Information creation and the ideological code of “keeping track”

Introduction. This paper considers the practices of information creation in personal information management by studying the work of keeping track in everyday life, e.g., creating lists and calendars.Method. We interviewed ten participants from two Canadian provinces about how they keep track and we observed and photographed the physical spaces and the documents they created and used. Our data set consists of fourteen hours of interviews, 330 photographs and 500 pages of interview transcripts.Analysis. We used the qualitative technique of constant comparison within an abductive framework of relational and discourse analysis to study a) how the domestic work of keeping track hooks into the requirements of organizations such as schools and workplaces, and b) how talk about keeping track relates to participants\u27 presentations of themselves as good workers, parents, citizens, etc.Results. The work of keeping track functions in terms of Dorothy Smith\u27s concept of the ideological code. A managerial imperative pervades this work, even in domestic contexts, and participants made use of workplace genres and conventions.Conclusions. Even in households, the work of keeping track is embedded within organizational contexts. Managerialism is produced and reproduced as an ideological code that shapes participants\u27 information creation and their talk about it

Creating by me, and for me: investigating the use of information creation in everyday life

Introduction. We investigate the use of information creation in everyday life, where individuals carry out various commonplace work. While there have been an increasing number of studies on information creation, little research exists on discussing its function and relationship to navigating life activities. Method. To identify the ways information creation facilitates information tasks in the everyday world, we conducted two qualitative studies, each reflecting a particular aspect of our daily lives. We held semi-structured interviews and think-aloud observation in physical grocery stores and on the Pinterest website. A total of twenty-eight participants (eighteen grocery shoppers and ten arts and crafts hobbyists) were recruited for the two studies. Analysis. Transcribed interview data and field notes were analysed inductively. We assigned and refined a series of codes iteratively to identify themes. Results. Findings highlight a variety of circumstances in which participants made use of information creation as an end product to support their ordinary actions (in this case, grocery shopping and idea collecting, respectively). Conclusions. This study gives an in-depth analysis of information creation, underlining its potential functions in efficiently and engagingly aiding the accomplishment of routine activities. We demonstrate the practical and affective value associated with information creation, expanding this concept in information behaviour research

Heroes and Villains: Narratives of Public Sector Reform in the UK and Scotland

This study is based on a discourse analysis of reform narratives in two public sector organisations, one operating in a UK context and one in a Scottish context. The study uses the concept of organisational narratives (Gabriel, 1995; 1999; 2000; Sims, 2004) as a lens to organise and understand the presentation and translation of reform in these organisations and the wider government. The thesis argues that there is a fundamentally inconsistent alignment of public sector reform narratives within governments, and challenges notions of a ‘New Scotland' (Hassan and Warhurst, 2002; Paterson et al., 2004; Bechofer and McCrone, 2004) as being little more than rhetoric at the macro level of discourse. At the micro-organisational level, interviews with senior managers revealed that in both case-study organisations, common discursive devices and plot structures were utilised by managers in order to build authority and legitimacy within their organisations. It is these discourse linkages in the different policy practice sites that are the dominant narratives at work, rather than the macro level reform narratives of government. The thesis examines the notion of 'double reform' whereby Scottish public sector workers have been subject to both the general sweep of neo-liberal public sector reforms, and changes related to the greater devolution of powers. This notion is largely overlooked by existing literature. It is argued that this double reform has been an opportunity not a pressure, and that the Scottish Government has been able to exploit this opportunity for their own gain, to promote notions of Scotland as an independent nation-state. This thesis demonstrates however, that macro-level success in the construction of Scottish narratives has not resulted in an evenly translated narrative within the public sector, raising important issues for the use of discourse in future public sector reform projects

Resisting Neoliberalism: The challenge of activist librarianship in English Higher Education

