an article by Philipp Wolfgang Lichtenthaler and Andrea Fischbach (Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Munster, Germany) published i Career Development International Volume 21 Issue 5 (2016)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting impacts the motivation of older employees to continue working beyond retirement age. The authors hypothesised that promotion-focused job crafting (i.e. increasing social and structural job resources, and challenging job demands) relates positively and prevention-focussed job crafting (i.e. decreasing hindering job demands) relates negatively with motivation to continue working after reaching the official retirement age, and that these relationships are sequential mediated by work sense of coherence and burnout.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 229 older employees (mean age=55.77) were analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Promotion-focused job crafting was positively and prevention-focused job crafting was negatively related with employees’ work sense of coherence, which was predictive of employees’ burnout, which in turn was predictive of motivation to continue working beyond retirement age.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the cross-sectional study design, the results unfold how promotion- and prevention-focused job crafting are related with motivation to continue working beyond retirement age through work sense of coherence and burnout.
Practical implications
Given today’s ageing and shrinking workforce, older employees working beyond their official retirement age are a necessity for organisations’ functional capability. The results suggest that organisations should encourage employees’ promotion-focused job crafting and limit prevention-focused job crafting. Promotion-focused job crafting facilitates employees’ work sense of coherence, which keeps them healthy and motivates older employees to continue working beyond retirement age.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literatures on job crafting and motivation to continue working beyond retirement age and explicates intervening processes in this relationship.
Monday, 31 October 2016
Friday, 28 October 2016
Be a glitch in our benefits system, and the punishment is to starve
Faceless bureaucrats are tipping claimants into hunger.
so says Julia Rampen in New Statement (The Staggers)
So it’s official. If anyone still doubted that benefit sanctions are linked to food bank usage, a study by the University of Oxford and the Trussell Trust has found “a strong, dynamic relationship exists” between the number of sanctions in local authorities, and the number of adults receiving emergency food parcels.
Continue reading
so says Julia Rampen in New Statement (The Staggers)
So it’s official. If anyone still doubted that benefit sanctions are linked to food bank usage, a study by the University of Oxford and the Trussell Trust has found “a strong, dynamic relationship exists” between the number of sanctions in local authorities, and the number of adults receiving emergency food parcels.
Continue reading
Growing up before their time: The early adultification experiences of homeless young people
Rachel M. Schmitz and Kimberly A. Tyler (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 64 (May 2016)
Highlights
• Early adultification among 40 homeless youth is qualitatively explored.
• Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility.
• Early independence forced young people to provide for their own needs.
• Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of childcare once they left home.
Abstract
This paper explores the experiences of early adultification among 40 homeless youth aged 19 to 21. Findings from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews revealed the experiences of early adultification among homeless young people. We used both initial and focused coding and the final qualitative themes emerged naturally from the data.
Early adultification encompassed the following processes, which were closely tied to prominent descriptions of family conflict and caregiver neglect: premature caregiving, early independence and parenthood.
Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility such as caring for younger siblings prior to their leaving home.
Early independence occurred when young people provided for their own needs in the absence of caregiver guidance when they were still residing with family.
Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of caring for an infant once they left home.
Early adultification complicated participants' experiences with leaving home by imbuing them with premature independence and familial detachment. Identifying the unique aspects surrounding young people's lives prior to and after leaving home is crucial in preventing residential instability and in alleviating the issues that homeless young adults experience.
Highlights
• Early adultification among 40 homeless youth is qualitatively explored.
• Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility.
• Early independence forced young people to provide for their own needs.
• Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of childcare once they left home.
Abstract
This paper explores the experiences of early adultification among 40 homeless youth aged 19 to 21. Findings from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews revealed the experiences of early adultification among homeless young people. We used both initial and focused coding and the final qualitative themes emerged naturally from the data.
Early adultification encompassed the following processes, which were closely tied to prominent descriptions of family conflict and caregiver neglect: premature caregiving, early independence and parenthood.
Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility such as caring for younger siblings prior to their leaving home.
Early independence occurred when young people provided for their own needs in the absence of caregiver guidance when they were still residing with family.
Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of caring for an infant once they left home.
Early adultification complicated participants' experiences with leaving home by imbuing them with premature independence and familial detachment. Identifying the unique aspects surrounding young people's lives prior to and after leaving home is crucial in preventing residential instability and in alleviating the issues that homeless young adults experience.
Thursday, 27 October 2016
No trivia here, ten meaty items (well, maybe two of them aren't meaty)
The meatiest roles for women were written thousands of years ago
via Prospero by E.W.
Those ancient Greeks could teach Hollywood a thing or two
On the bloodied Boeotian plains outside the seven gates of Thebes, Ismene struggles to persuade her sister Antigone to obey the edict of their uncle Kreon, the new head of state: “We’re girls,” she cries. “Girls cannot force their way against men.” Antigone will have none of it. She is determined to perform the sacred burial rites for her brother, Polyneikes, who was slain in a brutal civil war when he refused to relinquish the throne. Having deemed Polyneikes an enemy of the state, Kreon forbids any citizen from mourning his corpse. But Antigone is not easily cowed by the seemingly arbitrary decrees of men.
Continue reading
===================================
From Punch Cards to Holograms – A Short History of Data Storage
via MUO by Bryan Clark
In the world of data storage, there have been numerous breakthroughs, and even more flops that went absolutely nowhere. For every successful piece of data storage technology, there have been dozens more that were laughably bad.
Let’s take a look at some of the technologies that shaped modern data storage, as well as where we go from here.
Continue reading
===================================
Gershwin and color: how blue is the Rhapsody?
via OUP Blog by Olivia Mattis
Everyone knows George Gershwin as a composer, songwriter, pianist and icon of American music. But few know of his connections to the world of paintings and fine art. As a practising artist himself, Gershwin produced over 100 paintings, drawings, and photographs, most famously including his portrait of Arnold Schoenberg. “He was in love with colour and his palette in paint closely resembled the color of his music. Juxtaposition of greens, blues, sanguines, chromes, and greys, fascinated him,” recalled Merle Armitage. “Of course I can paint!” Gershwin was said to have told his girlfriend Rosamond Walling, an aspiring landscape painter. “If you have talent you can do anything. I have a lot of talent,” he added.
Continue reading
===================================
Charlie Chaplin’s scandalous life and boundless artistry
via Arts & Letters Daily: Richard Brody in The New Yorker
The most un-put-downable movie book of the season is also the most un-pick-uppable one: The Charlie Chaplin Archives (Taschen), which is the size of a small suitcase and weighs in at fourteen pounds, packed tightly with five hundred and sixty pages’ worth of thick and glossy paper bearing a treasure trove of superbly printed images alongside a relentlessly fascinating collage-like textual biography of Chaplin. It’s an apt tribute to the filmmaker, whose artistry transcends the cinema and spans world-historical dimensions.
Continue reading
===================================
Why can't we stop for death?
via 3 Quarks Daily: John Grey in New Statesman
When he was entering what he knew would be the final stage of his terminal illness, Bob Monkhouse used to joke that the terrible thing about dying was how stiff it left you feeling the next day. There is something pleasantly cavalier in the comedian’s quip. Why make a tragedy of something that will happen to us all? Perhaps we’d be wiser if we didn’t think of death at all, but instead – as the philosopher Spinoza recommended – only of life.
