Establishing a research agenda communication education: A symposium

Organizations charged with wrongdoing often face social legitimacy crises and subsequently issue apologiae. Whether the charge is rooted in incompetence, as was Exxon's after the Alaskan oil spill, or a policy choice viewed to be irresponsible, as in the case of Domino's Pizza after a series of fatal automobile accidents, corporate apologists seek to purify their damaged images through a negative strategy of dissociation and a positive strategy of corrective action and reaffirmation of public values. This generic analysis suggests that corporate apologia warrants a distinct line of research due to the significant'differences that distinguish itffbm individualist conceptions of apologia.     

Ally,Advocate, Activist: Semester-long civic engagement in the basic communication course

Courses: Basic communication course.

Objectives: Using the Ally, Advocate, Activist framework in a basic communication course will help students apply course concepts to their lives and communities. This framework helps students practice civic engagement while mastering the skills that are typically tested for assessment purposes in the basic communication course.     

Libraries,Literacy and Development: Combined Libraries as an Option for Developing Countries

Abstract

Public and school library development has been slow in Third World countries. This can only be overcome by a shift in perception whereby libraries become important to national development and educational and literacy goals. When considering transformation in library mission and delivery systems, combined school and public libraries offer an alternate and innovative model. Research has determined conditions under which combined libraries are successful and when these success factors and conditions in developing countries are juxtaposed, striking correlations appear. Combined libraries may offer the integration necessary in a climate of scarcity; they may provide the framework in which libraries can serve all the people by contributing to a literate environment and literacy efforts, while supporting formal education and development programs.     

Dependency and Autonomy: Strategies for a Leader’s First 90 Days

Abstract

Rather than reinventing the wheel for each new position, leaders in libraries may choose to rely on heuristics that leading thinkers in organizational theory have pointed out exist in many organizational settings. One of the central concerns they have elucidated is the dynamic between dependency and autonomy, which are ways of understanding a main theme in the narrative the organization is telling about itself in direct and indirect ways. This column adapts this framework to a new leader’s first few months on the job in order to highlight organizational signals or tells that would key the new leader into how dependency and autonomy exist as a balance.     

A framework for building brand equity online for pure‐play B2C retailers and services

Abstract

Brand equity is an important asset that a B2C company can leverage to compete and prosper in its unique and intensely competitive environment. This paper provides a framework for building brand equity model. Based on this framework, some strategies are suggested to build brand equity online. Implications of the framework for research and practice are also discussed.     

Dimensions of source credibility: A test for reproducibility

This study investigated the variability of scales representing four factors of source credibility and the overall factor structure of subjects’ perceptions of and attributions to a message source. The results confirmed the hypotheses that (1) scales representing factors of source credibility will change over time, and (2) the factor structure (the number of significant factors and the amount of variance accounted for by the factors) would also change over time. The authors suggest that if the view is accepted that communication is an ongoing dynamic process, then an individual's experiences in the communication setting and the variables affecting perceptions of the process will be expected to change continually.     

From Cooperation to Collaboration: Toward a Framework for Deepening Library Partnerships

Abstract

Librarians are encouraged to collaborate in their work, but examples in LIS literature suggests the term “collaboration” is applied to a range of activities that vary widely in terms of interaction, resource-sharing, cooperative planning, and cooperative service delivery. Collaboration has been studied in other fields but remains largely unexplored beyond case studies in LIS. Through a series of focus groups with librarians and a range of potential community partners, this research identified barriers to collaboration and factors that enable successful partnerships, resulting in a general framework that could act as a guide to planning and developing deep collaborations.     

Whiteness,internationalization, and erasure: decolonizing futures from the Global South

ABSTRACT

The essay explores the mobility of Whiteness in networks of Communication Studies that posture themselves as speaking from the Global South. Depoliticized languages of de-westernizing, internationalizing, and decolonizing are often articulated by elites in North-South networks pushing neoliberal governmentality, erasing claims to radical equality that emerge from within socialist struggles in the Global South. In resistance, a radical framework of knowledge from the Global South emerges from within subaltern struggles for hegemony, achieved through (a) delinking from the metropoles of the North and (b) explicitly crafting a socialist anticolonial politics that names and dismantles Whiteness as a capitalist project.     

Library Science,Knowledge Management,Competitive Intelligence

Summary

The gathering, organization, and archiving of critical business intelligence is a complex task. Competitive Intelligence systems gather information for use in the decision making process. Knowledge Management Systems are used to organize this knowledge. Library Science provides structure for the storage of published documents, in both printed and electronic formats. This paper proposes that the common link among the three disciplines is Archive Theory, which is the process by which an archive of information is built. This process provides a framework for analysis of what documents or information to retain and what format to use when retaining them. The paper details the linkage and concludes with an example of a working system that ties all parts together.     

The decisions and processes involved in a systematic search strategy: a hierarchical framework

Objective:The decisions and processes that may compose a systematic search strategy have not been formally identified and categorized. This study aimed to (1) identify all decisions that could be made and processes that could be used in a systematic search strategy and (2) create a hierarchical framework of those decisions and processes.Methods:The literature was searched for documents or guides on conducting a literature search for a systematic review or other evidence synthesis. The decisions or processes for locating studies were extracted from eligible documents and categorized into a structured hierarchical framework. Feedback from experts was sought to revise the framework. The framework was revised iteratively and tested using recently published literature on systematic searching.Results:Guidance documents were identified from expert organizations and a search of the literature and Internet. Data were extracted from 74 eligible documents to form the initial framework. The framework was revised based on feedback from 9 search experts and further review and testing by the authors. The hierarchical framework consists of 119 decisions or processes sorted into 17 categories and arranged under 5 topics. These topics are “Skill of the searcher,” “Selecting information to identify,” “Searching the literature electronically,” “Other ways to identify studies,” and “Updating the systematic review.”Conclusions:The work identifies and classifies the decisions and processes used in systematic searching. Future work can now focus on assessing and prioritizing research on the best methods for successfully identifying all eligible studies for a systematic review.     