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the political position of academic librarianship in the context of recent changes in English Higher Education. The neoliberalisation of academic librarianship, both as an academic discipline and profession, is considered. The emergence of the Radical Librarians Collective is examined as a potential site through which to counter these developments and foster radical alternatives. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws upon Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and praxis, and post-structural critiques of neoliberalism, as a theoretical framework to guide data collection and analysis, and observe developments within academic librarianship vis-à-vis broader processes of neoliberalisation. Empirical data collected through interviews and participant observation are analysed using thematic and critical discourse analysis. Findings The research finds that academic librarianship as a discipline and practice is undergoing a process of neoliberalisation. An umbrella organisation of activist librarians, Radical Librarians Collective, is found to be resisting these developments and has some potential to become a space through which radical alternatives to neoliberal hegemony can be explored and fostered. Research limitations/implications The research demonstrates the utility of a Gramscian theoretical framework as a lens through which to observe developments in the field of library and information studies (LIS). Further empirical work would deepen the authors’ understanding of such developments across a range of institutions and locales. Originality/value The research makes an original contribution to critical research on the struggles around the neoliberalisation of academic librarianship in the UK. The theoretically informed analysis provides original insights into these processes, and makes a methodological contribution to LIS research

Appointing Deputy and Pro Vice Chancellors in Pre-1992 English Universities: Managers, Management and Managerialism

The roles of deputy and pro vice chancellors (DPVCs) are changing and so is the way they are being appointed. This study examines (i) why many pre-1992 English universities are moving from an internal, fixed-term secondment model of DPVC appointment to one incorporating external open competition; and (ii) what the implications of change are for individual careers and management capacity building. At a theoretical level, it explores the extent to which DPVC appointment practice is symptomatic of ideal-type managerialism and subjects the prevailing academic narrative - that the power of academics has declined in relation to that of managers - to critical examination in the light of the findings. The research, which uses a mixed-methods design incorporating a census, online survey and 73 semi-structured interviews, has generated some unexpected findings. Notably, the opening up of DPVC posts to external open competition has resulted in a narrowing, rather than a diversification, of the gender and professional profile of successful candidates. Therefore, although this change to DPVC recruitment practice was motivated by a meritocratic “quest for the best,” it cannot be said to have improved management capacity in the sense of increasing the likelihood that the best candidates are attracted and appointed from the widest possible talent pool. On the contrary, the findings are suggestive of conservatism, homosociability and social closure, whereby academic managers maintain their privileged status by ring-fencing DPVC posts to the exclusion of other occupational groups. DPVCs are also expanding their professional jurisdiction by colonising the university’s management space. Far from declining, academics’ power is thus being consolidated, albeit by a few elite career track academic managers. Moreover, although there is some evidence of a managerial ideology with respect to the DPVC appointment model, it is a context-specific ‘academic-managerialism’ rather than a generic ideal type

The Impact Of Faculty Appraisal At Tertiary Level: Two Exploratory Case Studies

This thesis investigates the impact of faculty appraisal at Rihab University and Al Fanar College, two federal Higher Education institutions in the same Middle Eastern country. It uses a case study approach intended to generate grounded theory from 38 semi-structured interviews, with appraisers and appraisees, alongside documentary analysis, participant observation and researcher reflection. The aim of the research is to determine firstly, how far each particular appraisal system is reported to embody paradigms (meaning goals and values, key assumptions, and management ethos) of professionalism and / or managerialism, and secondly, how far each particular system is said by informants to be appropriate to an educational context. On a more general level, it also looks at the extent to which changes in HE management in 'the West', principally, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia and New Zealand, find resonance in a Middle Eastern context, where HE institutions are staffed predominantly by people from those same Western countries, but are subject to quite different employment laws and practices. It concludes that although appraisers and appraisees both report a need for appraisal in educational contexts, there is little, if any, correlation between faculty appraisal and improved teaching or learning, most probably because feedback from the process is almost exclusively numerical, and very much oriented towards maintaining minimum standards of technical competency, rather than facilitating individualized, flexible and creative professional development. It suggests that such a state of affairs is not inherent in any appraisal system, per se, but is rather a function of the more general micro-political climate of any particular organisation. That is to say, any appraisal system simultaneously reflects and reinforces the underlying management structures and ethos of an institution. In the case of both Rihab and Al Fanar, these structures were said to be considerably more authoritarian than would normally be expected in Western countries, for a variety of reasons, including an acute lack of trade unions, tenure, industrial tribunals and legal safeguards. It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that the considerable antipathy many appraisees displayed towards the appraisal systems at Rihab and Al Fanar was more the result of these contextual factors than the particular procedures adopted by each institution. In other words, evaluative appraisal was not seen as automatically undermining pedagogy or professionalism, a very common complaint in much of the previous literature. Instead, it was seen as offering a potentially useful strategy for enhancing educational practices, but only in contexts where employees are protected from the misuse of management power by a variety of legal constraints

