Current Public Issues Research Articles

The Preacher and the King: vision and meaning in Atheniensis 211

Codex Atheniensis 211 is the earliest surviving illustrated Chrysostomic anthology. Its unique and sophisticated illustration still puzzles and fascinates scholars. The relative chronology of the manuscript fluctuates between the end of the ninth century and the first half of the tenth, while its provenance remains to this day unspecified. In an attempt to illuminate the circumstances of its creation, this study engages with the examination of a unique homily and its illustration. In my view, the people responsible for the selection of the sermon and the design of its illustration conceived it as a meaningful re-contextualization of the homily's original delivery; the historical background of fifth-century Constantinople served as a springboard for the articulation of an eloquent visual comment on current public issues in the Byzantine capital.

Secondary Students and the Deliberation of Public Issues

ABSTRACTNine secondary teachers who were taught to use one model of deliberation, Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) (Johnson and Johnson 1979), were matched with nine teachers in their schools who taught similar grade levels and subjects. Teachers in the Deliberation Classes engaged students in three deliberations across six months. Deliberations focused on current public issues, such as whether violent juvenile offenders should be tried as adults. Five of the nine classroom pairs were analyzed using both pre- and post-questionnaires. There were no statistically significant differences in the pre- and post-questionnaire responses of students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 244) and Comparison Classes (n = 249) in terms of self-reported issue knowledge. Variance in student opinion in the Deliberation Classes showed a significant decrease. Students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 297) demonstrated greater perspective-taking abilities than students in the Comparison Classes (n = 238). Within classes, diversity of opinion regarding issues was evident.

Detecting collaboration patterns among iSchools by linking scholarly communication to social networking at the macro and micro levels

ABSTRACTInformation schools (iSchools) have grown along with heightened understanding of the rapid changes taking place in the information society and in the humanities. This growth has led to the characteristics of multidisciplinarity and the need for ongoing discussion and collaboration in information field (i-Field) research in terms of human behaviors and information technology. To promote collaboration in the context of research and education, it is necessary to understand the current activities of iSchools in relation to their collaboration patterns. This study analyzed the research patterns among iSchools at the macro and micro levels, and combined the analysis resultsFor the analysis,, 41 iSchools were identified from the iSchool directory. Co-authorship and an institution-profiling network were extracted from conference papers and posters presented at the iConference 2008-2013 to mine scholarly communication patterns. Social networks (friendship networks) among them were also extracted from Twitter by collecting their common followees to identify their interest in current public issues. The network analysis was performed at the micro and macro levels.In the micro-level analysis, the structures of social networking and scholarly communication among 41 iSchools were constructed and compared statistically by executing quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) correlation. The QAP correlation analysis determines whether a relationship exists between two particular nodes in two networks at the same time. At the macro level, comparison between the top interest in social networking and that of scholarly communication was performed by revealing top co-word networks. Additionally, co-authorship patterns and institution profiling patterns among 196 institutions, including the 41 iSchools identified in scholarly communication, were compared statistically to identify similarities and differences in communication patterns of iSchools compared to non-iSchools.The analysis provided evidence of the current prominent collaborating bodies and their neighbors as proactive actors accelerating scholarly communication and social networking. The social networking pattern and institution-profiling pattern were significantly related at the micro level, and the co-authorship pattern was significantly related to the institution-profiling pattern at macro-level. Additionally, iSchools that actively elaborate social networking and scholarly communication at the micro or macro levels were identified and compared to determine whether iSchools that could bridge other iSchools and non-iSchools in both social networking and research. The significant interest in social networking revealed in this study was related to IT trends and higher education while the research interest in the iField was related to linking information science to society, technology, and culture.Keywords: Social network analysis, Bibliometrics, Twitter, Social networking, iSchool, iConference1. INTRODUCTIONiSchools are recognized as an emerging name for information schools whose approach applies information science and technology to culture, education, and business (iSchools). Because membership and research activities of iSchools have expanded rapidly since 2003, it is important to define the major activities and research these schools have pursued to understand where they stand in the fields of research and education. Recent studies have examined the overall research activity and education programs of iSchools (Chen 2008; Subramaniam & Jaeger 2011; Wiggins & Sawyer 2012; Wu, He, Jiang, Dong & Vo, 2012) and these studies could be regarded as a reflection of the need for further research.The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of iSchools and their research activities by identifying their major interests in current issues and research. The researcher assumed that iSchools' social networking patterns could represent their interests in current issues, and publications could show their research interests and activities. …

Changes That Don't Improve Matters

Most of what Professors Hawkinson and Rosenblum have written on behalf of the proposed new Constitution for the Association—about membership qualifications, about purpose and about taking positions on current public issues—appears to me to argue equally in favor of the Constitution we already have. On these matters the two documents are not far apart. Since I find their arguments for the status quo well stated and persuasive, I shall confine my comments to some major points of difference between the documents, and to changes proposed that would, as I think, be for the worse.1. The draft is loaded with unnecessary and impractical detail. To be sure, Hawkinson and Rosenblum make a virtue out of relieving the membership of the power to pass on the dues structure by way of constitutional amendment. I will not dispute that view myself, but I can sympathize with those who feel that a referendum on dues is not merely “pointless and wasteful.” On the other hand, what is gained by specifying that the President shall (Art. VII, Sec. 2(f)) “be responsible for the preparation of the budget…” and that the Executive Director shall (Art. IX, Sec. 4 (b)) “assist the President in preparing the annual budget”? Who else, when the natural office for that responsibility, an elected Treasurer, is to be abolished?

Changes That Don't Improve Matters

Most of what Professors Hawkinson and Rosenblum have written on behalf of the proposed new Constitution for the Association—about membership qualifications, about purpose and about taking positions on current public issues—appears to me to argue equally in favor of the Constitution we already have. On these matters the two documents are not far apart. Since I find their arguments for the status quo well stated and persuasive, I shall confine my comments to some major points of difference between the documents, and to changes proposed that would, as I think, be for the worse.1. The draft is loaded with unnecessary and impractical detail. To be sure, Hawkinson and Rosenblum make a virtue out of relieving the membership of the power to pass on the dues structure by way of constitutional amendment. I will not dispute that view myself, but I can sympathize with those who feel that a referendum on dues is not merely “pointless and wasteful.” On the other hand, what is gained by specifying that the President shall (Art. VII, Sec. 2(f)) “be responsible for the preparation of the budget…” and that the Executive Director shall (Art. IX, Sec. 4 (b)) “assist the President in preparing the annual budget”? Who else, when the natural office for that responsibility, an elected Treasurer, is to be abolished?

Changes That Don't Improve Matters

Most of what Professors Hawkinson and Rosenblum have written on behalf of the proposed new Constitution for the Association—about membership qualifications, about purpose and about taking positions on current public issues—appears to me to argue equally in favor of the Constitution we already have. On these matters the two documents are not far apart. Since I find their arguments for the status quo well stated and persuasive, I shall confine my comments to some major points of difference between the documents, and to changes proposed that would, as I think, be for the worse.1. The draft is loaded with unnecessary and impractical detail. To be sure, Hawkinson and Rosenblum make a virtue out of relieving the membership of the power to pass on the dues structure by way of constitutional amendment. I will not dispute that view myself, but I can sympathize with those who feel that a referendum on dues is not merely “pointless and wasteful.” On the other hand, what is gained by specifying that the President shall (Art. VII, Sec. 2(f)) “be responsible for the preparation of the budget…” and that the Executive Director shall (Art. IX, Sec. 4 (b)) “assist the President in preparing the annual budget”? Who else, when the natural office for that responsibility, an elected Treasurer, is to be abolished?