Compressed speech by mnemonic joining: A negative implication for broadcasting

This study extended talk radio research to a developing nation setting. Results received from a Kingston, Jamaica sample of 268 adults, with access to 10 call‐in programs, supported the hypothesis that information and surveillance are the primary gratifications sought from call‐in radio programs in a developing nation. In contrast to U.S. results, reinforcement and companionship were less sought from talk radio listening. Lower socioeconomic status, lower educated, and higher isolated listeners were most apt to find gratification through a range of call‐in programs. These results indicate a potentially important role for call‐in radio in developing nations.     

A study of the factors relative to the incidence of cleft palate births from 1945 through 1949 in San Bernardino county

This study investigated the influence that speaker characteristics other than dimensions of source credibility may have in the formation of listeners’ impressions of speaker credibility. It was found that the responses followed a simple information averaging model in about 80% of all cases. For the remaining 20% of the listeners, however, there was a significant interaction between traits. This mixed effect suggests caution in the interpretation of results of credibility studies. It was found further that all positive and negative source credibility dimensions can be treated safely as equal in weight, except for the negative pole of the Trustworthiness dimension; an untrustworthy speaker, regardless of his other qualities, was viewed as a questionable message source.     

Disembodied Voices and Dislocated Signals: The World of Modern-Day DXing

DXing is a hobby which historically has been associated with amateur radio enthusiasts, though there are subcategories of DXing which focus on shortwave, AM, FM, and other communications. DXing features many interesting characteristics, including its own jargon, intercultural communication, a competitive, gendered orientation, eavesdropping, and a strong sense of community.

This article examines an understudied aspect of radio listening: the DXing community. There is a dearth of scholarly research focusing on this community of radio listeners, but DXing remains a popular and widely practiced hobby and aspect of radio listening to this day. Based on 17 interviews that were conducted with active, present-day DXers (including ham radio DXers and broadcast band DXers), as well as a textual analysis of articles and other materials pertaining to DXing, this article examines the hobby, the particular aspects which appeal to its participants, and some of its notable characteristics, such as the jargon that has developed within the community, and its social networking aspect. Furthermore, the response of the DXing community to the growth and increased prevalence of new media technologies is also examined.     

A Study of Changes in the Library and Information Science Curriculum with Evaluation of Its Practicality

PurposeThis study analyzed the process of changes in Korean Library and Information Science curriculum and evaluated the courses currently available by using a perception survey of librarians in the field. It also explored a possible demand for new courses, while suggesting compulsory, core, and optional courses for Bachelor's degree curriculum in Library and Information Science worldwide including Korea and the US.Design/Methodology/ApproachThis study progressed through a total of 5 steps as follows: investigating the background of why current courses of Library and Information Science were offered (interview), finding out the current courses in Library and Information Science (homepage search and phone interview), finding out which courses students have actually completed among those available (literature and resource research), evaluating the practicality of the available courses by librarians in the field (survey), and exploring the demand for new courses (survey). In addition, this study analyzed the process of change in the courses offered by investigating the curriculum over the last 20 years.FindingsFirst and foremost, it was found that the decision of which course will be offered is strongly influenced by faculty. Second, in the analysis of the process of opening up new courses, it was revealed that the number of courses is growing and the courses are becoming more diversified and more specific. Third, the survey results of the completion of curriculum for the last three years in 10 universities demonstrate that only 50% of the available courses are being completed. Fourth, in the survey of which courses the librarians in the field think are necessary among the 90 courses suggested, 21 courses scored more than 4 points in a 5-point Likert scale regarding the demand for new courses. Fifth, the new courses which scored high levels of demand points were: Practice in Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections, and Information and Communication in a Digital Age. Sixth, this study shows that there is a high level of agreement between courses completed by students and those which gained high levels of demand points in the practicality evaluation.Limitations/ImplicationsAs this study was performed in Korea where the Bachelor's degree course is fundamental, it will contribute valuable information to countries where universities have recently opened or are trying to open programs for Bachelor's degrees in Library and Information Science such as the US, or to curriculum study in countries such as China and Japan which have educational environments similar to Korea. However, similar studies need to be performed in different countries.Originality/ValueThis study has great significance as it has analyzed not only the curriculum of the last 20 years but also discovered how many of the newly created courses have actually been completed by students and the opinions of librarians in the field on these courses; there has not been such an encompassing study as this either inside or outside of Korea.     

