Innovation Management and U.S. Weekly Newspaper Web Sites: An Examination of Newspaper Managers and Emerging Technology

Using Everett Rogers's (2003) Rogers, E. M. 2003. Diffusion of innovations, 5th, New York: Free Press.  [Google Scholar] theory of innovation in organizations, this nationwide study examines U.S. weekly newspapers and their adoption and management of innovation—specifically, the online newspaper. From a theoretical standpoint, the creation of the online product was somewhat unsystematic. The data reveal that most weekly newspapers were not following any type of innovation management strategy when developing their online editions. This study echoes the findings of Saksena and Hollifield (2002) Saksena, S. and Hollifield, C. A. 2002. U.S. newspapers and the development of online editions. The International Journal on Media Management, 4: 75–84. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] in the assessment that newspapers are adopting and managing emerging technology in a “relatively haphazard fashion.” Most newspaper managers report they did not develop a business plan for the new product or set specific, measurable goals to aid in assessing the success of the online newspaper. In addition, almost ¾ of the newspapers did not gather target-market or audience research before launching the online newspaper. The study found that newspaper managers were sensitive to their staffs' questions, needs, and concerns about publishing an online newspaper; and most involved their staffs in the decision-making process. A majority reported that they did not meet any resistance from their staffs about the adoption of new technology to produce the online newspapers.     

Decolonising higher education curricula in South Africa: factoring in archives through public programming initiatives

South African higher education curricula are largely Eurocentric, to such an extent that indigenous knowledge is marginalised (Horsthemke in Transform High Educ 2(1)–9, 2017). Consequently, the decolonisation of university curricula has become a necessity. The nationwide ‘FeesMustFall’ student protests in 2015 and 2016 have underlined the need to address this matter urgently. Free quality education and the decolonisation of university curricula were among some of the students’ demands (Le Grange in SAJHE 30(2):1–12, 2016). Fundamentally, decolonising curricula involve a serious investigation of history and the strategising of future actions (Ngulube in Historia 47(2):563–582, 2002). Little is known about the potential role of archives in the process of decolonising higher education curricula in South Africa. Perhaps this can be attributed to a lack of awareness about archives and their significance in South Africa (Sulej in ESARBICA J 33:13–35, 2014). This paper explores the role of archives in the decolonisation of higher education curricula in South Africa. It appears that sub-Saharan scholars rarely consult archives (Onyancha et al. in ESARBICA J 32:67–77, 2013). Therefore, public programming is investigated as a means to get more members of the academic community to use archives as centres of critical inquiry. The relevant literature was consulted and discussed. Unique outreach or public programming initiatives will help the academic community to better understand the significance of archives in the decolonisation process.     

Latent scrutiny: personal archives as perpetual mementos of the official gaze

This article examines the significance, in the lives of those who experienced out-of-home care as children, of the archived records of their institutionalisation. The affective ramifications of accessing the records as adults are discussed, with especial focus on the records’ capacity to revive past suffering. Drawing on the work of Bruner (Crit Inq Autumn 1–21,1991, Consumption and everyday life, Sage, London, 1997) and MacIntyre (After virtue: a study in moral theory, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 1981), a ‘narrative’ model of the self is utilised to account for the negative effect of systemic flaws in the records’ original composition. Such flaws, it is argued, have the potential to disrupt the individual’s sense of self. Both the authors, who experienced out-of-home care as children, present their own experiences of accessing the records, as case studies. The records’ manifold inaccuracies and inadequacies are interpreted in the light of prevailing welfare practices, in particular a highly damaging judgemental paradigm of gendered and moralistic assumptions of the inferior character of those in care. The authors conclude by arguing that research into the archives should involve the direct participation, as ‘insider researchers’, of those who experienced the matters contained in the records. Such participation is essential if the process of revealing and interpreting the archives is to maintain the dignity of the records’ subject individuals, and ensure the integrity of the research.     

