The dialectical relationship between the authorial and the collaborative in contemporary documentary: Perspectives from three case studies

Collaborative working is an increasingly vital part of Higher Education academic life. Traditionally, university culture supported individual research and scholarship. Today, the focus has shifted from the individual to the group or team. Collaborative Working in Higher Education takes the reader on a journey of examination, discussion, and reflection of emerging collaborative practices. The book offers suggestions for developing practice via a broad overview of the key aspects of collaboration and collaborative working, informed by focused case studies and the international perspectives of the contributing authors. The book has three main parts: Part I: Examines the social nature of collaborative working from a practical and critical perspective, focusing on four dimensions of collaborative working: academic practice, professional dialogues, personal and organizational engagement and social structures. It considers organizational models, varied approaches, potential challenges posed by collaborative working, and reflection on the management of collaboration at different stages. Part II: Focuses on the different aspects of collaborative working, building on the dimensions introduced in Part I, and addressing the crossing of boundaries. It looks at different contexts for collaboration (e.g. discipline-based, departmental, institutional and international) using case studies as examples of collaborative strategies in action, providing learning points and recommendations for practical applications. Part III: In addition to considering forms of collaboration for the future, this part of the book engages the reader with a though-provoking round-table discussion that itself embodies an act of collaboration. Collaborative Working in Higher Education is a comprehensive analysis of how collaboration is reforming academic life. It examines the shifts in working practices and reflects on how that shift can be supported and developed to improve practice. Higher Education faculty, administrators, researchers, managers and anyone involved in collaborative working across their institution will find this book a highly useful guide as they embark on their own collaborations.

This thesis examines the impact of the democratic promises of Internet communication technologies, social, and participatory media on the practice of public archaeology. It is focused on work within archaeological organisations in the UK in commercial archaeology, higher education, local authority planning departments and community settings, as well the voluntary planning departments and community settings, as well the voluntary archaeology sector archaeology sector . This work has taken an innovative approach to the subject matter through its use of a Grounded Theory method for data collection and analysis, and the use of a combination of online surveys, case studies and email questionnaires in order to address the following issues: the provision of authoritative archaeological information online; barriers to participation; policy and organisational approaches to evaluating success and archiving; community formation and activism, and the impact of digital inequalities and literacies. This thesis is the first overarching study into the use of participatory media in archaeology. It is an important exploration of where and how the profession is creating and managing digital platforms, and the expanding opportunities for networking and sharing information within the discipline, against a backdrop of rapid advancement in the use of Internet technologies within society. This work has made significant contributions to debates on the practice and impact of public archaeology. It has shown that archaeologists do not yet fully understand the complexities of Internet use and issues of digital literacy, the impact of audience demographics or disposition towards participation in online projects. It has shown that whilst recognition of democratic participation is not, on the whole, undertaken through a process of actively acknowledging responses to archaeological information, there remains potential for participatory media to support and accommodate these ideals. This work documents a period of great change within the practice of archaeology in the UK, and concludes with the observation that it is vital that the discipline undertake research into online audiences for archaeological information if we are to create sustainable digital public archaeologies.

