The Impact of Pre‐school Children's Intelligence and Adjustment on their Parents’ Long‐term Educational Expectations

The present study set out to examine the role played by preschool children's intellectual and behavioural characteristics in their parents’ expectations for school performance. Preschool children who were expected by their parents to attend university were compared with those who were expected to leave school at the earliest opportunity. Children whose parents had lower expectations came from lower social classes and tended to be boys. The two groups differed in a number of other ways. The high expectations group tended to be more intelligent and less overactive. When the associations between expectations, sex and SES were controlled for, these differences persisted. The findings show that there is already an association between high educational expectations and educational advantage before children enter school. Educationalists should be cautious when developing policy on the basis of the assumption that the reported association between parental expectations and school achievement reflects the impact of expectations rather than the persistence of early acquired competence.     

Webometric research with the Bing Search API 2.0

In May 2011 the Bing Search API 2.0 had become the only major international web search engine data source available for automatic offline processing for webometric research. This article describes its key features, contrasting them with previous web search data sources, and discussing implications for webometric research. Overall, it seems that large-scale quantitative web research is possible with the Bing Search API 2.0, including query splitting, but that legal issues require the redesign of webometric software to ensure that all results obtained from Bing are displayed directly to the user.     

Incorporating technologies into a flexible teaching space

Higher education institutions are increasingly exploring how they can use emerging technologies to develop and enhance the learning experiences offered to students. These activities have mainly focused on developing student‐centred facilities. The University of Warwick has taken the next step by developing a space (the Teaching Grid) specifically designed to meet the needs of teaching staff across the institution. This paper describes how the Teaching Grid supports teachers by providing a flexible experimental space together with a rich collection of established and new technologies, and with comprehensive staff support. We analysed the use of the facility during the first 30 months of operation, using data collected from 119 case studies, in order to present a perspective on how they have used the technologies and how this has impacted on their teaching practice. We present a taxonomy that provides a concrete framework to support future analysis of and comparisons between such spaces.     

Chain Versus Independent Television Station Ownership: Toward an Investment Model of Commitment to Local News Quality

Using empirical measures, a pilot test of an investment model of commitment to television news quality yielded statistically significant results supporting four hypothesized relationships between types of broadcast station ownership. The findings indicate that the news department operated by a small media group produced more local news, more locally produced video, more use of on-air reporters, and fewer news promotions than the larger chain-based broadcast groups investigated, suggesting a deeper commitment to local news quality. The results support the policy position that stricter ownership limits would enhance the quality of local television news.     

Hegemonic Shorthand: Technology and Metonymy in Modern Policing

Western police forces have always been institutions powered principally by the efficient accumulation of information, from the oral histories that defined the earliest foot patrols, to the communicative velocity of modern mobile data terminals. As these technologies evolve, however, the more the police devolve to become a data mining entity in earnest. This article interrogates the genealogy of a disciplinary nomenclature the author coins hegemonic shorthand—a formulaic meta-language grounded in a culture of standardization and interpolation among the police that flourishes in paranoid times under the pretense of public protection.