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From Ergo Log
Lots of athletes like to train to music. That's not so surprising, as music banishes fatigue and reduces pain, facts that have been known since Aristotle. But in 2001 the Japanese endocrinologist Hajime Fukui published the results of a study that might cause you to wonder if there isn't another side to the coin when it comes to training with music. Fukui discovered that music lowers testosterone levels, in men at least.
Fukui, who works at the Nara University of Education, did an experiment with seventy students aged from 19-25. Half of the students were women and half were men. Fukui got them all to listen to music for 30 minutes.
Ten students listened in the afternoon to their personal favourite music, ten listened to cantatas sung by Gregorian monks, ten to music that was popular at that moment, ten to Mozart's Sonata in D Major, K. 448, ten to jazz and twenty didn't listen to any music at all. Each of the groups consisted of equal numbers of men and women.
Fukui took a saliva sample from each of his subjects before and after they listened to the music, and measured the concentration of testosterone in the saliva. He discovered that listening to music raised the concentration of testosterone in the women [first figure below], but that it lowered the concentration of testosterone in men [second figure below]. The concentration of testosterone in saliva gives an indication of the concentration of testosterone in the blood.
Fukui interprets his results from an evolutionary theory perspective. He thinks that humans invented music to make living and working together in groups easier. The high level of testosterone in men, which is accompanied by aggression and more or less continuous sex drive, is an impediment to this, and music helps.
Fukui did not look at what music does to men and women who train. But if they react in the same way as the subjects in this study, then natural male athletes may be reducing their progression by training to background music.
Among the women, the testosterone boosting effect was strongest among those who listened to music of their own choice.
Among the men, listening to their own choice of music was what lowered their testosterone levels the most. The damage to the men was confined by listening to Gregorian music. Perhaps not quite the musical accompaniment you'd choose for your workout.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2001 Jun; 930:448-51.
Source: http://www.ergo-log.com/music-lowers…one-level.html


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South African Journal of Education
versión On-line ISSN 2076-3433
versión impresa ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.28 no.3 Pretoria ago. 2008
Getting the picture and changing the picture: visual methodologies and educational research in South Africa
Claudia Mitchell
Claudia Mitchell is a James McGill Professor in the Faculty of Education at McGill University, Montreal, Canada and an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is a widely published author and her research focuses on visual and other participatory approaches to research, particularly in the areas of HIV and AIDS, gender violence, teacher identity, youth culture, and girlhood studies. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
At the risk of seeming to make exaggerated claims for visual methodologies, what I set out to do is lay bare some of the key elements of working with the visual as a set of methodologies and practices. In particular, I address educational research in South Africa at a time when questions of the social responsibility of the academic researcher (including postgraduate students as new researchers, as well as experienced researchers expanding their repertoire of being and doing) are critical. In so doing I seek to ensure that the term "visual methodologies" is not simply reduced to one practice or to one set of tools, and, at the same time, to ensure that this set of methodologies and practices is appreciated within its full complexity. I focus on the doing, and, in particular, on the various approaches to doing through drawings, photo-voice, photo-elicitation, researcher as photographer, working with family photos, cinematic texts, video production, material culture, advertising campaigns as nine key areas within visual methodologies.
Keywords: educational research; social change; visual methodologies
A few years ago Ardra Cole and Maura McIntyre, researchers at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education in Canada, embarked upon a long-term study of adult caregivers caring for their elderly parents who were suffering from Alzheimer's in their project Living and Dying with Dignity: the Alzheimer's Project. (See McIntrye & Cole, 1999). Their project focuses specifically on the fact that relatively little is known about the experiences of caregivers, particularly in relation to taking on the role of 'parent', and, critically, what kind of support they need to sustain themselves in their care of their parents a care that cuts across legal issues, health care, emotional care, and public education. In their work they conducted many single face-to-face interviews with the caregivers, along with interviews of support groups, social workers and physicians. They translated their findings into an exhibition first displayed in the foyer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Headquarters in Toronto and, later, across Canada.
The exhibition included a number of installations, including Lifeline, which was made up of a gigantic clothes line spread from one wall to another. Hanging from it were undergarments, up to and including adult-sized diapers. As the description on the Centre for Arts Informed Research website expresses it:
A free standing clothes line about 20 feet in length is held up by ropes and secured by concrete blocks at each end. Astro turf carpeting represents the grass below; a chair invites the viewer to sit and relax. The clothes on the line are blowing in the breeze. The undergarments are ordered from left to right according to the time in the life cycle at which they are worn (http://www.utoronto.ca/CAIR/projects.html#alz).
Another part of the installation, Still life 1, includes a series of refrigerator doors, each with a different arrangement of fridge magnets holding a variety of artifacts: a school photo of a child (perhaps a grandchild), reminder notes about medication and so on. In another of their exhibitions set up in Halifax there is a voice activated tape recorder where viewers can sit and tell their own "caring for" stories. Another installation, Alzheimer's Still Life 2, contains a series of visual images taken from family photograph albums of the two artist-researchers, both of whom themselves are adultcare givers who looked after their respective mothers suffering from Alzheimer's. As their curatorial statement says, the particular photos "were chosen because they so clearly signify the mother-daughter connection over a life span and poignantly elucidate the role reversal that inevitably occurs when Alzheimer's interrupts, confuses, and redefines a relationship" (http://www.utoronto.ca/CAIR/ projects.html#alz).
Their work demonstrates some of the complexities related to what is actually meant by visual methodologies, showing, for example, the multiple forms of visual data including domestic photos taken from family albums and material culture (adult-sized diapers, fridge magnets). Their work also shows the multiple ways of working with the visual: both representation (transforming the interviews into visual representations, through the use of material culture), dissemination (creating a visual exhibition that drew the attention of the public, as well as that of health care researchers and health care policy makers), but also, as we see in the second level of interviews with the participants, a mode of inquiry (a type of data elicitation).
There are two other aspects of the visual that are also critical. One relates to epistemology and how it is that we come to know what we know (and how to account for subjectivity and validity). The two researchers are clearly inside their own experience as caregivers, as much as they are studying the experiences of the hundreds of other caregivers they have interviewed and met through their exhibitions. The other aspect relates to broader issues: Why engage in social science inquiry in the first place? and "What difference does this make anyway?"
For Cole and McIntyre, and for an increasing number of researchers engaged in social science research, the idea of how data collection can in, and of, itself serve as an intervention is crucial in that it can be transformative for the participants. Given the impact of these installations, people with a personal connection to the topic are "provoked" to tell their own stories. (Knowles & Cole, 2007) If visual data can mobilize individuals or communities to act, it may be possible to think of the idea of research as effecting social change.
At the risk of seeming to make exaggerated claims for visual methodologies, what I set out to do is lay bare some of the key elements of working with the visual as a set of methodologies and practices. In particular, I mean to address educational research in South Africa at a time when questions of the social responsibility of the academic researcher (including postgraduate students as new researchers, along with experienced researchers expanding their repertoire of being and doing) are critical. In so doing I seek to ensure that the term "visual methodologies" is not simply reduced to one practice or tool, and at the same time, to ensure that this set of methodologies and practices is appreciated within its full complexity.
Participatory and other visual approaches
Consider these prompts: "Draw a scientist;" "Take pictures of where you feel safe and not so safe;" "Produce a video documentary on an issue 'in your life';" "Find and work with seven or eight pictures from your family photographs that you can construct into a narrative about gender and identity". Each of these prompts speaks to the range of tools that might be used to engage participants (learners, teachers, parents, pre-service teachers) in visual research (a drawing, simple point-and-shoot cameras, video cameras, family photographs), and suggests some of the types of emerging data: the drawing, the photographic images and captions produced in the photo-voice project, the video texts produced in a community video project, and the newly created album or visual text produced by the participants in an album project.
In each case there is the immediate visual text (or primary text as John Fiske, 1989, terms it), the drawing, photo image, collage, photo-story, video documentary or narrative, or album, which can include captions and more extensive curatorial statements or interpretive writings that reflect what the participants have to say about the visual texts. In essence, their participation does not have to be limited to 'take a picture' or 'draw a picture', though the level of participation will rest on the time available, the age and ability of the participants and even their willingness to be involved. A set of drawings or photos produced in isolation of their full participatory context (or follow-up) does not mean that they should therefore be discarded, particularly in large-scale collections.
