Stabilizing knowledge through standards - A perspective for the humanities

It is usual to consider that standards generate mixed feelings among scientists. They are often seen as not really reflecting the state of the art in a given domain and a hindrance to scientific creativity. Still, scientists should theoretically be at the best place to bring their expertise into standard developments, being even more neutral on issues that may typically be related to competing industrial interests. Even if it could be thought of as even more complex to think about developping standards in the humanities, we will show how this can be made feasible through the experience gained both within the Text Encoding Initiative consortium and the International Organisation for Standardisation. By taking the specific case of lexical resources, we will try to show how this brings about new ideas for designing future research infrastructures in the human and social sciences

Digital document and interpretation : re-thinking "text" and scholarship in electronic settings

The contribution starts from outlining the evolution of the scholarly production flow from the print based paradigm to the digital age and in this context it explores the opposition of digital versus analog representation modes. It then develops on the triple paradigm shift caused by genuine digital publishing and its specific consequences for the social sciences and humanities (SSH) which in turn results in re-constituting basic scholarly notions such as 'text' and 'document'. The paper concludes with discussing the specific value that could be added in systematically using digital text resources as a basis for scholarly work and also states some of the necessary conditions for such a 'digital turn' to be successful in the SSH.Der Beitrag beginnt mit einem Überblick zur Evolution des wissenschaftlichen Informationskontinuums auf dem Weg vom druckbasierten Paradigma in das digitale Zeitalter und geht in diesem Zusammenhang näher auf die Unterscheidung 'digitaler' und 'analoger' Repräsentationsmodi ein. Anschließend behandeln wir den als Folge des Übergangs zu genuin digitalen Publikationsformen erwartbaren dreifachen Paradigmenwechsel und dessen spezifische Konsequenzen für die Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften sowie als deren Folge wiederum die Re-Konstitution elementarer Kernbegriffe geisteswissenschaftlichen Arbeitens wie 'Text' und 'Dokument'. Der Beitrag schließt mit einer Betrachtung des spezifischen Mehrwerts, der sich aus dem systematischen Rekurs auf digitale Textressourcen in den Geisteswissenschaften ergeben könnte und geht dabei auch auf die erforderlichen Vorbedingungen eines solcherart erfolgreichen 'digital turn' in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften ein

The canonization of German-language digital literature

In his paper, "The Canonization of German-language Digital Literature," Florian Hartling discusses "Net Literature," a relatively young phenomenon, that has its roots in experimental visual and concrete poetry and hypertext. With the use of new media technology, this new genre of literature has acquired much interest and is now considered to be one of the most important influences in contemporary art. Not only does Net Literature connect sound, video, and animation with interactivity and allows new forms of artistic expression, it also impacts significantly on the traditional functions of the literary system. Hartling suggests that, in relation to Net Literature, the notion of the "death of the author" gives birth to the "writing reader." Hartling presents the results of his study where he applies the concept of "canon" to German-language Net Literature and where he attempts to find out whether, in this new form of literature, a "canon" has already been formed. Based on Karl Erik Rosengren's framework of "mention technique," a sample of Germanlanguage reviews of Net Literature was analyzed. The study intends to test the applicability of Rosengren's method to the analysis of Net Literature, that is, whether it is valid to use a method that was originally developed for the empirical study of the traditional literary canon for the study of an emergent Net Literature

The Basic Values of Humanity in an Indonesian Language Textbook used in Junior High Schools

This study seeks to identify the basic values of humanity presented in the Indonesian language textbook used in Junior High Schools. This study used a qualitative approach, with a textbook as a case study (specifically the Indonesian language textbook for the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades). The data considered took the form of words, phrase, sentences, discourse, and pictures showing the basic values of humanity. Data was collected a questionnaire which was subsequently analyzed. First, data were firstly classified according to the taxonomy and characteristic. Then codes were assigned to the different classifications. Then referential comparison techniques were used to measure the structure of basic values of humanity in the textbooks. This was followed by the construction of a basic pattern and the validation of the data. The research identified fifteen main points, they were scientific perspective, materials concept explication, curriculum relevance, interesting, increasing motivation, stimulating students’ activities, illustrative, understandable, supporting the other subjects, respecting individual differences, stabilizing values, protecting men and women’s rights, appreciation towards achievements, supporting freedom of speech, and respecting the essence of human being. From those fifteen main points, four points need to be improved, they are: stimulating students’ activities, illustrative, protecting men and women’s rights, and supporting freedom of speech. Keywords: humanity values, textbook, Indonesian languag

