Place branding and the representation of people at work: Exploring issues of tourism imagery and migrant labour in the Republic of Ireland

This paper addresses destination brand image in tourism marketing and assesses the contribution of tourism ' s workforce to such image and branding, considering the role that employees play in visitors ' interpretation of their experience of destination and place. The focus of this paper, therefore, is on the role of people in the image of place and the potential for contradiction in imagery as the people who inhabit and work within a place change over time. At the same time, both those who promote a destination and those consuming the place as visitors may well have expectations that are fixed in imagery that does not accord with that held within the wider community. The location of this paper is Ireland where the traditional promotion of the tourism brand has given a core role to images of people and the friendliness of the hospitality of Irish people, represented by largely homogeneous images. Recent growth in the ' Celtic tiger ' economy has induced unprecedented and large-scale migration from countries across the globe to Ireland, particularly into the tourism sector. This paper raises questions with regard to the branding of Ireland as a tourist destination in the light of major changes within the demography and ethnicity of its tourism workforce

How pluralistic is the research field on adult education? Dominating bibliometrical trends, 2005-2012

What the field of adult education research is and how it can be described has been a debated issue over the decades. Several scholars argue that the field today is heterogeneous, borrowing theories and methods from a range of disciplines. In this article, we take such statements as a starting point for empirical analysis. In what ways could it be argued that the field is pluralistic rather than monolithic; heterogeneous rather than homogenous? Drawing on bibliographic data of the top cited articles in three main adult education journals between 2005 and 2012, we illustrate how the citation patterns have tendencies of homogeneity when it comes to the geographical country of authorship, since the USA, UK, Australia and Canada dominate, as well as the research methods adopted, since qualitative approaches have near total dominance. Furthermore, there is a tendency to adopt similar theoretical approaches, since sociocultural perspectives, critical pedagogy and post-structuralism represent more than half of the articles in our sample. At the same time, the results of our analysis indicate signs of scholarly pluralism, for instance, in terms of authorship, since both early career researchers and established researchers are represented among the top cited publications. We conclude the article by arguing that empirical analysis of publication and citation patterns is important to further the development of reflexivity within the field, not least for early career researchers, who might benefit from knowledge about what has been recognized among peers as worth citing in recent times. (DIPF/Orig.

The choice of insider or outsider top executives in acquired companies

There is considerable debate amongst academics and practitioners over whether top executives of acquired or merged companies should stay or go, post-deal, as studies exploring the link with organisational performance show mixed results. This may in part be due to such studies failing to recognise that there are a number of distinct post-acquisition strategies which may require the deployment of different types of top executive. This paper addresses this limitation by bringing together the longstanding Insider/Outsider debate with a post-acquisition integration framework, in order to investigate whether there is a link between top management type and post-acquisition integration strategy. Using a dual methodology of survey and cases drawing on UK M&A data, clear associations are found between top executive type and particular post-acquisition styles. Underlying these patterns, the value-creating/value-capturing distinction of the Resource-Based View appears to have a greater influence over top executive deployment than do issues of Organisational Fit. This suggests strategic intentions have ascendancy over organisational constraints in the selection of top executives for managing post-acquisition integration

“Sticking jewels in your life”: Exploring women’s strategies for negotiating an acceptable quality of life with multiple sclerosis

This study explored women’s strategies for living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Twenty-seven women were interviewed, most of whom had lived with MS for more than five years. Analysis of the semi-structured interviews followed the interpretative phenomenological approach. The women portrayed living with MS as an ongoing process of negotiation, and described gaining quality of life through looking after their health; maintaining a familiar self-image, particularly through meaningful occupations, and adapting pre-illness skills and interests to their changing levels of physical functioning; actively valuing positive life experiences, including finding benefits in adversity; clarifying values, priorities and philosophy of life; and maintaining mutual, caring relationships. Some regarded MS as presenting opportunities for personal growth. Without minimizing the very substantial difficulties that MS presents, the findings suggest that well-being derives from both managing the illness and also embracing life’s wider experiences, including change and growth. Implications for rehabilitation and counseling professionals are considered

Visual representations of literacy in the press : report to the Leverhulme Trust February 2001.

This project investigated the ways in which literacy practices are represented in visual images in a range of British newspapers. The aims of the research were: a) to contribute to theoretical understandings of literacy as socio-cultural practice and their implications for educational policy discourses about literacy b) to offer a framework and new data about the construction of visual messages in the media. c) to develop computer-based methodologies for dealing with visual data which are of relevance to social research more generally. The data showed that a mismatch exists between text-based stories and visual representations of literacy practices in the press: whilst text-based stories present a view of literacy as a neutral, technical, cognitive skill or deficit, the visual representations show it to be embedded in everyday social practice and to carry powerful ritual and symbolic as well as functional meanings

What do learners want from computer mediated communication systems?

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) in education has both benefits and problems. The benefits could be increased and the problems alleviated by improved design of CMC systems. Following a user-centred design approach, interviews were therefore carried out with distance learners who use CMC systems. The aim was to elicit ideas for improvements, and to discover which features students find helpful and unhelpful. Ten students of the UK Open University, which uses the FirstClass computer conferencing system, were interviewed individually or in a focus group. Observations of students using the system were also carried out. The study revealed three major areas where enhancements are needed: dealing with information overload; increasing social presence; and providing tools for synchronous communication. The importance of a personalised interface and a high degree of user control were also highlighted

Make Love, Not War?: The Role of the Chorus in Kokoschka’s “Murderer Hope of Women”

In the summer of 1909, two one-acts by the twenty-three-year-old painter Oskar Kokoschka premiered in Vienna in an outdoor theatre built in the garden adjacent to the art museum as part of the second Kunstschau exhibit. The two Kunstschauen (of 1908 and 1909) were organized by Gustav Klimt and his friends in order “to expose the Viennese public to the most shocking and revolutionary forces in contemporary art,” and Kokoschka exhibited in both. The showing of Oskar Kokoschka’s art and his plays cemented his reputation as the most prominent enfant terrible of his day. These exhibitions helped ensure that, by the time he moved to Berlin in 1910, his works would become some of the key contributions to the seminal expressionist journal Der Sturm, gaining Kokoschka a place in the canon of European expressionism