Communicative ecologies: Editorial preface

The term 'ecology' has a lot to offer communication research. This biological analogy opens up research into time and space dynamics, population growth and lifecycles, networks, clusters, niches, and even power relationships between pray and predators. The research perspective may be at either holistic (macro) or individual (micro) levels of analysis. In McLuhan and Postman's tradition of media ecology the concept takes a media-centric view referring to the way in which media structure our lives and how they influence society. The focus of this special issue, the concept of 'communicative ecology', is different insofar as we put an increased emphasis on the meaning that can be derived from the socio-cultural framing and analysis of the local context which communication occurs in. We define a communicative ecology as a milieu of agents who are connected in various ways by various exchanges of mediated and unmediated forms of communication (Tacchi et al., 2003 ). From a communicative ecology perspective each instance of media use is considered at both individual and community level as part of a complex media environment that is socially and culturally framed. We do not limit the scope of analysis to traditional print, broadcast and telecommunication media but include social networking applications for peer to peer modes of communication, transport infrastructure that enable face to face interaction, as well as public and private places where people meet, chat, gossip. We conceive of a communicative ecology as having three layers (Foth & Hearn, 2007). A technological layer which consists of the devices and connecting media that enable communication and interaction. A social layer which consists of people and social modes of organising those people - which might include, for example, everything from friendship groups to more formal community organizations, as well as companies or legal entities. And finally, a discursive layer which is the content of communication - that is, the ideas or themes that constitute the known social universe that the ecology operates in. Using an ecological metaphor opens up a number of interesting possibilities for analyzing place-based communication (e.g., in neighbourhoods, apartment buildings, or - on a larger scale - suburbs and cities). It can help us to better understand the ways social activities are organized, the ways people define and experience their environments, and the implications for social order and organization. For example, in analyzing an apartment complex, an ecological metaphor might suggest first examining the features of the population in the apartment and mapping the patterns of engagement within that population. In addition we could ask how people relate to different places within the apartment, and how this interaction is mediated by the use of technology. Do different groups form around a coffee shop? Do email or cell phone connections define other ecologies? Then we might also be able to study transactions between different ecologies. The ecological metaphor focuses on whole of system interactions. It also enables us to define boundaries of any given ecology, and to examine how the coherence of that boundary and the stability of each ecology is maintained. What topics of conversation define insiders and outsiders in the ecology? Finally, it also opens up the question of the social sustainability of a communicative ecology. Similar sorts of questions have been asked by the contributors to this special issue who research human communication phenomena in various place-based contexts. The first article "Comparing the Communication Ecologies of Geo-ethnic Communities: How People Stay on Top of Their Community" by Wilkin et al. highlight the benefits to be gained from a communicative ecology approach by presenting a communication map to help communicate with ethnically diverse populations. Shepherd et al. follow with their contribution "The Material Ecologies of Domestic ICTs" which examines the socio-cultural context of the media and communication environments we create in our homes. The next article "Primary Attention Groups: A Conceptual Aproach to the Communicative Ecology of Individual Community in the Information Age" by Allison applies the layer model described above to analyse individual social groupings. Peeples and Mitchell also found the layer model useful in exploring the 1999 WTO protests in "No Mobs - No Confusions - No Tumult: Organizing Civil Disobedience". Powell's article "An Ecology of Public Internet Access: Exploring contextual internet access in an urban community" concludes this special issue by offering a detailed account of the role public internet access plays in the communicative ecology of inner-city residents. We thank our colleagues for their help and assistance in providing an extraordinary high quality of peer review for this special issue of EJC: Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University; Elija Cassidy, Queensland University of Technology; Christy Collis, Queensland University of Technology; Victor Gonzalez, University of Manchester; Phil Graham, Queensland University of Technology; Joshua Green, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Deborah Jones, Victoria University of Wellington; Jesper Kjeldskov, Aalborg University; Mark Latonero, California State University, Fullerton; Graham Longford, University of Toronto; Harvey May, Queensland University of Technology; Lucy Montgomery, University of Westminster; Tanya Notley, Queensland University of Technology; Christine Satchell, University of Melbourne; Larry Stillman, Monash University; Jo Tacchi, Queensland University of Technology; Wallace Taylor, Cape Peninsula University of Technology; Tommaso Venturini, University of Milano - Bicocca. Our work is supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery funding scheme (project number DP0663854) and Dr Marcus Foth is the recipient of an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship. Foth, M., & Hearn, G. (2007, forthcoming). Networked individualism of urban residents: Discovering the communicative ecology in inner-city apartment complexes. Information, Communication & Society, 10(5). Tacchi, J., Slater, D., & Hearn, G. (2003). Ethnographic action research handbook. New Delhi, India: UNESCO

