INFORMING,ENTERTAINING, EMPOWERING

Public service has been seen as a powerful element in the professional self-definition of journalists. In this article I examine the renegotiation of the ideal of public service by analysing Finnish press journalists’ ways of constructing and representing it in interview talk. The data analysed consists of 32 in-depth interviews with press journalists conducted in 2003–4. The interviewees’ talk is understood discursively. Among the interviewees the discourse of the societal newspaper was challenged by that of the market-oriented press. According to the data analysed, the two discourses are simultaneously present and intertwined in the practice of newsrooms. Accordingly, they both appear fundamental in defining the future of the ideal of public service. For these reasons, the discursive negotiation of “good” journalism in the Finnish press can be characterized as a hybrid. What seems to be important is that together the discourses of the market-oriented newspaper and that of the societal newspaper form a continuum of different ideals and tasks; the professional role constructed for a journalist comprises a rich, fluid spectrum of responsibilities—informing, entertaining and empowering.     

Analyzing e-government research: Perspectives,philosophies, theories,methods, and practice

In recent years, there has been rapid growth in the volume of research output on the topic of e-government. To understand this research better, we used content analysis of eighty-four papers in e-government-specific research outlets (two journals and one conference series). Our analytical focus took in five main aspects: perspectives on the impacts of e-government, research philosophy, use of theory, methodology and method, and practical recommendations. Normative evaluation identified some positive features, such as recognition of contextual factors beyond technology, and a diversity of referent domains and ideas. Alongside this, though, research draws mainly from a weak or confused positivism and is dominated by over-optimistic, a-theoretical work that has done little to accumulate either knowledge or practical guidance for e-government. Worse, there is a lack of clarity and lack of rigor about research methods alongside poor treatment of generalization. We suggest ways of strengthening e-government research but also draw out some deeper issues, such as the role of research philosophy and theory, and the institutional factors – particularly pressures of competition and time – that may constrain development of e-government as a research field.     

COLLABORATION,CONSENSUS, AND CONFLICT

Wikinews began in November 2004 as a collaborative online journalism project and sister project of Wikipedia, the well-known collaborative online encyclopedia. This article explores how Wikinews members have defined “news” and the ramifications of that definition for how they have been able to produce news collaboratively. One of the defining characteristics of Wikinews is a dedication to the neutral point of view (NPOV) policy, which was adopted from Wikipedia. NPOV serves as a structuring device for defining news, but also conducts a great deal of organizational work and is in turn structured by the discourses and debates of NPOV in stories. Further, a commitment to an organizational culture of consensus and collaboration, although not without handicaps in a news production environment, is a laudable achievement among Wikinews participants and could be a precursor to the way that citizen journalists will become more involved in news production in a sustainable way.     

Basic concepts of entropy, order, organization, information, knowledge, and meaning

The classical concept of entropy is shown not to reflect the essence of the second law of thermodynamics both phenomenologically and theoretically. A new concept of entropy, S _n , is given, which offers a particular physical meaning of entropy and provides an experimental determination of the entropy value. This allows one to avoid many attempts at defining the phenomenon of life via entropy characteristics and give definitions of life and an elementary structure of both life itself and devices that simulate life (automata, computers, and robots.). This, in turn, allows one to assign a substantive sense to the mathematical character of corresponding sciences (information theory, cybernetics, system theory, etc.) and define operational basic concepts of information, knowledge, meaning, and control, as well as to formulate operational concepts of order, organization, and self-organization and implement a new approach to problems of biology, biophysics, information theory, cybernetics, and system theory.     

Museum Visits,Education, and Topic Interest

This paper compares two perspectives on why individuals visit museums using data from a telephone survey conducted in Minnesota in 1996. One perspective holds that individuals visit museums because of interest in the materials exhibited. Another holds that visits to museums are markers of social status, influenced more by social class variables, such as educational attainment. Information from the survey allows for construction of a set of interest indices, which reflect the respondents' levels of interest in various museum topics. The survey data also allow the estimation of regression models that test the relative roles of interest versus respondents' educational attainment as indicators of their likelihood of visiting any one of five different types of museums. Results show that topic interest is a stronger predictor than educational attainment. The implications for attracting museum visitors are discussed.     

