La literatura juvenil publicada en Portugal: de las grandes tiradas comerciales a la interacción en la Web 2.0

Este artículo explica los cambios que Internet ha introducido en la lectura de textos juveniles y en la promoción de estos a partir de epitextos públicos virtuales u onlines como los blogs, los foros de lectura y los Booktrailers. Estas nuevas formas de lectura suponen un nuevo tipo de interacción entre el autor del texto y el lector, quienes comparten informaciones en espacios digitales de lectura sobre el contenido e interpretación de la obra literaria. Un ejemplo concreto de este nuevo tipo de interacción lectora es la obra literaria, publicada en Portugal, A revolta dos sátiros (2014), de Ana Soares y Bárbara Wong. A partir de un password, el lector de este texto juvenil puede acceder a un espacio virtual en el que conocerá la continuación de esta, accederá a informaciones muy diversas sobre el texto literario y podrá interaccionar con el autor y los lectores de este texto juvenil.

O TERRITÓRIO CITRICULTOR E O TRABALHO INFANTO-JUVENIL NO CENTRO-SUL DE SERGIPE/BRASIL

O território citricultor de Sergipe passa por transformações decorrentes de relações capitalistas de trabalho no meio rural, combinadas com o uso do trabalho familiar e da mão de obra infantil. Partindo deste pressuposto, busca-se analisar como se dão as relações de trabalho infanto-juvenil na atividade citrícola, considerando o processo de re(des)territorialização e a precarização do uso e abuso da força de trabalho ilegal, bem como investigar o desenvolvimento da citricultura na região e os impactos socioeconômicos causados à população. Este estudo, oriundo de trabalho de doutorado, fundamenta-se em pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, propiciando identificar questionamentos, sugestões, problemas e alternativas socioeconômicos. A investigação permitiu traçar a reconfiguração territorial do trabalho infantil no centro-sul sergipano, tendo como referência a atividade citrícola e a permanência da força de trabalho de crianças e adolescentes, inclusive como estratégia das famílias para subsistência das unidades de produção dentro do capitalismo. Constataram-se questões relativas à modernização agrícola e ao uso do território, espacialmente diversificados, independentemente da escala, sem apresentarem a mesma dinamicidade; a citricultura sergipana permanece em crise, apesar de políticas agrícolas específicas; o setor continua ressentindo-se de políticas eficazes e distributivas que proporcionem condições dignas para a sustentação das famílias e erradicação desta forma de trabalho. 

Características vegetativas de híbridos interespecíficos entre o caiaué e o dendezeiro na fase juvenil, em área de ocorrência de amarelecimento fatal.

A dendeicultura é uma cultura de grande importância sócio-econômica no Estado do Pará e tem alto potencial de crescimento no Brasil em decorrência de sua demanda de óleo, elevada produtividade e competitividade. A dendeicultura tem sido ameaçada pela ocorrência do amarelecimento fatal (AF), desordem de etiologia desconhecida que já devastou milhares de hectares de dendezeiro. Não existe fonte de resistência ao AF relatada no dendezeiro, mas sabe-se que o caiaué, espécie nativa da América, é resistente e transfere essa resistência aos híbridos interespecíficos F1 entre caiaué e dendezeiro (HIE OxG). O objetivo do estudo foi analisar o desenvolvimento vegetativo de uma população de HIE OxG, em área de ocorrência de AF. Esta população de HIE OxG apresentou desenvolvimento vegetativo compatíveis aos relatos bibliográficos de outras localidades. A característica agronômica vegetativa mais importante, crescimento em altura, nesta população de HIE OxG foi muito superior ao relatado para o dendezeiro.

Seres Encantados em Conferência no Cerrado Mato-Grossense: Um Reconto Infanto-Juvenil

Conferência no Cerrado é uma narrativa infanto-juvenil escrita por Durval de França e Cristina Campos (2008), com ilustrações de Ricardo Leite. A obra abrange o folclore mato-grossense e a sua temática é voltada para questões ambientais. Os seres encantados que a compõem são: Currupira, Pé de Garrafa, Negrinho D’Água, Mãe do Morro, Tibanaré e Boitatá. Considerando essa temática cultural e o seu caráter sensibilizador para as questões ambientais, torna-se propício e gratificante realizar um trabalho em que se possa ponderar a premência e os desafios do incentivo à leitura aos estudantes no contexto atual. Dessarte, os objetivos dessa pesquisa-ação constituem-se em: refletir a importância da literatura infanto-juvenil, apresentar a obra Conferência no Cerrado e expor uma sequência básica realizada com essa obra, assim como os seus resultados. Essa sequência foi desenvolvida com nove alunos do 9º ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública da cidade de Alta Floresta, do estado de Mato Grosso. A metodologia de sequência proposta por Cosson (2014) direcionou as atividades que culminaram no reconto da obra em salas de aula do ensino fundamental I e II, mediante estudantes caracterizados de seres lendários. Os resultados demonstraram que é cada vez maior o desafio de motivar os estudantes para a leitura e usufruto da literatura. Porém, percebeu-se que o movimento em prol desse incentivo é benéfico e contribui para o ensino-aprendizagem da literatura na escola.

