Journal articles on the topic 'Journaux belges'

En créant des structures de propagande permettant d’opérer une centralisation maximale et un contrôle des productions cinématographiques tournées au Congo belge, les autorités coloniales belges, aidées par les missions catholiques, démontrent leur volonté de réaliser et d’encadrer les images afin de répondre à un double objectif : présenter une vision idéalisée d’une colonie « moderne » et « éduquer » la population congolaise. La transformation progressive des modes de vie des spectateurs, la confrontation avec de nouvelles formes de pouvoirs politiques, économiques et sociaux et les troubles des années 1950 conduisent le pouvoir colonial à multiplier les films qui montrent la paix et l’harmonie d’une communauté belgo-congolaise unie alors que des critiques commencent à dénoncer les zones d’ombres du pouvoir colonial dont les thèmes (délinquance, pauvreté, chômage) sont, jusqu’ici, les laissés-pour-compte du cinéma colonial. Des visions contradictoires se révèlent autour de l’indépendance et démontrent finalement l’impossibilité entre Congolais et Belges de vivre ensemble.

Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden was en is een Nederlands-Belgisch project. Belgische, in de realiteit enkel Vlaamse, historici hebben een rol gespeeld in de redactie en als auteurs van bijdragen. Het aandeel van het Zuiden is altijd kleiner geweest dan dat van het Noorden. Het tijdschrift poogde via een (meestal) paritaire samenstelling van de redactie en initiatieven, zoals comparatief opgezette themadossiers, de balans te herstellen. Aangezien het tijdschrift, zeker wat het Zuiden betreft, nauw verbonden was met de universitaire historische vakgroepen, in het bijzonder die van Gent en Leuven, weerspiegelen de evoluties van dit Belgische aandeel algemene verschuivingen in het academisch bedrijf. Uitbreiding van de onderzoeksfinanciering zorgde voor een aangroei en voor een verjonging en vervrouwelijking van het auteursbestand en van de redactie. Ook andere ontwikkelingen in het historisch bedrijf van de voorbije halve eeuw, zoals het verschijnen van nieuwe tijdschriften en de internationalisering van het onderzoek, hadden een impact op de plaats van het tijdschrift en bijgevolg ook op Vlaamse bijdragen en hun auteurs.Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden was and is a Dutch-Belgian project. Belgian, though in fact only Flemish, historians have edited and authored contributions. The share from the South has always been smaller than that from the North. Via a generally balanced composition of the editorial board and initiatives, such as comparatively structured special issues and forums, the journal aimed to restore the balance. Since the journal, especially in the South, was closely affiliated with university history departments, those of the universities of Ghent and Leuven in particular, the evolutions of this Belgian share therefore reflect general shifts in academia. Expansion of research financing brought about accretion, rejuvenation and feminisation of the stock of authors and editors alike. Other developments in historical scholarship from the past half century, such as the appearance of new journals and internationalisation of research, had an impact on the positioning of the journal and consequently on Flemish contributions and their authors as well.

Zusammenfassung.Durch das “Institute of Scientific Information“ (ISI) im “Journal Citation Report“ veröffentlichte Auswertungen des SSCI zeigen, daß die in der Diagnostica erschienenen Artikel in zahlreichen Zeitschriften und Journals sowohl national als auch international zur Kenntnis genommen und zitiert werden. Die Titel der zitierenden Zeitschriften und Journals belegen, daß die Diagnostica die gesamte fachliche Breite der Psychologie bedient und somit ihrem Anspruch gerecht wird, Organ für diagnostische Fragen in allen Bereichen der Psychologie zu sein. Mit einer Ablehnungsquote von 66% und einem Impact-Faktor von 1.837 ist die Diagnostica weiterhin gut gerüstet auf ihrem Weg durch das neue Jahrtausend.

L’écrivain belge Henry Bauchau utilisait le cahier pour ses manuscrits comme pour ses journaux personnels. À partir du moment où il décide de publier ses journaux, il commence à décorer les couvertures de ses cahiers avec des photographies, des reproductions d’oeuvres d’art, etc., afin de créer une matière d’archive unique. Cette pratique éclaire le processus créateur aussi bien que la façon dont Bauchau s’est construit une posture d’écrivain, en veillant à orienter ses lecteurs aussi bien que ses exégètes.

The declaration of Belgian independence in 1830 constituted a major turning point in Belgian language history: French was almost instantly installed as the only official language in public offices and judicial cases, which left the majority of Flemish citizens unable to understand or reply to official documents. While the monolingual French authorities quickly recognized the necessity of providing Flemish translations of laws and decrees, numerous Flemish jurists and officials criticized these official translations for being inadequate, since they contained several errors in syntax and legal terminology. This criticism led to a flow of new translations and ideological commentaries, especially in newly created Flemish legal journals. My contribution seeks to point out the key role of these journals in the process of emancipation and standardization of the Flemish legal language and in the creation of a proper Flemish legal culture. My focus is on the first volume of the legal journal Rechtskundig Tijdschrift voor Vlaamsch-België (1897–98), which actively supported the coming into being of a Flemish legal language and identity. This journal published translations of important francophone judgements, annotated translations of laws and decrees as they appeared in the government journal Moniteur belge, and numerous discussions of jurists on the Flemish legal language.

Résumé Belles-lettres, littérature militaire, littérature populaire, journaux et magazines, littérature jeunesse : il s'agit d'examiner le statut de la mémoire dans la littérature française thématisant la guerre entre 1870 et 1914. Pour suturer la blessure de la défaite, la France semble s'en remettre à un Grand Récit nouveau avec, pour principes cicatrisants, le récit discret de l'écume de l'Histoire. Toutefois, échappaient à cet optimisme du Grand Récit les représentations fréquentes d'une Armée ridicule, perverse ou révoltante, parfois vaincue, souvent rappelée à la fragilité de son soldat.

INTERVIEW Prof. Ish-Shalom pursued his Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations. Member of the Steering Committe of the Standing Group of International Relations (SGIR) of ECPR. He was the Director of the Leonard Davis for International relations Associate Professor (2012-15). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International affairs and at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, both at Harvard University. In addition he was the Israel Institute Visiting Professor as well as a Visiting Associate Professor at Stanford University (2015-16), visiting scholar at the New School University in New York (2000-2001), at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) (2012), and at the Institute for the Human Studies (IWM) in Vienna (2001). He is the author of Democratic Peace: A Political Biography (University of Michigan Press, 2013), as well as articles in different scholarly journals such as International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, International Studies Review, Political Science Quarterly, and Perspectives on Politics.

It might seem bold, or even presumptuous, to assert that there is a clearly identifiable unified theory of the novel present in any aspect of Victorian literary culture. As John C. Olmsted rightly observes, assessing the presence of any specific and consistent critical stance in Victorian criticism is a difficult task; thus, any attempt to evaluate Victorian criticism of the novel is problematic. Victorian periodical criticism is inconsistent, [and] most of it is deservedly forgotten. . . . The reader [of early Victorian novel criticism] finds he must take into account the prejudices of individual reviewers, the political affiliation of the periodical in which a review appears and, all too often in the 1830s, the ties that journals and reviewers had with publishing houses. (Olmsted xiii–xiv) Another problem in assessing Victorian novel criticism lies in the aggressively non-theoretical stance of many Victorian critics. Edwin Eigner and George Worth characterize Victorian criticism of the novel as “written by highly intelligent reviewers and essayists . . . [most of whom] rather prided themselves on the non-theoretical character of their intellects” (1). The absence of theory – perceived or in actuality – in Victorian criticism makes the task of identifying common theoretical concerns and systematic approaches a difficult proposition.

On January 1, 1938 virtually every trace of anything Finnish, including the language, disappeared in the Karelian ASSR, where until the day before Finnish had been one of the two official languages (with Russian) and the language of instruction in schools and of a wide variety of published materials—newspapers, literary journals and almanacs, J educational texts, translated belles lettres (both Russian and foreign) and official documents.The history of Finnish in the Karelian ASSR dates from the Peace of Tartu (1920) which established the Finnish-Soviet border. It also stipulated that the "language of administration, legislation and public education" in the newly formed Karelian Workers Commune should be the "local popular language and designated Finnish that language. This might seem strange, since in 1923 there were in Soviet Karelia only 1,051 Finns, half of whom lived in the capital, Petrozavodsk.

Abstract In order to better understand the features and purposes of translation in multilingual states, this study looks at nineteenth-century translation policies in Belgium, a young state (founded in 1830) with liberal ambitions and a multilingual population. More specifically, it deals with the parliamentary debates on the translation into Flemish of the Bulletin des Arrêtés, Bulletin Officiel and Moniteur belge, the consecutive official journals for the publication of new legislation. Until now, language history and language policy researchers have paid too little attention to the key role played by translation and the many aspects of translation policies to consider (such as spelling, timing, translators … ), matters that go to the heart of identity issues in politics and that, consequently, aroused great emotion in some Members of Parliament (MPs).

The Fonds Brohée/Brohée fund was created in 1964 at the initiative of 16 Belgian physicians, in the memory of Georges Brohée, the founder of the Belgian Society of Gastroenterology in 1928 and of its Journal in 1933, first published under the name “Le Journal Belge de Gastro-entérologie”, then until today as “Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica”. The goal of the Fonds is to stimulate research in the field of gastroenterology in Belgium, by awarding a young researcher (< 40 years) for an outstanding work in the clinical, translational or fundamental setting. Since 1966, 26 remarkable works have been awarded in various areas of interest in gastrointestinal diseases, whether in IBD, functional disorders, digestive oncology and, last but not least, hepatology. Since the recognition of their work, many of the awardees have become recognized for their expertise well beyond Belgium. Hopefully, the Foundation will continue to thrive and flourish after 55 years, as the members of its board and its healthy finances will allow to continue to promote and encourage high-quality research by young hepato-gastroenterologists in Belgium.

“Nothing dies so hard as a word”, wrote Harry Quilter in 1892, “—particularly a word nobody understands.” At the end of the nineteenth century, one such word—first uttered in America, but soon reverberating across the Western world—was “neurasthenia”. Popularized by the American neurologist George M Beard, this vaguely defined nervous disorder seemed to crop up everywhere, from medical journals to the popular press to belles lettres. Looking back at the years leading up to the Second World War, Paul Hartenberg recalled its remarkable pervasiveness: “It could be found everywhere, in the salons, at the theatre, in novels, at the Palace. It was used to explain the most disparate individual reactions: suicide and decadent art, fashion and adultery; it became the giant of neuropathology.” Its sufferers included American intellectuals from Beard himself to Theodore Roosevelt, Edith Wharton, and Henry Adams; for European commentators less convinced of the disease's modern American pedigree, the list could be expanded to include everyone from Alcibiades to Tiberius to Napoleon. Anybody who was anybody, it seemed, was neurasthenic.