But that kind of wisdom seems to be beyond our capacity.
The human preoccupation with death is pervasive and universal, and every society offers remedies for the anxiety that the fact of mortality evokes. Religions have their afterlives, while secular faiths offer continuity with some larger entity – nations, political projects, the human species, a process of cosmic evolution – to stave off the painful certainty of oblivion. In their own lives, human beings struggle to create an image of themselves that they can project into the world. Careers and families prolong the sense of self beyond the grave. Acts of exceptional heroism and death-defying extreme sports serve a similar impulse. By leaving a mark, we can feel we are not just fleeting individuals who will soon be dead and then forgotten.
Continue reading
===================================
The Trouble with Theories of Everything: There is no known physics theory that is true at every scale – there may never be
via Arts & Letters Daily: Lawrence M. Krauss in Nautilus
Whenever you say anything about your daily life, a scale is implied. Try it out. “I’m too busy” only works for an assumed time scale: today, for example, or this week. Not this century or this nanosecond. “Taxes are onerous” only makes sense for a certain income range. And so on.
Surely the same restriction doesn’t hold true in science, you might say. After all, for centuries after the introduction of the scientific method, conventional wisdom held that there were theories that were absolutely true for all scales, even if we could never be empirically certain of this in advance. Newton’s universal law of gravity, for example, was, after all, universal! It applied to falling apples and falling planets alike, and accounted for every significant observation made under the sun, and over it as well.
Continue reading
===================================
New Database of Fictional Characters
via RB Firehose
“If you never see me again, it’s BoingBoing’s fault. It hipped me to a new database of fictional characters. ‘Basically CharacTour is an expansive online database for fictional characters. Like Facebook or a dating website, each character gets their own profile page. So far the site has over 4,500 spoiler-free profiles about characters’ origins, interests, skills, and journeys. Not only can you search for your favorites, you can find new characters to love as well.’
Jo March and Tony Stark were in the database, while Eve Dallas and Dirk Struan weren’t.“
Nor was Anne Shirley included
===================================
Scientific Revolutions in Optics Made Vermeer a Revolutionary Painter
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
Why do Vermeer’s paintings fascinate us so? Perhaps the reason lies behind a revolution in seeing in both art and science rooted in Vermeer’s 17th century Holland. During the heyday of tiny Holland’s position as a world power, in the city of Delft resided two remarkable men – the painter Johannes Vermeer and the scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. While Vermeer painted images that changed forever how people see the world with their own eyes, Leeuwenhoek peered through microscopes to discover worlds only visible through technology. In Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Revolution in Seeing, historian-philosopher Laura J. Snyder connects these two pioneers – born days apart, living close by all their lives, reunited in Vermeer’s death – to demonstrate how both modern art and modern science were born in that tiny city of Delft.
Continue reading
===================================
Yuval Noah Harari: the theatre of terror
via Arts & Letters Daily: Yuval Noah Harari in The Guardian
A fragment of the cockpit of the Pan Am Boeing 747 that exploded over the village of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988. Photograph: Letkey/AFP
Terrorists have almost no military strength so they create a spectacle. How should states respond? The author of Sapiens, a history of humanity, reflects on the past, and alarming future, of the fear factor.
Continue reading
===================================
Strangers Know What You Look Like Better Than You Do
via Big Think by Natalie Shoemaker
We’re bad at picking out pictures of ourselves that represent our true likeness, according to a new study. So, next time you’re picking out a picture for your dating profile, it may be better to get someone else to do it for you.
Continue reading
via Prospero by E.W.
Those ancient Greeks could teach Hollywood a thing or two
On the bloodied Boeotian plains outside the seven gates of Thebes, Ismene struggles to persuade her sister Antigone to obey the edict of their uncle Kreon, the new head of state: “We’re girls,” she cries. “Girls cannot force their way against men.” Antigone will have none of it. She is determined to perform the sacred burial rites for her brother, Polyneikes, who was slain in a brutal civil war when he refused to relinquish the throne. Having deemed Polyneikes an enemy of the state, Kreon forbids any citizen from mourning his corpse. But Antigone is not easily cowed by the seemingly arbitrary decrees of men.
Continue reading
===================================
From Punch Cards to Holograms – A Short History of Data Storage
via MUO by Bryan Clark
In the world of data storage, there have been numerous breakthroughs, and even more flops that went absolutely nowhere. For every successful piece of data storage technology, there have been dozens more that were laughably bad.
Let’s take a look at some of the technologies that shaped modern data storage, as well as where we go from here.
Continue reading
===================================
Gershwin and color: how blue is the Rhapsody?
via OUP Blog by Olivia Mattis
Everyone knows George Gershwin as a composer, songwriter, pianist and icon of American music. But few know of his connections to the world of paintings and fine art. As a practising artist himself, Gershwin produced over 100 paintings, drawings, and photographs, most famously including his portrait of Arnold Schoenberg. “He was in love with colour and his palette in paint closely resembled the color of his music. Juxtaposition of greens, blues, sanguines, chromes, and greys, fascinated him,” recalled Merle Armitage. “Of course I can paint!” Gershwin was said to have told his girlfriend Rosamond Walling, an aspiring landscape painter. “If you have talent you can do anything. I have a lot of talent,” he added.
Continue reading
===================================
Charlie Chaplin’s scandalous life and boundless artistry
via Arts & Letters Daily: Richard Brody in The New Yorker
The most un-put-downable movie book of the season is also the most un-pick-uppable one: The Charlie Chaplin Archives (Taschen), which is the size of a small suitcase and weighs in at fourteen pounds, packed tightly with five hundred and sixty pages’ worth of thick and glossy paper bearing a treasure trove of superbly printed images alongside a relentlessly fascinating collage-like textual biography of Chaplin. It’s an apt tribute to the filmmaker, whose artistry transcends the cinema and spans world-historical dimensions.
Continue reading
===================================
Why can't we stop for death?
via 3 Quarks Daily: John Grey in New Statesman
When he was entering what he knew would be the final stage of his terminal illness, Bob Monkhouse used to joke that the terrible thing about dying was how stiff it left you feeling the next day. There is something pleasantly cavalier in the comedian’s quip. Why make a tragedy of something that will happen to us all? Perhaps we’d be wiser if we didn’t think of death at all, but instead – as the philosopher Spinoza recommended – only of life.
But that kind of wisdom seems to be beyond our capacity.
The human preoccupation with death is pervasive and universal, and every society offers remedies for the anxiety that the fact of mortality evokes. Religions have their afterlives, while secular faiths offer continuity with some larger entity – nations, political projects, the human species, a process of cosmic evolution – to stave off the painful certainty of oblivion. In their own lives, human beings struggle to create an image of themselves that they can project into the world. Careers and families prolong the sense of self beyond the grave. Acts of exceptional heroism and death-defying extreme sports serve a similar impulse. By leaving a mark, we can feel we are not just fleeting individuals who will soon be dead and then forgotten.
Continue reading
===================================
The Trouble with Theories of Everything: There is no known physics theory that is true at every scale – there may never be
via Arts & Letters Daily: Lawrence M. Krauss in Nautilus
Whenever you say anything about your daily life, a scale is implied. Try it out. “I’m too busy” only works for an assumed time scale: today, for example, or this week. Not this century or this nanosecond. “Taxes are onerous” only makes sense for a certain income range. And so on.