A Literatura Juvenil e o Fenômeno Crossover: Uma Leitura de Limite Branco, de Caio Fernando Abreu

O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo verificar como o fenômeno da literatura crossover evidencia-se em Limite Branco, primeiro romance de Caio Fernando Abreu. Intenta-se demonstrar como por meio das temáticas fraturantes que veicula, bem como pelo emprego de estratégias narrativas sofisticadas, a obra ultrapassa o endereçamento a um público específico, desafiando o leitor de diferentes faixas etárias e experiências de vida e de leitura.

Censura na Literatura Infantil e Juvenil: Entre Livros e Labaredas

O presente ensaio nasce com o objetivo de travar uma discussão entre o surgimento da literatura infantil em terras brasileiras e persistência da censura no que tange o referido sistema literário, posto que infelizmente, ainda hoje, para muitos, a literatura infantil e a juvenil deve ter a função de ensinar de acordo com a “moral” de alguns grupos sociais. Ademais, nos interessa trazer a leitura de três obras literárias que possuem como elo a queima a livros em diferentes contextos históricos e sociais, sendo elas: O mágico de verdade(2008) de Gustavo Bernardo, Beto, o analfabeto(2008), de Drummond Amorin e Assassinato na Biblioteca(2009) de Helena Gomes, argumentamos que as queimas de livros ficcionais dialogam veementemente com a dificuldade de acesso a obras literárias em escolas públicas brasileiras e o descaso de governantes a fim de alimentarem políticas de Estados que assegurem que os alunos cadastrados em escolas públicas brasileiras tenham acesso a obra de qualidade estética. Para tanto, nos apoiaremos em trabalhos pioneiros acerca da história do livro, tais como Uma história da leitura (1997), Alberto Manguel e História da Leitura (2006), Steven R. Fischer, a fim de validarmos que queimar livros sempre foi uma prática dos detentores do poder.

História da Literatura Infanto-Juvenil e a Influência Digital: da Criação da Infância ao Desenvolvimento do Livro Interativo

 A literatura infanto-juvenil surgiu com a criação da ideia de infância. Hoje, ela se apresenta a partir de adaptações de obras literárias em livros interativos fazendo-se valer de ferramentas e suportes tecnológicos atuais. Neste artigo, propomos uma retomada à história da literatura infanto-juvenil – a partir de autores como Zilberman (1985;1987) e Ariés (1985) –  e uma análise de seu diálogo contemporâneo com as novas mídias digitais – a partir de autores como Bolter & Grusin (2000). Para tanto, discorreremos desde a criação da infância até a criação do livro interativo, perpassando a questão da literatura como mídia e seu dialogo intermidiático com novas tecnologias.

The exploration of consumer power in online brand communities : a comparison case study in Australia and China

