International Conference on the Humanities (ICH)
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Item An Assessment of Urban Sprawl in Colombo District, Sri Lanka.(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Jayathilaka, K.M.D.A.S.Rapid urbanization is a common trend in developing countries with the movement of people from sparsely populated areas to densely populated areas in search of a better standard of living. As a result, the increase of the population in central business district and its suburbs leading to urban sprawl has now become a challenging matter to most cities in the world. Geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques are frequently used to analyze urban sprawl. The signs of urban sprawl appear in Colombo district, Sri Lanka with the population growth and better transport network. The problem of the research is the increasing growth of sprawl based on the fact that many lands being converted in to buildings at an alarming rate. The objective of this research is to examine how the application of GIS technology and remote sensing can be used to determine the spatial extent of urban sprawl in Colombo district between 1997 - 2016. To achieve this objective, three satellite images in the years of 1997, 2007 and 2016 were classified using unsupervised classification to determine the extent of four land use categories named water, built up areas, forest and others in the Colombo district. The pattern of urban sprawl was identified using built up area maps, built up area change calculation maps and using population density maps of 2001 and 2012. There is a significant difference at about 239 km2 (50 %) of built up areas in Colombo district over a period of nineteen years. Urban sprawl patterns of clustered and leapfrog sprawl patterns were also identified. The land has been converted in to build up areas in an increasing rate with future urban growth to the east where land is available for development.Item Impact of Digital Musical components on usage of Folk Music in Applied Musical Creations in Sri Lanka.(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Bulathsinhala, H.Folk culture in any community plays a major role in portraying the authentic and indigenous cultural elements, and many communities incorporate such elements to engrave their cultural identity in their creative work for that folk music is not an exception. Yet, in current Sri Lankan music compositions, it can be noted that, the Folk Music has been disregarded and as a result, the modern pieces of music appear more westernized than what it needs to be. Among the various factors, the use of digital devices in compositions has become more vigilant, due to the fact that many of the musical equipment and sound systems are embedded in one device and can be operated through computerized mechanism, thus by making it one person’s skill and the marvels of technological devices. The conflict behind such compositions is the use of western musical equipment rather than utilizing authentic Sri Lankan music patterns and sound that creates a recession in the usage of authentic elements. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study is to conduct an extensive study whether the use of digital music has become a reason to reduction in usage of folk music in applied music field. Music work of ten selected musicians were studied to examine their use of digital and folk music in their creative work. Data was gathered by interviews with the selected musicians, and listening to their creations. It could be highlighted that digital music has a considerable influence in reducing the use of folk music in their compositions, and many musicians have used digital music according to their potential. Further, it revealed that many musicians have created compositions which were influenced by western music and other music styles, while staying away from native music. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of digital music itself among the many factors that have affected the use and application of folk and native music in their productions. This situation needs extensive studies and discussions on further development of software like “Reason” which has used native percussion instruments and give more knowledge on the production and use of software that are based on native musical instruments in terms of bringing folk music towards their compositions.Item The Importance of using Digital Technology in Archiving Temple Murals in Sri Lanka: Case study based on the Southern Coastal Region (Galle District).(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Peduruhewa, C.D.A large number of temple murals belong to Kandyan era in Sri Lanka are being in an endangered stage due to negligence, vandalism, and natural causes such as water seepage, sunlight, insects, bats, soot etc., Many of these temple murals are at a poor level of conservation despite they are in the list of ‘Protected Monuments’ or recognized as National Heritage in Sri Lanka. Moreover, many of the murals located in these temples are not archived in a proper way. The particular situation emerges a rationale to addresses some ways and means of restoring the temple murals that have a historic and artistic significance of Sri Lankan traditional painting with regard to its form, style and techniques applied. Thus, the aim of this paper is to emphasize the significance of using digital technology for the purpose of archiving and preserving the heritage of temple murals. The study is mainly based on fifteen (15) selected temples of the Southern Coastal Region (Galle District) in terms of restoring and archiving them for future purposes. Field visits, museum visits, and literature survey were conducted to identify and obtain the background knowledge on both traditional painting of the particular period and the specific aspects of digital tools and techniques. The results suggest that many of the temple murals that are not properly conserved physically can be archived using available digital technology and can be utilized as informative sources of Sri Lankan temple paintings during the particular period.Item Impact of Digital Technology in the Graphic Design Process in Sri Lankan Context.(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Amarakoon, A.The transition from analog to digital technology has affected both the design process and the working environment of graphic design industry. While the digital technology enhances the production process, it also has a negative impact in the elementary stages of design process such as ideation and conceptualization. This has created a conflict between the realization of the design concept and the enhancement of the production on demand in the modern society. Thus, the present study aims to identify the factors that affect the design process of commercial graphic designers in Sri Lanka, and to determine the impact of digital technology in the ideation and conceptualization. The study is mainly based on a literature survey on the history of design and the impact of digital technology on design process, and a field survey based on a questionnaire with the aim of obtaining data about the implementation of digital tools in the design process of commercial graphic designers. Approximately about sixty commercial graphic designers working in small-scale design or advertising companies in Sri Lanka were participated in the data collection. The results suggest that most of the designers neglect the initial ideation and conceptualization process due to two factors: negligence or lack of awareness of the holistic idea of the design and its process, and over reliance in digital tools and techniques. Moreover, lack of proper training and understanding about the design process is evident in the extremely limited time spent on the creative process.Item Promoting Cave Tourism in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Rathnayake, S.Cave tourism is an