Surely the same restriction doesn’t hold true in science, you might say. After all, for centuries after the introduction of the scientific method, conventional wisdom held that there were theories that were absolutely true for all scales, even if we could never be empirically certain of this in advance. Newton’s universal law of gravity, for example, was, after all, universal! It applied to falling apples and falling planets alike, and accounted for every significant observation made under the sun, and over it as well.
Continue reading
===================================
New Database of Fictional Characters
via RB Firehose
“If you never see me again, it’s BoingBoing’s fault. It hipped me to a new database of fictional characters. ‘Basically CharacTour is an expansive online database for fictional characters. Like Facebook or a dating website, each character gets their own profile page. So far the site has over 4,500 spoiler-free profiles about characters’ origins, interests, skills, and journeys. Not only can you search for your favorites, you can find new characters to love as well.’
Jo March and Tony Stark were in the database, while Eve Dallas and Dirk Struan weren’t.“
Nor was Anne Shirley included
===================================
Scientific Revolutions in Optics Made Vermeer a Revolutionary Painter
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
Why do Vermeer’s paintings fascinate us so? Perhaps the reason lies behind a revolution in seeing in both art and science rooted in Vermeer’s 17th century Holland. During the heyday of tiny Holland’s position as a world power, in the city of Delft resided two remarkable men – the painter Johannes Vermeer and the scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. While Vermeer painted images that changed forever how people see the world with their own eyes, Leeuwenhoek peered through microscopes to discover worlds only visible through technology. In Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Revolution in Seeing, historian-philosopher Laura J. Snyder connects these two pioneers – born days apart, living close by all their lives, reunited in Vermeer’s death – to demonstrate how both modern art and modern science were born in that tiny city of Delft.
Continue reading
===================================
Yuval Noah Harari: the theatre of terror
via Arts & Letters Daily: Yuval Noah Harari in The Guardian
A fragment of the cockpit of the Pan Am Boeing 747 that exploded over the village of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988. Photograph: Letkey/AFP
Terrorists have almost no military strength so they create a spectacle. How should states respond? The author of Sapiens, a history of humanity, reflects on the past, and alarming future, of the fear factor.
Continue reading
===================================
Strangers Know What You Look Like Better Than You Do
via Big Think by Natalie Shoemaker
We’re bad at picking out pictures of ourselves that represent our true likeness, according to a new study. So, next time you’re picking out a picture for your dating profile, it may be better to get someone else to do it for you.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
‘To tweet or not to tweet?’ A comparison of academics’ and students’ usage of Twitter in academic contexts
an article by Charles G. Knight and Linda K. Kaye (Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK) published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International Volume 53 Issue 2 (2016)
Abstract
The emergence of social media as a new channel for communication and collaboration has led educators to hope that they may enhance the student experience and provide a pedagogical tool within Higher Education (HE). This paper explores academics’ and undergraduates’ usage of Twitter within a post-92 university. It argues that the observed disparity of usage between academics and undergraduates can be attributed to a number of factors.
Namely, academics’ perceived use of the platform for enhancing reputation is an implied acknowledgement of the importance of research within HE and the increasingly public engagement agenda. Additionally, academics’ limited usage of Twitter to support practical-based issues may be explained by issues relating to accountability of information through non-official channels. Moreover, students made greater use of Twitter for the passive reception of information rather than participation in learning activities. The implications of these issues will be discussed in reference to the study findings.
Full text (HTML)
Abstract
The emergence of social media as a new channel for communication and collaboration has led educators to hope that they may enhance the student experience and provide a pedagogical tool within Higher Education (HE). This paper explores academics’ and undergraduates’ usage of Twitter within a post-92 university. It argues that the observed disparity of usage between academics and undergraduates can be attributed to a number of factors.
Namely, academics’ perceived use of the platform for enhancing reputation is an implied acknowledgement of the importance of research within HE and the increasingly public engagement agenda. Additionally, academics’ limited usage of Twitter to support practical-based issues may be explained by issues relating to accountability of information through non-official channels. Moreover, students made greater use of Twitter for the passive reception of information rather than participation in learning activities. The implications of these issues will be discussed in reference to the study findings.
Full text (HTML)
Thursday, 20 October 2016
Legal limits on political campaigning by charities: drawing the line
an article by Debra Morris (University of Liverpool, UK)
published in Voluntary Sector Review Volume 7 Number 1 (March 2016)
Abstract
The fear for charities of being on the wrong side of the law when it comes to campaigning has always been strong. Recent UK legislation on political campaigning has caused considerable consternation, bringing some difficult issues to the fore. This paper reviews recent evidence on legislation, referring to previous regulatory experience to put new developments in a clear context of charity and electoral law. It highlights ambiguities and suggests how further regulatory guidance might help.
Full text (PDF)
Abstract
The fear for charities of being on the wrong side of the law when it comes to campaigning has always been strong. Recent UK legislation on political campaigning has caused considerable consternation, bringing some difficult issues to the fore. This paper reviews recent evidence on legislation, referring to previous regulatory experience to put new developments in a clear context of charity and electoral law. It highlights ambiguities and suggests how further regulatory guidance might help.
Full text (PDF)
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Some interesting trivial items for your mid-week reading
Tickets please. Osterley Bookshop is housed in an old Tube station
Books and trains have always had a close relationship. The Osterley Bookshop, in the leafy suburbs of west London, is located in an old (overground) Tube station. The building is just a couple of minutes walk from the current Osterley Tube station (an Art Deco gem from 1933) and is owned by Tony Vesely and his wife, Pennie.
Continue reading
===================================
The Friedrich Hayek I knew, and what he got right – and wrong
Hayek’s most striking intellectual trait was one uncommon in academic life – independence of mind, which enabled him to swim against some of the most powerful currents of the age.
via Arts & Letters Daily: John Gray in New Statesman
In the 1980s, when F A Hayek was one of the intellectual icons of the New Right, some of the more doctrinaire members of that complicated and fractious movement used to say that for him a minimal government was one that provided three things: national defence, law and order, and a state opera. It was an observation made only partly in jest. The Austrian-born economist and philosopher may have been the thinker who, more than anyone else, articulated the free-market ideology that came to power along with Margaret Thatcher; but his view of politics was formed not in Britain, his adopted country, but in the Habsburg empire, where the Vienna Court Opera was a department of government whose existence no one would dream of questioning.
Continue reading
===================================
How to Run Windows 1.0.1 in Your Browser
via MakeUseOf by Bryan Clark
Through emulation, all things are possible, such as running Android on Windows or playing retro video games. This emulator is no different. It’s easy, and a lot of fun.
It’s crazy to think that Windows 1.0.1 dropped on the world in 1985. I was three years old, so I can’t say I ever used it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an interest in all things retro tech and a desire to take a walk down memory lane.
Continue reading
===================================
Who's in charge anyway?
via OUP Blog by Peter Carruthers
Influenced by the discoveries of cognitive science, many of us will now accept that much of our mental life is unconscious. There are subliminal perceptions, implicit attitudes and beliefs, inferences that take place tacitly outside of our awareness, and much more. But we are apt to identify ourselves with our conscious minds. People who take the implicit attitudes test, for example, are often horrified to discover that they harbor racial prejudices or gender biases they were unaware of. If they accept the science, they are forced to believe that these attitudes are in some sense part of themselves. But they are an unwelcome part, an alien part, something to be got rid of if possible.