Feeling Valued Matters: An Examination of Instructor Confirmation and Instructional Dissent

This study explored the relationship between effective instructor behavior—instructor confirmation—and a potentially negative student behavior—instructional dissent. Previous studies demonstrate that student characteristics provide a limited explanation for how students express dissent (e.g., Goodboy & Myers, 2012 Goodboy, A. K. & Myers, S. A. (2012). Brief report: Instructional dissent as an expression of students’ verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness traits. Communication Education, 61, 448–458. doi:10.1080/03634523.2012.699635[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Thus, scholars have begun to investigate the influence of instructor behaviors along with student characteristics to understand why students express dissent (LaBelle, Martin, & Weber, 2013 LaBelle, S., Martin, M. M. & Weber, K. (2013). Instructional dissent in the college classroom: Using the instructional beliefs model as a framework. Communication Education, 62, 169–190. doi:10.1080/03634523.2012.759243[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). This study revealed that instructor confirmation negatively related to expressive and vengeful dissent, but not rhetorical dissent. Further, the three dimensions of instructor confirmation functioned differently in accounting for variance in expressive and vengeful dissent. Future research should build towards a model of instructional dissent model that reflects the unique characteristics of the instructional context and modifiable instructor behaviors.     

A Multivariate Test of the Influence Model

Abstract

This study explores the validity of Meyer's (2004) Meyer, P. 2004. The vanishing newspaper, Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.  [Google Scholar] influence model in the cable news network environment. The influence model proposes that news media organizations' profitability is linked to their societal influence, which depends on audiences' perceptions of their credibility and news quality. The results show a good fit between a structural equation model of the influence model and data from a survey probing respondents' opinions of CNN and Fox News Channel. The study also examines audience members' attitudes toward the two cable news networks and found that their opinions of CNN are significantly more positive.     

“Actually,I Don't Eat Meat”: A Multiple-Goals Perspective of Communication About Vegetarianism

Engaging in non-mainstream behavior can be challenging to negotiate communicatively, especially when it involves the simple but necessary task of eating, a lifelong activity that is often done in others’ company. Through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews of 20 vegetarians, this study used a multiple-goals perspective (Goldsmith, 2004 Goldsmith , D. J. ( 2004 ). Communicating social support . Cambridge , England : Cambridge University Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Goldsmith, Gumminger, & Bute, 2006 Goldsmith , D. J. , Gumminger , K. L. , & Bute , J. J. ( 2006 ). Communication about lifestyle change between cardiac patients and their partners . In R. M. Dailey & B. A. LePoire (Eds.), Applied interpersonal communication matters: Family, health, and community relations (pp. 95 – 117 ). New York , NY : Peter Lang . [Google Scholar]) to examine the communicative dilemmas faced by vegetarians. This investigation suggests unique self-presentational challenges for vegetarians (e.g., being true to oneself yet fitting in; talking about vegetarianism without judging others) and identifies strategies that “healthy deviants”—people who violate society's norms in relatively healthy ways—can use to discuss their lifestyle choices. Findings offer practical implications for how communication can help people enact or sustain potentially stigmatized healthy lifestyles while maintaining their relationships.     

The Communication Glue that Binds Employees to an Organization: A Study of Organizational Identification in Two Thai Organizations

Organizational communication scholars have paid scant attention to the motivations of people who choose careers in social service organizations. This study examined organizational identification in the context of two Thai social service organizations: government-run Community Development Department (CDD) and non-governmental Population and Community Development Association (PDA). The degree to which CDD members identified with CDD and PDA members identified with PDA was assessed by using the Organizational Identification Questionnaire constructed by George Cheney (1982 Cheney , G. (1982) . Organizational identification as process and product: A field study . Unpublished master's thesis , Purdue University . [Google Scholar]). Comparison of CDD and PDA scores on Cheney's OIQ provided findings that mirror those of previous studies of organizational identification. Specifically, the level of organizational identification among employees who work for the non-governmental privately-run social-cause organization (PDA) was significantly higher than for employees who work for the government organization (CDD). Thus, the non-governmental organization appears to be more effective than the government organization in fostering employee identification. Interestingly, a factor analysis of Thai responses to the Cheney instrument revealed three dimensions that were different from the three dimensions theorized by Cheney (1982 Cheney , G. (1982) . Organizational identification as process and product: A field study . Unpublished master's thesis , Purdue University . [Google Scholar]). While Cheney's conceptualization of identification included employees sense of membership, similarity, and loyalty to their organization, the Thai dimensions reflected life values (‘pride in membership’), social values (‘fit with organization’), and personal values (‘comfort zone’). These findings hold important implications for communication scholars who study employee motivation in non-Western organizational contexts.     