Search,Serendipity, and the Researcher Experience

ABSTRACT

Lettie Conrad reported on the findings of original research on academic user experience with serendipitous discovery in scholarly research. This research has been released as the fourth installment of a series about discoverability as part of the SAGE White Papers. This research was designed to examine how students and faculty seek content beyond the search box. The researchers being studied take advantage of unplanned or unexpected content discoveries such as selecting a link in an e-mail alert, following a trail of citations within an important paper, or making use of recommendations. The study found that researchers decide to follow recommendations, either machine generated or from an acquaintance, based on a combination of perception of relevance to the field of study, access to the recommended article, and trust in the provider. SAGE has used these findings to enhance its products to better showcase content to users and then help them to more readily make sense of it.     

“Hello! This is Jerusalem calling”: The revival of spoken Hebrew on the Mandatory radio (1936–1948)

ABSTRACT

In this article we argue that an important landmark in the revival of spoken Hebrew has been overlooked by historians, linguists, and culture scholars: The launching of Kol Yerushalayim, the Hebrew Service of British Mandatory Radio, on 30 March 1936. Between 1936 and 1948 the Hebrew Hour became the shared public space in which spoken Hebrew – dynamic, updated, meticulously pronounced – was realized. The important role of the Hebrew radio in the Yishuv can be attributed to five factors that were responsible for the spread of spoken Hebrew among both veterans and newcomers: (1) its ability to reach into listeners’ homes, which served as a metonym for the yet-absent Zionist sovereignty, creating a shared, exclusive Hebrew space; (2) its contribution to the standardization of Hebrew by adopting the Sephardic accent; (3) its enrichment and updating of the language by inventing and suggesting vital neologisms; (4) its institutionalization of regular time-slots for teaching the language; (5) its innovative ways of addressing audiences, who were simultaneously far away and very close, in accordance with the characteristics of the new medium.     

Research Support in Australian Academic Libraries: Services,Resources, and Relationships

ABSTRACT

In the last decade Australian academic libraries have increasingly aligned their research support services with assessment criteria used in the national research evaluation exercise (Excellence for Research in Australia). The same period has seen growing interest in research impact outside of traditional measures, such as bibliometrics. Social media has provided opportunities for research dissemination and new tools, altmetrics, to measure these activities have emerged. This article reports on research into the extent and nature of research support services at Australian academic libraries, how the services are managed, and the factors that influence their development and delivery. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to compare the findings with an earlier study and to provide a deeper understanding of research support in Australia. Three key themes, services, staff and resourcing, and relationships, are discussed in relation to the management and challenges faced in providing research support.     

Role of the Information Professional in the Development and Promotion of Digital Humanities Content for Research,Teaching, and Learning in the Modern Academic Library: An Irish Case Study

ABSTRACT

The Internet has been the catalyst for the convergence of many subject areas and online platforms. Information professionals such as Archivists, IT developers and especially Librarians have been impacted in the development and promotion of digital humanities content for research, teaching, and learning in the modern academic library. In this case study, relevant findings from research that sought to determine the level of awareness of digital humanities in Irish Libraries is examined. The research project, The Mary Martin Diary, is highlighted as an example of a multidisciplinary collaboration project that utilized library communication skills, project management skills, digital humanities tools and techniques, as well as other online resources in its development. These skills and tools have the potential to be applied to similar projects that librarians engage in. Recommendations derived from this research highlight the practical application of skills for information professionals and their roles in the development and promotion of digital humanities content for research, teaching, and learning in the modern academic library.     