Continue reading
===================================
Shakespeare probably smoked weed, scientists say
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Several pipes excavated from William Shakespeare's garden contained cannabis, report scientists who used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the items.
Continue reading
===================================
The Places You'll Feed! – Dr. Seuss Meets Breastfeeding
via Abe Books by Beth Carswell
Despite what millions of commercials (and the rare, very lucky woman who finds it a breeze) would have you believe, breastfeeding is a lot of work, and comes neither easily nor naturally to many women. From physical discomfort and challenges to low milk supply, hellish pumps and supplements, to gawking and disapproving strangers, it’s an ongoing process. It isn’t even possible for everyone, and for the lucky ones who are able, it takes a lot of dedication, commitment and practice.
Lauren Hirshfield Belden, a California mother of two, struggled painfully with the challenges while breastfeeding her first daughter in 2012. The experience remained with her, and prompted her to humorously reach out to other mothers via a book called The Places You’ll Feed! all about breastfeeding, modeled after Dr. Seuss’ iconic book Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
See more excerpts from Belden’s book here
And just in case you are not familiar with Dr. Seuss’ book here is a link to my absolute favourite rendition of it.
===================================
How is the Internet Changing Your Brain?
via MakeUseof by Dave LeClair
If you’re here at MakeUseof.com reading this article, then I can safely assume that you are an Internet user. You probably love the Internet, just like us. After all, the Internet is filled with an incredible wealth of knowledge and entertainment. It’s a fantastic tool that has enriched our lives in so many ways since it became popular.
But have you ever wondered about how the Internet changes your brain over time? It’s still early in the Internet’s life in the grand scheme of things, but there are some interesting studies about how the Internet has changed us.
Check out the infographic at Web Page FX
===================================
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue
via OUP Blog by Jeremy Yudkin
What is a classic album? Not a classical album – a classic album. One definition would be a recording that is both of superb quality and of enduring significance. I would suggest that Miles Davis’s 1959 recording Kind of Blue is indubitably a classic. It presents music making of the highest order, and it has influenced – and continues to influence – jazz to this day.
Continue reading
===================================
Paleo-Economics Shaped Our Moralities (Evolved Social-Coordination 'Tech')
via Big Think by Jag Bhalla
Paleo-economics shaped our moralities. Like our languages, our moralities are evolved social-coordination “technologies”.
Continue reading
===================================
Dolphins that fish on land
via Boing Boing by Heather Johanssen
Amazing video of dolphins that have learned how to dine in style. This hunting behavior, according to Discovery, hasn't been found in any other pod on Earth.
Watch it here
Books and trains have always had a close relationship. The Osterley Bookshop, in the leafy suburbs of west London, is located in an old (overground) Tube station. The building is just a couple of minutes walk from the current Osterley Tube station (an Art Deco gem from 1933) and is owned by Tony Vesely and his wife, Pennie.
Continue reading
===================================
The Friedrich Hayek I knew, and what he got right – and wrong
Hayek’s most striking intellectual trait was one uncommon in academic life – independence of mind, which enabled him to swim against some of the most powerful currents of the age.
via Arts & Letters Daily: John Gray in New Statesman
In the 1980s, when F A Hayek was one of the intellectual icons of the New Right, some of the more doctrinaire members of that complicated and fractious movement used to say that for him a minimal government was one that provided three things: national defence, law and order, and a state opera. It was an observation made only partly in jest. The Austrian-born economist and philosopher may have been the thinker who, more than anyone else, articulated the free-market ideology that came to power along with Margaret Thatcher; but his view of politics was formed not in Britain, his adopted country, but in the Habsburg empire, where the Vienna Court Opera was a department of government whose existence no one would dream of questioning.
Continue reading
===================================
How to Run Windows 1.0.1 in Your Browser
via MakeUseOf by Bryan Clark
Through emulation, all things are possible, such as running Android on Windows or playing retro video games. This emulator is no different. It’s easy, and a lot of fun.
It’s crazy to think that Windows 1.0.1 dropped on the world in 1985. I was three years old, so I can’t say I ever used it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an interest in all things retro tech and a desire to take a walk down memory lane.
Continue reading
===================================
Who's in charge anyway?
via OUP Blog by Peter Carruthers
Influenced by the discoveries of cognitive science, many of us will now accept that much of our mental life is unconscious. There are subliminal perceptions, implicit attitudes and beliefs, inferences that take place tacitly outside of our awareness, and much more. But we are apt to identify ourselves with our conscious minds. People who take the implicit attitudes test, for example, are often horrified to discover that they harbor racial prejudices or gender biases they were unaware of. If they accept the science, they are forced to believe that these attitudes are in some sense part of themselves. But they are an unwelcome part, an alien part, something to be got rid of if possible.
Continue reading
===================================
Shakespeare probably smoked weed, scientists say
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Several pipes excavated from William Shakespeare's garden contained cannabis, report scientists who used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the items.
Continue reading
===================================
The Places You'll Feed! – Dr. Seuss Meets Breastfeeding
via Abe Books by Beth Carswell
Despite what millions of commercials (and the rare, very lucky woman who finds it a breeze) would have you believe, breastfeeding is a lot of work, and comes neither easily nor naturally to many women. From physical discomfort and challenges to low milk supply, hellish pumps and supplements, to gawking and disapproving strangers, it’s an ongoing process. It isn’t even possible for everyone, and for the lucky ones who are able, it takes a lot of dedication, commitment and practice.
Lauren Hirshfield Belden, a California mother of two, struggled painfully with the challenges while breastfeeding her first daughter in 2012. The experience remained with her, and prompted her to humorously reach out to other mothers via a book called The Places You’ll Feed! all about breastfeeding, modeled after Dr. Seuss’ iconic book Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
See more excerpts from Belden’s book here
And just in case you are not familiar with Dr. Seuss’ book here is a link to my absolute favourite rendition of it.
===================================
How is the Internet Changing Your Brain?
via MakeUseof by Dave LeClair
If you’re here at MakeUseof.com reading this article, then I can safely assume that you are an Internet user. You probably love the Internet, just like us. After all, the Internet is filled with an incredible wealth of knowledge and entertainment. It’s a fantastic tool that has enriched our lives in so many ways since it became popular.
But have you ever wondered about how the Internet changes your brain over time? It’s still early in the Internet’s life in the grand scheme of things, but there are some interesting studies about how the Internet has changed us.
Check out the infographic at Web Page FX
===================================
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue
via OUP Blog by Jeremy Yudkin
What is a classic album? Not a classical album – a classic album. One definition would be a recording that is both of superb quality and of enduring significance. I would suggest that Miles Davis’s 1959 recording Kind of Blue is indubitably a classic. It presents music making of the highest order, and it has influenced – and continues to influence – jazz to this day.
Continue reading
===================================
Paleo-Economics Shaped Our Moralities (Evolved Social-Coordination 'Tech')
via Big Think by Jag Bhalla
Paleo-economics shaped our moralities. Like our languages, our moralities are evolved social-coordination “technologies”.
