Effects of perceived online–offline integration and internet censorship on mobile government microblogging service continuance: A gratification perspective

The success of government social media relies on citizens' continual usage. Through the theoretical lens of the Uses & Gratifications theory, we develop a research model for mobile government microblogging services (GMS) continuance intention, in which citizens' perceived integration of online and offline social lives and internet censorship are incorporated. Based on data from 629 mobile GMS users in China, the results of the structural equation modeling analysis show that perceived online–offline integration has a significant and positive effect on the three dimensions of gratification: content gratification, social gratification, and process gratification, which jointly influence mobile GMS continuance. Citizens' perceived internet censorship negatively affects their mobile GMS continuance. These results might provide understanding about the unique aspects of government social media, especially in the context of internet censorship.     

‘Terrible Panizzi’: Patriotism and Realism of the ‘Prince of Librarians’

Abstract

This article deals with the figure of Antonio Panizzi, considered as an Italian patriot and English librarian. It highlights the constant attention he devoted to the Italian political events throughout his life: from his arrival in London (1823) as a political exile, to his informal ambassador in United Kingdom, a role that allowed him to lobby the political class and the press on behalf of the cause of Italian patriots forced in the prisons of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The article describes the multifaceted library activity carried out by Panizzi at the British Library, of which he became Principal Librarian in 1856. Panizzi is considered to be the first Promethean Librarian of the 19th century, a great reformer with new ideas on library services, innovative methodologies, and working practices in librarianship. Panizzi rigorously carried out the activity of librarian at the British Library without ever forgetting the need for a free, unified, and democratic Italian state.     

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.     

An assessment of the convergent validity of the checklist of behavior alteration techniques: The association between teachers’ likelihood‐of‐use ratings and informants’ frequency‐of‐use ratings

An important area of applied communication research is teachers’ use of classroom discipline and management strategies which have become known as Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs). The instrument commonly used to measure teachers’ use of BATs is the checklist of Behavior Alteration Techniques. The purpose of the present research was to assess the convergent validity of the checklist of Behavior Alteration Techniques. Thus, this research attempted to assess the extent to which teachers’ likelihood‐of‐use ratings converge with other measures of teacher BAT use. It was hypothesized that the correlation between students’ and student teachers’ ratings of the frequency of teacher BAT use would be significantly higher than the correlation of either index with teachers’ likelihood‐of‐use ratings. This hypothesis was not supported: The BATs checklist did not fail this test of convergent validity. However, the results do not support the claim that the BATs checklist passed this test of convergent validity. Explanations for these results are offered and their implications are discussed. In brief, the present results suggest important considerations in the study of this important area of applied communication.     

Customer centred community application design: Introduction of the means‐end chain framework for product design of community applications

Abstract

This paper discusses the application of the means‐end chain (MEC) framework for investigating customers cognitive”; structure regarding community applications. It is argued that the understanding of customers cognition is crucial for the development of sustainable communities. MEC analysis is seen as a mean to support the community design tasks, especially concept development. The MEC analysis within concept development helps to improve the success rate of a newly designed community by the early integration of customer needs and benefits. Based on theoretical considerations about the MEC framework and its limitations a case study regarding an information community is illustrated. Data was collected conducting individual laddering interviews online at a major information portal in Germany. Dividing answers into attributes, consequences, and values and using content analysis hierarchical value maps (HVM) for both, messaging applications and information ‐portals, were constructed. To support concept development of a new information community, as a distribution platform for content, the findings of both HVMs were considered. Examples illustrate, that the MEC analysis helps to create a community concept that is focused on the targeted customers. It is supporting the creative process of finding community functions and features that are fitting or can be linked to the existing cognitive structures.     

The value of goodness‐of‐fit indices in meta‐analysis: A comment on Hall and Rosenthal

In a useful article regarding testing for moderator variables in meta‐analysis, Hall and Rosenthal (1991) suggest, among other things, that when the sample of studies is large enough, it is acceptable to use ordinary inferential statistics such as the analysis of variance to test for moderator variables. However, because meta‐analytic data points (effect sizes) differ in important ways from those for which ordinary inferential statistics were designed, we recommend that analysts use conventional meta‐analytic statistics, which are at least potentially more informative about the literature in question. Hall and Rosenthal also suggest that tests of effect size variability should play a minimal role in meta‐analytic model tests. We concur that these tests of homogeneity cannot alone test for moderator variables and that at least tests between mean effect sizes should be performed. However, consistent with Hedges and Olkin's (1985) meta‐analytic framework, we show how homogeneity tests provide additional and valuable information regarding how completely a moderator (or set of moderators) explains the variation of effect sizes. Therefore, these goodness‐of‐fit statistics may prove quite valuable, especially in meta‐analyses of highly variable study outcomes. We further recommend that in meta‐analyses for which study outcomes are already consistent, analysts should continue to perform model tests if they have theoretical expectations about moderators. We discuss these and other meta‐analytic model testing concerns.     

