Social Inequality: Computer Exercise
Current and projected data will be used to examine cohort differences among members of various race/ethnic groups as they grow older in order to identify possible political and policy implications for the future. Data from various states and metropolitan cities will be compared.
Statistics in Psychosocial Research: Measurement
Presents quantitative approaches to measurement in the psychological and social sciences. Topics include the principles of psychometrics, including reliability and validity; the statistical basis for latent variable analysis, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and latent class analysis; and item response theory. Draws examples from the social sciences, including stress and distress, social class and socioeconomic status, personality; consumer satisfaction, functional impairme
Nutritional Health,Food Production,and the Environment
This course provides an understanding of the complex and challenging public health issue of food security and in a world where one billion people are under-nourished while another billion are overweight. Explores the connections among diet, the current food production system, the environment and public health, considering factors such as economics, population and equity. Case studies are used to examine these complex relationships and as well as alternative approaches to achieving both local and
Environmental Health
Examines health issues, scientific understanding of causes, and possible future approaches to control of the major environmental health problems in industrialized and developing countries. Topics include how the body reacts to environmental pollutants; physical, chemical, and biological agents of environmental contamination; vectors for dissemination (air, water, soil); solid and hazardous waste; susceptible populations; biomarkers and risk analysis; the scientific basis for policy decisions; an
Breaking News: The Changing Relationship Between Blogs and Mainstream Media
Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to 'quality' news reporting ... is this a valid view? What (if anything) can social media offer? Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to 'quality' news reporting, whilst the global recession has shown that the threatened failure of high qualit
Parties, Campaigns and Representation: The Political Impact of Blogs and Social Media
Are social media tools likely to prove effective in engaging any voters except those who are already interested in politics? Is their apparent 'democratisation' of traditional party structures to be believed? The outcome of political careers and even campaigns is increasingly dependent on the successful mastery of new communication tools including social media. Many MPs and members of Congress are embracing the use of social networking tools to keep in touch with their constituents, whilst Face
The Second Life of Urban Planning
Marcus Foth demonstrates the value of various tools and services (eg Second Life) for engaging people in novel and participatory planning exercises, and for investigating how the public interpret and understand proposed urban designs and urban planning The majority of the world's citizens now live in cities. Although urban planning can thus be thought of as a field with significant ramifications on the human condition, many practitioners feel that it has reached a crisis in thought leadership. C
Parties, Campaigns and Representation: The Political Impact of Blogs and Social Media
Are social media tools likely to prove effective in engaging any voters except those who are already interested in politics? Is their apparent 'democratisation' of traditional party structures to be believed? The outcome of political careers and even campaigns is increasingly dependent on the successful mastery of new communication tools including social media. Many MPs and members of Congress are embracing the use of social networking tools to keep in touch with their constituents, whilst Face
Breaking News: The Changing Relationship Between Blogs and Mainstream Media
Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to 'quality' news reporting ... is this a valid view? What (if anything) can social media offer? Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to 'quality' news reporting, whilst the global recession has shown that the threatened failure of high qualit
When the Audience Clicks: Buying Attention in the Digital Age
Discussion of media buying and the attention-creation industry - showing how the fixation on audiences' click-like behaviour is a disruptive institutional force, and how buyers' new approaches to attention are creating new forms of social discrimination. A huge part of the media business is about getting people's attention and proving it to advertisers. The goal is to present people with interesting stuff-articles, videos, music - so they will see commercial messages that ride along, and sometim
Those Golden Eggs Come From Somewhere: Internet Regulation at a Crossroads
A discussion of how largely well-intentioned political and legal reactions to the highest-profile risks of ICT creates a danger of perhaps killing the goose that is giving us golden eggs of innovation, decentralization, and personal empowerment. From its inception, many have recognized the Internet's potential as a liberating, decentralizing, and, yes, destabilizing technology but also its counter-potential as a controlling and centralizing technology. Over the last two decades, predictions abo
Breaking News: The Changing Relationship Between Blogs and Mainstream Media
Panel discussion during the Oxford Social Media Convention 2008 on whether social media necessarily threaten traditional news media, and what, if anything they may have to offer in return. Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to quality news reporting, whilst the global recession has shown that the threatened failure of high quality local and regional media outlets was not a groundless f
How can we empower the powerless through economic development?
Today there is a well-established development ‘industry’ spanning NGOs, state actors, academics, and — increasingly — corporations. Each has their own models of how to help the ‘bottom billion’ escape crushing poverty and these models are increasingly competing for political support, media attention, and donor money. This session will explore the obstacles to economic development from the perspective of empowerment, and will also offer real examples of projects that have created last
Powerful women: Shifting the status quo
An emerging phenomenon in parts of the developing world is that of women holding power in political structures, including structures previously seen as being the preserve of men. Women also navigate traditional power structures to bring to the fore the economic interests and societal rights of women. Are there robust and sustainable models emerging which can illuminate political, legal, economic power structures? Women share how they brought vitality and hope to their communities.
State power and social innovation
For many social entrepreneurs governments are a crucial source of income, but also a barrier to action because of their perceived inability to innovate and change. Yet most academics, commentators, and social activists recognise that genuine systemic global change requires institutional and political entrepreneurship. This panel will explore examples of state social entrepreneurship and will consider the question: to what extent is government the best solution or the biggest problem to addressin
Corporate leadership for change
Fascination with leadership is growing daily, fuelled by global complexity, free-falling capital markets, conflict and growing environmental and social deterioration. Key business leaders will discuss the kind of leadership required in the face of accentuated resource scarcity, more pervasive need and highly uncertain prospects. They will explore the excitement and challenges of operating through networked approaches that eschew traditional “command and control” models for a more “viral mo
Tim Kendall: 'Ivor Gurney: First War Poet'
Professor Tim Kendall considers what composer and poet Ivor Gurney understood by the phrase 'war poet' and how he saw his own work as belonging to (and eminent amidst) a tradition of writing about war. Tim Kendall examines the ways in which Gurney represents poetry, and the figure of the poet, in his own work; and assesses Gurney's hopes for the efficacy of such poetry - whether as acts of witness, of escapism, or of political intervention. Tim Kendall is Professor of English Literature at the
Forgotten in the Mountains: Displacement in the Highlands of Papua
This film looks at the issue of forced displacement of indigenous Papuans in (West) Papua, Indonesia. This 30 minute film looks at the issue of forced displacement of indigenous Papuans in (West) Papua, Indonesia. Papuan fears for their future have recently become focused on the issue of migration from the rest of Indonesia into their homeland. Following the failure of special autonomy since 2001 to deliver health, education and infrastructure benefits to Papuan villagers, or even a small measur
Parish pieties
The sixth Warwick Symposium on Parish Research, held in the humanities research centre on May 17, 2008, drew together scholars from the UK, Europe and North America to consider religious devotion in late medieval and early modern parishes. Here the organisers, speakers and postgraduates talk about the symposium and different approaches to the theme of parish pieties.
FLJS part 4: The Relationship between Political and Judicial Branches
Aharon Barak discusses how the political and judicial branches of government balance their sometimes conflicting interests with the rights of the citizens. Part 4 of the 2009 Foundation for Law Justice and Society Annual Lecture.