Continue reading
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Dolphins that fish on land
via Boing Boing by Heather Johanssen
Amazing video of dolphins that have learned how to dine in style. This hunting behavior, according to Discovery, hasn't been found in any other pod on Earth.
Watch it here
Disability benefit receipt and reform: reconciling trends in the United Kingdom
an IFS Working Paper (W15/09) by James Banks, Richard Blundell and Carl Emmerson (Institute for Fiscal Studies) [found in Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 29 Number 2 (Spring 2015]
Abstract
The UK has enacted a number of reforms to the structure of disability benefits, which has made it a major case study for other countries thinking of reform.
The introduction of Incapacity Benefit in 1995 coincided with a strong decline in disability benefit expenditure, reversing previous sharp increases. From 2008 the replacement of Incapacity Benefit with Employment and Support Allowance was intended to reduce spending further.
We bring together administrative and survey data over the period and highlight key differences in receipt of disability benefits by age, sex and health. These disability benefit reforms and the trends in receipt are also put into the context of broader trends in health and employment by education and sex. We document a growing proportion of claimants in any age group with mental and behavioural disorders as their principal health condition.
We also show the decline in the number of older working age men receiving disability benefits to have been partially offset by growth in the number of younger women receiving these benefits. We speculate on the impact of disability reforms on employment.
Full text (PDF)
Abstract
The UK has enacted a number of reforms to the structure of disability benefits, which has made it a major case study for other countries thinking of reform.
The introduction of Incapacity Benefit in 1995 coincided with a strong decline in disability benefit expenditure, reversing previous sharp increases. From 2008 the replacement of Incapacity Benefit with Employment and Support Allowance was intended to reduce spending further.
We bring together administrative and survey data over the period and highlight key differences in receipt of disability benefits by age, sex and health. These disability benefit reforms and the trends in receipt are also put into the context of broader trends in health and employment by education and sex. We document a growing proportion of claimants in any age group with mental and behavioural disorders as their principal health condition.
We also show the decline in the number of older working age men receiving disability benefits to have been partially offset by growth in the number of younger women receiving these benefits. We speculate on the impact of disability reforms on employment.
Full text (PDF)
Bridging volunteering and the labour market: a proposal of a soft skills matrix
an article by Raquel Rego (University of Lisbon, Portugal), Joana Zózimo (Egas Moniz Cooperative of Higher Education, Portugal), Maria Correia João (Coimbra Center Group of Schools, Portugal) and Ana Ross (Institute for University Solidarity and Cooperation, Portugal) published in Voluntary Sector Review Volume 7 Number 1 (March 2016)
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that volunteering is an enabling environment for informal learning, and accordingly enhances employability. But, for volunteering to have an effective impact, there needs to be a bridge between volunteering and the labour market. In this sense, based on an empirical study, we present a soft skills matrix that enables the recognition of skills generated by volunteering.
Full text (PDF)
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that volunteering is an enabling environment for informal learning, and accordingly enhances employability. But, for volunteering to have an effective impact, there needs to be a bridge between volunteering and the labour market. In this sense, based on an empirical study, we present a soft skills matrix that enables the recognition of skills generated by volunteering.
Full text (PDF)
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Retirement, Personality and Well-being
an article by Dusanee Kesavayuth and Vasileios Zikos (University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok) and Robert E. Rosenman (Washington State University, Pullman, USA) published in Economic Inquiry Volume 54 Issue 2 (April 2016)
Abstract
This study investigates how two sources of individual heterogeneity – personality and gender – impact the well-being effects of retirement. Using data on older men and women from the British Household Panel Survey and its continuation, Understanding Society, we estimate the causal effect of retirement on satisfaction with overall life and domains of life in the presence of personality characteristics.
As retirement is often considered to be a choice and thus may be endogenous to individual-level characteristics, we use the eligibility ages for basic state pension in the United Kingdom as instruments for retirement. We find that retirement increases leisure satisfaction of both males and females but not necessarily life satisfaction and income satisfaction.
We further show that certain personality characteristics affect the well-being of female retirees. For males, however, personality does not seem to matter in how they cope with retirement.
JEL codes: I31, J26, A12, C23
Abstract
This study investigates how two sources of individual heterogeneity – personality and gender – impact the well-being effects of retirement. Using data on older men and women from the British Household Panel Survey and its continuation, Understanding Society, we estimate the causal effect of retirement on satisfaction with overall life and domains of life in the presence of personality characteristics.
As retirement is often considered to be a choice and thus may be endogenous to individual-level characteristics, we use the eligibility ages for basic state pension in the United Kingdom as instruments for retirement. We find that retirement increases leisure satisfaction of both males and females but not necessarily life satisfaction and income satisfaction.
We further show that certain personality characteristics affect the well-being of female retirees. For males, however, personality does not seem to matter in how they cope with retirement.
JEL codes: I31, J26, A12, C23
Reducing the cost of mental health problems at work – what can companies do?
an article by Piers Bishop (WeThrive Ltd, Brighton, UK) published in Human Resource Management International Digest Volume 23 Issue 4 (2016)
Abstract
Purpose
The number of companies reporting mental health problems among staff is increasing. The author argues that initiatives to help staff cope with these difficulties are too late and that it is the duty of organizations to develop a workplace culture and environment where people can be motivated but calm and that other benefits will also flow from this.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports findings from the CIPD, HSE and NHS as background to a discussion of how auditing unmet human needs might be expected to improve mental health at work.
Findings
The paper suggests that a relatively simple and inexpensive approach could change the landscape of human emotion at work and that the process would embed a new culture of understanding and coaching in management.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusions would not necessarily extend to repetitive manufacturing processes and implementation would be difficult in organizations wedded to early twentieth century “scientific” management principles.
Practical implications
The paper has implications for organizations operating in the “knowledge” economy where the management has an interest in developing and retaining a happy and energized staff.
Social implications
The paper has implications for people whose lives are affected by stress generated by the working environment and culture.
Originality/value
This paper fits two identified needs: to suggest better ways of supporting staff who might develop mental health problems at work and to suggest a framework that will fill the gap left by the approaching demise of the annual review or appraisal process.
Abstract
Purpose
The number of companies reporting mental health problems among staff is increasing. The author argues that initiatives to help staff cope with these difficulties are too late and that it is the duty of organizations to develop a workplace culture and environment where people can be motivated but calm and that other benefits will also flow from this.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports findings from the CIPD, HSE and NHS as background to a discussion of how auditing unmet human needs might be expected to improve mental health at work.
Findings
The paper suggests that a relatively simple and inexpensive approach could change the landscape of human emotion at work and that the process would embed a new culture of understanding and coaching in management.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusions would not necessarily extend to repetitive manufacturing processes and implementation would be difficult in organizations wedded to early twentieth century “scientific” management principles.
Practical implications
The paper has implications for organizations operating in the “knowledge” economy where the management has an interest in developing and retaining a happy and energized staff.
Social implications
The paper has implications for people whose lives are affected by stress generated by the working environment and culture.
Originality/value
This paper fits two identified needs: to suggest better ways of supporting staff who might develop mental health problems at work and to suggest a framework that will fill the gap left by the approaching demise of the annual review or appraisal process.
