Through the Lens of Theory

Abstract

This paper follows an earlier contribution which described the emergence of popular information networks, the resource centre fora in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. This update on the fora sketches their contribution to the National Education Policy Investigation’s Library and Information Services report which put forward national policy options. The resource centre fora’s role in the new Translis (Transforming our Library and Information Services) Coalition is described and their representation at the International Federation of Library Association’s conference in Barcelona in August 1993 noted.

Finally, the role of the resource centres and their fora in the shifting paradigms in library and information work leading up to, and shortly after, the April 1994 election is reviewed. Crucial challenges are identified as funding, resisting 'agenda setting' by funders, and serving the rural areas effectively. Practical suggestions are made about reaching women in particular, about training and needs assessment. Finally the importance of the fora’s meeting these challenges and making a contribution to reconstruction and development is noted.     

Through the Lens of Theory: Perspectives on an International Library Association

This paper discusses a study of the International Association of School Librarianship with the goal of offering a useful alternative model for studying associations: combining theory with a case-study design. While findings of the study are summarized, discussion centers on the case-study methodology and a multi-faceted theoretical framework. The theory applied is traditional and recently emerged theories of organization and the sociological theories of convergence and global integrity ethics. Aims of the paper are threefold: to present the value (to the associations and to scholars) of applying theory to the study of international associations; to provide insight into such associations; and to inspire further research in this field.     

Kanye West versus Kris Allen: Teaching Rhetorical Structure via Music

Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, Communication Theory

Objective: Students will explore how the structure of rhetoric affects and changes a message through analyzing two musical interpretations of the same lyrics.     

Cocoon Minorities: Understanding Rush Limbaugh's Co-option of the Rhetorical Strategies of the Disenfranchised Position Through Homological Analysis

Conceptualizing minority social and political groups calls for careful consideration of power, prestige, and numerical systems. However, when members of empowered groups self-identify as disenfranchised, they create unique rhetorical situations. Through homological analysis of the rhetorical tactics of Rush Limbaugh matched with an analysis of Sandra Fluke's rhetorical strategies, we assert that subtle co-option of communication tactics poses larger questions about self-identification of individuals as minority members within social and political systems.     

Reading Colonial Records Through an Archival Lens: The Provenance of Place, Space and Creation

Analyzes attitudes and use of archives by post-colonial scholars who find that colonial records offer the voices of the master narrative but do not reflect the voices of the oppressed and voiceless. Argues that framing records within social provenance and a ‘community of records’ offers archival solutions to the dilemmas of locating all voices within the spaces of records. “As for what we were like before we met you, I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestor held sway, no documentation of complex civilizations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to, me, what I became after I met you.” Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place     

Teaching About Ideology Through Grading Rubrics

Objective: To provide students with a practical understanding of the effect that ideology has upon their everyday lives

Courses: Persuasion, Rhetorical Theory, Communication Theory, Organizational Communication and any other course that wishes to address the concept of ideology     

Standing on the Shoulders of Libraries: A Holistic and Rhetorical Approach to Teaching Google Scholar

ABSTRACT

In order to understand better and explain the practices of Google Scholar, this essay takes a rhetorical and holistic look at the search technology, language, and sociopolitical implications of the Google Scholar interface as well as the connection between Google Scholar and the actions of the Google Corporation. The relationship between Google Scholar and the academic library is also explored. In addition, the essay offers ways to encourage students to undertake this kind of critique in the information literacy classroom.     

Psychiatric Power: The Post-Museum as a Site of Rhetorical Alignment

This essay examines Brain: The World Inside Your Head, a traveling museum exhibit sponsored by Pfizer, to show how the dissemination of psychiatric vocabularies aligns corporate and individual interests. The spatial composition of the museum and its interactive exhibits interpellate visitors as active agents capable of expressing their experiences through the scientific vocabularies of contemporary neuroscience. The gentle and benevolent conditioning to a way of thought and a manner of speaking, rather than a “hard sell” approach, makes pharmaceutical remedy an obvious and desirable mode of self care.     

Teaching and Transforming Through Stories: An Exploration of Macro- and Micro-Narratives as Teaching Tools

Narratives are one of the most powerful teaching tools available and are often regarded as central to the learning process. We investigate the role of narrative in adult learning in library instructional contexts, introducing the concepts of micro- and macro-narratives and illustrating these ideas using relevant teaching examples. Macro-narratives are stories that are common across many cultures and contain universal themes and lessons. Micro-narratives are stories that are uniquely relevant to the members of a particular group. We argue that both types can be used to create meaningful library learning experiences.     