While agglomerations along the Rhine are confronted with the uncertainties of an increasing flood risk due to climate change, different programs are claiming urban river front sites. Simultaneously, urban development, flood management, as well as navigation and environmental protection are negotiating the border between the river and the urban realm. This produces complex spatial constellations between the river system and the urban realm with a diverse set of interdependencies, where programs have to synergize while adapting to dynamic water levels. Based on an expanding area at risk and the reliance on flood levels to remain within an acceptable spectrum for adaptive measures to be effective, Urban Flood Integration (UFI) involves border negotiations between the river and the urban realm where adaptation and mitigation ideally synergize. Instead of a scientific approach that reduces complexity in order to reach a verifiable question, a post-normal science approach is chosen as an evaluation and working method applied within this research. The working method relies on literature studies, semi-structured interviews and empirical research through repeated site visits. The general heterogeneity of the case studies regarding their planning structure, status and time scales, data availability and the willingness by the agencies involved to provide usable information shapes the formal research structure. Part I serves as a narrative for the case study analysis and for the final conclusions and recommendations in Part II. It is made up of three chapters, where Urban Flood Integration is framed historically, theoretically and strategically within the specific geographic context of the navigable Rhine: Anthropogenic transformations of the Rhine flood plains in the 19th and 20th century have turned formerly wide, often meandering or bifurcating river beds into urbanized embankments along straight, channelled rivers. The perception of the river changed from being dynamic to being controllable. This produced the spatial backdrop for modernist and therefore sectoral developments based on a dialectical relationship between the urban realm and the (river) landscape. Yet, as conversions of former harbours are turning sites outside the flood defence into inner city living quarters, as retention polders are positioned in flood plains with enough damage potential to threaten regional economies, and flood mitigating measures are more viable/effective on site in the middle of the city than in a rural area, site specific negotiations between simultaneous programmatic claims are producing new urban typologies/ecologies that in turn demand and rely on a new methodological approach. Within this research design is considered not only a spatial, but also a strategic tool capable of not only linking different programs, but also different disciplines. Flood Risk Management along the Rhine today combines river expanding measures and adaptive strategies with the existing defensive system to cope with the risk increase as a consequence of previous interventions and developments and fluctuations in water levels due to climate change. Differences in landscapes and urgencies and differences in planning cultures between the Upper and Lower Rhine and the Delta have also led to different strategic approaches. Within this research the innovative capacity of the adaptive and anticipatory water-based approach in the Netherlands provides lessons to be learned specifically regarding spatial quality as a strategic component of water-related projects. In Part II, the investigation of two Dutch and two German urbanized water front developments along different river segments of the Rhine according to their synergetic potential, but also regarding the temporal and spatial interdependencies between the river system as a whole, the regional context as well as the actual water front as the project site, aims to examine the following questions: Between adaptive and mitigative strategies, what is the spectrum of spatial constellations between urban development and flood management within the constraints set by navigation and a (partial) restoration of the dynamic river landscape? How are temporal and spatial interdependencies shaping these projects? Relational diagrams show the reciprocations between urban development and river dynamics of each investigated case study and the respective agencies and processes involved. The case study analysis serves as a basis for recommendations for the architectural and programmatic scope of flood-resilient projects dealing with expansive flood management strategies and respectively a strategic design approach addressing multiple scales and programs. Embedded in an exemplary atlas of the respective typology along the different Rhine segments, the four case studies from south to north are: • Karlsruhe Rappenwört, a steered retention polder along the meandering Upper Rhine • Mainz Zollhafen, a port conversion with flood adaptive housing along the bifurcating Upper Rhine • Nijmegen Lent, a bypass and urban extension based on a dike set back along the Waal • Dordrecht Stadswerven, an urban development outside the dikes in the Delta In summary, differences in landscape, threat and political structures have produced different planning cultures in Germany and the Netherlands in terms of flood management. Both Dutch and German mitigation measures remain path dependent on the defensive system. Yet, whereas the Dutch approach to flood mitigation is holistic in an extended ecological sense and specifically includes spatial quality, in Germany, planning flood-related issues remains part of a sectoral approach where spatial quality is not initially included, bit remains an additional layer towards the end of the project. Confronted with a strong ecological lobby, the focus is to restore the former alluvial forest in niches. Of the six programs defined in the ICPR Atlas, forestry seems the only one capable of taking on river dynamics and transforming accordingly over time. All other programs (settlements, industries, traffic infrastructure, and to some degree agriculture, specifically when ecological flooding is taken into account) remain reliant on defensive measures, and in case of their failure, infrastructural support and adaptation measures. They are, however, not included in a design strategy that explores potentialities. In the light of long-term strategies and programs, the Dutch approach offers a more iterative planning practice that is capable of evolving with the experience gained. Dutch experience and corresponding policy adaptation has further shown that a more permissive planning approach to allow additional programs within Room for the River measures can raise local acceptance and thus reduce negative effects. In Germany, water management agencies avoid projects that could become precedence cases and thus enable repetition. This restrictive approach is a hindrance on the way to larger-scale strategies that rely on pilot projects as testing grounds. The Dutch approach seems to aim for incentives and actually provides them, as the trade-off in the Nijmegen case shows. Moving from a restrictive to a responsive planning approach that includes incentives produces a breeding ground and should always be a central component of any strategy. One of the main findings of this research is, specifically in Germany, the limited availability of information, as well as lacking visualization layers of ongoing programs and projects (which may be an additional indication of the lacking involvement of designers in German spatial flood risk management projects). This research contributes to a broader understanding by providing an atlas of selected flood-adaptation and flood-mitigation typologies along the Rhine between Basel and Rotterdam. Directly adressing the design practice, this research proposes to move from a spatial to a strategic design approach by: -involving architects, landscape architects, urban designers from the initial stage to enable their engagement also in the strategic design of a project; -enabling design to become part of a systemic approach that aims for capacity building and therefore includes ecological, economic and cultural conditions through a transdisciplinary approach; -making the invisible layers visible: Visualize systems/expert information to make them accessible and to enable communication between disciplines; -hosting design competitions in cooperation with local stakeholders bringing people and ideas together to trigger emergence; -applying back-casting strategies to move beyond existing conceptions: design may thus becomes “telescopic” and allow a challenge of existing givens, the visualization of concepts again playing a central role. Two follow-up research projects are proposed: -Development of Design Guidelines for a river segments approach: Evaluation of ongoing or recent mitigation and adaptation projects, but also other river-related developments (e.g. navigation) in an academic research project to define potential emergent capacities between systemic and qualitative elements. In collaboration with the practice, smaller scale pilots as part of existing mitigation programs on a river segment scale could aim to substantiate the findings. -Cost-Benefit-Analysis Spatial Quality: To substantiate the qualitatively developed argument towards Urban Flood Integration (UFI), a cost-benefit analysis of a transdisciplinary layer that is comparable to the measures defined by the Dutch Quality Team for the German Room for the River, which focus today on ecological rejuvenation vs. spatial quality as a secondary aim. The final outcome of the following multiple case-study investigation and the typological atlas provided is seen to be valuable for a number of different organizations, such as governmental and educational institutions dealing with the geospecific context an

