A Look Inside the Development of POD in China’s Book Publishing Industry

This article focuses on the POD services for the publishing industry from 2000 to 2016 in China, by looking at some key numbers and introducing several companies and publishers who have invested in the POD business, looking at their business models, advantages and disadvantages. Also this article will share some first-hand information and ideas from people in both the publishing and printing industries.     

All the Polling (Data) That’s Fit to Print? An Analysis of Online News Coverage of 2016 Primary Polls

As U.S. news outlets grapple with the challenges of delivering news in a digital era, journalists cover elections with tighter deadlines and fewer resources. Consequently, we are seeing an explosion in coverage of polls, which require little original reporting and attract readers through their “horse race” appeal. As the number of polls increases, news professionals are culling data from a wider spectrum of sources that vary in methodology and credibility. What remains unclear is how effective the news media are in providing polling context in their online coverage that is less limited by the space and time constraints of more traditional mediums. Utilizing the 2016 U.S. primaries, this exploratory study examines online news articles focused on polls to evaluate the quality of digital coverage across national news outlets.

Keywords: Campaigns and Elections; Content Analysis; Journalism; News Media; Political Communication     

When is a Publishing Business Truly ‘Global’? An Analysis of a Routledge Case Study with Reference to Ohmae’s Theory of Globalization

This study first reviews the writing of the management theorist Kenichi Ohmae, before assessing the potential application of his theory of global commercial maturation to the strategies adopted by the academic publishing company, Routledge, and its precursor imprints between 1960 and 2013. Based on the analysis of interviews carried out between 2011 and 2013 and supporting document analysis, the paper concludes that, with some caveats, the stages of globalization identified by Ohmae are of considerable explanatory value for students and analysts of global publishing as well as offering strategic insights to managers of academic publishing houses.     

Happily Ever After? A Content Analysis of Romantic Ideals in Disney Princess Films

This study presents a quantitative content analysis of the romantic expressions portrayed in the 12 Disney princess movies. The films were analyzed for presence of romantic expressions (ideals and challenges) and the character reactions to those expressions. Results indicated that romantic expressions are prevalent in these films, with idealization of other as the most common ideal expressed. The transitional era of films (i.e., princess movies released between 1989 and 1998) contained roughly the same number of ideals as the other eras of classic (i.e., movies released before 1989) and modern (i.e., movies released after 1998) combined. Further, ideals were three times more common than challenges in classic films, whereas ideals and challenges were expressed equally in transitional and modern films. In general, across all three eras, challenges were most commonly met with punishing and negative reactions, whereas ideals were most often rewarded. Finally, there were no sex differences in terms of ideal expressions, but male characters were the dominant pursuers in 9 of the 11 films that featured a romantic relationship.     

Through the ‘I’ of the beholder: A rationale for physicalization in performance of narratives

This article presents a rationale for physicalization in performance of narrative prose based on the literary convention of “point of view.” It explores a variety of narrative voices and attempts to illustrate, through example, how narrators rely on both imitation and narration to present story to audience.     

A ‘power law’ based method to reduce size-related bias in indicators of knowledge performance: An application to university research assessment

The knowledge production provided by universities is essential to sustaining a country’s long-term economic growth and international competitiveness. Many nations are thus driving to create sustainable and effective funding environments. The evaluation of university knowledge, productivity and research quality becomes critical, with ever increasing share of public funding allocated on the basis of research assessment exercises. Nevertheless, the existing methods to assess the universities’ knowledge production are often affected by limits and biases, extensively discussed in the scientific literature.In this paper we study how to reduce the effect of size-related bias due to university size on the indicators of knowledge performance used in evaluation exercises. We propose an innovative utilization of the scale-free property of the power laws as a scaling relationship, to normalize research productivity indicators, and provide results independent by the university size. Our method has evident policy implications and gives a contribution for the future design of assessment exercises.We apply our findings in a recent Italian research assessment exercise.     

Deep Participation in Underserved Communities: A Quantitative Analysis of Hearken’s Model for Engagement Journalism

ABSTRACT

Hearken is a proprietary news engagement platform growing in popularity. Under the Hearken approach, audience members are invited to participate in the newsmaking process. Hearken strives to assist news organizations in providing local and hyperlocal content that meets audience needs and demands while preserving elements of the journalist’s role as gatekeeper. Hearken has also worked to help news organizations reach underrepresented populations with mixed results per its own anecdotal analyses. This study employs a quantitative content analysis comparing one year’s worth of coverage at four different local NPR affiliates in the United States to provide a breakdown of Hearken content versus traditional reporter-driven content in the following four categories: emphasis on hyperlocal coverage, story topic prevalence within local and hyperlocal coverage, emphasis on coverage of underrepresented communities, and story topic prevalence within coverage of underrepresented communities. Findings reveal listener-driven Hearken content favors hyperlocal news on lifestyle issues while reporter-driven stories emphasize state-level governance and politics as well as local crime. These indicate a stark contrast between the content audiences want and that which journalists tend to report. The nuanced normative implications, possibilities and limitations of Hearken’s model of “deep participation” are addressed in some detail.     

Eisenhower's ‘atoms for peace’ speech: A case study in the strategic use of language

This article examines the speech “Atoms for Peace,”; delivered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 8, 1953. The author demonstrates how a complex rhetorical situation resulted in the crafting and exploitation of a public policy address. Far from serving as a precursor to nuclear disarmament, the speech functioned to bolster the international image of the United States as a peacemaker, to warn the Soviets against a preemptive nuclear strike, and to alert the American public to the dangers of a nuclear exchange.     

