Investigative Essentials for Journalists in Multicultural and Diverse Communities

This chapter describes how investigative journalism can uncover news that often goes unreported about personalities, problems, ways of life and pressing issues in ethnic and religious sub-communities. While investigative journalism is traditionally understood as reporting that exposes corrupt, inefficient, incompetent or other inappropriate conduct in politics and business circles, investigative reporters do far more than that. They also map human activities, landmarks, patterns and changes in the landscape, and connections across the whole of society. This type of investigative journalism can improve reporting of ethnic and religious sub-communities via identification, deep observation and analysis of trends, events, and issues that would otherwise remain hidden or obscured. The chapter includes details of techniques that investigative journalists can employ to identify interesting topics, find sources of information, analyse data and issues, and report compelling stories.

Knowledge management in criminal investigation : empirical examination and re-conceptualisation of dean's investigative thinking styles

This thesis explored the current state of knowledge management in policing. A psychometric instrument was created and validated for use within police agencies as a means of facilitating the capture and transferral of critical investigative knowledge. The aim is to ensure that investigative expertise is not lost when detectives retire or leave the service. Improved knowledge management strategies that rely on this psychometric instrument can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness in criminal investigation.

Investigative journalism in a socially networked world

This article explores how investigative journalists can join the network society by moving online, collaborating with other reporters and media outlets across regions and across national borders, yet publishing in newspapers which arguably remain the central stage of the public sphere (Carson, 2013). A better understanding of the potential of social media and web-based communications for undertaking journalistic investigations can lead to the adoption of a global perspective, enriching local, regional and national stories (Berglez, 2013). The research and collaboration for a transnational story published simultaneously in The Australian and collaboration in London in 2013 may provide insights into the potential for the use of social media platforms and web-based communications for finding stories, collaborating and following stories into the social media to find leads to follow-up stories. This article questions whether the synergies between mainstream media and social media platforms may yield potentially high impact stories for major masthead newspapers and thus contribute to their sustainability. Connectivity with news sources has always been an important resource for journalists. Online networks may have the potential to expand the range of voices that can be heard and the issues that can be covered.

Transmedia Storytelling: From Interviewing to Multi-Platform

There is nothing new under the sun – so the saying goes, and in a digital age of recording oral histories, this holds true. Despite advances and innovations across the board in information and communication technology in the field of oral history it is essentially only the devices we record on that have changed. However, what has emerged is a plethora of ways that oral history interviews can be used to produce multimedia, or transmedia storytelling outputs- for exhibitions in public institutions, schools and by communities to engage interested groups, and in families and by individuals wanting to play with new ways of telling their family stories and histories. In 2010, QUT’s Creative Industries introduced a postgraduate unit called Transmedia Storytelling: From Interviewing to Multi-Platform, which was the first postgraduate course of its kind in Australia. Based in a Creative Writing discipline, but open to all coursework Masters, PhD, Research Masters and Doctorate of Creative Industries students, this unit introduces students to the theory and practice of semi-structured interviewing techniques, oral history conventions and applications, and the art of storytelling across various platforms.

Investigative trends in understanding penalty-kick performance in association football: An ecological dynamics perspective

There have been different approaches to studying penalty-kick performance in association football. In this paper, the authors synthesize key findings within an ecological dynamics theoretical framework. According to this theoretical perspective, information is the cornerstone for understanding the dynamics of action regulation in penalty-kick performance. Research suggests that investigators need to identify the information sources that are most relevant to penalty-kick performance. An important task is to understand how constraints can channel (i.e. change, emphasize or mask) information sources used to regulate upcoming actions and how the influence of these constraints is expressed in players' behavioural dynamics. Due to the broad range of constraints influencing penalty-kick performance, it is recommended that future research adopts an interdisciplinary focus on performance assessment to overcome the current lack of representativeness in penalty-kick experimental designs. Such an approach would serve to capture the information-based control of action of both players as components of this dyadic system in competitive sport.

Investigative relevance

Criminal profiling is one tool available to investigative agencies that may assist in narrowing suspect pools, linking crimes, providing relevant leads and new investigative strategies, and keeping the overall investigation on track (Turvey, 2008). However, like a flashlight in a darkened room, profiling may not always provide valuable assistance if it shines in the wrong direction or fails to shine at all. In a perfect world, profiles are intended to provide investigators with a set of refined characteristics of the offender for a crime or a crime series that will assist their efforts. In contrast, it could be argued that profiles are not intended to provide information that may be irrelevant, unclear, confusing, or distracting to these efforts. Any information provided within the profile that does not assist in narrowing suspect pools or providing new avenues of inquiry is left open to misinterpretation and is therefore potentially damaging (Turvey, 2008). The degree to which information provided in a profile can actually be utilized by investigators to meet their goals is known as investigative relevance...

Critical incident technique and explicitation interviewing in studies of information behavior

Urquhart, C., Light, A., Thomas, R., Barker, A., Yeoman, A., Cooper, J., Armstrong, C., Fenton, R., Lonsdale, R. & Spink, S. (2003). Critical incident technique and explicitation interviewing in studies of information behavior. Library and Information Science Research, 25(1), 63-88. Sponsorship: JISC (for JUSTEIS element)

Guidance on interviewing child witnesses in Scotland

The guidance was commissioned from Dr Amina Memon and Lynn Hulse at Aberdeen University. Their work was overseen by a steering group with representatives from the Scottish Executive Justice Department, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, NCH Scotland, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Association of Directors of Social Work, the Law Society for Scotland, the Scottish Association of Community Child Health and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. A full list of those involved is given in the Appendix C. pt. 1. Guidance on interviewing child witnesses in Scotland -- pt. 2. Guidance on the questioning of children in court -- pt. 3. Lord Justice-General's memorandum on child witnesses: appendix to Guidance on the questioning of children in court -- pt. 4. Guidance on child witness court familiarisation visits -- pt. 5. Information about child, young and vulnerable adult witnesses to inform decision-making in the legal process: good practice guide -- pt. 6. Code of practice to facilitate the provision of therapeutic support to child witnesses in court proceedings -- pt. 7. Guidance on the conduct of identity parades with child witnesses.

Interviewing children with acquired brain injury (ABI).

Research into the lives of children with acquired brain injury (ABI) often neglects to incorporate children as participants, preferring to obtain the opinions of the adult carer (e.g. McKinlay et al., 2002). There has been a concerted attempt to move away from this position by those working in children’s research with current etiquette highlighting the inclusion of children and the use of a child-friendly methodology (Chappell, 2000). Children with disabilities can represent a challenge to the qualitative researcher due to the combination of maintaining the child’s attention and the demands placed on them by their disability. The focus of this article is to discuss possible impediments to interviewing children with acquired brain injury (ABI) and provide an insight into how the qualitative researcher may address these.