Technology and/as Governmentality: The Production of Young Rural Women as Low-Tech Laboring Subjects in China

This article presents an ethnography of a group of young women from rural China who attended a three-month computer-training course and then were placed in a data input company in China. Building upon scholarship on “Chinese governmentality,” I argue that although the training emphasized individual “quality” (suzhi) and the attainment of “useful” skills, once the women were employed their choices as autonomous individuals were severely limited through workplace disciplines that problematize notions of self government. I show how multiple modes of power were deployed to produce rural women as low-tech laboring subjects necessary for China's domestic development and participation in global capitalism.     

Dual effects of the internet on political activism: Reinforcing and mobilizing

By analyzing the Citizenship Involvement Democracy survey conducted on American citizens, this paper investigates categorical and demographic disparities between online and offline political participants and examines the two-sided effects (reinforcing and mobilizing) of the internet on political participation. The analysis presents three main findings. First, those who participate in online political activity do not differ categorically from those who conduct their political activity offline. Second, cross-group differences in how actively individuals participate in political activity make little distinction between offline and online modes. There is a trade-off between the generational gap in online political activity and the racial gap in offline political activity, but the gap in political participation between the socioeconomically advantaged and their counterparts appears in both online and offline political activities. Finally, the internet plays a dual role in mobilizing political participation by people not normally politically involved, as well as reinforcing existing offline participation.     

News-seekers and Avoiders: Exploring Patterns of Total News Consumption Across Media and the Relationship to Civic Participation

This study examines patterns of news consumption across multiple media platforms and relates them to civic participation. Analyzing a national sample of close to 25,000 respondents, nearly half the adult population in America is classified as news “Avoiders,” and the other half as “News-seekers.” Testing the relationship between civic participation and news consumption for each of 6 media platforms individually, and to an overall index combining those sources into 1 measure, the results show a positive relationship with civic participation, but the influence of Total News Consumption on civic participation is greater for Avoiders than for News-seekers.     

Job satisfaction among Greek academic librarians

This study, which investigated job satisfaction among academic librarians in Greece, used the Employee Satisfaction Inventory (ESI). The instrument assessed six dimensions of job satisfaction: “working conditions,” “pay,” “promotion,” “job itself,” “supervision,” and “organization as a whole.” Greek academic librarians were most satisfied with “job itself,” “supervision,” and “working conditions” and less satisfied with “pay” and “promotion.” Prior working experience contributed negatively to the prediction of satisfaction with “working conditions,” “supervision,” and “organization as a whole,” whereas participation in decision-making positively influenced “job itself” and “organization as a whole.” These findings are in accordance with prior studies and can be particularly useful for providing a comparative and comprehensive understanding of job satisfaction in the library profession.     

Discursive Strategies of Civil Disagreement in Public Dialogue Groups

This case study investigates how participants in public dialogue sessions engaged in what they term “civil disagreement.” These sessions encouraged participants to explore a wide range of policy options on a public issue and consider diverse perspectives and possibilities for action. Using Action Implicative Discourse Analysis, we examine civil disagreement as a discursive problem. We argue that “civil disagreement” in public dialogue sessions is temporally bound, involves extended engagement in disagreement, and is viewed as productive by group members. Group members use discursive strategies such as challenging through questions, rearticulating claims while acknowledging other perspectives, and editing or reframing. Group members also use silence to demonstrate listening or to indicate their assessment of the situation as finalized. These discursive strategies demonstrate aspects of participants' situated ideals about public dialogue, which are related to their role in the disagreement and their construals of time. We offer practical implications for facilitators' use of guidelines, discussion of timing, and awareness of the multiple meanings of silence during disagreement.     

FROM “KNOWING HOW” TO “BEING ABLE”

In attempt to define a methodology, journalism scholars use the term “reflective” as a way to distinguish their critical study of journalism from that of a non-practitioner. The phrase “reflective practice in journalism” is now also used widely in higher education course literature and increasingly it is emerging in discourses relating to journalism research. However, the use of the term “reflective” in both cases has not been anchored in meaning. This paper will propose a number of definitions, and will discuss a number of potential approaches that seek to move towards a synthesis of journalism practice and theory. It will start by outlining the current scholarly context for undertaking journalism research, focusing on the rise of “journalist-academics” and the desire for recognition of the value and status of practice within the academy. It will then examine a number of critical models which may shed helpful light on how journalism might be viewed as “research-in-practice”.     

