systems that fail their claim to universality and/or impartiality. Incorporating an ecological lens to justice within …

The Security And Defense Of This Province: General Frederick Haldimand’S Intelligence Operations In North America, 1754-1783, Ryan L. Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Sir Frederick Haldimand, the unintentional father of Canada, was a pioneering strategist whose sophisticated use of intelligence secured British North America during the American Revolution and shaped the continent’s permanent geopolitical division. Moving beyond traditional American-centric historical narratives, this study argues that Haldimand’s success stemmed from a superior “all-source fusion” methodology, which systematically integrated Human Intelligence (HUMINT) from a remarkably diverse network of Loyalists, Indigenous allies, and French Canadians, with Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), and administrative data. His network excelled at statecraft and non-kinetic warfare, differentiating his efforts from his contemporaries and establishing him as a foundational figure in modern intelligence …

Volunteer Leaders Of Young Adult Ministries In Protestant Churches In The Midwest, Usa, Miriam S. Midzi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Developing and retaining young adult ministry volunteers helps engage young adults and foster church growth. An article in Lifeway Research states that “Two-thirds (66%) of those who attended church regularly in high school dropped out for at least a year as a young adult” (Earls, 2019). Understanding the views and experiences of church ministry volunteers of this age group is essential as these young men and women are integral to reaching, discipling, and retaining them in the church. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of volunteer leaders of young adult ministries in Midwest Protestant …

Music Ministry Of Children And Youth: A Study And Defense For Incorporating Children And Youth Choirs In The Modern Worship Service, Veronica Leigh Haber Allison

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Graded children’s choir ministries have been a part of churches for the last century. In recent years, there has been a growing trend away from offering music ministry opportunities to children and youth in contemporary churches. There are several reasons for this decline; the major reason is that many churches have moved away from traditional music offerings to a praise band format. It has rendered the musical training of children in church unnecessary. The limited quantity of recent scholarly literature, the decline in commercially produced music, and the discontinuation of teaching materials for children’s choir ministries also attest to this …

Volume Cxlv, Number 13, February 13, 2026, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Fostering Worship In A Countercultural Setting: An Ethnodoxological Approach To Secular Heavy Music, Jacob Lewis Ream

Masters Theses

Despite stylistic musical diversity within the evangelical church, many secular musicians and music fans have little to no desire to participate in corporate worship music. Specifically, those that engage in “countercultural heavy music (CHM);” namely, hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal. Music that is often played for the purpose of corporate worship in the local church fails to resonate with many musicians in the corresponding local community. In addition, most evangelical worship ministries do not strive to reach the music communities outside of their local church. This study examines the reasons for this disconnectedness. “Worship as missions” is not …

Figures Of Truth And Justice: Superman & Rock Music, Kelan Vitali

CAFE Symposium 2026

The American comic superstar Superman and rock music are completely different forms of media. One performs acts of heroism, and one is performed on stage. Despite their differences, however, both are prominent symbols of inspiration and moral courage.

Little Red Riding Hood Rewritten: The Abject In Angela Carter’S “Company Of Wolves”, Samantha Frohring

CAFE Symposium 2026

This project considers Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection to bring attention to the content within Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves." This postmodernist rendition of "Little Red Riding Hood" brings attention to feminist topics such as female sexuality and agency. In consideration with Kristeva's theory of abjection, it sheds light on potentially cringeworthy aspects of our bodies and embraces all of the "filth."