How Promotional Content Changes Ratings: The Impact of Appeals,Humor, and Presentation

This study assessed the impact of content--as opposed to structural--factors on television program ratings, seeking to locate clusters of components that would identify effective on-air promotion and allocate content a better-defined place within theoretic models of media priming. Stepwise multiple regression analyses of 1,547 on-air promos for 155 prime-time programs demonstrated that 5-9% of ratings variance was accounted for by content appeals, humor, and presentation in promos for comedy programs. The influence of content variables was greater for familiar than unfamiliar comedies, and humor and presentation in promos contributed to variance in ratings for mid-rated but not high- or low-rated comedies.     

Political advertising in Taiwan and the US: Across‐cultural comparison of the 1996 presidential election campaigns

This study applies Hall's (1977) culture‐context theory and Hofstede's (1991) individualistic/collectivistic aspects of cultural differences to understand how content and appeals of political advertising in Taiwan and the US differ. The aspects examined included the presence of direct and indirect attacks, the presentation of issues, types of settings, and the use of metaphors, symbols, and songs. Analyses showed that most of the findings were consistent with cultural expectations.     

Electronic Government Information Dissemination

SUMMARY

The federal government, “the largest single producer, consumer, collector, and disseminator of information in the United States,”¹ has begun to disseminate most of that information electronically. Legislation and more economic production and dissemination of government information have produced changes in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and federal agency dissemination. This chapter examines the dissemination of electronic government information from the Government Printing Office (GPO) through the FDLP and executive branch agencies and discusses the impact that this has on users, libraries, and government information specialists.     

论政府行为对河洛文化在闽南传播的影响——以唐五代为例

政府行为对文化的形成、传播和传承起着重要的影响。唐和五代是闽南文化史上重要的转折时期。唐初和唐末中原人的两次大规模入闽,建立政权,并利用多种行政手段实施了一系列有利于河洛文化在闽南地区传承、传播和发展的措施,形成了具有鲜明区域性特征的闽南文化。     

Helping Improve Dissemination of Research: Toastmasters Is a Novel Mechanism

Competencies for health professionals and students often include the ability to transfer knowledge to different audiences in a variety of ways. Consultation, presentation, teaching, multimedia, and posters are some examples. A recent question on a national listserv about writing, editing, and proofreading services in health sciences libraries prompted this column about a potentially novel way of helping students and faculty in health disciplines to improve their abilities to communicate professionally. In addition to the poster design and review services that one library offers, it is also the host of two Toastmasters International clubs that provide participants a nonthreatening, real-world environment to improve the content, structure, methods, and delivery of their written and spoken messages. A librarian on staff is a member of and serves as liaison to the two clubs.     

Resourceful Blogging: Using a Blog for Information Sharing

ABSTRACT

In an effort to help raise awareness about the need for disaster planning in health sciences libraries, emergency response planners at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia considered how best to promote the idea and provide a forum for gathering and exchanging information, while maintaining control over content in order to keep the focus and the quality of the entries consistent. The blog they created has been successful in providing much-needed assistance to hospital libraries and other libraries, both large and small, as well as for individuals and other organizations worldwide.     

Providing Perpetual Access to Government Information

Abstract

The past few years have seen the Government Printing Office (GPO) move from managing predominantly paper based government publications to collecting, organizing, and disseminating government information electronically. Serious concerns have been raised about perpetual access and authentication of government information in the new digital environment. This article focuses on GPO's plans to preserve both electronic and tangible government information resources and the initiatives being taken by GPO in collaboration with the library community and other stakeholders to address these matters.     

网络传播背景下滇南哈尼族语言文字的保护与发展

随着网络对民族地区社会生活的全面渗透,滇南哈尼族传统文化受到了不同文化形态的冲击、影响和交融,哈尼族语言文字的使用面临新的困境。网络传播所具有优势和特点,为哈尼族语言文字的保护与发展提供了理想的平台,为民族文化的创新发展带来了契机。     

Models for Aggressive Behavior: The Attributes of Violent Characters in Popular Video Games

Americans are increasingly concerned about video games, presumably due to the amount and graphicness of violence they contain. Social Cognitive Theory suggests that people are more likely to imitate characters they see as attractive or similar to self. To date, however, little research has examined attributes of violent characters in video games related to this issue. This content analysis examined 10 minutes of play from 60 of the most popular video games. Adapting the coding scheme from the National Television Violence Study (Smith et al., 1998 Smith, S. L., Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Colvin, C. M. and Donnerstein, E. 1998. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 3. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study, 5–220. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar]; Wilson et al., 1997 Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Donnerstein, E.Smith, S. L. 1997. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 1. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study, 3–268. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar], 1998 Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Donnerstein, E.Smith, S. L. 1998. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 2. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara, 3–204. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.  [Google Scholar]), various demographic and contextual features of violent characters and violent interactions were assessed. The results show that violent game characters have attributes that are likely to increase the extent to which some players perceive them as attractive and similar. Moreover, these violent characters engage in aggression that is presented as justified or graphic.     

Powerless Language in Health Media: The Influence of Biological Sex and Magazine Type on Health Language

Powerless language influences how media consumers perceive the believability and trustworthiness of news sources. Past studies have suggested females use more powerless language, which can negatively influence credibility. However, previous research also suggests powerless language may be preferred in certain contexts. To investigate powerless language use in written health media, a content analysis investigated health-related articles in issues of 12 magazines between October 2008 and September 2009. Analysis compared differences in powerless language frequencies relative to three variables: biological sex of the author, biological sex of the audience, and the magazine's overall topic focus. Female authors and health-focused magazines used more powerless language than male authors and generic-focused magazines, and powerless language was more often directed towards a female audience than a male audience.