A systematic evaluation of signs and messages at 42 recreation areas in California and Arizona focused on type of site, managing agency, density of message locales, sign attributes, and message content. The vast majority of messages presented behavioral commands and were negatively worded. This striking imbalance points to concerns in visitor…

Attempts to begin a process of pedagogical self-evaluation by considering how David Hume's Is-Ought fallacy can serve as an instrument with which to evaluate the content presented in a given teaching situation. Investigates the Is-Ought fallacy through an in-depth examination, and relates it to specific pedagogical issues in music education. (CMK)

Building on earlier content analysis research, this article provides three theoretical approaches to understand the evolution of young adult novels with gay/lesbian/queer content. It concludes by highlighting themes and patterns that suggest the progress that has been made and has yet to be made in the realistic portrayal of gay/lesbian/queer…

Studies the prevalence of five news frames in the four national newspapers and three national television outlets with the highest audience ratings in Holland. Finds the most common frames were, in order of predominance, attribution of responsibility, conflict, economic consequences, human interest, and morality. (NH)

Discussion of changes in the banking industry focuses on an analysis of 12 Internet banking operations in the United Kingdom. Topics include delivery strategies; customer demand and requirements; and an evaluation of banking Web sites that considers speed, content and design, navigation, interactivity, and security. (LRW)

Describes an approach to automatically classify and evaluate publicly accessible World Wide Web sites. Outlines a research methodology for model building and validation, develops a set of criteria for classifying Web sites, and compares manual versus automated evaluation. (Author/LRW)

Content analysis of five consumer education workbooks used in adult literacy classes examined depictions of the market and literacy learners as consumers. A hidden curriculum that promotes ideologies disrespectful of learners was discerned. The ideologies maintain inequalities by blaming financial failure on consumers, ignoring the larger social,…

Conducts a content analysis of web pages to examine 26 United States Masters degree programs in public relations for their degree requirements, core courses, public relations courses, and optional courses. Finds a lack of adherence to the recommendations of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education. (NH)

Using a content analysis approach, this investigation systematically studies messages about HIV/AIDS contained in young adult novels and considers the effects of these messages as an information source for the reader. Young adults and young adult fiction are defined, and coding sheets and bibliographies are appended. (Author/LRW)

Analyzes the ways three postcolonial feminists open up the workings of representation such that participants are no longer disposed in the classical tradition but are rather "beside themselves." Analyzes changes in concepts of ethos and audience under the historical conditions of postcoloniality. Attends to the ways teachers and students…

Examines audience-centered writing strategies in two early sewing machine manuals. Considers the difference between non-sexist and gender-neutral writing. Concludes that avoiding sexism in technical writing may sometimes be impossible. (PA)

Finds that "modernity,""technology," and "youth" predominate in Chinese advertising in the 1990s, and the dominance of "quality" in 1990 was superseded by "tradition" in 1995. Finds that symbolic values from Eastern and Western cultures occurred more frequently in 1995, implying that contemporary…

Evaluates four middle school geography textbooks to examine readability levels, knowledge forms, intellectual operations, instructional objectives, and activities associated with before-, during-, and after-phases of instruction. Finds the texts to be generally inconsiderate of poor readers and to be dense with factual information. Discusses…

Examines letters to the editor of two Chicago newspapers between 1912 and 1917, to explore the strategies that readers used to make sense of what they read. Discusses cuing and linking, the new journalistic methodology of objectivity, and the mobilization of bias. Argues that reader response was often not idiosyncratic, but rather guided by…

Examines the history of science from the perspective of metaphor. Suggests that there are few differences between the literal and the metaphorical in scientific discourse. States that the central role of metaphors in science seems to ensure that science is open-ended, suggesting that conceptions of reality will be open to change and…