Technological capital: an alternative to the digital divide

This paper identifies individuals’ accumulated history with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a replacement for the contested and outdated term ‘digital divide.’ We propose that an individual’s ability to benefit from their technological history consists of four factors: awareness, knowledge, access, and technological capacity of the user’s social collective. Together, these factors make up the individual’s level or amount of Technological Capital. The development of this construct was based on empirical research conducted in Soweto, South Africa, and through an analysis of the literature on assessing individuals’ accumulated histories. The concept of technological capital has the potential for application in fields in which ICTs are used for communication, capacity building, and identifying barriers to adoption of new technologies. The use of the concept may have implications for policy decisions, resource allocation, and future research into differences among individuals’ and communities’ ability to benefit from the introduction of new technologies.     

A pillar of the Youngstown community: The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County engages in the Harwood practice

ABSTRACT

The Harwood Institute arrived in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1999; and today, over 18 years later, its teachings have made a profound effect upon the city. The Youngstown Public Library, through the leadership of Carlton Sears and Heidi Daniel, has wholeheartedly embraced the methods and ideology of the Harwood Institute, helping to reinvigorate and power a city working its way back to prosperity.     

Family Communication Patterns as Predictors of Organizational Dissent: A Replication Study

This study replicated a previous research project addressing connections between family-of-origin communication and organizational dissent expression. We predicted that family communication patterns (FCPs), specifically conversation and conformity orientations, would predict upward, lateral, and displaced dissent. As in the original study, significant findings emerged for upward dissent and conformity orientation. This replication study indicated family type as an inconsistent predictor of expressed dissent. Contrary to the original study, we found no evidence to support a connection between pluralistic family types and upward dissent. Finally, as an extension of the original study we analyzed effects of FCPs on displaced dissent, finding an inverse association with conversation orientation. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Investigating the Role of Problem Severity and Channel Publicness on the Sophistication of Support-Seeking Messages on Social Network Sites: A Replication Study

Oh and LaRose (2016) contended that problem severity and channel publicness shape support seekers’ goals, time spent composing messages, and the sophistication of those messages. The current study seeks to replicate and extend Oh and LaRose’s study to produce a more accurate understanding of the factors that influence the sophistication of support-seeking messages online. Support seekers’ goals varied according to the severity of a stressor and the publicness of a channel, and the amount of time people spent composing a message influenced its sophistication. We extend the original study by examining associations that were not initially tested. Time spent composing messages mediated the influence of problem severity on the quality of people’s messages, and this effect was moderated by channel publicness.     

Teaching PEACE: A plan for effective crisis communication instruction

Courses: This unit activity is intended for public relations (PR), crisis communication, or journalism courses.

Objectives: The purpose is to equip future PR professionals with critical thinking skills and experience to manage crises. Students demonstrate mastery in two ways: by crafting clear crisis response messages and materials in a narrow time frame, and by applying a crisis communication heuristic to manage a simulated crisis event.     

The ‘Leeds Lake District’: Water Supply,Rural Environment,and the Cultural Landscape in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

ABSTRACT

This article highlights the benefits of cultural readings of the environment by showing how the reservoirs of the Washburn Valley, built by the Leeds Corporation between 1869 and 1879 and vital sources of potable water for the urban population, altered the area’s cultural landscape. An examination of Leeds-based newspapers and locally published guidebooks will show how the reservoirs positively affected Romantic depictions of the area, whilst the use of the phrase ‘the Leeds Lake District’ fabricated a sense of civic pride between the town and its hinterland, an area positively affected by the implementation of urban engineering.     

Short-term reliability of inflammatory mediators and response to exercise in the heat

Prospective application of serum cytokines, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and heat shock proteins (eHSPs) requires reliable measurement of these biomarkers that can signify exercise-induced heat stress in hot conditions. To accomplish this, both short-term (7 day) reliability (at rest, n = 12) and the acute responsiveness of each biomarker to exercise in the heat (pre and post 60-min cycling, 34.5°C and 70% RH, n = 20) were evaluated. Serum was analysed for the concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), heat shock protein 72 (eHSP72), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and LPS. Test–retest reliability was determined as the coefficient of variation (CV). Biomarkers with the least short-term within-participant variation were IL-6 (19%, ±20%; CV, ±95% confidence limits (CL)) and LPS (23%, ±13%). Greater variability was observed for IgM, eHSP72 and CRP (CV range 28–38%). IL-6 exhibited the largest increase in response to acute exercise (95%, ±11%, P = < 0.001) and although CRP had a modest CV (12%, ±7%), it increased substantially post-exercise (P = 0.02, ES; 0.78). In contrast, eHSP72 and LPS exhibited trivial changes post-exercise. It appears variation of common inflammatory markers after exercise in the heat is not always discernible from short-term (weekly) variation.     

Peirce and Rationalism: Is Peirce a Fully Semiotic Philosopher?

While Peirce is a seminal figure for contemporary semiotic philosophers, it is axiomatic of a fully semiotic perspective that no philosopher or philosophy (semiotics included) can provide any final answer, as signs are always interpreted and the context of interpretation always varies. Semiosis is evolutionary: it may or may not be construed as progressive but it cannot be static. While Peirce offers a way out of the mind‐body divide that both permeates and separates classical rationalism and empiricism, he himself is read in this article as closer to the rationalist tradition exemplified by Kant and Hegel that he critiques than to either thoroughgoing empiricism or post‐Nietzschean relativism. From a contemporary perspective, Peirce thus falls short of qualifying as a fully semiotic thinker, notwithstanding his key role in the development of semiotic philosophy.     

Exposing athletes to playing form activity: outcomes of a randomised control trial among community netball teams using a game-centred approach

This study evaluated whether exposing junior netball players to greater amounts of competition relevant activity (playing form activity) had an effect on game play outcomes and session involvement. A group-randomised controlled trial in one junior netball club in the Hunter Region, NSW, Australia. Ninety female athletes (mean age = 9.04 years, SD 1.53) were randomised by team (n = 11) into the intervention (n = 41) or 9-week wait-list control (n = 49) condition. The Professional Learning for Understanding Games Education into Sport (PLUNGE into Sport) programme was undertaken in the first half of nine training sessions (9 × 30 min). The intervention exposed athletes to playing form activity through a coach development programme within training sessions. Athletes’ decision-making, support and skill outcomes during a small-sided invasion game, and session involvement (pedometer step/min), were measured at baseline and 9-week follow-up. Linear mixed models revealed significant group-by-time intervention effects (P < 0.05) for decision-making (d = 0.4) and support (d = 0.5) during game play, and in-session activity (d = 1.2). An intervention exposing athletes to greater levels of playing form activity, delivered via a coach education programme, was efficacious in improving athlete decision-making and support skills in game play and increasing athlete involvement during sessions.