Building Urbanity

Ringkøbing in the Middle Ages The last 25 years have seen frequent archaeological excavations in the medieval market town of Ringkøbing. In this paper, the author presents the results and weighs them against the written and cartographic sources in order to gain an overall picture of the emergence and development of the town during the Middle Ages (Fig. 1). Over the years, several local historians have dealt with the history of Ringkøbing. They based their investigations exclusively on the few medieval sources referring to the town, however, and the main issues they concentrated on were the reason for the town being situated exactly there, the origin of its name, its age, and whether it had grown out of an earlier settlement or had been a planned construction. In the first known reference to Ringkøbing, the town is called “rennumkøpingh,” or “the town at Rindum” (Fig. 2). Rindum, or “rennum,” was the rural parish, which had transferred some of its land to the town. A town prospect from around 1677 depicts the small town as seen from the north, with ships anchored on the fjord (Fig. 3). It gives a good impression of the number of streets and their directions. Nevertheless, the first reliable survey of the market town is from the early 19th century (Fig. 4).Ringkøbing is situated on the northern coast of Ringkøbing Fjord, on the edge of a moraine hill, well protected against floods. From the early days, Ringkøbing’s existence was inextricably linked with the navigation conditions on the fjord. Geologists have pointed out that during the Middle Ages the present islands in the tidal area south of Blåvandshuk continued further north, to Bovbjerg. This row of islands is visible on a chart from the mid-16th century (Fig. 5). On the chart, one of the islands is called “Numit,” which is interpreted as “Nyminde,” or “the new mouth.” Huge floods during the 17th century started a major process of drifting of material from the north along the coast, and the channels between the islands sanded up. Just one channel remained navigable, but it moved southward and eventually closed up completely (Fig. 6), which was a disastrous development for Ringkøbing. Nevertheless, during the Middle Ages, ships could still pass unhindered from the sea into the fjord and to Ringkøbing, where they could trade and take in supplies and water.Ringkøbing is situated in an area which has been inhabited since the last Ice Age, and which was especially rich during the Iron Age. By the mid-13th century the area was divided into districts and parishes, and the market town sprouted up in the middle of a well functioning agricultural region. The first actual excavation took place in Ringkøbing in 1978, when the property of Vester Strandgade 14 was investigated by Ringkøbing Museum. An area measuring 44 square metres was examined, and the excavation revealed part of the medieval town (Fig. 7). At the bottom of the excavated area, several furrows observed in a 15 to 20-cm thick humus layer indicated that the area had been farmed right up until the beginning of the activities there in the medieval period. Of the two ditches registered in the area, the earlier one had been dug into the ploughed field, whereas the later ditch was situated approximately in the middle of the medieval culture layer (Fig. 8). Twenty-three post-holes were found, but unfortunately their relationships to each other could not be determined. An extensive layer with a 3.4-metre diameter turned out to be the remains of a well, the shaft of which had been built from granite boulders (Fig. 9). A small bronze buckle was found at the bottom of the well (Fig. 10), and several sherds of imported pottery from around 1300 were found in the filling around the well shaft.The layer sequence was visible in the walls, with the yellow-brown moraine gravel at the bottom, then the above-mentioned humus layer with furrows, and then the homogeneous, grey, medieval culture layer. Above this an earthen floor from the 17th century was visible in several places. The upper layer, with a thickness of c.60 cm, was modern.The medieval layer contained large amounts of pottery sherds, mainly from locally produced grey-brown globular vessels. The rim sherds were from two main pottery types, A and B. Type A, which constitutes the largest group, has the classical, almost S-shaped rim (Fig. 12), whereas type B is characterized by an outward-folded edge creating a flat inner rim (Fig. 13). Both types exist concurrently throughout the medieval culture layer.The glazed pottery sherds represent two types, locally produced earthenware (Fig. 14), and imported pottery. Both types were present in the Vester Strandgade excavation. Of the imported sherds, 39 are from green-glazed jugs with a “raspberry” decoration (Fig. 15). These jugs were produced in the Netherlands around 1300. Sherds from German stoneware found in the