O pedagogii instant

The main intention of this text is to show the interpretative track in the attempt to find the genealogy of expert appraisal. The main thesis expresses Zygmunt Bauman’s view of mutual connection between the weak and light status of identity in consumer culture and the tendency to create cultural practices in order to overcome that weakness, and to strengthen and confirm that status of identity. On the one hand, the main feature of consumer culture and our freedom expressed by consumption determines our identities and is the main reason for „corrosion of identity” (R. Sennett), but on the other hand it demands and generates the necessity of cultural institutions that guarantee its confirmation. Hence, we may find the reason for the so-called „counselling boom” and expansion of expert appraisal in our risk society. The presented text also shows the cultural background for cultural practices in the risk society and consists of the attempt to grasp social instant pedagogies. This phenomenon is analysed here by the role of advertisements and psychological guides as the main cultural practices of instant pedagogy. My intention seeks to bring to account often hidden and obvious practices, and to highlight in a critical manner the tendencies in our social milieu and in the face of „the unbearable lightness of consumption”.The main intention of this text is to show the interpretative track in the attempt to find the genealogy of expert appraisal. The main thesis expresses Zygmunt Bauman’s view of mutual connection between the weak and light status of identity in consumer culture and the tendency to create cultural practices in order to overcome that weakness, and to strengthen and confirm that status of identity. On the one hand, the main feature of consumer culture and our freedom expressed by consumption determines our identities and is the main reason for „corrosion of identity” (R. Sennett), but on the other hand it demands and generates the necessity of cultural institutions that guarantee its confirmation. Hence, we may find the reason for the so-called „counselling boom” and expansion of expert appraisal in our risk society. The presented text also shows the cultural background for cultural practices in the risk society and consists of the attempt to grasp social instant pedagogies. This phenomenon is analysed here by the role of advertisements and psychological guides as the main cultural practices of instant pedagogy. My intention seeks to bring to account often hidden and obvious practices, and to highlight in a critical manner the tendencies in our social milieu and in the face of „the unbearable lightness of consumption”

Marketing concerns of a developing economy

It is a pleasure to speak to you tonight on some 'Marketing Concerns of a Developing Economy'. Before beginning, I wish. to thank the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Society of Malta, and the Royal University of Malta for inviting me, and the United States Information Service for facilitating my visit. I accepted the invitation to speak on marketing and economic development with some hesitation, for I feared being cast an 'instant expert' with respect. to Maltese economic prospects and planning. Let me dispel any illusions that I stand before you prepared to indicate specifically the role of the various sectors of the economy or the precise manner in which marketing can best serve the interest of the total Maltese Society. The issues are far too complex and my contact with Malta far too limited to enable me to make any comments of a specific policy nature. Rather I intend my comments to provide a useful framework for considering economic development and the role of marketing - and thereby hopefully provide implications for Maltese economic planning. I invite your questions, for of necessity I am leaving much unsaid.peer-reviewe

Surely fades away: Polaroid photography and the contradictions of cultural value

Photography has always had a precarious relation to cultural value: as Walter Benjamin put it, those who argued for photography as an art were bringing it to a tribunal it was in the process of overthrowing. This article examines the case of Polaroid, a company and technology that, after Kodak and prior to digital, contributed most to the mass- amateurization of photography, and therefore, one might expect, to its cultural devaluation. It considers the specific properties of the technology, the often skeptical reception Polaroid cameras and film received from the professional photographic press, and Polaroid’s own strategies of self-presentation, and finds that in each case a contradictory picture emerges. Like fast food, the Polaroid image is defined by its speed of appearance – the proximity of its production and consumption – and is accordingly devalued; and yet at the same time it produces a single, unique print. The professional photographic press, self- appointed arbiters of photographic value, were often rapturous about the technical breakthroughs achieved by Polaroid, but dismissive of the potential non-amateur applications and anxious about the implications for the ‘expert’ photographer of a camera that replaced the expert’s functions. For obvious marketing reasons, Polaroid itself was always keen to emphasize what the experts scorned in its products (simplicity of operation), and yet, equally, consistently positioned itself at the ‘‘luxury’’ end of the camera market and carried out an ambitious cultural program that emphasized the ‘‘aesthetic’’ potential of Polaroid photography. The article concludes that this highly ambivalent status of Polaroid technology in relation to cultural value means that it shares basic features with kitsch, a fact that has been exploited by, among others, William Wegman, and has been amplified by the current decline and imminent disappearance of Polaroid photograph

