Worldwide deliberation and public use of reason online

The aim of this paper is threefold: (i) to trace the idea of deliberation back in the history of philosophy and establish the link to the Kantian concept of public reason; (ii) to pave the way for rhetoric as a constituent part of public deliberation; (iii) to undertake an applied ethical approach to worldwide deliberation online. The two former aims are treated in part one of the paper, whereas the applied analysis is undertaken in part two. One important task is to demonstrate in what ways the internet as a new and powerful venue for deliberation both challenges the old theories of public deliberation, and also points in the direction of certain revisions of our basic ideas about deliberation.     

Merchant of Mercy, Merchant of Death: How Values Advocacy Messages Influence Jury Deliberations

This exploratory study addresses the ability of values advocacy messages to influence target publics' behavior beyond consumer purchase decisions. In doing so, it fills a gap in the research by extending our understanding of the persuasive premises of values advocacy messages beyond rhetorical (de)construction; consumer behavior; and the establishment of typologies, definitions, and methods of inquiry. Using focus group methodology, target audience members (n=37) of a contemporary values advocacy campaign reflect upon the messages presented in the context of jury deliberations. The findings show that focus group participants would likely reduce punitive damage judgments if exposed to values advocacy messages. The social and cultural implications exposed by participants' comments reflect ongoing concern among critical scholars about the ability of corporations to manipulate public behavior and indicate the ethical conundrum between corporate and community speech.     

CrossRef and the research experience

CrossRef is an independent membership association for building collaborative publishing technologies. Its mission is to provide services that enable the scholar to reach source material easily; it focuses on methods that are best achieved through collective agreement among publishers. The CrossRef network now covers millions of journal articles and other content items from hundreds of publishers. This article looks at CrossRef's significance for the online research experience, four years after the launch of the CrossRef initiative.     

Institutional policy process improvement: using structurating activity theory to inform practice

Organizational communication scholars are increasingly called upon to use theoretical knowledge to address problematic processes in public institutions. This article reports a process improvement project focused on a university conflict of interest (COI) policy as an example of how scholars can engage theory to improve ongoing policy processes. The project team included communication scholars and research administration staff who designed, implemented, and evaluated the mixed-methods project guided by structurating activity theory. Baseline survey results were used to design the process improvement project. Results of the follow-up survey indicate that researchers who participated in some aspect of the process improvement project (i.e. attending a policy café, using the redesigned website, or reading the new Quick Reference Guide) reported higher levels of policy communication and knowledge and more positive attitudes toward the COI policy than researchers who had not engaged with process improvement efforts. We offer theoretical and practical implications of results for organizational communication scholars and practitioners.     

Radio as a Screen Medium in BBC Arts Broadcasting

Today more than half of all radio listening in the UK is occurring through digital platforms. Within this context the BBC’s current arts proposition provides a valuable insight into how public service broadcasters are adapting and responding to this burgeoning digital audience. In particular, attention is drawn to the ways in which digital platforms are used to supplement and enhance the auditory listening experience. In doing so, the present article argues that radio continues to occupy a significant position in furthering public engagement with the arts due to, rather than despite of, advances in digital technology.     

Rediscovering the teacher within Indian child-centred pedagogy: implications for the global Child-Centred Approach

The Child-Centred Approach (CCA) is increasingly promoted within India and internationally as a response to the challenge of delivering quality education. From identifying and examining Indian indigenous and global concepts of CCA within traditional and contemporary child-centred pedagogic discourse, this paper reveals the complexities of underlying agendas within the domestic and international setting and the implications of this for the integration of CCA and the ‘child-centred’ teacher in India. Based on empirical analysis of teachers’ interviews, the findings demonstrate that the role of the teacher continues to be largely overlooked in spite of a willingness from teachers to engage within the child-centred pedagogic discourse. Disempowerment, a lack of autonomy and limited professional status are highlighted. Therefore, this paper calls for the rediscovery of the ‘child-centred’ teacher to advance from within the nation. Without this, it is asserted that the authenticity of the CCA model will continue to be compromised, and with it, any indigenous expressions of a similar epistemology will be fundamentally restricted.     

Efficacy of the TELL language and literacy curriculum for preschoolers with developmental speech and/or language impairment

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the efficacy of a new preschool oral language and early literacy curriculum package (Teaching Early Literacy and Language [TELL]) for children with developmental speech and/or language impairment (DSLI) either as a primary (e.g., specific to speech and/or language) or secondary impairment (e.g., developmental delay that includes DSLI). Participants included 118 children (30 females, 88 males, M age = 53.58 months) with DLSI and their 29 preschool teachers. The design was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with assignment to experimental versus contrast conditions at the classroom level. Teachers in TELL classes received formal training, in-class support, and mentoring to implement the curriculum. Dependent measures for the children included scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool 2nd edition (CELF-P2), the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Preschool (PALS-PreK), the Renfrew Bus Story (BUS), and a receptive and expressive vocabulary measure developed for this investigation (VOCAB). Results indicated that when compared to the contrast group, children in the TELL condition demonstrated greater gains on the phonological awareness subtest of the CELF-P2, the sentence length score of the BUS, the letter sounds, beginning sound awareness, and rhyme awareness subtests of the PALS-PreK, and VOCAB. Results suggest that the TELL curriculum package has promise for promoting gains in early literacy and oral language skills in preschool children with DLSI.