History and Physics

This paper argues that research and teaching in physics and in the history of physics are complementary in nature, and it explores some of the implications of this point of view.     

January issue of performance improvement an excellent read!

The editor welcomes letters from all readers wishing to comment on articles in this issue of Performance Improvement (PI). Early responses have the best chance of being published. Please be concise and include your title and organizational affiliation. PI reserves the right to select, solicit, and edit letters. Send letters to: PI Editor, 1300 I. Street, NW, Suite 1250, Washington, DC 20005: fax: 202‐408‐7972: or email: pershin@indiana.edu .     

The performance architect's essential guide to the performance technology landscape

The first two editions of the Handbook of Human Performance Technology helped define the rapidly growing and vibrant field of human performance technology—a systematic approach to improving individual and organizational performance. Exhaustively researched and edited by Dr. James A. Pershing, CPT, this third edition not only updates key foundational chapters on organizational change, evaluation, instructional design, and motivation, but features breakthrough chapters on “performance technology in action” and addresses many new topics in the field, such as certification, Six Sigma, and communities of practice. In this chapter, reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (copyright 2006), Roger Addison and Carol Haig take you on a journey through the key elements of a full performance process with its pitfalls and how to avoid them.     

Discourses on information ethics: The claim to universality

An important question one can ask of ethical theories is whether and how they aim to raise claims to universality. This refers to the subject area that they intend to describe or govern and also to the question whether they claim to be binding for all (moral) agents. This paper discusses the question of universality of Luciano Floridi’s information ethics (IE). This is done by introducing the theory and discussing its conceptual foundations and applications. The emphasis will be placed on the ontological grounding of IE. IE’s claims to universality will be contrasted with those raised by discourse ethics. This comparison of two pertinent ethical theories allows for a critical discussion of areas where IE currently has room for elaboration and development.     

From Green Revolution to Green Evolution: A Critique of the Political Myth of Averted Famine

This paper critiques the so-called “Green Revolution” as a political myth of averted famine. A “political myth,” among other functions, reflects a narrative structure that characterizes understandings of causality between policy action and outcome. As such, the details of a particular political myth elevate certain policy options (and families of policy options) over others. One important narrative strand of the political myths of the Green Revolution is a story of averted famine: in the 1950s and 1960s, scientists predicted a global crisis to emerge in the 1970s and beyond, created by a rapidly growing global population that would cause global famine as food supplies would not keep up with demand. The narrative posits that an intense period of technological innovation in agricultural productivity led to increasing crop yields which led to more food being produced, and the predicted crisis thus being averted. The fact that the world did not experience a global famine in the 1970s is cited as evidence in support of the narrative. Political myths need not necessarily be supported by evidence, but to the extent that they shape understandings of cause and effect in policymaking, political myths which are not grounded in evidence risk misleading policymakers and the public. We argue a political myth of the Green Revolution focused on averted famine is not well grounded in evidence and thus has potential to mislead to the extent it guides thinking and action related to technological innovation. We recommend an alternative narrative: The Green Evolution, in which sustainable improvements in agricultural productivity did not necessarily avert a global famine, but nonetheless profoundly shaped the modern world. More broadly, we argue that one of the key functions of the practice of technology assessment is to critique and to help create the political myths that preserve an evidence-grounded basis for connecting the cause and effect of policy action and practical outcomes.