The Rosarium Project: A case of merging traditional reference librarian skills with digital humanities technology

ABSTRACT

The role of the reference librarian has changed considerably over the past thirty years. Today reference librarians spend as much time on public relations as on answering reference questions and more time solving log-in issues than on helping with research. Despite this, there is still a role for reference librarians to play using their research and curation skills. That role involves the digital humanities, particularly text encoding projects following the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative Consortium (TEI). One such TEI project is the Rosarium Project, which curates online popular materials about roses.     

Factors related to an individual's ability to perceive implications of dialogues

Short dialogues were devised, recorded, and validated to imply situations, motives, and emotions with little explicit content. Correlations were obtained between listeners’ abilities to perceive various kinds of implications and their psychological characteristics, educational aptitudes, sex, and other factors. The results indicate that college females are superior to college males in perceiving various kinds of implications, that this superiority occurs when at least one of the speakers is female, and that, at least for females, these abilities are closely related to a combination of certain psychological traits.     

Measuring Weathering and Nanoparticle Coating Impact on Surface Roughness of Natural Stones

ABSTRACT

The surface texture of a stone represents a sensitive parameter in evaluating its conservation state. In monuments and sculptures, in fact, external agents continuously alter the appearance of stones, determining peculiar weathering patterns and modifying properties such as retention of water and particles, interaction with light, color, and finishing. The application of protective coatings also determines changes in surface appearance of a stone, usually evaluated and monitored by color change tests. Surface metrology methods offer the possibility to quantify these changes, evaluating the impact of external agents (natural, i.e. weathering, and artificially, i.e. protective coatings) on natural stones. In this research, we demonstrate the potential of surface areal measurements in describing the evolution of weathering processes and the effects of protective treatments on porous stone materials. The obtained results suggest that the extent of the modifications is related to the scale of observation (small- vs. large-scale undulations, i.e. roughness and waviness, respectively), with an overall increase of surface roughness as the weathering proceeds. Unexpectedly, coatings based on nanoparticle dispersions increase the topographic height parameters, due to the absence of a homogeneous film.     

Epoxy resin-consolidated stone: appearance change on aging

Abstract

Dilute solutions of epoxy resins have been used successfully in the past to consolidate deteriorated, porous stone. However, the appearance change (darkening, yellowing) on curing has proved to be a deterrent to the wider use of these materials by conservators. In the study reported here, it is shown that solvent washing to remove surface-deposited resin and exposure to sunlight are effective methods for restoring the original visual appearance of consolidated outdoor stone.     

Learning with Gadgets: Teaching Persuasive Strategies through Student-Created Infomercials

Courses: Public Speaking, Professional Speaking, Advanced Public Speaking, Business and Professional Communication

Objective: Student speakers and listeners will apply their knowledge of persuasive strategies to create and evaluate infomercials.     

Developing the 21st Century Academic Librarian: The Research Support Ambassador Programme

ABSTRACT

The nature of academic librarianship is changing as librarians move away from the curation of material and into research support roles. Although this creates new opportunities it can be difficult for staff to learn the skills needed. The Office of Scholarly Communication at Cambridge University seeks to address this issue with the Research Support Ambassadors Programme, an initiative which skills staff in areas such as Research Data Management and Open Access. This case study outlines the evolution of the program from its pilot through to its recently completed second run in 2016. The challenges associated with running a cross-library training program are discussed and solutions highlighted. Also discussed is the impact that the program has had on participants. This case study will be of interest to those aiming to pursue a career in this area of librarianship and those looking at preparing staff for the future of the academic library.     

“Touching the sentiments of everyone”;: Nationalism and state broadcasting in thirties Mexico

This paper provides a historical perspective on the intersection of media, popular culture, and nationalism through a study of the broadcasting policies and programs of one of Mexico's earliest government radio stations. This study analyzes the musical programs that formed the centerpiece of government radio programming in order to evaluate the racial and class ideologies imbedded in the nationalist discourse of state broadcasters. By viewing these government programs through the lens of a broader literature on nationalism in the Third World and among diasporic communities, it is possible to identify a fundamental tension in Mexico's official nationalism between a search for the roots of an “authentic”; ethnic identity, and a need to position Mexican culture within the constellation of Western “civilization.”; Finally, this paper investigates audience reactions to state broadcasts in order to explore the meaning of early broadcast nationalism for Mexico's radio listeners.     

