![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Library & information sciences > General
Bringing together ten utopian works that mark important points in the history and an evolution in social and political philosophies, this book not only reflects on the texts and their political philosophy and implications, but also, their architecture and how that architecture informs the political philosophy or social agenda that the author intended. Each of the ten authors expressed their theory through concepts of community and utopian architecture, but each featured an architectural solution at the centre of their social and political philosophy, as none of the cities were ever built, they have remained as utopian literature. Some of the works examined are very well-known, such as Tommaso Campanella's Civitas Solis, while others such as Joseph Michael Gandy's Designs for Cottages, are relatively obscure. However, even with the best known works, this volume offers new insights by focusing on the architecture of the cities and how that architecture represents the author's political philosophy. It reconstructs the cities through a 3-D computer program, ArchiCAD, using Artlantis to render. Plans, sections, elevations and perspectives are presented for each of the cities. The ten cities are: Filarete - Sforzina; Albrecht DA1/4rer - Fortified Utopia; Tommaso Campanella - The City of the Sun; Johann Valentin Andreae - Christianopolis; Joseph Michael Gandy - An Agricultural Village; Robert Owen - Villages of Unity and Cooperation; James Silk Buckingham - Victoria; Robert Pemberton - Queen Victoria Town; King Camp Gillette - Metropolis; and Bradford Peck - The World a Department Store. Each chapter considers the work in conjunction with contemporary thought, the political philosophy and the reconstruction of the city. Although these ten cities represent over 500 years of utopian and political thought, they are an interlinked thread that had been drawn from literature of the past and informed by contemporary thought and society. The book is structured in two parts:
Video art emerged as an art form that from the 1960s and onwards challenged the concept of art - hence, art historical practices. From the perspective of artists, critics, and scholars engaged with this new medium, art was seen as too limiting a notion. Important issues were to re-think art as a means for critical investigations and a demand for visual reconsiderations. Likewise, art history was argued to be in crisis and in need of adapting its theories and methods in order to produce interpretations and thereby establish historical sense for moving images as fine art. Yet, as this book argues, video art history has evolved into a discourse clinging to traditional concepts, ideologies, and narrative structures - manifested in an increasing body of texts. Video Art Historicized provides a novel, insightful and also challenging re-interpretation of this field by examining the discourse and its own premises. It takes a firm conceptual approach to the material, examining the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological implications that are simultaneously contested by both artists and authors, yet intertwined in both the legitimizing and the historicizing processes of video as art. By engaging art history's most debated concepts (canon, art, and history) this study provides an in-depth investigation of the mechanisms of the historiography of video art. Scrutinizing various narratives on video art, the book emphasizes the profound and widespread hesitations towards, but also the efforts to negotiate, traditional concepts and practices. By focusing on the politics of this discourse, theoretical issues of gender, nationality, and particular themes in video art, Malin Hedlin Hayden contests the presumptions that inform video art and its history.
There was a time seven centuries ago when Famagusta's wealth and renown could be compared to that of Venice or Constantinople. The Cathedral of St Nicholas in the main square of Famagusta, serving as the coronation place for the Crusader Kings of Jerusalem after the fall of Acre in 1291, symbolised both the sophistication and permanence of the French society that built it. From the port radiated impressive commercial activity with the major Mediterranean trade centres, generating legendary wealth, cosmopolitanism, and hedonism, unsurpassed in the Levant. These halcyon days were not to last, however, and a 15th century observer noted that, following the Genoese occupation of the city, 'a malignant devil has become jealous of Famagusta'. When Venice inherited the city, it reconstructed the defences and had some success in revitalising the city's economy. But the end for Venetian Famagusta came in dramatic fashion in 1571, following a year long siege by the Ottomans. Three centuries of neglect followed which, combined with earthquakes, plague and flooding, left the city in ruins. The essays collected in this book represent a major contribution to the study of Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta and its surviving art and architecture and also propose a series of strategies for preserving the city's heritage in the future. They will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Gothic, Byzantine and Renaissance art and architecture, and to those of the Crusades and the Latin East, as well as the Military Orders. After an introductory chapter surveying the history of Famagusta and its position in the cultural mosaic that is the Eastern Mediterranean, the opening section provides a series of insights into the history and historiography of the city. There follow chapters on the churches and their decoration, as well as the military architecture, while the final section looks at the history of conservation efforts and assesses the work that now needs to be done.
