Youth Audience Research Articles

Powerful devices: how teens' smartphones disrupt power in the theatre, classroom and beyond

During a series of high school English and Drama class trips to the theatre, so many students were online, the entire back row often glowed blue. Although much of the literature suggests that information and communication technologies are benign and neutral, this back-row collision of digital and live culture signals to teachers that technology is freighted with issues of power: questions of identity formation, consumerism, autonomy and freedom. This qualitative study of high school students at the conclusion of their four-play series suggests that cell phones shape the youth audience experience, that etiquette regarding the use of these powerful devices remains sharply contested, and that students apply a range of strategies to dealing with issues of power and agency around their use.

A content analysis of tobacco and alcohol in popular UK films: an update

BackgroundExposure to tobacco and alcohol imagery in films is strongly associated with uptake and consumption of both tobacco and alcohol in young people. In an analysis of popular UK films over the 20 years from 1989 to 2008, we have previously documented substantial tobacco and alcohol content in films marketed to children and young people. In view of increasing awareness of the potential harm of this exposure, this study was undertaken to assess whether these exposures continue to be prevalent in more recent films, by analysing the most popular films in the years 2009–11. MethodsOccurrence of tobacco (tobacco use, implied use, tobacco paraphernalia, and tobacco brand appearances) and alcohol (alcohol use, inferred alcohol use, other alcohol reference, and alcohol brand appearances) imagery was measured by 5-min interval coding in the 15 most commercially successful films in the UK in each year from 2009 to 2011. Each 5-min period of film was coded as positive for each category of tobacco or alcohol imagery, or both, if at least one such incident occurred during the 5-min period. FindingsAll of the 45 most popular films for 2009–11 were rated by UK film classifiers as suitable for youth audiences (those aged younger than 18 years). Any tobacco was present in a third of all films (15 of 45), whereas any alcohol was present in more than four-fifths (37 of 45 [82%]). Tobacco use occurred in 11 films, and alcohol use occurred in 26. Tobacco branding was infrequent, but two brands, Marlboro and K & J, were clearly identifiable. Alcohol branding was far more frequent, occurring in 22% (ten of 45) of films, with the most frequently occurring brands being Jagermeister, Singha, and Budweiser. When combined with earlier findings using the same methods in films from 1989 to 2008, tobacco was present in 65% (225 of 345) of films, and alcohol in 86% (295 of 345) of films. Tobacco content in each of the coded categories decreased between 1989 and 2010, but increased again in 2011, largely as a result of two films: The King's Speech and Sherlock Homes: a Game of Shadows. Alcohol content fluctuated over the 23 years, without any significant decline overall (p>0·05). Overall, the most commonly represented tobacco brands were Marlboro, Silk Cut, and Embassy, and the most common alcohol brands were Budweiser, Miller, and Coors. InterpretationAlthough conventional tobacco promotion is heavily restricted in the UK, tobacco imagery continues to be evident in films classified for and popular with youth audiences. The amount of tobacco content in films has decreased over the years but increased again in 2011. Alcohol advertising and promotion remains largely self-regulated in the UK, and there has been no appreciable reduction in any alcohol depictions in youth classified films. UK film regulators are aware of the effects of film content on youth audiences, but in practice do not seem to consider either tobacco or alcohol imagery in the age classification process of films suitable for young people. FundingThis research was done as part of the research undertaken by AL as part of a research fellowship funded by the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, which is a UKCRC Centre of Public Health Research Excellence. Funding was from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, and the Department of Health.

Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation by Nina Vasan & Jennifer Przybylo (review)