The Census Online: Internet Census Resources for Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

ABSTRACT

The recent censuses in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have resulted in an enormous quantity of resources that are freely available on the Internet. These resources include not only census data, but also other census-related materials such as methodologies and questionnaires that are equally valuable to researchers of the region. Accessing these materials online is convenient and free, but at the same time worrisome from a research standpoint in that much of this material may vanish from the Internet. Since this material has largely not yet appeared in published format, librarians and researchers may consider saving an archival copy for research purposes.     

Identifying Criminal Justice Faculty Research Interests Using Voyant and NVivo

Abstract

Inspired by Gao’s text analysis of communication studies faculty, this study looks at the trends from 176 faculty publications from the criminal justice department at the University of Nevada, Reno. Criminal justice faculty publications are missing from library science text analysis literature. This study uses Voyant and NVivo 12 to analyze words and phrases from titles and abstracts to identify research interests. Voyant itself was found to be sufficient and identified specific research trends such as organizational commitment, amber alerts, and death qualification. This study can assist liaison librarians in selecting between these two tools based on their needs.     

VISION OF THE SERMON BY PAUL GAUGUIN: AN EXPLORATION OF MAKING AND MEANING

Abstract

In preparation for a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland in 2005, a thorough technical examination of VISION OF THE SERMON by Paul Gauguin was undertaken for the first time since the painting's acquisition in 1925. An inter-disciplinary approach to the research was adopted in an attempt to assess how innovative were the materials and techniques employed by Gauguin in this iconic work. The importance of the unique customs and religious piety of Brittany in 1888 to the iconography of Vision is discussed, as well as the various ways in which the original appearance of the painting has altered over time. Changes have occurred through both the natural ageing of materials and as a result of human intervention, particularly an aqueous lining and reframing. Analysis suggests that the paint medium consists of several different drying oils, confounding years of speculation that it may contain wax. The discovery that the original surface coating contains beeswax and tallow has grave implications for the feasibility of future conservation treatments. Following Gauguin's accusation of plagiarism by Emile Bernard, a tentative comparison is made between Vision and the latter's Breton Women in the Meadow. This reveals that while compositional similarities exist, Vision is far more complex, both in conception and execution.     

Panel 1: Continuity and Change in University Scholarship

ABSTRACT

Information technology developments over the past 3 decades have profoundly influenced university scholarship, but the relationship has been characterized by aspects of both continuity and change. This panel of presentations and ensuing discussion consider ways in which these developments drive changes in scholarly practice and present challenges for research libraries on issues such as interoperability or facilitating access in a networked environment.     

Social Media Marketing: Determining and Comparing View of Public Library Directors and Users

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The present study aims to determine and compare the views of directors and users of public libraries on the use of social media for the marketing of library services.

Methodology: Data collection was done through two researcher-made questionnaires, one from the viewpoints of directors and one investigating the views of users. The questionnaires’ validity was done by four libraries and Information Science professionals, and the reliability was determined by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The statistical population of this research is made up of all directors and users of 12 public libraries of the city of Isfahan, one of the largest cities in Iran.

Findings: In users’ viewpoints, the “interaction capability” is the most important feature that social media marketing can have in libraries. From the viewpoints of the directors, “creating a true picture of the role of the library” and “informing users about library services” are among the most important reasons for the marketing of libraries in the social media. From the perspective of both groups, the Telegram is the most appropriate medium for the marketing of library services.

Results: To maintain their customers and their market position, libraries need to use more exciting tools such as social media for marketing. Library directors of this study emphasized on this fact and 79.1% of users expressed interest in receiving library information through social media.

Value: The findings of this study would help the library directors to better decide on the marketing of their library services in social media.

Type of the study: Scientific-Research