A Comparative Study of Civil Services Management Law with the Principles of Desirable Governance through the Perspective of International Law

Desirable governance includes principles such as transparency, governance of law, equity, efficiency and capability and believes that if the above elements are achieved, it will result in increasing efficiency and ability of governance system leading to a comprehensive development and democracy. Influenced by these principles, Iran administrative system must appropriately adopt itself and provide its implementation. For example, the administrative system must refrain from unilateral decisions in the light of the governance of law and provide the ground for participation in the administration of the country. It seems that authorizing civil services management law is the most important step in achieving the above goal and realizing today’s principles and criteria in governing the country’s administrative affaires and organizing official system. Because the mentioned law was first conducted in the administrative system of the country to the issues beyond the rights of personnel and their advantages, demonstrating the principles of desirable governance in materials stipulated rendered a fundamental change in this area. It can be reached to some extent based on the belief that the theory components have been realized in the administration system and especially in the official system. Keywords: Governance of law, Participation, Justice, Desirable governance, Transparency, Comprehensiveness and inclusivenes

Is The Daily Show Bad for Democracy? An Analysis of Cynicism and its Significance

In recent years, satirical news programs like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have emerged as an important development in contemporary American society, culture, and politics. Critics have argued that The Daily Show has a negative impact on the political attitudes of American citizens by making them cynical about government and the political process as a whole. As a result of these attitudes, they argue, citizens are less apt to participate in politics and, in turn, this behavior is detrimental to American democracy. The purpose of this research project is to explore the debate over whether or not The Daily Show is indeed bad for democracy. Its objectives are not simply to develop my own answer to this question, but more importantly to critically unpack the question itself in order to analyze the complex relationships between The Daily Show, cynicism, and democracy. To do so, I review, analyze, and assess various and competing definitions of the concepts “cynicism” and “democracy,” and then use close readings of scholarship from political science, communication, and cultural studies to construct a “debate” on the question of the show’s significance for contemporary American democracy

Higher Education Access Policies and Issues in Georgia before and after the Introduction of Unified National Entrance Examinations in 2005

The paper discusses the implications of Unified National Entrance Examinations (UNEEs) for higher education access in Georgia. Increased participation of ethnic minorities and low-SES students in higher education could be regarded as one of the major achievements of the UNEEs. More transparency and decreased corruption in higher education access procedures might be regarded as additional assets of the new policy. However, due to its early stage of implementation, the entrance policy needs further study and improvement. The income-contingent loan system is one of the major challenges facing the country. It is not well developed and deprives many low-SES families of the possibilities to cover tuition with study loans. Besides, teacher preparation for the new-type of examinations is another problem to be tackled. The paper views higher education access in historical perspective, views policies in sociocultural context and associates different types of corrupt practices with different periods. The paper also discusses the role of entrance examinations in fostering social cohesion through enhanced trust.Higher education access; standardized examinations; corruption; private tutorship; study loans; grants; social cohesion.

Students, Faculty and Sustainable WPA Work

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter\u27s first paragraph: Despite several cycles of reforms spanning the last fifteen years, we three composition colleagues were unable to achieve widespread student engagement in our required one-semester writing course. At California State University, Chico, the WPA oversees faculty development and program assessment for a first-year writing program that serves 2700 students each year with over 100 sections of first-year writing. Several different WPAs experienced fatigue as they undertook challenging and often unproductive work: resisting an outdated California State policy on the aims and goals for General Education, including what constitutes appropriate aims for writing courses; revising notions of student writing that are too tied to the “modes” and views of information literacy that end in exercises rather than in the activity of scholarship; developing and delivering assessments whose findings frequently conflict with budgetary, ideological, or departmental constraints; and promoting the complex underlying assumptions of our work despite widespread and reductive beliefs about the writing capabilities of first year students