scholarly journals Solastalgic Landscapes: Prospects of Relocation in Coastal Louisiana

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica R. Z. Simms
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Land Loss ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Environmental Migration ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Coastal Louisiana ◽  
Coastal Residents

Globally, rapid and slow-onset socio-environmental coastal disasters are prompting people to consider migrating inland. Climate change is exacerbating these disasters and the multi-faceted causal contributing factors, including land loss, livelihood shifts, and disintegration of social networks. Familiar with ongoing disruptive displacements, coastal Louisiana residents are now increasingly compelled to consider permanent relocation as a form of climate adaptation. This paper elicits and analyzes coastal Louisiana residents perceptions of socio-environmental changes as they pertain to relocation as adaptation and the precariousness of place, both biophysically and culturally. It investigates how these external mechanisms affect relocation decisions, and empirically expand on how these decision-making processes are affecting residents internally as well. Research methods include semi-structured interviews with coastal Louisiana residents, participant observation, and document analysis. The paper integrates literature on environmental migration, including climate-driven; regional studies on Louisiana, and disasters, with empirical, interview-based research. It is guided by theoretical insights from the construct “solastalgia,” the feeling of distress associated with environmental change close to one’s home. The findings suggest that residents’ migration decisions are always context-dependent and location-specific, contributing to a broader understanding of coastal residents’ experiences of staying or going.

scholarly journals Mind the Gap: Towards a Typology of Climate Service Usability Gaps

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Raaphorst ◽  
Gerben Koers ◽  
Gerald Jan Ellen ◽  
Amy Oen ◽  
Bjørn Kalsnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
The North ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
North And South

Literature on climate services presents a large diversity of different services and uses. Many climate services have ‘usability gaps’: the information provided, or the way it is visualized, may be unsuitable for end users to inform decision-making processes in relation to adaptation against climate change impacts or for the development of policies to this end. The aim of this article is to contribute to more informed and efficient decision-making processes in climate adaptation by developing a typology of usability gaps for climate services. To do so, we first present and demonstrate a so-called ‘climate information design’ (CID) template with which to study and potentially improve the visual communicative qualities of climate services. Then, two climates services are selected for a further, qualitative explorative case study of two cases in the north and south of the Netherlands. A combination of focus group sessions and semi-structured interviews are used to collect data from Dutch governmental stakeholders as well as private stakeholders and NGOs. This data is then coded to discover what usability gaps are present. We then present twelve different types of usability gaps that were encountered as a typology. This typology could be used to improve and redesign climate services.

When the river started underneath the land: social constructions of a ‘severe’ weather event in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada

Polar Record ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Spinney ◽  
Karen E. Pennesi
Keyword(s):  
Structural Damage ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Bridge Collapse

ABSTRACTIn June 2008, the community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada experienced a rainstorm that caused structural damage to the community's bridge and extensive permafrost erosion along the Duval River. The local government characterised the event as ‘severe’ and focused their attention on the bridge collapse, in contrast to the residents, who described this particular consequence as inconvenient at worst and at best, exciting. Instead residents expressed greater concern for the permafrost erosion and the uncertainty this posed for community well-being. This article follows an 11 week anthropological field trip to Pangnirtung in the summer of 2009 and is based on 31 semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and participant observation. We explore how social processes influence subjective constructions of what constitutes ‘severe’ weather in the community, and attempt to explain how such constructions lead to differing perceptions of vulnerability to ‘severe’ weather events. Contributing factors including the normalisation of threat, local beliefs regarding change and uncertainty, as well as the communication of risk information are discussed along with the different coping strategies used by government and residents in managing their perceived levels of vulnerability. The research shows the importance of understanding the role social processes play in shaping local conceptions of ‘severe’ and perceptions of vulnerability to ‘severe’ weather events. This study enhances understandings of difference within populations and adds to the growing body of literature that demonstrates the need to incorporate locally relevant indices when conducting vulnerability assessment.

scholarly journals “All That’s Left is Bare Land and Sky”: Palm Oil Culture and Socioenvironmental Impacts on a Tembé Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Damiani ◽  
Sílvia Maria Ferreira Guimarães ◽  
Maria Tereza Leite Montalvão ◽  
Carlos José Sousa Passos
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Structured Interviews

Abstract The expansion of large-scale oil palm cultivation in the Amazon has exposed indigenous populations to changes around their lands and in their daily activities. Given the lack of studies on the impacts of oil palm on these populations, this study analyzed the socio-environmental impacts perceived by the Tembé, in Tomé-Açu, Pará State. With an interdisciplinary approach, between 2016 and 2017, semi-structured interviews and participant observation were conducted in five villages, inside and adjacent to the Turé-Mariquita Indigenous Land and complemented by remote sensing analyzes. This article describes the pressure vectors and the main socio-environmental impacts through the analysis of the indigenous narrative, and then these are discussed based on the scientific literature and remote sensing data. The findings indicate that the conversion of the surrounding territory to oil palm monoculture generated social and environmental changes that negatively affected the Tembé’s way of life and their capacity of socio-cultural reproduction.