Each of these examples can also include what Fiske (1989) terms "production texts" or how participants engaged in the process describe the project, regardless of whether they are producing drawings, producing photographic images, video narratives, or 'reconstructing' a set of photographs into a new text, and indeed what they make of the texts. These production texts are often elicited during follow-up interviews. The production texts can also include secondary visual data based on the researcher taking pictures during the process and can show levels of engagement, something Pithouse and Mitchell (2007) in an article called 'Looking at looking" describe as a result of the visual representations of the engagement of children looking at their own photographs.
Each of the visual practices noted above and described in more detail later brings with it, of course, its own methods, traditions and procedures. This section maps out a range of approaches, from those that are relatively 'low tech' and can be easily carried out without a lot of expensive equipment, through to those which require more expensive cameras; from those that are camera-based to those that provide for a focus on things and objects (including archival photographs); from those where participants are respondents to those which engage participants as producers; from work where researcher and participants collaborate as well as those in which it is the researcher herself who is the producer and interpreter. The constant is some aspect of the visual.
The use of drawings, for example, to study emotional and cognitive development, trauma and fears, and, more recently, issues of identity has a rich history. Using drawings in participatory research with children and young people along with groups, such as beginning teachers, is a well-established methodology. As a recent Population Council study points out, drawings offer children an opportunity to express themselves regardless of linguistic ability (Chong, Hallman & Brady, 2005). They also point out that work with drawings within visual methodologies is economical since all it requires is paper and a writing instrument. Drawings have been used with pre-service teachers in South Africa to study their metaphors on teaching mathematics in the context of HIV and AIDS (Van Laren, 2007); with children and pre-service teachers to study images of teachers (Weber & Mitchell, 1995; Mitchell & Weber, 1999); with children to study their perceptions of illness (Williams, 1998); children's perceptions of living on the street (Swart, 1988); violence in refugee situations (Clacherty, 2005), and on the perceptions of girls and young women in Rwanda on gender violence (Mitchell & Umurungi, 2007).
Made popular by the award-winning documentary, Born into Brothels, photo-voice as Caroline Wang (1999) terms the use of simple point-and-shoot cameras in community photography projects has increasingly become a useful tool in educational research in South Africa. Building on Wang's work, which looks at women and health issues in rural China, Mary Brinton Lykes's (2001) work with women in post-conflict settings in Guatamela, Wendy Ewald's (2000) photography work with children in a variety of settings, including Nepal, the Appalachian region of the US and Soweto, and James Hubbard's (1994) work with children on reservations in the US, researchers in South Africa have worked with rural teachers and community health care workers to address numerous challenges and solutions when looking at HIV and AIDS (Mitchell, De Lange, Moletsane, Stuart & Buthelezi, 2005; De Lange, Mitchell & Stuart, 2007), These projects worked with teachers exploring gender (Taylor, De Lange, Dlamini, Nyawa & Sathiparsad, 1997) and poverty (Olivier, Wood & De Lange, 2007) and with learners in a variety of contexts, including exploring stigma and HIV and AIDS (Moletsane, De Lange, Mitchell, Stuart, Buthelezi & Taylor, 2007), rural learners (Karlsson, 2001), and safe and unsafe spaces in schools (Mitchell, Moletsane, Stuart, Buthelezi & De Lange, 2005); school toilets, Mitchell (in press). These are only some of the school-based research using photo-voice.
Using photographs (either those generated through photo-voice or photo images brought to the interview either by the participants or the researcher) to elicit data offers educational researchers an entry point to the views, perspectives and experiences of participants. Collier and Collier (1986:105) suggest that "images invite[d] people to take the lead in inquiry, making full use of their expertise". They also suggest that using photographs in interviewing allows a full flow of interviewing to continue through second and third interviews, in ways in which merely verbal interviews do not.
Psychologically, the photographs on the table performed as a third party in the interview session. We were asking questions of the photographs and the informants [sic] became our assistants in discovering the answers to these questions in the realities of the photographs. We were exploring the photographs together (Collier & Collier, 1986:105).
While the range of topics and issues that might be addressed through photo-elicitation is vast, a particularly fascinating set of images within educational research can be found in work with 'the school photograph'. In previous work on school photography, Mitchell and Weber (1999) write about 'picture day' at school and the resulting portraits. Drawing on interviews with children and beginning teachers, they explore the conventions of this genre of photography: the 'sitting' often in front of a staged backdrop, such as a rainbow, forest, or landmark forces poses where the child may be required to hold a pen or a book or some other school-related artefact, and the subject often required (by the parents) to dress up. Subjects are usually required to smile, regardless of how they are feeling. What is present is what a consuming parent will want to purchase: a package of school photographs. What is absent is what the child really feels about the moment and perhaps some sense of the child's autonomy. Years later, as is evident in the interviews, subjects still look back on some of these sittings with dismay. Added to this dismay is the fact that their photos are sometimes still being displayed years later on the wall, mantle or television set of an aunt or grandparent. To take up Gillian Rose's (2001) point about whether photographs are stored and displayed, these 'lasting impression' images are usually out of the control of the child.
Family photographs
Clearly much has been done already on family albums, particularly in the area of the visual arts and art history. These studies range from work on one's own family album(s) (Kuhn, 1995; Mitchell & Weber, 1999; Spence, 1988; Spence & Holland, 1991; Weiser, 1993), to the work of Arbus (see Lee & Pultz, 2004), Chalfen (1991), Hirsch (1997), Langford (2001), and Willis (1994), to name only some of the scholars who examine 'other people's albums'. These various album projects have highlighted the personal aspect in looking at, or working with, one's own photographs, but there is also, as in the case of Langford, the idea of explicitly looking at 'other people's photo albums' through a socio-cultural lens. The issues that they have explored range from questions of cultural identity and memory, through to what Spence (1988) has described as 'reconfiguring' the family album. Faber's (2003) work on family albums in South Africa points to the rich possibilities for this work in exploring apartheid and post-apartheid realities. Mitchell and Allnutt (2007) and Allnutt, Mitchell, and Stuart (2007) have applied this work on family albums to participatory work with teachers in Canada and South Africa.
In one of the albums produced in an Honours module with teachers in South Africa, a young male teacher, T. (also documented in a video Our Photos, Our Videos, Our Stories, Mak, Mitchell & Stuart, 2005), uses the album project to explore one of the stark realities of life in rural KwaZulu- Natal in the age of AIDS death and dying, silences and 'the after life' (as in how the survivors deal with all of this). In this case, he documents the story of his sister who, in her early 20s, dies unexpectedly and mysteriously, leaving behind her six-year-old son to be raised by T. and the grandmother. T. uses the project to explore the silences, not just about the cause of his sister's death, and the importance of naming the disease, but also the position of AIDS orphans in this case, his young nephew. In T.'s 'performance' of the album, when he presents it to the class, he offers the image of his mother falling asleep with the album under her arm. It is a poignant representation of what the album project means to his family in terms of breaking silences.
Also described in Mitchell and Allnutt (2007), is Grace, a black teacher in her late 20s who, as the daughter of a domestic worker, is more-or-less adopted into the white family for whom her mother works. As Grace goes back through the family photos, she looks at the ways in which she is dressed the same as the little white girl in the family and the fact that they are sometimes given identical toys. The culminating event, ostensibly, is her graduation photo or is it? Grace's documentary is an interrogation of privilege her own to a certain extent, but this is not done unquestioningly.
There is Bongani, whose photographs of his daughter (born in 1994), are organized around the theme of the "decade of democracy" babies, as they have come to be called. His photo documentary takes us up to 2004, and like Grace's album, is not without questions about a post apartheid South Africa. Is it better? How have the hopes of April 1994 for a new beginning been fulfilled? And which ones have not?