Regulating internet access in UK public libraries: legal compliance and ethical dilemmas
an article by Adrienne Muir, Louise Cooke and Claire Creaser (Loughborough University, UK) and Rachel Spacey (University of Lincoln, UK) published in Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society Volume 14 Issue 1 (2016)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider selected results from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded “Managing Access to the internet in Public Libraries” (MAIPLE) project, from 2012-2014. MAIPLE has explored the ways in which public library services manage use of the internet connections that they provide for the public. This included the how public library services balance their legal obligations and the needs of their communities in a public space and the ethical dilemmas that arise.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers used a mixed-method approach involving a review of the literature, legal analysis, a questionnaire survey and case studies in five public library authorities.
Findings
UK public library services use a range of methods to regulate internet access. The research also confirms previous findings that filtering software is an ubiquitous tool for controlling access to and protecting library users from “inappropriate”, illegal and harmful internet content. There is a general, if sometimes reluctant, acceptance of filtering software as a practical tool by library staff, which seems to contrast with professional codes of ethics and attitudes in other countries. The research indicates that public library internet access will be a valued service for some time to come, but that some aspects of how public library services regulate internet access is currently managed can have socially undesirable consequences, including blocking legitimate sites and preventing users from accessing government services. Education could play a greater part in helping the general population to exercise judgement in selection of materials to view and use. This does not preclude implementing stricter controls to protect children, whilst allowing public libraries to continue providing a social good to those who are unable to otherwise participate in the digital age.
Research limitations/implications
The response to the survey was 39 per cent meaning that findings may not apply across the whole of the UK. The findings of this study are compared with and supplemented by other quantitative sources, but a strength of this study is the depth of understanding afforded by the use of case studies.
Originality/value
This paper provides both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of how internet access is managed in UK public libraries, including how library services fulfil their legal obligations and the ethical implications of how they balance their role in facilitating access to information with their perceived role as a safe and trusted environment for all members of their communities. The findings add to the international discussion on this issue and stimulate debate and policy making in the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider selected results from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded “Managing Access to the internet in Public Libraries” (MAIPLE) project, from 2012-2014. MAIPLE has explored the ways in which public library services manage use of the internet connections that they provide for the public. This included the how public library services balance their legal obligations and the needs of their communities in a public space and the ethical dilemmas that arise.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers used a mixed-method approach involving a review of the literature, legal analysis, a questionnaire survey and case studies in five public library authorities.
Findings
UK public library services use a range of methods to regulate internet access. The research also confirms previous findings that filtering software is an ubiquitous tool for controlling access to and protecting library users from “inappropriate”, illegal and harmful internet content. There is a general, if sometimes reluctant, acceptance of filtering software as a practical tool by library staff, which seems to contrast with professional codes of ethics and attitudes in other countries. The research indicates that public library internet access will be a valued service for some time to come, but that some aspects of how public library services regulate internet access is currently managed can have socially undesirable consequences, including blocking legitimate sites and preventing users from accessing government services. Education could play a greater part in helping the general population to exercise judgement in selection of materials to view and use. This does not preclude implementing stricter controls to protect children, whilst allowing public libraries to continue providing a social good to those who are unable to otherwise participate in the digital age.
Research limitations/implications
The response to the survey was 39 per cent meaning that findings may not apply across the whole of the UK. The findings of this study are compared with and supplemented by other quantitative sources, but a strength of this study is the depth of understanding afforded by the use of case studies.
Originality/value
This paper provides both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of how internet access is managed in UK public libraries, including how library services fulfil their legal obligations and the ethical implications of how they balance their role in facilitating access to information with their perceived role as a safe and trusted environment for all members of their communities. The findings add to the international discussion on this issue and stimulate debate and policy making in the UK.
Monday, 17 October 2016
Engaging disaffected learners in Key Stage 4 through work-related learning in England
an article by Caroline White (University of Warwick, Coventry, UK) and Andrea Laczik (University of Oxford, UK) published in Journal of Vocational Education & Training Volume 68 Issue 1 (2016)
Abstract
Work-Related Learning (WRL) has been enthusiastically embraced by UK governments since the 1990s as a means of reengaging learners in the final years of compulsory schooling. However, recent years have seen a policy shift away from WRL towards a more academic curriculum for all young people.
Drawing on a qualitative study commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, this article explores good practice in using WRL to motivate 14- to 16-year-old learners. The article aimed to refocus discussion on the beneficial effects of WRL for disengaged young people. It argues that WRL can be a powerful engagement tool as part of a holistic approach to support learners to engage or reengage in learning.
It also highlights that any appraisal of the merits of WRL for disaffected learners should also consider the indirect benefits such as increased confidence and motivation to participate, which can potentially lead to hard outcomes of success.
Abstract
Work-Related Learning (WRL) has been enthusiastically embraced by UK governments since the 1990s as a means of reengaging learners in the final years of compulsory schooling. However, recent years have seen a policy shift away from WRL towards a more academic curriculum for all young people.
Drawing on a qualitative study commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, this article explores good practice in using WRL to motivate 14- to 16-year-old learners. The article aimed to refocus discussion on the beneficial effects of WRL for disengaged young people. It argues that WRL can be a powerful engagement tool as part of a holistic approach to support learners to engage or reengage in learning.
It also highlights that any appraisal of the merits of WRL for disaffected learners should also consider the indirect benefits such as increased confidence and motivation to participate, which can potentially lead to hard outcomes of success.
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Mental Health First Aid at the Wellcome Trust
via the Work Foundation by Natasha Gordon (Project Manager in People and Facilities at Wellcome Trust)
Employers across the UK are failing to provide adequate support to employees or equip managers with the skills to help them, finds the Mental Health at Work report released this week. More than three quarters (77%) of employees have experienced symptoms of poor mental health in their lives, with managers underequipped and unsupported to respond to mental health in work. With World Mental Health Day on 10th October, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England is calling on employers to find out how they can support the mental wellbeing of their staff.
Continue reading and find out how employers can help staff to get, and stay, well mentally.
Employers across the UK are failing to provide adequate support to employees or equip managers with the skills to help them, finds the Mental Health at Work report released this week. More than three quarters (77%) of employees have experienced symptoms of poor mental health in their lives, with managers underequipped and unsupported to respond to mental health in work. With World Mental Health Day on 10th October, Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England is calling on employers to find out how they can support the mental wellbeing of their staff.
Continue reading and find out how employers can help staff to get, and stay, well mentally.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Ten more interesting items which really can't be called "trivia"
Does Art Need Religion?
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
Everyone knows there are two things you never bring up in conversation – politics and religion. In this secular age chock full of wars fought over one faith or another, many never want to hear about the role of religion in the world, unable to see any good within all that bad. But if you turn the conversation towards the safer topic of the arts, quite often you’ll hear someone long for the good old days, when great artists made great art rather than the poor efforts of contemporary art’s lesser talents. Is it possible that such Old Masters as Michelangelo were great because they lived in more religious times? Is the connection between great art and religious influence a correlation or just coincidence? Does art need religion?
Continue reading
===================================
Museums as 21st Century Databases
via RB Firehose
Great read: Museums as 21st century databases
“It is important to remember that museums have always been databases. From the founding of the first museum, our goal has been to take items that are culturally significant and protect them, catalog them, research them, and love them. We treat our collections not as objects stored on a shelf, but rather as the physical embodiment of a vast repository of data describing our cultures and our histories. In this, museums were ahead of their time. As industry has grown around us, they have begun to realize the value of stored knowledge.”