The presented text is a catalogue of possible reasons for the infidelity of husbands from the Polish landed gentry in the 19th century, and, at the same time, a list of pieces of advice and tips for wary wives intending to enjoy a happy family life. The problem of marital infidelity was vividly reflected in the handbooks that were fashionable in the era, especially those written for brides and honeymooners, in the narrative of codes of good manners, in social and family-related journals, as well as in belles-lettres. An equally important source of information on the subject matter are diaries and letters, which give us an insight into the sphere of private life of landowners, especially into mutual relations between spouses. On the basis of such diversified sources, it is possible to recreate the mentality of that time inclined to consider husbandly infidelity as a reaction to a malfunctioning marriage, especially to the disappointment with the wife. The basis of the indulgence for betraying husbands, which was justified in all possible ways, lays in the double morality characteristic of the times in question – manifested in separate moral standards of men and women.

Zusammenfassung. Kinder und Jugendliche mit Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörungen (ADHS, Falkai & Wittchen, 2015) sind immer häufiger Zielgruppe achtsamkeitsbasierter Verfahren. Aufmerksamkeitsregulierung ist ein zentraler Bestandteil von Achtsamkeitsübungen wie auch Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung, Aufmerksamkeitswechsel und -flexibilität, Meta-Kognition, Inhibition, Arbeitsgedächtnis, Selbst-Regulation u.a.m., was auf die Überschneidung der Achtsamkeit mit Aufmerksamkeitsprozessen hinweist. Die Wirksamkeit achtsamkeitsbasierter Therapie bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit ADHS wird in einer zuletzt stetig wachsenden Zahl von Therapiestudien dokumentiert, die in Meta-Analysen zusammengefasst wurden. Für den vorliegenden Review wurden aktuelle Metaanalysen in diesem Feld recherchiert, analysiert und interpretiert. Insgesamt konnten auf diesem Weg 4 Metaanalysen gefunden werden, die dezidierten Einschlusskriterien (Publikationszeitraum 2016–2018, Publikationen in englischer oder deutscher Sprache, Publikationen der einbezogenen Einzelstudien in Peer reviewed Journals, keine Einzelfallstudien, zumindest Teilstichproben der Studien müssen aus klinisch diagnostizierten oder per klinischen Ratings klassifizierten Kindern oder Jugendlichen mit ADHS bestehen) genügten. Die einbezogenen Metaanalysen belegen insgesamt gute bis sehr gute Effekte in den Bereichen des Verhaltens und der Aufmerksamkeitsleistungen der Kinder und Jugendlichen. So zeigen sich durchgehend signifikante Reduktionen im Bereich der ADHS-Symptomatik mit hohen Effektstärken (d = 0.8 bis d = 1.23). Ähnliches zeigt sich im Bereich der Reduktion externalisierender und internalisierender komorbider Störungen (d = 0.9 bis d = 1.02) sowie im Bereich der Aufmerksamkeitsleistungen (d = 0.62, bis d = 2.29). Zudem wurden übergreifende positive Effekt auf das Selbstwertgefühl und die Peerbeziehungen ermittelt. Therapeutische und weitere inhaltliche sowie forschungsmethodische Implikationen werden diskutiert.

This article is the English translation of Der englisch-türkische Mossulkonflikt by Dr. Joachim v. Elbe, a prominent German-American legal expert of the 20th century. The original article in German was published in 1929 in the first issue of Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Heidelberg Journal of International Law). The aim of translating this article is to present to the readers of Kurdish Studies the perspective of past publications documenting discussion on Kurds and statehood as well breaking language barriers and making such documents accessible to a wider audience. Moreover, this translation hopes to provide policymakers and scholars engaged in this topic with an overview of the legal history.Acknowledgement: This article is translated by Ethem Çoban from the original paper by Joachim v. Elbe published in 1929 with the title “Der englisch-turkische Mossulkonflikt” in Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrech, Heidelberg Journal of International Law ( HJIL ), vol.1, part.2, pp.391-418. Available at http://www.zaoerv.de/01_1929/1_1929_1_a_391_420.pdf, accessed: 01/09/2018.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJIDubendiya Îngilîz û Tirkan li ser MûsilêEv babet wergerra înglîzî ya babeteke bi nawnîşana Der engliscih-türkische Mossulkonflikt e û ji layê doktor Joachim v. Elbe ve hatiye nivîsîn, ku pisporekî diyar yê yasaya emerîkî-elmanî yê sedsala bîstem e. Babeta eslî li sala 1929 bi elmanî li jimareya yekem a Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Kovara Heidelberg bo Yasaya Navdewletî) de hatiye belavkirin. Armanca serekî ji wergêrana vê babetê ewe nêrîna weşan û nivîsarên demên borî ji bo belgekirina guftûgoyên li ser kurd û dewletdariyê bikevine ber bal û nezera xwînerên kovara Kurdish Studies, li gel şikandina rêgirîya zimanî û wisa bibe ku ev belge bikevine ber destê cemawerekî berfirehtir. Ji bilî van, ev werger hêvîdar e nezereke giştî li ser dîroka yasayî bo siyasetmedar û lêkolerên mijarê dabîn bike.ABSTRACT IN SORANIMilmilanêy înglîzî-turkî le MûsillEm babete wergêrranî înglîzîy babetêke be nawnîşanî Der engliscih-türkische Mossulkonflikt we le layen diktor Joachim v. Elbe nûsrawe, ke pisporrêkî diyarî yasayî emrîkî-ellmanîy sedey bîsteme. Babete esllîyeke le sallî 1929 be ellmanî le yekem jimarey Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Jorrnallî Heidelberg bo Yasay Nêwdewlletî) billaw kirayewe. Amancî serekî le wergêrranî em babete eweye rwangey billawkirawekanî rabirdû bo dokumêntkirdinî giftugokan le ser kurd û dewlletdarî bixirête ber dîdî xwêneranî Kurdish Studies, legell şkandinî rêgirîye zimanewanîyekan we wa bikrêt ew dokumêntane bikewne berdest cemawerêkî frawantir. Cige lewe, em wergêrrane hîwaxwaze têrrwanînî giştî leser dîrokî yasayî bo siyasetmedaran û twêjeran dabîn bikat.

A Review of: Clarke, M. A., Belden, J. L., Koopman, R. J., Steege, L. M., Moore, J. L., Canfield, S. M., & Kim, M. S. (2013). Information needs and information-seeking behaviour analysis of primary care physicians and nurses: A literature review. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 30(3), 178-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hir.12036 Abstract Objective – To improve information support services to health practitioners making clinical decisions by reviewing the literature on the information needs and information seeking behaviours of primary care physicians and nurses. Within this larger objective, specific questions were 1) information sources used; 2) differences between the two groups; and 3) barriers to searching for both groups. Design – Literature review. Setting – SCOPUS, CINAHL, OVID Medline, and PubMed databases. Subjects – Results from structured searches in four bibliographic databases on the information needs of primary care physicians and nurses. Methods – Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) and keyword search strategies tailored to each of four databases were employed to retrieve items pertinent to research objectives. Concepts represented in either controlled or natural language vocabularies included “information seeking behaviour, primary health care, primary care physicians and nurses” (p. 180). An initial yield of 1169 items was filtered by language (English only), pertinence to study objectives, publication dates (2000-2012), and study participant age (>18). After filtering, 47 articles were examined and summarized, and recommendations for further research were made. Main Results – Few topical differences in information needed were identified between primary care physicians and nurses. Across studies retrieved, members of both groups sought information on drugs, diagnoses, and therapy. The Internet (including bibliographic databases and web-based searching) was the source of information most frequently mentioned, followed by textbooks, journals, colleagues, drug compendiums, professional websites, and medical libraries. There is insufficient evidence to support conclusions about the differences between groups. In most research, information needs and behaviours for both groups have been discussed simultaneously, with no real distinction made, suggesting that there may not be significant differences even though a few studies have found that nurses’ emphasis is on policy and procedures. Barriers to access include time, searching skills, and geographic location; for the last, improvements have been made but rural practitioners continue to be adversely affected by limited access to people and resources. Conclusion – Both primary care physicians and nurses seek information on diagnosis and treatment. The Internet is of increasing utility for both groups, but all resources have advantages and disadvantages in identifying evidence based information for use in practice. Further research is required to support access and use of evidence based resources, and to explore how focused, evidence based information can be integrated into electronic health record systems.

Background Fragility fractures are fractures that result from mechanical forces that would not ordinarily result in fracture. Objectives The objectives were to evaluate the clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of non-bisphosphonates {denosumab [Prolia®; Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA], raloxifene [Evista®; Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan], romosozumab [Evenity®; Union Chimique Belge (UCB) S.A. (Brussels, Belgium) and Amgen Inc.] and teriparatide [Forsteo®; Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA]}, compared with each other, bisphosphonates or no treatment, for the prevention of fragility fracture. Data sources For the clinical effectiveness review, nine electronic databases (including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) were searched up to July 2018. Review methods A systematic review and network meta-analysis of fracture and femoral neck bone mineral density were conducted. A review of published economic analyses was undertaken and a model previously used to evaluate bisphosphonates was adapted. Discrete event simulation was used to estimate lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years for a simulated cohort of patients with heterogeneous characteristics. This was done for each non-bisphosphonate treatment, a strategy of no treatment, and the five bisphosphonate treatments previously evaluated. The model was populated with effectiveness evidence from the systematic review and network meta-analysis. All other parameters were estimated from published sources. An NHS and Personal Social Services perspective was taken, and costs and benefits were discounted at 3.5% per annum. Fracture risk was estimated from patient characteristics using the QFracture® (QFracture-2012 open source revision 38, Clinrisk Ltd, Leeds, UK) and FRAX® (web version 3.9, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK) tools. The relationship between fracture risk and incremental net monetary benefit was estimated using non-parametric regression. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis and scenario analyses were used to assess uncertainty. Results Fifty-two randomised controlled trials of non-bisphosphonates were included in the clinical effectiveness systematic review and an additional 51 randomised controlled trials of bisphosphonates were included in the network meta-analysis. All treatments had beneficial effects compared with placebo for vertebral, non-vertebral and hip fractures, with hazard ratios varying from 0.23 to 0.94, depending on treatment and fracture type. The effects on vertebral fractures and the percentage change in bone mineral density were statistically significant for all treatments. The rate of serious adverse events varied across trials (0–33%), with most between-group differences not being statistically significant for comparisons with placebo/no active treatment, non-bisphosphonates or bisphosphonates. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were > £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year for all non-bisphosphonate interventions compared with no treatment across the range of QFracture and FRAX scores expected in the population eligible for fracture risk assessment. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for denosumab may fall below £30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year at very high levels of risk or for high-risk patients with specific characteristics. Raloxifene was dominated by no treatment (resulted in fewer quality-adjusted life-years) in most risk categories. Limitations The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are uncertain for very high-risk patients. Conclusions Non-bisphosphonates are effective in preventing fragility fractures, but the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are generally greater than the commonly applied threshold of £20,000–30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42018107651. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 29. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

International audience L’ouverture sur le vaste monde ne vient pas immédiatement à l’esprit lorsqu’on pense à la Pologne. Est‑ce parce qu’en France on associe volontiers l’intérêt pour les Ailleurs lointains à l’expérience coloniale ? Les continents non européens seraient ainsi partie intégrante de l’Histoire et des imaginaires britanniques, français, belges ou portugais, mais resteraient étrangers aux pays d’Europe centrale. Pourtant la littérature du voyage lointain peut se prévaloir, en Pologne, d’une tradition riche et ancienne et d’un succès jamais démenti auprès des lecteurs. Les articles réunis dans ce volume portent sur des auteurs illustres et consacrés (Bronisław Malinowski), mais aussi sur nombre d’auteurs ultra‑contemporains, récemment – ou pas encore – traduits (Andrzej Stasiuk, Joanna Bator). Ces travaux abordent les textes – récits, journaux, reportages, essais – dans leurs spécificités historiques et idéologiques : regard porté sur l’étranger par un pays qui n’a pas eu d’empire colonial lointain, qui a lui même longtemps subi le joug de puissances étrangères et qui a connu quarante‑cinq ans de totalitarisme. Les transferts culturels et les différentes formes de médiation sont au cœur des interrogations, puisque les écrivains voyageurs sont des médiateurs par excellence.