A Three-Decade Retrospective on the Hostile Media Effect

Some 30 years ago, Vallone, Ross, and Lepper (1985 Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 577–585. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.577[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) conducted a pioneering study of the hostile media effect in which they demonstrated that partisans perceive media coverage as unfairly biased against their side. Over the ensuing decades, scores of experiments and surveys have extended their findings, demonstrating hostile media effects in a variety of domains. Taking the measure of the research more than 30 years later by systematically reviewing the many studies conducted in different locales, this article summarizes the knowledge base on the hostile media effect. The article integrates findings, clarifies conceptual issues, and presents two research-based models of the effect. Future scholarly pathways are suggested, with a focus on how hostile media biases may change—or continue—in an era vastly different than the mass communication-dominated age in which the concept was pioneered.     

The Creation of Defensiveness in Social Interaction II: A Model of Defensive Communication among Romantic Couples

This investigation extends the work of Stamp, Vangelisti, and Daly (1992 Stamp, G. H., Vangelisti, A. L. and Daly, J. A. 1992. The creation of defensiveness in social interaction. Communication Quarterly, 40: 177–190. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and others by explicating the multifaceted process of defensive communication among romantic couples. Qualitative data were derived from self-reports about a distinct episode of defensive communication in individual interviews, as well as direct analysis of couples’ communication in joint interviews. The proposed theoretical model reflects a more comprehensive, holistic, and precise framework that accounts for the triggers, core episode, outcomes, and contexts of defensive communication. The detailed model, which draws attention to interactive and person-centered features of defensive communication, is illustrated through the narrative account of one couple. Eleven data-based postulates are offered to fuel and focus subsequent investigations.     

Contents and Effects of Newspaper Coverage of Talk Radio in Hong Kong: A Study of Remediation Through Content Adaptation

Media outlets and platforms in contemporary societies do not operate in isolation, but are interconnected with each other in various ways. The influence and significance of a medium can therefore depend on what Bolter and Grusin (1999 Bolter , J. D. , & Grusin , R. ( 1999 ). Remediation . Cambridge , MA : MIT Press . [Google Scholar]) labeled “remediation,” that is, the processes through which a medium is represented by other media. Content adaptation—the selective appropriation of the contents of another medium—is a specific means of remediation. This article applies these theoretical principles to the study of talk radio in Hong Kong. It examines how newspapers appropriate the contents of political talk radio and how content adaptation by the press affects people's perceptions of talk radio. Empirically, a content analysis shows that newspapers regularly cover talk radio contents, but the coverage is affected by the journalistic paradigms the newspapers adopt. Based on the content analysis, hypotheses about the relationships between news consumption, talk radio listening, and perceived value of talk radio are set up and tested by data from a representative survey (N = 862). The findings confirm the presence of “content adaptation effects.”     

Storying the News through Category,Action, and Reason

From a sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic perspective, news stories have often been considered as operating within a similar structural framework to oral narratives (Labov, 1972 Labov, W. 1972. Language in the inner city, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.  [Google Scholar]), sharing formal elements with narratives produced in other contexts (although as Bell (1991) Bell, A. 1991. The language of news media, Oxford: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar] has demonstrated in relation to print news, these elements occur in temporal disorganization). In this paper, in line with other recent treatments of news stories, we suggest that news does not conform to this kind of “narrative” structure as such. Examining data taken from print and live-broadcast TV news through a Sacksian (1995) lens, we argue that it is possible to simplify the analysis of news structure by approaching the news as “stories,” where the story elements are organized around the notions of category, action, and reason rather than as a series of narrative clauses involving orientation, complicating actions, evaluation, and resolution (Bell, 1991 Bell, A. 1991. The language of news media, Oxford: Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]; van Dijk, 1988 Van Dijk, T. A. 1988. News as discourse, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.  [Google Scholar]).     

