What visual literacy is not!

This paper intends to help design educators reach a more informed understanding of visual literacy by stating what we already know it is not, in order to promote discussion on how it can be fostered. This paper is based on Jefferies’ PhD research from an empirical visual experiment carried out on a wide range of design practitioners, design students and the general public. Specific terms of influence such as ‘fixed’, ‘cross-disciplines’ and ‘accessibility’ were highlighted for discussion when considering what visual literacy is not, and were consequently used to frame the problem. When considering each of these influences in terms of seeing; (a) Viewing visual language as a ‘fixed’ vocabulary does not allow for each working context to have its own visual value system. (b) Literacy of ‘cross-disciplines’ may not enable a way of seeing to be transferred between each design discipline. (c) ‘Accessibility’ in terms of a student’s ability to read or write an image can not be determined from a designer’s final product, as each individual and context is different. It is proposed that debating the three identified areas will heighten design educators’ awareness and provide a valuable basis for future pedagogy practices

Performing injustice: human rights and verbatim theatre

Discusses the theatrical treatment of human rights, by reference to three British productions: Guantanamo: "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom" (2004), My Name is Rachel Corrie (2005) and Called to Account (2007), noting the use of verbatim testimony in such plays. Reviews legal scholarship highlighting the limitations of human rights laws. Considers the theatrical context of each of the plays and the ways in which they represent the status of human rights laws. Comments on the extent of theatre's practical impact on the advancement of human rights

Visual Performance Management: Does it work in Public Service Organisations?

Visual Performance Management (VPM) has been prominent within Lean manufacturing environments for a number of decades, but its use has only recently started to emerge in service organisations. We consider the transition of VPM approaches to service environments and, utilising a case study method with two public service organisations, we explore four aspects of visual performance implementation. We start by exploring the strategic drivers for VPM adoption, the transparency of VPM, the performance management approach used, and changes in organisational effectiveness resulting from the introduction of VPM. Findings indicate that VPM approaches do work within public service environments, and have a tangible impact on management, but strategic alignment and data integrity are common concerns, and should be considered essential prerequisites

Theorizing Audience and Spectatorial Agency

This chapter analyses Georgian audiences and spectatorial agency through several lenses: psychoanalytic film theory, theories of the public sphere and of mass publicity, and media studies of cultural convergence. The first section reads Georgian theatre’s heterogeneous playbills as a syntactical rendering of the audience, the imaginary community of the nation in process of negotiation. The second section shows theatrical paratexts blurring the boundary between theatre and coffee house, creating a theatrical public sphere in which the audience exercises daily public agency in saving or damning the play. The third section highlights the mingling of vulnerability and charisma in the celebrity prologue-speaker, a figure who both judges and entrances the audience while also embodying actors’ exposure to possible audience wrath. The final section looks at the theatres’ encouragement of spouting clubs as a means of channelling spectatorial agency

The Library of Rudolf Steiner: The Books in English

The New Age philosopher, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), was the most prolific and arguably the most influential philosopher of his era. He assembled a substantial library, of approximately 9,000 items, which has been preserved intact since his death. Most of Rudolf Steiner’s books are in German, his native language however there are books in other languages, including English, French, Italian, Swedish, Sanskrit and Latin. There are more books in English than in any other foreign language. Steiner esteemed English as “a universal world language”. The present paper identifies 327 books in English in Rudolf Steiner’s personal library. Fifty percent of the English-language books identified are on Theosophy (n=164). Rudolf Steiner was the General Secretary of the German branch of the Theosophy Society from 1902, and he hived off his own Anthroposophy Society in 1912. The present study reveals that Steiner maintained his interest in Theosophy throughout his life as he stayed up to date with the proliferating portfolio of Theosophy publications. The publication dates of Steiner’s Theosophy collection range from 1877 to 1923. The leading exponents of Theosophy in his day are well represented in Steiner’s collection, including Annie Besant (n=61), Charles Leadbeater (n=13), William Westcott (n=13) and Helena Blavatsky (n=10). Of the other 50% of the Anglo-books identified, 20% are in the category of Religion (n=67), 10% are Social Science (n=33), 6% are Philosophy (n=21), 4% are Science (n=13), and 3% each are Anthroposophy (n=11), History (n=9) and Arts (n=9). The publication dates of Steiner’s Anglo-books span the period 1659 to 1925. This demonstrates that Steiner was acquiring Anglo-books right to the end of his life. The Steiner library throws light on the development of the thoughts of this remarkable individual and the present paper reveals Steiner’s engagement throughout his life with the world of Anglo-publishing and thought

Scottish Archaeological Research Framework: Future Thinking on Carved Stones

No abstract available

The contexts and contours of British economic literature, 1660-1760

This article explores some of the main bibliographical dimensions of economic literature at a time when there was much interest in economic matters but no discipline of economics. By looking at what was published in the round much economic literature is shown to be short, ephemeral, unacknowledged, polemical, and legistlatively orientated. This fluidity is underscored by the uncertainties about what constituted key works of economic literature and by the failure of attempts to make sense of that literature through dictionaries and histories. Economic literature in the period was, consequently, more unstable and uncertain than has often been acknowledged. It cannot, therefore, be simply characterized as either 'mercantilist' or nascent 'political economy'