How to tell the difference between production and consumption : a case study in Doctor Who fandom

A television series is tagged with the label "cult" by the media, advertisers, and network executives when it is considered edgy or offbeat, when it appeals to nostalgia, or when it is considered emblematic of a particular subculture. By these criteria, almost any series could be described as cult. Yet certain programs exert an uncanny power over their fans, encouraging them to immerse themselves within a fictional world.In Cult Television leading scholars examine such shows as The X-Files; The Avengers; Doctor Who, Babylon Five; Star Trek; Xena, Warrior Princess; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to determine the defining characteristics of cult television and map the contours of this phenomenon within the larger scope of popular culture.Contributors: Karen Backstein; David A. Black, Seton Hall U; Mary Hammond, Open U; Nathan Hunt, U of Nottingham; Mark Jancovich; Petra Kuppers, Bryant College; Philippe Le Guern, U of Angers, France; Alan McKee; Toby Miller, New York U; Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern U; Eva ViethSara Gwenllian-Jones is a lecturer in television and digital media at Cardiff University and co-editor of Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media.Roberta E. Pearson is a reader in media and cultural studies at Cardiff University. She is the author of the forthcoming book Small Screen, Big Universe: Star Trek and Television.

Challenging cohesion

Cohesion as a term connotes attraction, unity, and commonness amongst discrete entities. Considering cohesion as a concept is timely with the recent rise of network culture, which comes with both subtle and radical changes in how people connect with, position themselves in relation to, and understand other constituents of society (cf. Varnelis; Castells; Jenkins et al.). Such dis- and inter-connections signify an imminent and immanent epistemological challenge we must confront: how can we understand inherently multi-faceted subjects, components of which are in constant transformation? For researchers, disciplinary complexity is one of the main implications of this situation. While disciplinary integration may be an effective or vital component in pursuit of knowledge (cf. Nicolescu) it may also impart significant conceptual and pragmatic conflicts. What are possible ways to coalesce multiple dimensions of reality that can lead to conceptually cohesive and useful knowledge production? This issue of M/C Journal attempts to answer this question by looking at different perspectives on the notion of cohesion across topical and disciplinary boundaries.

Designing spatial story-telling software

What does it mean when we design for accessibility, inclusivity and "dissolving boundaries" -- particularly those boundaries between the design philosophy, the software/interface actuality and the stated goals? This paper is about the principles underlying a research project called 'The Little Grey Cat engine' or greyCat. GreyCat has grown out of our experience in using commercial game engines as production environments for the transmission of culture and experience through the telling of individual stories. The key to this endeavour is the potential of the greyCat software to visualize worlds and the manner in which non-formal stories are intertwined with place. The apparently simple dictum of "show, don't tell" and the use of 3D game engines as a medium disguise an interesting nexus of problematic issues and questions, particularly in the ramifications for cultural dimensions and participatory interaction design. The engine is currently in alpha and the following paper is its background story. In this paper we discuss the problematic, thrown into sharp relief by a particular project, and we continue to unpack concepts and early designs behind the greyCat itself.

The little grey cat engine

The little grey cat engine (greyCat) is part of a series of projects which explore software which can enable access to the potentially empowering nature of represented space and game design. GreyCat is the result of research into the culture of the software itself in order to provide participatory environments which enable the telling of ‘small stories’ – stories and experiences which are those of the everyday or those of a cultural perspective other than that prioritised by most world building softwares or game engines. GreyCat offers a simple framework which allows participants to use their own image materials (photographs for the most part) as a basis for spatial exploration of their own places.---------- Truna aka j.turner (2008) The little grey cat engine: telling small stories (Demo), Australasian Computer Human Interaction Conference, OZCHI 2008, December 8th-12th, Cairns, Australia---------- Research Publications: truna aka j.turner & Browning, D. (2009) Designing spatial story telling software, in proceedings OZCHI09, Melbourne---------- Truna aka j.turner, Browning, D. & Champion, E. (2008) Designing for Engaged Experience, In proceedings Australasian Computer Human Interaction Conference, OZCHI 2008, December 8th-12th, Cairns, Australia---------- Truna aka. J.turner & Bidwell, N. (2007) Through the looking glass: game worlds as representations and views from elsewhere, Proceedings of the 4th Australasian conference on Interactive entertainment, Melbourne, Australia---------- Truna aka j.turner, Browning, D & Bidwell, N. (2007) Wanderer beyond game worlds, in proceedings, Hutchinson, A (ed) PerthDAC 2007: The seventh International Digital Arts and Culture Conference: The future of digital media culture, 15-18 September 2007, Perth, Australia, Curtin University of Technology---------- Truna aka j.turner (2006) To explore strange new worlds: experience design in 3 dimensional immersive environments - role and place in a world as object of interaction, In proceedings, Australasian Computer Human Interaction Conference, OZCHI 2006, November 22nd-24th, Sydney, Australia, November 20th – 24th 2006, pp 26- 29---------- Truna aka j.turner (2006) Digital songlines environment (Demonstration), In proceedings 2006 International conference on Game research and development, Perth, Australia---------- Truna aka j.turner (2006) Destination Space: Experiential Spatiality and Stories, Special Session on Experiential Spatiality, In proceedings 2006 International conference on Game research and development, Perth, Australia