The development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth, 1870s–1960s

¹ 1. Use of the term ‘recordkeeping’ should not be taken as an endorsement of the Records Continuum as elaborated by Frank Upward and his collaborators. View all notesThis essay demonstrates that initiatives in the imperial periphery, not least in Western Australia, played a significant role in the development of recordkeeping systems in the British Empire and Commonwealth. Local circumstances, including the adequacy of local revenues and the availability of skilled staff, played their part in shaping the systems. Nonetheless, there are overarching patterns. The need to maintain security provided a potent driver for the creation of confidential registries. The need to carry out basic functions influenced the design of recordkeeping systems far more than any shared ‘imperial imaginary’. The diverging work patterns of colonial capitals and of district administrations tended to produce distinct recordkeeping systems. The development of integrated registry systems may have played a part in the development of the Secretariat as an institution of colonial government.     

On Shadowing the Hybrid Character of Actions: A Communicational Approach

This article extends the discussion of McDonald (2005) McDonald, S. 2005. Studying actions in context: A qualitative shadowing method for organizational research. Qualitative Research, 5: 455–473. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] concerning the use of shadowing as a research technique for studying actions in organizational contexts. It addresses McDonald's observation that the few studies that refer to this technique do not make any attempt to discuss their methodological choices or their epistemological standpoints. In this paper, we intend to contribute to this emerging debate in two ways. First, we explore and discuss some contrasting applications of shadowing in the organizational literature in order to render explicit the researcher's ontological and epistemological standpoints. Second, we present our own application of shadowing starting with the redefinition of organization as a plenum of agencies (Cooren, 2006 Cooren, F. 2006. “The organizational world as a plenum of agencies”. In Communication as organizing: Practical approaches to research into the dynamic of text and conversation, Edited by: Cooren, F., Taylor, J. R. and Van Every, E. J. 81–100. Mahwah, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.  [Google Scholar]) that emerges from communication (Taylor & Van Every, 2000 Taylor, J. R. and Van Every. 2000. The emergent organization: Communication as its site and surface, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.  [Google Scholar]). Considering these theoretical grounds we propose, inspired by Latour's (2005) Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press.  [Google Scholar] motto “follow the actors,” to shadow the hybrid character actions. This implies, from a methodological point of view: 1) documenting the flows that compose these actions, over the course of which a set of objects are mobilized in series of interactions, (2) applying an equivalent analytical strategy to whatever actor we are studying, and (3) grasping both the material and discursive dimension of communication as action.     

Development and Validation of the Student Interest and Engagement Scales

A series of studies report the development of empirically derived instruments that measure student interest and engagement. The first study inductively develops an initial item pool through open-ended questionnaire data. A second study subjects the measures to exploratory factor analysis to ascertain an underlying factor structure. The third study deductively tests the measures through confirmatory factor analysis and examines associations among teacher communication behaviors, student emotional and cognitive interest, and engagement. A fourth study offers discriminant validity evidence, suggesting that the new measures are distinct from scales that assess similar yet divergent constructs. Guided by prior theory (Mottet, Frymier, & Beebe, 2006 Mottet, T. P., Frymier, A. B. and Beebe, S. A. 2006. “Theorizing about instructional communication”. In Handbook of instructional communication, Edited by: Mottet, T. P., Richmond, V. P. and McCroskey, J. C. 255–282. Boston, MA: Pearson.  [Google Scholar]) and research (Harp & Mayer, 1997 Harp, S. F. and Mayer, R. E. 1997. The role of interest in learning from scientific text and illustration: On the distinction between emotional interest and cognitive interest. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89: 92–102. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the instruments developed here possess heuristic potential for instructional communication research. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.     

Strategic Communication during Marital Relationship Dissolution: Disengagement Resistance Strategies

This study investigated the communication strategies used by divorced individuals who did not wish their marriages to end (non-initiators). Participants were 270 divorced persons drawn from divorce recovery and support groups as well as network sampling. An adaptation of Buss's (1988 Buss , D. M. ( 1988 ). From vigilance to violence: Tactics of mate retention in American undergraduates . Ethology and Sociobiology , 9 , 291 – 317 . [CROSSREF] [CSA] [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) taxonomy of partner retention tactics served to capture the communication strategies of non-initiators during marital dissolution. A factor analysis revealed that four disengagement resistance strategies—commitment, alignment, negativity, and harm—are used by non-initiators during the process of marital dissolution.     

