The cross-cultural transfer of educational technology: A myth

This paper argues that technologies can never be transferred from one culture to another. The implementation by Costa Rica of the Open University system of technologies developed in England is used as a case in point. The paper focuses on the non-applicability of using the term “transfer” with its attendant connotations, to signify the implementation of similar technologies in different cultures; differentiates between system specific and culture specific problems in the process of this implementation: and discusses the interaction of three cultures in the process of “transferring” a system of technologies from one of these cultures to another. The Open University system of technologies is described as it exists in England and the system specific problems of these technologies are delimited. The system of technologies is then “transferred” to Costa Rica and the culture specific problems discussed as seen by two evaluators from yet a third culture (the United States). The expectations of individuals from all three cultures (English, Costa Rican and U.S.) are raised in tight of these culture specific problems.     

卢卡奇早晚期异化理论转变及原因分析

卢卡奇对异化理论的探索经历了早晚两个阶段,早期的异化理论主要体现在《历史和阶级意识》中,晚期的则体现在《社会存在的本体论》中。从异化的由来、概念区分、主体、视野考查以及扬弃五个方面进行分析发现,其晚期的异化理论是对早期的超越,是向马克思的接近。发生这种思想转变的原因是多方面的,文章从写作时代、理论基础、遵循的哲学路线三个方面进行了分析。     

Motivations for Library Use: Dover,Delaware, Library User Identity‐Motivation Pilot Study,December 2005

Under State Librarian Annie Norman, the Delaware Division of Libraries (DDL) has made notable progress in planning, measuring and advocating for programs and funds that have improved the libraries of that state. A visit to the state library's homepage (http://state.lib.de.us) immediately demonstrates the DDLS sense of purpose in the tagline motto, Delaware Libraries: Infrastructure + Capacity = Sustainability. DDL planning is ongoing, including a 2008 plan to move all the state's libraries forward in the critical areas of economic development, lifelong learning and health information. One document in this planning process was the 2005 pilot study to examine and categorize the motivations for why individuals use the public library. It is that study, a market segmentation study of the reasons why people use the library, that is published here. The study that is the basis for this report was produced under contract by the Institute for Learning Innovation (http://www.ilinet.org/display/ILI/Home). DDL would like to give a special thank you to Dr. John Falk of the Institute for Learning Innovation for his significant help with this study. Presented here in its entirety, the study report can be found on the Delaware Division of Library Services Web site at http://state.lib.de.us/For_libraries/planning/Dover%20Library%20Pilot%20Study%20Final%20Report1.pdf. The editors gratefully acknowledge the willingness of Delaware State Librarian Annie Norman and the Delaware Division of Libraries for the right to reprint this significant methodological example for PLQ readers.

The study is based on two surveys: the first a “user interception survey” of 113 pre and post interviews collected at the Dover Public Library across 20 hours through one week in November of 2005. The second part of the study involved follow‐up telephone interviews with over 25 percent of those who had participated in the first study.     

Cultural styles of persuasion

The study explores the hypothesis that persuasion can be carried out in a combination of three basic styles: the factual-inductive, the axiomatic-deductive, and the affective-intuitive. The weight of each of these three basic styles differs from culture to culture. The paper begins with the presentation of some earlier research on this question. The styles adopted by the representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Arab countries in the course of debates in the Security Council of the United Nations are then analyzed. The analysis confirms the hypothesis of there being in each case a dominant style as described above. The results of the study should be considered as preliminary: there exists a possibility of bias among the judges; the sample, even though sufficiently large for statistical purposes, is limited to the discussion of one dispute; the style of other nationalities is not investigated. It is hoped that additional results will be presented in the near future.