Developing a culture of enquiry to sustain evidence-based practice

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is having a significant effect on the health service environment. It constructs a language that bridges the healthcare disciplines and the clinical and managerial components of health services. Most experienced clinicians in nursing, medicine and allied health now recognise that the contemporary healthcare environment calls for our practice to be justified by sound, credible evidence. There is pressure on all clinicians to accommodate innovation, while at the same time ensuring their practice is effective, safe and efficient (Forbes & Griffiths 2002). Consequently, EBP in healthcare is having a profound effect on nursing and the way we think about nursing. There are many available models for research utilisation that are dependent on organisational strategies for change. This chapter describes the relationship between organisation and culture, and explores the notion of cultural change; that is, developing a culture of inquiry that can sustain evidence-based practice. We begin this chapter with a clear conception of what we mean by EBP and what we mean by ‘culture’.

Rephrasing voice : art, practice-led research and the limits and sites of articulacy

While my PhD is practice-led research, it is my contention that such an inquiry cannot develop as long as it tries to emulate other models of research. I assert that practice-led research needs to account for an epistemological unknown or uncertainty central to the practice of art. By focusing on what I call the artist's 'voice,' I will show how this 'voice' is comprised of a dual motivation—'articulate' representation and 'inarticulate' affect—which do not even necessarily derive from the artist. Through an analysis of art-historical precedents, critical literature (the work of Jean-François Lyotard and Andrew Benjamin, the critical methods of philosophy, phenomenology and psychoanalysis) as well as of my own painting and digital arts practice, I aim to demonstrate how this unknown or uncertain aspect of artistic inquiry can be mapped. It is my contention that practice-led research needs to address and account for this dualistic 'voice' in order to more comprehensively articulate its unique contribution to research culture.

Economics of non-market innovation and digital literacy

This article is an abbreviated version of a debate between two economists holding somewhat different perspectives on the nature of non-market production in the space of new digital media. While the ostensible focus here is on the role of markets in the innovation of new technologies to create new economic value, this context also serves to highlight the private and public value of digital literacy.

Tango Femme : placing the lesbian centre stage

The play Tango Femme places the lesbian centre stage by creating characters, narrative and drama in the world of same-sex dancing. The accompanying exegesis examines the problems and issues associated with creating lesbian characters in theatre, using a synthesized, practice led methodology. During the process of imagining, constructing and writing my case study play, I have investigated lesbian theatre productions and companies in order to make sense of my personal experiences in the theatre world. I have also reflected on the lesbian as represented in mainstream theatre and popular culture. Through journal writing and contemplation, I have sought to identify difficulties inherent in writing this type of play, using my own journey as a focus. My study illuminates the historical and sociological circumstances in the eighties and nineties in Australia and concludes that as a lesbian playwright I was caught between a rock and a hard place: the rock being lesbian theatre on a community level, as defined and attended primarily by separatist lesbians, and the hard place being mainstream theatre, located within the dominant, heteronormative discourse. The play Tango Femme has developed in conversation with my reflective practice and research and is written in the space outside the master narrative as "an instance of lesbian discourse" (Davy 1996, p.153).

Micro-family-owned business : transitory survival mechanism or long term wealth creator?