===================================
Electric Apostasy: The Day Bob Dylan Died
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
For the 1950s generation, “the day the music died” was February 3, 1959 — the day when the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” crashed. For the 1960s generation, however, “the day the music died” was July 25, 1965 — the day when Bob Dylan crashed the 1965 Newport Folk Festival stage with an electric guitar in front of him and rock band behind him to rip into a loud, raucous version of his new hit, “Like a Rolling Stone”. Bob Dylan the folk figure of the early ‘60s was dead. Bob Dylan the rock voice of the late ‘60s generation was born. “For many people the story of Newport 1965 is simple,” author-musician Elijah Wald writes in Dylan Goes Electric: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties, “Bob Dylan was busy being born, and anyone who did not welcome the change was busy dying.” In Dylan Goes Electric, Wald tells an electrifying story of just how complex the true story of that moment was — a cultural crossroads now mired in mythology, but even more fascinating and significant when told with clear eyes and an understanding of both sides of the divide Dylan stood across.
Continue reading
===================================
Lost Words, Lost Worlds.
Emma Tonkin discusses how the words we use, and where we use them, change over time, and how this can cause issues for digital preservation.
'Now let's take this parsnip in.'
'Parsnip?'
'Parsnip, coffee. Perrin, Wellbourne. What does it matter what we call things?'
– David Nobbs, The Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin
Ariadne: Web Magazine for Information Professionals Issue 75
Full text (HTML)
===================================
Ten myths about the French Revolution
via OUP Blog by Marisa Linton
The French Revolution was one of the most momentous events in world history yet, over 220 years since it took place, many myths about it are still firmly entrenched in the popular psyche. Some of the most important and troubling of these myths relate to how a revolution that began with idealistic and humanitarian goals resorted to the “Terror”. It is a problem that is as pertinent for our own world as it was for the people of the late eighteenth century.
Continue reading
===================================
The Hitchhiker's Guide taught me about satire, Vogons and even economics
via 3 Quarks Daily: Ha-Joon Chang in The Guardian
There are books that you know before reading them will change you. There are books you read precisely because you want to change yourself. But The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy belonged to neither category. In fact, H2G2 (as a tribe of Douglas Adams fandom calls it) is special because I didn’t expect it to have any effect on me, let alone one so enduring. I don’t even remember exactly when I read it, except that it was in the first few years of my arrival in Britain as a graduate student in 1986. The only thing I remember is being intrigued by the description of it as a piece of comedy science fiction (SF).
Continue reading
===================================
A remarkable secret archive tells the story of life in the Warsaw ghetto
via 3 Quarks Daily: From The Economist
The Nazis succeeded in exterminating millions of Jews. But they did not succeed in extinguishing their history. That is the story told by Samuel Kassow, an American historian, in a poignant and detailed account of the secret archive of the Warsaw ghetto.
Continue reading
===================================
Muralists use an entire hillside of homes as a canvas
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
As part of a state-funded anti-violence project, Germen Nuevo Muralismo Mexicano turned an entire neighborhood in Pachuca, Mexico into an artwork titled El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas.
Continue reading
===================================
Thomas Aquinas and God
OUP Blog by Gaven Kerr
One of the benefits of contemporary atheism is that it has brought to the forefront of modern consciousness the demand that believers offer some reason for the belief that they have. Of course, this demand is nothing new, and it even has scriptural support behind it, with St. Peter insisting that Christians ought always be prepared to give a reason for their hope (1 Peter 3:15). Accordingly, the Christian tradition has always cherished and promoted the cultivation of wisdom so that Christianity may be a reasonable belief to hold. Contemporary atheism has brought to the fore the same demand that belief should be reasonable, and so contemporary Christians ought to show that their belief is indeed so.
Continue reading
===================================
Death Denial
via Arts & Letters Daily: Marc Parry in The Chronicle Review
Does our terror of dying drive almost everything we do?
In October 1984, a young Skidmore College professor, Sheldon Solomon, traveled to a Utah ski lodge to introduce what would become a major theory of social psychology. The setting was a conference of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, a prestigious professional organization. Solomon’s theory explained that people embrace cultural worldviews and strive for self-esteem largely to cope with the fear of death. The reception he got was as frosty as the snow piled up outside.
Continue reading
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
Everyone knows there are two things you never bring up in conversation – politics and religion. In this secular age chock full of wars fought over one faith or another, many never want to hear about the role of religion in the world, unable to see any good within all that bad. But if you turn the conversation towards the safer topic of the arts, quite often you’ll hear someone long for the good old days, when great artists made great art rather than the poor efforts of contemporary art’s lesser talents. Is it possible that such Old Masters as Michelangelo were great because they lived in more religious times? Is the connection between great art and religious influence a correlation or just coincidence? Does art need religion?
Continue reading
===================================
Museums as 21st Century Databases
via RB Firehose
Great read: Museums as 21st century databases
“It is important to remember that museums have always been databases. From the founding of the first museum, our goal has been to take items that are culturally significant and protect them, catalog them, research them, and love them. We treat our collections not as objects stored on a shelf, but rather as the physical embodiment of a vast repository of data describing our cultures and our histories. In this, museums were ahead of their time. As industry has grown around us, they have begun to realize the value of stored knowledge.”
===================================
Electric Apostasy: The Day Bob Dylan Died
via Big Think by Bob Duggan
For the 1950s generation, “the day the music died” was February 3, 1959 — the day when the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” crashed. For the 1960s generation, however, “the day the music died” was July 25, 1965 — the day when Bob Dylan crashed the 1965 Newport Folk Festival stage with an electric guitar in front of him and rock band behind him to rip into a loud, raucous version of his new hit, “Like a Rolling Stone”. Bob Dylan the folk figure of the early ‘60s was dead. Bob Dylan the rock voice of the late ‘60s generation was born. “For many people the story of Newport 1965 is simple,” author-musician Elijah Wald writes in Dylan Goes Electric: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties, “Bob Dylan was busy being born, and anyone who did not welcome the change was busy dying.” In Dylan Goes Electric, Wald tells an electrifying story of just how complex the true story of that moment was — a cultural crossroads now mired in mythology, but even more fascinating and significant when told with clear eyes and an understanding of both sides of the divide Dylan stood across.
Continue reading
===================================
Lost Words, Lost Worlds.
Emma Tonkin discusses how the words we use, and where we use them, change over time, and how this can cause issues for digital preservation.
'Now let's take this parsnip in.'
'Parsnip?'
'Parsnip, coffee. Perrin, Wellbourne. What does it matter what we call things?'
– David Nobbs, The Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin
Ariadne: Web Magazine for Information Professionals Issue 75
Full text (HTML)
===================================
Ten myths about the French Revolution
via OUP Blog by Marisa Linton
The French Revolution was one of the most momentous events in world history yet, over 220 years since it took place, many myths about it are still firmly entrenched in the popular psyche. Some of the most important and troubling of these myths relate to how a revolution that began with idealistic and humanitarian goals resorted to the “Terror”. It is a problem that is as pertinent for our own world as it was for the people of the late eighteenth century.