Purpose This is a case study on the opportunities provided by Open Source library systems and the experience of delivering these systems through a shared service. Methodology/approach This chapter derives from desk research, interviews, and direct involvement in the project. The format is a case study, setting out a detailed timeline of events with information that can be applied in other settings. Findings This chapter presents reflections on the value and limitations of collaboration amongst libraries and librarians on an innovative approach to library systems and technologies. It also presents reflections on lessons learned from the processes and detailed discussion of the success factors for shared services and the reasons why such initiatives may not result in the outcomes predicted at the start. Practical implications Libraries and IT services considering Open Source and shared service approaches to provision will find material in this study useful when planning their projects. Social implications The nature of collaboration and collaborative working is studied and observations made about the way that outcomes cannot always be predicted or controlled. In a genuine collaboration, the outcome is determined by the interactions between the partners and is unique to the specifics of that collaboration. Originality/value The case study derives from interviews, written material and direct observation not generally in the public domain, providing a strong insider’s view of the activity.

CITATION: Mantzaris, E. A. & Pillay, P. 2019. Monitoring, evaluation and accountability against corruption : a South African case study. Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, 8:521-531, doi:10.6000/1929-7092.2019.08.45.

IN A MEDIA-SATURATED WORLD, it can be very hard to parse who and what to believe. With the lines between documentary and fiction increasingly blurred in the aesthetics of contemporary filmmaking, documentary practitioners are faced with ongoing questions about the nature of documentary "truth"-from analyzing how the conventions of documentary realism function to renegotiating the terms of documentary's truth contract with its audiences. These age-old questions are enormous in scope, inviting debates that do not necessarily lead to clear, concrete answers. But considering that documentary is often packaged as entertainment or produced to advance an agenda, reviving and reconsidering these kinds of questions is necessary not only to whet the art and craftof making documentaries, but also to enrich the dialogue that occurs among documentary viewers after they have seen a film. Unraveling the complex knot of power embedded in representations of documentary "truth" is an essential practice for filmmakers and spectators seeking to challenge systems of oppression as well as those simply seeking to become more self-aware and informed about the world. Unreliable narrators are merely one thread in that knot, but a discourse about the unreliable narrator as a construct in the documentary form is nevertheless a vital component of these larger conversations.Whether in literature, film, or theoretical essays, the unreliable narrator most often appears in the context of fictional storytelling; far fewer examples of the unreliable narrator have been theorized in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking. Perhaps this is for the obvious reason that the presence of an unreliable narrator suggests a falsification of truth that would seem to invoke a world of fiction. It could be argued that an unreliable narrator works against the very definition of documentary filmmaking; however, documentary filmmaking has always had a tenuous relationship with the ideal of truth. If one accepts the premise that both truth and misrepresentations of truth coexist in the documentary tradition, then the construct of an unreliable narrator can help draw attention to the rhetorical nature of documentary "truth."To explore these issues, this analysis will begin by drawing upon the work of Wayne Booth to establish a working definition of an "unreliable narrator." Revisiting a well-known example of the unreliable narrator in the film Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa (1950) and applying theory developed by Seymour Chatman will help elucidate this definition and make an important distinction between how the unreliable narrator is constructed in written texts versus films. Since documentaries function within a different rhetorical dimension than fictional films, the analysis will proceed by exploring how the concept of the unreliable narrator in documentary has different effects and consequences than in the world of fiction. Close readings of two contemporary documentaries, Laura Poitras's The Oath (2010) and Banksy's Exit Through the GiftShop (2010), will serve as the central focus of these arguments. These two documentaries-one about the war on terrorism, the other about the commercialization of art-are similar in the manner that they suggest the unreliability of their protagonists, but differ greatly in their presentation as reliable documents. Additional scrutiny of Atomic Cafe (1982), directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Pierce Rafferty, and Luis Bunuel's Land Without Bread (1932) will provide points of comparison to further delineate the significance of precise narrational positioning for framing unreliability in the documentary form. These case studies will illustrate variations in how unreliable narrators are constructed and in how the unreliable narrator functions relative to the perceived intentions of the implied author in each film. Ultimately, this analysis will interrogate how the use of an unreliable narrator in documentary can be a powerful tool to help spectators engage actively with documentaries, invite constructive questioning and critical thinking about the authorial power of filmic narration, and open up more profound layers of meaning for viewers in interpreting films. …