Mission Adrift: The Impact of Managerialism on Graduate Social Work Education

Neoliberal policies have led to the installation of managerialism, or the application of business practices and principles in institutions of higher education. Although much is known about the impact of managerialism on faculty in the overall academy, very little is known about its impact in specific disciplines, particularly in the United States. Using semi-structured interviews, this dissertation investigates how social work faculty experience and negotiate managerialism in the traditional pillars of teaching, service, and scholarship. This study found that managerialism leads universities to place new and increased demands for productivity, efficiency, and accountability on social work faculty. Respondents report major changes. Tenure track faculty are required to teach less, so they have more time for more highly valued research. They experience pressure to reshape, and often narrow, their research agenda to secure funding and produce high impact scholarship. Increasingly centralized university administrations make more decisions, which serves to diminish the role of faculty in governance. Managerialist pressures fall especially hard on faculty of color, who often take on additional responsibilities to support students of color and initiatives for diversity and inclusion. The pressure for greater productivity, efficiency, and accountability gives rise to a standardization of work that deemphasizes social justice and contributes to mission drift. Faculty respond to these shifts in a variety of ways, including adjusting to meet the demands or strategically choosing positions in schools with less pressure

Partnership rhetoric and risk realities : the implications of risk in government/non-government family services partnerships

"This empirical study examined risk transfer from the government to the non-government sector within a public/non-profit child and family services delivery partnership. The focus of the investigation was to determine if risk had been transferred from the government to the non-government partner, and how this had impacted on welfare practice, service provision and outcomes for service users. A case study of a 2007 government/non-government child protection and child and family services partnership in the state of Victoria, Australia provided the context for the study. The research framework involved a predominantly qualitative methodology, with the researcher embedded at two Victorian Community Service Organisations (CSOs) for a 12-month period." -- Taken from Abstract.Doctorate of Philosop

CHANGE AND IMPLEMENTATION IN A SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT

This work is an examination of contemporary public policy implementation. It seeks to isolate those features which need to be incorporated into implementation theory to assist in the analysis of the implementation of public policy The "new right" ideology requires that a particular organisational form be adopted by public implementing agencies. This form must reflect the need to introduce competition, the precepts of the "new managerialism" and to view the user of the public services as a "customer". These three elements will have a bearing on the process of the implementation. In particular, the need to regard the user of the services as a consumer implies that these users have an active part to play in the implementation process. The primary aim of the dissertation is to examine the nature and extent of the users involvement. A secondary aim seeks to develop and test a model of policy implementation which can incorporate the so called "top down" and "bottom up" perspectives of policy implementation. The model incorporates features which facilitate the analysis of contemporary policy implementation. These features include: the need to recognise the large amount of conflict and bargaining which is characteristic of multi - agency implementations, the dynamic and interactive nature of the process and the inclusion of the consumer as part of the process. The research uses the implementation of N.H.S. and Community Care Act (1990) in a shire county in order to examine these issues

Is Putin an Ism?

The Putin phenomenon represents a complex and dynamic interaction between the character of the man, his policies and leadership style. After over two decades in office, we can ask whether there is such a thing as ‘Putinism’, and if so, what are its main features? What are the criteria to be considered an ‘ism’? At the minimum, it requires some sort of ‘grand strategy’ that underpins policy in domestic and foreign policy, and which unites the two. A grand strategy is defined as some deep structure in domestic and foreign policy that transcends individual leaders and which has some overarching purpose. Putinism in this paper is considered a ‘passive revolution’, allowing a profound transformation to take place in society while the polity remains relatively static. One of the main criticisms levelled against Putin is that he is brilliant at tactics, above all in factional maneuvering, but lacks an over-arching vision of where Russia should go. This paper assesses whether Putin is ultimately an ephemeral phenomenon, or whether the era with which his name is associated will endure in history as a distinctive style of rule