EDITORIAL: A cooperative future

WELCOME to the first issue of Pacific Journalism Review to be jointly edited by the editors of PJR and Australian Journalism Review. The trigger for this cooperative editorial venture was the major conference held in Auckland in December 2006, involving the Journalism Education Association of New Zealand (JEANZ) and Australia’s Journalism Education Association (JEA). Anyone who has been to New Zealand will appreciate that it is an excellent destination for a conference, and that Auckland is a beautiful part of New Zealand in which to locate it. Titled ‘Journalism Downunder: The future of the media in the digital age’, the conference was hosted (and very well organised) by AUT University in Auckland. It produced a high standard of trans-Tasman discussion and debate, in the process drawing attention to our many areas of common interest and few points of difference

Prison Research from the Inside: The Role of Convict Autoethnography

A perspective that has often been absent in criminal justice research is that of former prisoners. This article discusses the establishment, in 1997, of “convict criminology,” a group of scholars producing research informed by their experiences of crime and the criminal justice process; that is, either those who have served time themselves or who have operated alongside prisoners as professionals in custodial settings. It is argued that such scholars face similar dilemmas to others in terms of emotionalism, but suggests that their emotions are of a different nature. While an “insider” perspective cannot lay claim to scientific “objectivity,” the article argues that the existence of emotion does not invalidate an “insider” criminologist’s views. Rather, the passion engendered by the experience of incarceration can add color, context, and contour to data collection, findings, and analysis and may therefore be regarded as an essential thread in the tapestry of criminological inquiry

Reviews

Technology‐based Learning Environments: Psychological and Educational Foundations edited by S. Vosniadou, E. De Corte and H. Mandl, volume 137 in NATO ASI Series F (Computer and Systems Sciences), Berlin, Springer‐Verlag, ISBN: 0–387–58253–3, 1994

Luminescent solar concentrators for building integrated photovoltaics: opportunities and challenges

This review examines the application of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), both in terms of opaque façade elements and as semi-transparent windows. Many luminophores have been developed for LSC applications, and their efficiencies examined in lab-scale (<25 cm$^2$) devices. This analytical review illustrates, using ray-tracing simulations, the technical challenges to maintaining efficiency when scaling these energy conversion devices to pilot- (1000 cm$^2$) and commercial-scale (100 000 cm$^2$) modules. Based on these considerations, ambitious but feasible target efficiencies for LSCs based on ideal quantum dot (QD) luminophores are suggested as follows – for opaque and semi-transparent (50% average visible transmission), respectively: (i) 11.0% and 5.5% for lab-scale devices; (ii) 10.0% and 5.0% for pilot-scale modules; and (iii) 9.0% and 4.5% for commercial-scale modules. It is worth noting though, that the QD design requirements – particularly with regard to the overlap integral between the absorption and emission spectrum – become very critical as the LSC area increases. Whereas it is difficult to see opaque LSCs successfully competing against standard flat-plate photovoltaic modules for building integration, the application of semi-transparent LSCs as power-generating window elements has potential. Therefore, an economic analysis of the inclusion of LSCs into commercial glazing elements is presented and the potential for novel technologies – such as down-conversion (quantum-cutting) and controlling the direction of emitted light – to move this technology towards application is also discussed

Entitlements, capabilities and crisis in the United Kingdom

This paper examines if Amartya Sen’s entitlements and capabilities theories can be transferred in their application from Low Income Countries (LIC) to High Income Countries (HIC), specifically in Cumbria, northern England. Originally used to understand the causes of famine, these theories have previously been used in several different geographical contexts to broadly understand poverty and inequality but almost entirely in LICs. This paper applies the theories to a United Kingdom context in an attempt to understand the causes of poverty and inequality amongst people experiencing ‘livelihood crisis’. The research uses data from two non-governmental social welfare projects to examine the causes of crisis and the remedial effects of the intervention. Our findings indicate that these theories can help to explain how people find themselves in crisis in Cumbria. On a broader level, they can also be used to explain poverty, inequality and disadvantage in communities in the UK. The authors put forward that entitlements and capabilities theories provide a useful framework to advance the policy and political debate on the causes of poverty by providing a straightforward language and broad application. Entitlement and capabilities theories can also assist social welfare programmes in framing their aims and objectives and through improved understanding about the causes of inequality, will be better able to help people out of disadvantage by strengthening entitlements and building capabilities, without the necessity of large-scale investment