Postracial fantasies,blackness, and zombies

The essay mainly performs a structural and formal analysis of the logics and affective economies of postracial fantasies so as to eventually offer the Zombie trope as a mode of analysis figuring alternative ways of thinking race relations. The essay contends that the Zombie, when articulated with discourses and feelings of the postracial, signifies the unleashing of black bio-threat bodies upon a population; and that enjoyment of the postracial and the Zombie Apocalyptic genre obscures and resuscitates this signification. As a brief case study, the essay discusses the display, materiality, and “bloody” enjoyment of the “Zombie Obama” target mannequin by gun enthusiasts and preppers.     

Creating a smart nation: Strategy,policy, intelligence,and information

In an age characterized by distributed information, where the majority of the expertise is in the private sector, the concept of “central intelligence” is an oxymoron. The greatest threat to both national security and national economic competitiveness is ignorance—uninformed decision making. Intelligence communities are slowly discovering that they should not send a spy where a schoolchild can go, and that spies are not harnessing the vast distributed intelligence of the private sector. Unfortunately, the culture of intelligence in most countries believes that its uniqueness rests on secrets rather than thinking—on producing secrets rather than informing policy. To survive in the 21st century, every nation must become a “smart nation” and engage all of its citizens—every citizen must be a collector, producer, and consumer of intelligence—and, thus, create the Virtual Intelligence Community. To integrate and make the best use of both open-source intelligence and traditional classified intelligence, each nation must establish a National Information Strategy which addresses connectivity, content, coordination, and computational security.     

An integrated model of workload,autonomy, burnout,job satisfaction,and turnover intention among Taiwanese reporters

This study examines the relationships among workload, news autonomy, burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intention among Taiwanese reporters. Results of a survey of 1,099 reporters indicate that workload and news autonomy were significantly associated with burnout. In addition, burnout was found to be negatively related to job satisfaction, which in turn had a significant effect on turnover intention. The results not only highlight the important role of workload and news autonomy in predicting burnout, but also extend previous research on journalist burnout by showing that job satisfaction acts as a mediator in the relationship between burnout and turnover intention.     

Possible Futures: E-Reserves,Decentralization, and Collaboration

E-Reserves is a library support service that was conceived as a strategic, decentralized response to changes occurring in curricular resource formats during the 1990s. It is a service that has since become ubiquitous in academic libraries and one that is presently facing a crisis spurred by shifts in user culture, e-learning environments, and modes of scholarship production. Challenges facing E-Reserve services are compounded by a professional culture of isolation and by the absence of best practices and internal assessment measures that can serve as effective rubrics to measure changes or test the efficacy of current service models. This analysis of the history of E-Reserve services and evaluation of curricular support needs of faculty and students sheds light on the current crisis and envisions possible futures for the service. The article advocates for a move toward hybrid and iterative service models and highlights the importance of collaboration and outreach to ensure the future viability of E-Reserve services.     

Yesterday,Today, Tomorrow

The rapid growth of computer technologies to supplement and eventually supplant print as the dominany medium for the provision of government reference information has profound implications for the role of government and the private sector in the creation, enhancement, and dissemination of these products and services. The reluctance of the federal government to provide full and free access to information in electronic formats precludes society's attainment of the concept of equity that is a touchstone of democracy. A way most certain to insure public access would acknowledge a First Amendment penumbra embodying the right to be informed, but this would require a Supreme Court ruling pursuant to a justiciable controversy. Based upon current official policies, the future holds little promise of an equitable diffusion of government information in non-print formats through the depository library system or related statutory mandates.     

David Letterman,his audience,his jokes,and their relationship

The present study analyzes the humor of David Letterman from a balance theory perspective. From this perspective it is predicted that the relationship of the audience to the subject of the joke will influence the amount of audience response to that joke. Significant ANOVA and follow‐up Duncan multiple range test results support the hypothesis and are interpreted in terms of the relational balance theory perspective.     

Libraries,Low-Income People,and Social Exclusion

This article suggests that libraries can improve services to low-income persons by helping to minimize social exclusion. The author points out the significance of negative perceptions affecting the way that professional librarians approach those who face social exclusion for many different reasons. He suggests the need to move beyond categorical problem solving to a more comprehensive sense of community development as a way to positively affect the lives of low income families and individuals.     

Librarians Grading: Giving A's,B's,C's,D's,and F's

SUMMARY

The authors will discuss two innovative methods of increasing the teaching roles of librarians by designing and grading assignments that count towards students' final grades.

