Introduction To The Theme of This issue: Competencies in Audio-Visual Education

The theme for this issue was originally envisioned by the planners as the general topic of professional education; it has developed down to the more specific area of competencies in audiovisual education. Education and training programs for specialists in the educational media profession world-wide vary a great deal. Some countries are unable to provide more than on-the-job training for educators who have been selected or who desire to work in this speciality; while some very sophisticated programs exist such as at the Centre Audio-Visuel at St Cloud in Paris, the Centre for Educational Technology in the United Kingdom, or some of the institutions in the United States.     

“Darker than any prison,hotter than any human flame”: Punishment,choice, and culpability in A Clockwork Orange

Contemporary textbooks in criminal justice use A Clockwork Orange to illustrate issues of correctional and sentencing practices. This article challenges criminal justice faculty and students to use the film to explore the political and social realities of punishment, in particular the examination of the moral question of “voluntariness” and the implications for “treatment” as a mechanism of social control. This paper explores the moral questions of state sponsored social control and using the film satire invites the student to examine their beliefs about the political and social realities of punishment and rehabilitation.     

The perceived impacts of e-government on U.S. cities: A survey of Florida and Texas City managers

This study examines the perceived impacts of electronic government or e-government adoption on U.S. cities. This research conducted a survey of Texas and Florida city managers in the fall of 2005 to find out their opinions on the impact of e-government on their city government. The results indicated that e-government is having a positive impact on management, stakeholder involvement, needs and collaboration, and procurement in American cities. There are, however, concerns over spam or unsolicited e-mail and the ability of e-government to reduce the level of staffing. The results of this study imply that, according to city managers' perceptions, e-government adoption in American city governments is positively viewed as having an impact on their organizations and communities.     

TOWARDS A NOTION OF 'WORLD OPINION'

This paper presents a content analysis of the manner in which‘world opinion’ is used in stories and editorialsof two nations' major newspapers. The authors studied the InternationalHerald Tribune and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for themonths of February, March, and April 1986 for articles whichcontained implicit or explicit references to ‘world opinion’.These refernces were studied using a pre-designed survey instrument,which analyzed several features of the term's usage. Topicsfor discussion included: (1) the various syonyms for world opinion;(2) the agenda for world opinion; (3) the timing of referenceto particular issues on the agenda; (4) the moral and pragmaticcomponents of world opinion; and (5) the link between worldopinion and the ‘international isolation’ of nationsor individuals. The paper concludes by combining the resultsof the study into a preliminary definition of ‘world opinion’,based upon the common usage of this term. The definition comparesthe characteristics of ‘world opinion’ and ‘publicopinion’, and discusses the possible ramifications ofunderstanding the concept in this manner.