Constitutive Discourse of Turkish Nationalism: Atatürk's Nutuk and the Rhetorical Construction of the “Turkish People”

This article explores the “Great Speech” Nutuk, delivered in 1927 by Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In analyzing Nutuk and its rhetorical features, we identify the mythic underpinnings Atatürk employed to construct a modern “Turkish people.” We use this case to further our understanding of the constitutive discourses of nationalism. We believe Atatürk's Nutuk provides a profitable discourse to think with as we attempt to understand Muslim nations and their negotiation of modernity.     

An other‐burkean frame: Rhetorical criticism and the call of the other

This essay extends the work of Murray (1998), which used the philosophy of ethics of Emmanuel Levinas to critique the rhetorical theory and critical methods of Kenneth Burke. This essay evaluates that critique by analyzing Nazi propaganda and Senator Edward Kennedy's “Chappiquiddick” speech through the critical lens of a revised Burkean frame. These analyses demonstrate that an Other‐Burkean frame can supplement existing resources for rhetorical criticism and contribute to a richer understanding of human communication.     

Constituting “the People” as Rhetorical Interruption: Barack Obama and the Unfinished Hopes of an Imperfect People

This article explores how Barack Obama's oratory positions “the people” as a site of ongoing rhetorical negotiation regarding national identity, ideology, and potentiality. Like the subjects implicated in Charland's consideration of constitutive rhetoric, “the people” of Obama's rhetoric emerge as the choosers, deciders, and accomplishers of collaborative identity performance. Unlike Charland's subjects, however, Obama's rhetoric of imperfection and dissent positions “the people” as never fully constituted but always engaged in the act of constitution. The people, like the country they constitute, are flawed, never perfect, and always in the process of perfecting.     

In Defense of “Mass Communication” and Other Stuff

A consistent news frame that deligitmizes and depicts most social protests as "police vs. protesters" has been identified in studies of news coverage of social movements. This study used an experimental design to examine the extent to which photographs and prior attitudes toward protests and protesters in general contribute to previously identified framing effects of protest news. Results indicated that for the protest issue of interest evaluations of the protest and protesters were more negative when photos depicting higher levels of conflict were shown. The amount of conflict shown in the photos did not affect evaluations of the protest and protesters when the issue was of less interest to participants. Additionally, participants who had more positive prior attitudes toward protesting in general were more likely to identify with the protesters in the stimulus story and to perceive that the protest was more effective than were those with more negative prior attitudes. Findings suggest the need to address possible nuances associated with the visuals alone and to incorporate prior attitudes when examining effects of news coverage of protests.     

Catalog Users “In the Wild”: The Potential of an Ethnographic Approach to Studies of Library Catalogs and Their Users

An increasing number of library user studies are employing ethnographic techniques as an alternative to more traditional qualitative methods such as surveys. Such techniques, however, are only beginning to see significant application to catalog user studies. Beginning with a discussion of the applied ethnographic method and its current usage within the field of Library and Information Science research, this article will assess methods that have traditionally been applied to studies of catalog users and present the case for the potential of an ethnographic approach for future catalog evaluation and design.     

Information Provision and the Carceral State: Race and Reference beyond the Idea of the “Underserved”

This article addresses an approach to library services for people who are incarcerated that meets the situated information needs and desires of people within jails and prisons. By creating a flow of information between LIS students and individuals who are incarcerated through a Reference by Mail program, resources available to incarcerated people are increased while students engage in a humanizing and self-reflexive project, with the understanding that the regulation of information within jails and prisons has lasting effects for the life chances of incarcerated people.     

“Open-Mouth Awe”: ESPN's Streetball and the “Transcendent Simultaneity” of the Media Sublime

An impressive body of research on the subject suggests that the seeds of the sublime experience are rooted either in the aesthetic qualities of the viewed object or in the cultural and contextual characteristics of the viewing subject. In this article, I contend that sublimity is, rather, the product of the relationship between subject and object, a relationship that defies representation and therefore provides the “excess of experience” that is the hallmark of the sublime encounter. Turning to ESPN's Streetball: The AND 1 Mix Tape Tour as evidence, I conclude that mediation as a process invites sublimity in audiences by immersing the viewer in the “transcendent simultaneity” of subjectivity and objectivity.     

Caveats for the journal and field normalizations in the CWTS (“Leiden”) evaluations of research performance

The Center for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University advocates the use of specific normalizations for assessing research performance with reference to a world average. The Journal Citation Score (JCS) and Field Citation Score (FCS) are averaged for the research group or individual researcher under study, and then these values are used as denominators of the (mean) Citations per publication (CPP). Thus, this normalization is based on dividing two averages. This procedure only generates a legitimate indicator in the case of underlying normal distributions. Given the skewed distributions under study, one should average the observed versus expected values which are to be divided first for each publication. We show the effects of the Leiden normalization for a recent evaluation where we happened to have access to the underlying data.     