The filmmaker’s engagement with the subject was an important element in Robert J. Flaherty’s film documenting the life of Nanook and his family, the legendary Nanook of the North (1922), and of course it continues to be relevant in contemporary documentaries, such as the film Foreign Parts (2010), directed by French director Verena Paravel and US filmmaker J. P. Sniadecki. In these films, the approach to the reality of the subjects is documented from an ethnographic perspective, where the main objective is to examine how they live. To this end, the filmmaker has to spend hours and hours living alongside the subjects, establishing a relationship with them that is documented by the camera. To identify how this translates onto the screen is the main purpose of this article. To do this, I will adopt the approach to character engagement taken by cognitive film theory, since as I want to demonstrate this perspective is very useful for explaining the relationship established between filmmaker and subject in this kind of film. Especially useful to this explanation is the ‘structure of sympathy’ posited by Murray Smith (2004), which involves three concepts: recognition, alignment, and allegiance.

In contemporary Taiwan, advertisements for zhengxinshe, de facto private investigation businesses, saturate the public sphere, and can be found on the sides of buses, in popular magazines, and elsewhere. The myriad services that they claim to offer include the collection of evidence of extramarital affairs, legal advice, and even the curious “emotional repair.” The print media offers us a multitude of salacious private investigator stories—of detectives and their angry clients storming into “love hotels” to “apprehend adulterers” in the act, of suspicious husbands and wives installing GPS tracking devices on the undercarriage of their spouses’ cars, of zhengxinshe and their clients facing criminal charges after engaging in clandestine audio and video recording, and even of “malevolent” zhengxinshe extorting money from those they investigate behind their clients’ backs. The intervening of zhengxinshe in people’s intimate disputes constitutes a rich and dynamic socio-legal phenomenon, the investigation of which promises to further our understanding of the relationship between intimacy, legal knowledge production, and power in contemporary Taiwan. To present, however, extramarital affair investigations and other such activities of zhengxinshe have not been the subject of in-depth Taiwanese or foreign legal or sociological research. Previous work on zhengxinshe comes out of the Central Police University, and tends to focus on the rule of law and a normative discussion of the proper public-private division of investigative authority. This research lacks gendered analysis, and does not examine the phenomenon of zhengxinshe through the lens of intimate disputes. This thesis, by contrast, focuses on the social visibility of zhengxinshe as affair detectives and the legal and sociological aspects of zhengxinshe intervening in specific intimate disputes, and furthermore attempts to illuminate a particular dialectical relationship between these. The thesis comprises three parts. First, it seeks to analyze how current law shapes intimate disputes. It reviews previous research relating to divorce law and criminal adultery, and drawing on sociology of law research, seeks to conceptualize how the normative environment related to extramarital intimacy influence people’s behavior in the judicial system as well as in out-of-court bargaining. Secondly, the public visibility of zhengxinshe is infused with illegality and criminality, but the industry has been able to successfully create for itself a positive and even feminized image. Moreover, while zhengxinshe are synonymous with extramarital affair investigations, the letter of the law has long confined the activity of zhengxinshe to “economic investigations.” This phenomenon is the product of a particular historical context. This thesis will investigate the inception of this contradictory social visibility as well as its relationship with intimate disputing behavior. Finally, utilizing judicial documents, the thesis analyzes three specific intimate disputes as case studies, and reveals how the evidence collected by zhengxinshe influences the behavior and disputing outcomes of both these businesses’ clients and those whom they investigate. Thus, it is suggested that the zhengxinshe phenomenon is not merely the result of the freewheeling behavior of an unregulated industry, but rather the complex product of laws related to intimacy, the behavior of disputants, various state actors, and the selective interpretation of the professional judiciary.

