Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Speaking Back To Theory: Community Development Practices In The South West Region Of Western Australia, Colleen Mary Carlon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores how everyday knowledge of community development practices can inform the theorising of community development in Australia. The literature of community development offers a rich source for understanding and explaining the tensions and dilemmas of collective endeavour in context, yet arguments for particular approaches to community development can serve to evaluate practice in context. In this research, however, case studies are positioned as a source of knowledge. The power of case studies lies in their ability to portray collective action and collective action is what differentiates community development from other approaches to problems. The capacity to work in …

Community Building, Multiculturalism And The Suburban Public Library: Community, Cohesion And Sustainability. Qualitative Data From Interviews On Western Australian Migrants' Information Needs & Quantitative Web Survey Data On Service Provision At Australian Public Libraries, 2011-2012, Rajeswari Chelliah

Research Datasets

This dataset consists of 3 files:

File 1: Qualitative data enclosed in Microsoft Excel file. Data collection includes one to one interviews with Western Australian migrants.

Content analysis: interview utterances were analysed for content, classified into categories, and coded and entered in Microsoft Excel file columns.

File 2: Qualitative data enclosed in Microsoft Word file. Data collection includes one to one interviews with Western Australian migrants.

Content analysis: interview utterances were analysed for content, classified into categories, and coded and entered in Microsoft Word file columns.

File 3: Quantitative data enclosed in Qualtrics software which includes public librarians’ responses to …

Fearless Friday: Samantha Lee, Samantha R. Lee

SURGE

Samantha Lee ’16 is SURGE’s Fearless Friday leader for this week!

Sam is a Psychology Major with a minor in Religion. Her home is not too far from Gettysburg, just up the way on route 15 in Mechanicsburg. Her graduation is right around the corner, as she’s a senior graduating early in December. [excerpt]

Fearless Friday: Chentese Stewart-Gartner, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

This week, SURGE is proud to showcase the wonderful work of Chentese Stewart-Garner!

Chentese is a sociology major with a minor in education. She’s a sophomore and originally hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Currently, Chentese is the program coordinator for the Black Student Union, serves as the public relations liaison for the African Student Association, is a Diversity Peer Educator on campus, and works hard as a Career Outreach Assistant for the Center for Career Development. [excerpt]

Torch (December 2015), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Transformative And Healing Powers Of Compassion, Forgiveness, And Wonder, Anna C. Eriksson-Marty

Senior Theses

Since time immemorial, humankind has struggled to coexist peacefully together. As human beings, we strive on our relationships with each other and, yet, with actions of hatred and prejudice, we seem to consistently destroy those very relationships we value so deeply. Our current society is plagued by fear, which seems to run more rampant now – more than ever – with assistance of our rapidly evolving communication technology. The question must be asked, “How can we end this madness and heal ourselves into a kinder and more fulfilling future?” By providing up-to-date scientific research on the human emotions of compassion, …

Assessing The Sociocultural Impact Of Special Events In The Context Of Germanfest In Nebraska, Usa, Yanli Wang

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The present study examined the sociocultural impact of special events based on the cultural festival of GermanFest in Syracuse, Nebraska. A total of 143 (71.5%) local residents responded to the self-administered survey. The dimensions of the sociocultural impact, the important reasons for celebrating the festival, the relationship among festival stakeholders, the levels of community involvement, and the improvement of the quality of life in the community as impacts of the festival and demographic information were investigated separately.

The Festival Social Impact Attitude Scale (FSIAS) was utilized to identify the dimensions of the sociocultural impact of GermanFest. Three dimensions were identified …

The Interaction Of Community Size And Perceived Local Political Efficacy Among Low-Income Individuals, Dylan Allen Brugman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the world’s population continues to urbanize, urban studies are increasingly important. Studying the social science behind the rise of the city and its effect on various social phenomena should be a priority for scholars in the field of politics, sociology, and communication, because of the reasonable assumption that the environment of the city alters the way that a person engages people and systems within the city. This is especially true for peripheral and marginalized populations that often lack access to the social institutions necessary to improve their livelihoods. Using Diffusion of Innovation and urban studies theories of Anomie, Gemeinschaft …

Communication And Volunteerism: The Potential Impact Of Role Models, Maggie Briggs, Kristen Cvancara

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Volunteers are an important subset of society who provide many services to people and organizations in need. Based on Social Learning Theory, a preliminary study was designed to investigate the role communication may play in fostering positive attitudes and behaviors in college students regarding volunteerism. Surveys completed by 321 college students were collected and the relationship between instances of communication with role models (e.g., parents, peers, religious leaders, siblings, coworkers, extended family) and participant attitudes toward and rates of volunteering were examined. Results indicated the more conversations shared between role models and participants the more likely it was that participants …

Fearless Friday: Elizabeth Belair, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

In this week’s episode of Fearless Friday, SURGE is excited to honor Elizabeth Belair!