Nous agissons en Belgique où certains médias cultivent la schizophrénie. Comment recevoir, sans vaciller, lors du journal télévisé d’une chaîne publique, les images de migrants qui attendent au parc Maximilien que l’État daigne les recevoir et, quelques minutes plus tard, celles de demeures idylliques présentées par des animateurs ‘bobo’ comme le standard à viser pour le commun des Belges ?

Im November 2018 wurde die von JoAnn E. Manson et al. durchgeführte VITAL-Studie in dem angesehenen New England Journal of Medicine veröffentlicht 1 2. Die Studie wollte die Wirksamkeit einer Supplementation mit Vitamin D und ω-3-Fettsäuren zur Risikoreduktion bei kardiovaskulären Erkrankungen sowie Krebserkrankungen untersuchen. Eine Wirksamkeit war vorher schon in verschiedenen anderen Studien belegt worden. Die Schlussfolgerung der Autoren der VITAL-Studie war:

Since the founding of the Society for Music Theory in 1977, the Anglophone music theory discipline has extensively diversified, now encompassing manifold subfields. A pertinent question arises: how does the music theory discipline balance this diversity with a sense of unity and cohesiveness? An investigation into journal articles—one of the main ways music theory presents itself to the world—can serve as a useful entry point for this question. We develop and analyze a corpus of article abstracts published between 1979 and 2014 from four general-scope flagship periodicals:Journal of Music Theory,Music Theory Spectrum,Music Analysis, andMusic Theory Online.For each of 1063 abstracts analyzed, theoretical topics and repertoire (including composer) are tabulated. Observations are organized according to which topics and repertoires are addressed most frequently, as well as whether correlations between leading topics and repertoires might exist. Extending beyond our initial question regarding diversity and cohesiveness, the corpus data is then used to assess how music theory research relates to trends in concert programming, as well as the repertoire used in textbooks designed for undergraduate theory curricula. Based on the data generated in this study, we find that a balance of diversity and cohesiveness appears to exist in the form of a broad range of research topics engaging with a comparatively small canon of music by only a few composers. This relationship is, however, paradoxical; the small canon belies the diversity of repertoire that currently permeates the discipline.

Imposer des «services à la communauté» en contrepartie de l'octroi d'indemnités de chômage est une idée évoquée par certains partis autour de la table de négociation du gouvernement fédéral. Le journal Le Soir, notamment, y consacrait une double page dans son édition imprimée du 21 août dernier. Que penser de cette idée ? Au terme d'une analyse de ses conséquences, il est recommandé de l'abandonner. Ce type de dispositif est connu internationalement sous le nom de workfare. Il se conçoit comme un travail obligatoire à temps partiel non souhaité par les chômeurs, qui permet avant tout à l'assurance-chômage de détecter les chômeurs volontaires. Le refus de participer au workfare serait en effet interprété comme un manque de disponibilité à l'égard du marché du travail et sanctionné. Il est possible que la situation des chômeurs involontaires, soit ceux qui cherchent de l'emploi et sont disponibles pour travailler, s'améliore. Pour cela, il faut que les économies dégagées en excluant de l'indemnisation les chômeurs volontaires soient utilisées pour relever le niveau des indemnités de chômage. Toutefois, les services publics de l'emploi ont déjà d'autres instruments pour constater le chômage volontaire. Les chômeurs belges sont soumis à des exigences croissantes en termes d'effort de recherche d'emploi et d'acceptation d'un emploi jugé «convenable». Le contrôle de cet effort et l'envoi individualisé d'offres d'emploi s'inscrivent dans la logique d'une assurance-chômage. L'introduction du workfare présente en revanche une rupture puisqu'il ne s'agit pas d'offrir un emploi convenable mais une occupation dans des «services à la communauté». S'il s'adresse à des personnes qui ont perdu les habitudes d'une vie professionnelle, le workfare pourrait aider à les retrouver et donc à se réinsérer à terme sur le marché du travail. Les services publics de l'emploi ont à nouveau déjà d'autres outils pour cela, comme les formations professionnelles par exemple. Si les «services à la communauté» améliorent les conditions d'existence du reste de la société, cette contribution peut avoir une valeur supérieure à l'usage du temps correspondant par les chômeurs en l'absence de workfare. Cependant, plus le workfare comportera une contribution à la production de biens et de services, plus grand est le risque qu'il se substitue à de l'emploi standard. Un programme de workfare nécessite en outre tout une organisation, un encadrement et un contrôle des personnes en workfare. Tout ceci absorbe des ressources. On pourrait avancer que certaines personnes sans emploi se sentiraient valorisées si elles pouvaient offrir une contrepartie à leur indemnité. Si tel est le cas, la réponse est de rendre cela davantage possible que ce ne l'est pour le moment, pas, nous semble-t-il, de l'imposer. Enfin, s'il est vrai que la société belge a maintenu dans l'assurance-chômage des personnes qui n'ont plus toutes les caractéristiques du chômeur telles que définies par le Bureau International du Travail, la responsabilité collective de cette réalité est généralement énorme comparée à la responsabilité individuelle. La réponse à ce problème extrêmement délicat ne se trouve pas dans l'imposition d'une «occupation», fût-elle un «service à la communauté».

Imposer des «services à la communauté» en contrepartie de l'octroi d'indemnités de chômage est une idée évoquée par certains partis autour de la table de négociation du gouvernement fédéral. Le journal Le Soir, notamment, y consacrait une double page dans son édition imprimée du 21 août dernier. Que penser de cette idée ? Au terme d'une analyse de ses conséquences, il est recommandé de l'abandonner. Ce type de dispositif est connu internationalement sous le nom de workfare. Il se conçoit comme un travail obligatoire à temps partiel non souhaité par les chômeurs, qui permet avant tout à l'assurance-chômage de détecter les chômeurs volontaires. Le refus de participer au workfare serait en effet interprété comme un manque de disponibilité à l'égard du marché du travail et sanctionné. Il est possible que la situation des chômeurs involontaires, soit ceux qui cherchent de l'emploi et sont disponibles pour travailler, s'améliore. Pour cela, il faut que les économies dégagées en excluant de l'indemnisation les chômeurs volontaires soient utilisées pour relever le niveau des indemnités de chômage. Toutefois, les services publics de l'emploi ont déjà d'autres instruments pour constater le chômage volontaire. Les chômeurs belges sont soumis à des exigences croissantes en termes d'effort de recherche d'emploi et d'acceptation d'un emploi jugé «convenable». Le contrôle de cet effort et l'envoi individualisé d'offres d'emploi s'inscrivent dans la logique d'une assurance-chômage. L'introduction du workfare présente en revanche une rupture puisqu'il ne s'agit pas d'offrir un emploi convenable mais une occupation dans des «services à la communauté». S'il s'adresse à des personnes qui ont perdu les habitudes d'une vie professionnelle, le workfare pourrait aider à les retrouver et donc à se réinsérer à terme sur le marché du travail. Les services publics de l'emploi ont à nouveau déjà d'autres outils pour cela, comme les formations professionnelles par exemple. Si les «services à la communauté» améliorent les conditions d'existence du reste de la société, cette contribution peut avoir une valeur supérieure à l'usage du temps correspondant par les chômeurs en l'absence de workfare. Cependant, plus le workfare comportera une contribution à la production de biens et de services, plus grand est le risque qu'il se substitue à de l'emploi standard. Un programme de workfare nécessite en outre tout une organisation, un encadrement et un contrôle des personnes en workfare. Tout ceci absorbe des ressources. On pourrait avancer que certaines personnes sans emploi se sentiraient valorisées si elles pouvaient offrir une contrepartie à leur indemnité. Si tel est le cas, la réponse est de rendre cela davantage possible que ce ne l'est pour le moment, pas, nous semble-t-il, de l'imposer. Enfin, s'il est vrai que la société belge a maintenu dans l'assurance-chômage des personnes qui n'ont plus toutes les caractéristiques du chômeur telles que définies par le Bureau International du Travail, la responsabilité collective de cette réalité est généralement énorme comparée à la responsabilité individuelle. La réponse à ce problème extrêmement délicat ne se trouve pas dans l'imposition d'une «occupation», fût-elle un «service à la communauté».

