Examining the World’s Game in the United States: Impact of Nationalized Qualities on Fan Identification and Consumption of the 2014 FIFA World Cup

To explore the role of media consumption as it relates to impressions of one’s nation, data were collected using a nationally generalizable sample of 979 American citizens over 6 different collection points before, during, and after the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Results showed a relationship between 4 nationalized qualities (patriotism, nationalism, smugness, and internationalism) and amount of World Cup media consumption. However, these reported qualities fluctuated very little over time, indicating that nationalized qualities are very hard-wired for most individuals, likely serving more as predictors of sports media consumption than effects of it. Relationships were also found between nationalized qualities and levels of fan identification toward the U.S. Men’s National Team. Conclusions related to applications to social identity theory and several other potential influences are articulated.     

Truth vs. Authenticity: Dealing with More “Good” Books Going “Bad” and Seeking Opportunities for Catalog Record Enhancement

ABSTRACT

Discusses the challenges and opportunities inherent in enhancing the catalog record for books that have developed documented reputations at odds with earlier certifications of authenticity, credibility, and quality. Librarians, as historically arbiters only of order and access, are reluctant to engage books beyond their organization and their facts. The author features a number of books and authors whose reputations have been recently and rightly sullied and argues that libraries should approach these works with the goal and giving them new contexts for the patron.     

Graduate theses and dissertations on broadcasting: 1956–1958

A discussion of state and local taxation of broadcast stations appeared in the very first issue of the Journal of Broadcasting (1:70–74, Winter 1956–57), and is now updated to cover important cases and findings of recent years in a number of states. The taxes proposed raise not only questions of income dillution, but of federal vs. state/local regulation of broadcasting. Mr. Kennedy is completing work on an MA degree in telecommunications at the University of Southern California.     

A Review of: “Going Beyond Google: The Invisible Web in Learning and Teaching. Devine,Jane and Egger-Sider,Francine.”

As technology rapidly changes, libraries remain go-to points for education and technology skill development. In academic health sciences libraries, trends suggest librarians provide more training on technology topics than ever before. While education and training have always been roles for librarians, providing technology training on new mobile devices and emerging systems requires class creation and training capabilities that are new to many librarians. To appeal to their users, many health sciences librarians are interested in developing technology-based classes. This column explores the question: what skills are necessary for developing and teaching technology in an academic health sciences library setting?     

Travel Report: Kyiv and L'viv,Ukraine, April 21–29, 2012

This article reports on a trip taken by the author, a Library of Congress reference librarian responsible for Ukraine, to Kyiv and L'viv, Ukraine, April 21–29, 2012. The trip was sponsored by the American Council for International Education and the US Department of State.     

Contested Kicks: Sneakers and Gay Masculinity, 1964–2008

This paper presents a critical ethnography of an example of fashion's mediating cultural work: sneakers and North American gay men. This rich example presents fashion with a specific garment and wearers, yet mediating work in multiple directions, exemplifying fashion's ambivalence and flexibility. I will describe three positions taken, articulated around gender, and their relations to dominant culture: (1) sneakers are feminine and rejected in opposition to dominant culture; (2) sneakers are masculine and embraced in assimilation into dominant culture; and (3) sneakers are masculine and embraced in opposition to dominant culture. Beginning from a position of ambivalence (like fashion itself), I will elaborate historical and cultural contexts, showing a particular garment, among a particular group, put to varied ends. However, multiplicity is not necessarily progressive. While there are counter-hegemonic aspects to these sneaker positions– resisting stereotypes, embracing difference, denaturalizing sex, gender, and sexuality constructions– other aspects preserve the status quo. While admiring the creativity evidenced, I ultimately question positions untaken, such as embracing femininity.     

Constructing Television Communities: The FCC,Signals, and Cities, 1948–1957

This study analyzes the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) efforts to define the television “community” as it formulated a national television system. The first opportunity came with the Sixth Report and Order, when the FCC made no provision for tailoring signal contours to existing communities. The second came when the FCC established program guidelines for new TV licensees and mandated a broad, amorphous community to be served by local programming. Such communities often bore little relation to local political, cultural, or social units. These spatial dimensions, which efficiently served network advertisers, still exist in many U.S. television communities.     

Trip Report: Moscow and Krasnoiarsk,Russia, October 1–12, 2010

In this article, the author describes his participation in a conference in Krasnoiarsk on Gennadii Vasil'evich Iudin; in a meeting in Moscow on the Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection of color photographs; and in a meeting on Russian émigré publications at the Russkoe zarubezh'e [Russian emigration] library in Moscow.     

Superior–Subordinate Communication in the Workplace: Verbal Aggression,Nonverbal Immediacy,and Their Joint Effects on Perceived Superior Credibility

This study examined the joint effects of a superior’s verbally aggressive behaviors and nonverbal immediacy behaviors on a subordinate’s perceptions of a superior’s credibility. Participants (n = 415) from intact classes were randomly assigned into one of the four experiment conditions simulated by four video segments: use of nonverbal immediacy and verbal aggression, nonuse of nonverbal immediacy and use of verbal aggression, use of nonverbal immediacy and nonuse of verbal aggression, and nonuse of nonverbal immediacy and verbal aggression. The findings indicate that superiors who do not use verbally aggressive messages and who are nonverbally immediate were perceived with a higher level of competence, trustworthiness, and caring than superiors who use verbally aggressive messages and who are not nonverbally immediate. In addition, superiors who use verbally aggressive messages and who are nonverbally immediate were perceived with the lowest level of perceived competence as compared to superiors in the other three conditions.     

The War of the Airwaves in Portugal: Foreign Propaganda on Short and Medium Waves, 1933–1945

This article focuses on the start of the “war of the airwaves” in Portugal. It provides data on the first foreign shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, describing the background to those initial broadcasts and also analyzing their impact on Portuguese public opinion, as well as the degree of importance afforded such broadcasts by the Allies and the Axis Powers during World War II. Moreover, the article also details some of the strategies used by the warring nations to influence the editorial line of Portuguese radio stations.