Winner of the National Communication Association 2018 Philosophy of Communication Division Top Edited Book Award This edited volume develops the philosophy of communication inspired by the scholarship of Richard L. Lanigan, with emphasis on communicology as a human science. Lanigan's syntheses of the philosophies of speech, language and discourse stemming from the works of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, Charles Sanders Peirce, Roman Jakobson, Umberto Eco, Pierre Bourdieu, Jurgen Reusch and Gregory Bateson, and many others offers a compelling framework for systematic analysis of human communication in all domains of lived experience. His work defines the theory and method of the human sciences in general and the discipline of communicology in particular. The focus in this collection is on the theoretical and methodological foundations for semiotic phenomenology whereby communication is recognized as constitutive of all human conscious experience and social relationships, involving gestural, nonverbal, discursive, performative, artistic, poetic and mass mediated forms. The volume is divided into five thematic sections: Founding(s), which marks out primary influences on communicology conceived as a human science; Tropologic(s), which reveals how abduction, adduction and semiosis are essential for understanding human conduct in multiple forms of expression; Trans/formations, which addresses problems of change in self-other relations advancing an ethical life; Voicing Bodies/Embodied Voices, which elaborates the reversible relations between body and voice, and voice and world; and Horizons of Communicability, which takes up operative intentionalities that typically escape human conscious experience. All chapters are original to this volume, written by leading international scholars in the philosophy of communication who cross several disciplinary boundaries in the human sciences.
This volume contains the proceedings of a special conference held in Florence, August 2009. The theoretical and methodological aspects of rethinking semantic access to information and knowledge are explored. Innovative projects deployed to cope with the challenges of the future are presented and discussed. This book offers a unique opportunity for librarians and other information professionals to get acquainted with the state of the art in subject indexing.
Intellectual assets - including documents, designs, know-how, software, data, patents and trademarks - are critical to the delivery of innovative, and cost effective, products and services. Despite this many organizations seek to manage their intellectual assets using a range of bolt-on, stand-alone business processes, often divorced from the processes used to manage their services and products. Integrated Intellectual Asset Management explains how to take full advantage of your organization's intellectual assets by integrating their management in six key areas: c decision making systems c strategy c policy and accountabilities c knowledge management c people and behaviour c targets and metrics You can only hope to develop, protect, exploit, and realize the value of your key intellectual assets when you integrate the way you manage them into existing business processes and culture. Integrated Intellectual Asset Management guides you through this process.
This extraordinary book defines and describes librarianship and library science through insightful and thoughtful essays contributed by 17 recognized leaders of the profession. While each essay presents a distinct perspective and approach, collectively they paint a picture of a humane and human profession central to and concerned with the cultural, social, political, and intellectual underpinnings of civilization. Often challenging and provocative, often moving, always engaging, the essays reflect a diverse and complex profession and the values, beliefs, practices, and philosophies that make it unique and vital. The essays take a variety of approaches: historical analysis, personal recollection, career review, political or social commentary, intellectual or philosophical musings, and short and long-term forecasting. Even when the essays address issues of a practical nature, they raise issues of concern in a broader context. The role of libraries in a democratic society is examined through the historical perspective of the Boston Mandate of 1852, the most recent US presidential election, and the current strain of censorship and intellectual freedom battles. What is the proper role of libraries as social organizations advocating societal reform and working toward the common weal? What is the role of government and politics in the profession? What is the responsibility and role of the library in determining or advocating public policy? If, as one essay elegantly and persuasively argues, our professional concern should center not on information or fact, but on truth, can we avoid political action and political repercussion? These are weighty issues addressed not only with passion, but also with a freedom and honesty seldom encountered. This is a powerful and important book that should be read by every librarian, every library student, every public official, indeed, every citizen concerned with his or her community.
Libraries and Key Performance Indicators: A Framework for Practitioners explores ways by which libraries across all sectors can demonstrate their value and impact to stakeholders through quality assurance and performance measurement platforms, including library assessment, evaluation methodologies, surveys, and annual reporting. Whilst several different performance measurement tools are considered, the book's main focus is on one tool in particular: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are increasingly being used to measure the performance of library and information services, however, linking KPIs to quality outcomes, such as impact and value can prove very difficult. This book discusses, in detail, the concept of KPIs in the broader context of library assessment and performance measurement. Through reviewing some of the applied theory around using KPIs, along with harvesting examples of current best practices in KPI usage from a variety of different libraries, the book demystifies library KPIs, providing a toolkit for any library to be used in setting meaningful KPIs against targets, charters, service standards, and quality outcomes.