medieval layer date from the same time (Fig. 16).The Vester Strandgade excavation was followed by several large and small investigations in the town centre (Fig. 17). “Dyekjærs Have” contained several traces of medieval structures, for instance a large number of post-holes, some of which were from a small building. The pottery material was abundant and consisted mainly of sherds from greyish-brown globular vessels (Fig. 18), but there were also sherds from imported and locally manufactured jugs. Other important town excavations include that of Marens Maw’, where the numerous traces of medieval structure included a row of post-holes interpreted as the outer wall of a house, and the excavation of Øster Strandgade 4, which revealed a late medieval turf-built well (Fig. 19). The excavation of Bojsens Gård also gave interesting results. It was very close to the street, and in this area the medieval culture layer had a depth of up to 60 cm. A ditch dug into the ploughed medieval field represented the earliest activity on this spot. Several structural traces reflected a continuous settlement going back to the early days of the town. Here, too, sherds from globular vessels dominated, but glazed ceramics and stoneware were also represented. The written sources from the Middle Ages reveal nothing about the medieval appearance of the town. The archaeological excavations, on the other hand, have shown that the settlement consisted of houses made from posts dug into the ground, probably half-timbered constructions with wattle-and-daub outer walls, earthen floors, and thatched roofs. The archaeological excavations have also revealed that Ringkøbing sprang up on a ploughed field during the second half of the 13th century. There are no signs of any settlement prior to this, and it is most likely that the town was laid out all at once according to a fixed town plan. No building traces were found in the streets, on Torvet (the market square), on Kirkepladsen (the church square), or on Havnepladsen (the harbour square), and so these squares must have been planned as such from the beginning. The numerous grooves and ditches are interpreted as boundary markers made when the plots were first established. The earliest ones are dug into the ploughed field, and so they must indicate the very first land-registration of the town.In order to found the new market town, an oblong part of Rindum parish had to be confiscated, and the town was marked out in the western part of this as an area measuring approximately 550 by 250 metres (Fig. 20). The streets were laid out in the still existing regular network. There was no harbour, and the ships would anchor in the shallow water off the town. Goods were transported by barge or horse-drawn carriage.In the town centre the market square was laid out, and behind it the square by the church. Ringkøbing’s church is a small Gothic brick building from around 1400. The townsmen probably used the parish church in Rindum during the first 150 years.At the time when Ringkøbing was founded, the Crown was establishing several small coastal towns throughout the kingdom. There was a notable lack of towns along the west coast of Jutland, and the founding of Ringkøbing probably represents a wish to fill this vacuum. At the same time, it was a friendly gesture directed towards the merchants from Northwest Europe whose large merchant ships sailed along the west coast on their way to and from the major markets in the Baltic. It was in the king’s interest to control the trade in the country, as it enabled him to levy taxes and to oppose the Hanseatic League’s attempt to monopolise foreign trade.Life in medieval Ringkøbing was based on trade and crafts, and the king controlled both through his assignment of privileges. The first preserved trade licence concerning medieval Ringkøbing is from 1443, but that document is in fact a confirmation of a privilege previously granted.The archaeological excavations and the written sources have informed us that the town’s trade interests lay across the North Sea. The town’s own merchants travelled overseas, and foreign merchants passed through. Foreign goods such as glazed jugs, stoneware jugs, and woollen cloth were imported from the Netherlands, Flanders, and Germany. The sources also indicate that a hinterland reaching far into Jutland used Ringkøbing for disembarkation. After the Middle Ages, the sources describe Ringkøbing as a small town, at times rather poor, which often had to ask permission to postpone the tax payments for which it was liable. The earliest depictions and maps also give the impression of a small town taking up less space than it did during the Middle Ages (Fig. 21).It will be interesting to learn whether future excavations in Ringkøbing will radically change the picture of the town presented here.Helle HenningsenRingkøbing Museum Translated by Annette Lerche Trolle

