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The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of the public interest. The central question is whether the public interest is a usable concept in a time of social and political change. A historical overview of the public interest is provided. Two researchers are highlighted: David John Farmer and O.C. McSwite. The paper concludes by proposing the refusal of subjective identification with the public interest.

Discourse theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis are discussed in this paper. The emphasis in both approaches is to examine ethical challenges in politics and administration through new epistemological lenses. A further use of these research strategies is to identify existing institutional practices and situate administrative decision-making within those practices.

The findings in this paper indicate that while institutional resistance is useful, it can also be co-opted or result in retribution. In both cases, power is asserted and maintained by those who hold institutional power. David John Farmer’s work on anti-administration and O.C. McSwite’s work on administrative refusal are effective strategies to address the abuse of institutional power.

This paper introduces the concept of subjective identification to the literature of public administration. Subjective identification offers administrators a new approach to the ethical dilemmas they face in the workplace.

Governance is central to our current understanding of public administration and policy. Mark Bevirʼs work provides governance studies solid epistemological grounding through a social constructionist approach which gives rise to a decentered theory of governance. This article explains decentered theory by examining the entrepreneurial subject as an artifact of neo-liberal governance. In doing so, it explores the key concepts that give shape to decentered theory.

This paper is a response to Gary Marshall, Colin Macleod, and Amit Ronʼs careful discussions of my book, A Theory of Governance. The word “governance” is used in two contexts that might initially appear to have little relation to each other. Governance is used, first, as a general term to discuss abstract theories of coordination and organization. And governance is used, second, to narrate a historic shift in public organization and action. A Theory of Governance offers a decentered theory (part one of the book) that seeks to combine a general analysis of various forms of coordination and organization (part two of the book) with a narrative of recent changes in public organization and action (part three of the book). In this paper, I emphasize that decentered theory turns to historical genealogies to avoid determinism, reification, and foundationalism. Contemporary governance is, therefore, the variegated product of contests over meanings, specifically those reform agendas that have sought to spread markets and networks. I conclude the essay with some reflections on the nature and importance of democratic innovations within governance.

THE Conference of the Library Association may be described as one without a press. The greatest dailies had the barest references to it, a fact which is surprising and lends us matter for reflection. If an admittedly national service, almost universal in application, can be completely ignored in its annual gatherings, what is to be thought? Is it that libraries are now so normal a part of the social landscape that they may be taken for granted? Are they so insignificant that they do not merit notice? Alternatively, were our proceedings too dull for the dramatic necessities of the reporter? Or, finally, was it because the general publicity of the L.A. is not aggressive, is indeed inert? These questions every librarian and library authority may ask and have a right to the answer.

The authors address how a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing --- adaptive data management systems that monitor, analyze, make decisions and learn -- will transform businesses, work and customer offerings.

A survey of 6,050 C-suite executives worldwide identified a small group of cognitive innovators and revealed what they are doing differently.

Cognitive innovators identify customer satisfaction, retention, acquisition and revenue growth as the primary rationale for embracing cognitive technologies.

Cognitive computing systems are already helping make sense of the deluge of data spawned by ordinary commerce because they are able to adapt and learn.

The authors offer a four-step approach to cognitive computing innovation based on their research findings.

Offerings of electronic courses and degrees are growing at a surprising rate. Some have surmised that E courses represent the future for higher education and that the traditional university may soon be a relic of the past: do E courses represent a significant improvement over traditional pedagogy for educating students? In this context, 305 questionnaires were sent by e‐mail to accounting chairpersons in the USA. A total of 94 usable responses was received. Nearly 65 per cent of the respondents indicated that E courses are simply correspondence courses presented with new technology. Those who view E courses as correspondence courses are more negative on offering E courses in university programs or offering degrees through the completion of only E courses. They are also more restrictive with E courses, favoring the proctoring of exams and requiring students to come to campus as part of the E course. Additionally, they tended to agree that “the student‐to‐student and the student‐to‐instructor interaction that are missing in E courses makes them less valuable to the student.” Instead of viewing E courses and E degrees as the “university of the future”, they see them as adjuncts to university programs just as correspondence courses have been for decades.

Although support exists for the effectiveness of treatment for personality disordered offenders there is limited knowledge about the processes underlying the therapeutic change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the treatment experiences of six male psychopathic offenders who attended a social skills treatment component implemented within a high-secure personality disorder treatment service.

Interview transcripts were analysed by the lead researcher (first author) using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) who compared and contrasted findings to develop superordinate themes across the group. External auditing analysis was conducted by the second author.

Several themes were identified that may indicate the unique ways this client group experienced treatment. These related to the importance of “group cohesion” with treatment progression and shared learning experiences, the significance of “therapeutic alliance” with treatment providers and perceived effectiveness of treatment, and the conflict participants experienced when acquiring and applying skills from their engagement in treatment. Participants identified aspects of the treatment component that facilitated the effectiveness of treatment and were effective in meeting their needs and some that would benefit from improvement.

Positive group dynamics are important. Operational staff inclusion within the facilitation team is beneficial. Attentiveness to participants’ specific responsivity needs is required. Supporting skill application post-treatment is important.

These findings add to the evidence base in relation to factors that support personality disordered offenders’ engagement within treatment. Areas that validate treatment delivery are highlighted, as are suggestions for change to maximise treatment gain for psychopathic and personality disordered offenders.

This paper aims to investigate whether preferences for certain types of privacy predict the frequency and duration of social media usage as well as the moderating role of gender on these relationships.

An e-mail-based survey among the faculty, staff and students of a medium-sized mid-western university is used to gather data regarding preferences for privacy and social media usage. Using 530 respondents, structural equation modeling explores the relationship between the various privacy types, gender and social media usage.

Evidence supports a relationship between four types of privacy preferences and social media usage. A positive relationship exists between frequency of social media usage and a preference for not neighboring. Duration of social media usage shows a negative relationship with preferences for seclusion and reserve, and surprisingly, a positive relationship with a preference for anonymity. Gender moderates the relationship between preference for privacy and social media usage, offering evidence that intimacy, seclusion and reserve predict social media usage for males, while not neighboring and anonymity predict usage for females.

The study extends the privacy literature through investigating differential impacts of privacy preferences. The marketing literature examines privacy as a general concept, without allowing for differences in consumers' preferences for types of privacy. Additionally, the study shows that gender moderates the relationship between preferences for privacy and social media usage. A second contribution is investigating the relevance of a scale, developed in an age without social media, to an era permeated in social media.