The Boy-Child in Australian Lesbian Feminist Discourse and Community

With the development of second wave feminism and the emergence of an increasingly visible and articulate community of lesbians within feminist circles in the 1970s, an influential strand of radical feminism began to advocate separatism as a political strategy for lesbians. Simultaneously, the Australian women’s movement was opening up a space in which it was possible to acknowledge the dual role of some women as lesbians and as mothers, and a small minority of lesbians were using artificial insemination and other methods to conceive children in the context of lesbian relationships. The co-existence of these two strands of lesbian feminist thought gave rise to a new issue: that of the place of the boy-child in lesbian feminist ideology and communities. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, this article explores the debate about boy children in Australian lesbian feminist circles in the 1970s and 1980s. A range of views were expressed, from the suggestion that boy children presented an opportunity to raise a new generation of pro-feminist men, to the view that the boy child threatened women’s autonomy and need for sisterhood. This article traces the development of these arguments and considers the impact of the debate on the mothers of boys, their boy-children and the broader lesbian feminist community.     

Time to Listen

This article is a reflection on two aspects of the exhibition development process that are important but elusive. One is a habit of listening, and the other is the importance of allowing time for listening—to advisers, visitors, and other members of the exhibition team. The team that developed the touring exhibition Invention at Play used visitor research throughout the process of exhibition development to explore the links between the work of inventors and familiar human activities such as exploration, imagination, and play. The exhibition won an award of excellence at the AAM convention in Portland, Oregon in 2003. It was used as a case study on integrating accessibility into exhibition planning and design at an international conference, ADA Coordinators and Accessibility Managers in the Cultural Arts, sponsored by the Kennedy Center in 2002.     

The librarian stereotype: How librarians are damaging their image and profession

Every profession has a stereotype, and librarians are no stranger to this phenomenon. This article discusses the stereotype, how librarians have responded to its use in the public sphere, and reasons why the author sees the profession's reaction as problematic.     

Rooted in resistance: women teachers constructing counter‐pedagogies in post‐authoritarian Brazil

This study focuses upon the narratives of women educators (educadoras) who contributed to radical democratic school reforms in post‐authoritarian Brazil. We illustrate through three of the teachers’ narratives how their professional identities and actions were shaped partly by their experiences of resisting the military regime and by their participation in professional development opportunities that grew from liberatory social movements. Our analysis focuses on their efforts to construct counter‐pedagogies in their disciplines of history, mathematics, and physical education that resisted colonizing, authoritative practices and moved toward more liberatory, humanizing pedagogies. We consider how these counter‐pedagogies reflect both women’s ways of knowing that emphasize dialogue, collaboration, community, and the value of personal knowledge and relationships, as well as feminist principles of consciousness‐raising and social action. This analysis highlights possibilities and challenges of radical democratic reform in education by focusing on the work, experience, and identities of women educators engaged in the day‐to‐day efforts to bring about lasting change.     

Exploring the Stability and Variability of Impact Factors and Associated Rankings in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals, 1998–2007

This study sought to explore the impact factors and associated rankings of criminology and criminal justice journals that have been ranked in the top 20 over the past 10 years (1998–2007). The results from this study suggested a considerable degree of similarity in the rankings of criminology and criminal justice journals compared to other known methods insofar as the rankings of the top journals such as CRIM and JRCD. However, further analyses revealed a noticeable amount of stability and variability in the journals that make the top 20 list over time and stability and variability in the rankings of specific journals themselves over time. Study limitations and suggestions for future research ranking criminology and criminal justice journals are also discussed.     

Radio and Television

Ralph M. Jennings and Pamela Richard's How to Protect Your Rights in Television and Radio (Office of Communication, United Church of Christ, 289 Park Ave. South, New York 10010—price not given, paper)

Ted C. Smythe and George A. Mastroianni's Issues in Broadcasting: Radio, Television, and Cable (Palo Alto, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1975—price not given but around $7.00 we learned from editors, paper)

James D. Secrest's Electronic Industries Association: The First 50 Years (Washington: EIA, 1974—price not given)

Ann M. Velia's KOB: Goddard's Magic Mast, Fifty Years of Pioneer Broadcasting (Las Cruces, N.M.: New Mexico State University Press, 1972—$6.95)

Harold Niven's Broadcast Education 1975: 14th Report (Washington: National Association of Broadcasters, 1975—$5.00, paper)

Broadcast Programming and Production (bimonthly/$7.00 per year, with first three issues free on request)

Joel L. Efrein, Cablecasting Production Handbook (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1975—$12.95)

NCTA is Over the Cable (Washington: National Cable Television Association, 1975—free on request, paper)

Community Antenna Television Journal (4209 N.W. 23rd St., Suite 106, Oklahoma City 73107)     

New Model,New Strategies: Instructional design for building online wisdom communities

We discuss the development of an instructional design model, WisCom (Wisdom Communities), based on socio‐constructivist and sociocultural learning philosophies and distance education principles for the development of online wisdom communities, and the application and evaluation of the model in an online graduate course in the USA. The WisCom model aims to facilitate transformational learning by fostering the development of a wisdom community, knowledge innovation, and mentoring and learner support in an online learning environment, based on a “Cycle of Inquiry” module design, and a “Spiral of Inquiry” program design. Extending beyond current instructional design practice, WisCom provides both a new model for teaching that builds upon the inherent capacity of networked communication to support the growth and intellectual development of communities of practice, and a new model of learning where learners engage in the process of scholarly inquiry that supports individual and collective learning. Evaluation and research data support the WisCom model's ability to design a learning community engaged in the collaborative construction of knowledge.