Curating Everyday Life: Approaches to Documenting Everyday Soundscapes

An existential-phenomenological description of everyday consumer experiences of contemporary married women with children is offered. An idiographic case study provides a thick description of this phenomenon and illustrates the hermeneutic process used in the interpretation. Following the case study, three interpretive themes are presented as mutually related aspects of an experiential gestalt that is shaped by the contextual ground of participants' life-world situations. Viewed holistically, the thematic aspects exhibit several dialectical relations that can be understood in terms of the emergent meaning of free choice. The applicability of this experiential gestalt to other life-world contexts is discussed.

PurposeThis paper seeks to propose a conceptual framework to promote value‐enhanced collaborative working (VECW) for a small management advisory firm.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology was qualitative. It involved a comprehensive review of literature leading to a better understanding of collaborative working requirements in a small firm context and the barriers to derive value from collaborative working. Initially, exploratory observations helped to identify issues of collaborative working in the case study organisation. Following the exploratory observations, a detailed case study was undertaken. The emphasis was on semi‐structured interviews under a guiding questionnaire along with field observations to produce a conceptual framework for VECW.FindingsThe research enables an understanding of the apparent failure of a particular small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) management advisory firm (case study organisation) to derive value from its collaborative working model. The study identifies major issues that affect the long‐term relationships of the organisation with their collaborating stakeholders and recognises the common understanding required by the stakeholders working in collaboration. Further, in order to solve these issues, the research develops a conceptual VECW framework within the current context. The major components of the conceptual VECW framework consist of process, people and tools factors to give a structured approach to agree common goals, share risks and rewards, provide faster and clearer communications and information transparency between collaborating stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to the nature of the study (case study), current paper is based on the findings of a single SME management advisory firm. Hence, further research for organisations of similar size and providing similar services would be required to investigate the robustness of the approach.Originality/valueMost studies on collaboration are concentrated on either larger organisations or product organisations. Here, the attempt is to understand the collaboration among small firms providing professional services. The research paper is an important milestone on an ongoing research to produce a detailed framework eventually to be presented to the industry for evaluation to ensure its contribution to the industry as well as increasing the knowledge on the subject.

