The bookstore war on Orchard Road: a study of contemporary sponsors of literacy and ideologies of globalized book retailing in Singapore

Based on a year's worth of fieldwork in Singapore, this article is a case study of the much-publicized ‘bookstore war on Orchard Road’ that pitted Borders' American ‘loosey-goosey’ model of bookselling against Kinokuniya's ‘serious’ Japanese model. It examines the distinctive role that country-of-origin effects play in the cultural practices and perceptions of these two global sponsors of literacy, which have in recent decades rivaled traditional sponsors of literacy such as libraries in guiding individuals on ‘what, when and how’ to read. An analysis of the Orchard Road bookstore war captures some of the competing ideologies of textual practices circulating in Singapore as cosmopolitan print consumers and their professional counterparts express their acceptance and/or rejection of particular bookselling practices. For the professionals, good bookselling involves the promotion of local print cultures. In contrast, the cosmopolitan consumers seldom mentioned this criterion. In fact, many of them were drawn to the ‘globality’ of transnational booksellers. While print professionals clearly favored Kinokuniya's globalization localization practices over Borders, a clear-cut preference did not emerge among cosmopolitan consumers. This study suggests that country-of-origin effects likely informed the way in which print professionals and cosmopolitan consumers perceived Borders and Kinokuniya and the globalization localization strategies of these global sponsors of literacy.     

The City Personified: The Geopolitical Narratives of Rudy Giuliani

The article examines the growing interest in political celebrity and urban branding within media and cultural studies. It stresses the significance of narrative strategies in political statecraft, with specific reference to the intimate relationship between mayors and cities. It focuses on the figure of Rudy Giuliani, both in his period as mayor of New York between 1993 and 2001, and in his subsequent political and private lives, paying close attention to how the event of 9/11 acted as a pivot in his political career. After conceptualizing the relationship between mayors and cities through a discussion of public discourse, celebrity, and political scale, the paper then identifies three processes by which Giuliani has personified New York: first, through narrative control and self-projection within the New York political sphere, by considering his use of selected city sites as a form of synecdoche in his media strategies, and his marginalization of those who challenged him politically; second, through his elevated celebrity status and visual representation by the media in the aftermath of 9/11; and third, through the genre of autobiography and branding, via his book Leadership and related commercial activities, whereby he shifted the scale of his narrative beyond New York.     

Structural change in search engine news service: a social network perspective

This research investigates structural change made by Naver's online news section and how it has impacted the overall traffic flow of Korea's online news. This paper examined 45 websites in 2008 and 2010, and the total number of pages viewed within these sites was considered in the analysis. Social network analysis was applied to study the relationships between the news sites. The analysis through degree centrality and Bonacich powers shows that there has been a shift in market leadership. In 2007, Naver, the top search engine in Korea, stepped down from its leading position after they started to provide news services. Daum, the second largest search engine, has taken over the central position as the most influential news site. Based on the results of this study, practical implications for online service markets and theoretical implications for online services are recommended accordingly.     

Communication research in Hong Kong: Problematics,discoveries and directions 1

This paper first analyses the communication research environment in Hong Kong in regard to its socio‐political context, the media industry and more direct factors such as research freedom, financial‐institutional support, incentives, size and quality of trained personnel While the overall environment is facilitative, the small size of the research community in Hong Kong is limiting the volume of research output and scope of specialization. In reviewing researches in the last decade, it is found that commercial researches are generally more concerned about opinion distribution and media consumption. Government policy researches‐centre around media evaluations, preferences, programme standards and other regulatory issues. Academics pay most attention to political communication, international communication and, less so, information technology. As to future research, the author argues for more frequent use of longitudinal and comparative methods, the search for an original theoretical contribution to communication, an urban research agenda in development communication, the study of dependent communication development, interaction between mass media and political formation, regional cultural integration, advertising, media management, information technology and policy. The establishment of a communication policy forum is also called for to promote exchanges among academics, policy‐makers, media practitioners and interest groups. The expansion of the research community in Hong Kong hinges on successful faculty recruitment, the establishment of a doctoral communication programme and the relief of some staffs teaching overload.     

Reframing the Cultural Differences between the East and the West

This study proposes that the fundamental cultural differences between the East and the West lie in a holistic-analytic worldview, and this new perspective can explain the cultural differences better than collectivism-individualism. To test the claim, this study developed a measurement for holism and its derivative, cognitive relativity. Then, it examined the degree of holism, cognitive relativity, and independent and interdependent self-construals with Korean and American college students. Results showed that (a) Koreans had a stronger holistic worldview than Americans, (b) Koreans maintained a higher degree of cognitive relativity than Americans, (c) Koreans and Americans did not differ in either independent or interdependent self-construals, and (d) the impact of holism was still strong after controlling for the effects of self-construals.     

Daughters' Perceptions of Communication with Their Fathers: The Role of Skill Similarity and Co-Orientation in Relationship Satisfaction

This study examines the communication skill similarity between fathers and daughters. Participants were 186 daughters who identified perceptions of both their own communication competence and their father's communication competence. Results indicated that perceived similarity was related to relational satisfaction and quantity of communication. Using the Family Communication Pattern (FCP) model, father-daughter relationship satisfaction and communication skill similarity varied depending on the family type (i.e., consensual, pluralistic, protective, laissez-faire).     

Comparing Separate Process and Intertwined Models for Reactance

This investigation compares whether an intertwined or a separate process model better explains message failure incurred by threat to freedom. The current project extends the intertwined model proposed by Dillard and Shen (2005 Dillard , J. P. , & Shen , L. ( 2005 ). On the nature of reactance and its role in persuasive health communication . Communication Monographs , 72 , 144 – 168 . doi: 10.1080/03637750500111815 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by considering the additional persuasive message elements of weak argument and insult. Results indicate that the intertwined model provides not only a better fit but also a more general model of message resistance than previously considered.     

The selection and preparation of university of Chicago round table participants

The amount of improvement that takes place in stutterers’ speech as a result of a two semester therapeutic program was objectively evaluated by means of tape recordings. The results indicate that the stutterers did not show improvement either in the fluency of their speech nor in the overall severity of their stuttering. Whatever the reasons for this lack of improvement it seems reasonable to propose that it is by using such objective criteria as tape recordings that scientifically minded speech pathologists will be able to accurately estimate the worthwhileness of a particular stuttering therapy program.     

Possessions theory of persuasion: An examination of its basis and range

Possessions theory claims that individuals learn to relate to their possessions in either an instrumental or symbolic fashion, and that this object orientation transfers to attitudes. Implicit in the theory is the notion that instrumental and symbolic orientations anchor the poles of a single continuum. The results of the first study tested that assumption and found that a bivariate conception was more empirically defensible than a bipolar conception. Study 2 was concerned with the scope of the theory's predictions for persuasion. The possessions orientation of women at‐risk for breast cancer was measured and they were then exposed to either a symbolic or instrumental message both of which asked them to participate in a clinical trial of a breast cancer preventative. Although no effects were observed on attitude toward participation nor on intention to participate, instrumental orientation showed a reliable, positive relationship with judgments of the persuasiveness of the messages.