Survey of reader preferences concerning the format of NASA langley-authored technical reports

The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development (R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded R&D. Little is also known about the intermediary-based system that is used to transfer the results of federally funded R&D to the U.S. aerospace industry. To help establish a body of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this article, we summarize the literature on the U.S. government technical report and present the results of a survey of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that solicited their opinions concerning the format of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)-authored technical reports. To learn more about the preferences of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the format of NASA LaRC-authored technical reports, we surveyed 133 report producers (i.e., authors) and 137 report users in March–April 1996. Questions covered such topics as: (a) the order in which report components are read; (b) components used to determine if a report would be read; (c) those components that could be deleted; (d) the placement of such components as the symbols list; (e) the desirability of a table of contents; (f) the format of reference citations; (g) column layout and right margin treatment; and (h) writing style in terms of person and voice. Mail (self-reported) surveys were used to collect the data. The response rates for report producers (i.e., authors) was 68% and for users, was 62%.     

An Analysis of Academic Library Web Pages for Faculty

Web sites are increasingly used by academic libraries to promote key services and collections to teaching faculty. This study analyzes the content, location, language, and technological features of fifty-four academic library Web pages designed especially for faculty to expose patterns in the development of these pages.     

British Colonial Administrations’ registry systems: a comparative study of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Recordkeeping in twentieth century colonial states has been ignored by scholars, or at best regarded as the result of a monolithic process of migration of metropolitan practices. Registries provided the principal organ of recordkeeping in British government systems of administration. This comparative study of the registries in the neighbouring territories of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) reveals the true extent of metropolitan British influence, exposing an absence of centralised advice, and a consequent dependence upon individual innovation. This engendered divergent and sometimes weak recordkeeping regimes. The effects of this included the diminution of fiduciary responsibility and administrative accountability.     

Employee mistreatment and muted voices in the culturally diverse workplace

This study examines mistreatment through the perspectives of employees with different cultural backgrounds and positions in order to understand the ways in which some voices are muted and others are privileged. Mistreatment is interactional, distributive, procedural, or systemic abuse of employees taking place at both interpersonal and institutional levels on the basis of cultural diversity. Narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with employees of a large research and development organization revealed three types of muted narratives used to respond to mistreatment (muted-but-engaged, angrily disengaged, and resigned) as well as one type of privileged response. The narratives provided evidence of two processes by which voices became muted: repeated silencing over time and silencing through ambiguity of policies.     

Rural library service in the Republic of Kiribati

This paper reflects on the outcomes of a project undertaken in 1997/98, and examines issues relating to the development of the managerial expertise that underpins the library and information services in Latin America and the Caribbean. It reviews the results of surveys of schools of Librarianship and Information Sciences and a small selection of employers in the region, examining the congruence between the needs of the employers and provision by the schools and possible explanations for an apparent mutual lack of awareness of modern management techniques. Proposals for developing management expertise include: enhancing access to indigenous professional publications and teaching materials; developing a Hispanic language distance-learning programme for library managers; improving research into the job market and skills requirements; and developing an electronic network for communication between the schools. The role of international agencies and technical co-operation projects is assessed, and attention is drawn to the need for a more positive approach to overcome the issues surrounding the transfer of management know-how between different cultures.     

Using Relevant Humor to Moderate Inappropriate Conversations: Maintaining Student Communication Satisfaction in the Classroom

This study assessed students’ (N=195) perceptions of instructors’ relevant humor and inappropriate conversations in the classroom and used expectancy violation theory (EVT) as a lens to position instructor relevant humor as a moderator between instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Results showed a positive association between students’ perceptions of instructors’ use of relevant humor and student communication satisfaction, and in contrast, a negative relationship between perceptions of instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Consistent with the tenets of EVT, results also indicated that instructors who use relevant humor in the classroom may overcome students’ negative perceptions of inappropriate conversations and maintain student communication satisfaction.     

The Works of Gilbert Seldes

W.J. Baker's A History of the Marconi Company (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972–$12.95)

Vishwa Mohan Mishra's Communication and Modernization in Urban Slums (New York: Asia Publishing House, Inc., 1972—$6.95, with paper edition available)

James R. Bradon (ed.) The Performing Arts in Asia (Paris: Unesco [available in this country from New York: Unipub, Inc.], 1971—$3.00, paper)

John A. Lent (ed.) The Asian Newspapers' Reluctant Revolution (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1971—$12.50)

Richard L. Merritt (ed.) Communication in International Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 19Y2—$15.00)

Gayle Durham Hollander's Soviet Political Indoctrination: Developments in Mass Media and Propaganda Since Stalin (New York: Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Public Affairs, 1972—$15.00)     

Television and Radio

TVPE (1826 Spaight St., Madison, Wisconsin 53704; to begin publication on a monthly basis in February 1973 at $6.00 per year)

Television Quarterly

Terry Galanoy's Tonight! (New York: Doubleday, 1972 -- $7.95)

Gene Kievan, Turn That Damned Thing Off: An Irreverent look at TV's Impact on the American Scene (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1972 -- $6.95)

John Gambling's Rambling with Gambling (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972 -- $6.95)

Mary Francis Rhymer (ed.) The Small House Halfway Up in the Next Block: Paul Rhymer's Vic and Sade (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972 -- 9.50)

Charles E. Lowman's Magnetic Recording (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972 -- $14.50)     

Media

Steven H. Chaffee and Michael J. Petrick's Using the Mass Media: Communication Problems in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975—$6.95, paper)

Bibliography: Some Canadian Writings on the Mass Media (Ottawa: Canadian Radio-Television Commission , 1974—apparently free on request, paper)

Communications: Some Federal Proposals (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1975—price not known, paper)

Bernard C. Hennessy's Public Opinion (Belmont, Calif.: Duxbury Press/ Wadsworth, 1975—price not known, paper)

John G. Cawelti's The Six-Gun Mystique (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972—price not known, paper)

First Annual Report (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, December 1974—free on request, paper)     

Humor: Incongruity,disparagement, and David Letterman

Trait argumentativeness and argumentativeness in the workplace, a particular situation, were examined with regard to gender of the respondent, rank/status of the respondent in the organization, and existence of a formal employee participation program. A main effect for gender showed men displayed the trait to a greater degree than women. There was a strong correlation between general trait argumentativeness and workplace argumentativeness, measured at a two‐week interval, which adds strength and validity to the trait measure of argumentativeness. The influence of the cross‐situaiional consistency nature of the trait was evidenced in this study.