Virtual Reference

Abstract

Explores virtual reference as a new career opportunity for librarians. Asks if this is a good, long career path, or if it will careen virtual reference librarians off into the slough of despond. The skills needed for the traditional reference librarian are compared to those needed by the virtual reference librarian; the challenges and advantages of working virtual versus traditional reference are identified; the types of questions and resources used in providing virtual reference service are discussed; and the types of interaction with the patrons are explored. The skills needed to manage and evaluate virtual reference services are also articulated.     

“INTERVIEW BITES” IN TELEVISION NEWS PRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION

This study focuses on how interviewees' utterances are used as resources in news production processes. We examine how these communicative units, here labelled “interview bites”, are integrated in every major aspect of the news production process as well as in the presentation of news reports. Basically, we argue that an interview bite operates in three distinct ways, as (1) a format, (2) a mental representation, and (3) an artefact. Although we claim that it has these different functions, the three dimensions interact and collectively work as powerful motivations for the choices made by reporters throughout the news production process. The data are gathered from field observations of Swedish reporters' work at a major news desk and from in-depth reporter interviews. Theoretically, the study re-visits Clayman's (1995) considerations for enhancing quotability: narrative relevance, conspicuousness and extractability. While maintaining these three basic cornerstones of what makes certain statements quote-worthy, a re-definition of the rationale behind each consideration is needed in order to make them relevant for our understanding of everyday news production practices.     

Talents and type IIIs: The effects of the talents unlimited model on creative productivity in gifted youngsters

This study examined a set of lessons that integrate the Talents Unlimited Model (TU; C. L. Schlichter, 1986) with the 10 steps of completing a Type III activity (J. S. Renzulli & S. M. Reis, 1985) to determine the effects of these lessons on the quality of students’ creative products and on the number of students who completed their products. Treatment group students showed a statistically significant difference in finishing their independent or small‐group projects, as opposed to students in the control group. In addition, treatment group students’ products were of significantly higher quality as measured by the Student Product Assessment Form (SPAF; S. M. Reis, 1981) than products completed by students in the control group.     

学生面试问题的一点探讨

高校自主招生是高考改革中的一项新生事物,现在仍处于探索阶段.在2006年全国研究生数学建模竞赛学生面试问题的优秀论文程序结果的基础上,利用比较拟合方式同样得到老师数与考生数的近似关系,并进一步解出在一些特定点上这两者的精确关系.     

读者需求阶段的咨询接谈策略研究

在R. S. Taylor的信息需求四阶段理论基础上,根据读者表达方式和内容范围的特点,对读者的信息需求阶段进行划分,设计3个开放式“过滤器”和5个封闭式“挡板”的具体问题,针对读者的不同需求阶段进行有针对性的提问,从而帮助馆员准确地定位读者需求,引导读者厘清咨询主题,缩小咨询范围至所需的文献名或者检索关键词,形成符合信息系统的结构化检索式。此方案的使用有助于提高咨询接谈效率,优化咨询接谈服务流程。     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions of perceived mattering and marginalization

Background: In many countries around the world, physical education (PE) has been identified as a marginalized subject. PE teachers have been found to feel negative consequences associated with marginality, such as stress, burnout, and early career attrition. Recent evidence also indicates that physical educators can develop a sense of perceived mattering both in relation the subject of PE and their role as that teacher of that subject. Less is known, however, about the relationship between perceived mattering and marginalization, and how teachers navigate social messages associated with each that they receive while teaching. Role socialization theory has emerged as an approach to studying teachers’ experiences in school environments, and can be used to understand their experiences with marginality and mattering.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand how the social environment of schools influences PE teachers’ perceptions of marginalization and perceived mattering, and how these two constructs interact.

Method: The investigation was conceptualized as an interview study, and framed using a social constructivist epistemology. Participants included 30 in-service PE teachers (16 males, 14 females) from the Midwest region of the US. Data were collected using in-depth qualitative interviews, and analyzed through a collaborative approach to data analysis that drew upon both inductive and deductive forms of analysis.

Results: Participants identified experiences with both perceived mattering and marginalization in their work, and noted that sometimes these messages were contradictory. Some participants felt the effects of marginalization as their discipline was viewed as a dispensable commodity that is only meaningful for the service it provides to other teachers (e.g. gives elementary classroom teachers a break for planning). Some of the teachers internalized their marginal status and began to see their primary function as supporting the work of teachers in other subjects. Nevertheless, the participants derived a sense of mattering by building relationships with colleagues, administrators, and students, and by advocating for the discipline. Teachers also felt validated when colleagues acknowledge their attempts to implement effective practices, but struggled when working with colleagues who are resistant to change.

Conclusions: PE teachers experience both marginalization and perceived mattering, which are shaped largely by social interactions within the school environment. This study specifically lends to the view of marginalization and perceived mattering as two constructs at opposite ends of a continuum, rather than a binary conceptualization. This suggests that it could be the summation of marginalizing experiences and those that promote mattering that lead physical educators to develop overall impressions of their role in schools. Furthermore, this study adds to the literature indicating that physical educators may eventually internalize feelings of marginalization when consistently told that they do not matter. This has implications related to the washout effect whereby teachers who no longer feel as if they are making meaningful contributions to children’s education may compromise their teaching practice.     

Trends in online networking among South Korean politicians — A mixed-method approach

In recent years, as information technologies have grown in sophistication and become more fully integrated into daily lifestyles, a general expectation has arisen that the internet has the potential to reconfigure social and political relationships, and to create new political configurations. Blogging, in particular, has been seen to have significant potential to merge the public and the personal in new ways, potentially altering the nature of politics, particularly in nations where political processes are formalistic and highly regulated. As an example, politicians who blog have developed a new approach to communicating with their constituencies, in that the private thoughts of the political actor are expressed in a relatively unmediated environment. This study, which examines trends in blog linkages among Assembly members in Korea, provides a longitudinal analysis of blog linkages in order to assess the long term implications of new media technologies in Korean society and politics. The data were gathered from the blogs of Korea's National Assembly members for 2005 and 2006. An analysis of these links indicates that, indeed, there is an increased use of blogs among National Assembly members. However, it seems that over time, the network becomes sparser, less integrated, and more decentralized. This study also suggests that offline imperatives for political organization figure prominently in the motives of establishing online linkages to other political blogs.     

隐性采访是新闻侵犯隐私权吗?

新闻要用事实说话,而事实得来的唯一途径就是采访。隐性采访是新闻采访中的一种形式。新闻记者采用隐性采访的手段,是为了加强新闻舆论监督、维护党和人民利益的需要,也是为了反映新闻事件真实的需要,不属于新闻侵犯隐私权范畴。     

高校贫困生精神教育现状的访谈研究

目前,随着高校贫困生群体的增多,因精神教育的欠缺而引发的精神贫困问题日益突出。本课题组对40名长沙地区高校贫困生进行直接半结构式访谈,了解他们精神教育的现状。结果表明,大多数贫困生不同程度地存在精神贫困问题,影响了他们的学业进步和健康成长。