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1 – 10 of 51Wendel A. Ray and Molly R. Govener
To provide direct access to historically significant, original raw data from research conducted by the Bateson Team.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide direct access to historically significant, original raw data from research conducted by the Bateson Team.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is hermeneutic textual analysis.
Findings
The communication/interactional theory emerged from the interaction between members of the Bateson Research Team that took place between 1952 and 1961.
Originality/value
Decisively relevant to the origins of communication/interactional theory.
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To provide direct access to original documents relevant to the emergence of applied constructivist and cybernetic epistemology in the behavioral sciences.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide direct access to original documents relevant to the emergence of applied constructivist and cybernetic epistemology in the behavioral sciences.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs hermeneutic analysis
Findings
Direct evidence of the cybernetic, interactional theory articulated by Gregory Bateson provides the theoretical foundation for the problem formation, problem resolution model set forth by research associates at the Brief Therapy Center of the Mental Research Institute.
Originality/value
This is a rare, never previously published address by a principal founder of communication/interactional theory
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To provide personal memories of the work of Heinz von Foerster.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide personal memories of the work of Heinz von Foerster.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is one of personal reflection.
Findings
How the philosophy and science of cybernetic and cybernetics of cybernetics Heinz von Forester helped create was visible in his behavior with others is described. The relationship between von Forester and research associates of the Mental Research Institute is outlined.
Originality/value
Provides an insight to the importance of the work of von Foerster.
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Gillian Balfour, Kelly Hannah-Moffat and Sarah Turnbull
Drawing on qualitative interviews with formerly imprisoned people in Canada, we show that most prisoners experience reentry into communities with little to no prerelease planning…
Abstract
Drawing on qualitative interviews with formerly imprisoned people in Canada, we show that most prisoners experience reentry into communities with little to no prerelease planning, and must rely upon their own resourcefulness to navigate fragmented social services and often informal supports. In this respect, our research findings contrast with much US punishment and society scholarship that highlights a complex shadow carceral state that extends the reach of incarceration into communities. Our participants expressed a critical analysis of the failure of the prison to address the needs of prisoners for release planning and supports in the community. Our findings concur with other empirical studies that demonstrate the enduring effects of the continuum of carceral violence witnessed and experienced by prisoners after release. Thus, reentry must be understood in relation to the conditions of confinement and the experience of incarceration itself. We conclude that punishment and society scholarship needs to attend to a nuanced understanding of prisoner reentry and connect reentry studies to a wider critique of the prison industrial complex, offering more empirical evidence of the failure of prisons.
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The author reflects on her journey to becoming a Black female full professor at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Additionally, she summarizes the research on…
Abstract
The author reflects on her journey to becoming a Black female full professor at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Additionally, she summarizes the research on the successes and challenges for women professors, Black professors more broadly, and Black female professors, more specifically, to contribute to a deeper understanding of the positionality and stance of Black women professors. Although HBCUs are higher education institutions where Black female professors achieve tenure in the greatest percentages, the author highlights the intersection of race and gender and the unfortunate gendered power dynamics in these spaces that frequently place Black female faculty at a disadvantage. The chapter concludes with strategies for Black women professors to survive and thrive in academia, in general, and at HBCUs, more specifically.
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Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the…
Abstract
Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.
Colin Allen and Wendell Wallach
In spite of highly publicized competitions where computers have prevailed over humans, the intelligence of computer systems still remains quite limited in comparison to that of…
Abstract
Purpose
In spite of highly publicized competitions where computers have prevailed over humans, the intelligence of computer systems still remains quite limited in comparison to that of humans. Present day computers provide plenty of information but lack wisdom. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether reliance on computers with limited intelligence might undermine the quality of the education students receive.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a conceptual approach, the authors take the performance of IBM's Watson computer against human quiz competitors as a starting point to explore how society, and especially education, might change in the future when everyone has access to desktop technology to access information. They explore the issue of placing excessive trust in such machines without the capacity to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information provided.
Findings
The authors find that the day when computing machines surpass human intelligence is much further in the future than predicted by some forecasters. Addressing the problem of dependency on information technology, they envisage a technical solution ‐ wiser machines which not only return the search results, but also help make them comprehensible ‐ but find that although it is relatively simple to engineer knowledge distribution and access, it is more difficult to engineer wisdom.
Practical implications
Creating computers that are wise will be difficult, but educating students to be wise in the age of computers may also be quite difficult. For the future, one might explore the development of computer tools that demonstrate sensitivity to alternative answers to difficult questions, different courses of action, and their own limitations. For the present, one will need to train students to appreciate the limitations inherent in the technologies on which they have become dependent.
Originality/value
Critical thinking, innovation, and wisdom require skills beyond the kinds of answers computers give now or are likely to provide in the coming decade.
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Armin Firoozpour, Ehsan Marzban and Ali Asghar Pourezzat
Thinking and deciding about the future of the city as a combination of complex and uncertain systems is extremely difficult. This complexity, uncertainty and difficulty will be…
Abstract
Purpose
Thinking and deciding about the future of the city as a combination of complex and uncertain systems is extremely difficult. This complexity, uncertainty and difficulty will be increased when our thoughts and decisions address the city’s long-term future. Considering these issues, the need for future thinking and alternate thinking in the process of urban management and planning becomes even more necessary. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the alternate futures of Tehran.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, this study have tried to study alternate future images of Tehran in an archetypal form of “growth, collapse, disciplined society and transformed society” using “Dator’s Four Generic Alternate Futures” method.
Findings
These alternate futures, after identifying their key trends and drivers, have been narrated in the form of four scenarios called: “capital business center,” “crossing the fate of ray,” “Tehran family” and “Tehran investigators.” Increasing the authority and responsibility of the local governance, modification of Tehran urban management model and development of voluntary cooperation and democratic participation, are among the policy recommendations made on the basis of these images.
Originality/value
Achieving these images in parallel with identifying the most important challenges and opportunities in alternate futures will provide the basis for policy-making in Tehran’s future urban governance. It can be a creative model for developing future images for other cities.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reasons, especially the assertions about the future, given by the US administration under President Reagan, to justify the decision to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reasons, especially the assertions about the future, given by the US administration under President Reagan, to justify the decision to attack and invade the Caribbean island of Grenada.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is analysis of existing records and reports on the assertions, events, and decisions leading to the invasion.
Findings
The Reagan administration gave three main reasons for the invasion. They claimed that Americans on Grenada, particularly the students attending the St George's University Medical School, would be harmed from continuing social disruption on Grenada; that the militarization of Grenada was intended as a means for the future export of terrorism or revolution to its Caribbean neighbors; and that the planned international airport at Point Salines was intended to be a future Soviet‐Cuban military base. Each was false.
Research limitations/implications
Decision making includes assumptions about the future and invites the use of foresight. Such foresight, of course, can be presumptively true and, thus, useful. But also it can be wrong, sometimes deliberately manipulated, leading to wrongheaded actions and devastating consequences.
Practical implications
An analysis of the 1983 American invasion of Grenada illustrates the power of authority to distort the truth and corrupt morality, processes that re‐occurred 20 years later with much greater consequences in the case of the 2003 American‐led invasion of Iraq.
Originality/value
The case study of the American invasion of Grenada can be used by decision makers and others to improve future decision‐making situations. Before doing violence to other people, we need to ask what violence we are doing to truth.
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