Researcher as photographer/visual ethnographer
A less participatory though no less rich area of visual research using photographs, is the work of researchers themselves as visual ethnographers and visual artists, as we see in Douglas Harper's 15-year study of a dairy farming community in Changing work: Visions of a lost agriculture (Harper, 2001). We might also consider the photo work of Gideon Mendel (2001) on HIV and AIDS in southern Africa or the work of Marejka du Toit and Jenny Gordon (2007) who produced what they refer to as environmental portraits. In this photo work as part of the South Durban project where they have been looking at the effects of the oil refineries on the people living in the area, they have amassed a collection of photos of smoke stacks belching out pollutants, chained fences, landscape photos that position the residential area against the backdrop of the refineries and so on. The photos are devoid of people, though the impact of person-created pollution is everywhere.
In the project, the photography of Du Toit and Gordon (2007) sits alongside both the photos produced by the participants who live in the area, as well as their family photographs which, as part of photo-elicitation, may talk to their lives "before pollution" (ranging from images of when they may have felt healthier or when a loved one was still alive). In other studies, as in the case of the research team photographing participants engaged in taking photographs (Pithouse & Mitchell, 2007), the process photos become visual data in and of themselves. The significance of the "photographic participant-observer eye" is highlighted, particularly within school-based research. De Lange, Mitchell and Bhana (2008), for example, include an image taken by a member of the research team as they were driving away from a school they were visiting (Figure 1). The image of the fence dividing the school girls on one side (and apparently in the safety of the school) and a young man on the other side, speaks to the ways in which schools remain sites of violence, and becomes part of a collection of photos over time from the view of the researchers. Such photographs serve as visual data (different from the types of images produced within a photo-voice or video project), and can themselves become part of an exhibition of visual representations, not unlike the collection of photos and writing found in texts such as Broken bodies, broken dreams (UNCHA, 2006).
The use of video in educational research (beyond the use of video-taping classrooms and other settings or video-taping interviews) may be framed as collaborative video, participatory video, indigenous video, or community video. Sarah Pink (2001) argues that video within ethnographic research can break down traditional hierarchies between visual and textual data. She maintains that these hierarchies are irrelevant to a reflexive approach to research that acknowledges the details, subjectivities, and power dynamics at play in any ethnographic project. What runs across this work is the idea of participants engaged in producing their own videos across a variety of genres, ranging from video documentaries, video narratives (melodramas or other stories) or public service narratives. As with the work with photo-voice, both the processes and the products lend themselves to data analysis within visual studies.
In terms of process and video-making in southern African schools, Mitchell, Walsh and Weber (2007), Mitchell and Weber (2007), Moletsane, Mitchell, De Lange, Stuart and Buthelezi (in press), and Mitchell and De Lange (in press) write about the ways in which young people might participate in this work, noting the particular relevance of this work to addressing gender violence, and HIV and AIDS. Equally, though, the work with adults, teachers, parents and community health care workers is also critical, as can be seen in the work of Olivier, Wood and De Lange (2007) on poverty, and Moletsane, Mitchell, De Lange, Stuart. and Buthelezi (in press). Building on the work of Jay Ruby (2000) and others in relation to the idea of the ethnographic video as text, Mitchell and De Lange (in press), have reflected on what might be described as a meta-narrative on working with community based video through the researcher-generated production of a composite video of each project. The production of these composite videos is an interpretive part of the process (in relation to the research team). These composite videos become tools of dissemination but also, like the Cole and McIntyre project, serve to become new tools of inquiry when community participants view them.
Working with cinematic texts
Beyond the use of community video, educational researchers can also use commercial film narratives and documentaries within visual research. This work can include close readings of school or education-related texts in the vast array of teacher films, as Mitchell and Weber (1999), and Weber and Mitchell (1995) highlight in their analysis of teacher identities in such films as Kindergarten Cop, To Sir with Love, and Dangerous Minds. Several films are particularly relevant to studying education in South Africa: Sarafina in exploring education under apartheid education (Butler, 2000) and Yesterday in looking at such themes as rurality and HIV and AIDS.
Alongside the use of textual analysis to read social practices, researchers might also use film texts in more participatory work with audiences. As an intervention involving boys and the study of gender violence in South Asia, Seshradi and Chandran (2006) use various documentaries that address masculinities and such themes as friendship, violence and bullying to provoke reflection and discussion within focus groups. Using both pre-screening and post-screening, they were interested in how boys' attitudes changed as a result of the viewings and discussions. In studies on HIV and AIDS and sex education in South Africa, Mitchell (2006) and Buthelezi, Mitchell, Moletsane, De Lange, Taylor and Stuart (2007) refer to the use of the video documentary Fire+Hope to provoke discussion amongst young people in relation to addressing youth activism.
Material culture
How objects, things and spaces can be used within visual research in education draws on work in socio-semiotics, art history, consumer research. As noted at the beginning of this article in relation to the work of Cole and McIntyre, objects (including fridge magnets and adult-sized diapers) have connotative or personal meanings (and stories), which draw on autobiography and memory, along with their denotative histories, which may be more social and factual. Stephen Riggins' (1994) critical essay on studying his parents' living room offers a systematic approach to engaging in a denotative and connotative reading of the objects and things in one physical space. This work can be applied to a variety of texts, ranging from clothing and identity, bedrooms, documents and letters, and even desks and bulletin boards as material culture.
As Mitchell, De Lange, Moletsane, Stuart and Buthlelzi (2005) highlight, some of the 'photo subjects' mentioned in the interviews within a photo-voice project with teachers and community health care workers on HIV and AIDS are actually objects: a school bus, empty chairs and hair dryers in a beauty salon, or a shrivelled tree. Weber and Mitchell (2004a), in the edited book Not Just any Dress: narratives of memory, body and identity, offer a series of essays on the connotative meanings of various items of clothing. The collection of dress stories divided into "growing up with dresses", "dress and schooling', "dress rituals and mothers" "of dresses and weddings", "dressing identity", "bodies", and "dress and mortality" offers a reading on a wide range of issues of identity (mostly women's) across the life-span.
One of the chapters in the book, Liz Ralfe's (2004) narrative on the 'isishweshwe' focuses specifically on ethnic dress in South Africa. She interrogates the ways in which a type of fabric first associated with Dutch traders and later with Zulu women has now become 'common currency' for fashion more generally. And yet at the same time, this fabric still carries with it remnants as a signifier of a border-crossing identity, something Ralfe now takes up as a white woman (Ralfe, 2004). In her chapter she talks about what it meant to show up the first time at her workplace in a faculty of education in a skirt made of this fabric, noting in particular the reactions of black staff members. In a related way Edwina Grossi's (2007) auto-ethnographic work on her life as an early child educator in Durban shows the ways in which life-documents as material culture circulars, report cards, letters and photographs can serve as the raw material for engaging in self-study (see also Weber & Mitchell, 2004b).
Working with visual images within popular culture
The work on semiotics and visual images, particularly in advertising campaigns and public service announcements, draws on many of the techniques used in studying material culture, as well as some of the issues relating to working with a single photograph (Frith, 1997). This is a promising area within educational research in South Africa, applied, for example, to the work around HIV and AIDS, and in relation to gender violence in schools. The area includes the work of Johnny and Mitchell (2006) on deconstructing UNESCO's 'Live and Let Live', Stuart's (2004) analysis of media posters produced by pre-service teachers in Life Skills, and the work of Mitchell and Smith (2001) on the ABC campaign in schools.
"Help! What do I do with the visual images?" Interpretive processes and visual research
There is no quick and easy way to map out the interpretive processes involved in working with visual research any more than there is a quick and easy way to map out the interpretive processes for working with any type of research data, though Jon Prosser (1998), Marcus Banks (2001), Gillian Rose (2001) and Sarah Pink (2001), amongst other researchers working in the area, offer useful suggestions and guidelines. Some considerations include the following.
1. At the heart of visual work is its facilitation of reflexivity in the research process, as theorists on seeing and looking, such as John Berger (1982) and Susan Sontag (1977), have so eloquently discussed. Indeed, as Denzin (2003), and others have noted, situating one's self in the research texts is critical to engaging in the interpretive process.
2. Close reading strategies (drawn from literary studies, film studies and socio-semiotics, for example) are particularly appropriate to working with visual images. These strategies can be applied to working with a single photograph (see Moletsane & Mitchell, 2007), a video documentary text (see Mitchell, De Lange, Moletsane, Stuart, Taylor & Buthelezi, in press; Weber & Mitchell, 2007), or a cinematic text (Mitchell & Weber, 1999).