Aided by the development of information technology, the balance of power in the market place is rapidly shifting from marketers towards consumers and nowhere is this more obvious than in the online environment (Denegri-Knott, Zwick, & Schroeder, 2006; Moynagh & Worsley, 2002; Newcomer, 2000; Samli, 2001). From the inception and continuous development of the Internet, consumers are becoming more empowered. They can choose what they want to click on the Internet, they can shop and transact payments, watch and download video, chat with others, be it friends or even total strangers. Especially in online communities, like-minded consumers share and exchange information, ideas and opinions. One form of online community is the online brand community, which gathers specific brand lovers. As with any social unit, people form different roles in the community and exert different effects on each other. Their interaction online can greatly influence the brand and marketers. A comprehensive understanding of the operation of this special group form is essential to advancing marketing thought and practice (Kozinets, 1999). While online communities have strongly shifted the balance of power from marketers to consumers, the current marketing literature is sparse on power theory (Merlo, Whitwell, & Lukas, 2004). Some studies have been conducted from an economic point of view (Smith, 1987), however their application to marketing has been limited. Denegri-Knott (2006) explored power based on the struggle between consumers and marketers online and identified consumer power formats such as control over the relationship, information, aggregation and participation. Her study has built a foundation for future power studies in the online environment. This research project bridges the limited marketing literature on power theory with the growing recognition of online communities among marketing academics and practitioners. Specifically, this study extends and redefines consumer power by exploring the concept of power in online brand communities, in order to better understand power structure and distribution in this context. This research investigates the applicability of the factors of consumer power identified by Denegri-Knott (2006) to the online brand community. In addition, by acknowledging the model proposed by McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig (2002), which emphasized that community study should focus on the role of consumers and identifying multiple relationships among the community, this research further explores how member role changes will affect power relationships as well as consumer likings of the brand. As a further extension to the literature, this study also considers cultural differences and their effect on community member roles and power structure. Based on the study of Hofstede (1980), Australia and China were chosen as two distinct samples to represent differences in two cultural dimensions, namely individualism verses collectivism and high power distance verses low power distance. This contribution to the research also helps answer the research gap identified by Muñiz Jr & O'Guinn (2001), who pointed out the lack of cross cultural studies within the online brand community context. This research adopts a case study methodology to investigate the issues identified above. Case study is an appropriate research strategy to answer “how” and “why” questions of a contemporary phenomenon in real-life context (Yin, 2003). The online brand communities of “Haloforum.net” in Australia and “NGA.cn” in China were selected as two cases. In-depth interviews were used as the primary data collection method. As a result of the geographical dispersion and the preference of a certain number of participants, online synchronic interviews via MSN messenger were utilized along with the face-to-face interviews. As a supplementary approach, online observation was carried over two months, covering a two week period prior to the interviews and a six week period following the interviews. Triangulation techniques were used to strengthen the credibility and validity of the research findings (Yin, 2003). The findings of this research study suggest a new definition of power in an online brand community. This research also redefines the consumer power types and broadens the brand community model developed by McAlexander et al. (2002) in an online context by extending the various relationships between brand and members. This presents a more complete picture of how the perceived power relationships are structured in the online brand community. A new member role is discovered in the Australian online brand community in addition to the four member roles identified by Kozinets (1999), in contrast however, all four roles do not exist in the Chinese online brand community. The research proposes a model which links the defined power types and identified member roles. Furthermore, given the results of the cross-cultural comparison between Australia and China showed certain discrepancies, the research suggests that power studies in the online brand community should be country-specific. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on online consumer power, by applying it to the context of an online brand community, as well as considering factors such as cross cultural difference. Importantly, it provides insights for marketing practitioners on how to best leverage consumer power to serve brand objective in online brand communities. This, in turn, should lead to more cost effective and successful communication strategies. Finally, the study proposes future research directions. The research should be extended to communities of different sizes, to different extents of marketer control over the community, to the connection between online and offline activities within the brand community, and (given the cross-cultural findings) to different countries. In addition, a greater amount of research in this area is recommended to determine the generalizability of this study.

Buying a sponsor’s brand : the role of affective commitment to the sponsored team

Sponsorship is increasingly important in a firm’s communication mix. Research to date has focused on the impact of sponsorship on brand awareness and its subsequent consequences for image congruency and consumer attitudes towards sponsors’ brands. A lesser studied area is the effect of sponsorship on consumers’ purchase intentions and behaviours. We argue that existing models of sponsorship driven purchase behaviour fail to account for affective commitment, which mediates relationship between affiliation with the team and social identification with the team. We propose a modified framework describing the effect of sponsorship on purchase intentions in the context of low and high performing sports teams. The framework is tested using structural equations modelling; employing PLS estimation and data collected via online survey of AFL chat room participants. Results confirm the role of affective commitment in sport sponsorship purchase intentions and indicate that team success has a significant influence on fans’ purchase behaviours.

University library virtual reference services : best practices and continuous improvement

The inclusion or not of chat services within Virtual Reference (VR) is an important topic for university libraries. Increasingly, email supported by a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database is suggested in the scholarly literature as the preferred, cost-effective means for providing university VR services. This paper examines these issues and identifies some best practices for university library VR services relating to chat and email service, collaborative service provision, services staffing, and staff training. Further studies are required to more completely identify best practices for the complete range of VR services.

Teachers making connections : online communities as a source of professional learning

The impact of the Internet on our lives has been pervasive. People are increasingly turning to the social interaction available on the Internet to satisfy their needs, whether these are professional or personal. The Internet offers users fast access to social contacts such as online chat groups and discussion lists,helping us to make connections with others. Online communities are being increasingly used by teachers for professional support, guidance and inspiration. These are often organised around subject areas and offer teachers opportunities to develop both personally and professionally. Online communities may present as a source of continuous professional development for teachers as they are able to deliver authentic and personalised opportunities for learning. This paper will present the findings of a study that was conducted on three online communities for teachers. It will explore the nature of online community membership and offer some conclusions regarding their potential as a source of professional learning for teachers.