Understanding the “Heroes” and “It Getters”: Fandom and the Colbert Nation

The Colbert Report, an innovative American satirical news show, and the show's dedicated viewers, known as “the Colbert Nation,” redefined fan engagement through audience participation, mediated culture jamming, and ironic political spectacle. Yet very little is known about this fan group. This survey of The Colbert Report's devoted followers finds that the fans are distrustful of political and media elites, highly cynical, very politically involved, not apathetic, and moderately efficacious. Further analysis reveals that viewers have different motivations, some seeing the show as primarily entertainment, some mainly as a trusted source of political information, and others as a mix of entertainment and information. The fans are also found to be highly sophisticated consumers of satire and news, and watch the show as an alternative to mainstream media and as a form of comic relief from current events. Several implications are discussed.     

In the shadows of the continuum: testing the records continuum model through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ‘Migrated Archives’

This article offers a test of the records continuum model. As a case study I use the Foreign and Commonwealth Office “Migrated Archives”, those records first made known to the public in 2011 during the court case against the British government. Through this case, records from over 30 former colonies were found to have been stored away by the FCO, since the colonies had become independent. While testing the continuum model with this case, I simultaneously use the records continuum model to tell the history of the Migrated Archives. My research finds that by highlighting the hidden moments—the shadows of the continuum—the Migrated Archives reveals that the continuum model can be too dependent on pluralization and a culture of openness and accessibility. Using the term “shadow continuum,” I attempt to rectify this situation by allowing for continuum model processes to continue, albeit in the shadows.     

“Born This Way”: Queer Vernacular and the Politics of Origins

This essay critically examines debates about the supposed inborn nature of sexual orientation. Although popular discourses suggest that sexual orientation is an immutable characteristic, several scholars and activists have argued there is danger in postulating same-sex desire is innate. This analysis looks to another feature of the controversy, arguing that when queers themselves utilize “born this way” rhetoric, they frequently do so in surprising ways that rest outside dichotomist forms of reasoning. Exploring posts on the “Born This Way” blog, this essay argues that vernacular appropriations of the phrase are more fluid among LGBT publics than often imagined, allowing for a rethinking of the epistemology of the closet.     

A Case of TMI (Too Much Information): Improving the Usability of the Library's Website through the Implementation of LibAnswers and the A–Z Database List (LibGuides v2)

ABSTRACT

The Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries' Website has a case of TMI: too much information organized by librarians for librarians. Finding relevant information about various library services, including the 24/7 Distance Learning Support Line, and access points to scholarly resources is often cumbersome, and given the limited time and staffing available in Web Services, it was impractical to embark on a comprehensive Website redesign. Instead, the implementation of two systems, LibAnswers and the A–Z Database List in LibGuides v2 CMS, served as a means for addressing the TMI issue and improving the usability of the MSU Libraries' Website. This case study will map the MSU Libraries' experience of implementing the LibAnswers and the A–Z Database List from early vision to launching the end product, as a means for resolving the “too much information” issue and improving the usability of the library's Website.     

Television's “Event Worlds” and the Immediacies of Seeing: Notes from the Documentary Archive

This article raises questions about the pictorial organization of documentary material in the context of a broader phenomenology of television. It looks particularly at the way in which combinations of shots generate “event worlds” for the viewer to engage with and gain knowledge from. Continuity and narrative development is often achieved by a commentary working across disparate kinds of material, including archive footage. How the visuals relate to specific times, places, and actions can vary considerably even within the same sequence. The viewing modes appropriate to watching composite material are briefly discussed, including their relationship to ideas of the evidential and the immediate. Two examples from the British documentary archive are cited to bring out the issues of perceptual management and cognitive control that are raised.     

Freedom of speech and the “new left”

This article examines the role and responsibilities of the “New Left”; in current social contexts. It explores, specifically, the legal rights and obligations of any dissenting group and the part that these dissenting factions play in our society.     

“Really Social Photojournalism” and a Photojournalistic Changing of the Guard: Observations and Insights

In a changing technological ecosystem where photojournalists are attempting to reach larger audiences, they are forced to serve multiple masters and social media platforms. The tools and terminologies that these visual storytellers and communicators are using are also changing, which forces many of them to grapple with their roles and how best to contribute their craft within a market that is drastically different than two decades ago. This study asked 104 photojournalism practitioners, academicians, and administrators to define and explain the term “Really Social Photojournalism” and if it might rise past the level of jargon in a changing vocation? The findings reveal there are many complexities with this new term. But there are also opportunities for RSP to evolve in the photojournalism ecosystems with the appropriate support of its various stakeholders.     

“Seeking Information from the Lips of People”: oral history in the archives of Qatar and the Gulf region

The turn to oral history in Qatar and the Arabian (also known as Persian) Gulf is not a rejection of traditional archival authority as has been the case in other parts of the world. In the Gulf, oral history has been embraced out of a desire to fill the silences of the largely unwritten record attributable to previous low levels of literacy and strong oral traditions in the region. Today, oral history is seen as the best method to capture details about traditional ways of life during the pre-oil era. After discussing archival concerns about the evidentiary nature of oral histories, this paper explores how it has come to be a crucial documentation tool in the Gulf, adapted to the specific nation building and cultural heritage priorities of the region.