Claire Warwick and Elliott Pritchard
There is a widespread perception that, in terms of web‐technology, XML is going to be the ‘next big thing’. Given the amount of comment that it has generated, it seems to be on…
Abstract
There is a widespread perception that, in terms of web‐technology, XML is going to be the ‘next big thing’. Given the amount of comment that it has generated, it seems to be on its way to achieving that status. But how much of the praise should be taken at face value, and how much of the hype is credible? In the following article we examine some of the claims made about the importance of XML and consider how far the enthusiasm about it can be justified. Will XML cause a revolution that will change the way that everyone uses the Internet, whether as searchers or data creators? Or is it a tool for certain types of e‐commerce and large‐scale markup, which may not have a significant impact on the majority of web users?
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Marlene Janzen Le Ber, Rita A. Gardiner and Liza Howe-Walsh
Katrina Pritchard, Helen C. Williams and Maggie C. Miller
Many scholars highlight a need for reflexive methodological accounts to support visual research. Therefore, this paper offers detailed reflection on the methods involved in…
Abstract
Purpose
Many scholars highlight a need for reflexive methodological accounts to support visual research. Therefore, this paper offers detailed reflection on the methods involved in tracing and analysing 248 commercial images of entrepreneurship. This account supports our published work examining entrepreneurial masculinities and femininities, which conceptualised the gendering of entrepreneurial aesthetics, and proposed the significance of image networks in the reproduction of neoliberal ideals.
Design/methodology/approach
Now based on further methodological reflexivity, we offer insights on both the possibilities and challenges of tracing networked images by reviewing four methodological complexities: reflexive engagement with online images; working with and across platforms; tracing as a potentially never-ending process and montage approaches to analysis.
Findings
Our account focuses on a specific form of imagery – commercial images – on a certain representation – the gendered entrepreneur – and on a particular complex site of encounter – online. This work mapped a visual repertoire of gendered entrepreneurship online by tracing visual constructions of entrepreneurial masculinity and femininity. In this paper, we open the methodological “black box” of our study and explain our belief that methodological advances can only be built through exposing our working practice.
Originality/value
Through our detailed reflective account, we aim to open discussions to aid development and use of complex visual methods online.
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This chapter analyses the situation of gender research and education in tourism. It describes gender inequity as a wicked problem resulting from a deep embeddedness of gender…
Abstract
This chapter analyses the situation of gender research and education in tourism. It describes gender inequity as a wicked problem resulting from a deep embeddedness of gender stereotypes in social norms, values, and attitudes. Drawing on sociological theories, this chapter demonstrates that invisible power structures and interests of certain groups in society, in combination with prevailing gender-based stereotypes, result in vicious cycles of adapting behaviour to stereotypes and enforcing them by doing so. With its clear focus on appearance and easy-going lifestyle, the tourism industry still does not address gender issues, including sexual exploitation, appropriately. There is a need to systematically integrate gender-related topics into tourism studies and education curricula on a university level to create awareness among students and acknowledge how they can contribute to gender justice.
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Jörg Vianden and Tamara Yakaboski
The purpose of this paper is to advance a classification of satisfactory and unsatisfactory critical incidents of student-university relationships at German universities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance a classification of satisfactory and unsatisfactory critical incidents of student-university relationships at German universities.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT), this paper reports the results of an exploratory study of 15 tertiary education students at three German universities.
Findings
Participants perceive satisfaction and dissatisfaction stemming primarily from their courses of study, their interactions with faculty, and their perceptions of administrative and student services.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was small, dominated by female participants, and the recollection of past events is assumed to be accurate.
Practical implications
University administrators should consider creating institutional environments that ensure the responsiveness and engagement of faculty, the assessment of student perceptions of their university experience, and the improvement of administrative and student services to aid the satisfaction of students.
Originality/value
The CIT method allows participants to express what matters most to them in their university experience rather than following researcher-generated questions, which tends to be the norm in traditional studies on the university student experience. Given that this study was conducted in Germany with German students, it highlights a different understanding of satisfaction that counters the dominant western-focused research on this topic.
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Julia Segar, Kath Checkland, Anna Coleman and Imelda McDermott
What is our unit of analysis and by implication what are the boundaries of our cases? This is a question we grapple with at the start of every new project. We observe that case…
Abstract
What is our unit of analysis and by implication what are the boundaries of our cases? This is a question we grapple with at the start of every new project. We observe that case studies are often referred to in an unreflective manner and are often conflated with geographical location. Neat units of analysis and clearly bounded cases usually do not reflect the messiness encountered during qualitative fieldwork. Others have puzzled over these questions. We briefly discuss work to problematise the use of households as units of analysis in the context of apartheid South Africa and then consider work of other anthropologists engaged in multi-site ethnography. We have found the notion of ‘following’ chains, paths and threads across sites to be particularly insightful.
We present two examples from our work studying commissioning in the English National Health Service (NHS) to illustrate our struggles with case studies. The first is a study of Practice-based Commissioning groups and the second is a study of the early workings of Clinical Commissioning Groups. In both instances we show how ideas of what constituted our unit of analysis and the boundaries of our cases became less clear as our research progressed. We also discuss pressures we experienced to add more case studies to our projects. These examples illustrate the primacy for us of understanding interactions between place, local history and rapidly developing policy initiatives. Understanding cases in this way can be challenging in a context where research funders hold different views of what constitutes a case.