How to be Real and Conventional: A Discussion of the Quality Criteria of Official Statistics

Are the categories used to study the social world and acting on it “real” or “conventional”? An empirical answer to that question is given by an analysis of the debates about the “quality” of statistics produced by the European National Institues of statistics in the 1990s. Six criteria of quality were then specified: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, comparability and coherence. How do statisticians and users of statistics deal with the tension produced by their objects being both “real” (they exist before their measurement) and “conventionally constructed” (they are in a way, created by these conventions)? In particular, the technical and sociological distinction between the criteria of relevance and accuracy implies a realistic interpretation, desired by users, but that is nonetheless problematic.     

一剪一贴见神功——记王浣清的剪贴画

在丽水莲都区,有一位痴迷于花鸟虫鱼的剪纸人,她就是退休教师王浣清。凭着一把剪刀,一罐浆糊,她在传统的剪纸基础上,推陈出新,剪出了一个精彩缤纷的世界。中国美术研究院副院长、国家一级美术师刘频华在看了她的作品之后大加赞叹,认为老人的作品有别于传统剪纸作品,独具特色,应该叫“剪贴画”。     

Rethinking Polanyi’s Concept of Tacit Knowledge: From Personal Knowing to Imagined Institutions

Half a century after Michael Polanyi conceptualised ‘the tacit component’ in personal knowing, management studies has reinvented ‘tacit knowledge’—albeit in ways that squander the advantages of Polanyi’s insights and ignore his faith in ‘spiritual reality’. While tacit knowing challenged the absurdities of sheer objectivity, expressed in a ‘perfect language’, it fused rational knowing, based on personal experience, with mystical speculation about an un-experienced ‘external reality’. Faith alone saved Polanyi’s model from solipsism. But Ernst von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism provides scope to rethink personal tacit knowing with regard to ‘other people’ and the intersubjectively viable construction of ‘experiential reality’. By separating tacit knowing from Polanyi’s metaphysical realism and drawing on Benedict Anderson’s concept of ‘imagined communities’, it is possible to conceptualise ‘imagined institutions’ as the tacit dimension of power that shapes human interaction. Whereas Douglass North claimed institutions could be reduced to rules, imagined institutions are known in ways we cannot tell.     

Broadway productions and the value of a Tony Award

This article investigates the effect of a Tony nomination or win on the demand facing a Broadway production using a panel of weekly revenues for Broadway productions from 1996 to 2007. Our results indicate that the effect of a nomination or win is positive in the week of the announcement and gradually increases in successive weeks, presumably due to publicity and word-of-mouth. Winners experience an increase in demand as late as 1 year later when awards are publicized for the following season. Moreover, nominees that do not win the award are penalized heavily in the weeks following the Award announcements. We find that winning a Tony Award increases a production’s revenues by 12% in the week immediately following the Awards.

Revealed word-of-mouth demand and adaptive supply: survival of motion pictures at the Australian box office

This study considers a frailty duration approach to modelling the life-length of a sample of 360 films that went into wide release at the Australian box office from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005. The analysis extends previous research by considering a range of film-specific covariates relating to distribution, production, consumer signals, and weekly performance. In particular, it is shown that film success (defined in a duration context) responds to previewing, advertising, critical reviews, and US box office—but not to production budget, star power or opening-week screens. The study also reveals that it is appropriate to account for unobservable heterogeneity between films in the choice of empirical methodology.     

天目山与阿里山缔结“姐妹山”

2月24日上午,杭州天目山下人声欢笑、雄狮腾跃、锣鼓喧天、气氛热烈。杭州天目山和台湾阿里山缔结姐妹山签约仪式在天目广场隆重举行,国台办主任王毅致电表示祝贺,浙江省、杭州市、临安市有关方面的领导和台湾嘉义市观光协会理事长许贤哲等21位来宾出席了签约仪式。     

兵坛名将新传奇

今年,浙江嵊州籍世界乒乓球冠军、欧洲乒乓球冠军倪夏莲和她的丈夫托米,率卢森堡乒乓球代表团赴日本比赛后回到祖国,受到热烈的欢迎.在江苏省江阴中学一个以她的名字命名的体育馆内,倪夏莲现场表演打乒乓球,并作了"祖国荣誉高于一切"的演讲.倪夏莲又到江阴市新华书店参加<乒乓大使倪夏莲>一书的签名售书活动.     

有一片天空，她总是锐意奋飞——央视“当家花旦”董卿散记

2009年7月10日,在浙江嘉兴举行的第六届“全国德艺双馨电视艺术工作者”表彰典礼上,80位电视主持人,演员荣获这一光荣称号并受到表彰,董卿就是受表彰者之一。     

中外文化交流的使者——杨澜

2009年6月11日,本文作者应温州市委统战部的邀请,前往上海浦东的香格里拉大酒店,采访“世界温商领袖论坛”。全国政协委员、阳光媒体投资控股有限公司董事局主席杨澜与香港凤凰中文台著名主持人石齐平一起主持了这一汇集世界各地800多名“温商领袖”的“世界温商领袖论坛”。论坛期间,作者采访了被人们誉为中外文化交流优秀使者的杨澜。     

乒坛名将新传奇

今年,浙江嵊州籍世界乒乓球冠军、欧洲乒乓球冠军倪夏莲和她的丈夫托米,率卢森堡乒乓球代表团赴日本比赛后回到祖国,受到热烈的欢迎。在江苏省江阴中学一个以她的名字命名的体育馆内,倪夏莲现场表演打乒乓球,并作了“祖国荣誉高于一切”的演讲。倪夏莲又到江阴市新华书店参加Ⅸ乒乓大使倪夏莲》一书的签名售书活动。