Career development must be based on an understanding both of the working context and of one's own personal needs. This forms the basis of guidance given in this book, which includes contributions from three other specialists in career management and organizational dynamics. Your Career, Your Life begins by exploring what work offers the individual, reasons why we do it, positive and negative experiences and the effects of personal and external drivers. The author then looks closely at the individual's relationship with the employer organization and at global, particularly technological, trends in the information world, explaining how to assess career satisfaction and choose techniques for gettingunstuck. A variety of support and self-assessment processes (such as shadowing, mentoring, performance monitoring, psychometric testing) are presented to progress the reader towards actively managing choices and making moves. The author guides us through the different stages of the job search and application process, suggesting self-development and learning methods for defining career needs, whether full time, freelance or part time, as well as ways of assessing competencies and attributes in relation to the job market. In the second part of this book Angela Abell focuses on changing employer needs,the knowledge economy and the future profile and skills of information professionals. Rossana Kendall, quoting numerous examples, offers empowering tools for creating space to think positively, for developing constructive dialogues and so managing negativity and change. She explores the underlying factors governing how we handle change and the other complexities of work and life, and their implications for careers. In the final chapter differing attitudes to change are explored by Liz Roberts, with particular emphasis on senior management roles, and the challenges and rewards they, or the option of downshifting, can bring. A series of case studies highlights di
For many in the West, Romania is synonymous with Count Dracula. Since the publication of Bram Stoker's famous novel in 1897 Transylvania (and by extension, Romania) has become inseparable in the Western imagination with Dracula, vampires and the supernatural. Moreover, since the late 1960s Western tourists have travelled to Transylvania on their own searches for the literary and supernatural roots of the Dracula myth. Such 'Dracula tourism' presents Romania with a dilemma. On one hand, Dracula is Romania's unique selling point and has considerable potential to be exploited for economic gain. On the other hand, the whole notion of vampires and the supernatural is starkly at odds with Romania's self-image as a modern, developed, European state. This book examines the way that Romania has negotiated Dracula tourism over the past four decades. During the communist period (up to 1989) the Romanian state did almost nothing to encourage such tourism but reluctantly tolerated it. However, some discrete local initiatives were developed to cater for Dracula enthusiasts that operated at the margins of legality in a communist state. In the post-communist period (after 1989) any attempt to censor Dracula has disappeared and the private sector in Romania has been swift to exploit the commercial possibilities of the Count. However, the Romanian state remains ambivalent about Dracula and continues to be reluctant to encourage or promote Dracula tourism. As such Romania's dilemma with Dracula remains unresolved.
This is the 3rd revised edition of the classic work Information Science in Theory and Practice. There is a completely new chapter on the "The Internet and Information Science." This will take up themes discussed in earlier chapters and reconsiders them in the light of the new information environment.
The scale of change in the provision of information and research services since the original edition of this guide (published 1993), in particular the development of the Internet, meant that it soon became clear that a more or less complete re-write was needed, rather than simply a revision of the existing text. However, the new edition has kept to the spirit of the original, which has been a valuable tool for many.
Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the massification of higher education has been a rollercoaster ride for the university sector. The New York Times famously declared 2012 to be the year of the MOOC. However, by 2014, the number of academic leaders who believed the model was unsustainable doubled to more than 50%. While the MOOC hype has somewhat subsided, the attitudes and anxieties of this peak time can still be seen influencing universities and their administrations. This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn. This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.
This book critically examines the historical developments and current trends in the scientific scholarly communication system, issues and challenges in scientific scholarly publishing and scientific data sharing, implications and debates associated with the influence of intellectual property rights on scientific information sharing, and new trends related to peer reviewing and measuring the impact of scientific publications. Based on thorough examination of published literature, the book illustrates the involvement of many stakeholders-scientists, science educators, university administrators, government entities, research funders, and other interested parties-in this complex and dynamic system. The discussion highlights the roles these stakeholders have to play, individually and collaboratively, to help transform the future of the scientific scholarly communication system.
