A Feminist Affective Turn for Public Relations: Mothers, Passionate Publics, and the Childhood Vaccine Debate

This project proposes a feminist intervention in how affect and publics are theorized in public relations research. Drawing from extant literature, I argue that public relations theories of affect and publics have been apolitical and lack depth and context (Leitch & Motion, 2010a). Using the context of the online childhood vaccine debate, I illustrate several theories and concepts of the new feminist affective turn, as well as postmodern theories of affect, relevant to public relations research: (a) Public Feelings, “ugly” feelings, agency, and community (Cvetkovich, 2012; Ngai, 2007); (b) passionate politics (Mouffe, 2014); (c) postmodern assemblages, biopower, and body politics (Deleuze & Guattari, 1988; Foucault, 1984); (d) affective facts and logics of future threats (Massumi, 2010); and (e) affective ethics (Bertleson & Murphie, 2010). Scholarship in the areas of public relations, risk, feminist and postmodern affect theory, and the vaccine debate provided theoretical grounding for this project. My research questions asked: How is feminist affect theory embodied by mothers in the vaccine debate? How do mothers understand risks as affective facts in the vaccine debate (if at all)? What affective logics are used by mothers in the vaccine debate (if any)? And, What are sources of knowledge for mothers in the vaccine debate? Multi-sited online ethnographic methods were used to explore how feminist affect theory contributes to public relations research, including 29 one-on-one in-depth interviews with mothers of young children and participant observation of 15 online discussions about vaccines on parenting websites BabyCenter.com, TheBump.com, and WhatToExpect.com. I used snowball sampling to recruit interview participants and grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to analyze interview and online data. Results show that feminist affect theory contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge in public relations by politicizing and contextualizing understandings of publics and elucidating how affective facts and logics inform publics’ knowledge and choices, specifically in the context of risk. I also found evidence of suppression of dissent (Martin, 2015) and academic bias in vaccine debate research, which resulted in cultures of silence. Further areas of study included how specific contexts such as motherhood and issues of privilege and access affect publics’ experiences, knowledges, and choices.

Woodturning for older learners : a real 'turn on'

The research reported in this study concerns older adults from Australia who voluntarily chose to learn the craft of woodturning. Semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire were distributed to members of a woodturning club to explore their motivations and the processes by which they learned how to woodturn. The findings indicated that participants’ motivation could be construed as both intrinsic and extrinsic. They used seven approaches to learning – structured courses, instruction from convenors, modelling/watching/demonstrations, guided practice and monitoring by convenors, trial and error with practice, advice and help from peers and reading. Finally, the positive climate of the organisation was found to be particularly important to the older learners.

Practical Transformations and Transformational Practices : Globalization, Postmodernism, and Early Childhood Education : Advances in Early Education and Day Care

Both traditional and progressive curricula are inadequate for the task of responding to the economic, political, social, and cultural changes that have occurred as a result of globalization. This book documents some of the ongoing work occurring in early childhood settings that is aimed at improving, and ultimately transforming, early childhood practice in these changed and changing times. The authors do not simply critique developmental approaches or the increasing standardization of the field. Instead, they describe how they are playing around with postmodern ideas in practice and developing unique approaches to the diverse educational circumstances that confront early childhood educators. Whether it is preparing teachers, using materials, or developing policies, each chapter provides readers with possibilities for enacting pedagogies that are responsive to the contemporary circumstances shaping the lives of young children.

Project team’s internal and external social networks and their influence on project performance

The research on project learning has recognised the significance of knowledge transfer in project based organisations (PBOs). Effective knowledge transfer across projects avoids reinventions, enhances knowledge creation and saves lots of time that is crucial in project environment. In order to facilitate knowledge transfer, many PBOs have invested lots of financial and human resources to implement IT-based knowledge repository. However, some empirical studies found that employees would rather turn for knowledge to colleagues despite their ready access to IT-based knowledge repository. Therefore, it is apparent that social networks play a pivotal role in the knowledge transfer across projects. Some scholars attempt to explore the effect of network structure on knowledge transfer and performance, however, focused only on egocentric networks and the groups’ internal social networks. It has been found that the project’s external social network is also critical, in that the team members can not handle critical situations and accomplish the projects on time without the assistance and knowledge from external sources. To date, the influence of the structure of a project team’s internal and external social networks on project performance, and the interrelation between both networks are barely known. In order to obtain such knowledge, this paper explores the interrelation between the structure of a project team’s internal and external social networks, and their effect on the project team’s performance. Data is gathered through survey questionnaire distributed online to respondents. Collected data is analysed applying social network analysis (SNA) tools and SPSS. The theoretical contribution of this paper is the knowledge of the interrelation between the structure of a project team’s internal and external social networks and their influence on the project team’s performance. The practical contribution lies in the guideline to be proposed for constructing the structure of project team’s internal and external social networks.

