For public communication: Promises and perils of public engagement

In this article I make a case for the importance of public engagement and political commitment on the part of communication scholars. I do this initially by drawing on the work of Michael Burawoy who, in his 2004 Presidential Address to the American Sociological Association, made an impassioned argument for the rebirth of a public sociology. Burawoy’s provocation has, however, been largely overlooked by scholars working in the field of communication and media. I then discuss the impact of the Research Excellence Framework on public communication research in the United Kingdom, a development that I so far consider to be, on the whole, positive for the field of communication and media research because it has provided incentives for academics to engage with publics. However, it is crucially important to ground this public engagement in critical theory, which means that we should question the traditional dichotomy between academic and activist. The grounds for engagement in theories of reciprocity and generality have implications for what “good” and “bad” public communication research might be. Clearly, however, we need to understand who our publics are. To this end, I discuss some of the difficulties, encountered personally, in conducting critically-informed public communication research

A review of the literature on the subject of why students leave school before graduation.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Lusophone media and communication studies: imperial nostalgia or transcontinental communicative space?

[Excerto] This Crosscurrents Special Section maps and critically examines media and communication studies in Portuguese speaking countries worldwide (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and S. Tome and Principe, East-Timor).[...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Fixed Stars

The object of this paper is to give, in a popular form, a brief review of what is known about the fixed stars. Although they have always been objects of interest, have guided the mariner over trackless seas, arid have inspired many sublime and noble thoughts, yet, until a comparatively recent date, only three things were known about them; viz., that they retain (approximately) their ·relative positions, that they are self luminous, and that they are very far away

Behaviour change practices in exercise referral practitioners: A realist evaluation of implementation

Physical activity can prevent and treat multiple diseases. Exercise referral schemes have been used extensively as one healthcare pathway. Schemes typically involve the referral of an inactive individual, with a long term condition, for a time limited exercise programme. Evidence has shown limited benefit, yet the exploration of implementation is under researched. National guidance, in the United Kingdom, recommends that exercise referral schemes should not be commissioned unless behaviour change practices are implemented. Nonetheless, novel evaluations, which are sensitive to the complex nature of behaviour change implementation, have not been undertaken. Therefore, this research sought to answer how, why, and in which circumstances behaviour change practices are implemented by exercise referral practitioners. Realist evaluation, a form of theory driven evaluation, was adopted to address the research question. Programme theory, the envisaged causal workings of implementation, was developed and tested to advance knowledge on how behaviour change practice can be achieved by exercise referral practitioners. An 8-month focused ethnography was used to develop programme theory. Subsequently, a survey was validated to empirically test programme theory. Adjudication between theory required an assessment of the fidelity to behaviour change practices. Therefore, vignettes were created and validated, which acted as a proxy to observations. The survey was then completed through online, and facilitated interviews, using a ‘think aloud’ methodology. The analysis showed that practice frameworks augment motivation when there is congruent practitioner characteristics and practice monitoring is utilised, whereas frameworks improve capability when faced with challenging attendees. Supportive leadership improves motivation when there is an organisational commitment to behaviour change and practitioners are passionate to empower attendees. Supportive leadership improves capability for implementation when a learning climate is created. Partnerships with medical professionals enhance implementation, through changes to motivation, when medical professionals commit and recognise the value of schemes, and partnerships enhance capability where medical professionals reinforce practice via congruent communication. On-going support enhances capability where practitioners are cognizant of their role and have lower behaviour change competencies, conversely, motivation is enhanced as practitioners become more capable. Exercise referral schemes risk being labelled ineffective without considering the implementation climate and fidelity to best practice guidance. This thesis provides portable and actionable findings, which could lead to a greater translation of behaviour change practices to applied settings in exercise referral and in other medically led community based self-management interventions

Steady-state evoked potentials possibilities for mental-state estimation

The use of the human steady-state evoked potential (SSEP) as a possible measure of mental-state estimation is explored. A method for evoking a visual response to a sum-of-ten sine waves is presented. This approach provides simultaneous multiple frequency measurements of the human EEG to the evoking stimulus in terms of describing functions (gain and phase) and remnant spectra. Ways in which these quantities vary with the addition of performance tasks (manual tracking, grammatical reasoning, and decision making) are presented. Models of the describing function measures can be formulated using systems engineering technology. Relationships between model parameters and performance scores during manual tracking are discussed. Problems of unresponsiveness and lack of repeatability of subject responses are addressed in terms of a need for loop closure of the SSEP. A technique to achieve loop closure using a lock-in amplifier approach is presented. Results of a study designed to test the effectiveness of using feedback to consciously connect humans to their evoked response are presented. Findings indicate that conscious control of EEG is possible. Implications of these results in terms of secondary tasks for mental-state estimation and brain actuated control are addressed

Ideology: towards renewal of a critical concept

In this response to our critics and fellow-travellers we reaffirm our claim that contemporary media studies should reinvent a critical concept of ideology. We do this through addressing some of the problems with older critical conceptions of ideology and suggesting potentially fruitful ways forward through engaging with research traditions that have become neglected or are overlooked in the field. This avowedly inter-disciplinary position draws on political philosophy, critical realism, ordinary language philosophy, and discursive psychology. At the end of the essay we show how a critical concept of ideology can be applied in analysis of news reporting

Introduction: comparing media systems in Central and Eastern Europe: politics, economy, culture

Introduction: comparing media systems in Central and Eastern Europe: politics, economy, cultur