Error 404: or, what is the shelf-life of printed Internet guides?

Many publishers are producing books loaded with directions for finding useful Internet sites in a particular subject area. The moderate costs make them seem to be attractive additions to a collection. However, given the ephemeral nature of the World Wide Web, can a print resource be published with sufficient shelf life to justify purchase? This study evaluates some of these Internet guides for post-publication accuracy. In evaluating nine books published between two and three years ago, the researchers checked 3,941 URLs. In reviewing the data, the authors found that some books retained their value quite well, whereas others did not. The article presents the details of this study and offers selection criteria for identifying those web guidebooks that will increase the value of the collection.     

“Ice Cream is Worse,and Joblessness is Not an Option”

A rise in informal labor, characterized by contracted and non-salaried positions, has been observed in many industry sectors including journalism. While opportunities for freelance journalists have increased, the journalism industry has simultaneously experienced mass layoffs. Using a survey (N?=?411), with quantitative and qualitative measures, this study assesses freelancers’ experiences in the US context with a particular attention to gender. The study finds that women perceive freelancing, but not full-time journalism, as compatible with raising children. Although there were no differences in perceptions about layoffs and job stability, the women in the sample were more likely to rely on freelancing as the only job and subsequently express concerns over pay. Open-ended responses provide further insight into the state of the journalism industry, full-time employment, and gender dynamics.     

“Listening is an act of love”: Learning listening through StoryCorps

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Basic Survey Course, Group Communication, Organizational Communication, Intercultural Communication, Listening, Family Communication, Interviewing, Business and Professional Communication.

Objectives: After completing this single class activity, students will be able to: (a) define listening; (b) identify listening as a top skill employers desire; (c) explain how listening may be perceived as an act of love; and (d) critically assess ways in which their listening behaviors may be improved.     

“What is an author?” Contemporary publishing discourse and the author figure

Martin Amis’ novel The Information was published in paperback in May 1995. For a number of convergent reasons, the publication became, in itself, a major media event. In examining this occasion., the economic and cultural imperatives that shaped the marketing of The Information and the wider context of contemporary book publishing and its relation to other media, this paper problematises the relationship between cultural and economic value. It considers the discourse around what an author is “worth” in a late capitalist society of fiercely competitive consumer choice, and how the representation of an avowedly “literary” author is mobilised in the marketplace in ways that aim not to threaten to compromise the investment in the difference between literary and popular fiction.     

What is BioOne?

BioOne is a Web-based aggregation of full-text, high-impact bioscience research journals. Most of its titles are published by small societies or non-commercial publishers and have not been previously available in electronic format. This column describes the BioOne database and gives some basic information about the best ways to search its content.     

What is political incivility?

Using 23 novel indicators and a 1,000+ sample representative of a full undergraduate population we examined: how much consensus there was about perceptions of the incivility/civility of various categories of speech/behavior; and whether political incivility is a unidimensional or multidimensional latent construct. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest perceived political incivility is a multidimensional construct. Insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors tending to shut down inclusive ongoing discussion can be treated as distinct, underlying aspects of incivility. More than 75% of respondents viewed all 23 indicators, except issue-oriented attacks, as very, mostly, or somewhat uncivil. If replicated on a representative national sample, standardized indicators of political incivility should be constructed and routinely employed in national surveys of political attitudes and behavior.     

What is Slow Journalism?

In an era of fast and instantaneous journalism and concerns about the deleterious effects of speed, it can be easy to lose sight of the other kinds of journalism being practiced, other temporalities for its production. There has been little scholarly work on slow journalism, so the first aim of this article is, if not to define, then at least to describe some key characteristics of what slow journalism might be. It will look at how the term has been used on blogs, websites, public forums, and in the minimal scholarly literature available. It will also explore some examples by producers who identify with the term to see what slow journalism looks like in practice. The proliferation of independent journalism using Slow as a way of thinking about production suggests that we are witnessing a new alternative emerging in the mediascape.     