3. Visual images are particularly appropriate to drawing in the participants themselves as central to the interpretive process. In work with photo- voice, for example, participants can be engaged in working with their own analytic procedures with the photos: which ones are the most compelling? How are your photos the same or different from others in your group? What narrative do your photos evoke? (see De Lange Mitchell, Moletsane, Stuart & Buthelezi, 2006). Similarly with video documentaries produced as part of community video, participants can be engaged in a reflective process, which also becomes an analytic process: What did you like best about the video? What would you change if you could? Who should see this video? The interpretive process does not have to be limited to the participants and the researcher. Communities themselves may also decide what a text means. Because visual texts are very accessible, the possibilities in inviting other interpretations are critical to this issue (see, for example, Mitchell, 2006).
4. The process of interpreting visual data can benefit from drawing on new technologies. Transana, for example, is a software application that is particularly appropriate to working with video data (Cohen, 2007). The use of digitizing and creating meta-data schemes can be applied to working with photo-voice data (see, for example, Park, Mitchell & De Lange, 2007).
5. The process of working with the data can draw on a range of practices that may be applied to other types of transcripts and data sets, including content analysis, and engaging in coding and developing thematic categories.
6. Archival photos (both public and private) bring their own materiality with them and may be read as objects or things. Where are they stored? Who looks after them? (see also Rose, 2001; Edwards & Hart, 2004).
7. Visual data (especially photos produced by participants), because it is so accessible, is often subjected to more rigorous scrutiny by ethics boards than most other data. As the section above highlights, there are many different ways of working with the visual and the choice of which type of visual approach should be guided by, among other things, the research questions, the feasibility of the study, the experience of the researcher, and the acceptability to the community under study.
8. Working with the visual to create artistic texts (for example, installations, photo albums, photo exhibitions, video narratives), as we saw in the case of Cole and McIntyre noted above, should be regarded as an interpretive process in itself. This point is a critical one in understanding the relationship between visual studies and arts-based research (Knowles & Cole, 2007; Bagley & Cancienne, 2002; Denzin, 1997; Eisner, 1995; Barone, 2001).
On the limitations and challenges
Lister and Wells (2001) stress the unprecedented importance of imaging and visual technologies in contemporary society and they urge researchers to take account of those images in conducting their investigations. Over the last three decades, an increasing number of qualitative researchers have indeed taken up and refined visual approaches to enhance their understanding of the human condition. These uses encompass a wide range of visual forms, including films, video, photographs, drawings, cartoons, graffiti, maps, diagrams, cyber graphics, signs, and symbols.
Although many of these scholars normally work in visual sociology and anthropology, cultural studies, and film and photography, a growing body of interdisciplinary scholarship is incorporating certain image-based techniques into its research methodology. Research designs which use the visual raise many new questions and suggest new blurrings of boundaries: Is it research or is it art? Is it truth? Does the camera lie? Is it just a 'quick fix' on doing research? How do you overcome the subjective stance? The emergence of visual and arts-based research as a viable approach is putting pressure on the traditional structures and expectations of the academy. Space, time, and equipment requirements, for example, often make it difficult for researchers to present their work in the conventional venues and formats of research conferences.
Yet, there are other questions which interrogate even more the relationship between the researched and the researcher. Do we as researchers conduct ourselves differently when the participants of our studies are 'right there', either in relation to the photos or videos they have produced, or in their performance pieces? How can visual interventions be used to educate community groups and point to ways to empower and reform institutional practices? What ethical issues come to the fore in these action-oriented studies? How do we work with such concepts as 'confidentiality' and 'anonymity' within this kind of work, for example, in research where stigma itself is a major issue?
Emmison and Smith (2000) state that one of the issues in visual research is the "methodological adequacy" of the method, but we must challenge the adequacy of the questionnaire, the interview, and the photograph/drawing/ video. That does not mean that we exclude the visual, but that we examine its function, use and limitations, and continue with the process, taking all these aspects into account. They are equally concerned with the partiality of the photograph: a photograph "must always be considered a selective account of reality" (Emmison & Smith, 2000:40). As Goldstein (2007:61) writes, "All photos lie". At the same time, there remains the emotional impact of the image, which can even overwhelm the researcher and the viewer and can even preclude a proper analysis of content. This element cannot be ignored when we consider the power of the photograph or other visual image.
Clearly some studies lend themselves to one type of visual data more than another (archival photos over video production, for example), and not all questions are best answered through the use of the visual. If there are few research questions that could not be addressed through visual methodologies, this does not mean that this is the only approach, or that all audiences or recipients of research (funders, policy makers, review boards) are equally open to qualitative research, generally, or visual research, specifically. And as Karlsson (2007) points out, the time and effort that this takes, particularly for Honours and Masters students, may be a major challenge. At the same time, the preparation of new researchers in this area, postgraduate students for example, relies on access to methodology textbooks and other course material that offers them full support for making informed choices about methods.
It is incumbent on those who are teaching courses in research methodologies, especially in Education, to ensure that students are exposed to a variety of approaches, and even if the students do not choose to work with the visual, they should be able to evaluate critically those studies that draw on visual methodologies in the same way that they can evaluate critically a variety of approaches including interview studies, case studies, statistical studies and so on. Concomitantly, it is critical that those of us whose research is grounded in visual methodologies ensure that we contribute to broader debates within and beyond our institutions about the kind of support that is needed along with attention to critiques. Significantly, we need to provide training to our research students working on funded projects, and, where possible, bring forward our expertise in working with the visual to review boards, research committees and so on. Technically, we need to be cognisant of some of the limitations of working with large electronic files, and become attuned to new ways of working with digitizing and other techniques that are critical to the success of working with the visual (Park, Mitchell & De Lange, 2007).
... And finally, what about reaching the public?
"Why are there no white people in the film?"
"Why did you choose this talking head genre? Wouldn't it be more effective to create a story line or a drama?"
"Where did you get the statistics about boys being at risk? Are those numbers true?"
"Could you help us do research?"
"Why can't we produce something like this right here in KwaZulu-Natal where the problems are even greater than in the Western Cape?"
These questions may sound like the kind of questions that would be raised by an external reviewer of a journal article or research proposal, or, at the very least, a film critic. They were questions posed to me at a Youth Day event in Marianhill near Pinetown in 2004 by members of the audience, young people from the area who had just viewed the video documentary Fire+Hope of the group from the Western Cape. In actual fact, as I stood on the stage and attempted to answer their questions, I think I would have preferred to have faced a reviewer or a film critic.
They are tough questions. Why are there no white people in the film? There are no white people in the film, because there were no white people in the Soft Cover project that we carried out in Khayelitsha and Atlantis in the Western Cape. Or, I could say that there ended up being no white people in the project, though there was one young man at the beginning who dropped out, and probably did so for a variety of reasons. It was an after-school project focusing on youth activism and HIV and AIDS. He tells us that he is too busy with the organized after-school events at this school. But perhaps another version of the story is that he isn't allowed to travel to Atlantis or Khayeletisha, our other two sites. And the funding is not large enough to transport every participant out of Khayelitsha or Atlantis and for just one person. We aren't quite sure. But I wished I had had a better answer, and I wished that the audience didn't have to ask the question in the first place (see also Walsh & Mitchell, 2004).
As has been noted by Burt and Code (1995), Schratz and Walker (1995), Gitlin (1994), and Smith (1999), the issue of research accessibility is a critical topic within institutional practices. It becomes especially so when the topics of the research are as vital a part of the social situation in South Africa as education and health care, and where issues of power, control, regulation, and access are ones that are central to policy development. Notwithstanding my inability to provide appropriate answers, what this event highlights is the 'migration' of the views of one group of young people (from the Western Cape) as represented in Fire+Hope to another group of young people in KwaZulu- Natal.