Elizabeth Belair is a senior at Gettysburg College. Originally from Camden, Maine, Elizabeth has established herself well here on campus. When she initially came to college, she was unsure what she would end up majoring in. Now, she’s a passionate Globalization Studies major with a minor in Spanish. [excerpt]

Panic At The Drive-In: Affordance, Moral Panic, And Drive-In Theatres, Maria Chatzifilalithis

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Sugar For Sale: Constructions Of Intimacy In The Sugar Bowl, Emily Zimmermann

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

The Rattler (Volume 103, Issue 11, Edition 1), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Art Education In My Backyard: Creative Placemaking On An Urban Farm, Jodi Kushins

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An art educator describes how she used her knowledge and experience of artistic and educational initiatives that forefront collective activity in real world settings to transform her backyard into an urban farm with the help of friends and neighbors. She combines an autoethnographic account of her experiences, including original photographs, with research on conceptual artists, participatory culture, and creative placemaking to position her work as participatory environmental art education. The paper is organized around the major steps one undertakes in planting a garden – siting, amending, seeding, tending, and harvesting - to draw parallels between the processes of maintaining a …

Fearless Friday: Peter Rosenberger, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

In this week’s Fearless Friday, SURGE would like to honor the work of Peter Rosenberger ‘16!

Peter is a Philosophy and English double major with a concentration in writing. Growing up a few hours from campus, Peter calls Huntingdon, Pennsylvania his home. [excerpt]

Beyond Fruit: Examining Community In A Community Orchard, Emily Jane Becker

Dissertations and Theses

The Fruits of Diversity Community Orchard, located in Portland, Oregon in an affordable housing neighborhood, is a site of alternative food provisioning in which a group of people, organized by two nonprofits, work together to manage fruit and nut producing plants. Through conversations with volunteers who participate regularly and participant observation, this study explores the questions: What does community mean in the context of a community orchard? In what ways does partnering with a nonprofit from outside the neighborhood influence community and the way the project is operationalized?

This thesis situates community orchards within the literature on alternative food networks …

The Perennial Purple Heart, Anonymous

SURGE

Let’s talk about Veterans’ sacrifices. I must admit that I didn’t know much myself about veterans until one of my siblings entered the Navy. I’m very proud of his service, sacrifice, and dedication to protecting the United States. It’s probably not a common thought to all of us, but I think often of what it is like to be away during wartime serving our country. Military folks sacrifice a ton – whether it be lower pay, moving around a lot, being away from family for a long time, going into risky military operations, etc. These men and women sacrifice comparatively …

Civic Play And Civic Gaps: Can Life Simulation Games Advance Educational Equity?, Christine Bachen, Pedro F. Hernández-Ramos, Chad Raphael, Amanda Waldron

Communication

Digital games and simulations (DG&S) could help mitigate inequities in civic education and participation, which are found in many contemporary democracies. Yet incorporating DG&S into the curriculum may reinforce or introduce inequities for students who are less engaged by game-based learning. A quasi-experimental study of 301 U.S. high school students in social studies classes examined whether prior academic performance, civic engagement, civic game play experience and gender affected how (and which) students benefit from playing a life simulation game. Dependent variables included several civic dispositions: justice-oriented citizenship norms and interest in politics, news, and global issues. The simulation game especially …

Do We Owe Each Other Our Emotional Labor?, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In academia our intellectual pursuits are also inherently emotional. It is thus unsurprising that in a recent blog post (here) another graduate student makes a case for acknowledging that academic work is infused with emotional labor, and for creating a space for “crying in academia.” She urges us to move away from scripts of professionalism so that we can stop pretending that emotional labor is not intrinsic to almost all that we do as aspiring academics.

The Rattler (Volume 103, Issue 10, Edition 1), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.