Writing method and productivity of science and engineering faculty

The present study aimed to describe the methods of writing used by university faculty and to explore relationships between method and productivity in writing. The survey reported here examined the cognitive strategies, tools, work scheduling, environment, and rituals used by 121 science and engineering faculty members in writing technical documents such as journal articles. The most commonly reported methods (e.g., the cognitive strategy of mentally planning large units of text structure and selecting a pen or pencil for a tool) were uncorrelated with reported productivity. Selecting a quiet work environment was the only typical habit that was associated with high productivity. Three other aspects of writing method were also related to high productivity, but they were not widely employed. These were using a dictation machine, preparing detailed written outlines before beginning a first draft, and the ritual of exercising vigorously before or during a writing session.     

Diversifying the faculty across gender lines: Do trustees and administrators matter?

Our paper focuses on the role that the gender composition of the leaders of American colleges and universities - trustees, presidents, and provosts - play in influencing the rate at which academic institutions diversify their faculty across gender lines. Our analyses make use of institutional level panel data that we have collected for a large sample of American academic institutions.     

A preliminary investigation on diffusion through a layered system

We introduce layered systems such as the citations–citing authors–citing institutes–citing countries one. Diffusion of scientific ideas flows through such layered systems. Our contribution contains three main topics: a fractional counting system for the number of different units in a layer; the fractional number of items of the same type, i.e. in the same layer, over which ideas have been diffused; and the evenness of diffusion over different layers. In this way we construct a coherent system to measure the extent to which scientific ideas are diffused.     

General Media and Media-Related

William L. Rivers, Theodore Peterson and Jay W. Jensen's The Mass Media and Modern Society (Rinehart Press, $8.95)

Ronald T. Farrar and John D. Stevens' (eds.) Mass Media and the National Experience (Harper & Row, price not known (paper back))

Bernard Rosenberg and David Manning White's Mass Culture Revisited (Van Nostrand, both hardback and paperback at same time–price not yet known)

Wilbur Schramm (ed.) Process and Effects of Mass Communications (University of Illinois Press, details unknown)

The Steranko History of Comics (Supergraphics Publications, 501 Spruce St., Reading, Pa. 19602, $3.00 paperback)     

Instructional/Educational Media

Public Telecommunications Review (bi-monthly at $12.50 per year in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, $17.00 Elsewhere) and Volume I:1 appeared in August 1973

S. Young Lee and Ronald J. Pedone's Summary Statistics of Public Television Licensees Fiscal Year 1972 (Washington: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1973—no price listed, paperback)

Frederick Williams, Geraldine Van Wart and Monty Stanford's Carrascolendas: National Evaluation of a Spanish/English Educational Television Series (Austin, Texas: School of Communication, Center for Communication Research of the University of Texas, June 1973—$6.00, paper)

Children's Television Workshop offers its 1973 Annual Report (1 Lincoln Plaza, N.Y. 10023) which discusses developments in Sesame Street, Electric Company     

Production Guides

Martin Clifford's Microphones: How They Work and How to Use Them (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1977—$8.95/ 5.95)

James Carroll and Ronald Sherriffs, TV Lighting Handbook ($12.95, 226 pp.)

Harry Kybett, The Complete Handbook of Videocassette Recorders ($9.95/5.95, 280 pp.)

Dave Ingram, The Complete Handbook of Slow-Scan TV ($14.95/9.95, 304 pp.)

G. Paul Smeyak's Broadcast News Writing (Columbus, Ohio: Grid Publishing, 1977—$7.95, paper)     

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.