What this event also highlights is the dissemination of research findings (about youth activism and HIV and AIDS, and involving youth activists) to a group of young people who are attending a community programme on youth and HIV and AIDS on Youth Day. What starts as research (a project interrogating youth activism and HIV and AIDS) and becomes a visual text (a 16- minute video documentary Fire+Hope) evolves into becoming an intervention (a screening and discussion at a Youth Day event) and then yields more research questions, both for the research team and the audience (who in turn also want to make their own video documentary). The example of the transfer of knowledge and engagement from a group of young people in the Western Cape to a group of young people in KwaZulu-Natal through the medium of a video documentary produced within a visual studies project highlights a type of peer education and social networking that, while pre-dating Facebook and My Space, is no less striking for what it can inspire.
Though the description of visual methodologies here may seem both ridiculously simple and ridiculously complex, clearly this paradox can resolve itself in the doing of the research, something that is evident in the work of Cole and McIntyre, cited at the beginning of this article, but also something that is evident in the example above of the youth viewers of Fire+Hope. In the article I have focused on the doing, and in particular the various approaches to doing through the visual (drawings, photo-voice, photo-elicitation, researcher as photographer/visual ethnographer, working with family photos, cinematic texts, video production, material culture, advertising campaigns).
There are, of course, a number of other visual approaches, including archival work, collage, and performance. While the article also offers some comments on the interpretive process, the types of issues that might be addressed, some limitations to visual research, and finally some notion of the ways in which the visual can serve recursively as a mode of inquiry, as a mode of representation and as a mode of dissemination, it is far from being a comprehensive 'primer' on visual methodologies. It suggests, rather, that visual studies have a great deal to offer educational research in South Africa.
Much of the work for this article came out of my work with the research teams at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, working out of the Centre for Visual Methodologies for Social Change (www.cvm.org), Naydene De Lange, Jean Stuart, Relebohile Moletsane, Thabisile Buthelizi and Myra Taylor. I also acknowledge the contributions of Susann Allnutt, Shannon Walsh and Sandra Weber to this project. I thank Ann Smith and Katie MacEntee for their assistance with manuscript preparation.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Shaun Mayne needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 103 designs submitted by 45 freelance designers.
Delta Energy Services, LLC
Delta Energy Services, LLC is an engineering firm supplying professional services.
Energy companies and partners.
Logo should be modern or classic, but definitely professional.
The logo may be used for documents and business cards.
Shape should include a creative, attractive 3D variation of the globe or blue colored sphere. Shading, effects, gradient welcome, please express creativity or simplicity.
On the right of the logo should be the lettering:
Energy Services, LLC
DELTA should be in caps on top with "Energy Services, LLC" below it in smaller font.
Lettering color can be vibrant purple or blue, or a variation of gold.
Please no clipart or photos.
A vector based logo that is scalable will work best. Please provide us with an EPS and AI format logo. Additionally we require all ownership and copyrights with the option to alter colors.
Page will be checked daily and feedback will be given quickly.
I've attached a file with an example logo just to give you an idea of how to arrange everything; however, this logo is too busy, the colors don't work well, and it's ugly!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
For everyone who entered our #featuremybag contest a week ago to win a Rebecca Minkoff bag, I apologize for not announcing winners sooner. Problem is there were so many amazing entries it took me a long time to look through them all and also narrow down the entries. You all are just that good!
After much debate, we decided we just couldn't get enough of @anjamk's photo of her Balenciaga Bag. The beauty of the bag is one thing, but the composition of this photo is what caught our attention most. For her win, @anjamk will win a Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Mini. Congrats!
It was extremely hard to pick our favorite photo, and here are our three runners up:
1) @Kortnilovee – bike riding in style has never been chicer than this photo
2) @kazahel – taking her Kooba bag to Capitol Hill, we love her striped top against her tan bag and building in the background
3) @kylie_francis – What is better than one Louis Vutton bag? A Louis Vuitton Bag and its reflection.
And because this week had such stiff competition, here are our honorable mentions: @k_laymon2003, @Mizz_Sunshine85, @thejuicematic, @vitsky
We run this feature every Monday. Make sure to follow PurseBlog on Twitter and share your bag with us next week. The winner receives a a giftcard or other item and has their photo featured on PurseBlog. Use the hashtag #featuremybag so we don't miss your entry!
P.S. Please consider supporting our small, bag-loving team by clicking our links before shopping or checking out at your favorite online retailers like Amazon, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, or any of the listed partners on our shop page. We truly appreciate your support!


text:
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Don't worry, the $652 million plan to deepen Savannah's busy shipping channel remains very much on President Barack Obama's radar, the mayor of Atlanta told coastal business and political leaders Thursday.
Kasim Reed addressed about 750 people at the annual luncheon of the Savannah Economic Development Authority just days after he spent several hours with Obama during the president's visit to Atlanta last weekend. Obama's proposed budget last month was a letdown for many in Savannah because it contained just $1.28 million for the harbor deepening — tens of millions of dollars less than Georgia officials had hoped to see.
"I know the recent budget appropriation concerns you all," Reed said. "I want to speak directly to that in a candid way. Don't be concerned about it a bit."
With Georgia's top elected offices now dominated by Republicans, Reed has stepped in as sort of a Democratic point man working to help sell the Savannah harbor expansion to the White House. Reed said he planned to raise the project with the president Sunday, but Obama brought it up himself during remarks at a Democratic fundraiser held after his graduation speech at Morehouse College.
"Let me tell you all what's so important — I didn't have to talk to him about it," Reed told his Savannah audience. "When he talked about ports that needed to be deepened in the United States on his own, he referenced the Port of Savannah."
Like other East Coast ports, Savannah has been racing to deepen its shipping channel to make room for supersized cargo ships expected to begin arriving after the Panama Canal completes a major expansion in 2015. The project received final authorization from the federal government last year. But funding from Washington has been tough to get with Congress and the White House focused on budget cuts and deficit reduction.
The Georgia Ports Authority wants to see dredging on the Savannah River begin by the end of this year. Gov. Nathan Deal has made the port expansion a priority and Georgia lawmakers have already approved $231 million in state funding for the project.
Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said Thursday the target for completing the project — which would dredge 5 feet of sand and mud from more than 30 miles of the river — remains late 2016 or early 2017. He said the Savannah harbor should be better positioned to receive substantial federal dollars next year.
"Everyone's galvanized on a significant play in the 2015 budget," said Foltz, who acknowledged that "probably nothing is happening as quickly as we'd like it to in Washington."
Congress authorized the Savannah harbor expansion in 1999. And Reed noted the project has made rapid progress recently despite the funding issues.
Last year, Obama named Savannah among five U.S. ports the president singled out for expedited harbor expansions. Then the federal government issued its final permit for the project last fall. And the Senate voted last week to remove a spending cap of $459 million placed on the Savannah project in 1999 — a bureaucratic obstacle that still needs approval by the House.
"We're moving in the right direction and I know the president is aware of the importance of the Savannah port," Reed told reporters after his speech, saying the project has made more progress in the last three years than in the entire decade that came before. "I mean, I'd like for folks to give us a little slack."


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WESS Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Discussion Group: agenda
The Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Discussion Group will meet Saturday, January 20th from 4-6 in Studio 5 of Hotel W. Shawn Martin, Project Librarian,Text Creation Partnership (TCP) will give a talk "Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP): The Future of Electronic Resources?" (see abstract below). Shawn's presentation will be of interest to all members of WESS. So please come along and hear about TCP!
Paula Carns, Chair, Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Dicussion Group
The Text Creation Partnership (TCP) a cooperative academic project based at the Universities of Michigan and Oxford with the cooperation of ProQuest Information and Learning, Thomson-Gale, Newsbank-Readex and over one hundred and fifty universities worldwide has created a database of thousands of fully searchable texts included in ProQuest's Early English Books Online (EEBO), Gale's Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), and Newsbank-Readex's Evans Early American Imprints image databases. TCP is also a new model for scholarly and commercial collaboration. Thus, it has become an interesting hybrid of a commercial product produced by librarians who are advised by scholars. Therefore, the project pushes the boundaries of all three worlds. Yet, the value of such a project lies not in its structure but in its use by all of these communities. How has TCP influenced teaching and learning? How has it changed the landscape within the scholarly publishing community? How has it produced new ways of thinking within early modern scholarship? TCP is not only a new electronic project that increases access to materials; it is also a project that actually changes the utility of these early materials in new, previously impossible, ways. The experience of the TCP project offers some unique insights into how new technologies can shape the future of scholarship and what role the academic community can and should play in influencing that future.


