This book explores the communication challenges faced by parents as they raise children who are bi-cultural, multi-cultural, or are adopted from a heritage other than the parents. Each contributor views the family as a site of intercultural dialogue and mediation, and uses compelling studies throughout to examine the parents who creatively balance cultural influences within their families. Using television depictions of parents on Modern Family and All-American Muslim to the everyday activities of mixed-ethnicity and international families, Mediating Cultures reports the communication strategies employed by the parents as they strive to create affirming relationships between children and their heritages. This collection brings together two largely separate literatures of family communication and intercultural communication studies with accessible yet context-driven studies to explain how families integrate multiple cultural heritages and perspectives.

Within a comparative, theoretical and global network, this volume focuses on the impact of information technologies on the prospects for democratic development. It deals with the hopes as well as the fears for democracy and development that have emerged out of the current technological revolution in information and communication. The volume argues that information technologies have historically played a dual and paradoxical role in political formations. Generally, the Big Media (the national press, broadcasting and mainframe computers) have served the centralizing forces, while the Small Media (the alternative press, small scale audio-video production and transmission facilities and increasingly personal computing networking) have provided the channel for community resistance and mobilization. The volume argues that the new information technologies, like the old, should be viewed neither as technologies of freedom nor of tyranny but primarily as technologies of power that lock into existing or emerging techno-structures of power.

Providing perspectives on women's issues and the communication process, this book contends that communications is at important crossroads because of, rather than in spite of, women. They challenge that women's language, reality, orientations, and experiences are different from those of men. A further challenge makes the case for breaking the hold and subsequent control by traditional mass media on women's issues.

This work focuses on communication and how humans talk about things. It also explores how we conceive of, understand, and think about communication.

The introduction of new technologies exerts a profound influence on our ways of thinking about current businesses and issues. They quickly make obsolete the products and services that these businesses provide. Nowhere has this been more evident in the early 1990s and the decades before than in the information industries, the focus of this book.

In this book, Surma develops a critical cosmopolitan orientation to public and professional writing. Combining threads from ethical, political, communication, sociological, feminist, rhetorical and discourse theories, she examines the influences and impacts of writing in a range of contexts - government, corporate, organizational and community. Case-study examples illustrate the ways in which writing may be mobilized to strengthen our connections with others, and to reflect on how writing practices might entrench or transform our positions as both citizens of the world and members of situated communities.

With the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity that is a feature of European societies today, pluralism is experienced in new and challenging ways. In many places, an urban cosmopolitan mix sits side by side with group-based expressions of faith and culture. The debate about the types of 'acceptance' that these situations require tend to follow new patterns. Increasing openness and respect for some may rest upon a reinforced intolerance towards others. This complicates and challenges our understanding of what it means for societies to be accepting, tolerant or respectful of cultural diversity in its various forms. This volume seeks to meet this challenge with perspectives that consider new dynamics towards tolerance, intolerance and respect.

Examining the role of memory in the transition from totalitarian to democratic systems, this book makes an important contribution to memory studies. It explores memory as a medium of and impediment to change, looking at memory's biological, cultural, narrative and socio-psychological dimensions.

Culture and Technology in the New Europe presents the insights of an international group of academic researchers and media practitioners who examine the impact of technology on East Central Europe, South-Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent States and the Russian Federation. Drawing from the expertise of authors from and working in the region, the book addresses concerns that the New Europe faces at the eve of the Third Millennium and a decade after the fall of communist rule. Such concerns include access to information and communication technology and the culturally-specific discourses articulated through media and technology. While the book focuses on information and communication reforms, and the development of a participatory democracy are examined. The book is distinguished by diverse studies ranging from the problems of Cyber Hate from and about the New Europe, to online activism in war-torn Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia, to how digital media art articulates new cultural and creative freedoms once silenced by the Soviet regime. Finally, the book looks to the future of media, technology and communication in the New Europe, particularly the gaps between post-socialist nations and those more technologically advantaged, and how these gaps can be narrowed or eradicated in the Third Millennium.

