Communication Commons^™

Is Modernism Really Modern? Uncovering A Fallacy In Postmodernism, William Harpine

William D Harpine

Some postmodernists criticize the view that the logics of Western thought can be employed universally. In doing so, they assume without adequate proof that different human societies have greatly different rationalities and employ completely different logics. This essay argues that, on the contrary, widely different cultures often share noteworthy similarities in rationality.

Analyzing How Rhetoric Is Epistemic: A Reply To Fuller, William Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

African American Rhetoric Of Greeting During Mckinley’S 1896 Front Porch Campaign, William Harpine

William D Harpine

African American speakers who participated in William McKinley’s 1896 Front Porch campaign events used epideictic rhetoric to address the issues of racial equality. They praised McKinley, but presented few arguments on policy matters. This rhetorical strategy helped them to advocate policies in a manner that would superficially appear to be ceremonial more than deliberative. Paradoxically, in doing so, the speakers advocated their views to ameliorate the injustices of the Jim Crow era, while adapting to the campaign’s rituals.

Bryan’S ‘A Cross Of Gold’: The Rhetoric Of Polarization At The 1896 Democratic Convention, William Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

Playing To The Press In Mckinley’S Front Porch Campaign: The Early Weeks Of A Nineteenth-Century Pseudo-Event, William Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

Genung’S Theory Of Persuasion: A Literary Theory Of Oratory Of Late Nineteenth-Century America, William Harpine

William D Harpine

John Genung’s late nineteenth century rhetoric textbooks, although founded on an eighteenth century model of Scottish composition, present an original conception of oratory. Genung’s theory breaks free of the classical models and lays out the path to be followed during the development of speech studies among American rhetoricians of the early twentieth century.

Proposed Model Of The Relationship Of Risk Information Seeking And Processing To The Development Of Preventive Behaviors, Robert Griffin, Sharon Dunwoody, Kurt Neuwirth

Robert Griffin

We articulate a model that focuses on characteristics of individuals that might predispose them to seek and process information about health in different ways. Specifically, the model proposes that seven factors—(1) individual characteristics, (2) perceived hazard characteristics, (3) affective response to the risk, (4) felt social pressures to possess relevant information, (5) information sufficiency, (6) one's personal capacity to learn, (7) beliefs about the usefulness of information in various channels—will influence the extent to which a person will seek out this risk information in both routine and nonroutine channels and the extent to which he or she will spend time …

Preparing For Life In A Digital Age: The Iea International Computer And Information Literacy Study International Report, Julian Fraillon, John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz, Tim Friedman, Eveline Gebhardt

Dr John Ainley

The International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) studied the extent to which young people have developed computer and information literacy (CIL) to support their capacity to participate in the digital age. ICILS is a response to the increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in modern society and the need for citizens to develop relevant skills in order to participate effectively in the digital age. It also addresses the necessity for policymakers and education systems to have a better understanding of the contexts and outcomes of CIL-related education programs in their countries. ICILS is the first crossnational study …

Preparing For Life In A Digital Age: The Iea International Computer And Information Literacy Study International Report, Julian Fraillon, John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz, Tim Friedman, Eveline Gebhardt

Dr Tim Friedman

The International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) studied the extent to which young people have developed computer and information literacy (CIL) to support their capacity to participate in the digital age. ICILS is a response to the increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in modern society and the need for citizens to develop relevant skills in order to participate effectively in the digital age. It also addresses the necessity for policymakers and education systems to have a better understanding of the contexts and outcomes of CIL-related education programs in their countries. ICILS is the first crossnational study …

Centered But Not Caught In The Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions Of Dialectical Contradictions In The Communication Of Co-Parents, Dawn Braithwaite, Paige Toller, Karen Daas, Wesley Durham, Adam Jones

Dawn O. Braithwaite

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be …

A Detailed Case Study Of Unusual Routines, Stephen Cooper

Stephen D. Cooper

Everyone working in organizations will, from time to time, experience frustrations and problems when trying to accomplish tasks that are a required part of their role. In such cases it is normal for people to find ways of completing their work in such a way that hey can get around, or just simply avoid, the procedure or system that has caused the problem. This is an unusual routine – a recurrent interaction pattern in which someone encounters a problem when trying to accomplish normal activities by following standard organizational procedures and then becomes enmeshed in wasteful and even harmful subroutines …

A Qualitative Study Examining Tensions In Interdoctor Telephone Consultations, Anupma Wadhwa, Lorelei Lingard

Lorelei Lingard

OBJECTIVE: Communication skills have gained increasing attention in medical education. Much of the existing literature and medical curricula addresses issues of doctor-patient communication. The critical importance of communication between health professionals, however, is now coming under the spotlight. The interdoctor telephone consultation is a common health care setting in which health professional communication skills are exercised. Breakdowns in this communication commonly occur and, surprisingly, this skill is not formally addressed in medical training. This study sought to clarify the communication issues that can occur during interdoctor telephone consultations in order to inform future educational initiatives in this domain. METHODS: Data …

Towards Safer Interprofessional Communication: Constructing A Model Of "Utility" From Preoperative Team Briefings, Lorelei Lingard, Sarah Whyte, Sherry Espin, G. Baker, Beverley Orser, Diane Doran

Lorelei Lingard

"Improved team communication" is broadly advocated in the discourse on safety but rarely supported by a precise understanding of the relationship between specific communication practices and concrete improvements in collaborative work processes. We sought to improve such understanding by analyzing the discourse arising from structured preoperative team briefings among surgeons, nurses, and anesthesiologists prior to general surgery procedures. Analysis of observers' fieldnotes from 302 briefings yielded a two-part model of communicative "utility", defined as the visible impact of communication on team awareness and behavior. "Informational utility" occurred when team awareness or knowledge was improved by provision of new information, explicit …

The Rhetorical 'Turn' In Medical Education: What Have We Learned And Where Are We Going?, Lorelei Lingard

Lorelei Lingard

This paper presents a critical reflection on the contributions and challenges associated with one rhetorical approach to studying teaching and learning communication in health professions education. A rhetorical approach treats language as a social act, and attends to the role of language in establishing professional identities and relationships. The research has produced insights into the use of standard communication formats to teach novices, the nature of socialization on clinical teams, and the relationship between communication patterns and patient safety. Challenges and emerging questions include the problem of accounting for the material dimensions of communication in a rhetorical model, grappling with …

Consensus-Building Journalism: An Immodest Proposal, Gilda Parrella

Gilda Parrella

Blending Journalism And Communication Studies, John Pauly

Dr. John J. Pauly

No abstract provided.