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Shared Understanding (shared + understanding)
Selected AbstractsClustering: An Essential Step from Diverging to ConvergingCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2007Marc Tassoul Within the context of new product development processes and the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process, the authors have come to the view that clustering is to be seen as a separate step in the process of diverging and converging. Clustering is generally presented as part of the converging stages, and as such categorized as a selection technique, which in the authors' view does not do justice to this activity. It is about expanding knowledge, about connecting ideas, and connecting ideas to problem statements, functionalities, and values and consequences. It is about building a shared understanding, in other words about ,making sense', an essential creative activity in the development of concepts and, although different from a more freewheeling divergent phase, can be as creative and maybe even more so. Four kinds of clusterings are distinguished: object clustering, morphological clustering, functional clustering and gestalt clustering. Object clustering is mainly aimed at categorizing ideas into an overviewable set of groups of ideas. No special connections are being made, other then looking for similarities. Morphological clustering is used to split up a problem into subproblems after which the ideas generated are considered as subsolutions which can then be combined into concepts. Functional clustering is interesting when different approaches can be chosen to answer some question. It permits a more strategic choice to be made. Gestalt clustering is a more synthesis like approach, often with a more metaphoric and artistic stance. Collage is a good example of such clustering. General guidelines for clustering are: use a bottom-up process of emergence; postpone early rationalisations and verbalisations; start grouping ideas on the basis of feeling and intuition; and use metaphoric names to identify clusters. [source] GLOBAL BIOETHICS: UTOPIA OR REALITY?DEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2008SIRKKU K. HELLSTEN ABSTRACT This article discusses what ,global bioethics' means today and what features make bioethical research ,global'. The article provides a historical view of the development of the field of ,bioethics', from medical ethics to the wider study of bioethics in a global context. It critically examines the particular problems that ,global bioethics' research faces across cultural and political borders and suggests some solutions on how to move towards a more balanced and culturally less biased dialogue in the issues of bioethics. The main thesis is that we need to bring global and local aspects closer together, when looking for international guidelines, by paying more attention to particular cultures and local economic and social circumstances in reaching a shared understanding of the main values and principles of bioethics, and in building ,biodemocracy'. [source] Scaling up Participatory Watershed Development in IndiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2002Shashi Kolavalli ,Participation' is widely accepted as a prerequisite to successful watershed development in India, but there is no shared understanding of its meaning, nor of how to make it operational. Meaningful participation, in which communities work collectively, help make decisions and share costs, is limited primarily to projects implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Participation in government projects is more superficial because staff lack the skills and incentive to engage in meaningful participation. Strategies to scale up meaningful participation require a large number of NGOs. However, the number of NGOs with the necessary skills and values is limited, so a realistic strategy must seek to improve the capabilities and incentives of government agencies. Their performance may improve by making them accountable through transparent processes and participatory monitoring and evaluation. NGO-facilitated access to information for communities can potentially change power relations and initiate political processes that make both community leaders and government agencies more accountable to communities. [source] Forming partnerships with parents from a community development perspective: lessons learnt from Sure StartHEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 6 2009Virginia MacNeill FCIH PhDArticle first published online: 22 JUL 200 Abstract The aim of this study is to explore some of the issues of service user participation in the planning and delivery of public services from a community development perspective. It draws on an action research evaluation study of a local Sure Start programme, which was introduced into an area without a tradition of community involvement in decisions about local services. The study describes and analyses the challenges of parent participation in the organisation and delivery of the Sure Start programme at an operational and strategic level, using findings from semi-structured interviews, observations and critical conversations with Sure Start parents, staff and members of the Sure Start management board. The main substantive findings are that there was a lack of shared understanding of the