This book presents the consolidated acoustic data for all phones in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), commonly known as Bangla, a Bengali language used by 350 million people in India, Bangladesh, and the Bengali diaspora. The book analyzes the real speech of selected native speakers of the Bangla dialect to ensure that a proper acoustical database is available for the development of speech technologies. The acoustic data presented consists of averages and their normal spread, represented by the standard deviations of necessary acoustic parameters including e.g. formant information for multiple native speakers of both sexes. The study employs two important speech technologies:(1) text to speech synthesis (TTS) and (2) automatic speech recognition (ASR). The procedures, particularly those related to the use of technologies, are described in sufficient detail to enable researchers to use them to create technical acoustic databases for any other Indian dialect. The book offers a unique resource for scientists and industrial practitioners who are interested in the acoustic analysis and processing of Indian dialects to develop similar dialect databases of their own.

This book describes current practices in science communication, from citizen science to Twitter storms, and celebrates this diversity through case studies and examples. However, the authors also reflect on how scholars and practitioners can gain better insight into science communication through new analytical methods and perspectives. From science PR to the role of embodiment and materiality, some aspects of science communication have been under-studied. How can we better notice these? Science Communication provides a new synthesis for Science Communication Studies. It uses the historical literature of the field, new empirical data, and interdisciplinary thought to argue that the frames which are typically used to think about science communication often omit important features of how it is imagined and practised. It is essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners of science education, science and technology studies, museum studies, and media and communication studies.

Journalism is under ever-increasing pressure, due in large part to the phenomenon of media convergence. Not only does media convergence redefine the tasks of journalists and newsrooms, it also re-shapes the business environments of media companies. In this book, international media practitioners and researchers describe and analyze the relationships between media convergence and advertising, public relations, social media and other areas of communication posing a challenge to journalism.

The Red Scare at the FCC started when James Lawrence Fly led the agency in many important decisions that were inspired by the New Deal. These decisions outraged both the broadcasting industry and politically conservative legislators, causing them to accuse the FCC of Communist sympathies. This book analyzes the political transition taken by the FCC that turned it into an agency that fully participated in the Red Scare of the 1950s.

This book analyzes many significant FCC cases and policies that have never been considered within the context of New Deal policymaking or its impact. This work is the first to look into the impact of the Red Scare on an executive agency. Its combination of new archival and behind-the- scenes information makes this book a great addition to the growing body of research on media history and regulation.

What signals are you sending when you share the gospel? The importance of signs for communicating truth has been recognized throughout the ages. Crystal L. Downing traces this awareness from biblical texts, through figures from church history like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, to more recent writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge and C. S. Lewis. In the nineteenth century, this legacy of interest in the activity of signs brought about a new field of academic study. In this book, Downing puts the discipline of semiotics within reach for beginners through analysis of the movement's key theorists, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Mikhail Bakhtin and others. She then draws out the implications for effective communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ within our shifting cultural landscape. Her fundamental thesis is that "Failure to understand how signs work--as effects of the cultures we seek to affect--inevitably undermines not just our political and moral agendas but, worse, the gospel of Jesus Christ." Writing with humor, clarity and flare, Downing lucidly explains the sophisticated thinking of leaders in semiotics for nonexperts. Of value to all those interested in communication in any context, this work will be of special interest to students majoring in communications or English or to students in evangelism and preaching courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.

The phenomenon of the small world, as in two new acquaintances discovering that they have an acquaintance in common, is of great scientific interest. The samll world phenomenon appears to be a fundamental property of social structure and function. Understanding it, its origin, and its implications can shed light on problems in sociology, sociometrics, political science, social psychology, and anthropology. This volume brings together much of what is understood about the small world problem, and the chapters indicate the quality, vitality, and scope of this area.