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The pleasant but undistinguished western The King and Four Queens was partly produced by "The King of Hollywood" himself, Clark Gable. His second outing with veteran director Raoul Walsh has a clever concept but a weak finish, and relies on an interesting cast to keep our attention.
Gambler-drifter Dan Kehoe (Clark Gable) learns of five women living by themselves at a lonely ranch called Wagon Mound. Ma McDade (Jo Van Fleet) shoots trespassers; everyone knows that her absent sons are bank robbers. The sons' four young brides have been awaiting their return for two years: Sabina, Ruby, Birdie and Oralie (Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols & Sara Shane). The girls are convinced that none of the husbands are coming home. The part of the story that interests Dan Kehoe is the McDade treasure -- Ma McDade is said to be guarding $100,000 dollars in stolen money.
Pretending to be on the run from the law, Dan enters the ranch. Ma hits him with a rifle shot, and the girls insist that he become a visitor while his wound heals. The sultry Ruby appeals directly to the handsome stranger, while the ex- dance hall entertainer Birdie tries to attract his attention with revealing costumes. Oralie is shy but interested, and Sabina is the most patient. Ma insists that the girls remain faithful to their missing husbands, but they're more interested in getting the stubborn matriarch to reveal where the treasure is buried.
Being the wives of desperate outlaws, more than one of the women has a sneaky plan to steal away with both the loot and the man. The irony is that the self-confident Dan has little choice but to play along with his hostesses' games. Barbara Nichols (Sweet Smell of Success) plays her standard bird-brained floozie character; and is even given the name Birdie. Sara Shane's Oralie possesses an utterly beguiling smile but has difficulty asserting herself. Busy actress Jean Willes (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) pours herself into a red dress to seduce the rogue male. Dan, of course, chooses the one woman who doesn't throw herself at him. Higher-billed Eleanor Parker plays the calculating Sabina, the McDade bride most willing to level with him about the mysterious treasure.
Stealing the show outright is Jo Van Fleet, the great stage actress who made her film career playing crusty older women in pictures like East of Eden and Wild River. The remarkable Ms. Van Fleet is only 41 in this film, fifteen years younger than Clark Gable and not that much older than the other actresses.
The King and Four Queens wants to be a full-on farce, but the script instead takes its "fox in the henhouse" situation at face value. As this is 1956 and the Production Code is in full force, Clark Gable's handsome stranger engages in little more than kissing with each of the four wives (depending on how we interpret one scene fade-out). What could have been a sexy romp is simply too restrained. Dan Kehoe allows each of the four babes to dally with him according to their personal styles, while the sour-faced Ma sits with an itchy trigger finger on her rifle. Director Raoul Walsh plays this challenge to male supremacy mostly straight, revealing few surprises about his characters. The amusing The King and Four Queens doesn't fully exploit its potential.
We wonder what Billy Wilder might have done with the situation of four sex-starved beauties confronted with the desirable Clark Gable; it sounds like a setup for one of the director's famous dirty jokes. The script already makes use of telling role reversals. Dan Kehoe is caught bathing naked in a pond, a ritual usually reserved for the leading lady. Birdie arrives, and instead of hiding Dan's clothing, hurries to undress and join him! Good taste, the Production Code and the unwillingness to make The King and Four Queens an outright comedy prevail. The film instead settles for conventional character twists and a subdued, non-violent conclusion. The plain fact is that it needed either a more compelling dramatic finale, or bigger laughs.
MGM-Fox's DVD of The King and Four Queens is a good enhanced transfer given a bare bones presentation. The disc has no extras and no menus; the feature film plays directly upon loading the disc. There are no scene selections either, only chapter stops at ten-minute intervals. The relaxing, amusing western features beautiful color cinematography by Lucien Ballard and attractive sets by the interesting designer Wiard Ihnen -- Ma McDade's desert "shack" is actually very spacious and accommodating. It looks as though one or more of Ballard's CinemaScope lenses weren't properly adjusted, as many shots feature vertical lines that lean to the left or the right -- doorways, support posts, etc.
The design of the cover art is not bad, but only Clark Gable is identifiable -- it's difficult to match up the likenesses of the "four queens" with the film's four actresses.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
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text: PROBLEM: Severe rusting and chipping took over the Morton Peak Tower at the San Bernardino National Forest. After years of little maintenance, the tower leader decided it was time for a fresh coat of paint. Located in Southern California, a coating was needed that would comply with local Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) regulations and still have durable qualities. SOLUTION: The Rust-Oleum High Performance SC9100 System DTM Epoxy Mastic was suggested as the coating of choice for the metal portions of the tower because of its low VOC of less than 100 g/l and direct-to-metal properties. The coating minimizes preparation time and offers maximum corrosion protection, making it ideal for the Morton Peak Tower. Sierra MetalMax DTM Acrylic Enamel was chosen to coat the wood surfaces of the tower. MetalMax is a low VOC coating and meets LEED requirements allowing it to be used in the San Bernardino region. With a quick dry time of 30 minutes, volunteers could take watch over the forest in a timely fashion. "Morton Peak will continue to look like the tower she was when she opened in 1936, or maybe a little better," said team leader Allan Brown. Thankful for the coatings, the Fire Lookout Program and Allan's team keep watch throughout the Fire Season.


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Appellate Judge William W. Bedsworth was born in Long Beach, California, on November 21, 1947, and grew up in Gardena. He received a Bachelor's Degree (cum laude) from Loyola University of Los Angeles in 1968 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1971.
After graduation from law school he joined the Orange County District Attorney's Office where he served as a line deputy, felony trial deputy, appellate attorney, and finally as managing attorney in charge of the appellate division of that office. He handled cases in both the California and United States Supreme Courts, and his argument before the California Supreme Court in In re James D. (1987) 43 Cal.3d 903, was videotaped by the National School Safety Center for educational use. During his career as a prosecutor, he was twice chosen President of the Association of Orange County Deputy District Attorneys and twice elected to the Board of Directors of the Orange County Bar Association.
In 1986, he was elected to an open seat on the Orange County Superior Court. He was re-elected in 1992, and in 1997, the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation of the state Bar rated him "exceptionally well qualified" (highest possible rating) for appointment to the Court of Appeal. He was appointed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division 3 by Governor Pete Wilson in February, 1997. He was then elected to that position in 1998 and re-elected in 2010.
Justice Bedsworth has taught law school classes at Western State University (where he was the commencement speaker in 2003), Chapman University, and the University of California Irvine. He has also taught at the California Judicial College in Berkeley, and served on the Board of Advisors of Whittier Law School. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and was a principal in Fair Share 502 (a charity whose 10 members raised almost a million dollars for homeless children). He was the Hispanic Bar Association's Judge of the Year in 1997 and received the LGBT Lavender Bar Association's first Leadership Award in 2011. The Celtic Bar named him Judge of the Year in 2012.
In addition to law review articles, he has published a great deal in the lay press, most recently in Sierra and Coast magazines. His monthly humor column "A Criminal Waste of Space" is nationally syndicated, and self-described as the most aptly named feature of the dozen legal publications in which it appears. He has won several awards for it, including three from the California Newspapers Association. Last year he won one of George Mason University's coveted Green Bag awards – the two other winners in his category were Nina Totenberg of NPR and Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker. In 2003, The Times of London gave him its Judicial Wisdom of the Year award for recognizing that "There is no non-culpable explanation for monkeys in your underpants."
He has published two books of legal humor (American Lawyer Media Publications, New York), and is a sought-after public speaker. A representative sampling of recent speaking engagements includes the American College of Trial Lawyers, ABOTA, the Nebraska State Bar, The Alabama State Bar, the Hawaii State Bar, the King County (Seattle) Bar Association, the American Continuing Legal Education Association, and the American Bar Association International Law Section (London).
Justice Bedsworth lives in Laguna Beach with his wife Kelly and three cats. His primary recreational interests are his three children, four grandchildren, golf, country music, and ice hockey. He worked as a National Hockey League goal judge for 15 years and was the subject of a story in ESPN The Magazine entitled Justice of the Crease.