Measuring Expert Performance at Manually Classifying Domain Entities under Upper Ontology Classes

Classifying entities in domain ontologies under upper ontology classes is a recommended task in ontology engineering to facilitate semantic interoperability and modelling consistency. Integrating upper ontologies this way is difficult and, despite emerging automated methods, remains a largely manual task. Little is known about how well experts perform at upper ontology integration. To develop methodological and tool support, we first need to understand how well experts do this task. We designed a study to measure the performance of human experts at manually classifying classes in a general knowledge domain ontology with entities in the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), an upper ontology used widely in the biomedical domain. We conclude that manually classifying domain entities under upper ontology classes is indeed very difficult to do correctly. Given the importance of the task and the high degree of inconsistent classifications we encountered, we further conclude that it is necessary to improve the methodological framework surrounding the manual integration of domain and upper ontologies

Communicating health decisions: an analysis of messages posted to online prostate cancer forums

Background  Experiential websites such as message forums and blogs allow Prostate Cancer (PCa) patients to communicate their health decisions to peers. The issues surrounding this form of indirect involvement in public health are little understood. Objective  This paper explores the types of decision-making processes that people are exposed to on PCa online message boards. The kinds of treatment choices patients are making and the reports of their decision-making processes to peers through an online environment are examined in the context of the Heuristic Systematic Model. Method  Messages about treatment decision making were collected from four PCa websites. In total, 137 messages were selected from blogs and online forums and their decision-making processes coded. Results  Men looking online for information about treatment options for PCa are exposed to a range of decision-making processes. Just under half (49.6%) of the messages reported non-systematic decision processes, with deferral to the doctor and proof of cancer removal being the most common. For systematic processing (36.5%), messages most commonly considered treatment outcomes and side-effects. Processes did not vary between the blogs and online forums. Discussion and conclusion  Compared to previous studies far fewer messages reported non-systematic decision processes and only a small number of messages reflected lay beliefs or misbeliefs about PCa treatment. Implications for men and their clinicians of seeking health information online are discussed

A pollen identification expert system ; an application of expert system techniques to biological identification : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science Massey University

The application of expert systems techniques to biological identification has been investigated and a system developed which assists a user to identify and count air-borne pollen grains. The present system uses a modified taxonomic data matrix as the structure for the knowledge base. This allows domain experts to easily assess and modify the knowledge using a familiar data structure. The data structure can be easily converted to rules or a simple frame-based structure if required for other applications. A method of ranking the importance of characters for identifying each taxon has been developed which assists the system to quickly narrow an identification by rejecting or accepting candidate taxa. This method is very similar to that used by domain experts

Technology Criticism in the Classroom (Chapter in The Nature of Technology)

I first heard about a tragedy in Tucson, not from major television news networks, but from a direct message sent by a politically-active friend who was attending the political gathering where a mass shooting took place, including the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords. While the television news sputtered around trying to offer details (initially wrongly claiming that she was dead, likely from pressure to be the first to report big news), I found myself reading Google News, piecing together Facebook posts, e-mailing friends and reading Twitter updates

The Internet and Education

Presents findings from a survey of online youth and their parents, conducted between November and December 2000. Looks at how the Internet has become increasingly important for teenagers as an essential study aid both outside and inside the classroom

Commentary: Art Education and New Technology: Are You Ready?

As an Art education major, I was somewhat daunted by a recent job offer requiring me to teach in the Career and Technology Studies department. As a recovering technophobe and lover of scissors and paste, I was cautious of this ‘Brave New World’ of computers. I perceived post-millennial teens to be cyber savvy know-it-alls, largely due to the way in which they were portrayed in the media. As well, if the ads were true, teens weren’t the only ones riding the new technological wave; Cisco Systems 1999 television campaign presented a global Utopia of citizens united through surfing the net. Shot in a series of exotic locales, the Cisco ads featured various cultural ambassadors garbed in ethnic dress asking the western TV audience “Are you ready?” Ready for what, you ask? Well, the Internet, of course! Cisco shows us a (fake?) Greek grandma tending her flock of sheep and she’s asking you if you’re ready for the new information age! Get with it, dude! If Mongolian nomads were hip to on-line education and instant messaging, I could only imagine the dizzying cyber heights being reached by upper middle class teens in Canada