Editorial Special Issue on Enhancement Algorithms, Methodologies and Technology for Spectral Sensing

The paper is an editorial issue on enhancement algorithms, methodologies and technology for spectral sensing and serves as a valuable and useful reference for researchers and technologists interested in the evolving state-of-the-art and/or the emerging science and technology base associated with spectral-based sensing and monitoring problem. This issue is particularly relevant to those seeking new and improved solutions for detecting chemical, biological, radiological and explosive threats on the land, sea, and in the air

Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate: Developing Technology to Protect America

In response to a congressional mandate and in consultation with Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the National Academy conducted a review of S&T's effectiveness and efficiency in addressing homeland security needs. This review included a particular focus that identified any unnecessary duplication of effort, and opportunity costs arising from an emphasis on homeland security-related research. Under the direction of the National Academy Panel, the study team reviewed a wide variety of documents related to S&T and homeland security-related research in general. The team also conducted interviews with more than 200 individuals, including S&T officials and staff, officials from other DHS component agencies, other federal agencies engaged in homeland security-related research, and experts from outside government in science policy, homeland security-related research and other scientific fields.Key FindingsThe results of this effort indicated that S&T faces a significant challenge in marshaling the resources of multiple federal agencies to work together to develop a homeland security-related strategic plan for all agencies. Yet the importance of this role should not be underestimated. The very process of working across agencies to develop and align the federal homeland security research enterprise around a forward-focused plan is critical to ensuring that future efforts support a common vision and goals, and that the metrics by which to measure national progress, and make changes as needed, are in place

Introduction: The difference that makes a difference

This article introduces TripleC’s Special Issue on The Difference That Makes a Difference, containing papers arising from a workshop of the same name that ran in Milton Keynes in September 2011. The background to the workshop is explained, workshop sessions are summarised, and the content of the papers introduced. Finally, some provisional outcomes from the workshop and the Special Issue are described

DeSyRe: on-Demand System Reliability

The DeSyRe project builds on-demand adaptive and reliable Systems-on-Chips (SoCs). As fabrication technology scales down, chips are becoming less reliable, thereby incurring increased power and performance costs for fault tolerance. To make matters worse, power density is becoming a significant limiting factor in SoC design, in general. In the face of such changes in the technological landscape, current solutions for fault tolerance are expected to introduce excessive overheads in future systems. Moreover, attempting to design and manufacture a totally defect and fault-free system, would impact heavily, even prohibitively, the design, manufacturing, and testing costs, as well as the system performance and power consumption. In this context, DeSyRe delivers a new generation of systems that are reliable by design at well-balanced power, performance, and design costs. In our attempt to reduce the overheads of fault-tolerance, only a small fraction of the chip is built to be fault-free. This fault-free part is then employed to manage the remaining fault-prone resources of the SoC. The DeSyRe framework is applied to two medical systems with high safety requirements (measured using the IEC 61508 functional safety standard) and tight power and performance constraints

Issues of shaping the students’ professional and terminological competence in science area of expertise in the sustainable development era

The paper deals with the problem of future biology teachers’ vocational preparation process and shaping in them of those capacities that contribute to the conservation and enhancement of our planet’s biodiversity as a reflection of the leading sustainable development goals of society. Such personality traits are viewed through the prism of forming the future biology teachers’ professional and terminological competence. The main aspects and categories that characterize the professional and terminological competence of future biology teachers, including terminology, nomenclature, term, nomen and term element, have been explained. The criteria and stages of shaping the future biology teachers’ professional and terminological competence during the vocational training process have been fixed. Methods, techniques, technologies, guiding principles and forms of staged work on the forming of an active terminological dictionary of students have been described and specified. The content of the distant special course “Latin. Botanical Terminology”, which provides training for future teachers to study the professional subjects and to understand of international scientific terminology, has been presented. It is concluded that the proper level of formation of the future biology teachers’ professional and terminological competence will eventually ensure the qualitative preparation of pupils for life in a sustainable development era

Special Libraries, July 1978

Volume 69, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1978/1005/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, March 1970

Volume 61, Issue 3https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1970/1002/thumbnail.jp