nature of parent participation in all its facets and this undermined the efforts of parents and staff in the development of the programme. These findings also raise broader issues about participation, the place of parental partnerships with professionals and ways in which collaboration between the two may be interpreted and evolve. [source] Qualitative analysis of future flood risk in the Taihu Basin, ChinaJOURNAL OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009G.L. Harvey Abstract This paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of future flood risk in the Taihu Basin, China, performed using an adaptation of the UK Foresight Future Flooding approach. Drivers of increased flood risk were identified and ranked according to their importance in contributing to future flooding by experts and stakeholders working within an inclusive, participatory framework. Management responses to increasing flood risk were also identified and assessed in terms, first, of their potential to reduce flood risks and, second, their sustainability. This analysis provides the foundation for quantitative flood risk modelling to be performed in the next phase of the project. It has also added value to flood risk management in the Taihu Basin by bringing stakeholders together to develop a shared understanding of the flooding system and the relative importance of multiple flood risk drivers and responses. Together, the qualitative and quantitative analyses will provide a comprehensive vision of possible future flood risk to inform policy development and decision making. [source] Severe asphyxia due to delivery-related malpractice in Sweden 1990,2005BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 3 2008S Berglund Objective, To describe possible causes of delivery-related severe asphyxia due to malpractice. Design and setting, A nationwide descriptive study in Sweden. Population, All women asking for financial compensation because of suspected medical malpractice in connection with childbirth during 1990,2005. Method, We included infants with a gestational age of ,33 completed gestational weeks, a planned vaginal onset of delivery, reactive cardiotocography at admission for labour and severe asphyxia-related outcomes presumably due to malpractice. As asphyxia-related outcomes, we included cases of neonatal death and infants with diagnosed encephalopathy before the age of 28 days. Main outcome measure, Severe asphyxia due to malpractice during labour. Results, A total of 472 case records were scrutinised. One hundred and seventy-seven infants were considered to suffer from severe asphyxia due to malpractice around labour. The most common events of malpractice in connection with delivery were neglecting to supervise fetal wellbeing in 173 cases (98%), neglecting signs of fetal asphyxia in 126 cases (71%), including incautious use of oxytocin in 126 cases (71%) and choosing a nonoptimal mode of delivery in 92 cases (52%). Conclusion, There is a great need and a challenge to improve cooperation and to create security barriers within our labour units. The most common cause of malpractice is that stated guidelines for fetal surveillance are not followed. Midwives and obstetricians need to improve their shared understanding of how to act in cases of imminent fetal asphyxia and how to choose a timely and optimal mode of delivery. [source] Learning through teaching: Peer-mediated instruction in minimally invasive educationBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Ritu Dangwal The current paper provides insight into the learning strategies adopted by children working at Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) Learning Stations. Previous research has clearly indicated the attainment of basic computer literacy by groups of young children in the age groups of 7,14 years. This learning takes place due to the emergence and development of group social processes, an aspect crucial for achieving basic computing skills. The paper describes the process of socially shared understanding and learning as being crucial to individual learning. It is to be noted that this approach of socially shared learning does not challenge the analysis of the individual level of processing; it maintains that individual learning is vital in any learning context, but insufficient to build the psychology of learning. MIE research is of the view that young children learn through interaction with others, particularly peers as it provides an important context for social and cognitive learning. For it is in this way that children make sense of their own experience and environment. Hence, schools are not the only privileged sites of learning. [source] Connectedness: Developing a Shared Construction of Affect and Cognition in Children with AutismBRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2004Dave Sherratt Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald teach children with autism at Mowbray School, North Yorkshire. Dave Sherratt also teaches at the University of Birmingham and is honorary research fellow at the University College of York St John. Gill Donald is also a specialist speech and language therapist for Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust. In this article, Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald outline an approach to teaching children who are on the autistic spectrum. They describe