The marketing of library services is an essential agenda item for almost all kinds of libraries all over the world. In this volume 47 experts from 20 countries address the issue through 40 articles. The bundling of dozens of contributions from a truly international group of librarians, presented in this book, provides a broad spectrum on the topic. This book will thus prove immensely useful, helping both working librarians and future librarians to understand vital issues relating to the marketing of library and information services at the local, national and international level. The book is divided into the following six sections: Marketing concept: a changing perspective; Marketing in libraries around the world; Role of library associations; Education, training and research; Excellence in marketing; Databases and other marketing literature.
Planning a new or refurbished public library means considering not only facilities for collections, services, staff and users, but examining also the local context, reviewing the library image, and developing relationships with other community facilities and agencies. This book examines the entire gamut of challenges confronting the planning and development of contemporary public libraries; their mission, their roles, and key issues such as lifelong learning, social inclusion, community and cultural needs, regeneration and funding. The helpful presentation and readable style guides the librarian through the preliminary information-gathering and decision-making process that ensures a successful library building for all concerned. Using practical case studies, plans and photographs, the author tackles the critical issues of siting, size, plans and design concepts, and provides a helpful guide to weighing up the alternatives of refurbished, converted and new buildings. Separate chapters focus on the planning, briefing and construction process; security, safety and sustainability; key characteristics of successful buildings; identity, decor and signage; and interior layout and facilities. The text draws together a vast resource of real library examples from all over the world which provide best practice models and lessons to learn. For funding authorities, librarians and architects of public libraries this is a highly informative book that will help to ensure wise decision-making and prevent costly mistakes.
In recent years, we have witnessed the mushrooming of pro- democracy and protest movements not only in the Arab world, but also within Europe and the Americas. Such movements have ranged from popular upheavals, like in Tunisia and Egypt, to the organization of large-scale demonstrations against unpopular policies, as in Spain, Greece and Poland. What connects these different events are not only their democratic aspirations, but also their innovative forms of communication and organization through online means, which are sometimes considered to be outside of the State's control. At the same time, however, it has become more and more apparent that countries are attempting to increase their understanding of, and control over, their citizens' actions in the digital sphere. This involves striving to develop surveillance instruments, control mechanisms and processes engineered to dominate the digital public sphere, which necessitates the assistance and support of private actors such as Internet intermediaries. Examples include the growing use of Internet surveillance technology with which online data traffic is analysed, and the extensive monitoring of social networks. Despite increased media attention, academic debate on the ambivalence of these technologies, mechanisms and techniques remains relatively limited, as is discussion of the involvement of corporate actors. The purpose of this edited volume is to reflect on how Internet-related technologies, mechanisms and techniques may be used as a means to enable expression, but also to restrict speech, manipulate public debate and govern global populaces. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics.
Popular culture has recognized urban gay men's use of the Web over the last ten years, with gay Internet dating and Net-cruising featuring as narrative devices in hit television shows. Yet to date, the relationship between urban gay male culture and digital media technologies has received only limited critical attention. Gaydar Culture explores the integration of specific techno-cultural practices within contemporary gay male sub-culture. Taking British gay culture as its primary interest, the book locates its critical discussion within the wider global context of a proliferating model of Western 'metropolitan' gay male culture. Making use of a series of case studies in the development of a theoretical framework through which past, present and future practices of digital immersion can be understood and critiqued; this book constitutes a timely intervention into the fields of digital media studies, cultural studies and the study of gender and sexuality.
How are businesses responding to global changes in markets driven by changes in technology? Whatever the industry, the trends are familiar: globalization and the rise of industrial conglomerates, mergers and acquisitions, the networking of businesses and markets, outsourcing and shifts in the distribution of resources and production, all reflected in the emergence of new players, new products and services and new forms of competition. As arguably the first knowledge-based business, book publishing provides an ideal setting for the study of challenge and opportunity. The industry is currently experiencing fierce levels of competition, extreme financial pressures, restructuring and the threat of technology-induced obsolescence. Added to these are the challenges posed by new and potential entrants to the market, the emergence of new products and services, new ways of doing business, including trading in virtual markets, and the vulnerability of traditional business models. The suitability of book publishing as a context for researching the emergence of knowledge-based business becomes all too apparent. Through combining primary research with secondary analysis drawn from the relevant literatures, Books, Bytes and Business is both a readable and informative account of business in the knowledge-based economy.