Reviewed by: Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation by Nina Vasan & Jennifer Przybylo Julie E. Owen Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation Nina Vasan & Jennifer Przybylo San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013, 558 pages, $30.00 (softcover) Inspired by their own experiences as youth leaders, the authors of Do Good Well have developed a toolkit useful to students interested in non-profit work, socially responsible business, social entrepreneurship, activist movements, and community change. This practical guidebook is intended as a primer for students and young professionals and is designed to “help anyone with a desire to do good in the world not only do good, but do good well” (p. vii). The authors offer a three-step process for social innovation that is grounded in personal experiences, as well as in research on innovation in business, nonprofits, community, and leadership. The steps are: (a) Do what works; (b) Work together; and (c) Make it last. The book aspires to present this model in a fun and interactive way, “like getting advice from a peer or mentor in real time” and aims to give “practical step-by-step instructions for turning idealistic aspirations into tangible real-world solutions” (p.viii). Do Good Well is a student-friendly, accessible resource that fills an important niche. It updates the content of existing community-based learning handbooks, such as Cress, Collier, and Rittenauer’s Learning Trough Serving (2005, Stylus), the Midwest Academy manual Organizing for Social Change (2001, Seven Locks Press) and Kretzmann and McKnight’s Building Communities From the Inside Out (1993, Northwestern University) to include emerging content on social innovation and social enterprise. While the individual components of this book can be found elsewhere, having them integrated into a logical process-oriented workbook makes this an attractive resource for college students and other youth audiences interested in leadership, activism, and social change. This handbook would be a worthy accompaniment to curricular or co-curricular experiences that focus on students working on community-based change projects, such as leadership, service-learning, or action research projects and programs. The book is organized in three sections. Part 1 invites students to develop “The Vision,” and includes chapters on knowing yourself, knowing your world, identifying a problem, understanding the problem, and brainstorming solutions. The authors wisely don’t make the assumption that students know what they want to change. Instead, they invite students to explore their passions and provide tools to help users focus their commitments. Brief summaries of numerous social issues are included, and the incorporation of meaningful stories and examples makes change seem achievable. Other similar resources often overlook the fact that student change agents might not have clarity about what they want to change, or may feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of public problems in need of solutions. Vasan and Przybylo gently lead readers to focus their values, interests, and commitments before committing deeply to any one cause. They also wisely caution users to appreciate multiple partial solutions and to be careful to distinguish between symptoms and root causes of issues. In the same vein, the authors encourage students to connect their ideas for change with existing groups and [End Page 658] organizations, rather than always needing to start their own initiative. This sage advice is uncharacteristic of many approaches to social entrepreneurship, and reflects the authors’ valuing of community development over the ego of the change agents. Part 2 focuses on “The Method” for change, and describes the authors’ 3-step change model in detail. This simple and flexible framework is intended to help users develop and execute an action plan that “can be applied to any idea and any community” (p. 81). Readers are exhorted to “Do What Works” and related chapters focus on designing systemic solutions, building on working models, measuring and evaluating impact, and challenging and innovating working systems. Chapters on “Working Together” provide guidance on balancing issues related to starting and strengthening a movement, cultivating community ownership, fostering team unity, and forging partnerships. The final section in Part 2 focuses on “Making it Last.” Participants are invited to start small, then scale what works, to engineer self...

Queer Youth Resilience: Critiquing the Discourse of Hope and Hopelessness in LGBT Suicide Representation

Queer Youth Resilience: Critiquing the Discourse of Hope and Hopelessness in LGBT Suicide Representation

Social capital: Its constructs and survey development

This article reports on experiences and methods of adapting a valid adult social capital assessment to youth audiences in order to measure social capital and sense of place. The authors outline the process of adapting, revising, prepiloting, piloting, and administering a youth survey exploring young people's sense of community, involvement in the community, and the development of social capital. They then discuss the trade-offs of defining the often amorphous concepts included in social capital as they select measurement scales. The constructs used in the survey are agency, belonging, engagement, and trust for bonding, bridging, and linking forms of social capital.

Taking it to the Tweet Seats: Using New Technology to Create "Theatre Knowledge-Building Communities" in the English Language Arts and Drama Classrooms

The development of digital technology and the participatory culture it engenders presents challenges to secondary school English and drama teachers keen to expose their students to the pleasures and rewards of live theatre. Within Scardamalia’s notion of the “knowledge building community” (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994, 2006; Scardamalia, Bransford, Kozma, & Quellmalz, 2012; Scardamalia, 2002), however, is a framework by which teachers can use educational technology to create authentic, theatre knowledge-building communities that allow students to view themselves as engaged participants in the culture of live theatre while learning valuable 21st century skills.Keywords: theatre; English; drama; educational technology; Scardamalia; knowledge-building community; 21st century skills; youth audience

Psychosocial Measures Used to Assess the Effectiveness of School-based Nutrition Education Programs: Review and Analysis of Self-report Instruments for Children 8 to 12 Years Old

