This PhD research project is about how Dutch development NGOs use social media for their development projects. For this, the following research question has been investigated: how do Dutch development NGOs use social media to further the development activities of their organisations? The purpose of this study is to understand how development NGOs are trying to get to grips with social media. Given the exploratory nature of this research, a qualitative research approach was adopted. Both case studies and the grounded theory method were used for this study. This combination is ideal because with a case study one tries to understand, or explore a phenomenon, whereas, in grounded theory studies, one tries to build theory. Given that this study is concerned with how Dutch development NGOs perceive social media for their development projects, an interpretive paradigm seems appropriate. The grounded theory methodology for this research is consistent with the epistemology of interpretivism. The combination of case study research and grounded theory works well for theory building and has been applied in Information Systems and ICT for Development studies before. As the use of theory before data collection is in opposition to the principle idea of the grounded theory methodology, in which theory emerges from the data, this needs to be addressed when combining case studies and grounded theory. This issue was resolved by using an initial highlevel conceptual framework as a guiding instrument for both the noncommittal literature research and for the conceptualisation of the research problem, whilst not distorting the emergence of theory from the data. This study focuses on formally organised development NGOs who receive funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their development projects. From the approximately 100 organisations, fourteen NGOs were selected for this study. The choice of fourteen NGOs was driven by a theoretical sampling strategy. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with 18 respondents and field-notes of meetings or events of 14 development NGOs. The data was analysed using the Glaserian coding procedure of grounded theory, starting with open coding, followed by selective coding, and ending with theoretical coding. Three major themes (or core categories as they are called in the grounded theory method), were identified. This study's first contribution is captured in the theme ‘NGO Enacting Values in Development’. This is about how an organisation’s values are enacted in the context of international development. The organisational mixture of development mind-sets influences organisational activities in development. The ideological trends that are stimulated by societal and technological changes have an impact on the organisation’s development strategy and the strategic collaboration network of development NGOs. The second contribution of this study is captured in the theme ‘NGO’s Views on Social Media Use’. This core category discusses the organisation’s view on the meaning of social media and includes the four following categories: technological, individual, collective and contextual views attributed to organisational social media. The four categories empirically demonstrate the concept of affordance clusters and the connections between them. The study’s third contribution is captured in the theme ‘NGO’s Use of Social Media in Development’, encompassing the social media activities of the studied development NGOs in their development projects. This has led to an assessment framework of organisational social media use by development NGOs, constructed by cross-referencing the organisational goals of development NGOs to the social media activity areas in the context of development. These themes represented by three core categories are inter-related. Feedback loops between NGO’s values in development, views on social media, and the actual uses of social media for development purposes have been discerned. This grounded theory study aims to build an initial theory of how NGOs might approach the use of social media in a development context. This qualitative study has produced some new concepts. This study has led to a substantive theory in the context of international development. Furthermore, this substantive theory is compared with three theory lenses, when applied on the data collected for this PhD research, in their ability to identify similar concepts as reached with the substantive theory following the grounded theory method. Finally, the thesis presents some avenues for future research that may help expand the substantive theory that has been developed under this research to formal theory
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Tijdens Diversity Week 2023 had het lectoraat Creative Media for Social Change gezorgd voor een kunstinstallatie in het Benno Premselahuis en het Wibauthuis op onze Amstelcampus! De hoofdvraag: ''Waar voel je je wel/niet welkom? En waarom?'' Van 3-6 oktober had het lectoraat Creative Media for Social Change de organisatie Art Partner uitgenodigd om een mooie installatie te maken in het thema van ‘Diversity Week’! Kunstenaar Giath Taha ontwikkelde hiervoor een creatieve én eenvoudige manier om zichtbaar te maken waar en wanneer studenten/medewerkers zich juist wel of niet gezien en gewaardeerd voelen binnen de HvA.