Internetalisation : the Internet's influence on international market growth in the firm's outward internationalisation process

It has been suggested that the Internet is the most significant driver of international trade in recent years to the extent that the term =internetalisation‘ has been coined (Bell, Deans, Ibbotson & Sinkovics, 2001; Buttriss & Wilkinson, 2003). This term is used to describe the Internet‘s affect on the internationalisation process of the firm. Consequently, researchers have argued that the internationalisation process of the firm has altered due to the Internet, hence is in need of further investigation. However, as there is limited research and understanding, ambiguity remains in how the Internet has influenced international market growth. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore how the Internet influences firms‘ internationalisation process, specifically, international market growth. To this end, Internet marketing and international market growth theories are used to illuminate this ambiguity in the body of knowledge. Thus, the research problem =How and why does the Internet influence international market growth of the firm’ is justified for investigation. To explore the research question a two-stage approach is used. Firstly, twelve case studies were used to evaluate key concepts, generate hypotheses and to develop a model of Internetalisation for testing. The participants held key positions within their firm, so that rich data could be drawn from international market growth decision makers. Secondly, a quantitative confirmation process analysed the identified themes or constructs, using two hundred and twenty four valid responses. Constructs were evaluated through an exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling process. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model of =internetalisation‘ to examine the interrelationships between the internationalisation process components: information availability, information usage, interaction communication, international mindset, business relationship usage, psychic distance, the Internet intensity of the firm and international market growth. This study found that the Internet intensity of the firm mediates information availability, information usage, international mindset, and business relationships when firms grow in international markets. Therefore, these results provide empirical evidence that the Internet has a positive influence on international information, knowledge, entrepreneurship and networks and these in turn influence international market growth. The theoretical contributions are three fold. Firstly, the study identifies a holistic model of the impact the Internet has had on the outward internationalisation of the firm. This contribution extends the body of knowledge pertaining to Internet international marketing by mapping and confirming interrelationships between the Internet, internationalisation and growth concepts. Secondly, the study highlights the broad scope and accelerated rate of international market growth of firms. Evidence that the Internet influences the traditional and virtual networks for the pursuit of international market growth extends the current understanding. Thirdly, this study confirms that international information, knowledge, entrepreneurship and network concepts are valid in a single model. Thus, these three contributions identify constructs, measure constructs in a multi-item capacity, map interrelationships and confirm single holistic model of ‗internetalisation‘. The main practical contribution is that the findings identified information, knowledge and entrepreneurial opportunities for firms wishing to maximise international market growth. To capitalise on these opportunities suggestions are offered to assist firms to develop greater Internet intensity and internationalisation capabilities. From a policy perspective, educational institutions and government bodies need to promote more applied programs for Internet international marketing. The study provides future researchers with a platform of identified constructs and interrelationships related to internetalisation, with which to investigate. However, a single study has limitations of generalisability; thus, future research should replicate this study. Such replication or cross validation will assist in the verification of scales used in this research and enhance the validity of causal predications. Furthermore, this study was undertaken in the Australian outward-bound context. Research in other nations, as well as research into inbound internationalisation would be fruitful.

Schizophrenia : an overview and practical handbook

Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder currently undergoing a renaissance of scientific interest. This book summarizes current knowledge and details some of the recent developments. Divided into three sections, it presents an overview of the disorder, including its features, social impact and aetiology; reviews methods of assessing the symptoms and disabilities of schizophrenia and examining the sufferer's social environment; and discusses a range of interventions, from pharmacological treatment to skill training for individuals and families. Issues that arise in planning services for sufferers and their families are also reviewed. All of the chapters focus on clinical practice and many include guides to assessment and practice. This handbook should be particularly useful in training health professionals in psychiatric/mental health services and general practice. It also aims to offer practitioners and researchers a comprehensive update on schizophrenia that is both easy to read and practical in its focus.

Cognitive behavioral interviewing for adult disorders : a practical handbook

This is a guidebook for clinicians on how to conduct assessment interviews with patients presenting with common psychological disorders. The orientation is behavioural and cognitive; so the book has wide applicability, as most clinicians explicitly or implicitly accept this combination of models as a useful basis for assessing and treating these problems. The problem areas covered are: fear and anxiety problems; depression, obesity; interpersonal problems; sexual dysfunction; insomnia; headache; and substance abuse.