To identify the psychometric properties of evaluation instruments that measure mediators of dietary behaviors in school-aged children. Systematic search of scientific databases limited to 1999-2010. Psychometric properties related to development and testing of self-report instruments for children 8-12 years old. Systematic search of 189 articles and review of 15 instruments (20 associated articles) meeting the inclusion criteria. Search terms used included children, school, nutrition, diet, nutrition education, and evaluation. Fourteen studies used a theoretical framework to guide the instrument's development. Knowledge and self-efficacy were the most commonly used psychosocial measures. Twelve instruments focused on specific nutrition-related behaviors. Eight instruments included over 40 items and used age-appropriate response formats. Acceptable reliability properties were most commonly reported for attitude and self-efficacy measures. Although most of the instruments were reviewed by experts (n = 8) and/or pilot-tested (n = 9), only 7 were tested using both rigorous types of validity and with low-income youth. Results from this review suggest that additional research is needed to develop more robust psychosocial measures for dietary behaviors, for low-income youth audiences.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PREVENTION OF NEGATIVE PROCESSES IN THE YOUTH COMMUNITY: MEDIA SIDE

Purpose: determination of the most effective channels for transfer of socially significant information to the youth audience as the targeting group. Methodology: sociological interview, method of system approach, quantitative analysis, comparative analysis. Results: o bjective measures of popularity of the various channels of distribution of socially significant information among young audiences are defined in the article. The media preferences of young people, affecting the effectiveness of preventive measures in order to reduce the level of negative processes are identified. The practical advices for professionals to improve the work in the given area are given by the authors. Practical implications: results of the given study may be used by the specialists in order to improve the forms and methods of realization of information campaigns for reducing of negative processes among young people, and also in selecting the most effective channels for transfer of any socially significant information to younger audience. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-5-28

Dramatising Identity on Irish Language Television: Aifric (TG4)

Aifric (Telegael 2006-8) a live action comedy drama series for young teenagers, gives an extra dimension to a relatively conventional entertainment genre through its use of the Irish language on screen and on set. One of the largest scale longer-term drama productions for TG4, Aifric is aimed at an audience which enjoys Australian series, British soaps and American sit coms. Significantly, viewers are addressed as members of a similar culture, who understand its norms and expectations, rather than as some pan-global ‘youth audience’ who exist only to be entertained. Aifric presents humorous stories about somewhat quirky characters with credible relationships. Although the language is not foregrounded as a theme in the drama, its treatment results from very conscious decisions by the programme-makers. Performed by largely native-speaking actors, there is a strong drive to present a vibrant and funny Irish-speaking world. However, for most viewers, the use of the indigenous national language on screen remains noteworthy. Telegael were sensitive to this in taking on the commission, and in choosing to create an ‘Aifric universe’ where Irish is fluently used by everyone, add another layer to the question of Irish language identity.

Tobacco imagery on prime time UK television

BackgroundSmoking in films is a common and well documented cause of youth smoking experimentation and uptake and hence a significant health hazard. The extent of exposure of young people to...

Sleeping with the enemy: Audience studies and critical literacy

Audience studies is not the vibrant field it was in its 1980s and early 1990s heyday. Cultural studies today has a more balanced interest in production, audiences and texts. A renewed focus in audience studies on everyday meaning production, identity and relations of power could benefit from recent developments. Theorization of power especially has benefited from recent work on governmentality. In accord with recent work on ‘affect’, there is an opportunity for renewed vitality and urgency. Was audience studies damaged beyond repair by the charge that it is a populist field that celebrates rather than interrogates everyday media culture? Could a concept such as cultural literacy provide a bridge to help re-establish the critical credibility of audience studies or would it burden this field with its implied notions of standards, distinction and cultural exclusion? The article discusses recent work with youth audiences to inquire into the possibilities of ‘critical literacy’. It proposes taking up questions and insights raised by affect theory, to merge appreciation, criticism and understanding of the forces that drive (the possibility of) change, and to embed critical literacy in cultural studies’ ongoing interest in the construction of (cultural) citizenship.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson's An Hawaiian Idyll as Hawaiian Imaginary