负生活：Less is more

“less is more”这是著名的建筑师米斯·凡德洛说过的一句话，意思是“少即多”，是一种提倡简单，反对度装饰的设计理念。在米斯·凡德洛看来简单的东西往往带给人们的是更多的享受。     

nd it is also the theorical

racteristics in essence in elementary stage of socialism by us.It affirms the important significance of material productivity to realize the complete and free development of people and points the direction for pushing socialism modern developments in our country and implementing complete development of people.Marx;complet     

“The information superhighway is a ‘quivering oxymoron’” and other musings on government information policy in an era of rapidly evolving information technologies

In this JGI interview, futurist Paul Saffo discusses a wide variety of information technology topics ranging from the respective roles of government and private-sector involvement in the Internet to privacy, wireless communications, and the role of information technology in future military conflicts. Throughout the interview, Saffo notes the probable impacts that rapidly evolving information/communication technologies will play in government, business, and personal lives.     

What determines success of an e-government service? Validation of an integrative model of e-filing continuance usage

The purpose of this study is to validate an integrated model of e-filing continuance usage. The model has its theoretical basis in the expectancy confirmation theory and the DeLone and McLean's IS Success model. The model is extended to include two additional constructs relevant to e-filing continuance usage: perceived risks and habit. The model is tested using data collected from a sample of 645 e-filing users in Mauritius. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings suggest that citizens' continuance usage intention of e-filing is influenced by system quality, user satisfaction and habit. User satisfaction had the strongest impact on e-filing continuance usage intention. This study makes a valuable contribution to knowledge through the extension and validation of the ECM and IS Success model to explore salient factors affecting e-filing continuance usage intention. The practical implications of the findings for tax collection agencies are discussed.     

Why is medical software so hard?

Medical software is regarded as both a success and a risk factor for quality and efficiency of medical care. First, reasons are given in what respects the medical industry is special: it is highly complex and variable, exposed to risks of privacy/confidentiality but also of denied access to authorized personnel, and medical users are a highly qualified and demanding population. Then some software technology and engineering approaches are presented that partially master these challenges. They include various divide and conquer strategies, process and change management approaches and quality assurance approaches. Benchmark institutions and comprehensive solutions are also presented. Finally, some challenges are presented that call for approaches other than technical to achieve user “buy in”, handle the outer limits of complexity, variability and change. Here, methods from psychology, economics and game theory complement domain knowledge and exploratory experimentation with new technologies.

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Zusammenfassung  Medizinische Software wird sowohl als Erfolgs- als auch als Risikofaktor für die Qualit?t und Effizienz medizinischer Versorgung gesehen. In diesem Artikel werden zun?chst Gründe aufgeführt, inwiefern der medizinische Sektor sich von anderen abhebt: Er ist hoch komplex und variantenreich und den Risiken stark ausgesetzt, die sich aus Vertraulichkeit und Schutzbedürftigkeit der Daten einerseits und andereseits aus deren Nicht-Verfügbarkeit für autorisiertes Personal ergeben. Auch sind medizinische Nutzer hoch und vielf?ltig qualifiziert und entsprechend anspruchsvoll. Es werden dann Verfahren aus Software-Technologie und -Engineering vorgestellt, welche diese Herausforderungen z.T. meistern. Darunter befinden sich „Teile-und-Herrsche“-artige Partitionierungsverfahren, Prozess- und ?nderungsmanagement- sowie Qualit?tssicherungsmethoden. Einige richtungweisend erfolgreiche Institutionen und L?sungen werden erl?utert. Schlie?lich wird auf Herausforderungen hingewiesen, bei denen andere als technische Zug?nge naheliegen, damit anspruchsvolle Nutzer „einsteigen“ und grenzwertig schwierige Anforderungen an Komplexit?t, Variabilit?t und ?nderungsintensit?t handhabbar werden. Dabei erg?nzen Methoden aus Psychologie, Wirtschaftswissenschaften und Spieltheorie ein vertieftes Wissen über den medizinischen Gegenstandsbereich und das Experimentieren mit neuen Technologien.

CR subject classification  D.2.1; D.2.2; D.2.7; D.2.8; D.2.9; D.2.11; D.2.12; D.4.6; H.1.2; H.2.7; H.4.1; H.5.3; J.3; K.1; K.4.1; K.4.3; K.5.2