Continue reading
===================================
The Hitchhiker's Guide taught me about satire, Vogons and even economics
via 3 Quarks Daily: Ha-Joon Chang in The Guardian
There are books that you know before reading them will change you. There are books you read precisely because you want to change yourself. But The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy belonged to neither category. In fact, H2G2 (as a tribe of Douglas Adams fandom calls it) is special because I didn’t expect it to have any effect on me, let alone one so enduring. I don’t even remember exactly when I read it, except that it was in the first few years of my arrival in Britain as a graduate student in 1986. The only thing I remember is being intrigued by the description of it as a piece of comedy science fiction (SF).
Continue reading
===================================
A remarkable secret archive tells the story of life in the Warsaw ghetto
via 3 Quarks Daily: From The Economist
The Nazis succeeded in exterminating millions of Jews. But they did not succeed in extinguishing their history. That is the story told by Samuel Kassow, an American historian, in a poignant and detailed account of the secret archive of the Warsaw ghetto.
Continue reading
===================================
Muralists use an entire hillside of homes as a canvas
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
As part of a state-funded anti-violence project, Germen Nuevo Muralismo Mexicano turned an entire neighborhood in Pachuca, Mexico into an artwork titled El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas.
Continue reading
===================================
Thomas Aquinas and God
OUP Blog by Gaven Kerr
One of the benefits of contemporary atheism is that it has brought to the forefront of modern consciousness the demand that believers offer some reason for the belief that they have. Of course, this demand is nothing new, and it even has scriptural support behind it, with St. Peter insisting that Christians ought always be prepared to give a reason for their hope (1 Peter 3:15). Accordingly, the Christian tradition has always cherished and promoted the cultivation of wisdom so that Christianity may be a reasonable belief to hold. Contemporary atheism has brought to the fore the same demand that belief should be reasonable, and so contemporary Christians ought to show that their belief is indeed so.
Continue reading
===================================
Death Denial
via Arts & Letters Daily: Marc Parry in The Chronicle Review
Does our terror of dying drive almost everything we do?
In October 1984, a young Skidmore College professor, Sheldon Solomon, traveled to a Utah ski lodge to introduce what would become a major theory of social psychology. The setting was a conference of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, a prestigious professional organization. Solomon’s theory explained that people embrace cultural worldviews and strive for self-esteem largely to cope with the fear of death. The reception he got was as frosty as the snow piled up outside.
Continue reading
Friday, 7 October 2016
“Access to Research”: how UK public libraries are offering access to over 15 million academic articles for free
an article by Jonathan Griffin (PLS, London, UK) published in Interlending & Document Supply Volume 44 Issue 2 (2016)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe a unique service offering by UK public libraries that provides access to over 15 million academic articles for free.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is descriptive.
Findings
The service has been a success with users, but more training for staff, as well as promotion, is needed.
Social implications
The study will be potentially important for enabling access to a vast amount of published academic articles for a wide section of UK citizens.
Originality/value
The first article on this service is aimed specifically at the LIS community.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe a unique service offering by UK public libraries that provides access to over 15 million academic articles for free.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is descriptive.
Findings
The service has been a success with users, but more training for staff, as well as promotion, is needed.
Social implications
The study will be potentially important for enabling access to a vast amount of published academic articles for a wide section of UK citizens.
Originality/value
The first article on this service is aimed specifically at the LIS community.
Expressions of student debt aversion and tolerance among academically able young people in low-participation English schools
an article by Steven Jones (University of Manchester, UK) published in British Educational Research Journal Volume 42 Issue 2 (April 2016)
Abstract
The 2012 rise in student fees, from £3375 to £9000 per year, made England one of the costliest places to attend university in the world. Drawing on evidence from higher attaining young people attending low-participation schools, this paper renews established types of student debt aversion and tolerance, with sensitivity towards whether they reflect the (financial) ‘price’ of participation or the (cultural, social) ‘cost’ of participation.
Findings point to a complex web of inter-related factors informing a decision-making process that is rational, but often lacking detailed knowledge of key variables, such as the range of bursaries and grants available and the terms of the loan repayment.
The Ellsburg Paradox is invoked to explain the tendency of some young people to self-exclude, contrary to rational choice theory. For those without family support or precedent, participation is not greatly incentivised by assumed lifestyle and identity gains, and generous repayment concessions for low-earning graduates do not necessarily ease anxiety about debt.
Data point to a heightened awareness of labour market alternatives and of continued disquiet, both academic and non-academic, about ‘fitting in’ at university. Naturally, higher fees demand a recalculation of return-on-investment estimates for all young people. However, the participation ‘bet’ of those from low-participation schools is framed in ways unacknowledged by (and sometimes discordant with) dominant public discourses.
Abstract
The 2012 rise in student fees, from £3375 to £9000 per year, made England one of the costliest places to attend university in the world. Drawing on evidence from higher attaining young people attending low-participation schools, this paper renews established types of student debt aversion and tolerance, with sensitivity towards whether they reflect the (financial) ‘price’ of participation or the (cultural, social) ‘cost’ of participation.
Findings point to a complex web of inter-related factors informing a decision-making process that is rational, but often lacking detailed knowledge of key variables, such as the range of bursaries and grants available and the terms of the loan repayment.
The Ellsburg Paradox is invoked to explain the tendency of some young people to self-exclude, contrary to rational choice theory. For those without family support or precedent, participation is not greatly incentivised by assumed lifestyle and identity gains, and generous repayment concessions for low-earning graduates do not necessarily ease anxiety about debt.
Data point to a heightened awareness of labour market alternatives and of continued disquiet, both academic and non-academic, about ‘fitting in’ at university. Naturally, higher fees demand a recalculation of return-on-investment estimates for all young people. However, the participation ‘bet’ of those from low-participation schools is framed in ways unacknowledged by (and sometimes discordant with) dominant public discourses.
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Health and social care interventions which promote social participation for adults with learning disabilities: a review
an article by Sharon Howarth and David Morris (University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK), Meredith Newlin (University of York, UK; King's College London, London, UK) and Martin Webber (University of York, UK)
published in British Journal of Learning Disabilities Volume 44 Issue 1 (March 2016)
Summary
People with learning disabilities are among the most socially excluded in society. There is a significant gap in research evidence showing how health and social care workers can intervene to improve the social participation of adults with learning disabilities. A systematic review and modified narrative synthesis was used to appraise the quality and outcomes of published studies in this area.
Six of eleven included studies showed a positive effect on social participation.
Interventions included person-centred planning, alteration of activity patterns, a befriending scheme and skill-based group sessions. The majority of studies were found to have a moderate risk of bias. Further evidence about the effectiveness of interventions is required to inform policy and practice.
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published in British Journal of Learning Disabilities Volume 44 Issue 1 (March 2016)
Summary
People with learning disabilities are among the most socially excluded in society. There is a significant gap in research evidence showing how health and social care workers can intervene to improve the social participation of adults with learning disabilities. A systematic review and modified narrative synthesis was used to appraise the quality and outcomes of published studies in this area.
Six of eleven included studies showed a positive effect on social participation.
Interventions included person-centred planning, alteration of activity patterns, a befriending scheme and skill-based group sessions. The majority of studies were found to have a moderate risk of bias. Further evidence about the effectiveness of interventions is required to inform policy and practice.
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