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To describe the connections between reading and writing and to discuss new ways of understanding the nuisances associated with their development beginning with consideration to language appreciation.

Theoretical advances related to the complexity of reading, thinking, and writing are discussed alongside an ongoing description of how wide reading, interventions, language study, and risk taking are foundational to language creation.

The linkages between reading and writing are inseparable. Reading and writing must be developed in unison. The best writers are avid readers and vice versa. Generally speaking, students will have preferences regarding which they enjoy partaking in more but this just gives the motivation to utilize an appreciate approach to grow, that is utilizing existing strengths of the student in either reading or writing toward improving the other.

A host of instructional practices can extend from these new theoretical understandings of language creation including free verse journals, usage of non-examples to jolt previous understandings, language play, feedback, diverse literature, and finalization processes related to writing development.

The eLib ‘clump’ projects are utilising the Z39.50 bibliographic retrieval protocol to build gateways to library OPACs in the UK, creating virtual union catalogues of university, national and public libraries. In order to facilitate large scale resource discovery, some of the projects are creating databases containing metadata for their libraries' collections. The creation and development of a standard scheme for cataloguing collections, as opposed to cataloguing individual items, is described here.

Rap music subordinates music to language. It is this emphasis on language that can make rap a vehicle for many ideas, if that is the rapper's intention. Playthell Benjamin, former academic and freelance writer for such magazines as the Village Voice and Emerge, believes that rappers can be divided into distinct groups, based on the message or non‐message conveyed. He groups rappers as “Narcissists, didactics, party‐time rappers, or gangsters” based on the content of their rapping. Any rapper who falls into one of these groups can have political significance for blacks, whites, women, liberals, conservatives, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Narcissists frequently refer to women as mere sex objects, the worst example being the group 2 Live Crew, and less offensive examples being L.L. Cool J. and Big Daddy Kane. Didactics are the chief proponents of Afrocentric thinking and revisionist history. Representatives of this style would be Public Enemy, KRS‐One, and X‐Clan. Party‐time rappers, such as Heavy D and the Boyz or Biz Markie, are rarely serious, but sexism and homophobia can be elements in their raps. Gangster rappers N.W.A., Ice‐T, and Ice Cube are currently receiving a lot of attention from the press, and violent behavior characterizes their lyrics.

This paper develops frameworks to help Internet media designers address end‐user information presentation preferences by advancing structures for assessing metadata design variables. Design variables are then linked to user cognitive styles. An underlying theme is that AI methodologies may be used to help automate the Internet media design process and to provide personalized and customized experiences. User preferences concerning knowledge acquisition in online experiences provide the basis for discussions of cognitive analysis, and are extended into structural implications for media design and interaction. The assumption is made that frameworks for the alignment of design metadata with user metacognitive elements may serve as a reference to aid information design for Internet‐based media.

Stakeholder theory research identifies changes in language as one possible mechanism to overcome the deficiencies of current accounting practices with regard to social aspects. This study aims to examine the effects of the terms used for specific accounts on company internal decision-making, drawing on the example of “value creation accounting”.

The study uses a survey based-experiment to analyze the effects of terms used for specific accounts on decision-making, with a focus on social aspects (in particular expenditures for staff) in cost reduction and expenditure decisions.

The findings indicate that wordings, which more closely relate to value creation than to costs, decrease cost reductions and increase the priority ascribed to the social aspect of reducing staff costs in times of financial shortage. The effects of terms used on cost reductions are stronger among female decision makers.

The analysis suggests that conventional accounting language best suits organizations that aim at incentivizing decision makers to primarily cut costs. By contrast, if an organization follows an approach that puts importance on social aspects in times of financial shortage and on not doing too sharp cost reductions, value creation-oriented language is the more effective approach.

The study suggests that the specific terminology used for accounts should be chosen more carefully and with awareness for the possible effects on cost reduction decisions as well as on social consequences.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the relevance of language in accounting. It suggests that the terms used for accounts should be chosen purposefully because of their far-reaching potential consequences for stakeholders as well as for the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model for understanding the impact of organisational culture on knowledge management processes and their link with organisational performance. It is suggested that organisational culture should be assessed as a multi-level construct comprising artefacts, espoused beliefs and values and underlying assumptions. A holistic view of organisational culture and knowledge management processes, and their link with organisational performance, is presented.

A comprehensive review of previous literature was undertaken in the development of the conceptual model. Taken together, the literature and the proposed model reveal possible relationships between organisational culture, knowledge management processes and organisational performance.