Since the writings of the classical economists, changes of technical practice due to upper bounds on the scale of the production process have been thought to be a major cause of decreasing productive efficiency as the output scale expands.’ However, it seems to have passed unnoticed that the change of practice and the decline in efficiency have two quite distinct causes: the contraction of the set of feasible technical practices as the output scale expands, and the substitution by producers of a less for a more ‘efficient’ practice.

Technology and fear: is wonder the key?

Le prieuré Saint-Crespin a été fondé entre le milieu du XIe et le milieu du XIIe siècle à la place d’un ancien cimetière et de son église. Celle-ci (fin du VIe siècle) a connu trois phases de construction avant d’être reconstruite entre le milieu du IXe et le milieu du XIe siècle. Plus de 700 tombes fouillées, permettent de dégager l’évolution de l’organisation spatiale du cimetière, de caractériser la population inhumée et ses pratiques funéraires. Un tiers des défunts présentait des dépôts céramiques mais aussi des accessoires vestimentaires, des outils et des armes.

Uniting under a shared overarching identity has been emphasised as a way of overcoming intergroup conflict. If people increasingly see themselves as members of the same identity, this should influence emotions and behaviours towards—and evaluations of—former outgroup members. Little is known, however, of such processes in intergroup conflict. Zanzibar (Tanzania) has been the scene of conflict between the competing ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (the party of the Revolution) and the equally large opposition party Civic United Front, since 1992. The conflict resulted in salient polarised political identities, which influenced the social structures of Zanzibar, and often stood in the way of a shared Zanzibari identity. Leaders would often cross over to the other side of the street when meeting an opposing political leader; party-songs were played at weddings, alienating—and at times ridiculing—the other party; and the businesses and ceremonies of opposing party members were frequently boycotted. In 2009, a reconciliation process was initiated, calling for a focus on the shared Zanzibari identity. Slowly, changes in relations were manifested in changed social practices. Based on semi-structured interviews (N = 68) in Zanzibar with members of the general population (N = 57) and political leaders (N = 11) and against the backdrop of a larger fieldwork project, this chapter explores how people talk about the reconciliation process and its influence on social practices. The majority of the respondents expressed that they saw themselves increasingly as Zanzibaris rather than polarised into opposing political parties, and that this in turn led to changes in social practices.

Nowadays, beyond the spatial practices operated by inhabitants of Ali Mendjeli new town (Constantine) to build a new urbanity in a new framework, we note that the mode of consumption, consequence of globalization, also participates in this quest for identity formation. The health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic that the whole world experienced in the last two years has changed the parameters of consumption practices among individuals. However, in this difficult situation, the inhabitants and commercial operators of the new town have shown their ability to adapt their consumption patterns and services. This study will attempt to identify the changes in consumption practices caused by COVID-19 and to determine adaptation capacities by mobilizing ICT-based means. The data show that most respondents are a young population predisposed to digital technology. Therefore, inhabitants have come to terms with home delivery and online shopping, which have grown significantly and have proven to be a viable purchasing option during this crisis. In this study, we projected the consumption practices and behaviours of inhabitants of Ali Mendjeli new town during the crisis of COVID-19 on Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs. The results constitute evidence that this theory has been proven in reality. The management of the pandemic COVID-19 has found a facilitating context in Ali Mendjeli new town that has allowed it to adapt with the effects of this crisis.

Existing archaeobotanical and palynological records of plant use in the northern New Guinea lowlands are reviewed in light of recent work at Kuk and theoretical refocusing on plant use practice. A practice-based approach is supported as the most useful way of investigating the highly problematical area of tropical plant food production. The existing direct record of past plant use in lowland New Guinea is considered woefully inadequate to achieve this task, as is that in Near Oceania and Island Southeast Asia. Archaeobotanical methods exist to fill the void, but full implementation requires a change in general archaeological and palaeoecological practice.

Organizational factors influencing pharmacy practice change

ABSTRACTRacism scholars have made intentional efforts to produce research for the development of educational strategies to address racial microaggressions. Similarly, the counseling profession has made a conscious effort to create multicultural guidelines and standards that can assist in the prevention of racial discrimination in therapeutic practice. However, no educational strategies or counseling standards have been created to address monoracism in social work education or practice settings. The authors propose education and practice recommendations to advance social workers multicultural training. To that end, this article focuses on (1) presenting the multi-faceted array of racial microaggressions faced by Multiracial populations, (2) documenting racial microaggressions faced by Multiracial students in social work education and practice settings, and (3) proposing considerations for the inclusion of Multiracial populations in social work education and practice efforts.