Alice Dunbar-Nelson's An Hawaiian Idyll as Hawaiian Imaginary Lurana Donnels O'Malley (bio) In 1916, African American writer Alice Dunbar-Nelson wrote and produced a play, An Hawaiian Idyll, to be performed by and for black children at Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware. Such educational settings were the principal site for black women writers to produce their dramatic works in this era. Although nothing in the play directly addresses an African American context, Dunbar-Nelson implicitly asked her youth audience to connect the oppression of Hawaiians by paternalistic missionaries to the history of enslaved Africans in America. Years before, the activist and writer W. E. B. Du Bois had linked African Americans and Hawaiians as kindred in oppression. Although the term "color line" is often used today to characterize black/white relations in the United States, Du Bois originally theorized the color line as something much broader,1 using the term to describe a pattern of international oppression linking Africans to the colored peoples of Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific.2 In an address to the American Negro Academy called "The Present Outlook for the Dark Races of Mankind" (1900), Du Bois specifically made the connection to Hawai´i: [End Page 1] The colored population of our land is, through the new imperial policy, about to be doubled by our ownership of Porto Rico [sic] and Hawaii, our protectorate of Cuba, and conquest of the Philippines....What is to be our attitude toward these new lands and toward the masses of dark men and women who inhabit them? Manifestly it must be an attitude of deepest sympathy and strongest alliance.3 In his essay "The Future of the Negro Race in America" (1904), Du Bois used Hawai´i as an example of crimes committed in the name of civilizing Christianity: You may dress this tale of Hawaii in the most gracious clothing you can command. You may emphasize the degradation of the nation, the guileless altruism of the Americans, and the present prosperity of the sugar-planters; and yet if there sits beyond the stars a God of Justice who metes out to men their reward for murder and theft and adultery, then the blood of this helpless people will rest on America and on its children's children.4 Du Bois addresses readers whom he feels may be ignorant of the true story of Hawai´i's "helpless people." This article will examine another African American writer's treatment of Hawai´i, one aimed explicitly at an African American audience. Dunbar-Nelson relied on the black/Hawaiian connection to make her case about the destructive cultural impact of white people on African Americans, through the surrogate victim of Hawai´i as presented in her play Hawaiian Idyll. Yet Dunbar-Nelson, like the colonizing forces she critiques, also uses Hawai´i for her own purposes, hiding the historical truth of its overthrow to create instead her own Hawaiian imaginary. The playwright does remove what Du Bois calls the "gracious clothing" from the tale by revealing the hypocrisy of the missionaries and the self-interest of the planters, but she dresses the story in a different finery of her own imagination. She gets rid of one fairy tale only to offer another in its place. The production of Hawaiian Idyll at Howard High in Wilmington, Delaware, was significant enough to warrant mention in "The Horizon" section of The Crisis magazine in February 1917. According to the notice, An Hawaiian Idyll was an "operetta" presented at Howard in December 1916: Mrs. Alice Dunbar-Nelson wrote the words, the arrangement of the musical numbers was made by Miss Etta A. Roache, and the costumes were designed under the direction of Miss Agatha F. Jones, all teachers in the school. An Hawaiian orchestra of native instruments was directed by Dr. Conwell Banton.5 [End Page 2] The script for this piece was never published, but two documents of a three-act performance matching this description are located in the Alice Dunbar-Nelson Papers at the University of Delaware.6 The production augmented the script with popular Hawaiian and Tin Pan Alley Hawaiian-themed tunes of the day, used as musical...

‘Screenagers’ and In/Active Lifestyles: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Healthy Life Span Promotion

Young people are increasingly the targets of public health and private-public sector campaigns to promote active lifestyles and longevity of the life span (Arnett, 2012; Faulkner, Kwan, Brownrigg, & MacNeill, 2011). Yet media campaigns alone cannot redress the barriers to physical activity. In this paper I argue that theories of life span and social marketing approaches to health promotion share a grounding in the behavioral sciences that need to be broadened to consider social determinants of active and inactive lifestyles and uncover how youth audiences make sense of health promotions. As such, I suggest how the social marketing of healthy life spans can move upstream to advocate policies and programs for youth activity. In this article I a) critically examine our shifting notions of youth and assumptions about life span, b) highlight trends in media consumption by youth, c) consider how kinesiology can broaden the social marketing lens to active media advocacy for social justice, and d) raise implications for research and intervention.

Serialized Participatory Culture: The Digital Transformation of Youth Audiences

Digital technologies are transforming audiences and media practices and in a context of serialization this paper wants to make the case for television series as much of the attention from the industry and the academy is drawn by music and cinema neglecting the effects on television viewing. Lawrence Lessig has proposed "remix" as one of the main outcomes of social and cultural practices enabled by new technologies that allow for easy production and sharing. Henry Jenkins talks of a "convergence culture" and many other authors refer a participatory turn. But this surge of creativity and participation poses new challenges to the industry and to the study of audiences. With the surge of transmediality and new platforms such as mobile phones and tablets, as well as enabling tools for massified DYI, the experience of television series consumption has been completely changed. This is particularly notable in youth audiences where television is still pervasive but networked media practices are gaining ground, namely a serialized participation culture characterized by immediacy, anticipation, control, emotional affordance and freedom. Based in a mixed methodology, composed of a quantitative online survey and a qualitative focus group approach, this paper will offer a case study of Portuguese College students’ serialized participatory culture regarding television series.

