The Cultural and Critical Studies section of the proceedings contains the following 10 selected papers: "Sex Noise Makes Macho Magazines Both Teasing and Tedious" (Jacqueline Lambiase and Tom Reichert); "The Buccaneer as Cultural Metaphor: Pirate Mythology in Nineteenth-Century American Periodicals" (Janice Hume); "Looking…

Based on research conducted in 1996 and 1999, this paper discusses theoretical issues and provides an overview of the purposes for which school libraries are creating and maintaining home pages or World Wide Web sites. In 1996, a content analysis was performed of Web sites of 50 school libraries in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden,…

Knowledge is a necessary condition for any kind of progress in our society, and the teacher is an important factor in transferring knowledge. Distance learning (DL) enables the transfer of knowledge from one place to another. There are different methods of operating DL (videoconference, Internet, satellite), each with its advantages and…

A professional conference exercise for teachers of French as a second language is described, in which participants analyzed the cultural content and linguistic form of headlines in adolescent mass literature. Two examples of this kind of analysis are given. (MSE)

Reports the findings of a survey of Oregon principals who had recently hired vocational agriculture teachers. Principals rated the importance of 23 criteria dealing with personal and professional preparation for teaching. Attitudes, recommendations, experience, and appearance were among the highest ranked criteria used for selecting a teacher.…

Scales measuring people's perceptions of themselves as origins (determining their own behavior) or pawns (their behavior being determined by forces beyond their control) were devised using content analysis of verbalizations. Data were obtained from 528 people, experiencing one of nine life situations. Pawn and origin perception differed across…

This study, conducted in an Australian institution, investigates the intellectual requirements of the mechanics section of a first-year college physics text. Instructional and prerequisite concepts were classified in terms of the intellectual skills required to understand them. (HM)

Observes a number of illustrations from a wide variety of whaling narratives and discusses the purposes and assumptions behind them. Considers the individual artists and their contributions. Francis Allyn Olmstead romanticized the profession while J. Ross Brown emphasized the sordid aspects of whaling life. (MJP)

Describes the development of a Web site called Internet School Library Media Center (ISLMC) that grew out of a library science class. Topics include Web search engines; content selection; the roles of a school library media professional; curriculum support, including lesson plans; technical issues; and future goals. (LRW)

Presents a psychoanalytic critique of an advertisement for the Getty Center for Education in the Arts multicultural program. Applying principles derived from Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida, reveals basic racist, sexist, and elitist assumptions embedded in the advertisement. Includes a reproduction of the advertisement and extensive footnotes. (MJP)

Analysis of instructor (n=1) and student (n=61) postings on an electronic forum during a one-semester undergraduate phonetics course found students wrote about 340 topics in 143 postings, and the instructor wrote about 124 topics in 23 postings. Analysis of topics identified four interactive communicative categories that show interaction trends…

Discusses and appraises the work of Nobel Prize winning black author Toni Morrison. Locates thematic and stylistic antecedents in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ernest Hemingway. Compares and contrasts Morrison's work with Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and discusses the critical reception of black authors. (MJP)

Presents results of a study undertaken for the state library of Maryland to develop a process for the development of a Maryland Digital Public Library. Highlights include planning; management; implementation requirements; networked environments; technical infrastructure issues; collection development; standards; information content; information…

Maintains that works of historical fiction and fantasy introduce children to concepts of time and history, as well as allowing them to empathize with other people. Historical fantasy often involves a young protagonist traveling through time and experiencing different eras and events. (MJP)

This essay discusses the difficulties many English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students face when mainstreamed into academic content courses while still enrolled in ESL classes. The author demonstrates the benefits of pairing an ESL speech class with a content area course as a method for improving English language skills. (Contains 44 references.)…