Learning for sustainability - LforS: Simulation games - a creative tool for interactive learning

Description of simulation and training games as tool for awareness and capacity development in multi steakeholder processes

Book Review: M. Holoubek, D. Damjanovic, M. Trainer: Regulating Content. The European Regulatory Framework for the Media and Related Creative Sectors

Review of 'Regulating Content - The European Regulatory Framework for the Media and Related Creative Sectors', by M. Holoubek, D. Damjanovic, M. Trainer (Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, 2007), including some thoughts on contemporary media regulation.

Pens and Swords: Creative writing and poetry in post-conflict and displacement settings.

An overview of the use of poetry in creative writing and memoir writing in post-conflict contexts and for migrants illustrated with a number of proven activities, in the light of the (alleged) contrast between therapeutic and artistic writing.

"Sounds Funny? – Humor Effects of Phonological and Prosodic Figures of Speech"

Whereas semantic, logical, and narrative features of verbal humor are well-researched, phonological and prosodic dimensions of verbal funniness are hardly explored. In a 2 × 2 design we varied rhyme and meter in humorous couplets. Rhyme and meter enhanced funniness ratings and supported faster processing. Rhyming couplets also elicited more intense and more positive affective responses, increased subjective comprehensibility and more accurate memory. The humor effect is attributed to special rhyme and meter features distinctive of humoristic poetry in several languages. Verses that employ these formal features make an artful use of typical poetic vices of amateurish poems written for birthday parties or other occasions. Their metrical patterning sounds “mechanical” rather than genuinely “poetic”; they also disregard rules for “good” rhymes. The processing of such verses is discussed in terms of a metacognitive integration of their poetically deviant features into an overall effect of processing ease. The study highlights the importance of nonsemantic rhetorical features in language processing.

Leader–member exchange (LMX), job autonomy, and creative work involvement

Researchers have claimed that high quality of supervisor–employee relationships (i.e., leader– member exchange; LMX) fosters creativity at work. Moreover, researchers have acknowledged that this relationship is not clear-cut but rather complex. The present study focused on the moderating role of job autonomy in the LMX-creative work involvement relationship. Longitu-dinal field survey data (N = 144) collected in a high-technology firm revealed a positive asso-ciation between LMX and creative work involvement and confirmed our assumptions on the moderating role of job autonomy. The positive relationship between LMX and creative work involvement was stronger when employees experienced greater job autonomy. Our findings point to the importance of considering the interplay of both, the leader–member relationship and job design issues for increasing employees' creative work involvement.