Classed Femininity, Performativity, and Camp in British Structured Reality Programming

This article explores the representations and tonal qualities of British “structured reality” programming. Focusing on The Only Way Is Essex and Made in Chelsea, it investigates their glocalizing of the model established by MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills. It argues that while they blur boundaries between docusoap, drama, and soap opera, the British programs also recognize and foreground issues of construction for their reality TV-literate youth audience. It suggests the programs play a key role in their respective channel identities and the ideologies of British youth television, connecting to larger issues of class, gender, and taste. This is articulated through their regional and classed femininities, with the article exploring how the programs draw on classed ideologies surrounding “natural” and “excessive” femininities and of the role of this in their engagement with construction and camp play. This play contributes to the tonal shift offered by the British programs, mixing the melodrama of the MTV programs with a knowing, at times comic edge that can tip into mockery. In doing so, the programs offer their audience a combination of performative self-awareness and emotional realism that situates them clearly within British youth television.

Theater Activities for Jung Opera Audience: An Educational Urgency

Problem statement: Numerous studies have led researchers to conclude that the socio- demographic profile of the public of classical musi c appears to be quite generalizable. However, the survey of the opera public, a classical music subge nre that is often associated with theater performances, appears to be much more difficult to quantify and has not yet been the subject of specific investigations (1). The drastic decrease i n audience attendance, especially among young people, has led to a radical change in the manageme nt of all the opera houses in Europe (2). The research here presented has explored, through a rep resentative sample of twenty-four Theatres in twelve different European countries, all practition ers of Opera Education, the complex interaction of personal, social and cultural factors that have led the theatres to interact with the educational syst em and the school curricula (3). A research on the dif ferent methods applied for teaching Opera to young people has led to attention being given especially to what is now called Dramatic Interpretation of Music Theatre, a method developed within Germany but now accepted by the majority of Opera Houses in Northern Europe (4). Approach: The research on educational projects for young peo ple was made through the analysis of the web-sites of 24 th eatres: 12 of these were members of Reseo, the network of partners involved in opera education tha t was proposed and promoted by the European Community in 1999; 12 other theatres, although belo nging to other such networks were not members of Reseo. Results: (1) Opera seems to attract a rather limited public that occupies, in terms of number, the last places in the classification; the amount o f people who listen to classical music is double th at of those who listen to opera. (2). Educating the audie nce and, therefore, organizing also didactic projec ts for young people, has become for theaters a means t o ensure their future survival. (3). The European Opera theaters adopt common strategies to attract a nd increase the young audience. (4) The European Opera theaters adopt a common pedagogical approach. Conclusion: To cope with increasing costs and decreasing youth audience, the Opera theaters of Eu rope have adopted common organizational and pedagogical strategies focusing their activities on educational projects for schools.

What makes a youth-produced film good? The youth audience perspective

In this article, we explore how youth audiences evaluate the quality of youth-produced films. Our interest stems from a dearth of ways to measure the quality of what youth produce in artistic production processes. As a result, making art in formal learning settings devolves into either romanticized creativity or instrumental work to improve skills in core content areas. We conducted focus groups with 38 youth participants where they viewed four different films produced by the same youth media arts organization that works with young people to produce short-form, autobiographical documentaries. We found that youth focused their evaluations on identifying the films' genre and content and on assessing how well the filmmakers' creative decisions fit with identifications of genre and content. Evaluations were mediated by audiences' expectations and seemed to inform judgments of quality and creativity. We hope that our work can inform the design of formal learning spaces where young people are producing narrative art.