Preparing our Societies for the Multimedia Environment

The Ukrainian Society, after introducing the computer literacy course for secondary schools in 1986, is trying to reach the next stage of digital literacy through the development of a National Informatization Programme. Some results of the programme are described: the incorporation of telematics into the educational system and Internet literacy for teachers and students, free of charge and in local languages; the development of regional and local nodes of educational institutions and their incorporation into a national network; the participation of non-governmental organizations in the financing of educational programmes; and the development of a national ethics Net-Codex. Ukraine, as a typical “country in transition”, needs international support in digital literacy through co-operative projects; some proposals for such co-operation are given.     

Participatory media new and old: semiotics and affordances of museum media

The move from “old” to “new” media centrally involves a shift in participatory possibilities, through which individuals and communities differentially access and populate the public sphere, assume voice, and partake in open discussion and debate. This paper offers a rich ethnographic case study of new participatory media in the shape of commenting systems in museums. By portraying the similarities and the differences in communicative affordances between two museum media—traditional visitor books, on the one hand, and a digital and immersive interface, on the other hand—light is shed on how media invite and intervene in possibilities for public participation. Furthermore, with their emphasis on visual design and display, studying participatory public media in museums helps highlight the semiotic construction of the public sphere as such, and how the notion of the public and laypersons’ contributions are materially displayed. Analysis of communicative affordances reveals the politics of remediation, and supports recent hesitations with regard to the promise of newer and “smarter” media: digital media affords more interaction than their analogue predecessors, but participatory content-production via analogue media is found to be discursively richer on a number of grounds.     

“Shock” meets “community service”: J.C. Corcoran at KMOX

KMOX‐AM in St. Louis hired J.C. Corcoran to try to update its sound. Corcoran and KMOX represented two contrasting styles in talk radio— “shock”; and “community service.”; These styles can be seen as reflecting two visions of America—a modernist vision of civic discourse and public participation, and a postmodernist vision in which distinctions have blurred between the public and private spheres and between news and entertainment. The authors qualitatively examine the talk on a program hosted by a “shock jock”; on a respected news‐talk radio station.     

Beyond the book ‘case’

The incorporation of active learning techniques into library instruction classrooms has been a topic widely explored in the 1990s. Research confirms the success of active learning in increasing student participation as well as student learning. Case study methodology is one of many active learning techniques. “Beyond the Book ‘case’” provides an overview of case—study methodology; discusses the appropriateness of case—study methodology in the library instruction setting; and presents examples of case studies used in a library instruction course at Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.     

Exploring Participatory Journalism in Mediterranean Countries

Digital media have rapidly adopted mechanisms for transforming their audience into active content providers. Various studies have shown that the main motivation for developing audience participation is financial in nature and that journalists are striving to retain their role as gatekeepers. Nevertheless, “participatory journalism” opens up the public arena to citizen debate. The main aim of this article is to examine how 20 media, two from each of 10 countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, have integrated user-generated content, and to identify whether the forms of participation offered by these media are conditioned by national political and media systems. The results show that in democracies the opportunities for participation are greater than in countries with autocratic regimes. However, significant internal differences were identified.     

Viewing the Public Sphere With Influentials and Citizens

The currently popular emphasis on democratic discussion in the “public sphere” often is critically viewed by observers commenting on issues of participation, empowerment, and efficacy without input from influentials, whose voices often are the content of public debates. Habermas was critical of the quality of democratic discourse, arguing for an “ideal speech situation” where participants are free to question all proposals; introduce proposals; and express their attitudes, wishes, and needs. This article examines perceptions of the climate of communication in the public sphere by influentials and the general public of a major urban area.     

Political Participation and Ideological News Online: “Differential Gains” and “Differential Losses” in a Presidential Election Cycle

Observations of the contemporary news media environment often revolve around the topics of ideological polarization and blurred boundaries between mass and interpersonal communication. This study explores these topics through a focus on the association between ideologically oriented online news use, commenting on online news, and political participation. We hypothesize that both ideological online news use generally and proattitudinal online news use are positively related to political participation and that online news commenting creates “differential gains” by augmenting these relationships. Yet we also hypothesize that counterattitudinal online news use is negatively related to political participation and that online news commenting creates “differential losses” by exacerbating this relationship. Analyses of two independently collected and nationally representative surveys found that frequent ideological online news use, proattitudinal online news use, and commenting are all positively related to political participation. We found no evidence for differential gains as a result of online commenting but only for differential losses—counterattitudinal online news use interacts with commenting to create a negative relationship with political participation.     

Highlights of the collection development librarians of academic libraries discussion group

The Collection Development Discussion Group, moderated by Eric Carpenter (Oberlin College), focused on two primary topics: “The Role of Faculty in Collection Development” and “Performance Evaluation.”     