07–165Crinion, J., R. Turner, A. Grogan, T. Hanakawa, U. Noppeney, J. T. Devlin, T. Aso, S. Urayama, H. Fukuyama, K. Stockton, K. Usui, D. W. Green & C. J. Price (U College, London, UK; c.price@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk), Language control in the bilingual brain. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 312.5779 (2006), 1537–1540.07–166Desai, Rutvik (U Trier, Germany), Lisa L. Conant, Eric Waldron & Jeffrey R. Binder, fMRI of past tense processing: The effects of phonological complexity and task difficulty. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (MIT Press) 18.2 (2006), 278–297.07–167Kerkhofs, Roel (Radboud U, the Netherlands; roel.kerkhofs@mpi.nl), Ton Dijkstra, Dorothee J. Chwilla & Ellen R.A. de Bruijn, Testing a model for bilingual semantic priming with interlingual homographs: RT and N400 effects. Brain Research (Elsevier) 1068. 1 (2006), 170–183.07–168Kyung Hwan, Kim & Kim Ja Hyun (U Yonsei, South Korea), Comparison of spatiotemporal cortical activation pattern during visual perception of Korean, English, Chinese words: An event-related potential study. Neuroscience Letters (Elsevier) 394.3 (2006), 227–232.07–169Paradis, Michel (McGill U, Canada; michel.paradis@mcgill.ca), More belles infidels – or why do so many bilingual studies speak with forked tongue?Journal of Neurolinguistics (Elsevier) 19. 3 (2006), 195–208.07–170Poldrack, Russell, A. (U California, Los Angeles, USA; poldrack@ucla.edu), Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data? Trends in Cognitive Science (Elsevier) 10.2 (2006), 59–63.07–171Ylinen, Sari (U Helsinki, Finland; sari.ylinen@helsinbki.fin), Anna Shestakova, Minna Huotilainen, Paavo Alku & Risto Näätänen, Mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by changes in phoneme length: A cross-linguistic study. Brain Research (Elsevier) 1072.1 (2006), 175–185.07–172Yokoyama Satoru (U Tohoku, Japan),Hideyuki Okamoto, Tadao Miyamoto, Kei Yoshimoto, Jungho Kim, Kazuki Iwata, Hyeonjeong Jeong, Shinya Uchida, Naho Ikuta, Yuko Sassa, Wataru Nakamura, Kaoru Horie, Shigeru Sato & Ryuta Kawashima, Cortical activation in the processing of passive sentences in L1 and L2: An fMRI study. NeuroImage (Elsevier) 30. 2 (2006), 570–579.

Forskningen, som gjerne må identifisere seg med et prosjekt som «klarspråk», lever av gode spørsmål og må forholde seg kritisk til sitt emne. Artiklene i Klarspråk-nummeret av det nordiske vitenskapelige tidsskriftet Sakprosa (Vol. 7, nr. 2 (2015)) som meget kort presenteres her, har det til felles at de nettopp er kritiske: Klarspråksrådene savner språkog tekstvitenskapelig belegg, demokratibegrunnelsen for klarspråk forvitrer, offentlige verdidokumenter forvirrer, juridiske EU-oversettelser mangler mottakerbevissthet, og et prisvinnende standardbrev kan være vanskeligere å forstå enn brevet det skulle erstatte. SummaryIt is laudable when scientific researchers identify themselves with projects such as the plain language campaign. Good, and even enthusiastic, questions are what good science and research live by, but still the researchers’ basic attitude should be critical towards their subject. The articles in the Plain Language issue of the online journal Sakprosa (English summaries are available) share such a critical attitude, as they conclude that plain language guides lack linguistic and textological evidence; the democratic basis for plain language campaigns is disintegrating; public mission statements confuse; EU legal translators do not consider the readers of their texts; and an acclaimed standard letter from an official body may turn out to be more difficult to understand than its predecessor.

Les Nations Unies ont proclamé l’année 2005 "Année Internationale du Microcrédit". A cette occasion, la Plate-forme belge de la microfinance et la Coopération belge au développement (DGCD) organisent les 3 et 4 mars un séminaire de réflexion sur la microfinance. Dans le dernier numéro de Regards économiques, Valérie de Briey, qui est responsable de recherches au Cerisis, membre de la plate-forme belge de microfinance et du GRAP-OSC (CUD-DGCD), dresse un large panorama du rôle et des missions de la microfinance dans les pays en développement. Elle présente également les questions importantes qui seront débattues lors du séminaire des 3 et 4 mars. Ce communiqué résume les principaux points de son étude. De tous temps, de nombreuses activités de taille très réduite (qualifiées habituellement de micro-entreprises) se sont développées dans les pays du Sud, bien souvent partiellement ou totalement en marge des règles législatives et administratives, pour permettre aux populations pauvres de subsister. Celles-ci regroupent des activités aussi diverses que marchands ambulants, petits artisans, kiosques à journaux, taxis, vendeurs de rue, bazars, etc. Parmi les multiples contraintes auxquelles sont confrontées les micro-entreprises, la difficulté d’accès à des sources de financement extérieures représente encore aujourd’hui une entrave principale à leur bon développement. Elles ont en effet besoin d'un capital suffisant pour financer leurs équipements, leurs achats de fournitures, de matières premières, etc. Or, ce capital leur a longtemps fait défaut car les petites sommes demandées par ces micro-entrepreneurs, l’absence de garantir à offrir et bien souvent la nature risquée du projet rebutaient les banques commerciales traditionnelles. C’est pourquoi différents intermédiaires financiers spécialisés dans l’attention à ce type de clientèle ont vu le jour. Ces intermédiaires sont souvent qualifiés d’ «institutions de microfinance» (IMF). Leur rôle consiste à offrir des services financiers de base (épargne, crédit, assurance, transfert de fonds, etc.), aux montants réduits, à des populations pauvres afin de leur donner la possibilité d’investir et de se prémunir en cas de coups durs (conditions climatiques défavorables à la production, dépenses imprévues liées à une maladie ou à la perte de biens, etc.). Par ailleurs, la microfinance favorise également des retombées positives sur la famille en général : amélioration des conditions de vie, valorisation de l’auto-estime, financement de la scolarisation, des soins de santé, etc.). Il a cependant fallu attendre les années quatre-vingt pour que ce secteur soit véritablement reconnu comme générateur de revenus et créateur d’emplois. Depuis lors, il fait l’objet d’une attention toute particulière de la part tant des praticiens du développement, des politiciens que des chercheurs universitaires. Aujourd’hui, la micro-finance fait partie intégrante des politiques de développement des pays pauvres. En 1998 déjà, l’Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies avait proclamé l’année 2005 l’Année Internationale du micro-crédit pour marquer l’importance de cet instrument pour éradiquer la pauvreté. Son objectif à l’époque était de réduire de moitié les populations pauvres qui vivent sous le seuil de pauvreté d’ici 2015 (Objectifs de Développement pour le Millénaire). Depuis les expériences pionnières jusqu’à sa forte médiatisation de nos jours, le champ de la microfinance a fortement évolué. Il existe une pluralité d’institutions de microfinance faisant appel à des statuts juridiques différents (fondations, coopératives d’épargne et de crédit, institutions publiques, sociétés anonymes, etc.) dont les modes de fonctionnement et les objectifs diffèrent fortement. Les IMF sont aujourd’hui largement tributaires d’un discours néo-libéral prônant l’absolutisation du marché et l’adoption d’une démarche commerciale. Pour des institutions telles que Banque Mondiale ou les Nations Unies, il faut en effet parvenir à la construction de «marchés financiers intégrants» afin de mettre en place des systèmes de microfinance pérennes et qui touchent un grand nombre de populations pauvres. Elles préconisent dès lors l’institutionnalisation des programmes de microfinance, autrement dit, la mise en place d’institutions de microfinance rentables, répondant aux lois des marchés financiers concurrentiels et faisant appel à un mode de gouvernance efficace. Pour ces organismes en effet, les institutions à vocation sociale (de type ONG) sont la plupart du temps fragiles, tributaires des subsides en provenance des bailleurs de fonds et disposent d’une capacité limitée à faire face à la demande massive de microcrédits. D’autres personnes au contraire, principalement des acteurs de terrain soucieux de rester au service des plus démunis, s’interrogent sur les dérives potentielles de l’adoption d’une telle démarche et craignent que la poursuite de but de lucre conduise à l’écartement d’une clientèle plus défavorisée afin de satisfaire les critères de rentabilité propres aux marchés financiers. Elles réclament notamment le maintien de subsides. Cette opposition entre ces deux visions de la microfinance constitue ce que Morduch (1998) a qualifié de "microfinance schism". Ce schisme est également marqué par les méthodes d’évaluation auxquelles recourent les partisans de chacune des deux approches (études d’impact, instruments de rating, etc.). Plus qu’antagonistes, ces deux visions de la microfinance sont, selon Valérie de Briey, complémentaires. La pertinence de l’une ou l’autre doit s’évaluer au regard des acteurs en présence, de la cible poursuivie, de la densité de population, de la technologie disponible, du contexte économique, institutionnel, etc. La pérennité d’une IMF ne pourra en effet être atteinte que dans la mesure où l’institution peut opérer à grande échelle et avoir un volume d’activité tel que le point d’équilibre puisse être atteint. Il est donc par exemple nécessaire que la densité de la population soit suffisamment importante pour toucher un grand nombre d’emprunteurs. Par ailleurs, l’IMF doit également disposer d’une technologie appropriée pour évaluer rapidement les demandes de crédit et maintenir à jour l’information commerciale et financière. Sans ces conditions, la productivité des membres internes à l’IMF ne pourra pas être suffisante et la croissance du portefeuille assurée. Par ailleurs, dans le choix de l’approche dans laquelle doit s’inscrire l’IMF, il importe également selon Valérie de Briey de se pencher sur le degré de précarité de la cible visée. Certaines institutions, soucieuses de veiller à la rentabilité de leurs opérations de prêts, excluent en effet de leurs clients, certains secteurs d’activité jugés comme trop risqués (citons en autres les conducteurs de taxi) et mettent des conditions d’accès telles que de nombreux micro-entrepreneurs se trouvent hors des conditions d’accès (comme par exemple l’ancienneté minimale exigée ou le degré de formalisation de la micro-entreprise). Il y a donc place dans certaines zones géographiques pour la coexistence d’IMF différenciées (par exemple des sociétés anonymes adoptant une logique de rentabilité et des ONG adoptant une logique de développement de populations pauvres). Il est donc nécessaire, conclut l’auteur, que les limites du discours dominant orienté sur une approche de marchés soient reconnues et que les bailleurs de fonds adoptent une attitude différenciée selon les intermédiaires financiers considérés, et le contexte économique, social et institutionnel du pays dans lequel ces intermédiaires opèrent. Il faudrait en outre que les bailleurs de fonds adoptent des critères d’évaluation des IMF en cohérence avec la mission poursuivie par l’institution d’appui et ses valeurs fondatrices. Plus qu’antagonistes, les différentes méthodes d’évaluation proposées dans le champ de la microfinance sont, de l’avis de Valérie de Briey, elles aussi complémentaires. Leur utilité dépend tout à la fois de la mission de l’IMF (à vocation sociale ou financière), de la ou des personnes qui évaluent (bailleurs de fonds, membres internes, etc.), de la perspective adoptée (du point de vue des clients, des bailleurs de fonds, de l’institution, etc.) et des moyens dont disposent les évaluateurs. L’important est que les personnes en présence s’accordent sur l’objet de l’évaluation. L’auteur anticipe ainsi sur certaines questions qui seront débattues lors d’un séminaire de réflexion organisé par la plate-forme belge de Microfinance et la DGCD les 3 et 4 mars au Palais d’Egmont à Bruxelles à l’occasion de l’année 2005 proclamée «Année Internationale du Microcrédit» par les Nations Unies.

