Practical Guides

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF RADIO, by Linda Busby and Donald Parker (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1984-$20.00).

ELECTRONIC ARTS OF SOUND AND LIGHT, by Ronald Pellegrino (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983—$28.50).

TELECONFERENCING HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO COST-EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION, by Ellen Lazar et al. (White Plains, New York: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1983—$34.95).

THE CREATIVE CONNECTION: ADVERTISING COPYWRITING AND IDEA VISUALIZATION, by Arthur A. Winters and Shirley F. Milton (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1982—$16.50).

BROADCAST NEWSWRITING AS PROCESS and BROADCAST COPYWRITING AS PROCESS by J. Clark Weaver (New York: Longman, 1984—price not given, paper).

PUBLIC RELATIONS/PUBLICITY: A KEY LINK IN COMMUNICATIONS, by Lois Ehrenkranz and Gilbert Kahn (New York: Fairchild, 1983—$14.50).

EXPERTS IN ACTION: INSIDE PUBLIC RELATIONS, by Bill Cantor (New York: Longman, 1984—$29.95/ 14.95).     

Influences on TV Viewing and Online User-shared Video Use: Demographics,Generations, Contextual Age,Media Use,Motivations, and Audience Activity

People are increasingly viewing, providing, and recommending video content through the Internet. Applying the uses and gratifications framework, along with contextual age and generational theory, this study identifies and compares motivations for, and their influence on, traditional TV viewing and online user-shared video use among a U.S. sample of adult Internet users. Further, this study explores the form and role of audience activity through online user-shared video recommendations (type, channel, and social relation). Overall, the basic U&G motivations also apply to the new online media world, but differ in levels and influence.     

Letter from the Editor

Getting help in understanding how to use and interpret a new information system is a crucial organizational and individual resource. Indeed, both informal and formal sources of information technology help are expensive and necessary, but largely unidentified, unmanaged, and underresearched. This study proposes that two types of factors influence the formation of information technology helping relationships: individual and structural. Based on a survey of employees in an organization implementing a new workstation‐based customer database system, the study compares influences on being sought as an informal source of IT help, and on types of help (individual or positional) that one seeks. One individual factor (some forms of computer expertise) and most structural factors (especially measures of employees’ perceived socialization, task interdependence, and communication networks) exerted weak but significant influences on employees’ IT helping relationships.     

Adding Value at the Desk: How Technology and User Expectations are Changing Reference Work

The notion of what reference service ought to be continues to change as technology provides new ways to interact with users and alters their expectations of the library and librarians. As new tools for interaction become available, it is critical that librarians continuously evaluate their effectiveness at providing users with a valuable service that meets the needs of the community being served. By assessing tools and techniques in light of user expectations and satisfaction, librarians can come up with unique service programs that also incorporate their own knowledge and interpersonal skills.     

The training of teachers in special education

ABSTRACT

The aims and content of training in special education have been extended in recent years as a result of the practice of integrated education and also the recognition of a larger group of children with special educational needs. Provision in ordinary schools is being seen as the development of whole‐school policies for curricula and organization, including the development of systems of support within and sometimes, across schools. These developments have implications for the training of special education teachers and also for the pre‐service and in‐service education and training of all teachers and for the variety of strategies to be employed.     

Response to “violence in our schools: Implications for teacher education,” volume 35 number 3

Dr. Morgan discusses the recommended content of economics courses, describes several significant projects in economics education, and provides sources from which teachers may obtain complete reports of these projects.     

Exploring the Principal's Contribution to School Effectiveness: 1980‐1995∗

This article reviews research from 1980‐1995 exploring the relationship between principal leadership and student achievement. The focuses is on the substantive findings that emerged from the review. Earlier reports focused on conceptual and methodological issues. The general pattern of results drawn from this review supports the belief that principals exercise a measurable, though indirect effect on school effectiveness and student achievement. While this indirect effect is relatively small, it is statistically significant and supports the general belief among educators that principals contribute to school effectiveness and improvement. Moreover, the review suggests that previously described discrepancies in research results may be explained by the conceptual and methodological tools employed by researchers. We also emphasize the limitations of these studies. Even taken as a group they do not resolve the most important theoretical and practical issues concerning the means by which principals achieve an impact on school outcomes and how contextual forces influence the exercise of leadership in the schoolhouse. It is concluded that while substantial progress has been made over the past 15 years in understanding the principal's contribution to school effectiveness, the most important scholarly and practical work lies ahead. In addition to this qualified, we assert that scholars are better equipped conceptually and methodologically to address these challenges than in 1980.

     

Two time series,their meaning and some applications

Introducing and studying two types of time series, referred to as R1 and R2, we try to enrich the set of time series available for time dependent informetric studies. In a first part we focus on mathematical properties, while in a second part we check if these properties are visible in real data. This practical application uses data in the social sciences related to top Chinese universities. R1 sequences always increase over time, tending relatively fast to one, while R2 sequences have a decreasing tendency tending to zero in practical cases. They can best be used over relatively short periods of time. R1 sequences can be used to detect the rate with which cumulative data increase, while R2 sequences detect the relative rate of development.The article ends by pointing out that these time series can be used to compare innovative activities in firms. Clearly, this investigation is just a first attempt. More studies are needed, including comparisons with other related sequences.     

Ratios of h-cores,h-tails and uncited sources in sets of scientific papers and technical patents

Five ratios R_H, R_T, S_H, S_T and S_Z derived from the three-part division of a set of sources in h-core, h-tail and uncited sources are defined. Dynamic changes in the three independent ratios R_H, S_H and S_Z are studied for six selected topics. Data about these topics are obtained from the Web of Science for scientific papers and Derwent Innovations Index for technical patents. It is observed that all R_H- and S_H-values decrease when the time span widens, while S_Z stays the same or increases; and that all R_H- and S_H-values for papers are larger than the corresponding values for patents. The shifted Lotka distribution is used in a theoretical interpretation of these empirical phenomena.