档案内容管理模式研究

“档案内容管理模式”是以内容管理思想和相关技术为基础,对档案内容进行管理的一种管理模式。从“档案管理”到“档案内容管理”,不仅跨越了不同的管理阶段,更具有独特而丰富的内涵。尤其在互联网时代,面对日新月异的档案,笔者提出一种面向服务的、强调用户参与的和基于内容管理体系的档案管理新模式,以应对新的挑战。     

Programmer's choice: Eight factors in program decision‐making

In the introduction to Charles Woodliff's “Catch Me if You Can” in the Fall, 1965 issue of the Journal it was, prophesied that it would be not “the last that will be published on the question of the proper curriculum for training professional broadcasters.” In this issue, on the preceding pages, is an article by Professor John Pennybacker answering Professor Woodliff's article disagreeing with the one that started it all, Pennybacker's “Working with Universities.” The following comment by Woodliff is intended only as a brief comment upon Pennybacker's “Leadership and the Educator: The Middle Way” and does not, of course, attempt to make full reply in this brief form. Professor Woodliff (Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio‐Television‐Film at the University of Denver) hopes that the dialogue between him and Dr. Pennybacker represents their respective points of view fairly—and that other positions will be heard from in the future. The airing of these points of view is not just another rehash of the old “liberal arts vs. professionalism” debate. Recent surveys have shown that broadcasting education has not yet made its mark on the industry—if it is to do so in the future, teachers of broadcasting must constantly reassess their goals and the means to achieve these goals.     

“Trust Me,I’m a Sub-editor”

In this paper, I focus on one particular player in the newspaper production process, i.e. the sub-editor. I analysed the sub-editing process through participant observation in newsrooms in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. Looking at both the sub-editors at work (think-aloud protocol) as well as the articles in various stages of production, and informed by (retrospective) interviews, I have compiled a list of six of the sub-editor’s “production values”. These values guide sub-editors whenever they intervene, and help them to transform a news story into an appealing, correct and credible newspaper article. I took the lead from Östgaard’s “factors influencing the flow of news”, but also from Galtung and Ruge’s “news values” which help reporters to determine which “events” are transitioned into “news”. In doing so, I go beyond the limitations of previous research, in which the types of interventions carried out in the sub-editing stage of newswriting were categorised. By identifying the guidelines driving the alterations made by the sub-editor, I aim to move one step closer towards uncovering the intricacies of the sub-editing process. Moreover, I demonstrate how “the rewrite men” add journalistic value to their newspapers, as perhaps their brand’s strongest ambassadors.     

From Journalism to Information: The Transformation of the Knight Foundation and News Innovation

Amid the digital disruption for journalism, the U.S.-based Knight Foundation has made a highly publicized effort to shape the nature of news innovation. This growing influence raises questions about what it is trying to accomplish for mass communication and society. This qualitative case study shows how and why the Knight Foundation has sought to change journalism by renegotiating its boundaries. Namely, by downplaying its own historical emphasis on professionalism, the foundation has embraced openness to outside influence—for example, the wisdom of the crowd, citizen participation, and a broader definition of “news.” These rhetorical adaptations have paralleled material changes in the foundation's funding process, typified by the Knight News Challenge innovation contest. In recent times, the foundation has undergone a further evolution from “journalism” to “information.” By highlighting its boundary-spanning interest in promoting “information” for communities, the Knight Foundation has been able to expand its capital and influence as an agent of change among fields and funders beyond journalism.     

公共服务集成视域下档案部门的协同合作与服务转型

为应对日渐凸显的公共服务碎片化情形及其造成的服务效率低下等困境,以“系统集成”改革公共服务,已成为政府和学界的共识。档案部门一直以来参与政府信息公开业务,为其继续参与“一站式”的政府公共服务集成改革提供了经验,但同时也面临着与其他相关单位博弈、协同机制尚不完善以及自身参与协同合作的服务类型有限等问题。所以应明确自身在集成框架中的地位和功能,力争建立广泛多元的合作渠道和抢占数据整合的主动权,最终通过参与扁平化改革来促进公共服务的团队化与流程化改造。     

IC and e-SCI: Postcards from the Egg

This article examines two current issues from the perspective of a librarian in a Russell Group university: the increasing importance attached to the development of teaching and learning in a research-led university, particularly the “integrated learning environment” and developments in e-research and management of the resulting “data deluge.” The role of the librarian and the need for collaboration and coordination are stressed.