Les Nations Unies ont proclamé l’année 2005 "Année Internationale du Microcrédit". A cette occasion, la Plate-forme belge de la microfinance et la Coopération belge au développement (DGCD) organisent les 3 et 4 mars un séminaire de réflexion sur la microfinance. Dans le dernier numéro de Regards économiques, Valérie de Briey, qui est responsable de recherches au Cerisis, membre de la plate-forme belge de microfinance et du GRAP-OSC (CUD-DGCD), dresse un large panorama du rôle et des missions de la microfinance dans les pays en développement. Elle présente également les questions importantes qui seront débattues lors du séminaire des 3 et 4 mars. Ce communiqué résume les principaux points de son étude. De tous temps, de nombreuses activités de taille très réduite (qualifiées habituellement de micro-entreprises) se sont développées dans les pays du Sud, bien souvent partiellement ou totalement en marge des règles législatives et administratives, pour permettre aux populations pauvres de subsister. Celles-ci regroupent des activités aussi diverses que marchands ambulants, petits artisans, kiosques à journaux, taxis, vendeurs de rue, bazars, etc. Parmi les multiples contraintes auxquelles sont confrontées les micro-entreprises, la difficulté d’accès à des sources de financement extérieures représente encore aujourd’hui une entrave principale à leur bon développement. Elles ont en effet besoin d'un capital suffisant pour financer leurs équipements, leurs achats de fournitures, de matières premières, etc. Or, ce capital leur a longtemps fait défaut car les petites sommes demandées par ces micro-entrepreneurs, l’absence de garantir à offrir et bien souvent la nature risquée du projet rebutaient les banques commerciales traditionnelles. C’est pourquoi différents intermédiaires financiers spécialisés dans l’attention à ce type de clientèle ont vu le jour. Ces intermédiaires sont souvent qualifiés d’ «institutions de microfinance» (IMF). Leur rôle consiste à offrir des services financiers de base (épargne, crédit, assurance, transfert de fonds, etc.), aux montants réduits, à des populations pauvres afin de leur donner la possibilité d’investir et de se prémunir en cas de coups durs (conditions climatiques défavorables à la production, dépenses imprévues liées à une maladie ou à la perte de biens, etc.). Par ailleurs, la microfinance favorise également des retombées positives sur la famille en général : amélioration des conditions de vie, valorisation de l’auto-estime, financement de la scolarisation, des soins de santé, etc.). Il a cependant fallu attendre les années quatre-vingt pour que ce secteur soit véritablement reconnu comme générateur de revenus et créateur d’emplois. Depuis lors, il fait l’objet d’une attention toute particulière de la part tant des praticiens du développement, des politiciens que des chercheurs universitaires. Aujourd’hui, la micro-finance fait partie intégrante des politiques de développement des pays pauvres. En 1998 déjà, l’Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies avait proclamé l’année 2005 l’Année Internationale du micro-crédit pour marquer l’importance de cet instrument pour éradiquer la pauvreté. Son objectif à l’époque était de réduire de moitié les populations pauvres qui vivent sous le seuil de pauvreté d’ici 2015 (Objectifs de Développement pour le Millénaire). Depuis les expériences pionnières jusqu’à sa forte médiatisation de nos jours, le champ de la microfinance a fortement évolué. Il existe une pluralité d’institutions de microfinance faisant appel à des statuts juridiques différents (fondations, coopératives d’épargne et de crédit, institutions publiques, sociétés anonymes, etc.) dont les modes de fonctionnement et les objectifs diffèrent fortement. Les IMF sont aujourd’hui largement tributaires d’un discours néo-libéral prônant l’absolutisation du marché et l’adoption d’une démarche commerciale. Pour des institutions telles que Banque Mondiale ou les Nations Unies, il faut en effet parvenir à la construction de «marchés financiers intégrants» afin de mettre en place des systèmes de microfinance pérennes et qui touchent un grand nombre de populations pauvres. Elles préconisent dès lors l’institutionnalisation des programmes de microfinance, autrement dit, la mise en place d’institutions de microfinance rentables, répondant aux lois des marchés financiers concurrentiels et faisant appel à un mode de gouvernance efficace. Pour ces organismes en effet, les institutions à vocation sociale (de type ONG) sont la plupart du temps fragiles, tributaires des subsides en provenance des bailleurs de fonds et disposent d’une capacité limitée à faire face à la demande massive de microcrédits. D’autres personnes au contraire, principalement des acteurs de terrain soucieux de rester au service des plus démunis, s’interrogent sur les dérives potentielles de l’adoption d’une telle démarche et craignent que la poursuite de but de lucre conduise à l’écartement d’une clientèle plus défavorisée afin de satisfaire les critères de rentabilité propres aux marchés financiers. Elles réclament notamment le maintien de subsides. Cette opposition entre ces deux visions de la microfinance constitue ce que Morduch (1998) a qualifié de "microfinance schism". Ce schisme est également marqué par les méthodes d’évaluation auxquelles recourent les partisans de chacune des deux approches (études d’impact, instruments de rating, etc.). Plus qu’antagonistes, ces deux visions de la microfinance sont, selon Valérie de Briey, complémentaires. La pertinence de l’une ou l’autre doit s’évaluer au regard des acteurs en présence, de la cible poursuivie, de la densité de population, de la technologie disponible, du contexte économique, institutionnel, etc. La pérennité d’une IMF ne pourra en effet être atteinte que dans la mesure où l’institution peut opérer à grande échelle et avoir un volume d’activité tel que le point d’équilibre puisse être atteint. Il est donc par exemple nécessaire que la densité de la population soit suffisamment importante pour toucher un grand nombre d’emprunteurs. Par ailleurs, l’IMF doit également disposer d’une technologie appropriée pour évaluer rapidement les demandes de crédit et maintenir à jour l’information commerciale et financière. Sans ces conditions, la productivité des membres internes à l’IMF ne pourra pas être suffisante et la croissance du portefeuille assurée. Par ailleurs, dans le choix de l’approche dans laquelle doit s’inscrire l’IMF, il importe également selon Valérie de Briey de se pencher sur le degré de précarité de la cible visée. Certaines institutions, soucieuses de veiller à la rentabilité de leurs opérations de prêts, excluent en effet de leurs clients, certains secteurs d’activité jugés comme trop risqués (citons en autres les conducteurs de taxi) et mettent des conditions d’accès telles que de nombreux micro-entrepreneurs se trouvent hors des conditions d’accès (comme par exemple l’ancienneté minimale exigée ou le degré de formalisation de la micro-entreprise). Il y a donc place dans certaines zones géographiques pour la coexistence d’IMF différenciées (par exemple des sociétés anonymes adoptant une logique de rentabilité et des ONG adoptant une logique de développement de populations pauvres). Il est donc nécessaire, conclut l’auteur, que les limites du discours dominant orienté sur une approche de marchés soient reconnues et que les bailleurs de fonds adoptent une attitude différenciée selon les intermédiaires financiers considérés, et le contexte économique, social et institutionnel du pays dans lequel ces intermédiaires opèrent. Il faudrait en outre que les bailleurs de fonds adoptent des critères d’évaluation des IMF en cohérence avec la mission poursuivie par l’institution d’appui et ses valeurs fondatrices. Plus qu’antagonistes, les différentes méthodes d’évaluation proposées dans le champ de la microfinance sont, de l’avis de Valérie de Briey, elles aussi complémentaires. Leur utilité dépend tout à la fois de la mission de l’IMF (à vocation sociale ou financière), de la ou des personnes qui évaluent (bailleurs de fonds, membres internes, etc.), de la perspective adoptée (du point de vue des clients, des bailleurs de fonds, de l’institution, etc.) et des moyens dont disposent les évaluateurs. L’important est que les personnes en présence s’accordent sur l’objet de l’évaluation. L’auteur anticipe ainsi sur certaines questions qui seront débattues lors d’un séminaire de réflexion organisé par la plate-forme belge de Microfinance et la DGCD les 3 et 4 mars au Palais d’Egmont à Bruxelles à l’occasion de l’année 2005 proclamée «Année Internationale du Microcrédit» par les Nations Unies.

In a recent article in this journal Nadav Na’aman dismissed the proposal that a large number of Israelites migrated to Judah after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 720 BCE. Na’aman based his rebuttal on three points: the lack of evidence of a proliferation of Israelite theophoric names in Judah; the demography of the Shephelah between 720 BCE and the Sennacherib campaign in 701 BCE; and observations regarding the growth of Jerusalem in the same time-slot. In this paper I challenge all three observations on both factual and methodological grounds, and emphasize that the Israelites-in-Judah theory provides a compelling explanation for the incorporation of Israelite texts – including those which compete with Judahite traditions or are adverse to the Davidic Dynasty – into the Hebrew Bible. I then take the opportunity to update my views regarding the settlement expansion and demographic growth in Jerusalem in particular and Judah in general in the late 8In einem vor Kurzem in dieser Zeitschrift erschienenen Artikel lehnte Nadav Na’aman die These ab, dass nach dem Untergang des Nordreiches im Jahre 720 v. Chr. eine große Zahl an Israeliten nach Juda abgewandert sei. Na’aman begründete seine Zurückweisung mit drei Punkten: Dem Mangel an Belegen für eine Zunahme an theophoren Namen israelitischen Ursprungs in Juda; der Demographie der Schephela zwischen 720 v. Chr. und dem Feldzug Sanheribs im Jahre 701 v. Chr.; und schließlich einigen Beobachtungen hinsichtlich des Wachstums von Jerusalem im selben Zeitraum. Der Beitrag stellt alle drei Beobachtungen sowohl in sachlicher als auch in methodologischer Hinsicht in Frage und hebt hervor, dass die Israeliten-in-Juda-Theorie eine überzeugende Erklärung für die Aufnahme israelitischer Texte in die hebräische Bibel bietet – selbst für jene, die mit judäischen Traditionen in einem spannungsreichen Verhältnis stehen oder sich zur Dynastie der Davididen ablehnend verhalten. Darüber hinaus bietet er eine aktualisierte Darstellung der Ausweitung des Siedlungsraumes und des demographischen Wachstums während des späten achten und des frühen siebten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. in Jerusalem im Speziellen und in Juda im Allgemeinen.Dans un récent article de ce périodique, Nadav Na‘aman a rejeté l’idée selon laquelle un grand nombre d’Israélites auraient migré vers Juda après la chute du royaume du Nord en 722 av. J.-C. Na’aman a basé sa réfutation sur trois points : le manque de preuves d’une prolifération des noms théophores israélites en Juda ; la démographie de la Shéphela entre 720 av. J.-C. et la campagne de Sennachérib en 701 av. J.-C. ainsi que des observations sur l’agrandissement de Jérusalem à la même époque. Dans cet article, je conteste ces trois points, en me basant sur des arguments factuels et méthodologiques. J’insiste sur le fait que la théorie des »Israélites en Juda« fournit une explication convaincante pour comprendre l’incorporation des textes israélites dans la Bible hébraïque, y compris ceux qui concurrencent les traditions judéennes ou ceux qui s’opposent à la dynastie davidique. Par la même occasion je modifie mon point de vue sur l’expansion urbaine et l’essor démographique à la fin du 8