Reviewed by: (Re)viewing Creative, Critical and Commercial Practices in Contemporary Spanish Cinema ed. by Duncan Wheeler, Fernando Canet Dennis West Wheeler, Duncan, and Fernando Canet, eds. (Re)viewing Creative, Critical and Commercial Practices in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. Bristol: Intellect, 2014. Pp. 486. ISBN 978-1-78320-406-9. In December 2011, the Movies: Contemporary Spanish Cinema International Conference took place in New York City with the backing of the Department of Audiovisual Communication, Documentation and History of Art of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Subsequently, participants were invited to contribute chapters exploring the principal themes and debates of the conference for inclusion in this collection which seeks, according to the editors, “to provide a self-reflective and interventionist form of academic criticism which combines aesthetic appraisal with a (re)consideration of the creative, commercial and critical imperatives that inform and underpin the viewing and reviewing of contemporary Spanish films” (4). The authors of the thirty chapters that compose (Re)viewing Creative, Critical and Commercial Practices in Contemporary Spanish Cinema are both well-known figures, such as Alberto Elena, as well as emerging scholars and practitioners; and most hail from Spanish and Anglo-American critical circles. The national cinema of Spain has traditionally been studied in relation to chronological divisions which reflect major sociohistorical events; and editors Wheeler and Canet appropriately follow this tendency in designating contemporary Spanish cinema as that produced from 1992—the year of the Expo in Seville, the Barcelona Olympics, and other emblematic events—until the present. This wide-ranging and well organized volume opens windows onto virtually all sectors of contemporary Spanish cinema by featuring traditional critical approaches, such as genre criticism or the textual analysis of individual films, as well as studies of industrial/commercial practices including production, distribution, exhibition, and promotion. Certain traditional critical notions, such as auteurship and stardom, are fruitfully redefined in relation to Spanish [End Page 617] cinema’s current situation in a transnational age. The tone of these pieces tends towards dialogue and debate; and, taken together, they argue persuasively for the inclusion of Spanish cinema, the third most important in Europe, amongst the forefront of global canons. As the following sampling suggests, this collection excels at presenting readable, well researched, up-to-date, and stimulating studies of diverse and timely topics explored via a wide spectrum of critical methodologies. Enfant terrible Pedro Almodóvar is productively studied as an auteur in a dialectical relationship with the United States, such as the influence of American culture (e.g., underground, camp, classic melodrama) on his aesthetic approaches as well as his impact on the US public and critics. Miguel Martí’s Sexykiller: Morirás por ella is examined in terms of genre criticism and revealed to be a self-reflexive, hybrid distortion of the horror film. A close and provocative feminist reading of Isabel Coixet’s cinematic adaptation of Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal draws on Laura Mulvey’s influential theory of the gaze to argue convincingly that Coixet and transnational actress Penélope Cruz’s authorial imprints provide a deconstruction of the specularization of the female body. In the last two decades, Spain has progressed rapidly in terms of the social acceptance of homosexuality; and selected fiction features, such as Cachorro and Fuera de carta, are examined in relation to their rejection of gay stereotypes and their exploration of the new ethos of gay culture. The thought of philosopher Alain Badiou (Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil) informs a compelling study of the controversial politics of memory, memorialization, and victimhood (i.e., victims of the Franco dictatorship) in contemporary documentaries such as Rejas en la memoria. Most books on Spanish cinema limit themselves to the terrain of film criticism or film history or else given commercial/industrial issues; this volume is unusual in that it includes studies of commercial practices and even sets up literal dialogues amongst critics and producers in an effort to remind us that cinema is both art and industry/commerce. Indeed, one of the most informative and stimulating chapters is the wide-ranging round table in which the influential producer and advocate for art cinema Luis Miñarro dialogues with critic Fernando...

800 Reviews that this is a work of reinterpretation, employing English-related examples which are already familiar to scholars. However, as Saygin wishes to read more nuanced messages into these case studies than did Sammut or Roberto Weiss earlier, so she requires increased precision from her sources. Unfortunately, the evidence is rarely so helpful, and in some cases it is downright awkward. To give one example, Saygin's analysis of one set of humanists' contacts with Humfrey is based on the assertion that those contacts were confined to 1437 (Chapter 13, especially p. 160). However, in the case of one of those humanists, Antonio Pacini, the evidence for his link with Humfrey is a presentation manuscript (Oxford, Magdalen College, MS 37(A)) that cannot date from earlier than mid-1439. Such matters of detail do not, of course, upset her theoretical framework; they are, however, all the more problematic in her firstsection, on Humfrey himself. In Saygin's interpretation, Humfrey's career provides the archetype for the sort of 'integrative approach' she advocates: his cultural and political activities are said to have existed in 'a dialectic relationship' (p. 17) in which the Duke consciously linked the patronage of particular texts with specific events. Yet this is often, at best, case not proven: a work like The Serpent of Division is so difficultto place in a particular context that any interpretation will be hedged around by 'ifs' (pp. 41-45). All the same, some of her speculations are intriguing, like the suggestion that Humfrey may have invited Leonardo Bruni to come to England as a royal tutor (pp. 66-67). Leaving such details aside, there are larger issues at stake. Crucially significant is the question of Humfrey's own involvement in the processes both of cultural patronage and of political presentation. Whether or not Humfrey himself was 'a discerning connoisseur ' (p. 136) is not of the firstimportance; more critical is whether Humfrey, working as the fulcrum of a court, was able to make individual decisions or whether they were, rather, corporate activities. Saygin's thesis assumes the former,but if (as I suspect) they were the latter,this has significance not just forher reading of Humfrey's career but also for her analysis of patronage: with whom were the middlemen brokering? Were they in a power relationship or was it a matter of back-scratching amicitia? Dr Saygin has commendably complicated the models we use?but perhaps she has not made them complex enough. Corpus Christi College, Oxford David Rundle Le cinquecentinedella Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana di Firenze. Ed. by Sara Centi. (Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali. Indici e Cataloghi, nuova serie, XIV) Rome: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato. 2002. 2 vols. xxxvi + 733 pp.; 41 illus. ?200. ISBN 88-240-3521-3. The Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, housed in the precincts of the church of San Lorenzo and approached by a staircase designed by Michelangelo, was originally the family library of the Medici, but is best known to classical scholars and students of Renaissance culture as containing most of what remains of the historic collection of Latin and Greek manuscripts put together in Florence in the firsthalf of the fifteenth century by Niccolo Niccoli, and presented to Cosimo de' Medici, who placed the books in the public library which he had instituted in the friary of San Marco. In the sixteenth century most of the treasures of this collection were transferred by the Medici dukes to their own library. Subsequent donations and purchases have added to the importance of the manuscript collection, both forclassical and for ltalian stud? ies. However, its printed collection is largely a product of the last two centuries, as in 1783 most of the printed books then in its possession were transferred to another Florentine library as part ofa process of rationalization, and are now in the Biblioteca MLR, 99.3, 2004 801 Nazionale Centrale. Its present small but distinguished printed collection has two main components: the library of firsteditions of classical authors presented to the Laurenziana in 1818 by Count Angelo Maria d'Elci and, by an ironic twist of fortune, those printed books still left in the library of San Marco, acquired...