赞助理论观照下《澳门新闻纸》的编译策略与技巧探究

作为在1839-1840年期间创办的中国第一份译报《澳门新闻纸》的赞助人,林则徐通过对译员的经济、社会地位和意识形态三个方面的不可分型赞助,间接地影响了该翻译作品的生成,进而对其编译策略和技巧起到了决定性的作用。本文采用描述分析的方法考察林则徐的赞助人身份对于《澳门新闻纸》翻译策略与技巧的影响。     

Finopower: Governing Intersections Between Gambling and Finance

Regulatory distinctions between “problem” and “recreational” gambling have contributed to the neglect of important discursive and cultural practices at the intersection of finance and gambling. This intersection is now sufficiently formative of everyday life and popular culture to warrant closer scrutiny within cultural studies research. Through a range of examples, I elaborate the concept of “finopower” as a specific kind of governmentality through which individuals negotiate the mutual imbrications of gambling and finance. The final part of the article draws on theories of “post-disciplinary” societies to explore social and political implications of cultural distinctions between skill and chance-based games.     

An Investigation of First- versus Third-Person Risk Narrative Processing Through the Lens of the Heuristic-Systematic Model

This online experiment analyzed the effect of first- versus third-person risk narratives on 235 female college students’ affect, attitudes, risk perceptions and thoughts regarding tanning beds through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model. Participants receiving a third-person narrative reported a greater number of systematic thoughts as compared to those receiving a first-person narrative. Regardless of condition, participants reported significantly more systematic thoughts as compared to heuristic thoughts. Narrative researchers should take note that not all narratives may be processed in a heuristic manner as largely proposed by past research. Future research should delve further into the reasons why third-person messages may be processed higher along the heuristic-systematic continuum.     

A Model for Teaching Critical Thinking Through Online Searching

No abstract available for this article.     

The Power of Positive Action: Exploring the Role of Participatory Behaviors Through the Lens of the Tripartite Model of Media Enjoyment

Offering an initial test of Nabi and Krcmar's tripartite model of media enjoyment, this study examines how affective, cognitive, and especially behavioral responses to a participatory reality TV program predict program enjoyment, viewing intention, and future program viewing. Responses to Fox's American Idol series suggest that affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the program are interrelated. Of particular interest, behavioral engagement (specifically positive or supportive actions) during the viewing experience enhances intention for subsequent program viewing. Viewing intention was also strongly predictive of future viewing behaviors. Implications for the tripartite model and considerations of affect, cognition, and behavior in examining audience gratifications beyond entertainment are addressed.     

Adding Value Through Focused Research Efforts

In this article, I examine television home shopping programs to explore how social class issues are incorporated into the discourse of selling products. More specifically, a content analysis of the 3 major home shopping cable channels-Home Shopping Network, Quality-Value-Convenience, and Q2-is conducted. I argue that home shopping programming, in general, addresses social class issues through the identification of financial limitations, the promise of status mobility through consumption, and the fostering of anxiety with regard to one's social standing. This research contributes to the larger theory pertaining to social-order maintenance. In this article, I suggest that consumption on home shopping is offered as one means of resolving class tensions among the haves and have nots. More specifically, I argue not only that material consumption may be sold as a means to dispel class antagonism and anxiety but that home shopping programming addresses class-appropriate ideological discourse.     

程序修辞:游戏研究的修辞学范式

游戏如何在人们的欲望维度展现出巨大的魔力,又如何将程序系统"悬置"起来而为玩家创设一个看似自由的"幻想世界"?这些问题本质上涉及到游戏的修辞学问题。关于游戏的形式与结构,长期以来存在两种研究范式,分别是强调"表征"的叙事学(narratology)范式和强调"规则"的游戏学(ludology)范式。试图平息"叙事"与"规则"之争的"程序修辞"理论,则沿袭了修辞学传统的认识论和方法论,将"程序性"(procedurality)视为游戏的本质所在,并围绕"程序修辞"这一核心概念开启了游戏研究的修辞学范式。所谓程序修辞,主要是指通过对游戏规则及其符码表征体系的策略性设计,以达到既定游戏目的的修辞行为与实践。概括而言,修辞学范式下游戏研究的问题域主要体现在五个方面:修辞语言维度的程序修辞规则问题、修辞策略维度的程序修辞设计问题、修辞实践维度的程序修辞互动问题、修辞批评维度的程序修辞批判问题、修辞伦理维度的程序修辞道德问题。在程序修辞的知识结构中,游戏本质上体现为一个包含了游戏叙事、游戏规则和游戏玩家的"三体问题",而"三体"内部不同的主导结构、强弱关系或设计偏向揭示了三种不同的游戏机制。     

Breaking Through:

No abstract available for this article.     

Beverly LaHaye and the double bind: Rhetorical strategies on a conservative women's radio show

All female speakers must deal with the societal “double bind” that insists both that they be feminine and that they be effective speakers, when effective speaking is usually defined by masculine norms. The conservative woman speaker feels the double bind most acutely, because she generally has even less option to appear unfeminine. This paper examines the rhetoric of one conservative woman rhetor: Beverly LaHaye, president of Concerned Women for America. LaHaye's daily radio show is the focus of this examination, which explores the rhetorical strategies she uses to deal with the double bind and some potential implications of those strategies.