Potential implications of organisational culture levels for the creation, sharing and application of knowledge are elaborated. In addition, the paper offers possible new insight into the impact of organisational culture on various knowledge management processes and their link with organisational performance.

A number of possible relationships between organisational culture factors, knowledge management processes and their link with organisational performance were used to examine such relationships.

The research model highlights the multi-level components of organisational culture. These are: the artefacts, the espoused beliefs and values and the underlying assumptions. Through a conceptualisation of the relationships between organisational culture, knowledge management processes and organisational performance, the study provides practical guidance for practitioners during the implementation of knowledge management processes.

The focus of previous research on knowledge management has been on understanding organisational culture from the limited perspective of promoting knowledge creation and sharing. This paper proposes a more comprehensive approach to understanding organisational culture in that it draws on artefacts, espoused beliefs and values and underlying assumptions, and reveals their impact on the creation, sharing and application of knowledge which can affect the overall organisational performance.

While Cooperrider (2001, p. 32) suggests that appreciative inquiry is about “the artful creation of positive imagery,” most of the literature that describes the process of artful creation explains it as one in which the organizational members simply talk about these new images, vs. actually engaging in the creation of artistic representations of the desired future. This chapter moves the appreciative inquiry literature beyond the metaphorical understanding of the “art of” appreciative inquiry in order to reveal and explain how practitioners are actually engaging organizations in the artful creation of positive anticipatory imagery. In this chapter, the literature that labels and describes the process of artful creation in organizations is reviewed, described, and synthesized into five propositions – ultimately creating a framework for understanding artful creation as a unique organizational discourse: an aesthetic discourse. These five propositions reveal the common characteristics of artful creation: (1) presentational knowledge/language; (2) mediated dialogue; (3) symbolic constructions that act as metaphorical representation; (4) collaborative inquiry/co-creation; and (5) window to the unconscious. The chapter concludes by addressing the implications, seeking to answer the question “What is the value of an organization engaging with the process of artful creation?” Finally, the chapter suggests that the five propositions may guide future research in two areas: (a) the practice of the artful creation of positive anticipatory imagery in appreciative inquiry; and (b) the further development of a theoretical framework for understanding the “art of” appreciative inquiry as aesthetic discourse.

According to the chief financial officer (CFO) of IBM Global Survey (2010), only few integrated finance organizations (IFOs) and only some CFOs’ role (Value Integrators) allow companies to generate value so as to outperform their peers. The purpose of this study is to gather additional insights on how the CFOs and finance organizations effectively promote value creation in for-profit organizations.

The authors’ study has been developed through the methodology of case studies. The method, despite its intrinsic limitations, offers a much deeper understanding of the organizational context within which value creation takes place. The authors’ analysis is based on nine selected case studies of Italian industrial companies, selected to assure comparability with the IBM sample. All companies outperform their peers.

The authors observed that not only IFOs and value integrator CFOs support the value generation process. The authors’ sample suggests a variety of other relevant and likely alternatives for value creation deriving from both finance functions (FFs) and the roles of CFOs. Their findings indicate that FFs adopt three distinct patterns to add value for the shareholders. The first option involves the FF taking the lead in setting a common language across functions, management processes, management and stakeholders. The second value creation pattern is when the FF establishes a strong and relevant support to business. The third option implies that the FF acts as an advisor assuring independent compliance. The authors also concluded that regardless of the CFO’s roles, influential CFOs are older, with a deep functional company and industry experience. They also observe that some of this influence derives from “proximity” to shareholders, as all the more influential CFOs sit on the Board, enjoying a closer relationship with the shareholders.

This study was based on clinical cases, the findings can be generalized reliably only for the population studied here. More research is needed for further tests and explorations of these findings, especially in the area of CFO incentives and governance mechanisms.

This study supports modern advice given to organizations in terms of the array of available alternatives to promote value creation with patterns and processes within the domain of the finance organization and CFO’s personal characteristics.

The paper contributes to untangle some gender issues, as the authors found that more influential CFOs are male. The authors have also contributed to explain some dynamics of the “labor” market development for finance professionals: the authors observed that the promotion for most influential CFOs comes through the ranks of a specific company, and this questions if a market really exits for such professionals in Italy, and more generally in Europe.

These results provide some useful support of prior findings and some modifications and extensions that further the authors’ understanding in this area of importance both to researchers and practitioners.