GLBTQ content in comics/graphic novels for teens

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an historical perspective and current guidance for youth librarians collecting graphic novels for teens. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a brief review of the historical issues involved with censorship/intellectual freedom and comics and of current teen-oriented graphic novels with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning of sexual orientation (GLBTQ) content in Canada and the USA. It also provides a context for negotiating intellectual freedom and collection management policy issues, and suggestions for targeted acquisitions of teen graphic novels with GLTBQ content. Findings – The paper provides a brief overview of US and Canadian censorship of comics, including how this legacy affects today’s market. It recognizes the difficulty of obtaining information and recommendations for teen-appropriate graphic novels containing GLBTQ content, and makes suggestions for core collection items. Research limitations/implications – Only English sources from the USA and Canada are reviewed. Francophone Canadian literature is relevant but outside of the scope of this paper. Practical implications – The paper is a useful source of information for the librarian looking for collection development suggestions, and/or for the librarian dealing with or preparing against intellectual freedom challenges to graphic novels or GLBTQ material for teens. Originality/value – This paper furthers discussion of censorship of graphic novels and of GLBTQ material, and provides concrete suggestions to librarians developing a teen graphic novel collection. The issue is timely, as the graphic novel industry is booming and the ALA has documented an increasing number of challenges to graphic novels in libraries. Few previous papers on graphic novels or comics have included Canadian content, although the Canada-American library worlds, publishing industries and legal codes are historically and currently intertwined. Paper type General revie

Challenges in vaccine communication

Vaccine communication is a scientifically complex, ethically laden, and highly multidisciplinary area in which to conduct research or practice. Due to vaccination’s status as a key topic in public health and medicine, communication about vaccination serves as fertile ground for social scientific and critical research that can both improve health and help us understand health-related values, mental-models, and discourses. This chapter presents background necessary to understand vaccine communication as a topic of study, provides an overview of contemporary communication research about vaccines and vaccination, and describes frameworks for addressing ethical considerations particular to vaccine communication

Net Neutrality: A Library Issue

Net neutrality is a critical component of equitable access to information and freedom of expression. While Canada has recently made some progress toward enshrining principles of net neutrality in our telecommunications regulations, the status quo does not guarantee protection of consumers from unnecessary “traffic management” on the part of ISPs. Librarians and library associations in Canada and the U.S. have advocated for net neutrality as part of their goal of protecting intellectual freedom, and such efforts must continue until net neutrality is assured

The Social Informatics of Ignorance

Social informatics researchers use a variety of techniques to explore the intersections between technology and society. Current interest has turned to making more explicit our commonly tacit knowledge processes that involve people and technology. Knowledge creation, sharing, and management processes are commonly hidden, and this is even more the case regarding ignorance processes such as the denial and obfuscation of knowledge. Understanding the construction, generation, and perpetuation of ignorance can: (i) provide insights into social phenomena that might otherwise seem inexplicable (for instance, persistence of “urban myths”), and (ii) enable development of interventions to either facilitate (as with privacy‐sensitive material) or combat (as with malicious disinformation) ignorance. Although several pressing information issues relate to ignorance, agnotology (the study of ignorance) has only recently entered into the information science literature. An agnotologic approach expands the repertoire of methods and approaches in social informatics, better enabling the field to grapple with pressing contemporary issues of mis/dis/lack of information. Using Robert Proctor\u27s typology of constructions of ignorance, this article describes ways that each type may be germane to and within social informatics, highlighting social informatics topics that would benefit from agnotologic exploration, and suggesting theoretical and methodological approaches useful to a social informatics of ignorance

Info Policy News: Issues to Watch in 2011 & Facts about Wikileaks

This issue's Info Policy News column highlights a sample of some information policy issues to keep an eye on in 2011. Included are the census, Crookes v. Newton, Copyright, Lawful Access legislation and Wikileaks. This quarter's "Five Facts About" features Wikileaks

Toward a definition of pharmaceutical innovation

Ongoing debates in the pharmaceutical sector about intellectual property, pricing and reimbursement, and public research investments have a common denominator: he pursuit of innovation. However, there is little clarity about what constitutes a true pharmaceutical innovation, and as a result there is confusion about what kind of new products should be pursued, protected and encouraged through health policy and clinical practice. If the concept of pharmaceutical innovation can be clarified, then it may become easier for health policy-makers and practitioners to evaluate, adopt and procure products in ways that appropriately recognize, encourage and give priority to truly valuable pharmaceutical innovations

A Systematic Review of Barriers to Vaccination During Pregnancy in the Canadian Context

Objective Although vaccination in pregnancy has the potential to affect maternal and infant morbidity and mortality dramatically, uptake of recommended vaccinations in pregnancy remains low. The objective of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators of vaccination during pregnancy in Canada. Methods The Medline database and the tables of contents of four relevant Canadian journals were screened to identify all studies that considered barriers and/or facilitators to vaccination during pregnancy, specifically in Canadian settings. Citations were screened, and a narrative synthesis of findings was undertaken given the heterogeneity of study design. Results In total, 17 studies met inclusion criteria, most with a focus on the seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines. Facilitators and barriers were identified at the level of the patient and the provider. At both levels, knowledge was an important facilitator of vaccine acceptance during pregnancy and was notably improved in studies following the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza outbreak compared with earlier studies. Vaccine endorsement by a prenatal care provider and clear messages of safety for the fetus emerged as key motivators. Few studies addressed system-level barriers or interventions for improving vaccine uptake during pregnancy in the Canadian setting. Conclusion Common themes have emerged from the Canadian literature addressing barriers and facilitators of vaccination during pregnancy. However, there is a paucity of literature to suggest strategies to improve the uptake of vaccination during pregnancy in Canadian settings. Further research is urgently needed given the expanding role of vaccination during routine prenatal care

Visual analysis of information world maps: An exploration of four methods

Information researchers increasingly use participatory, arts-based methods to better understand the social contexts of individuals and populations. However, it remains rare to engage in qualitative analysis of the resulting visual artefacts. This article explores approaches to analysing visual media generated through a specific arts-based method, information world mapping (IWM), an interdisciplinary draw-and-talk technique that elicits data about individuals’ social information worlds. Here, we test four approaches to analysing visual media generated through IWM: directed qualitative content analysis (QCA), compositional interpretation, conceptual analysis and visual discourse analysis using situational analysis (SA). QCA was effective in creating an overview of participants’ information practices, yet raised concern regarding interpretive bias. Using an inductive taxonomy for compositional interpretation, we identified genre conventions for IWMs. Conceptual analysis resulted primarily in a reflection of the research procedures and epistemology. SA, while time-consuming, generated a large amount of rich data, including discourses and power relations that were not identified in previous analysis of textual data. In a reversal of our previous stance that cautioned against IWM analysis, we encourage other researchers to consider integrated or secondary visual analysis of IWMs