Make or Buy? A Qualitative Analysis of the Organisational Handling of Digital Innovations in the German Book Publishing Sector

Traditional media have been changing in response to digitisation processes and the spread of the internet. This article looks at the consequences of technological change for the organisational structures of publishing houses in Germany, most of which are small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Following any decision to produce digital content, new tasks emerge which need to be fulfilled and publishing houses have to re-allocate appropriate responsibilities. The context of the preference for in-house or for external production is explored as is the precise identification of the managerial and technical skills demanded by a switch to digital publishing. The findings suggest the important role of strategic partnerships with service providers as well as with other publishing houses, especially for larger projects beyond the capabilities of SMEs.     

Do We Have It? A Comparative Analysis of Library Journal Holdings and Works Referenced in Faculty Publications

Libraries often wonder if their collections can support their faculty’s research. Large citation databases, such as Scopus or Web of Science, can help automate such a review process. This session will present findings about to what extent faculty were able to complete their journal publications without utilizing interlibrary loan. Using data gathered from Scopus, the range and date of journals referenced by faculty at my home institution will be compared with holdings from my library’s electronic resources knowledge base to determine the level of overlap. Results will be presented by journal discipline to highlight any variation among the science, social science, and arts and humanities divisions. Special emphasis will be given to using this data to inform decisions about purchasing journal backfile collections.     

Does ‘Articulation’ matter in sponsorship? The type of articulation and the degree of congruence as determinants of corporate sponsorship effects

The congruence between an event and the sponsor's brand can be created by ‘articulating’ the basis and meaning of their relationship, and this created fit can increase the effectiveness of sponsorship. We considered a sample of 418 high school students in Incheon (Korea) in order to investigate how the type of articulation and the degree of congruence between an event and its sponsor influence the effects of sponsorship, and how the consumer's need for cognition moderates the effects of sponsorship. The results indicate that noncommercial articulation was likely to strengthen the effects of sponsorship, whereas commercial articulation was not likely to influence either the participants' responses to sponsorship or their attitudes toward the sponsor's brand. In addition, the effects of commercial articulation depended on the degree of congruence between the event and the sponsor; the consumer's need for cognition moderated the effects of sponsorship according to the type of articulation.     

Inclusion or Illusion? An Analysis of the FCC's Public Hearings on Media Ownership 2006–2007

An assessment of the extent of public involvement in the FCC's media ownership hearings in 2006–07 was conducted through an analysis of the hearings' structure, the 732 public comments made in them, and the FCC's ensuing Report & Order (R&O). In light of the rising call for pluralism, direct democracy and public involvement in policy deliberations, the results reveal that the FCC consistently hindered public participation in the hearing process it initiated and managed through limited advance notice, inconvenient timing, a hearing structure that subordinated the public to experts and stakeholders, and scarce mention of public comment in the final report.     

A Review of “Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series”

This note discusses, with examples, correct ways of determining the average growth rates of phenomena that grow exponentially, such as typical library collections. Library expenditures also tend to grow exponentially; and because analysis of their growth rates is complicated by the effects of currency inflation, methods of compensating for inflation in the analysis are presented.     

How long is a piece of string? The appropriateness of search time as a measure of ‘burden’ in Access to Information regimes

Access to Information regimes are under unremitting challenge from state actors. This article is the first to directly explore the ‘cost limit’ often included in Access to Information regimes, where requests can be refused by a Public Authority on the basis of an estimate that it would take too long to locate and extract the requested information. The validity of such estimates is particularly important in light of electronic information systems where search times are dependant upon technological expertise. This article presents a qualitative study of decisions made by the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner, where decision notices concerning the ‘cost limit’ are examined to identify technological errors. These technological errors were found to arise from specific practices of the Commissioner in 40% of cases where an estimate of the Public Authority was accepted. The author demonstrates that the concept of estimating the time taken to find information from an electronic information system is an objectively inappropriate means for estimating the burden placed on a Public Authority. Through the use of mathematics, it is demonstrated an estimation regime based on the volume of information requested is more appropriate as an alternative. From a wider regulatory perspective, this article also demonstrates that it would be highly desirable for Access to Information regimes to be regulated alongside data protection concerns, given the strong overlap in respect of the relevant technological issues.     

An Overview of Canada’s Contemporary Book Trade in Light of (Nearly) Four Decades of Policy Interventions

Canada’s book trade is fascinating not only because it really consists of two book trades—the Anglophone and the Francophone—but also because it is a site of intense and sustained policy interventions designed to foster greater domestic control. Examining the country’s book policies, Statistics Canada data, trade association membership rosters and trade directories, this paper reveals that Canada’s contemporary book trade is characterized by three features: circa 40 years of government interventions in response to foreign dominance; the central role of foreign firms despite these interventions; and the dominance of Toronto and Montreal as domestic sites of book production.     

A Replication of Xu & Burleson (2001) “Effects of Sex,Culture, and Support Type on Perceptions of Spousal Social Support: An Assessment of the ‘Support Gap’ Hypothesis in Early Marriage”

In response to recent calls regarding the social sciences’ “replication crisis,” we have endeavored to replicate Xu and Burleson’s (2001) research study, “Effects of Sex, Culture, and Support Type of Perceptions of Spousal Support: An Assessment.” This study, which examines the support gap hypothesis and its different manifestations among men and women from the United States of America and China, has contributed greatly to scholarly conversations on social support, sex, culture, and support gaps. Results from our study partially replicate Xu and Burleson’s (2001) original findings and provide general empirical evidence for the support gap hypothesis. Differences in findings between the two studies and their implications are discussed.