Environmental and sustainability issues prevail in modern society. Southern Africa, where this study is based, is one of the regions most at risk from intersecting issues of climate health risk, and poverty-related ills. Education has the potential to facilitate catalytic transformation of society through development of understandings of these intersecting environment and sustainability concerns, and to support engagements in more sustainable social practices oriented towards the common good. This requires a rethinking of education within a wider common good frame. It also has implications for how quality education is considered. However, little is said of how this could be done, especially in teacher education. The paper shares two cases of teacher educators' change project experiences, as they emerged via professional development support and the mediatory processes applied in courses conducted by the Southern African Development Community Regional Environmental Education Programme (SADC REEP) aimed at enhancing professional capacity of teacher educators and other environmental educators for mainstreaming environment and sustainability education (ESE)1. These courses are framed using a change project approach, and involve teacher educators as main participants. In-depth data were generated from interviews with two teacher educators, their assignment write-ups, and observations of their teacher education practice. Realist social theory, particularly the principle of emergence, was used to trace the emergence of change in teacher education practice. Sociocultural learning theory was used to explain mediation of learning-oriented changes in teacher education practice. We illustrate how the change project model and approach contributed to mediating change in practice, showing emergent attributes of capacity for mainstreaming ESE and elements of a concept of quality education among course participants oriented towards the common good. In conclusion, we argue that ESE seems to be a sensitising construct for initiating and sustaining change for ESE in teacher education. In addition, the change project has proved to be a potential vehicle for mainstreaming the notion and practice of ESE into social systems and teacher education practices. We argue that reflexive ESE praxis provides a sensitising focus, initiating quality education with humanising properties necessary for the common good.

Although assessment generally yields a written product, it also is a process that employs a systematic method through which information is gathered, reviewed, and then applied in conjunction with theory to gain a better understanding of the subject of focus. Assessment is essential to social work practice no matter the social worker’s role, the nature of the interaction or practice setting, client population, or phase of the helping process. It is used to gather evidence to understand presenting problems, to evaluate progress and outcomes, and to assess the effectiveness of interventions and programs. Assessment is also an integral part of social work education and consists of appraisal of student learning and the effectiveness of curricula, pedagogy, and programs in preparing students for social work practice. Assessment in social work practice is threaded throughout all of its activities and employs a plethora of models and frameworks. Assessment is a core activity in social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, or communities. Initial assessments (also referred to as terms such as diagnostic, intake, or psychosocial assessments at an individual or family level) are utilized to gain a comprehensive understanding of a client’s circumstances, difficulties, and assets and to determine a subsequent course of action or intervention plan. The scope of this initial assessment may be narrow or broad, depending on factors such as the client system (individuals vs. communities), the role of the social worker, and the purpose of the assessment. Work with individuals traditionally includes a bio-psychosocial assessment—and more recently bio-psycho-sociocultural-spiritual assessment. Other types of assessments in social work practice with groups or communities are those that gather data related to need, risk, assets, strengths, and capacity-building. Although it is usually initiated at the point of engagement of the social worker, assessment should be thought of as a dynamic and occurring throughout the helping or change process to account for new developments and emerging considerations and conducted in partnership with the client. Assessment in social work is also employed to measure progress toward goal achievement and final outcomes, often referred to as practice evaluation. Both practice and social work education utilize formative and summative assessment approaches in order to appraise program or intervention impact as well as student learning. Formative and summative assessment may utilize similar data collection methods but are differentiated according to purpose and use of the data. Formative assessments are developmental and used to shape and enhance student learning, interventions, or new programs. Summative assessment focuses on the end product—or impact of a program or intervention and outcomes achieved. Ideally, both formative and summative methods of assessment are employed in practice and education. Both can involve feedback from clients, staff, etc., as well as use validated measures or assessment artifacts and can be used to shape intervention or education efforts.

This article proposes a revision to the construct of cultural competencies into cross-cultural competencies (CCC), to include relational and dynamic aspects from clinical social work practice. This approach moves the construct beyond a 1-person system (i.e., cultural competence as a clinicians characteristic across diverse clients) to a 2-person system that interacts between 2 cultural beings, client and clinician. Comparing the National Association of Social Workers Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice with the American Psychological Association Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists, this article illustrates the unique emphasis of clinical social work practice on cross-cultural interactions. The implications of CCC for clinical social work practice are also discussed.

Background: Social media is a robust outreach tool that allows programs to outreach with prospective applicants while maintaining social distancing policies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the social media practices of ACGME accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs. Methods: An analysis of orthopaedic surgery residency social media accounts was performed to identify changes in practices from July 2019 to December 2020. Social media participation was analyzed with respect to program type, location, size, geographical location, and Doximity ranking. Results: A total of 194 residency programs were included in this study. Twitter accounts increased from 56 (28.9%) in December 2019 to 87 (44.8%) in January 2021 while Instagram accounts increased from 16 (8.2%) to 107 (55.2%). Allopathic programs, programs with a higher Doximity Reputation Ranking, and those with more than 35 residents were significantly more likely to have an Instagram or Twitter account (P<0.05). There was a significant increase in the average number of Instagram posts per month in July and September 2020 (P<0.05) 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019. Conclusions: There was an increase in the prevalence of orthopaedic residency social media accounts during the Covid pandemic. Allopathic programs, programs with a higher Doximity Reputation Ranking, and larger programs were more likely to utilize social media. Social media offers another avenue for programs to communicate with applicants and an increasing number of programs are harnessing this tool to connect with the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons. Level of Evidence: Level IV.