User-generated content gatekeeping on the radio: Displacing control to technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Asta Zelenkauskaite
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Radio Station ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Content Selection ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Commercial Radio ◽  
Selection Of

This study focuses on user-generated content (UGC) via Facebook and mobile texting selection and allocation for broadcast. Based on the premises of Gatekeeping theory in traditional mass media content selection, this study asks how social media messages, solicited by the radio station, are filtered out for the programmes. Based on semi-structured interviews with the Italian commercial radio station’s staff, participant observation and a content analysis of the UGC messages, the study scrutinizes institutional decision-making processes. The radio station’s selection of UGC exhibits efforts to maintain control over the streams of incoming UGC content. As expected, UGC manual content selection or automated content matching is geared towards efficiency. Also, in this study only 33 per cent of messages have been selected for broadcast. UGC gatekeeping has also presented evidence of displacement of control within the radio station. Rather than shifting control to audiences, radio stations displaced control to technology-assisted gatekeeping. While the study showed a ‘widening’ of the gates in terms of content (there was no differentiation in selecting messages directed to the radio station or to the overall audience members), shift of control to the audiences remains an ideal rather than reality.

Peregrinação Acadêmica: A mulher Romeira do Bom Jesus da Lapa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Célia Coelho Gomes da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The West ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
West Part

This work is the result of the doctoral thesis entitled Pilgrimage of Bom Jesus da Lapa: Social Reproduction of the Family and Female Gender Identity, specifically the second chapter that talks about women in the Pilgrimage of Bom Jesus da Lapa, emphasizing gender relations, analyzing the location of the pilgrimage as a social reproduction of the patriarchal family and female gender identity. The research scenario is the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage, which has been held for 329 years, in that city, located in the West part of Bahia. The research participants are pilgrim women who are in the age group between 50 and 70 years old and have participated, for more than five consecutive years in the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage, belonging to five Brazilian states (Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Goiás) that register a higher frequency of attendance at this religious event. We used bibliographic, qualitative, field and documentary research and data collection as our methodology; we applied participant observation and semi-structured interviews as a technique. We concluded that the Bom Jesus da Lapa Pilgrimage is a location for family social reproduction and the female gender identity, observing a contrast in the resignification of the role and in the profile of the pilgrim women from Bom Jesus da Lapa, alternating between permanence and the transformation of gender identity coming from patriarchy.

TOURISM MOBILITY AT THE SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Cabral ◽  
Carolin Lusby ◽  
Ricardo Uvinha
Keyword(s):  
Olympic Games ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Bus Rapid Transit ◽  
Rapid Transit ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Tourist Attractions ◽  
Official Sources ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Sports Tourism as a segment is growing exponentially in Brazil. The sports mega-events that occurred in the period from 2007 to 2016 helped strengthen this sector significantly. This article examined tourism mobility during the Summer Olympic Games Rio 2016, hosted by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This study expands the understanding of the relationship between tourism and city infrastructure, therefore being relevant to academics, professionals of the area and to the whole society due to its multidisciplinary field. The existence of a relationship between means of transportation and the Olympic regions as well as tourist attractions for a possible legacy was observed. Data were collected from official sources, field research and through participant-observation and semi structured interviews. Data were coded and analyzed. The results indicate that the city was overall successful in its execution of sufficient mobility. New means of transportation were added and others updated. BRT's (Bus Rapid Transit) were the main use of mass transport to Olympic sites. However, a lack of public transport access was observed for the touristic sites.