Principal Topic: Entrepreneurship is key to employment, innovation and growth (Acs & Mueller, 2008), and as such, has been the subject of tremendous research in both the economic and management literatures since Solow (1957), Schumpeter (1934, 1943), and Penrose (1959). The presence of entrepreneurs in the economy is a key factor in the success or failure of countries to grow (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001; Dejardin, 2001). Further studies focus on the conditions of existence of entrepreneurship, influential factors invoked are historical, cultural, social, institutional, or purely economic (North, 1997; Thurik 1996 & 1999). Of particular interest, beyond the reasons behind the existence of entrepreneurship, are entrepreneurial survival and good ''performance'' factors. Using cross-country firm data analysis, La Porta & Schleifer (2008) confirm that informal micro-businesses provide on average half of all economic activity in developing countries. They find that these are utterly unproductive compared to formal firms, and conclude that the informal sector serves as a social security net ''keep[ing] millions of people alive, but disappearing over time'' (abstract). Robison (1986), Hill (1996, 1997) posit that the Indonesian government under Suharto always pointed to the lack of indigenous entrepreneurship , thereby motivating the nationalisation of all industries. Furthermore, the same literature also points to the fact that small businesses were mostly left out of development programmes because they were supposed less productive and having less productivity potential than larger ones. Vial (2008) challenges this view and shows that small firms represent about 70% of firms, 12% of total output, but contribute to 25% of total factor productivity growth on average over the period 1975-94 in the industrial sector (Table 10, p.316). ---------- Methodology/Key Propositions: A review of the empirical literature points at several under-researched questions. Firstly, we assess whether there is, evidence of small family-business entrepreneurship in Indonesia. Secondly, we examine and present the characteristics of these enterprises, along with the size of the sector, and its dynamics. Thirdly, we study whether these enterprises underperform compared to the larger scale industrial sector, as it is suggested in the literature. We reconsider performance measurements for micro-family owned businesses. We suggest that, beside productivity measures, performance could be appraised by both the survival probability of the firm, and by the amount of household assets formation. We compare micro-family-owned and larger industrial firms' survival probabilities after the 1997 crisis, their capital productivity, then compare household assets of families involved in business with those who do not. Finally, we examine human and social capital as moderators of enterprises' performance. In particular, we assess whether a higher level of education and community participation have an effect on the likelihood of running a family business, and whether it has an impact on households' assets level. We use the IFLS database compiled and published by RAND Corporation. The data is a rich community, households, and individuals panel dataset in four waves: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2007. We now focus on the waves 1997 and 2000 in order to investigate entrepreneurship behaviours in turbulent times, i.e. the 1997 Asian crisis. We use aggregate individual data, and focus on households data in order to study micro-family-owned businesses. IFLS data covers roughly 7,600 households in 1997 and over 10,000 households in 2000, with about 95% of 1997 households re-interviewed in 2000. Households were interviewed in 13 of the 27 provinces as defined before 2001. Those 13 provinces were targeted because accounting for 83% of the population. A full description of the data is provided in Frankenberg and Thomas (2000), and Strauss et alii (2004). We deflate all monetary values in Rupiah with the World Development Indicators Consumer Price Index base 100 in 2000. ---------- Results and Implications: We find that in Indonesia, entrepreneurship is widespread and two thirds of households hold one or several family businesses. In rural areas, in 2000, 75% of households run one or several businesses. The proportion of households holding both a farm and a non farm business is higher in rural areas, underlining the reliance of rural households on self-employment, especially after the crisis. Those businesses come in various sizes from very small to larger ones. The median business production value represents less than the annual national minimum wage. Figures show that at least 75% of farm businesses produce less than the annual minimum wage, with non farm businesses being more numerous to produce the minimum wage. However, this is only one part of the story, as production is not the only ''output'' or effect of the business. We show that the survival rate of those businesses ranks between 70 and 82% after the 1997 crisis, which contrasts with the 67% survival rate for the formal industrial sector (Ter Wengel & Rodriguez, 2006). Micro Family Owned Businesses might be relatively small in terms of production, they also provide stability in times of crisis. For those businesses that provide business assets figures, we show that capital productivity is fairly high, with rates that are ten times higher for non farm businesses. Results show that households running a business have larger family assets, and households are better off in urban areas. We run a panel logit model in order to test the effect of human and social capital on the existence of businesses among households. We find that non farm businesses are more likely to appear in households with higher human and social capital situated in urban areas. Farm businesses are more likely to appear in lower human capital and rural contexts, while still being supported by community participation. The estimation of our panel data model confirm that households are more likely to have higher family assets if situated in urban area, the higher the education level, the larger the assets, and running a business increase the likelihood of having larger assets. This is especially true for non farm businesses that have a clearly larger and more significant effect on assets than farm businesses. Finally, social capital in the form of community participation also has a positive effect on assets. Those results confirm the existence of a strong entrepreneurship culture among Indonesian households. Investigating survival rates also shows that those businesses are quite stable, even in the face of a violent crisis such as the 1997 one, and as a result, can provide a safety net. Finally, considering household assets - the returns of business to the household, rather than profit or productivity - the returns of business to itself, shows that households running a business are better off. While we demonstrate that uman and social capital are key to business existence, survival and performance, those results open avenues for further research regarding the factors that could hamper growth of those businesses in terms of output and employment.