For more than 500 years, the Portuguese built or adapted fortifications along the coasts of Africa, Asia and South America. At a macro scale, mapping this network of power reveals a gigantic territorial and colonial project. Forts articulated the colonial and the metropolitan, and functioned as nodes in a mercantile empire, shaping early forms of capitalism, transforming the global political economy, and generating a flood of images and ideas on an unprecedented scale. Today, they can be understood as active material legacies of empire that represent promises, dangers and possibilities. Forts are marks and wounds of the history of human violence, but also timely reminders that buildings never last forever, testimonies of the fluidity of the material world. Illustrated by case studies in Morocco, Cape Verde, SAGBPo Tome and PrA ncipe and Kenya, this book examines how this global but chameleonic network of forts can offer valuable insights into both the geopolitics of Empire and their postcolonial legacies, and into the intersection of colonialism, memory, power and space in the postcolonial Lusophone world and beyond.
This is effectively the eighth edition of Aslib's flagship reference work, Handbook of Special Librarianship and Information Work, which has provided the seminal text on modern information theory, practice, and procedure since 1957. Scammell draws on a substantial background of research and best practice to provide a pragmatic approach to information management in the workplace. This volume covers strategic, legal, management, and marketing issues and highlights the importance of new web-based delivery mechanisms. It includes contributions from outside the UK, mirroring the global nature of information management.Includes: essential reference to core theories and principles of information organization, retrieval and dissemination a new chapter exploring the legal issues involved with information on the Internet new topics including: freedom of information, project management, digital library research, the hybrid library, the effective website and the intranet.
Sweeping changes have taken place in the financial sector during the twentieth century. Two of the most notable changes have been the growth of global markets and institutions, and the introduction of computerisation. This volume charts the course of concentration and internationalisation in banking and also examines the influence and implications of new technologies on the industry's record-keeping practices. The exploration of concentration and internationalisation begins in the late nineteenth century and examines the effect of a wide range of factors, from macro-economic influences such as the liquidity crisis of the 1930s and the oil price rises of the 1970s, to the role of national regulation in the creation of financial markets and innovative products. The role of individual banks and their particular policies is also brought into focus. Some of Europe's most eminent bankers provide a contemporary dimension by discussing possible future developments in continental banking.
Whether termed the 'network society', the 'knowledge society' or the 'information society', it is widely accepted that a new age has dawned, unveiled by powerful computer and communication technologies. Yet for millennia humans have been recording knowledge and culture, engaging in the dissemination and preservation of information. In `The Early Information Society', the authors argue for an earlier incarnation of the information age, focusing upon the period 1900-1960. In support of this they examine the history and traditions in Britain of two separate but related information-rich occupations - information management and information science - repositioning their origins before the age of the computer and identifying the forces driving their early development. `The Early Information Society' offers an historical account which questions the novelty of the current information society. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and practitioners in the library and information science field, and for sociologists and historians interested in the information society.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the information profession. The series IFLA Publications deals with many of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.
Britain's most widely read author of the late twentieth century, Catherine Cookson published more than 100 books, including The Fifteen Streets, The Black Velvet Gown, and Katie Mulhollond. Set in England's industrial northeast, her novels depict the social, economic, and emotional hardships of that area. In the first essay collection devoted to Cookson, the contributors examine what Cookson's memoirs and historical fiction mean to readers, including how her fans contribute to her position in the cultural imaginary; constructions of gender, class, and English and Irish identity in her work; the importance of place in her novels; Cookson's place in the heritage industry; and television adaptations of Cookson's works. Cookson's work tackled topics that were still taboo in the early post-World War II era, such as domestic abuse, rape, and incest. This collection places Cookson in historical context and shows how skillful she was at pushing generic boundaries. |
You may like...
The Future of the Academic Journal
Bill Cope, Angus Phillips
Paperback
Intellectual Property and Assessing its…
Benedikt Sas, Stanislas De Vocht, …
Hardcover
R1,454
Discovery Miles 14 540
Towards A Semantic Web - Connecting…
Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, …
Paperback
Practising Information Literacy…
Annemaree Lloyd, Sanna Talja
Paperback
|