The understanding of avatar design : various types and styles of avatars and the design considerations

People have adopted various formats of media such as graphics, photo and text (nickname) in order to represent themselves when communicate with others online. Avatar is known as a visual form representing a user oneself and one's identity wished. Its form can vary from a two-dimensional model to a three-dimensional model, and can be visualised with various visual forms and styles. In general, two-dimensional images including an animated image are used in online forum communities and live chat software; while three-dimensional models are often used in computer games. Avatar design is often regarded as a graphic designer's visual image creation or a user's output based on one's personal preference, yet it often causes the avatar design having no consideration of its practical visual design and users' interactive communication experience aspects. This paper will review various types and styles of avatar and discuss about avatar design from visual design and online user experience perspectives. It aims to raise a design discourse in avatar design and build up a well-articulated set of design principles for effective avatar design.

It's All About Connections: Teachers, Online Communities and PD

The impact of the Internet on our lives has been pervasive. People are increasingly turning to the social interaction available on the Internet to satisfy their needs, whether these are professional or personal. The Internet offers users fast access to social contacts such as online chat groups and discussion lists helping us to make connections with others. Online communities are being increasingly used by teachers for professional support, guidance and inspiration. They present as a source of continuous professional development for teachers as they are able to deliver authentic and personalised opportunities for learning. This book will present the findings of a study that was conducted on three online communities for teachers. It will explore the nature of online community membership and offer some conclusions regarding their potential as a source of professional learning for teachers.

Buying a sponsor's brand : the role of affective commitment to the sponsored team

Sponsorship is increasingly important in a firm's communication mix. Research to date has focused on the impact of sponsorship on brand awareness and its subsequent consequences for image congruency and consumer attitudes towards sponsors' brands. A lesser studied area is the effect of sponsorship on consumers' purchase intentions and behaviours. We argue that existing models of sponsorship driven purchase behaviour fail to account for affective commitment, which mediates relationship between affiliation with the team and social identification with the team. We propose a modified framework describing the effect of sponsorship on purchase intentions in the context of low and high performing sports teams. The framework is tested using structural equations modelling; employing PLS estimation and data collected via online survey of AFL chat room participants. Results confirm the role of affective commitment in sport sponsorship purchase intentions and indicate that team success has a significant influence on fans' purchase behaviours.

A criminological analysis : using real-time monitoring to gather data on online predators

The Internet presents a constantly evolving frontier for criminology and policing, especially in relation to online predators – paedophiles operating within the Internet for safer access to children, child pornography and networking opportunities with other online predators. The goals of this qualitative study are to undertake behavioural research – identify personality types and archetypes of online predators and compare and contrast them with behavioural profiles and other psychological research on offline paedophiles and sex offenders. It is also an endeavour to gather intelligence on the technological utilisation of online predators and conduct observational research on the social structures of online predator communities. These goals were achieved through the covert monitoring and logging of public activity within four Internet Relay Chat(rooms) (IRC) themed around child sexual abuse and which were located on the Undernet network. Five days of monitoring was conducted on these four chatrooms between Wednesday 1 to Sunday 5 April 2009; this raw data was collated and analysed. The analysis identified four personality types – the gentleman predator, the sadist, the businessman and the pretender – and eight archetypes consisting of the groomers, dealers, negotiators, roleplayers, networkers, chat requestors, posters and travellers. The characteristics and traits of these personality types and archetypes, which were extracted from the literature dealing with offline paedophiles and sex offenders, are detailed and contrasted against the online sexual predators identified within the chatrooms, revealing many similarities and interesting differences particularly with the businessman and pretender personality types. These personality types and archetypes were illustrated by selecting users who displayed the appropriate characteristics and tracking them through the four chatrooms, revealing intelligence data on the use of proxies servers – especially via the Tor software – and other security strategies such as Undernet’s host masking service. Name and age changes, which is used as a potential sexual grooming tactic was also revealed through the use of Analyst’s Notebook software and information on ISP information revealed the likelihood that many online predators were not using any safety mechanism and relying on the anonymity of the Internet. The activities of these online predators were analysed, especially in regards to child sexual grooming and the ‘posting’ of child pornography, which revealed a few of the methods in which online predators utilised new Internet technologies to sexually groom and abuse children – using technologies such as instant messengers, webcams and microphones – as well as store and disseminate illegal materials on image sharing websites and peer-to-peer software such as Gigatribe. Analysis of the social structures of the chatrooms was also carried out and the community functions and characteristics of each chatroom explored. The findings of this research have indicated several opportunities for further research. As a result of this research, recommendations are given on policy, prevention and response strategies with regards to online predators.