Devising a scenographic approach in Jonzi D's Hip Hop theatre

Jonzi D, one of the leading Hip Hop voices in the UK, creates contemporary theatrical works that merge dance, street art, original scored music and contemporary rap poetry, to create theatrical events that expand a thriving sense of a Hip Hop nation with citizens in the UK, throughout southern Africa and the rest of the world. In recent years Hip Hop has evolved as a performance genre in and of itself that not only borrows from other forms but vitally now contributes back to the body of contemporary practice in the performing arts. As part of this work Jonzi’s company Jonzi D Productions is committed to creating and touring original Hip Hop theatre that promotes the continuing development and awareness of a nation with its own language, culture and currency that exists without borders. Through the deployment of a universal voice from the local streets of Johannesburg and the East End of London, Jonzi D creates a form of highly energized performance that elevates Hip Hop as great democratiser between the highly developed global and under resourced local in the world. It is the staging of this democratised and technologised future (and present), that poses the greatest challenge for the scenographer working with Jonzi and his company, and the associated deprogramming and translation of the artists particular filmic vision to the stage, that this discussion will explore. This paper interrogates not only how a scenographic strategy can support the existence of this work but also how the scenographer as outsider can enter and influence this nation.

Research training and national innovation systems in Australia, Finland and the United States : a policy and systems study supported by 30 case studies of research students in the fields of geospatial science, wireless communication, biosciences, and materials science and engineering

Reforms to the national research and research training system by the Commonwealth Government of Australia sought to effectively connect research conducted in universities to Australia's national innovation system. Research training has a key role in ensuring an adequate supply of highly skilled people for the national innovation system. During their studies, research students produce and disseminate a massive amount of new knowledge. Prior to this study, there was no research that examined the contribution of research training to Australia's national innovation system despite the existence of policy initiatives aiming to enhance this contribution. Given Australia's below average (but improving) innovation performance compared to other OECD countries, the inclusion of Finland and the United States provided further insights into the key research question. This study examined three obvious ways that research training contributes to the national innovation systems in the three countries: the international mobility and migration of research students and graduates, knowledge production and distribution by research students, and the impact of research training as advanced human capital formation on economic growth. Findings have informed the concept of a research training culture of innovation that aims to enhance the contribution of research training to Australia's national innovation system. Key features include internationally competitive research and research training environments; research training programs that equip students with economically-relevant knowledge and the capabilities required by employers operating in knowledge-based economies; attractive research careers in different sectors; a national commitment to R&D as indicated by high levels of gross and business R&D expenditure; high private and social rates of return from research training; and the horizontal coordination of key organisations that create policy for, and/or invest in research training.

Cross culture comparison of tax morale and tax compliance : evidence from Costa Rica and Switzerland

This paper analyzes the effects of internal and external social norms on tax morale and tax compliance behavior. Field data and data derived from laboratory experiments are used to examine tax morale and tax compliance behavior in Costa Rica and Switzerland. The results indicate that internal and external social norms have a significant effect on tax morale and tax compliance.

The culture of the Christian school

In discussions of educational administration theory, school culture has emerged as a contentious construct characterized by polarized positions. The underlying tensions are between conflicting structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives. These have led to views of Christian school culture and school organization as being either, on the one hand, static, positivist, hierarchical, individualistic and capitalistic or, on the other, dynamic, coherentist, communally interdependent, service oriented and Christ-centered. All schools demonstrate an ethos or organizational culture by default if not by design. It is therefore imperative for Christian school administrators, educators, and the community to consciously define the aspects of school culture that reflect the shared biblical values of the Christian school community.

Evaluation of community participation for the development of culture-based fisheries in village reservoirs of Sri Lanka

In this paper an attempt is made to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of a community that influences the development and management of culture-based fisheries in village reservoirs of Sri Lanka. Socioeconomic data were collected from 46 agricultural farming communities associated with 47 village reservoirs in Sri Lanka. Principal component analysis indicated that scores of the first principal component were positively influenced by socioeconomic characteristics that are favorable for making collective decisions. These included leadership of the officers, age of the group, percentage of active members of the group, percentage of kinship of the group, percentage of common interest of the group, and percentage of participation of the group. The size of the group had negative effect on the first principal component. The principal component scores of communication were positively related to willingness to pay (P< 0.001). The communities with socioeconomic characteristics favouring collective decision making were in favor of culture-based fisheries. Homogeneity of group characteristics facilitated successful development of culture-based fisheries.

State of the arts and innovation : before and after the review of the national innovation system

This article examines the relationship between the arts and national innovation policy in Australia, pivoting around the Venturous Australia report released in September 2008 as part of the Review of the National Innovation System (RNIS). This came at a time of optimism that the arts sector would be included in Australia’s federal innovation policy. However, despite the report’s broad vision for innovation and specific commentary on the arts, the more ambitious hopes of arts sector advocates remained unfulfilled. This article examines the entwining discourses of creativity and innovation which emerged globally and in Australia prior to the RNIS, before analysing Venturous Australia in terms of the arts and the ongoing science-and-technology bias to innovation policy. It ends by considering why sector-led policy research and lobbying has to date proved unsuccessful and then suggests what public policy development is now needed.