Community Connections: Advocating for Libraries through Effective Brand Advocacy

ABSTRACT

Information professionals strive to understand the needs of communities in order to discover ways to connect and engage them in library resources and services. Positive word-of-mouth communication remains one of the most powerful tools used to develop mutually rewarding connections with the community. This article argues that libraries can harness the power of brand advocacy to transform their patrons into the most enthusiastic sharers of information, or informal brand advocates. Moreover, it emphasizes how libraries can carefully build and maintain mutually rewarding community connections through effective brand advocacy by utilizing the STEPPS framework – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories. Each principle in this framework can help an organization to effectively spread important brand messages. While the social currency principle encourages people to talk about topics that make them appear more favorable to others, triggers provide everyday cues that remind people of the library brand. Emotion focuses on appealing to feelings and the public principle calls for initiatives that advertise the brand. Finally, practical value motivates people to spread useful information and the stories principle explains that people share their experiences through memorable narratives. The article calls for adopting a holistic approach toward brand advocacy in applying the STEPPS framework in libraries.     

Chapter IX: Extenuating Circumstances: The Framework of Factors Influencing Cost Effectiveness Within the SUNY Express Network

SUMMARY

The SUNY Express document and book delivery service was implemented in October 1993, within the context of cooperative resource sharing among the SUNY (State University of New York) University Center Libraries. This article discusses the fixed cost factors of the service, insights gained about actual costs, and the framework of additional cost factors influencing overall cost effectiveness of the cooperative. The article primarily presents the perspective of an individual institution (the University at Albany), but it also discusses cost factors generally applied to the four SUNY University Centers (Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook).     

Awareness,Reporting, and Branding: Exploring Influences on Brazilian Journalists’ Social Media Use across Platforms

ABSTRACT

This study examines the individual and organizational level factors shaping Brazilian journalists’ use of social media. Results from a survey of 774 reporters show that individual factors influence awareness and reporting uses, while organizational factors are associated with branding. Results suggest no difference between groups of journalists, when it comes to incorporating social media for reporting; but online reporters engage in branding and use social media as an awareness system more than their counterparts. Findings also reveal that journalists have not fully embraced the participatory potential of social media, as only trust in information posted by other journalists relates to adoption.     

Performance of conceptual framework elements for the retrieval of qualitative health literature: a case study

Objective:A growing volume of studies address methods for performing systematic reviews of qualitative studies. One such methodological aspect is the conceptual framework used to structure the review question and plan the search strategy for locating relevant studies. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the retrieval potential of each element of conceptual frameworks in qualitative systematic reviews in the health sciences.Methods:The presence of elements from conceptual frameworks in publication titles, abstracts, and controlled vocabulary in CINAHL and PubMed was analyzed using a set of qualitative reviews and their included studies as a gold standard. Using a sample of 101 publications, we determined whether particular publications could be retrieved if a specific element from the conceptual framework was used in the search strategy.Results:We found that the relative recall of conceptual framework elements varied considerably, with higher recall for patient/population (99%) and research type (97%) and lower recall for intervention/phenomenon of interest (74%), outcome (79%), and context (61%).Conclusion:The use of patient/population and research type elements had high relative recall for qualitative studies. However, other elements should be used with great care due to lower relative recall.     

Type of speech,sex of speaker,and sex of subject as factors influencing persuasion

Speeches that advocated “institutional”; norms were compared with speeches that did not, in conditions where male and female speakers were varied. Female speakers were more successful when they took a noninstitutional position, and male speakers were more successful when they took an institutional position. “Masculinity”; and “Femininity”; were not significant factors in any of the effects.     

Savannah River National Laboratory Emergency Response Capability for Atmospheric Contaminant Releases

ABSTRACT

Emergency response to an atmospheric release of chemical or radiological contamination is enhanced when plume predictions, field measurements, and real-time weather information are integrated into a geospatial framework. The Weather Information and Display (WIND) System at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) utilizes such an integrated framework. The rapid availability of predictions from a suite of atmospheric transport models within this geospatial framework has proven to be of great value to decision makers during an emergency involving an atmospheric contaminant release.     

Scientific storytelling: A narrative strategy for scientific communicators

Courses: Science communication, public speaking, technical communication, professional and/or management communication

Objectives: This activity about scientific and technical communication uses narrative principles to communicate complex information to broader audiences. Upon completion of the activity, students will be able to:

• (1)?Explain the four fundamental elements of Cohen’s framework for creating memorable anecdotes.

• (2)?Identify the four elements of Cohen’s framework in sample scientific presentations.

• (3)?Provide examples of how to apply Cohen’s framework to communicate complex information.

• (4)?Identify one or two complex concepts in their subject area that would benefit from a narrative approach.

• (5)?(Optional) Use Cohen’s framework to create a narrative relevant to their subject area.