Liebe Leserin, lieber LeserNachdem der Verein für psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit (vpsz) 2001 von einigen aktiven Mitgliedern des PSZ gegründet wurde, entwickelte er in den letzten Jahren eine Reihe von Aktivitäten in unseren Seminarräumen an der Quellenstrasse. Nicht nur damit bringt der vpsz eine enge Verbundenheit mit dem PSZ zum Ausdruck, sondern auch mit seiner inhaltlichen Auseinandersetzung, geht es doch dabei wesentlich darum, gesellschaftliche und individuelle psychische Konflikthaftigkeit in einen Zusammenhang zu bringen, der Dynamik der Widersprüchlichkeit auf beiden Ebenen Rechnung zu tragen. Die psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit beschäftigt sich mit Menschen, die gar nicht anders können, als ihre inneren Konflikte im Sozialen zu organisieren.Wir von der Redaktionsgruppe des Journals für Psychoanalyse finden die Veranstaltungen des vpsz sehr spannend und würdig, mit diesem Heft in einen grösseren Rahmen gestellt zu werden. Die Optik auf die Dynamik der oft sehr verzweifelten Menschen, mit denen es die psychoanalytischen SozialarbeiterInnen zu tun haben, ist sehr aufschlussreich für all jene, die ihren PatientInnen im Rahmen eines «gesicherten» Settings einer Privatpraxis begegnen. In diversen Artikeln dieses Heftes wird gerade der Konstruktion eines für die psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit spezifischen Settings grosses Gewicht beigemessen; eine Auseinandersetzung, die für den Umgang mit sogenannt «sozialpsychiatrischen» PatientInnen voller fruchtbarer Anregungen ist.Die ersten beiden Artikel gehen auf die historische Dimension ein. Achim Perner wirft einen facettenreichen Blick zurück auf die Pionierjahre der Psychoanalyse und skizziert von da aus verschiedene Entwicklungslinien der psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit, um sich am Schluss ausführlicher mit der Ausprägung derselben in der BRD seit den späten 70er Jahren bis heute zu befassen.Esther Leuthard beschreibt als eines der Gründungsmitglieder die Entstehung und Entwicklung des vpsz aus einer persönlichen Perspektive. Im Zentrum ihrer Ausführungen steht die sozialpädagogische Familienbegleitung, die daraus entstandenen Projekte und die Vernetzung mit verwandten Institutionen, die sich darüber ergeben hat. Dabei wird deutlich, welche Bedeutung die Entwicklung der psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit in Deutschland für den vpsz hat.Nach dieser historischen Einbettung folgen drei Artikel von Mitgliedern des «Vereins für psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit Tübingen», welcher die psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit in Deutschland wesentlich prägt. Sie geben Einblick in die Entwicklung ihrer theoretischen Konzepte und in die Umsetzung derselben in die Praxis.Martin Feuling führt in seinem Beitrag «Angst – Wissen und NichtWissen. Settingkonstruktionen in der psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit» aus, wie er ausgehend von Lacanianischen Konzepten und Begriffen, die Dimension des Mangels bei autistisch und psychotisch strukturierten Jugendlichen begreift und über eine hochspezifische Settingkonstruktion dieser Dynamik gerecht zu werden versucht. Bei dieser Settingkonstruktion stellt er das Wartezimmer mit seiner Struktur und Funktion als einen paradigmatischen Ort dar. In seinen zwei sehr anschaulichen Fallbeispielen stellt er die Ängste, die in der analytischen Beziehung mobilisiert werden, ins Zentrum seiner Aufmerksamkeit.Achim Perner, der Verfasser des historischen Artikels zur psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit in diesem Heft, zeigt in einem mit Fallvignetten gespickten Artikel die wesentlichen Unterschiede zwischen psychoanalytischer Sozialarbeit und Psychoanalyse auf. Ausgehend von Überlegungen zur Indikation für Psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit («Sie ist immer dann indiziert, wenn alles andere nicht mehr hilft»), schält er die Unterschiede in der Handhabung der Übertragung, der Abstinenz und der Deutungsarbeit sowie in der Gestaltung des Settings als Konstruktionsprozess heraus.Mit seinem Beitrag «Jahre mit Werner» verdeutlicht Joachim Staigle am Beispiel der langjährigen Betreuung eines Jugendlichen mit psychotischen Ängsten – der durch eine autistische und konfusionelle Abwehrstrukturen imponiert – entlang desVerständnissesderVorgeschichte,derSchilderungdesErstgesprächesund der Auswertung der ersten Beziehungserfahrungen in analytischen Supervisionen eine typische Vorgehensund Denkweise innerhalb der psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit. Dabei zeigt er die zentrale Rolle der Supervision im Setting auf. Ebenso beschreibt er über ausgewählte Betreuungsaspekte den Umgang mit Übertragung und Gegenübertragung in der vorwiegend durch Handlung gekennzeichneten psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit.Nach diesen Tübinger Beiträgen werden verschiedene Aspekte der psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit, wie sie sich in Zürich entwickelt hat, ausgeleuchtet.Heini Bader, Gründungsmitglied des vpsz, stellt anhand von Fallvignetten aus einer langjährigen Geldverwaltung dar, wie im traditionellen Feld von Sozialarbeit Elemente psychoanalytischenVerstehensAnwendungfinden können.Dabeikommen die verschiedenen triangulierenden Aspekte der Geldverwaltung zur Sprache.In «Niemand hat mich gern» schildert Esther Leuthards zweiter Artikel in diesem Heft die Geschichte einer sozialpädagogischen Familienbegleitung. Die Falldarstellung handelt von der Geschichte verzweifelter Eltern sowie eines ebenso verzweifelten Mädchens, das nicht verstanden wird. Sie zeigt auf, wie sie selber in dieser Geschichte über ihre Begleitung im Alltag zum triangulierenden Objekt wird. Erst durch die Übersetzung der Handlungen in Sprache kann sukzessive erreicht werden, dass das Mädchen selber zur Sprache findet und ihre Gefühle nicht mehr destruktiv ausagieren muss.«Von Pflastern und Pflanzen» handelt der Beitrag von Antje Krueger aus Bremen. Sie berichtet von der Feldforschung im Rahmen ihrer Dissertation als Ethnopsychoanalytikerin am EthnologischPsychologischen Zentrum in Zürich1. Sie stellt die spezifische Konzeption psychoanalytischer Sozialarbeit im Umgang mit psychisch und sozial schwer belasteten Asylsuchende in einem komplexen interkulturellen Kontext vor. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf der alltäglichen Praxis des stationären Betreuungsangebotes des EPZ, die mit Hilfe von Interviewausschnitten und Feldforschungsnotizen empirisch belegt und illustriert wird. Als Ergänzung und Erweiterung zu den Tübinger und Zürcher Beiträgen folgen je ein Artikel aus Österreich und Frankreich.Elisabeth Rosenmayr aus Linz skizziert in «Damit Freiheit nisten kann», wie psychoanalytische Sozialarbeit im Verein EXITsozial realisiert wird. Der Verein gründet ausgehend von der AntiPsychiatrieBewegung der 60er Jahre in der demokratischen Psychiatrie. Dazu beschreibt sie das Selbstverständnis des Vereins und dessen Situation im gesellschaftlichen und politischen Kontext. Sie hinterfragt die Bedeutung der psychoanalytischen Sozialarbeit und berichtet von ihrer Umsetzung.Mit MarieHélène Malandrin wird der Reigen abgeschlossen. Sie stellt eine französische Spielart von psychoanalytischer Sozialarbeit dar. Der von Dagmar Ambass aus dem Französischen ins Deutsche übersetzten Text «Empfangen, zuhören, hören. Das kleine Kind in der Maison Verte» beschreibt einen spezifischen Begegnungsort für Eltern und Kinder. Die Gründung des «Maison Verte» unter der Federführung von Françoise Dolto fällt in die Zeit der 70er Jahre, als aufgrund von Migration die Einbindung in den erweiterten Familienverband zunehmend wegfiel und als viele Mütter mit ihren Kindern in den eigenen vier Wänden ziemlich isoliert waren. Die Autorin schildert anhand von drei Sequenzen von Kleinkindern, wie über den Umgang mit dem äusseren Raum, der durch das spezifische Beziehungsangebot im «Maison Verte» strukturiert wird, sich für die die Kinder begleitenden Eltern, resp. Mütter Einsicht in die innere Dynamik und die Beziehungsgestaltung entwickeln kann.Zum Schluss kommen im Interview drei verschiedene Perspektiven zum Themenschwerpunkt miteinander in Berührung. Martin Feuling steht für die lange und konsolidierte Tübinger Tradition, Heidi Schär Sall betont als Leiterin des ehemaligen EthnologischPsychologischen Zentrums die ethnologische Dimension und Ursula Leuthard steht nicht nur für die aktuelle Entwicklung des vpsz, sondern auch für ein uraltes, schon beinahe vergessenes Anliegen des PSZ, nämlich für die Laienanalyse.Im Forum informiert uns Dagmar Ambass über «Die Fadenspule», einen psychoanalytisch orientierten Begegnungsraum für Kleinkinder und ihre Eltern, der in Anlehnung an das von Malandrin in diesem Heft beschriebene «Maison Verte» neulich in Zürich eröffnete wurde.Die 2. Preisverleihung von «Missing Link» dokumentieren wir mit der Laudatio von Sønke Gau. Ihr folgen die Dankesworte des Preisträgers Gregor Schmoll. Nach diversen Buchbesprechungen und Tagungsberichten stellt Johannes Reichmayr das «Studio und Archiv Paul Parin» an der Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität Wien vor. Um den Ort gebührend zu würdigen, haben wir uns entschlossen, dazu auch einen optischen Eindruck zu vermitteln. Den Abschluss machen neben einer Tagungsankündigung zwei Nachrufe: einer auf Ilka von Zeppelin und einer auf Franziska Lang.Gregor BusslingerIn eigener Sache Emilio Modena, auf dessen Intitiative die Neulancierung des «Journals für Psychoanalyse» 2003 erst im «PsychosozialVerlag» und dann ab 2007 im «Seismo Verlag» möglich wurde, wird die Journalredaktion leider verlassen. Wir möchten ihm für seine unermüdliches Engagement, ohne welches das Heft in dieser Form wohl kaum entstanden wäre, ganz herzlich danken. Ein weiterer Dank gilt Gregor Busslinger, der die Redaktion ebenfalls verlassen wird und sich mit diesem Heft verabschiedet. Von der «Jungen Psychoanalyse» sind mit Julia Braun und Lutz Wittmann erfreulicherweise zwei engagierte neue Redaktionsmitglieder zu uns gestossen.Die JournalredaktionAnmerkung 1 Das EPZ existierte bis Mitte 2005. Zur Wegrationalisierung des EPZ vgl. Schär Sall und Burtscher (2006): Ethnopsychoanalyse im EthnologischPsychologischen Zentrum (EPZ) der AsylOrganisation Zürich. Ein ethnopsychologischer Selbstversuch im Journal für Psychoanalyse, 47: 67–85. Journal für Psychoanalyse 51