environmental based tourism product. It means exploring natural caves and tunnels. It is also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom. Speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment. Cave tourism can be named as a part of sport and adventure tourism. There are many caves in Sri Lanka which have pre-historical and natural values. Pahiyangala, Batadombalena, Belilena, Waulpane, Rawana Ella are some examples. Though there are many caves in Sri Lanka, promoting these caves for tourism is at a very low level. But many countries such as Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, promote cave tourism for tourist industry. The main objective of this study was to identify the potential for promoting cave tourism in Sri Lanka. Research was based on both primary sources including interviews while secondary sources included web sites, books and those qualitative data were analyzed to arrive at the conclusions. Inclusion of cave tourism for tour packages of travel agencies, developing hotel promotions of caving, government and private sector involvement, raising awareness of heritage managers, developing visitor related facilities and introducing proper management plan are the recommendations for promoting cave tourism in Sri Lanka in future.Item Including all: Perceptions of mainstream teachers on inclusive education in the Western Province of Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.; Das, A.; Ranaweera, M.; Attanayake, L.D.; Walisundara, D.The changes made to the local constitution (Parliament of Sri Lanka, 1997), the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2005) in 2016 and the first World Report on Disability (WHO, 2011) support a new era for the education of children with disabilities in Sri Lanka. The emphasis of this legislation is the inclusion and full participation of students with disabilities in regular schools. It guarantees non-discrimination and removal of barriers, both physical and psychological or attitudinal; to facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities into regular schools. It urges policy makers, educators, parents and other service providers to consider the premise that special education should be seen not in the context of separate education but as an integral part of regular education. Arguably, the success of implementing a policy of inclusive education requires mainstream school teachers to understand, accept and be competent at supporting students with disabilities within the mainstream classroom context. To uncover perceptions of ‘inclusive education’ among mainstream teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 mainstream teachers from the Western Province using a topic guide. Thematic coding of the interview data was undertaken using the key principles of Framework Analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994). The main themes to emerge were of incongruous conceptual understandings, fear of incompetence, limited training facilities and the lack of incentives. These findings will be discussed with regard to its implications for policy and practice. The results underpin the need to consider local teacher perceptions and to address these concerns within pre-service and in-service training in order to support the establishment of education reforms, which are relevant and sensitive to the cultural needs and cognizant of local realities.Item A study on the regression of the logo design industry of Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Amarakoon, A.Since the advent of the computer technology in the graphic design industry in Sri Lanka, there is a considerable decrease in the visual and aesthetic quality of the logos designed by commercial logo designers, which implies the application of the low level of skills in both conceptualization and execution. These logos are mostly derivative work, if not complete rip offs of logos that can be found on the internet. Lack of originality, the use of over-used shapes or motifs, lack of pragmatic concerns are the most apparent drawbacks of the currently prevailing logo designs. The particular trend reflects the discontinuance of the fluid way and creative thinking of the Sri Lankan visual artists and the designers (of the pre-digital era) who have created unique and memorable logo concepts for both state and commercial entities which evoke the desired feelings in the target audience. The significance of this conceptualization is the attention and the enthusiasm paid by the artist by means of maintaining a well-established Sri Lankan identity in the design industry. The aim of the present study is therefore to examine the problems which affect the visual and aesthetic quality of the logo design industry within the context of Sri Lanka. The study will focus to conduct an empirical inquiry which relies on personal experience as a graphic designer and on the online presence of commercial logo designers based in Sri Lanka. Three main factors affecting the visual and aesthetic quality of the logo designs in question, namely the client’s perception of his own requirement, the restrictive nature of the digital tools in the design process, and the fact that the logo design is treated as a subordinate element equally by the clients and many commercial logo designers in Sri Lanka, can be identified.Item The De-Facto status of the implementation of the official languages policy in police stations of Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wickramasinghe, D.D.The police in any given country are the guardian of the law and trust who is vested with the responsibility of maintaining public peace. Thus, they are expected to deal with the public more often than any another government official in their day today duties. The communication between the concerned parties and the police personnel is of pivotal importance in this regard – as such meditations are always interrelated with the factors pertaining to offences, law, and justice. Thus the need to be accountable, transparency is essentially woven in the language that is being used to converse with the concerned parties. Sri Lanka as a multi-lingual state declared its bilingual official languages status in its 13 th amendment to the constitution granting the equal parity for both Sinhala and Tamil languages after many contentious struggles over the years. Today, the state intuitions thus abide to offer their service to the public in the respective official languages – especially in the bilingual zones designated by the government taking into account the demographic census. It is in this light the current study concentrates on the implementation of the official languages policy in the Sri Lankan Police stations which play a crucial role in the process of the reconciliation in the post-war Sri Lanka. The study takes into account the linguistic landscape of Sri Lanka where the police stations are randomly selected out of the cluster sample of 72 bilingual divisional secretariats of the country (41 Gazetted & 31 recommended to be gazetted based upon the 20% of minority or more living in the respective divisional secretariats). The data for the study was obtained through the primary unprocessed data accumulated by the Official Languages Commission of Sri Lanka through official language physical audits that include onsite observations. The findings reveal that the implementation of the official languages policy in Sri Lankan Police Stations in the designated linguistic landscape (bilingual divisional secretariats) is ineffective in terms of the visibility and ambience and service delivery to the public due to the reasons stemming out from the lack of awareness/disregard of the official language policy and the related circulars, dearth of the police officers competent in the other official language, lack of in-station facilities to comply with the policy and the absence of a proper institutional mechanism to implement the official language policy.