scholarly journals Rethinking the distinctions between old and new media: Introduction

Author(s):  
Frederik Lesage ◽  
Simone Natale

Recent approaches to media change have convincingly shown that distinctions between old and new media are inadequate to describe the complexity of present and past technological configurations. Yet, oldness and newness remain powerful ways to describe and understand media change and continue to direct present-day perceptions and interactions with a wide range of technologies – from vinyl records to artificial intelligence voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa. How can one refuse rigid definitions of old and new, while at the same time retaining the usefulness and pertinence of these concepts for the study and analysis of media change? This introduction to the special issue entitled ‘Rethinking the Distinctions between Old and New Media’ aims to answer this question by taking up the notion of biography. We argue that the recurrence of oldness and newness as categories to describe media is strictly related to the fact that interactions with media are embedded within a biographical understanding of time, which refers both to the life course of people or objects and to the narratives that are created and disseminated about them. Employing this approach entails considering the history of a medium against the history of the changing definitions that are attributed to it and, more broadly, to considering time not only as such but also against the narratives that make it thinkable and understandable.

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Benjamin ◽  
Maria Flynn ◽  
Christine Hallett ◽  
Ian Ellis ◽  
Katie Booth

Inclusion ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Blanck

Abstract The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008, are effecting dramatic changes in the perception of cognitive and other disabilities, from primarily viewing disability as a medical state to be cured and pitied toward acceptance of disability as an element of human experience and self-identity. The ADA's modern understanding of disability is as much shaped by diversity in biology, local culture, and self-identity over the life course, as it is by the barriers to inclusion we build and maintain in society. This view reflects the paradigm shift from the prior and dominating medical model to a social and environmental approach to disability civil and human rights. This two-part special issue of the journal Inclusion examines the ADA at its 25th anniversary. The articles reflect on the past 25 years, examine the present, and anticipate the future to ensure continued progress towards the civil and human rights of individuals with cognitive and other disabilities.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florencia Torche

The idea that early-life circumstances shape people’s health, development, and well-being over the life course has gained renewed centrality in the last two decades. This renewed interest has been informed by new approaches that emphasize sensitive and critical periods during the first years of life, offer an understanding of human development as a hierarchical and cross-fertilizing process, suggest plausible mechanisms for the persistent effect of early exposures, and explore heterogeneity in effects based on environmental and biological factors. The articles included in this special issue of Population Research and Policy Review advance the field of early-life circumstances in several important dimensions. They examine the determinants and effects of noxious exposures at different developmental stages—ranging from the prenatal period to adolescence—in a variety of national settings. They offer an understanding of early-life circumstances that moves from discrete outcomes to a dynamic life-course approach, and consider diverse sources of heterogeneity in the effects of early exposures.


Author(s):  
Roy Huijsmans ◽  
Nicola Ansell ◽  
Peggy Froerer

AbstractIn this editorial introduction to the Special Issue Youth, Aspirations and the Life Course: Development and the social production of aspirations in young people’s lives, we put the work presented in this collection in conversation with the wider literature on development, youth and aspirations. Aspiration we define as an orientation towards a desired future. We elaborate on our conceptualisation of aspirations as socially produced and reflect on the methodological challenges in researching young people’s aspirations in development. While mindful of the various critiques of aspiration research we argue that aspirations constitute fertile terrain for theorising the temporal dynamics of being young and growing up in contexts of development.


Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yanhong Jessika Hu ◽  
Susan Clifford ◽  
Sharon Goldfeld ◽  
Melissa Wake

Abstract While birth cohorts are shaped by underpinning life course frameworks, few if any report how they select them. This review aimed to (1) summarise publicly available frameworks relevant to planning and communicating large new early-life cohorts and (2) help select frameworks to guide and communicate Generation Victoria (GenV), a whole-of-state birth and parent cohort in planning in the state of Victoria, Australia. We identified potential frameworks from prior knowledge, networks and a pragmatic literature search in 2019. We considered for inclusion only frameworks with an existing visual graphic. We summarised each framework’s concept, then judged it on a seven-item matrix (Scope, Dimensions, Outcomes, Life course, Mechanisms, Multi-age, and Visual Clarity) to be of high, intermediate or low relevance to GenV. We presented and evaluated 14 life course frameworks across research and policy. Two, nine and three frameworks, respectively, were ranked as high, intermediate and low relevance to GenV, although none totally communicated its scope and intent. Shonkoff’s biodevelopmental framework was selected as GenV’s primary framework, adapted to include ongoing feedback loops through the life course and influence of an individual’s outcomes on the next generation. Because conceptual simplicity precluded the primary framework from capturing the wide range of relevant exposures, we selected the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s person-centred model as a secondary framework. This summary of existing life course frameworks may prove helpful to other cohorts in planning. Our transparent process and focus on visual communication are already assisting in explaining and selecting measures for GenV. The feasibility, comprehension and validity of these frameworks could be further tested at implementation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-773
Author(s):  
Jeff Sigafoos ◽  
Cindy Gevarter

Individuals with complex communication needs are likely to experience considerable difficulties and challenges with everyday communication interactions due to limited use and understanding of natural speech. In this editorial, we review the nature of complex communication needs, describe the wide range of individuals who may experience such needs, and provide a brief history of behavioral approaches to addressing these needs. We also highlight the six papers in this special issue that contribute to the further understanding of the use of behavioral intervention approaches for addressing complex communication needs. These papers include one conceptual overview of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions for individuals with complex communication needs, four intervention studies addressing a range of communicative topographies (i.e., vocal speech, AAC, and a social messaging app), and one systematic review examining interventions that promote communicative response variability. These six papers highlight the diversity of complex communication needs and emphasize the importance of examining the efficacy of a wide range of individualized behavioral approaches that are matched to specific needs and goals.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. e0223683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Aizawa ◽  
Seiichi Inagaki ◽  
Michiko Moriyama ◽  
Kenichiro Asano ◽  
Masayuki Kakehashi

Sociology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. NP13-NP23 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Skinner ◽  
Vanessa May ◽  
Nicola Rollock

This article introduces one of four e-special issues designed to celebrate 50 years of Sociology by showcasing the depth of material in the journal’s archive. ‘Identity’ was chosen as the focus for an e-special issue about the 1990s as this was an important period in the development of public and academic discussions around this slippery concept. A review of the journal’s content from that era reveals a surprising dearth of work on the politics of group identity. In contrast, British sociology’s growing interest in questions of self, subjectivity, lifestyle and life course is well represented. Much of this work was developed in critical dialogue with the ‘individualization thesis’ that argued that people increasingly acted as choice-making individuals in control of their own lives. Through sophisticated use of theory, research and case studies many of the articles included in the e-special challenge the simplifications of this thesis. The selected articles are grouped in four sections: the first looks at attempts to theorize self-identity in late modernity; this is followed by three articles on consumerism and lifestyle; the next section contains articles on biography and the life course. The selection finishes with two articles that reflect on how sociology teaching and research might be reconfigured to acknowledge explicitly the experiences and identities of those involved.


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