Perceived barriers and contributors to sense of purpose in life in retirement community residents

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Lewis ◽  
Naomi Reesor ◽  
Patrick L. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Retirement Community ◽  
Retirement Communities ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Sense Of Purpose ◽  
The Social ◽  
Continuing Care Retirement Communities ◽  
Retirement Facilities

Abstract Despite the growing use of retirement communities and ageing care facilities, little is known about how residing in retirement residences may impact aspects of older adult wellbeing. Living in these communities may hold particular influence on residents’ sense of purpose, if they feel limited in their opportunities for individual action, or could serve to promote purposefulness depending on the social connections available. The current study sought to explore contributing factors as well as barriers to purpose in older adults living in three continuing care retirement communities. Using brief semi-structured interviews, 18 older adults were asked to describe their purpose in life, community-related activities and any perceived challenges limiting their ability to pursue this purpose. Thematic analysis was used to examine themes common across interviews. Interviews presented a mixed picture of the nature of purposefulness in retirement facilities. Residents espoused several benefits of community living such as social and leisure opportunities, while also noting several obstacles to their purpose, including health concerns and the belief that purpose in life was not relevant for older adults. These findings provide insight into how older adults can derive a sense of purpose from activities within their retirement community and how facilities can better tailor programmes to promote purposefulness and support personally valued roles for residents.

scholarly journals Towards Implementation of Big Data Concepts in a Pharmaceutical Company

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-356
Author(s):  
Snezana Savoska ◽  
Blagoj Ristevski
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Pharmaceutical Company ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Research Demands

AbstractNowadays, big data is a widely utilized concept that has been spreading quickly in almost every domain. For pharmaceutical companies, using this concept is a challenging task because of the permanent pressure and business demands created through the legal requirements, research demands and standardization that have to be adopted. These legal and standards’ demands are associated with human healthcare safety and drug control that demands continuous and deep data analysis. Companies update their procedures to the particular laws, standards, market demands and regulations all the time by using contemporary information technology. This paper highlights some important aspects of the experience and change methodology used in one Macedonian pharmaceutical company, which has employed information technology solutions that successfully tackle legal and business pressures when dealing with a large amount of data. We used a holistic view and deliverables analysis methodology to gain top-down insights into the possibilities of big data analytics. Also, structured interviews with the company’s managers were used for information collection and proactive methodology with workshops was used in data integration toward the implementation of big data concepts. The paper emphasizes the information and knowledge used in this domain to improve awareness for the needs of big data analysis to achieve a competitive advantage. The main results are focused on systematizing the whole company’s data, information and knowledge and propose a solution that integrates big data to support managers’ decision-making processes.

scholarly journals Young children’s information-seeking practices in center-based childcare

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062096216
Author(s):  
Sarah Barriage
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Photo Elicitation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Information Practices ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Concept Of Information ◽  
Classroom Resources

Many children in the USA spend a significant amount of time in center-based childcare. However, research has yet to explore their information practices in this setting. This study investigates young children’s perceptions of the concept of information and their own information-seeking practices within the context of their day care classroom. The participants included 13 children between three and five years of age. Data was collected using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, child-led photo tours, and photo-elicitation interviews. The findings indicate that the children did not perceive the concept of information in a manner consistent with adult understandings of the term, and that they engaged in information-seeking related to finding out new things on their own, through interactions with others, and through classroom resources, activities, and routines. The findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners working with young children.

Offshore Platform Turn Around Using the Critical Chain Project Management Method (CCPM)

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Finocchio Junior ◽  
Marcelo Ramos Martins
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Critical Path ◽  
Theory Of Constraints ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Oil Platforms ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Critical Chain Project Management ◽  
Management Method ◽  
Critical Chain

The present study discusses the adequacy of the Critical Chain Project Management Method (CCPM) — also known as the Critical Chain Method — for scheduling projects involving shutdowns on oil platforms, as such projects involve decision-making processes under risk conditions. The CCPM is based on the Theory of Constraints and aims at providing more precise and more clearly focused control instruments than those traditionally used in the Critical Path Method (CPM). The CCPM also indicates the best moments to act and where and how the action should be directed. The hypothesis underlying the research is that the CCPM portrays, more adequately than the CPM, the uncertainty that exists in a platform shutdown. This characteristic also makes it possible to draw up a schedule that is both more realistic and more challenging, as it addresses the goal of causing less interruption of production. On the basis of this hypothesis, the two main questions that oriented the entire investigation were: 1) Is the CCPM suitable for scheduling the shutdown of an offshore oil platform and, 2) What advantages might it have over the traditional methods in use? To answer these questions the authors reviewed the existing bibliography on the topic and made direct on-site observations during an actual shutdown. In addition, interviews were held with a number of specialists in the area using qualitative approaches, namely, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and action research.

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