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Welcome to the Engaged Scholars Academy
We created this Web site in response to overwhelming interest from institutions around the country. Here, you will find the information and tools you need to establish an engaged scholarship academy at your institution. We request that you acknowledge the University of New Hampshire, Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Engagement and Academic Outreach, in all materials or publications that arise from the use of this Web site.
We suggest you begin by viewing the videos above, which feature real academy participants, alumni and institutional leaders. Hear from our scholars and coaches, download the materials, and have your questions answered as you browse these pages.


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Help us to improve and focus the content of the workshop! Please take our workshop survey.
Contribute to the workshop! We are accepting software/analysis tool demos,
to participate submit yours here.
About The Workshop
The Enhancing the Legacy of HST Spectroscopy workshop will take place November 15-16, 2012 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The the workshop will bring together the community of astronomers involved in HST medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy (with special emphasis on the active instruments) in order to investigate how HST's impact on current and future research can be optimized -- including both direct and archival investigations.
The organization of the workshop is still ongoing, but the agenda will most likely include:
Current status of spectroscopic observations and data handling
- Overview of the HST spectroscopic science program
- Telescope and instrument status
- Pipeline data processing
- Archive and HLA interfaces
Optimizing the utilization of spectroscopic data: the community view
- Enhancements in pipeline processing
- Analysis tools
- Improving data discovery
Future HST observations
- Completing the HST UV/optical spectroscopic legacy
- Demos and hands-on experience
Additional Information
Hotel Discount Deadline
Participants can reserve a room at the Doubletree Inn at the Colonnade, a hotel within walking distance of the Institute, by contacting the hotel directly at 410-554-7569. Please do not forget to mention that you are attending the Spectroscopy Workshop and that you should receive the Institute rate of $149/night.
A optional reception (with cash bar) for the workshop will be held November 15, 2012 at Cafe Azafran in the STScI Muller Building. To attend the reception, please select the Reception option when registering and specify the number of persons who will be attending. The cost of the reception is $27/person.
Workshop Presentations
The workshop is soliciting abstracts for talks and posters. To submit a talk or poster abstract, fill out the form presented to you at the end of registration process, or log into your reservation (click the View Registration link on the left side of the page) and submit abstracts through your reservation.
The workshop is also soliciting software demonstrations to occur during the workshop. If you would like to present a demonstration or a hands-on trial of software or data analysis tools, please submit a description of your presentation via the Software/Analysis Tool Demonstration abstract form. We will contact you with more information on presenting at the workshop.
Confirmed Speakers
|Tom Ayres
|Nicolas Lehner
|Stefi Baum
|Danny Lennon
|Ken Carpenter
|Cristina Oliveira
|Jane Charlton
|Steve Osterman
|Kathy Flanagan
|Bradley Peterson
|Patrick Godon
|Charles Proffitt
|Carol Grady
|Lee Quick
|Michael Gregg
|Aki Roberge
|Bob Hanisch
|Ken Sembach
|Edward Jenkins
|Edward Sion
|Mary Beth Kaiser
|Letizia Stanghellini
|Brian Keeney
|Jason Tumlinson
|Adam Kowalski
Scientific Organizing Committee
- Alessandra Aloisi (Space Telescope Science Institute, chair)
- Stefano Casertano (Space Telescope Science Institute, co-chair)
- Stefi Baum (Rochester Institute of Technology)
- Ken Carpenter (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
- Alex Fullerton (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Jim Green (University of Colorado)
- Tim Heckman (John Hopkins University)
- Mary Beth Kaiser (John Hopkins University)
- Claus Leitherer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Cristina Oliveira (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Steve Penton (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Ruth Peterson (University of California, Santa Cruz)
- Aki Roberge (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
- Myron Smith (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Jason Tumlinson (Space Telescope Science Institute)
- Ana-Maria Valenzuela (STScI Event Coordinator)


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$50 Santa Barbara Harbor Kayak Tours
Date: 6/14/2019
Captain Jacks Santa Barbara Tours conducts guided 1.5 - 2 hour kayak tours of the Santa Barbara Harbor at 1:30 daily. Experience California's most beautiful harbor on this fun and easy tour. Our professionally guided tour includes a kayak lesson/briefing, all kayak gear and paddles. This tour is the perfect introduction to kayaking and is fun for the entire family. Your tour starts at the boat launch, winds through the harbor, under Stearns Wharf, and out to the one mile buoy. Chances are good the locals will show up to greet you such as Dolphins, California sea lions, and harbor seals that may cruise by to say hello. For this tour and other fun activities please visit: http://www.captainjackstours.com/rates.html or call us at (805) 564-1819 to book your tour.


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Sam Bradford is stoked.
A year ago, the St. Louis Rams affirmed their faith in their young quarterback by forgoing the opportunity to draft Robert Griffin III. This offseason, general manager Les Snead has been busy building an arsenal around Bradford like none the fourth-year quarterback has ever had.
"We've had talented teams in the past and tried to maximize it," Bradford told USA TODAY Sports. "But with the speed we've brought in, it really allows us to open things up and put other teams in a bind. That's good for this football team.
"I've been waiting for this, just wanting to see this offense succeed and maybe do some things we haven't been able to in the past."
Bradford's notable new targets include tight end Jared Cook, who arrived via free agency, and wide receiver Tavon Austin, whom the Rams drafted eighth overall after vaulting up the board to grab him. Both players boast uncommon wheels and can line up in a variety of positions, including the slot or split wide. Austin, a shifty player at 5-8 and 174 pounds, is expected to provide a game-breaking element the Rams have lacked. Cook, 6-5 and 248 pounds, should greatly upgrade a red-zone presence that has been missing.
"Defenses are going to have to choose who they pay attention to," said Bradford, who has never had a receiver gain as many as 700 yards in a season. Only former Ram Danny Amendola can claim as many as 60 catches in a season — he did that twice — for the team since 2010, but he's averaged 8.8 yards a reception in his career.
Added Bradford, "There's just a sense of speed now, where in the past we might have had speed at one position but no true burners."
Turf burns could become less of an issue for Bradford, who was sacked in 30 consecutive games at one point and has gone down in 39 of 42 career starts. Now protecting him is newly signed left tackle Jake Long, who has been to four Pro Bowls in five years and is motivated to re-establish himself among the elite after the Miami Dolphins let him walk after two seasons curtailed by injury.
Even though the offense struggled — it hasn't ranked better than 23rd since 2006 — the Rams finished 7-8-1 in 2012, their first year under coach Jeff Fisher and best finish in the last six seasons.
Yet St. Louis remains under the radar. The Rams' 4-1-1 division record in 2012 paced the NFC West, but Bradford doesn't mind if most observers are sleeping on them now.
"We know what we're capable of and what we did in our division last year," he said. "If we play at our true potential, we're not worried about those other teams getting the attention now."
PHOTOS: Minicamps around the NFL
Bradford is coming off his best season, with 3,702 yards and 21 touchdowns passing and 13 interceptions, but he has work to do before he's mentioned among the game's new wave of star quarterbacks. He now seems to have the supporting cast for a breakout season. Austin Davis and Kellen Clemens will vie for backup duty.
Running back
Gone is franchise rushing king Steven Jackson, who took his eight consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent. His leadership might be even harder to replace than his production.
Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson, rookies in 2012, probably will split the load. Bradford says the light has gone on for Pead, a second-round pick who lagged noticeably behind seventh-rounder Richardson last year. Richardson had 98 carries for 475 yards to Pead's 10 carries for 54 yards. A substance abuse violation will force Pead to the bench in Week 1.
Wide receiver
If the Rams' expectations are correct, Austin will be a hybrid of Wes Welker and Percy Harvin and more than supplant Amendola, Bradford's former go-to guy who is now with the New England Patriots. Bradford predicts big things for Chris Givens, who made an impact as a rookie last year. Big-bodied Brian Quick, a Round 2 pick in 2012, is still a project. He'll be pushed by Austin Pettis and rookie Stedman Bailey, a teammate of Austin at West Virginia.
