‘Beijing bling’: creative details and consumer choices in contemporary China : an interview with Hung Huang

This edited interview with Hung Huang, CEO of China Interactive Media Group (CIMG), was conducted by Lucy Montgomery in Beijing on 12 August 2005. It was done as part of the ARC Discovery research project, Internationalising Creative Industries: China, the WTO and the Knowledge Economy, led by John Hartley. That project is investigating the development of creative industries in China by focusing on a number of creative services including fashion magazines. Huang’s group publishes five fashion magazines in China, including i-Look, Youth International (Qingnian Yizu), which is the Chinese edition of Seventeen (originally founded by TV-Guide mogul Walter Annenberg), and the Beijing and Shanghai versions of London’s Time Out. It also produces TV programs under the same media brands. The company is based in the stylish Bauhaus-designed former factory 798-Space in the district of Dashanzi, Beijing (see www.798space.com). Huang went to school in Greenwich Village and graduated from Vassar College in New York. She is the daughter of Zhang Hanzhi, who was Mao Zedong’s personal English teacher, and stepdaughter of Qiao Guanhua, Foreign Minister of China during the 1970s at the time of the Nixon visit. Her book My Abnormal Life sold 200,000 copies in China.

Hypercapitalism: language, new media and social perceptions of value

Using examples from contemporary policy and business discourses, and exemplary historical texts dealing with the notion of value, I put forward an argument as to why a critical scholarship that draws on media history, language analysis, philosophy and political economy is necessary to understand the dynamics of what is being called 'the global knowledge economy'. I argue that the social changes associated with new modes of value determination are closely associated with new media forms.

Creating a scene: Balinese punk's beginnings

The promotion of alternative music by deregulated television and recording industries, together with the increasingly felt presence of the metropolis, converged on Balinese cultural and physical landscapes in the 1990s. Mirroring developments in broader society, a regionalist discourse, which polarized notions of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’, emerged among Balinese youth in the context of the local band scene. For certain musicians, musical authenticity was firmly rooted in a cultural and geographical locale, and was articulated by their abhorrence for socializing at shopping malls. In contrast, these Balinese alternative (including punk) musicians sought authenticity in a metropolitan elsewhere. This article is a case study of the indigenization of a ‘global’ code in a non-western periphery. It contests arguments for the ‘post-imperial’ nature of globalization, and demonstrates the continued salience of centre–periphery dialectics in local discourses. At the same time, the study attests to the progressive role a metropolitan superculture can play in cultural renewal in the periphery.

Co-constructed interaction in a paired speaking test : the rater's perspective

The definition and operationalisation of interactional competence in speaking tests that entail co-construction of discourse is an area of language testing requiring further research. This article explores the reactions of four trained raters to paired candidates who oriented to asymmetric patterns of interaction in a discussion task. Through an analysis of candidate discourse combined with rater notes, stimulated verbal recalls, rater discussions and scores awarded for interactional effectiveness, the article examines the extent to which raters compensate or penalise candidates for their role in co-constructing asymmetric interactional patterns. The article argues that key features of the interaction are perceived by the raters as mutual achievements, and it further suggests that the awarding of shared scores for interactional competence is one way of acknowledging the inherently co-constructed nature of interaction in a paired speaking test.

The central role of communication in developing trust and its effect on employee involvement

Communication plays an important role in the development of trust within an organization. While a number of researchers have studied the relationship of trust and communication, little is known about the specific linkages among quality of information, quantity of information, openness, trust, and outcomes such as employee involvement. This study tests these relationships using communication audit data from 218 employees in the oil industry. Using mediation analysis and structural equation modeling, we found that quality of information predicted trust of one's coworkers and supervisors while adequacy of information predicted one's trust of top management. Trust of coworkers, supervisors, and top management influenced perceptions of organizational openness, which in turn influenced employees' ratings of their own level of involvement in the organization's goals. This study suggests that the relationship between communication and trust is complex, and that simple strategies focusing on either quality or quantity of information may be ineffective for dealing with all members in an organization.

My media studies : the history and future of ideas

In the context of a multi-paper special issue of TVNM on the future of media studies, this paper traces the tradition of ‘active audience’ theory in TV scholarship, arguing that it has much to offer in the study of new digital media, especially an approach to user-created content and dynamics of change. The paper argues for a ‘cultural science’ approach to ‘active audiences’ in order to analyse and understand how non-professionals and consumers contribute to the growth of knowledge in complex open media systems.

