Shared Reading within an Apprenticeship Approach to Reading

Williamson & Carrington argued, in a recent edition of Educational Studies, the need for a major investigation of the effectiveness of an apprenticeship approach to reading. This paper considers some of the problems associated with such investigations. It also seeks to clarify some of the terminology in the whole language repertoire before looking in detail at shared reading as an important part of such approaches. The article concludes by suggesting that ethnographic studies are the means by which issues in the teaching and learning of reading may best be clarified, and teachers and children assisted.     

The Concept of Record in Interactive, Experiential and Dynamic Environments: the View of InterPARES*

This article presents the concept of electronic record as articulated by the first phase of the InterPARES (International research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) Project (1999–2001) and discusses it in light of the findings of the second phase of the Project (2002–2006). While InterPARES 1 focused on records produced and/or maintained in databases and document management systems, InterPARES 2 examined records produced and/or maintained in interactive, experiential and dynamic environments. The authors describe the characteristics of these environments and of the entities found in them in the course of case studies conducted on systems used for carrying out artistic, scientific and e-government activities, and propose the new concept of record that InterPARES 2 is eleborating, which expands on that formulated by InterPARES 1.The authors would like to thank InterPARES 2 research assistant Randy Preston for his careful editing and constructive criticisms. Some of his suggestions have been incorporated in the text of this article.     

Diversity on U.S. Public and Commercial TV in Authorial and Executive-Produced Social-Issue Documentaries

Where are diverse makers and subjects most likely to be found in U.S. TV documentary? This study compares commercial and public TV series, and also anthology formats (“authorial” series) and executive-produced formats. A content analysis for characters and makers showed that public TV authorial series are more diverse than either commercial or other public TV series. Independent documentaries have diversity value both in commercial and public TV settings.     

Cultured pearls—commercialised biomineralisation

At the turn of the last century there was an ever increasing world demand for pearls while at the same time their known fishing grounds were becoming exhausted. Some way of artificially increasing their production was obviously desirable, and the problem attracted considerable effort. It was an attempt to exploit a scientifically poorly understood phenomenon, and it is interesting, in retrospect, to relate these attempts to recent concepts of biomineralisation. Pearls are, of course, the layers of aragonitic calcium carbonate secreted by molluscs.