‘Exploiting the Daydreams of Teenagers’

During the 1960s, young people were subject to intense scrutiny. Their lives differed from previous generations and as a consequence, they were portrayed as being at the forefront of social change and representative of Britain’s national health. By comparing oral history interviews of those who were young and visited the cinema with media reports, this article evaluates the conversation around ‘teenagers.’ Newspapers’ reports of youth arguably reflected their selection principles and journalistic practices. Oral history narratives, however, complicate press discourse by bringing to the fore a diversity of experiences and understandings: some felt the ‘cultural revolution,’ while others felt bored. This demonstrates how studies of reception materials are incomplete and could benefit from being combined with ethnohistorical approaches.     

Cross‐cultural differences in online self‐presentation: A content analysis of personal Korean and US home pages

The purpose of this study was to explore the cross‐cultural differences in online presentation, by applying the concept of the independent and interdependent self‐construal to the online context. Therefore, this study analyzed 98 Korean and US individual home pages to examine how cultural differences are displayed online, especially as they relate to manifestations of collectivism and individualism. The results of the study indicated that personal homepages can serve as a forum for the expression of cultural identity. Most notably, while the US virtual actors presented themselves in a direct and personal manner, the Korean virtual actors structured the online self by providing interlinks to special interests. Virtual actors in the US were more likely to present themselves with still pictures, while those in Korea were more likely to use manipulated graphics. These differences in online presentation were consistent with the individualistic and collectivistic orientations of these cultures.     

A test of the initial processes of the goal‐planning‐action model of interpersonal influence

Dillard's goals‐planning‐action (GPA) model of interpersonal influence encompasses two different process models depending on the initial weighing of primary and secondary goals. In contrast to the GPA's prediction that the ordering of the intervening processes is moderated by the initial weighing of these two types of goals, a simplified version was found that fit the data both when the primary goal was greater than the secondary goal and when the secondary goal was greater than the primary goal. In both conditions, the two types of goals have simultaneous, direct relationships with the persuaders’ decisions to engage their targets, and indirect effects on subsequent plan generation.     

An assessment of the discriminant validity of the checklist of behavior alteration techniques: A test of the item desirability bias in prospective and experienced teachers’ likelihood‐of‐use ratings

This study assessed the discriminant validity of the checklist of Behavior Alteration Techniques. Specifically, the ability of the BATs checklist procedure to discriminate between the likelihood that individual BATs would be selected and the social desirability of those same BATs was examined. The BATs checklist should discriminate between the likelihood that individual BATs would be selected and the social desirability of those same BATs because 50 years of observational studies of teacher discipline behavior suggest that teachers typically and routinely employ negative and antisocial strategies to correct student misbehavior (Burleson & Waltman, 1993). In a within‐subject, repeated measures designs, prospective teachers and experienced teachers provided likelihood‐of‐use and social appropriateness ratings to the BATs checklist in the four hypothetical situations typically employed with the BATs checklist. As predicted, likelihood‐of‐use and social appropriateness ratings were significantly correlated. Thus, the BATs checklist is not able to discriminate between the likelihood that BATs would be used and the social appropriateness of those BATs. As Campbell and Fiske (1959) have argued, an instrument's discriminant validity is a minimum standard that social scientific instruments must meet.     