The influences of conceptions of learning and learner self-concept on high school students' approaches to learning

This study investigated the mediating effect of learner selfconcept between conceptions of learning and students' approaches to learning using structural equation modelling. Data were collected using a modified version of Biggs' Learning Process Questionnaire, together with the recently developed 'What is Learning Survey' and 'Learner Self-Concept Scale'. A sample of 355 high school students participated in the study. Results indicate that learner self-concept does mediate between conceptions of meaning and approaches to learning. Students who adopted a deep approach liked learning new things and indirectly viewed learning as experiential, involving social interaction and directly viewed learning as personal development. Implications for teachers are discussed, with consideration given to appropriate classroom practice.

New media policies

This chapter explores the influence of economic ideas on media policies, particularly the work of John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter and Karl Marx. It critically appraises the development of new media policies, and arguments that neo-liberal principles have been the primary driver of such policies.

Using videotelephony to support paediatric oncology-related palliative care in the home : from abandoned RCT to acceptability study

Videotelephony (real-time audio-visual communication) has been used successfully in adult palliative home care. This paper describes two attempts to complete an RCT (both of which were abandoned following difficulties with family recruitment), designed to investigate the use of videotelephony with families receiving palliative care from a tertiary paediatric oncology service in Brisbane, Australia. To investigate whether providing videotelephone-based support was acceptable to these families, a 12-month non-randomised acceptability trial was completed. Seventeen palliative care families were offered access to a videotelephone support service in addition to the 24 hours ‘on-call’ service already offered. A 92% participation rate in this study provided some reassurance that the use of videotelephones themselves was not a factor in poor RCT participation rates. The next phase of research is to investigate the integration of videotelephone-based support from the time of diagnosis, through outpatient care and support, and for palliative care rather than for palliative care in isolation

Psychological predictors of the propensity to omit short-response items on a high-stakes achievement test

This article presents the findings of a study of the psychological variables that discriminate between high and low omitters on a high-stakes achievement test using a short-response format. Data were obtained from a questionnaire administered to a random sample (N = 1,908) of students prior to sitting the 1997 Queensland Core Skills (QCS) Test (N = 29,273). Fourteen psychological variables were measured including test anxiety (four subscales), emotional stability, achievement motivation, self-esteem, academic self-concept, self-estimate of ability, locus of control (three subscales), and approaches to learning (two subscales). The results were analyzed using descriptive discriminant analysis and suggested that the psychological predictors of the propensity to omit short-response items include test-irrelevant thinking and academic self-concept, with sex of candidate being a mediating variable.

Terminally ill cancer patients’ wish to hasten death

This exploratory study investigated factors associated with the wish to hasten death among a sample of terminally ill cancer patients. Semi-structured interviews conducted on a total of 72 hospice and home palliative care patients were subjected to qualitative analysis using QSRNUDIST. The main themes to emerge suggested that patients with a high wish to hasten death had greater concerns with physical symptoms and psychologica l suffering, perceived themselves to be more of a burden to others, and experienced higher levels of demoralization, while also reporting less confidence in symptom control, fewer social supports, less satisfaction with life experiences and fewer religious beliefs when compared with patients who had a moderate or no wish to hasten death. The implications of these findings will be discussed.

Measuring internal market orientation

Internal marketing has been discussed in the management and academic literature for over three decades, yet it remains ill defined and poorly operationalized. This paper responds to calls for research to develop a single clear understanding of the construct, for the development of a suitable instrument to measure it, and for empirical evidence of its impact. Existing, divergent conceptualization of internal marketing are explored, and a new, multidimensional construct, describing the managerial behaviors associated with internal marketing is developed, and termed internal market orientation (IMO). IMO represents the adaptation of market orientation to the context of employer-employee exchanges in the internal market. The paper describes the development of a valid and reliable measure of IMO in a retail services context. Five dimensions of IMO are identified and confirmed. These are 1) formal written information generation, 2) formal face-to-face information generation, 3) informal information generation, 4) communication and dissemination of information, and 5) responding to this internal market information. The impact of IMO on important organizational factors is also explored. Results indicate positive consequences for customer satisfaction, relative competitive position, staff attitudes, staff retention and staff compliance.

Transformational learning in the workplace

Although transformative learning theory remains one of the most influential theories in the field of adult education, studies on fostering transformative learning, particularly in groups and in the workplace, remain sparse. This article summarises some evidence of transformational learning that influenced changes to practice, processes, and the organisational culture in a case study. It is based on a cohort of 12 worker-learners enrolled in a Graduate Certificate in Education (Executive Leadership) course offered by an Australian university (Queensland University of Technology). Data for this article were drawn from interviews with 10 participants, a focus group with 6 of them, their assessment presentations, and reflective notes of the course facilitators. Also included here are the effects on transformational learning of Taylor’s five elements of work-based learning design, Fuller and Unwins’ features of expansive learning, and Billett’s workplace pedagogies.