the social construction of understanding in normally developing children and suggest ways in which this differs in children with autism. These children may have difficulties in attributing relevance to the aspects of experience that are regarded as significant by most learners. The authors suggest that this may account for the poverty in social engagement or connectedness commonly observed in children with autism. Illustrating their propositions with vivid examples from practice, Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald go on to describe ten teaching structures promoting progress from early social engagement; through a shared understanding of objects and observable processes; to a shared understanding of symbolic representation in play, ideas and language. These structures, rooted in a fascinating evocation of theory, will help practitioners striving to develop a shared understanding of self, others and the environment in children with autistic spectrum disorders. [source] Multiple Discourses on Crisis: Farm, Agricultural, and Rural Policy ImplicationsCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2007Kenneth C. Bessant The terms farm crisis, agricultural crisis, and rural crisis have been invoked in political and policy discourse to characterize significant disruptions in or threats to rural,farm livelihoods. Although these expressions reflect a general sense of concern over the state of agriculture and rural existence, they lack clear and concise meaning. Academic research and policy development are obfuscated by the lack of definitional consensus or, at minimum, some shared understanding of the core aspects of farm-related crisis. Much of the debate revolves around four main themes: farm financial difficulties (low or unstable incomes, indebtedness, and increasing reliance on nonfarm revenue), structural changes in agriculture (increasing scale, concentration, and consolidation), rural livelihoods (dwindling communities, institutions, and services), and international dimensions (market fluctuations, trade regulations, and disputes). The examination of these interrelated levels of analysis offers a valuable framework for interpreting the multifold contexts, meanings, and responses to crisis. This paper explores varied representations of farm,agricultural crisis, with particular emphasis on the presumed causes (or precipitating factors), conditions, and related policies and programs. Les expressions , crise agricole , et , crise rurale , sont évoquées dans le discours politique pour caractériser des perturbations ou des menaces importantes aux moyens de subsistance en milieu rural et agricole. Bien que ces expressions traduisent certaines inquiétudes concernant la situation des secteurs agricole et rural, leur signification manque de clarté et de concision. Les chercheurs universitaires et les élaborateurs de politiques sont déconcertés par le manque de consensus définitionnel ou, du moins, par le manque de vision commune des aspects fondamentaux de la crise agricole. Une grande partie du débat tourne autour de quatre thèmes principaux: les difficultés financières de l'exploitation agricole (revenu faible ou instable, endettement et dépendance accrue aux revenus non agricoles); les changements structurels dans le secteur agricole (augmentation de l'échelle de production, concentration et regroupement); les moyens de subsistance en milieu rural (diminution du nombre de collectivités, d'institutions et de services); les dimensions internationales (fluctuations du marché, règlements concernant les échanges commerciaux, différends). L'examen de ces niveaux d'analyse interreliés offre un outil précieux pour interpréter les multiples contextes, significations et réactions aux crises. Le présent article analyse les diverses représentations de la crise dans le secteur agricole et se penche particulièrement sur les causes présumées (ou facteurs déclenchants), les conditions ainsi que les politiques et programmes connexes. [source] About being Mununga, (Whitefulla): making covert group racism visibleJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2006Terry Ngarritjan Kessaris Abstract The main focus of this paper is to expose what goes on between Mununga (White people) in Australia that contributes to the maintenance of racism in hidden and often unconscious ways. Mununga racism in Australia commonly occurs as normal, shared, social activity amongst ordinary, decent, Mununga folk, and it is covert and linked to colonial beliefs and practices. In this context, Mununga are co-opted by their own society to oppress others, particularly Blekbala (Indigenous people). However, some challenge that custom and strive to step outside their prevailing social practices. The processes of being co-opted into and challenging colonial practices are explored through the counter-narratives of Mununga allies who are engaged in the work of anti-racism and decolonization. Using an outsider Blekbala perspective with the help of Mununga insider perspectives, I put forward a description and critique of these covert, social practices under the themes of ,Making, unmaking and remaking the Mununga self', ,Deep shared understandings', ,Violence, silence and benevolence', ,Unconstrained Mununga talk' and ,Turning things around'. This is a Black story of White on White. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||