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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1993

Andrew Jeeves

Examines the theory and practice of “cost of quality” and whether it warrants a place in management accounting. Discusses the assertion, supported by research, that the indirect…

386

Abstract

Examines the theory and practice of “cost of quality” and whether it warrants a place in management accounting. Discusses the assertion, supported by research, that the indirect costs of poor quality are several times the direct measured costs of scrap, rework and warranty. Looks at a survey of attitudes and systems in Japan comparing the Japanese companies with their American counterparts. Describes the quality costing system in a British company and charts its attempt to account for quality by reference to BS 6143. Concludes that as an ongoing addition to existing management accounting, quality costing does have a major role to play in monitoring and controlling the drive towards quality improvement.

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The TQM Magazine, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-478X

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Publication date: 13 March 2019

Susan Cosby Ronnenberg

The CW’s long-running horror-drama series Supernatural (2005–) has been accused of undoing progressive advances for women made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003). While it’s…

Abstract

The CW’s long-running horror-drama series Supernatural (2005–) has been accused of undoing progressive advances for women made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003). While it’s hard to deny the truth in that claim, Supernatural also problematizes conventional gender roles from a very different approach, one that plays with perceptions of masculinity and social class.

Buffy Summers may initially seem to have more in common with Supernatural’s Sam Winchester, a chosen one with special powers who wants a normal life away from the supernatural. However, Buffy shares more in common with Dean Winchester. Embodying popular gendered stereotypes in their introductions, it’s gradually revealed that there is more complexity to each. Both form alliances with Others; both recognize elements of the Other in themselves. Both transgress conventional gender boundaries, complicating the notion of a binary gender system. Both series introduce the seemingly familiar only to alter it into the uncanny. See the little cute blonde virginal cheerleader? She can kick your ass. See the stupid cocky womanizing jock? All he wants is family and a home. This chapter explores the increasingly gender-blended, social-class-crossing behaviours of Supernatural’s Dean Winchester as an heir to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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Gender and Contemporary Horror in Television
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-103-2

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Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

Andrew D. Madden, Nigel J. Ford, David Miller and Philippa Levy

A common criticism of research into information seeking on the internet is that information seekers are restricted by the demands of the researcher. Another criticism is that the…

4166

Abstract

Purpose

A common criticism of research into information seeking on the internet is that information seekers are restricted by the demands of the researcher. Another criticism is that the search topics, are often imposed by the researcher, and; particularly when working with children, domain knowledge could be as important as information‐seeking skills. The research reported here attempts to address both these problems.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 15 children, aged 11 to 16, were each set three “think aloud” internet searches. In the first, they were asked to recall the last time they had sought information on the internet, and to repeat the search. For the second, they were given a word, asked to interpret it, then asked to search for their interpretation. For the third, they were asked to recall the last time they had been unsuccessful in a search, and to repeat the search. While performing each task, the children were encouraged to explain their actions.

Findings

The paper finds that the factors that determined a child's ability to search successfully appeared to be: the amount of experience the child had of using the internet; the amount of guidance, both from adults and from peers; and the child's ability to explore the virtual environment, and to use the tools available for so doing.

Originality/value

Many of the searches performed by participants in this paper were not related to schoolwork, and so some of the search approaches differed from those taught by teachers. Instead, they evolved through exploration and exchange of ideas. Further studies of this sort could provide insights of value to designers of web environments.

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Journal of Documentation, vol. 62 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

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Article
Publication date: 1 December 2001

Haidar Moukdad and Andrew Large

When information seekers use an information retrieval system their strategy is based, at least in part, on the perceptions they have formed about that environment. A random sample…

828

Abstract

When information seekers use an information retrieval system their strategy is based, at least in part, on the perceptions they have formed about that environment. A random sample was gathered of more than 2,000 actual search queries submitted by users to one Web search engine, WebCrawler, in two separate capture sessions. The results suggest that a high proportion of users do not employ advanced search features, and those who do frequently misunderstand them. Furthermore, many users seem to have formed a model of the Web that imbues it with the intelligence found in a reference librarian, for example, but not a retrieval system. The linguistic structure of many queries resembles a typical human‐human communication model that is unlikely to produce satisfactory results in a human‐computer communication environment such as that offered currently by the Web. Design of more intuitive systems is dependent upon a more complete understanding of user behaviour at the intellectual and emotional as well as the technical levels.

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Online Information Review, vol. 25 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

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Article
Publication date: 1 July 1930

WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new…

40

Abstract

WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new constitution, it is the first in which all the sections will be actively engaged. From a membership of eight hundred in 1927 we are, in 1930, within measurable distance of a membership of three thousand; and, although we have not reached that figure by a few hundreds—and those few will be the most difficult to obtain quickly—this is a really memorable achievement. There are certain necessary results of the Association's expansion. In the former days it was possible for every member, if he desired, to attend all the meetings; today parallel meetings are necessary in order to represent all interests, and members must make a selection amongst the good things offered. Large meetings are not entirely desirable; discussion of any effective sort is impossible in them; and the speakers are usually those who always speak, and who possess more nerve than the rest of us. This does not mean that they are not worth a hearing. Nevertheless, seeing that at least 1,000 will be at Cambridge, small sectional meetings in which no one who has anything to say need be afraid of saying it, are an ideal to which we are forced by the growth of our numbers.

