1,720,955 research outputs found
Bi/multilingual voices and audiences? code-switching in Zimbabwean popular drama, Studio 263
No full textCode-switching is an observed common discourse linguistic behaviour in Zimbabwean popular dramas. The motives and effects of the use of code-switching in such communicative contexts is however an understudied area. This article examines the communicative impact/effects on the audience, of code-switching as a communication strategy in Studio 263, one of Zimbabwe's popular dramas (soap operas). Observing that code-switching has become part and parcel of Zimbabwean everyday discourses — a situation chiefly resulting from the Zimbabwean linguistic situation characterised by bi/multilingual societies — the analysis
explores the rhetorical and communicative potential of code-switching as a communication strategy within the communicative contexts that popular dramas represent and in a bi/multilingual society. The Zimbabwean language situation promotes the use of the English language in all formal communicative events while the 'indigenous' languages (Shona and Ndebele) do not enjoy similar privileges. Because English is a second language to the majority of the residents of Zimbabweans, this has resulted in the proliferation of bi/multilingual communities. This article critiques the justification of the use of codeswitching in Studio 263 as well as its use as a tool for communicating to a 'larger' audience
Interrogating the forces that condition media representation of traditional healers in selected Zimbabwean newspapers
No full textThis article is a qualitative exploration of the factors that affect media representations of traditional healers in Zimbabwe. Guided by the Afrocentricity theory, the study focuses on the forces that shape the images of traditional healers in the newspapers Kwayedza, Daily News and The Herald. The article highlights that the stories that are read in newspapers about traditional healers are exaggerated and hyperbolic. They are not limited to the acts of these practitioners per se. Many factors in media production condition representation of traditional healers. The upshot ofour rendition is that stories are rarely an honest reflection of traditional healers and their practices, but are versions of the truth. The article asserts that media representation is affected by colonialism, capitalism and the beliefs and religious orientations of individual journalists. Consequently, newspaper stories about traditional healers should not be consumed without applying one’s mind with regard to the contexts in which they are produced
EXPLORING STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE CASE OF MIDLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
Get PDFTechnology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, bringing innovations that profoundly impact our lives. In the education sector, digital tools have transformed how students and educators interact with learning materials and each other. This study investigates the perceptions and experiences of students and lecturers at Midlands State University regarding digital communication in education. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through interviews and questionnaires from participants across various faculties. The findings reveal limited use of digital tools among conventional students who have sufficient time for face-to-face lectures. Participants expressed a strong preference for in-person education over digital learning. Factors such as cost, difficulties in navigating the platforms, and a strong attachment to traditional teaching methods contribute to this restricted engagement. As a result, digitalisation often serves merely as a supplementary mechanism for face-to-face lectures rather than as a fully integrated component of the educational experience
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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