Theory,Method, and Analysis in Research on the Relations Between Peer Collaboration and Cognitive Development

It is important to make explicit the theoretical framework within which research is conducted because one's choice of theory constrains the choice of what to study and which methods to use for doing research. From a perspective informed by the writings of T. Kuhn (1962), S. C. Pepper (1942), and L. T. Winegar (1997), the author assessed the extent to which each of the articles in this special issue related theory to methods and to analysis. The author identified limitations in each of the articles, caused primarily by the use of methods or analyses that did not seem well suited to the theory of choice. However, each of the articles also had great strengths, and, taken together, they further our understanding of the complexity of the relationships between peer collaboration and cognitive development. They also provide some stimulating and productive ways of studying the collaborative processes themselves.     

Educational programs as an interactive tool for public engagement by public archives repositories in South Africa

The purpose of this article was to investigate whether public archives in South Africa’s educational programs serve as an interactive tool for public engagement. The study adopted a quantitative research approach involving all 10 public archival institutions in South Africa. Data was collected using survey questionnaires, analysis of the legislation on archives, and the national Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and relevant provincial departments’ annual reports from the 2012–13 to 2014–15 financial years according to the relevant themes of the study. In South Africa, public archival institutions fall under and report to the DAC. The purpose of data triangulation was to collect as much, and as diverse, data as possible to help generate the best possible insight. The study revealed that the public archives’ educational activities were not effectively designed and implemented to bring potential users to archives. The study recommends that public archives engage with educators and curriculum developers to support the South African Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). This will enable archivists and public archival institutions to identify and incorporate developmental and topically relevant archival material into CAPS for use by educators and learners in a classroom environment.     

Real-Time Peer Review: An Innovative Feature to an Evidence-Based Practice Conference

Many health sciences librarians as well as other professionals attend conferences on a regular basis. This study sought to link an innovative peer review process of presented research papers to long-term conference outcomes in the peer-reviewed professional journal literature. An evidence-based conference included a proof-of-concept study to gauge the long-term outcomes from research papers presented during the program. Real-time peer review recommendations from the conference were linked to final versions of articles published in the peer-reviewed literature. The real-time peer review feedback served as the basis for further mentoring to guide prospective authors toward publishing their research results. These efforts resulted in the publication of two of the four research papers in the peer-viewed literature. A third presented paper appeared in a blog because the authors wanted to disseminate their findings more quickly than through the journal literature. The presenters of the fourth paper never published their study. Real-time peer review from this study can be adapted to other professional conferences that include presented research papers.     

Empathy and Affective Orientation as Predictors of Identification with Television Characters

This study examined the relationships between television viewers’ empathy and affective orientation and their identification with their favorite television characters. Results showed that viewers’ perspective taking and affective orientation positively predicted cognitive-emotional identification and group identification, and affective orientation positively predicted similarity identification. Similarity in viewer and favorite character sex and the genre in which the favorite character appeared also predicted identification.     

Cultural Policy Studies and the Problem of Political Representation

Since the 1980s, writers in cultural policy studies have used Michel Foucault\rquote s writing on governmentality to rethink the relationship between intellectuals in the humanities and liberal (or neoliberal) states. One of the founding members of the Australian cultural policy studies school, Tony Bennett, has argued for a model of intellectual as a cultural technicisn who works with the state bureaucracies. This article uses Bennett\rquote s work as an entry-point into questions about the role of critical intellectual, the nature of state power and bureaucracy, and function of culture. It argues that if cultural policy studies is going to claim to be doing bureaucratic work for the sake of politics (rather than for purposes of self-interest), then it will have to supplement governmentality with other theories that help sort our relationships among intellectuals, political constituencies, and the state.     

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Reuters established a picture service after its competitors. So why did it enter the picture market when it did? What advantage did late entry give it? How did this new technologically driven business model based on pictures offer the key bridge to the contemporary multimedia company Reuters is today? In this article, the story of the Reuters picture service is told for the first time since it was officially established in 1985. Using Reuters archive, it begins with the purchase of UPI's US pictures service and ends with the contemporary business. It explores the ways Reuters managed to finance the production of pictures; build a new network for the picture service; invest in (and develop) new technologies of distribution, consumption and operation while being constantly on guard through research; study its markets, its competitors and clients; make room for new product lines in the form of news pictures within an already fully operational organisation, and deal with difficulties that resulted from such structural changes. Establishing its picture service during the 1980s not only helped Reuters make a strong entry into the international image market at a time when international news had just entered a new digital era, it also helped Reuters build a strong business and technological model during a period of media industry upheaval. And it used its picture operations to establish an elaborative infrastructure, enabling this forward-looking multimedia business to become a powerful international news agency ready for the future.     

Figuring Radicalization: Congressional Narratives of Homeland Security and American Muslim Communities

This essay focuses on the language of domestic radicalization as it has been invoked in recent debates regarding homeland security and the specter of homegrown Islamic terrorism. The language of radicalization is not new. However, beginning in 2004 and 2005 this language began to be appropriated into legislative and law enforcement discussions of domestic terrorism and national security. Using the rhetorical figure of polyptoton as a critical frame, this essay explores how the language of radicalization has evolved and how it has come to shape available arguments and define the legitimacy of participants (and non-participants) within recent congressional hearings and legislation.