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Life and Career of Matthew O. HowardJeffrey M. JensonJeffrey M. JensonUniversity of Denver Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew O. HowardView Large ImageDownload PowerPointOn December 15, 2018, social work and the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (JSSWR) lost one of its most prolific scholars, outstanding teachers, and thoughtful mentors in recent memory. Matthew O. Howard, PhD—the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor of Human Services Policy Information and associate dean for doctoral education in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—passed away following a lengthy hospitalization. As an associate editor for JSSWR, Matthew had a significant impact on improving the quality and influence of the journal. He will be sorely missed by our editorial team.Matthew was a consummate scholar who possessed a singular ability to understand and conceptualize social problems of all types. His research contributed greatly to existing knowledge of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcohol dependence, and mental health disorders. And, Matthew’s provocative articles assessing the state of social work education, practice, and research set forth ideas that will affect the trajectory of social work for years to come. His passion for knowledge—conveyed quietly and effectively to countless graduate students—was felt deeply by the many lives he touched over the course of an academic career that included appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Matthew’s training in social work coincided with my own enrollment in the University of Washington School of Social Work doctoral program in 1984. Matthew and I became immediate and close friends during our graduate studies in Seattle, and we spent hours discussing social work, class assignments, and the research projects we worked on as doctoral students. Many of these conversations occurred in an alley coffee shop in Seattle’s University District, just a stone’s throw from the School of Social Work. Known by the employees as “Matt and Jeff,” we were treated as regulars who would sit at our customary window table for what was likely far too long. It was a time of great intellectual pursuit, and I had found the perfect colleague and friend with whom to share ideas and discuss future plans. It was the beginning of a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted 34 years.Matthew entered doctoral education with a well-developed interest in understanding the etiology of alcohol and other substance use disorders. Over the nearly four decades that followed, he devoted his career to conducting basic and applied research aimed at ameliorating substance abuse dependence and co-occurring problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly well known for his basic research and intervention studies addressing the vexing problem of inhalant abuse (e.g., Howard, Balster, Cottler, Wu, & Vaughn, 2008; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011; Howard & Jenson, 1999b). Matthew’s innovative and rigorous research in this area led to three grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and to widespread recognition as one of the world’s foremost experts on inhalant abuse. In recent years, Matthew extended his work to testing mindfulness-oriented interventions for people with chronic pain and opioid misuse. His coinvestigator in much of this work was Eric Garland, professor and associate dean for research in the University of Utah College of Social Work. Eric, a former student of Matthew’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes some of the important lessons he learned under Matthew’s tutelage in an accompanying article in this issue (Garland, 2019).Matthew also made significant contributions to social work education and research. In the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Matthew traced key developments in social work during the past 30 years and reflected on a vision of the field that stretched to 2044—30 years into the future (Howard & Garland, 2015). The ideas he shared in this lecture have provided a useful framework for assessing the relatively recent history of social work and addressing the challenges in educating master’s-level practitioners and doctoral students in the future. Matthew delivered a similarly thought-provoking lecture on the current state and future of social work doctoral education at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education. Ideas presented in his lectures were coupled with action. One such example is illustrated by Matthew’s early development of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doctoral-level course on conducting systematic reviews. Students in this class often produced publishable papers as a result of Matthew’s fastidious attention to breadth and quality. In earlier work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Matthew and colleagues advanced the idea of evidence-based practice as a paradigm for training MSW social work practitioners (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003). Enola Proctor, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, was a colleague of Matthew’s at the time. She remembers Matthew as… a brilliant scholar and dear person. Highly regarded for his excellence in the classroom at the Brown School, he was demanding yet was a frequent winner of student-elected teaching awards. Matthew used his seemingly boundless energy to better the fields of addiction research and social work practice. He had my highest respect and unending affection. His passing is a tremendous loss to our field and community of scholars [and] saddens me deeply. (E. Proctor, personal communication, January 9, 2019)In 1999, Matthew and I had the good fortune to guest edit a special issue of Research on Social Work Practice that explored the utility of clinical practice guidelines for social work practice (Howard & Jenson, 1999a). Collectively, Matthew’s lectures and published papers assessing the state of social