A meta‐analysis of the cross‐situational consistency of communication apprehension

Parks’ (1980) criticism of the cross‐situational consistency of communication apprehension produced several studies that replicated the measures and procedures, hut found different results. A meta‐analysis of 17 studies was conducted to determine what conclusions are warranted given the available data. The meta‐analysis disclosed a large effect (combined z = 17.48, p < .0001) for cross‐situational consistency. The average r between trait‐CA and state/situational anxiety was .473. Further analysis of the “file drawer problem” showed that over 96 non‐significant tests must be unpublished in various file drawers to reduce the combined z to statistical non‐significance. Thus, the meta‐analysis warrants a strong claim for the cross‐situational consistency of communication apprehension     

A re‐examination of relational repair and reconciliation: Impact of socio‐communicative style on strategy selection

This study examines some of the reconciliation and repair/maintenance strategies in the relational communication literature. These strategies were compared with Bell and Daly's (1984) affinity‐seeking strategies. It was concluded that Bell and Daly's strategies could identify many of the same relational strategies with less contextual confusion. It is argued that affiliation strategies represent a true multiphasic relational communication typology that applies to the range of repair/reconciliation contexts. The study then looks at the degree to which assertiveness, and responsiveness predicts the use/non‐use of affinity seeking strategies in the context of relational repair. The study indicates that self perceived assertiveness and responsive play a role in strategy selection as well. Finally, how others are perceived in terms of assertiveness and responsiveness was found to predict the types of strategies used and not used in relational repair contexts.     

The Restoration of the ‘Vienna Dioscorides’

Abstract

Very small paint samples from Cosimo Tura's ‘The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Louis of Toulouse’ were submitted to amino acid analysis in order to determine the nature of the binding media. The four panels appeared to have been painted with egg tempera, and showed extensive localized deterioration in the blue areas but not in the other coloured areas. Following the Picotag method, the samples were hydrolyzed in an acid vapor, derivatized with iso-thiocyanatobenzene, and analyzed using reversed phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Amino acid analysis demonstrated that the red and brown areas were painted using egg yolk as the binding medium, while the blue areas were painted with animal-skin glue (distemper). Analysis of the green paint indicated a mixture of egg yolk and glue. The use of these techniques makes it possible to identify proteinaceous materials in art objects from samples in the microgram range.     

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.     

‘A process where we’re all at the table’: community archives challenging dominant modes of archival practice

Community archives have compelled shifts in dominant archival management practices to reflect community agency and values. To analyse these shifts, we ask: In what ways do community archives and their staff challenge traditional archival modes of practice? Do community archives work within or against dominant frameworks for institutional sustainability? Do community archives challenge or replicate dominant custody practices? Based on semi-structured interviews with 17 founders, staff and volunteers at 12 Southern California community archives, this research examines the diverse models of practice utilised by community archives practitioners that diverge from and challenge standard practices in the field. By addressing these questions, our research uncovers a variety of models of practice employed by communities in Southern California to autonomously create and sustain their archives.     

Problem‐solving performance in naturalistic groups: A test of the ecological validity of the functional perspective

Critics argue that the use of zero‐history laboratory samples to study the processes of small‐group communication lacks ecological validity and limits our ability to determine the usefulness of small group communication theories for the everyday practitioner. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the functional perspective of small‐group communication has real‐world significance by testing its predictive ability in naturalistic problem‐solving groups in an organizational setting. Statistical analyses provided partial support for the relationship between functional requisites and problem‐solving performance in an applied setting. Specifically, analysis of the problem, orientation/establishment of operating procedures, and evaluation of the positive consequences of alternatives were each found to have an independent main effect on the level of decision utility.     

Introducing recalibrated academic performance indicators in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance: A case study from Eastern Europe

In Hungary, the highest and most prestigious scientific qualification is considered to be the Doctor of Science (DSc) title being awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The academic performance indicators of the DSc title are of high importance in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance not only when a researcher applies for obtaining a DSc title, but also during promotions and appointments at universities, and in the case of the evaluation of applications for scientific titles and degrees, and the assessment of applications for funding. In the Section of Earth Sciences encompassing nine related disciplines, rather than carrying out a straightforward bibliometric analysis, the performance indicators were designed as a result of a consensual agreement between leading academicians, each of whom represented a particular discipline. Therefore, the minimum values of the indicators, required to be fulfilled if one is applying for a DSc title, do not adequately reflect the actual discipline-specific performance of researchers. This problem may generate tension between researchers during the evaluation process. The main goal of this paper is to recalibrate the minimum values of four major performance indicators by taking the actual discipline-specific distance ratios into account. In addition, each minimum value will be defined by employing integer and fractional counting methods as well. The research outcome of this study can provide impetus for the Section of Earth Sciences (and eventually other sections of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) to optimize the minimum values of the DSc title performance indicators by taking the specifics of each discipline into account. Because academic performance indicators are also employed in other Eastern European countries in the evaluation of individuals’ research performance, the methods used in that paper can be placed into a wider geographical context.