Tight end
Cook spent much of his time with the Tennessee Titans deployed as a wideout but didn't feel he got the ball enough; he had 44 receptions for 523 yards in 13 games last season. Lack of touches shouldn't be an issue for Cook now if the Rams do as they expect and spread out defenses. Lance Kendricks will see plenty of snaps, too.
Offensive line
The injury bug bit this unit hard in 2012, and the frequent shuffling did nothing to help the stagnant offense. Long's arrival means Rodger Saffold will switch to right tackle. Center Scott Wells was a Pro Bowl player in 2011 but missed nine games last year. If he's recovered from foot problems, rookie Barrett Jones could prove a steal.
Defensive line
Blessed with three first-round picks, this group should be a strength for an underrated defense. Ends Chris Long (a first-rounder in 2008) and Robert Quinn (2011) combined for 22 sacks last season and might do more damage if tackle Michael Brockers (four sacks) comes into his own. William Hayes offers quality depth.
James Laurinaitis is a tackling machine in the middle, though not necessarily great against the run. Snead rolled the dice on Alec Ogletree, the Rams' other Round 1 pick this year. A former safety at Georgia, he can cover a lot of ground on the weak side, if his well-documented off-field issues don't resurface. Fisher is known for helping immature youngsters grow up.
St. Louis is set at cornerback with veteran Cortland Finnegan and promising sophomore Janoris Jenkins, who returned three of his four interceptions for touchdowns as a rookie. However, safety could be a problem, especially if unsigned Quintin Mikell doesn't return. The Rams drafted T.J. McDonald from Southern California in the third round.
Special teams
Kicker Greg "Legatron" Zuerlein and punter Johnny Hekker were impact rookies and should hold down their spots for years. The return duties will sort out eventually with Jenkins, Pead and Austin all potentially exciting options.
Coaching staff
Fisher has long been popular among his players and didn't need much time to win over the Rams. Bradford's optimism is also fueled by the presence of Brian Schottenheimer, the first offensive coordinator to work with the quarterback in consecutive seasons. Look for the playbook to expand in Year 2. Tim Walton takes over the defense, which was run by a committee last year after Gregg Williams' Bountygate ban.
Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis


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Choose your car and put your seat belt on, because you are about to drive through the FREE website highway of the British film industry.
No map is required – you now have FilmNav.
FilmNav Members: 498
Facebook Fans:
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Nick posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
Working on updates to the FilmNav site!
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FilmNav is a Seeview Pictures company. Crown copyright material used under the Open Government License.


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Police Send SWAT Team, Break Into Wrong House (With TV Film Crew) In Response To Internet Troll
from the wow deptWe've heard of police very frequently overreacting to things and sending in SWAT teams when they aren't necessary. We've also heard of them sending SWAT teams to the wrong place. But this latest story, found via Radley Balko (who tracks these things like no other) may be the most insane yet. It involves police sending a SWAT team and breaking into the wrong house (whose front door was open) in response to some internet trolls. I'm not kidding.
The issue was that on a Topix community forum for Evansville, Indiana, someone claimed that a list of police staff had been "leaked." Some trolls in the comments spoke out against the police -- and one certainly went too far, suggesting that a certain officer's house was going to be shot up. Rather than investigating the issue, the police got some info on where the comment came from (or, rather, where they thought the comment came from) and sent the SWAT team and a TV news crew to the home of Ira and Louise Milan -- whose front door was open. Now, they could have rang the doorbell and spoken to them. But, instead, they broke down the screen door, broke the front window, and tossed a flashbang into the living room.
And... all for naught. While they seized a bunch of computer equipment, it turns out that no one in the house had anything to do with anything. Something they could have ascertained by, you know, talking to people in the house. The police are defending their massive overreaction because.... the internet!!!!
"This is a little more difficult that a traditional crime scene, because we're dealing with the Internet. They definitely weren't expecting (a SWAT team at the door). The reason we did that is the threats were specific enough, and the potential for danger was there.Yes, so because the police might overreact, you should watch what you say online. And also always be ready for a SWAT team to show up, in case a stranger you know nothing about says something bad online. After all, it's "the internet."
"This is a big deal to us," Cullum said. "This may be just somebody who was online just talking stupid. What I would suggest to anybody who visits websites like that is that their comments can be taken literally."
Filed Under: evansville, indiana, police, swat team, trolls


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jrgkgb brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 49 Designs von 24 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
The site will be workers discussing stress and dissatisfaction at work, providing tips on coping mechanisms and changing their situation. The logo needs to be in a "sweet spot" between a santized corporate logo and something more whimsical and relaxed.
Get Help, Give Help
Desired Style:
Clean and simple
Accepted File Formats:
PSD or EPS, including fonts.
While the logo should be easily recognizable as something related to business and the office, it also should be fun and unique.
Something important to consider: While the subject matter of the site will be serious, we want the atmosphere to be fun and relaxing. For that reason, stick toward "cooler" colors. If you're going to use a red, yellow, or orange, make sure they're fairly muted and not "in your face" screaming.
The standard background will be white, though bonus points for flexibility. The site will have a lot of grays and gradiants, sort of an "apple-ish" feel, and we'd like the logo to fit that scheme.
It should have a "web 2.0" feel, meaning it needs some texture and depth. (But no need for a faded shadow underneath!)
A possibility, though not a requirement, is to somehow accentuate the word "stress" in the logo. Including the tagline "Get Help, Give Help" is also preferred but not required.
To give a better idea of what we're looking for, attached are some stock photos we intend to use for the site. Use of the photos (or anything similar) in the logo is fine, but not required.
Finden Sie heraus, wie ein Designwettbewerb funktioniert, oder lernen Sie mehr über unsere Logo-Design-Angebote.


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FORT MEADE, Md. -- An Army private charged in the biggest security breach in U.S. history testified Thursday that he felt like a doomed, caged animal after he was arrested in Baghdad for allegedly sending classified information to the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.
Speaking publicly for the first time about his May 2010 arrest and subsequent confinement, Pfc. Bradley Manning addressed the nearly two months he spent in a cell in a segregation tent at Camp Arifjan, an Army installation in Kuwait, before he was moved stateside.
"I remember thinking I'm going to die. I'm stuck inside this cage," Manning said in response to questions from defense attorney David Coombs. "I just thought I was going to die in that cage. And that's how I saw it -- an animal cage."
Manning, now 24, was later sent to a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., in July 2010. His lawyers are seeking dismissal of all charges, contending his pretrial confinement at Quantico was needlessly harsh.
Manning's testimony came on the third day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, the sprawling Army post between Washington and Baltimore.
Speaking in emphatic bursts, sometimes stumbling over his words, Manning said that at Quantico, where he was held for nine months in highly restrictive maximum custody, "I started to feel like I was mentally going back to Kuwait mode, in that lonely, dark, black hole place, mentally."
Manning said he never sank that low but grew frustrated after five months in which he spent up to 23 hours a day in a windowless, 6-by-8-foot cell.
"It was pretty draining. Tiring," Manning said.
Manning is trying to avoid trial in the WikiLeaks case. He argues he was punished enough when he was locked up alone in a small cell for nearly nine months at Quantico, where he also had to sleep naked for several nights.
The military contends the treatment was proper, given Manning's classification then as a maximum-security detainee who posed a risk of injury to himself or others.
Earlier Thursday, a military judge accepted the terms under which Manning was willing to plead guilty to eight charges for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.
Col. Denise Lind's ruling doesn't mean the pleas have been formally accepted. That could happen in December.
But Lind approved the language of the offenses to which Manning has said he would admit.
She said those offenses carry a total maximum prison term of 16 years.
Manning made the offer as a way of accepting responsibility for the leak. Government officials have not said whether they would continue prosecuting him for the other 14 counts he faces, including aiding the enemy. That offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Under the proposal, Manning would admit to willfully sending the following material: a battlefield video file, some classified memos, more than 20 Iraq war logs, more than 20 Afghanistan war logs and other classified materials. He would also plead guilty to wrongfully storing classified information.
Other prospective witnesses include a military psychiatrist who examined Manning at Quantico, and the former commander of the confinement facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Manning was later moved, re-evaluated and given a medium-security classification.
Associated Press writer Ben Nuckols at Fort Meade contributed to this report.