How We Hired a Content Strategist (And Why You Should Too)

Libraries were once the trailblazers for developing Web sites in the early 1990s, but today many library Web sites are bloated with outdated, irrelevant, and unfriendly content. Some institutions have recently turned to content strategy—the practice of planning “for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content” (Halvorson 2011 Halvorson, K. 2011. Understanding the discipline of web content strategy. Bulletin of the American Society of Information Science and Technology 37:23–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bult.2011.1720370208.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 23)—to address these problems. In this article, the authors argue that large libraries can benefit from creating a dedicated staff role for content strategy. They explore how the University of Arizona Libraries moved from its first forays in content strategy to adding a full-time, permanent content strategist to the staff. The authors describe the key elements that were important in making the case for this position and detail considerations for recruitment and hiring. They also discuss the role a content strategist can play for improving the overall user experience beyond just the library Web site.     

Playing With Dialectics: Black Female Friendship Groups as a Homeplace

Female friendships are significant to many Black females because they represent a homeplace, or a safe space. This study uses Baxter and Montgomery's (1996 Baxter , L. A. , & Montgomery , B. M. ( 1996 ). Relating: Dialogues and dialectics . New York , NY : The Guilford Press . [Google Scholar], 1998 Baxter , L. A. , & Montgomery , B. M. ( 1998 ). A guide to dialectical approaches to studying interpersonal relationships . In B. M. Montgomery & L. A. Baxter (Eds.), Dialectical approaches to studying interpersonal relationships (pp. 1 – 16 ). Mahwah , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum . [Google Scholar]) relational dialectics theory and Collins’ (2000 Collins , P. H. ( 2000 ). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment ( ed.) , 2nd . New York , NY : Routledge . [Google Scholar]) Black feminist thought to understand the interplay of contradictions in the stories that Black females tell in their friendship groups. The contradictions embedded in the stories were finances (spending/saving), language (“good”/“bad” English), appearance (satisfaction/dissatisfaction), and race (acceptance/rejection of otherness). The interaction of these tensions showed that the friends engaged in group segregation and integration, which ultimately enabled them to freely express their culturally based truths without fear of marginalization.     

Redesigning Services for the Net-Gen and Beyond: A Holistic Review of Pedagogy,Resource, and Learning Space

Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) described the Net Generation or Net Gen, who have never known life without the Internet. They note the incremental nature of change: “One generation's technology is taken for granted by the next” (p. 2.1). In a world increasingly dominated by technology, the academic library has become a place to learn that is constantly adapting and changing, reflecting “what the student does” (Biggs, 2007 Biggs, J. 2007. Teaching for quality learning at university: what the student does, , 3rd ed, Maidenhead: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Pathfinder funding from the Higher Education Academy has enabled Bournemouth University (BU) to explore the pedagogies of learning in a hybrid environment and consider how Web 2.0 technologies within a virtual learning environment contribute to the acquisition and development of academic literacy skills. Good library design demonstrates agility and adaptability in the use of space (Heppel et al., 2004 Heppel, S., Chapman, C., Millwood, R., Constable, M. and Furness, J. 2004. Building learning futures. A research project at Ultralab within the CABE/RIBA “Building Futures” programme 〈http://rubble.heppell.net/cabe/final_report.pdf〉 (accessed 24 July 2008) [Google Scholar]). Virtual environments enable integration of resources within the unit of study. Subject librarians, academics, and learning technologists are developing new ways of working together to deliver resources. The rate of change is exponential but is full of opportunity (“Libraries Unleashed,” 2008). In 2009 Bournemouth University will open a new library for postgraduate business students without any books, but with each student equipped with an e-book reader. This article will discuss the academic skills and learning spaces students will need to read for a degree in an environment that is predominantly electronic.