Copyright’s fair use doctrine and digital data

The digitization of works renders them not only easy to copy and distribute. It makes them easy to transform from one medium to another. Many of the same fair use questions posed by the copying or use of computer programs recur when other kinds of digital data are copied or manipulated. There are some situations in which digital copying would almost certainly be permitted as fair use, and some in which fair use defenses would be futile. This article was adapted from a column that first appeared inACM Communications. Published by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery.     

Gaining access to everyday life information seeking

The discursive viewpoint adopted by many researchers who study everyday life information seeking allows for a shift in focus away from the individual as a unit of analysis toward a more general understanding of the broader cultural conditions within which individuals operate. However, the data employed by such researchers often consist of the testimony or observed actions of individuals. This paradox provides a point from which to reflect on the process of gaining access or entry to everyday life information seekers as research participants. This article presents the authors’ reflections on their experiences of conducting separate library and information science studies of three diverse populations: pregnant women, members of a self-help support group, and preschool children. The article’s premise is that theory and research practice are intertwined and that attending to issues of gaining access is essential for the development of both. Access is an emergent process dependent on the characteristics of the researcher, the participants, and the research context.     

Higher education curriculum orientations and the implications for institutional curriculum change

This research is based on an empirical study exploring how academics make curriculum decisions and their perceptions of the influences that shape their decisions. Interviews were held with 20 academics from diverse disciplines, who were both research active and committed to teaching. The higher education curriculum was conceptualised as a field of decision-making shaped by academics’ beliefs about educational and contextual influences. The study identified five distinctive curriculum orientations representing coherent patterns of curriculum decisions aligned with academics’ beliefs about educational purposes. Case studies are presented to elucidate each of the curriculum orientations. Curriculum orientations were also found to shape academics’ responses to educational change. The following higher education change drivers are explored: graduate employability and the skills agenda, teaching–research relationships, changing understandings about teaching and learning, educational technologies and flexible delivery. The findings suggest implications for institutional curriculum change initiatives and academic development programmes.     

Goals,Expectations, and Satisfaction of Criminal Justice Majors: Implications for Faculty,Students, and Programs*

Students majoring in criminal justice present an “embarrassment of riches” for academic programs, so little attention has been given to these students and their perspectives on criminal justice programs. However, the assessment movement in higher education and the ACJS encourage self‐examination and program improvement. Further, student satisfaction has been recognized as an important element in the discussion of school and program quality and effectiveness. The present paper presents data from an outcome survey of graduating seniors from a Midwestern public university, with a focus on the reasons why students chose the major, career plans upon graduation, and program satisfaction. The paper explores possible predictors of these variables and discusses the implications of these results for criminal justice faculty, students, and programs.     

The Influence Theory: Factors That Influence the Transfer Advising Process

The transfer rate from community college to four-year institutions has been dropping for the past 70 years. In the most recent statistics, the national rate of transfer is 23% (Cohen & Brawer, 2008). In the state of Alabama the transfer rate is approximately 4%, and in the rural counties of Alabama the transfer rate hovers around 1%. Many studies have been conducted on the transfer process, but none have focused on the transfer process from a theoretical perspective. Most studies focus attention on disparate pieces of the transfer puzzle. To date, there is no overarching theory of the transfer process that will bring coherence to this field of study. This study views the transfer process through the experience of nine transfer advisors who serve students in 11 community colleges located in rural counties in the state of Alabama. The findings establish a substantive theory that will provide a contextual framework for researchers who wish to study specific features of the transfer process. The Influence Theory establishes five factors that play a prominent role in the transfer advising process: institutional, cultural, contextual, advisor, and student. This article concludes with implications for practice and future research.     

The Million Dollar Difference and 21st Century Teaching Skills Project

With a limited budget, but a critical need to develop 21st century marketplace skills, Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) developed the Million Dollar Difference Campaign. Focusing on how quality instruction affects retention and student outcomes, GPC re-energized a 1000-faculty workforce in one year through a series of innovative teaching strategies. Data were collected that proved the campaign worked.     

Framing the Role of Leader: How Community College Presidents Construct Their Leadership

ABSTRACT

Presidents are one of the most studied of administrative roles, yet little research occurs on understanding how these leaders construct their own leadership. Thus, the question guiding the research reported here concerned how community college presidents cognitively framed their leadership roles. This study involved the interviewing of 9 community college presidents. Findings uncovered 3 themes. The first theme identified how the presidents' underlying mental maps guided decision-making and leadership on campus. The second theme linked the basic cognitive orientation of the presidents with on-going situated cognition in their new work settings. Learning evolved based on environmental factors. The final category highlighted the dynamic and changing nature of the presidents' leadership role. The findings from the research reported underscore that college presidents are constantly learning and adjusting their conceptions of leadership. The foundation of this learning journey was each president's core schema and how the schema influenced the processing of new incoming information, ultimately impacting how the leaders made sense of it. While the college presidents were predisposed to a particular way of processing information and operating within an organization, they learned from their changing contexts.