PurposeThis study investigates the relationships between the built environments of learning commons and user productivity, such as collaborative and individual work productivity and overall environmental satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachA case study was conducted in a learning commons building at a higher education campus in the USA. The data collection and analysis were conducted with the survey responses of satisfaction with indoor environments and perceived productivity as well as the objective indoor environmental quality (IEQ) measurements. Statistical analysis was performed, including descriptive analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), regression analysis and ANOVA test.FindingsThe study presents that satisfaction with noise level is positively associated with individual productivity. The results imply that the spatial properties of open-plan commons, such as visibility and accessibility, are associated with space users' interactions and collaborative productivity. Overall satisfaction is in a positive relationship with lighting satisfaction, study supporting artifacts and furniture configuration. The results of this study reveal the importance of meeting the standards in IEQ factors on individual productivity and the spatial features preferred by space users that facilitate tasks and activities.Originality/valueThe mixed-method approach, including subjective and objective data collection of IEQ, is rarely utilized to show the relationships with perceived productivity. This study investigates a unique building design feature such as step seats in relation to space use and perceived productivity. The findings inform library leadership about environmental characteristics related to the user experience in learning commons, a new format of academic libraries.

In this study, I explored two things: (1) influences on primary school principals and teachers in the Queensland education sector intending to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into teaching practice, and (2) influences on primary school teachers’ collaborative work within a community of learners and in classrooms to generate knowledge of multiliterate practices for the teaching of reading. To do this, I used action research and case study methodologies to detail understandings of how the participants in my study integrated ICT and multiliterate reading practices. This investigation used a multi-method approach that incorporated multiple quantitative and qualitative grounded theory techniques to triangulate data. The study had three contexts and phases. In Phase 1, through quantitative and qualitative survey data, I captured a snapshot of influences acting on principals and teachers to integrate ICT in a broad selection of primary school classrooms. This phase used ordinal scales of measurement, descriptive statistics, and Optimal Scaling analysis of the data obtained in the surveys to contextualise the findings of the action research project. In Phases 2 and 3, I investigated how a specific cohort of teachers from schools in one district participated in an action research project to explore the teaching of reading using a multiliteracies approach. I worked as a facilitator and action researcher in this project. Qualitative methods were used predominantly to analyse data. This included abstracting and examining critical incidents from project meeting and presentation transcripts, concept maps, and reflective journals using Fletcher’s (2004, 2008) action theory for change model. This provided a means to examine how the community of learners worked collaboratively to generate knowledge and transform teaching practices using action research cycles. It also allowed me to analyse how teachers’ espoused theories translated into theories-in-use and to identify changes in single-loop to double-loop learning as described by Argyris & Schon (1974).