One of the authors has expanded her teaching role on campus by being involved in the development of Virginia Tech's First-Year Seminar. She participates in the design of lesson plans and serves as a facilitator for one of the fourteen sections. This includes all of the professor roles: meeting with the class once a week, working with the Student Teaching Assistant, assigning and grading assignments, holding office hours, facilitating class discussions, and dealing with course management and grading issues.

The other author is integrated within a junior-level course with at least four contacts with the students. Three training sessions include hands-on practice in the database and in-class and homework assignments. The six assignments are 15% of the final grade in the course. The author has total control of this segment of the course: design of the assignments, teaching of the courses, grading of the assignments, and dealing with grading issues.

The authors find that these expanded roles lead to deeper relationships with the teaching faculty and the students, due to the increased involvement.     

Firewalls,Ad-Blockers,Web Accelerators,etc.

ABSTRACT

The past ten years have seen remote access to electronic resources emerge as the preferred method of use for many, if not most, library patrons. Unfortunately, the misuse of the Internet has also led to a culture in which many personal computer users feel they must install accessory programs that complicate the normal processes associated with the retrieval of Web-based information. Various programs that users install, often with the best of intentions, can interfere with the authentication processes that many libraries and their vendors use. An exploration of firewalls, ad-blockers, pop-up blockers, Web accelerators, and similar software will examine the complications caused by popular programs in each category when users attempt remote access to library-provided information resources. Additional exploration will focus on similar complications experienced by users behind workplace firewalls. Discussion of each type of software will include minimally invasive remedies to recommend to users and suggestions for managing the technical support burden. Particular attention will focus on the interaction of firewalls and related software with popular remote access solutions such as EZproxy. Finally, analysis of this situation will include consideration of human factors, including suggested messages to convey to skeptical patrons and network administrators.     

Discovering Music: Small-Scale,Web-Scale,Facets, and Beyond

In this presentation, two music librarians addressed the issues related to the discovery of library music resources. Rebecca Belford talked about the Music Library Association’s “Music Discovery Requirements” (MLA MDR) document, and how it applies to some contexts. Tracey Snyder then described the incorporation of MLA MDR into the development of a specific discovery interface. The presenters identified some of the challenges characteristic of music resources and ways in which those challenges may be met, reasoning that a tool capable of handling music will be capable of handling most things in a general collection.     

Comparing portrayals of beauty in outdoor advertisements across six cultures: Bulgaria,Hong Kong,Japan, Poland,South Korea,and Turkey

This research expands scholarship on cross-cultural investigations by examining ideas of beauty through the lens of outdoor advertisements. Using a content analysis method, 293 images of women in outdoor advertisements from six different cultures, including Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey, were reviewed through a framework of advertising and consumer culture, globalization, and theories of beauty. The findings revealed that differences across cultures exist and that beauty ideals are culture dependent.     

Anything,Anytime, Anywhere

Abstract

Students and faculty have come to expect off-campus access to the full portfolio of electronic resources made available by their library. They demand, and should be provided, simple access to electronic information sources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of their location. Proxy servers have been the solution of choice for remote authentication for some time now, but library users tend to have difficulty with manually configured proxies, and there are beginning to be robust alternatives that can provide secure off-campus access to library resources. Remote authentication should not be a matter of getting a proxy server running and then forgetting about it. New developments should be investigated to ensure the easiest, most reliable and most secure access possible-in the interests of libraries and their users.     

Listening,Language, and Colonialism on Main Street,Gibraltar

This essay explores the ways in which listening exists as a means for the maintenance and operationalization of power in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. On Main Street, a struggle between Spanish ways of practicing space and British ways of representing space is played out in a discourse between the soundscapes of spoken Llanito and British nationalistic parades. Utilizing ethnographic research gathered in 2009, and drawing on practice theory and semiotic approaches, I argue that an examination of how people listen on Main Street makes legible the complex power dynamics between Gibraltarians, Spanish-ness, and the British state.     

Vision,innovation, and leadership in research libraries

This study examined the relationship of research library visions, as embodied in a publicly posted vision statement, and the innovativeness of the library. The literature on organizational vision is abundant and generally reveals a positive relationship between vision, visionary leadership, and a variety of organizational factors. Many researchers state that a vision, communicated throughout the organization, is a critical element of organizational success and those entities without a vision are “stumbling in the dark”. In this study, library professionals rated each research library vision statement based on established attributes and it was found that the resulting vision statement score was positively and significantly related to the innovativeness of the library.