How to increase your visibility and maximize your success through powerful, proven communication techniques How can you make the media work for you? How can you master interviews so that your points are the ones an audience remembers? How can you give presentations that do not just convey information but also promote you as a leader? How can you develop listening habits that will substantially enhance the entire communication process? What are the challenges and opportunities of public personhood inside and outside the workplace? Power Communications: Positioning Yourself for High Visibility teaches people-from corporate CEOs to civic leaders to designated spokespersons-how to enhance their positioning and maximize their success. Chapter by chapter, the reader learns how to master public visibility in the workplace, the professional arena, and the community. The reader gleans ways to create proper perceptions in the minds of the public and the media. The book also details how high-profile people can lead others by mastering the total power communications process-effective presentation of message, constructive listening, and executive or community action. In addition to learning how to create and maintain positive public personhood, the reader also learns specific methods and channels for dispersing important messages. This book focuses on proactive techniques that address the full spectrum of needs and issues that go into establishing and sustaining a public identity. Power Communications is an irreplaceable resource for corporate executives, top and middle management, elected officials, heads of organizations, governmental representatives, official spokespersons, and public relations and marketing professionals. To many people, communicating itself creates a daunting challenge. Power Communications helps its readers turn challenges into exciting opportunities.

Whether politically, socially, economically, or psychologically, postmodern institutions attempt to influence their environments through the use of rhetoric in their public relations campaigns. As corporations increasingly dominate the public discourse we experience daily, it becomes increasingly important to understand how that discourse operates, and to become more informed creators and consumers of institutional rhetoric.

This volume examines the theoretical bases and practical effects of a variety of public relations campaigns. The contributors demonstrate that rhetorical inquiry is a viable and underrated approach to explaining the influence of public relations campaigns. Cases analyzed in the book range from those of national scope (e.g., Mobil Oil's Observations campaign of the 1970s and 1980s), to studies of targeted influence (e.g., corporate recruitment videos), to cases of internal relations (e.g., issues management during corporate mergers), to studies of local situations (e.g., the anatomy of a local ballot issue campaign). While the various contributors employ a broad range of rhetorical methods and analysis, the discussions remain approachable and understandable for students and professionals alike.

Each of us is highly skilled at designing our turns at talk, and meshing them with those of the people around us. Conversation Analysis (CA) is the study of just how that is done, and how the choreography of conversation brings off the business we conduct with each other.
Conversation Analysis is beginning to have a strong record not only of understanding interaction, but also of seeing how it might be changed. This volume collects together some of the most exciting developments in CA as it is applied to intervention programs in medical communication, speech therapy, mediation, welfare interviewing, surveying, telephone helplines, and other insitutional encounters. The contributors explain the difficulties and the benefits of applying CA in the real world, and with working with external agencies like government institutions, charities, and the medical establishment.

This book integrates research and theoretical findings from multiple disciplines to present a holistic approach to conflict resolution. It highlights the wide-ranging and compelling relevance of Conflict Resolution Studies by exploring the entire spectrum of applications in interpersonal relationships, family and group functioning, and national and international relations.

This collection of essays examines the variety of ways in which communication scholarship and research contribute to the political mobilization and empowerment of citizens to act on environmental issues - environmental discourse and action in the largest sense. As seen here, the task of environmental empowerment involves a curious mixture of national and local politics, abstract principles and concrete actions, ethical frameworks and political expediency. The contributors to this volume provide a fascinating array of perspectives on how to go about this task and how "earthtalk" continues to shape and frame human perceptions and actions on environmental issues. This unique work will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and students of political communication, public policy, and the environment.

The dominant cultural script is that the Baby Boomers have 'had it all', thereby depriving younger generations of the opportunity to create a life for themselves. Bristow provides a critical account of this discourse by locating the problematisation of the Baby Boomers within a wider ambivalence about the legacy of the Sixties.

Social networks have emerged as a major trend in computing and social paradigms in the past few years. The social network model helps to inform the study of community behavior, allowing qualitative and quantitative assessments of how people communicate and the rules that govern communication. Social Networking and Community Behavior Modeling: Qualitative and Quantitative Measures provides a clear and consolidated view of current social network models. This work explores new methods for modeling, characterizing, and constructing social networks. Chapters contained in this book study critical security issues confronting social networking, the emergence of new mobile social networking devices and applications, network robustness, and how social networks impact the business aspects of organizations.