Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the claim that online communication technologies are detrimental to off‐line communication practices.

This paper is based on material from focus groups with students from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), and in‐depth interviews from a mixture of employed people and students. The breakdown is as follows: three focus groups in total are ran, two cohorts of participants were students from University of Cambridge, and the third group from ARU. Six individuals aged between 21 and 36 were interviewed in‐depth on their Facebook use. Questions relating to personal use of Facebook are asked. All names of participants have been changed.

The research findings show that opportunities for communication are increased by using Facebook. Facebook use also impacts on how other types of communicative technologies are used – such as the phone and email. From the small participant sample, it is founded (with only one exception, the Facebook user had accepted a request from a “stranger” on recommendation from her friend, only to reject this friend within a short time from her network due to his reliability. Since the study, it is founded that one individual who has befriended individuals that were not known to him. When asked about this, he explained that many of these friends were developed after playing online games with them. In his mind, he had built up trust through game‐playing and used this as a measure of their reliability. Whilst he only joined Facebook in early 2008, he has now accumulated over 350 friends.) that off‐line encounters were a prerequisite for a friend connection to be made online in Facebook. Finally, it is founded that the participants rarely interact with the majority of their Facebook friends and it is this dormant archive of relationships that hold the most interest as it provides an archive of relationships that would have dissipated without these technologies.

The key value of the paper lies in understanding this technology as an archive of human relationships.

We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special article, “Libraries in Birmingham,” by Mr. Walter Powell, Chief Librarian of Birmingham Public Libraries. He has endeavoured to combine in it the subject of Special Library collections, and libraries other than the Municipal Libraries in the City. Another article entitled “Some Memories of Birmingham” is by Mr. Richard W. Mould, Chief Librarian and Curator of Southwark Public Libraries and Cuming Museum. We understand that a very full programme has been arranged for the Conference, and we have already published such details as are now available in our July number.

MY reaction to being appointed Director of Library Services would be one of frank amazement, rather as if I had been a commercial traveller in a rather dubious line of trade, such as ladies' underwear, who had suddenly been offered a bishopric. The recovery from this amazement would take about ten seconds flat and I would doubtless find myself in the thick of finding an office, a desk, a rubber plant and a regulation‐size piece of carpet appropriate to my grade. My first real task would be to bring some order to the seven sections of the D.E.S. now dealing with library matters and to initiate among librarians generally some radical thinking on the problems that face us all.

The story of budgeting practices in Louisiana strongly resembles its political history. The last decade was no exception. The relatively peaceful beginning of the decade was followed by two major natural disasters in 2005 − Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which suddenly changed the economic outlook of the state. The disaster was followed by a global boom in oil prices which benefited Louisiana greatly. Then, of course, the Great Recession hit. The immediate consequence was a projected budget shortfall of $1.6 billion over upcoming fiscal years 2011 and 2012. Such dramatic events create a perfect opportunity for understanding and analyzing Louisianaʼs “innovations” in the area of budgeting and financial management. Furthermore, the analysis of these developments is enhanced by the multiple perspectives of various participants with intimate knowledge of the political processes and mechanisms employed by the state in its dealings with consequences of the Great Recession.

The purpose of this paper describes a second‐year induction programme developed to support student transition. The sophomore slump theory suggests that students may experience a slump in the second year, resulting in poorer outcomes and increased attrition rates. Students were asked to reflect on their first year experience in order to identify learning and plan for the year ahead, in order to reduce potential for a slump during the second year.

Students beginning the second year of a four‐year BSc Honours Nursing programme participated in a one‐day induction prior to commencement of semester 1 classes. Students were assigned to groups and asked to reflect on some key questions in relation to their first year experience. Responses were collated on flip chart paper and discussed together.

Emergent themes are discussed here: forward planning, engagement with the institution, and building a strong foundation.

This process served to illustrate to staff some of the “hidden curriculum” issues and offered opportunities to focus on areas of student weakness such as referencing and academic writing. Using a combination of reflection, and experiential learning in induction may serve to transition students through the sophomore slump.

The challenge for academics is to continue to find ways to enhance the student experience in an increasingly diverse student population, and determine its effect on attrition rates. This paper offers a reflective commentary, exploring the authors’ learning, on the implementation of one innovative programme of longitudinal induction.

Stay-at-home and lock-down orders issued by the Ontario government at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of many community-based programs for people labelled/with intellectual disabilities. L'Arche Toronto Sol Express, an interdisciplinary arts program located in Toronto, is one example of a program that rapidly changed its program delivery to an online format so that participants could remain engaged and collaborative projects could continue. Similarly, participants had to adapt to new programs with virtual formats, and to accessing programs from their own homes as opposed to gathering with others in the community.

To reflect on these changes, Sol Express members and creative facilitators together conducted a participatory research project which considered the impact of the online format on individual participants and the group as a whole. Following the principles of emancipatory and participatory research, a research team was established and focus groups were held to explore people's experiences.

Our findings suggest that while there were many difficult aspects to the pandemic, people also experienced situations of learning and growth. However, our project also points to issues of inequity in the pandemic's effects, such as the inability for technology to incorporate diverse communication methods, and concerns regarding members of the extended community who remain disengaged or ‘lost’ due to a lack of technological and personal support.

Although our research focused on an arts group for people labelled/with intellectual disabilities, our findings can be applied to the broader community, especially regarding the benefits of in-person gathering and what is lost when programs are held exclusively online.

Research findings have suggested that today’s consumers view nutrition in a positive light. The findings of this survey support such evidence. The majority of consumers consider diet to be a very important component of their lifestyles and regard nutrition as a positive attribute of food products. A high level of awareness of nutrition labelling is evident among consumers, and 58 per cent of respondents use nutrition labels. However, consumers have to deduce information from nutrition labels in their current format. This proves rather difficult as knowledge of a balanced diet is quite low. Therefore, consumers find it difficult to implement current dietary advice through the use of nutrition labels, and only 17 per cent of the sample surveyed use labels for this purpose. Social networks and the “popular” media were found to be the most used sources of nutrition information, the medical profession was seen as a source of “cure” rather than prevention and a negligible percentage of the sample used official government information channels. Concludes that nutrition labels have a role to play; however, the food industry needs to respond to consumer needs and education/information provision needs to be improved.