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New Library World, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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Article
Publication date: 30 August 2018

Yiming Zhao, Jin Zhang, Xue Xia and Taowen Le

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Google question-answering (QA) quality.

2190

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Google question-answering (QA) quality.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the large variety and complexity of Google answer boxes in search result pages, existing evaluation criteria for both search engines and QA systems seemed unsuitable. This study developed an evaluation criteria system for the evaluation of Google QA quality by coding and analyzing search results of questions from a representative question set. The study then evaluated Google’s overall QA quality as well as QA quality across four target types and across six question types, using the newly developed criteria system. ANOVA and Tukey tests were used to compare QA quality among different target types and question types.

Findings

It was found that Google provided significantly higher-quality answers to person-related questions than to thing-related, event-related and organization-related questions. Google also provided significantly higher-quality answers to where- questions than to who-, what- and how-questions. The more specific a question is, the higher the QA quality would be.

Research limitations/implications

Suggestions for both search engine users and designers are presented to help enhance user experience and QA quality.

Originality/value

Particularly suitable for search engine QA quality analysis, the newly developed evaluation criteria system expanded and enriched assessment metrics of both search engines and QA systems.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

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Publication date: 22 October 2019

James Farrer

For migrant urban ethnographers who study their city of settlement, ethnography may have a double meaning, serving not only as an approach to understanding a city academically but…

Abstract

For migrant urban ethnographers who study their city of settlement, ethnography may have a double meaning, serving not only as an approach to understanding a city academically but also a pathway to connecting with a community more broadly and personally, a type of personal place making. This chapter uses the experiences of the author – an American working and living in Shanghai and Tokyo for over 20 years – to show how his evolving practice of the ethnography of the city relates to a slow process of coming to live purposefully in it. The chapter also details a migrant’s perspective on the ethnography of sexuality, nightlife and foodways in urban Asia. The insider-outsider relationship that the migrant ethnographer brings to the city may be viewed as both burden and asset. As transnational migrants, migrant ethnographers can perform as institutional mediaries who connect researchers across borders and as educational facilitators who help migrant students discover means of associating with an unfamiliar environment. In short, ethnography may be a way of living as well as learning.

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Urban Ethnography
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-033-2

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2001

Julia Gelfand

211

Abstract

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Library Hi Tech News, vol. 18 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0741-9058

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 1938

AT the Conference at Folkestone of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Mr. Jast gave one more example of his old fire and vigour in a paper which he…

38

Abstract

AT the Conference at Folkestone of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Mr. Jast gave one more example of his old fire and vigour in a paper which he entitled Publishers and Librarians. No doubt in other pages than ours the text will be given in full. Here, in summary, we may say that he dealt with some of the needs of librarians and readers for well‐produced editions of good books which for some reason were obtainable only in double‐columned small type or otherwise almost unreadable or at any rate unattractive form. He instanced Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature. He urged that if a sufficient number of public and other librarians represented this want to publishers, promising that the libraries would support such an edition, it was unlikely that the request would be ignored. A further suggestion arose from the established fact that in the welter of editions of certain books many were ill‐produced and unworthy to be placed in the hands of unsuspecting bookbuyers. Robinson Crusoe was a case in point, and as many parents desired their sons to read this they were often persuaded to buy editions which were unsuitable. Here he made a suggestion which is entirely practicable: that the Library Association should examine all of the common classics for form and for textual accuracy—a feature in which he alleged that some were deficient—and fix on suitable editions, allowing the publisher to add to their title‐pages “approved by the Library Association.” We seize upon this point first because there is nothing Utopian about it. It is a work that ought to be done.

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New Library World, vol. 41 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1934

THIS is the time of the year when, with the strong opening of the Spring publishing season, librarians take a review of matters which definitely concern books. There is a cant…

44

Abstract

THIS is the time of the year when, with the strong opening of the Spring publishing season, librarians take a review of matters which definitely concern books. There is a cant saying amongst certain eager librarians that their colleagues are too concerned with technical matters and too little, if at all, concerned with books. There may have been isolated cases of this kind, but it is merely untrue to say that the average librarian is not concerned, deeply and continuously, with the literary activity of his day. It is well that men should live in their own time and be thoroughly interested in the work of new writers. There is danger that exclusive occupation with them may lead to an unbalanced view of the book world. If one judged from the criticisms that occasionally appear in our contemporaries, one would suppose that the only books that mattered were the authentic fiction of the day, and by authentic is meant the books which go beyond average contemporary thought and conventions. Librarianship, however, is concerned with all books of all subjects and of all time. This note is merely a prelude to a number of THE LIBRARY WORLD which deals mainly with literature and with reading. Here we return again to the perennial fiction question.

Details

New Library World, vol. 36 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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