work education and practice stimulated debate and produced tangible curricula changes in schools across the country.A prolific writer, Matthew published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in his career. His written work also included 40 book reviews, editorials, and government reports. Matthew’s h-index of 55 and nearly 9,000 citations of his work to date illustrate just how much his scholarship was valued by colleagues. His written contributions will be recognized and used by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades to come.Matthew was a fellow and a board member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A proponent of interdisciplinary work, he also was a faculty research fellow in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of his passing. Matthew’s devotion to empirical research and scholarship is widely recognized. However, what may be most impressive about Matthew’s career is the recognition he received as both a scholar and a teacher. He was awarded eight outstanding teaching and mentoring awards from students and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two of Matthew’s doctoral students at North Carolina (Eric Garland, University of Utah; and Carrie Pettus-Davis, Florida State University) received Doctoral Fellow Awards from the Society for Social Work and Research. Matthew connected with his students by combining high scientific standards with a compassionate approach to helping people succeed. He was soft-spoken, but his ideas and words carried great weight and influence.Matthew’s service to the fields of social work and addiction was also exemplary. He reviewed manuscripts for more than 60 different academic journals in his career. He was on the editorial boards of more than 50 journals—including serving a JSSWR associate editor for the past several years—and he previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work Research, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases. Matthew also was vice president and served on the Society for Social Work and Research Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.The task of summarizing the life and career of a prolific and impactful scholar, teacher, and mentor like Matthew is daunting. Mark Fraser, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding editor of JSSWR, was a longtime friend, collaborator, and colleague. Reflecting on Matthew’s career, he recalls,As a scholar and a teacher, Matthew was eloquent and encyclopedic. Students flocked to his classes. A gentle spirit who treasured collaboration with others, his greatest joys came in exploring new ideas and reading recent research. In the profession as a thought leader, Matthew was a tour de force. At once, he was creative, insightful, sensitive, critical, and thorough. Matthew was—quite simply—incomparable. (M. Fraser, personal communication, January 8, 2019)Tangible accomplishments like those summarized here do not tell the complete story of a person. Matthew had an uncanny ability to effectively express his strong personal beliefs and ethical values in everyday interactions with friends and colleagues. He had a deep interest in applying the lessons gained from his own empirical work to promote fairness and equity for all people. Matthew’s invaluable input and feedback to students and colleagues about their ideas, papers, or projects came with great civility and kindness. He was an insatiable reader whose knowledge extended to topics well beyond social work or the addictions. In this sense, one could discuss a wide range of topics with Matthew with the preordained understanding that he had very likely already read much of what had been written on the topic. Matthew’s longstanding practice of underscoring written text with yellow highlighters was applied to thousands of empirical and conceptual articles and manuscripts during his career.On a personal level, Matthew enjoyed taking walks, listening to music, and reading novels and poetry. His wry sense of humor often left many of his closest friends and colleagues writhing in laughter. I was among them.JSSWR is proud to count Matthew as one of its most influential associate editors and contributors. His place as an important teacher and scholar in social work education and research is secure. Matthew’s many contributions will be discovered anew by emerging scholars for decades to come. His presence in social work and the broad field of the addictions will be missed by us all.NotesJeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Phillip D. & Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor Children and Youth at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Jeffrey M. Jenson, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208 or via e-mail to [email protected]ReferencesGarland, E. L. (2019). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Matthew O. Howard as a mentor and his influence on the science of mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. 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As technology advances, numerous interpretations of computer intelligence have arisen since the mid-20th century. As radical form of techno-utopia, posthumanism prophesizes the emergence of the singularity: a critical juncture where artificial intelligence (AI) exceeds human intelligence. Tracing its conceptual origins to the work of Irving Good reveals how the narrative of a superior computer intelligence is shaped by science and by fiction. The article further explores – from the perspective of religious studies – the extent to which the ‘transcendence narrative’ has influenced research in AI. Attempts, particularly by theologians, to interpret this AI optimism as (implicit) religion are rejected. Instead, the article proposes a human-centered approach that understands AI to be a social practice, highlighting the relationships between economic, political, and cultural factors. The historical chess machine, the Mechanical Turk, serves as a metaphor for obscuring the role played by humans in the training and production of AI algorithms.