Review: Biomimicry – Innovation Inspired by Nature

Necessity may be invention’s mom, but the producers of Biomimicry argue that “nature” is, in fact, a much better “mother.” The film warns students of the ways our vaunted technologies may be damaging our planet, and encourages them to look natureward when designing new problem-solving technologies. This unconventional film can both inspire and initiate discussion in its intended audience of grades 7–12. Based on the book by Janine Benyus, the two-part DVD introduces various novel technologies, the scientist(s) behind them, and their inspirations in nature. Examples of the technologies include synthetic compounds that mimic the process of photosynthesis in order to harvest energy, environmentally friendly rugs with patterns inspired by nature, adhesives that incorporate the compounds found in mussel glue, and even microprocessors made more effective by mimicking the abalone.The kiln of evolution has forged the internal processes of Earth’s organisms for millions of years. For this reason Wes Jackson of the Land Institute, Devens Just and the Moores at Arizona State University, among the other scientists featured, are encouraging students to seek solutions to our problems by imitating nature rather than merely consuming nature’s limited resources.One caveat: The film does not appear to have been made for youthful audiences in its pacing and music. The dialogue is stagey, the soundtrack old fashioned. But these minor flaws are trumped by the science, which is complex, top notch, relevant, and well explained. It doesn’t require further flash and panache to be absorbing. For the teacher choosing to share clips that enrich lessons on Biotechnology, chemistry, or natural resources, the film is very effective; it is also appropriate for older audiences.

Commentary on Hicks et al. (2012): Alcohol cues and narrowed perceptions - speculating about implications

Years ago, when I worked in an alcohol policy advocacy organization, we hired an administrative assistant with a history of alcohol dependence. After a week surrounded by alcohol products, advertising and marketing examples, she quit—she found it too difficult to maintain her recovery in the face of so many alcohol ‘cues’. The Hicks et al. study brought this example to mind, because the study suggests that people with high ‘alcohol-related approach motivation’ will suffer from a narrowing of their scope of perceptual attention in the face of alcohol cues [1]. While alcohol myopia theory has long suggested a narrowing of the ability to process contextual information as a result of heavy alcohol consumption, this is the first study to suggest a similar constriction in response to alcohol cues. The key question, then, is what are the implications of the Hicks et al. study? First, it is a single study (or pair of studies), and there will need to be much more investigation of this phenomenon. For instance, if perceptions are constricted in response to alcohol cues, which perceptions are these? Are people less likely to assess the danger in a situation? Might the presence of alcohol cues, for instance, render females less likely to be able to adopt precautionary practices regarding sexual assault, even in the absence of actual alcohol consumption? Might seeing an alcohol billboard on a highway impair a heavy drinker's ability to drive safely, again even in the absence of any alcohol consumption? Does the constriction of perception vary with age? For underage drinkers, might this constriction of perception also include failure to assess long-term consequences of drinking? We already know that teens with alcohol use disorders show greater brain activation in response to alcohol advertisements than non-drinking young people [2]. In addition to brain activation, might these teens also be at higher risk of continued heavy drinking when exposed to alcohol cues because their narrowed field of perception does not include ‘informational access to information that might inhibit the decision to imbibe’? Secondly, as these questions make clear, implications of Hicks et al. are highly speculative at this point. From the perspective of recovering adults, this research seems to suggest that, as our employee and doubtless many others have found, successful recovery may require avoiding alcohol cues, difficult as that may be in many contemporary neighborhoods and settings. The research certainly suggests that parents who believe their young person may have an alcohol problem should try to eliminate such cues (posters, alcohol-branded merchandise, etc.) from their immediate environment. This seems hardly more than common sense. It is possible that this line of research could eventually support the restriction of alcohol cues such as alcohol advertising or product placement in settings likely to be populated by young or underage drinkers, such as college campuses or entertainment programming (live or electronic) with disproportionately youthful audiences. Efforts to restrict alcohol advertising in college newspapers in the United States, for instance, are currently the subject of controversy in the courts [3]. However, if it is to help such policies to withstand the scrutiny of most public policy processes, the research will need to be replicated and more specific implications of these attention deficits explored. These findings, as they currently stand, may confirm our former employee's personal experience, but the authors are correct in noting that ‘a considerable amount of further study’ will be needed, not just, as they point out, to understand the dynamics and behavioral implications of this research, but also for us to have a clear view of the public policy implications of their findings. None.

Produce Your Own: A Community Gardening Program

Many County Extension offices offer an adult Master Gardener Program, which includes advanced gardening training, short courses, newsletters, and conferences. However, with the comprehensive training provided comes a large time commitment. The Produce Your Own program was created to introduce adults to gardening in a similar manner, but with shorter, less demanding, and less technical sessions. The outreach program consisted of a series of four interactive sessions focused on plot design, crop selection, garden maintenance, harvesting, and preserving. The content can be adapted in many ways for adults, seniors, youth, and other audiences, which allows Extension to reach larger audiences.