Will these glasses help? Holocaust videotestimony and the transfer of intangible heritage

An analysis of Erica's videotestimony, presented at the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre in Melbourne, reveals how audio-visual history can act as a medium for the transfer of cultural heritage, despite claims that the trauma of the Holocaust has destroyed the possibility of any meaningful transmissíon. It is argued that the discussion of personal photographs from before and after the Holocaust forms a key component of the videotestimony and constitutes the primary mechanism for intergenerational transfer of Jewish communal heritage, Transfer is further facilitated by the interviewer whose questioning explicitly encourages Erica to reflect on issues of cultural continuity. Significantly, Erica's answers do not always conform to the interviewer's expectations about Jewish communal and religious identification and this can result in tension between the
two. Here too the photographs play an important role in resolving tension between Erica and the interviewer.

Manufacturing to Asia : who will win the emerging battle for talent between Dragons and Tigers?

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the issues relating to recruiting highly skilled managerial and professional staff experienced by multinational companies (MNCs) manufacturing in six Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from 529 MNCs were used to examine critical human resource planning and recruitment concerns of companies operating in high growth “Dragon” and newly developed “Tiger” economies. The study examined the differences in recruitment practices between manufacturing and service companies and the issues relating to how manufacturers maintain an adequate skills basis.

Findings – There appears a considerable extent of battle for talent among Dragon and Tiger economies with the latter required to be more aggressive as they attempt to sustain growth. Manufacturing companies are experiencing a higher demand for more job-related managerial and technical capabilities whilst competing with service companies that are also in need for more talent. To succeed, manufacturing MNCs will need to adopt a strategic approach for recruitment and retention, and internal capability training to maintain their skilled employees in order to sustain competitive advantage.

Originality/value – The results shown in the paper provide manufacturing MNCs with insights into managerial and professional recruitment trend in Asia.

Where will we live when we get older?

Ageing populations, although exhibiting marked differences across countries and cultures, are a global phenomenon. Old-age dependency ratios in most developed countries are projected to double by the year 2050. In Australia there will be a strain on economic growth as a large part of the population moves from pre-retirement to post-retirement age over the next 25 years. A disproportionate amount of this strain will be concentrated in aged-care housing or retirement accommodation. Current evidence suggests that existing housing stock for older people is inadequate. As the Australian population ages, the maintenance and long-term performance of retirement housing is a key concern of government and housing providers. This study looked at four aged-care or retirement providers across Australia and examined the performance of the current housing stock managed by these providers. The interviews revealed that housing design decisions in retirement stock, although critically important to the changing needs of occupants and the adequate supply of suitable housing, are often ill-considered. The findings critically question the idea of simply building ‘more of the same’ to relieve demand. This study has major implications for the future of Australian retirement housing, especially as the population ages dramatically.

Will they come again? A study of events and repeat visitation

Event organisers invest considerable effort in developing, promoting and conducting events with the expectation that not only will new participants be attracted to future events but also that those who have attended will make repeat visitations. This study addresses this issue by investigating the type of events that attract repeat visitation and the possible reasons for these repeat visitations. Getz's (1997) typology of events is used to classify the events, which were used in the data collection for this research. The study utilises data collected in an origin-based survey to explore which events attract repeat visitors and what motivates this repeat visitation. Whilst marketing literature, and to some degree, tourism literature, have examined repeat purchase and repeat visitation, events literature has not dealt with this to any great extent.

While there has been increased examination of the motivation and behaviour of event visitors (Mohr, Backman et al. 1993; Uysal, Gahan et al. 1993; Crompton and McKay 1997; Tang and Turco 2001) there has been relatively little examination of repeat visitors to events. The emphasis within studies on repeat visitation has been on satisfaction with those events rather than a consideration of a wider range of influencing factors (Gitelson and Crompton 1984; O'Neill, Getz et al. 1999). Those factors may include an interest in a particular type of event, influence of family and friends, whether it is a local community event, the cost - value factor and a variety of other reasons.

If you build it will they come? Exploring the student perspective of weekly student evaluations of teaching

This exploratory study investigated the students’ use of formative, weekly, online evaluations of teaching through a virtual learning environment. Results were based on in-depth interviews of seven students at a rural university college in the UK. Students from different genders, education levels and backgrounds volunteered for the study. The students thought it was a good tool and useful for providing anonymous feedback. However, their motivation to fill in the evaluations every week varied throughout the period of study, and the weekly feedback soon became routine and too onerous a task, and thus had a tendency towards being superficially conducted. Students were more inclined to comment on negative issues, rather than critically analyse positive ones. They also tended to be more positive towards conducting the evaluation if the lecturer discussed them and/or made changes to their future lectures.

Rethinking social justice in schools : how will we recognize it when we see it?

The dialogue of this paper operates at two levels. First, it seeks to rethink the various perspectives on social justice evident in the academic literature, reviewing what is collectively known about it and where current thinking is taking and/or should be taking us. Second, it reports on research concerning the schooling of students with disabilities or, more accurately, research concerning the practices of teachers in relation to the inclusion of students with disabilities within ‘mainstream’ classrooms. These two discussions come together through their collaborative interest in recognizing social justice when they ‘see’ it; the data from the research are used to inform the theory it illustrates and the theory is used to explain teachers' practices. In this critical sense it is more than a dialogue, with its parts dialectically related. The paper's critique also extends to questioning whose interests are served (and whose are not) by various social justice perspectives and their applications to schooling. It concludes that ‘a critical theory of social justice must consider not only distributive patterns, but also the processes and relationships that produce and reproduce those patterns’ (Young 1990: 241).

Funding squeeze will hurt

The design of Labor's student demand-driven system was likely to divide Australian universities into a binary system.