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Social media is a transformative digital technology, collapsing the “six degrees ofseparation” which have previously characterized many social networks, and breaking down many of the barriers to individuals communicating with each other. Some commentators suggest that this is having profound effects across society, that social media have opened up new channels for public debates and have revolutionized the communication of prominent public issues such as climate change. In this article we provide the first systematic and critical review of the literature on social media and climate change. We highlight three key findings from the literature: a substantial bias toward Twitter studies, the prevalent approaches to researching climate change on social media (publics, themes, and professional communication), and important empirical findings (the use of mainstream information sources, discussions of “settled science,” polarization, and responses to temperature anomalies).Following this, we identify gaps in the existing literature that should beaddressed by future research: namely, researchers should consider qualitativestudies, visual communication and alternative social media platforms to Twitter.We conclude by arguing for further research that goes beyond a focus on sciencecommunication to a deeper examination of how publics imagine climate changeand its future role in social life.
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This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
Dit project richt zich op het in kaart brengen van de rol van servicedesignbureaus in het versnellen van de transformaties die nodig zijn om de problemen in Nederlandse stedelijke kernen aan te pakken. De creatieve industrie is bij uitstek in staat oplossingen voor stedelijke kernen te ontwikkelen en in dit project onderzoeken hoe zij met Key Enabling Methodologies bezoekersbelevingen in steden kunnen orkestreren en ontwerpen. Zij ondersteunen hierbij niet alleen individuele retail- en cultuurorganisaties in hun functie, maar dragen daarbij ook bij aan het oplossen van meer algemene problematiek van stedelijke kernen, zoals leegstand en verminderde leefbaarheid. We richten ons in het bijzonder op: 1) De rol van servicedesign in de orkestratie en vormgeven van een gezamenlijke bezoekersbeleving van cultuur- en retailorganisaties om de kwaliteit en leefbaarheid van stedelijke gebieden en de noodzakelijke innovatie te realiseren. 2) Verkennen en uitwerken van passende sleutelmethodologieën (KEM’s) om deze orkestratie en vormgeving en samen met stakeholders (in het bijzonder retail en cultuur) uit te voeren. 3) Opbouwen van het consortium voor een SIA-RAAK-aanvraag. Dit project levert een set van ontwerpeisen om servicedesignbureaus optimaal in staat te stellen de gezamenlijke orkestratie van de bezoekersbeleving van cultuur- en retailinstellingen vorm te geven. Tegelijkertijd brengt het project in kaart hoe een innovatie-ecosysteem waarin cultuur en retail samenwerken met servicedesignbureaus gestructureerd kan zijn. Dit project vormt de opmaat naar een SIA-RAAK-aanvraag met dezelfde of vergelijkbare stakeholders. De deliverables van het project zijn: 1. Visualisatie en rapport met overzicht van KEM’s en de toegevoegde waarde. 2. Visueel overzicht verschillende soorten stakeholders, belangen en posities in het winkelgebied voor een drietal binnenstedelijke gebieden. 3. Visualisatie van het orkestratie proces en de benodigde KEM’S 4. Toolkit cultuur/retail: methodieken en tools voor samenwerking cultuur en retail in winkelgebied 5. Verslag van kick-off en vraagarticulatieproces 6. Concept RAAK-aanvraag 7. Blog op platformdenieuwewinkelstraat.nl
My research investigates the concept of permacomputing, a blend of the words permaculture and computing, as a potential field of convergence of technology, arts, environmental research and activism, and as a subject of future school curricula in art and design. This concept originated in online subcultures, and is currently restricted to creative coding communities. I study in what way permacomputing principles may be used to redefine how art and design education is taught. More generally, I want to research the potential of permacomputing as a critical, sustainable, and practical alternative to the way digital technology is being taught in art education, where students mostly rely on tools and techniques geared towards maximising productivity and mass consumption. This situation is at odds with goals for sustainable production and consumption. I want to research to what degree the concept of permacomputing can be broadened and applied to critically revised, sustainable ways of making computing part of art and design education and professional practice. This research will be embedded in the design curriculum of Willem de Kooning Academy, focused on redefining the role of artists and designers to contribute to future modes of sustainable organisation and production. It is aligned with Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences sectorplan masters VH, in particular managing and directing sustainable transitions. This research builds upon twenty years of experience in the creative industries. It is an attempt to generalise, consolidate, and structure methods and practices for sustainable art and design production experimented with while I was course director of a master programme at WdKA. Throughout the research I will be exchanging with peers and confirmed interested parties, a.o.: Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL), RUAS Creating 010 kenniscentrum (NL), Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (NO), Mikrolabs (NO), Varia (NL), Media Arts department at RHU (UK), Media Studies at UvA (NL).