Nous publions le 100ème numéro de Regards économiques en ce 12/12/12, jour de fin du monde pour certains, jour marquant l'anniversaire d'une belle aventure entamée voici déjà 10 ans pour d'autres ! En effet, c'est en 2002, à l'initiative de l'IRES, que la revue des économistes de l'UCL a vu le jour avec pour objectif de publier 6 à 8 numéros par an. Avec une moyenne de 10 numéros chaque année, nous sommes bien au-delà de nos espérances ! De quelques centaines d'abonnés en 2002, on est passé en 2012 à plus de 6.000 abonnés qui sont informés de la sortie d'un nouveau numéro. Regards économiques, c'est aussi 111 auteurs différents qui ont tenté de montrer, dans un style qui se veut délibérément pédagogique et non technique, la diversité des regards que les économistes peuvent porter sur des questions socio-économiques importantes. Enfin, les numéros de Regards économiques ont suscité l'intérêt des journalistes puisqu'on compte près de 300 articles dans les principaux organes de presse belges. 10 ans de contenus riches... mais pourtant gratuits, voilà ce qui a inspiré Paul Belleflamme (UCL) et Xavier Wauthy (FUSL), les auteurs du numéro anniversaire de Regards économiques. Dans leur article intitulé «Economie des contenus numériques : bientôt la fin du gratuit ?», ils nous livrent leur réflexion sur les questions que soulève à long terme la gratuité dans le monde numérique. Face à des contenus surabondants parce que gratuits, ils préconisent toute initiative permettant aux utilisateurs «saturés» de contenus de trier et/ou de prioritiser l'information, quitte à rendre ces services payants. On vous rassure d'emblée : Regards économiques reste gratuit et renforce en sus son offre de services grâce à ce tout nouveau site web spécialement conçu pour faciliter l'accès aux articles de la revue. Et cerise sur le gâteau, le site web s'enrichit d'un nouveau type d'articles, le «focus», qui donne, avec un regard vif mais toujours aussi rigoureux, un point de vue concis sur des événements de l'actualité. A l'occasion de la sortie du nouveau site web de Regards économiques, nous publions, sur ce site, trois premiers focus. Economie des contenus numériques : bientôt la fin du gratuit ? Cela fait plusieurs années que la presse écrite traverse des temps difficiles. Ainsi, le groupe Rossel vient d'annoncer un plan d'économies à hauteur de 10 millions d'euros. Même si les licenciements secs devraient être évités, le personnel sera inévitablement réduit (on parle, notamment, d'une réduction de 34 équivalents temps plein au Soir). En cause, essentiellement, la réduction des revenus publicitaires due au ralentissement de l'activité économique. La presse écrite doit également faire face aux changements dans les habitudes de consommation de l'information qu'entraîne l'usage de l'internet mobile et des réseaux sociaux. Ainsi, une étude récente du Pew Research Center (think-tank américain) menée aux Etats-Unis montre que de 2010 à 2011, près de deux fois plus d'utilisateurs ont obtenu de l'information via un appareil mobile et près de trois fois plus via les réseaux sociaux; ces chiffres sont encore plus élevés pour la population jeune. C'est sans doute ce qui a motivé le magazine d'actualité hebdomadaire Newsweek à abandonner son édition papier (vieille de 80 ans) au profit d'un format entièrement numérique. Mais les défis à relever dans un monde digital où les contenus sont dématérialisés sont au moins aussi importants que dans un monde analogique où ils sont couchés sur papier. Et ceci est vrai pour la presse comme pour tout autre producteur de contenu. Aujourd'hui, n'importe quel contenu se résume en effet à une suite de 0 et de 1, que l'on peut transmettre de manière indistincte sur le réseau à destination de n'importe quel utilisateur doté d'un réceptacle quasi universel. La diffusion de l'information a donc changé radicalement de nature : elle n'est plus incarnée dans un support (un livre, un journal, etc.) mais transmise comme un flux à destination d'un support d'interprétation (une tablette numérique, par exemple). Une conséquence de cette évolution est que la consommation de contenus a peu à peu été perçue comme gratuite par nombres d'utilisateurs. L'objectif du centième numéro de Regards Economiques est de revisiter les questions que pose à long terme la gratuité dans le monde digital. La consommation gratuite des contenus numériques pourrait en effet receler en elle-même les ferments de sa disparition. Dans ce numéro, nous identifions et discutons trois problèmes majeurs : L'extinction de certains contenus. Faute de trouver les moyens de couvrir les coûts de production, certains contenus pourraient ne plus être produits et, en disparaissant, menacer la «media-diversité». La saturation de notre attention. Il faut de plus en plus de temps et d'énergie pour identifier, parmi des contenus surabondants parce que gratuits, ceux qui nous sont les plus pertinents et pour en disposer au moment opportun. Traiter individuellement le flot d'information pourrait représenter un coût à terme prohibitif. Des embouteillages informationnels. Confrontées à une explosion des flux numériques, les capacités de transmission pourraient être engorgées, ré-instaurant de facto une forme de rareté dans l'accessibilité des contenus, ou de certains d'entre eux. Le développement d'offres de contenus légales, et payantes soit pour l'utilisateur (Deezer) ou pour la plateforme qui diffuse (YouTube) offre des perspectives de solution pour le premier problème. La où la diffusion de l'information est devenue non coûteuse, des modèles d'affaires commencent à se développer autour de la monétisation d'une consommation triée, partagée, temporalisée en fonction des besoins de chaque utilisateur (par exemple, Apple a introduit une fonction «A lire plus tard» dans la dernière version de son navigateur Safari). Enfin, la gestion des embouteillages informationnels renvoie évidemment à la neutralité supposée du net et à sa pérennité.

Nous publions le 100ème numéro de Regards économiques en ce 12/12/12, jour de fin du monde pour certains, jour marquant l'anniversaire d'une belle aventure entamée voici déjà 10 ans pour d'autres ! En effet, c'est en 2002, à l'initiative de l'IRES, que la revue des économistes de l'UCL a vu le jour avec pour objectif de publier 6 à 8 numéros par an. Avec une moyenne de 10 numéros chaque année, nous sommes bien au-delà de nos espérances ! De quelques centaines d'abonnés en 2002, on est passé en 2012 à plus de 6.000 abonnés qui sont informés de la sortie d'un nouveau numéro. Regards économiques, c'est aussi 111 auteurs différents qui ont tenté de montrer, dans un style qui se veut délibérément pédagogique et non technique, la diversité des regards que les économistes peuvent porter sur des questions socio-économiques importantes. Enfin, les numéros de Regards économiques ont suscité l'intérêt des journalistes puisqu'on compte près de 300 articles dans les principaux organes de presse belges. 10 ans de contenus riches... mais pourtant gratuits, voilà ce qui a inspiré Paul Belleflamme (UCL) et Xavier Wauthy (FUSL), les auteurs du numéro anniversaire de Regards économiques. Dans leur article intitulé «Economie des contenus numériques : bientôt la fin du gratuit ?», ils nous livrent leur réflexion sur les questions que soulève à long terme la gratuité dans le monde numérique. Face à des contenus surabondants parce que gratuits, ils préconisent toute initiative permettant aux utilisateurs «saturés» de contenus de trier et/ou de prioritiser l'information, quitte à rendre ces services payants. On vous rassure d'emblée : Regards économiques reste gratuit et renforce en sus son offre de services grâce à ce tout nouveau site web spécialement conçu pour faciliter l'accès aux articles de la revue. Et cerise sur le gâteau, le site web s'enrichit d'un nouveau type d'articles, le «focus», qui donne, avec un regard vif mais toujours aussi rigoureux, un point de vue concis sur des événements de l'actualité. A l'occasion de la sortie du nouveau site web de Regards économiques, nous publions, sur ce site, trois premiers focus. Economie des contenus numériques : bientôt la fin du gratuit ? Cela fait plusieurs années que la presse écrite traverse des temps difficiles. Ainsi, le groupe Rossel vient d'annoncer un plan d'économies à hauteur de 10 millions d'euros. Même si les licenciements secs devraient être évités, le personnel sera inévitablement réduit (on parle, notamment, d'une réduction de 34 équivalents temps plein au Soir). En cause, essentiellement, la réduction des revenus publicitaires due au ralentissement de l'activité économique. La presse écrite doit également faire face aux changements dans les habitudes de consommation de l'information qu'entraîne l'usage de l'internet mobile et des réseaux sociaux. Ainsi, une étude récente du Pew Research Center (think-tank américain) menée aux Etats-Unis montre que de 2010 à 2011, près de deux fois plus d'utilisateurs ont obtenu de l'information via un appareil mobile et près de trois fois plus via les réseaux sociaux; ces chiffres sont encore plus élevés pour la population jeune. C'est sans doute ce qui a motivé le magazine d'actualité hebdomadaire Newsweek à abandonner son édition papier (vieille de 80 ans) au profit d'un format entièrement numérique. Mais les défis à relever dans un monde digital où les contenus sont dématérialisés sont au moins aussi importants que dans un monde analogique où ils sont couchés sur papier. Et ceci est vrai pour la presse comme pour tout autre producteur de contenu. Aujourd'hui, n'importe quel contenu se résume en effet à une suite de 0 et de 1, que l'on peut transmettre de manière indistincte sur le réseau à destination de n'importe quel utilisateur doté d'un réceptacle quasi universel. La diffusion de l'information a donc changé radicalement de nature : elle n'est plus incarnée dans un support (un livre, un journal, etc.) mais transmise comme un flux à destination d'un support d'interprétation (une tablette numérique, par exemple). Une conséquence de cette évolution est que la consommation de contenus a peu à peu été perçue comme gratuite par nombres d'utilisateurs. L'objectif du centième numéro de Regards Economiques est de revisiter les questions que pose à long terme la gratuité dans le monde digital. La consommation gratuite des contenus numériques pourrait en effet receler en elle-même les ferments de sa disparition. Dans ce numéro, nous identifions et discutons trois problèmes majeurs : L'extinction de certains contenus. Faute de trouver les moyens de couvrir les coûts de production, certains contenus pourraient ne plus être produits et, en disparaissant, menacer la «media-diversité». La saturation de notre attention. Il faut de plus en plus de temps et d'énergie pour identifier, parmi des contenus surabondants parce que gratuits, ceux qui nous sont les plus pertinents et pour en disposer au moment opportun. Traiter individuellement le flot d'information pourrait représenter un coût à terme prohibitif. Des embouteillages informationnels. Confrontées à une explosion des flux numériques, les capacités de transmission pourraient être engorgées, ré-instaurant de facto une forme de rareté dans l'accessibilité des contenus, ou de certains d'entre eux. Le développement d'offres de contenus légales, et payantes soit pour l'utilisateur (Deezer) ou pour la plateforme qui diffuse (YouTube) offre des perspectives de solution pour le premier problème. La où la diffusion de l'information est devenue non coûteuse, des modèles d'affaires commencent à se développer autour de la monétisation d'une consommation triée, partagée, temporalisée en fonction des besoins de chaque utilisateur (par exemple, Apple a introduit une fonction «A lire plus tard» dans la dernière version de son navigateur Safari). Enfin, la gestion des embouteillages informationnels renvoie évidemment à la neutralité supposée du net et à sa pérennité.

Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,Der Vortragszyklus des Wintersemesters 2007/2008 stand unter dem Titel Das ungeliebte Kind oder das gespaltene Verhältnis der Psychoanalyse zur Psychotherapie. Zum geschichtlichen Hintergrund eines Grundsatzentscheids, den das PSZ gegenwärtig treffen muss. Bereits im Vorfeld hatte die Redaktion beschlossen, dem Zyklus eine Nummer des Journals zu widmen, weil die Brisanz der Thematik nicht nur das Seminar beeinflusst, sondern auch unseren psychoanalytischen Alltag mitbestimmt, ja ihn oft sogar dominiert. Nach Durchsicht der Vorträge fiel auf, dass die Perspektive eine männliche war. Diese wollten wir ergänzen und haben Ita Grosz-Ganzoni um einen Text gebeten, der das Schwerpunktthema dieses Heftes nun abrundet.Die meisten Autoren gehen in ihren Gedanken über das Verhältnis der Psychoanalyse zur Psychotherapie von Freuds Metapher aus, dass das reine Gold der Analyse in der analytischen Psychotherapie mit dem Kupfer der Suggestion zu legieren sei. Was als Entwertung der Psychotherapie in Freuds Aussage von 1918 verstanden wurde, zeigt nachhaltige Folgen bis heute, wie Anton Fischer in seinem Artikel aufzeigt. Lassen wir vor unserem inneren Auge eine psychoanalytische Praxis entstehen, so fällt unser Blick auf die Couch. Die Couch symbolisiert die Analyse und trägt damit zur professionellen Identität als Psychoanalytikerin oder Psychoanalytiker bei. Gleichzeitig macht sie uns heute aber auch permanent auf einen Mangel aufmerksam: Die Couch steht zwar da, aber immer weniger Analysanden liegen drauf. Das lange Zeit beschämtVerschwiegene darf endlich, wennauchunter dem Druck des Gesundheitswesens und damit der realen Existenz, zum Thema werden. Zum einen trug diese Verheimlichung, insbesondere bei der jüngeren Generation, zur Verunsicherung bei, weil noch immer das Fantasma gilt, dass nur eine richtige Psychoanalytikerin ist, wer dem jeweiligen Institut entsprechend hochfrequente Analysen von drei oder vier Sitzungen durchführt. Dieses Fantasma zeigt sich an den Psychoanalytischen Instituten darin, dass an der hochfrequenten Analyse als Methode der Wahl festgehalten, aber auf die Anforderung einer hochfrequenten Selbsterfahrung oder Lehranalyse verzichtet wird, wenn es nur um die Ausbildung in psychoanalytischer Psychotherapie geht. So fordert das Freud-Institut in Zürich für eine Ausbildung in psychoanalytischer Psychotherapie eine lediglich zweistündige Selbsterfahrung. Nur wer AnalytikerIn SGPSA werden will, muss sich einer vierstündigen Lehranalyse unterziehen. Am PSZ provoziert die Frage, ob eine hochfrequente, also eine dreistündige Analyse von Ausbildungsteilnehmenden verlangt werden kann, hitzige Debatten. Einerseits führt die Existenzangst zur Reduktion der Anforderungen und zu einer speziellen Ausbildung in psychoanalytischer Psychotherapie, und andererseits zwingt die Angst vor dem vermeintlichen Verlust des Goldes, also des reinen analytischen Denkens, zu einem starren Festhalten an Ideologien. Aber haben wir dabei nicht schon längst aus dem Blick verloren, dass wir noch immer vorwiegend mit Gold arbeiten und nur geringe Mengen an Kupfer verwenden? Aus gruppenanalytischer Sicht ist die Bewegung der Psychotherapie seit Freuds Aussage 1918 gewachsen. Sie hat sich erweitert, ausgebreitet, verästelt und ist so zu einer Behandlungsmethode geworden, in der heute, ähnlich wie in der somatischen Medizin, die Therapiemethode gar dem Symptom angepasst wird. Freuds Vision einer Psychotherapie fürs Volk ist längst Realität geworden. Freud selbst betonte bereits 1932, in der Neuen Folge der Vorlesungen (34), dass die Psychoanalyse eine Therapie wie eine andere sei. Nur weil er wegen der finanziellen Belastung einer Analyse auch geglaubt hatte, dass die Armen noch mehr als die Reichen an ihrer Neurose festhalten würden, da sie schwerer auf den sekundären Krankheitsgewinn zu verzichten bereit wären, ging er davon aus, dass die Psychoanalyse modifiziert werden müsste. 1938 machte Freud den Unterschied zwischen Analyse und Therapie gar nicht mehr. In seinem Aufsatz Die endliche und die unendliche Analyse verschmelzen die beiden Begriffe. So betrachtet, beschäftigen wir uns nach wie vor mit dem reinen Gold der Psychoanalyse. Denn sind es nicht die Essentials, Übertragung und Gegenübertragung, das Verständnis eines Symptoms als psychische Höchstleistung zur Verdrängung eines innerpsychischen Konflikts und damit verbunden das Unbewusste, welche das Gold der Psychoanalyse darstellen? Damit arbeiten wir, ob wir das nun im niederfrequenten oder im hochfrequenten Setting tun, ob die Leidenden nun sitzen oder liegen. Dies anzuerkennen könnte bedeuten, endlich über die unterschiedlichen Anwendungen der Methode zu sprechen, nämlich über eine hochfrequente Analyse, eine niederfrequente Analyse oder über eine psychoanalytische Psychotherapie, wozu der zu Beginn erwähnte Zyklus als auch dieses Journal beitragen wollen.Die Vorträge spannen einen geschichtlichen Bogen, vom 5. Kongress der Internationalen Psychoanalytischen Vereinigung in Budapest 1918 bis heute. Um diesen geschichtlichen Bogen nachzuzeichnen, sind die Vorträge inhaltlich gegliedert, was nicht der genauen Vortragsfolge entspricht. Anton Fischer beleuchtet in seinem Artikel Für die breiten Volksschichten können wir derzeit nichts tun oder der Psychoanalytiker zwischen potenziellem Bedarf und realer Nachfrage die Geschichte der Psychotherapie in der psychoanalytischen Bewegung um Freud und ortet Spätfolgen bis heute. Martin Kuster legt den Fokus seiner Zeitreise auf die 50er und 60er Jahre und nimmt die drei Modelle von Eissler, Thomä und Cremerius zum Ausgangspunkt der Fragestellung, wie sich die Psychoanalyse zur Psychotherapie verhalten kann. Insbesondere Eisslers Theorie der Deutung als Idealtechnik und die basic model technique, die auch Arno von Blarer und Irene Brogle als Ausgangspunkt in ihrem Artikel Der Weg ist das Ziel im Journal Nr. 41 nehmen, zeigt eindrücklich die Enge dieser Zeit und die Entwicklung seitdem. Kuster kehrt wieder zu Freud zurück und stellt sich die Frage, wann Freud vom Psychotherapeuten zum Psychoanalytiker wurde und schliesst seinen Artikel mit einer Trouvaille, einem Brief von Freud an die Tochter von Emmy v.N. Pierre Passett betont die Widersinnigkeit einer Unterscheidung zwischen Psychoanalyse und psychoanalytischer Psychotherapie, da sich Übertragungen unabhängig von der Frequenz entwickeln, und illustriert seine Thesen mit zwei Falldarstellungen. Er bringt seine Überzeugung zum Ausdruck, dass auch die tendenzlose Psychoanalyse nicht frei von Suggestion sei, ja mehr noch, dass esohne Suggestion keineVeränderung gäbe. Rony Weissberg grenzt sich dann wiederum ab von der Suggestion und möchte diesen Begriff durch Glauben bzw. Leidenschaft und Begehren des Analytikers ersetzen. Wenn es dem Analytiker gelingt, seinen Glauben an die Psychoanalyse und seine Leidenschaft zu bewahren, dann kann er den Patienten zu einem analytischen Prozess verführen, in dem sich die Frage, ob das nun eine Analyse oder eine Therapie sei, auflöst. Thomas Merki stellt das Heute bzw. die Bedeutung des Gesundheitswesens für die Psychoanalyse ins Zentrum. Die Psychoanalyse muss sich in einem Umfeld behaupten, in dem sie ständig beweisen muss, dass sie ein Heilverfahren ist, und gleichzeitig zu schützen versucht, dass sie genau nicht nur das sein will. Der Spagat, der von PsychoanalytikerInnen, die mit der Krankenkasse zusammenarbeiten, gemacht werden muss, wird augenfällig. Die Gefahr dabei ist, dass das, was existentiell notwendig ist – die Psychotherapie – gleichzeitig entwertet wird, weil der Verlust der Analyse so bedrohlich ist. In der Nachbetrachtung versucht Anton Fischer herauszuschälen, was diese Thematik für die weitere Existenz des PSZ bedeuten könnte.Ita Grosz-Ganzoni geht in ihrem Artikel vom allgemein bekannten oder vom gewachsenen Verständnis aus, wenn es um die Unterscheidung zwischen Analyse und Therapie geht, nämlich vom Verständnis, dass eine Analyse ein hochfrequentes Setting erfordert und eine psychoanalytische Psychotherapie im niederfrequenten Setting stattfindet. Sie leitet davon die Bedeutung der eigenen «Lehr»-Analyse oder der Selbsterfahrung ab. Das Ziel einer Lehranalyse sei ein anderes als das einer Analyse mit PatientInnen, sie sollte tiefer gehen.Die Lektüre der Artikel macht deutlich, dass ein analytischer Prozess nicht abhängig ist von der Frequenz. Das wirft aber auch die Frage auf, ob wir psychoanalytisch Arbeitenden nicht selbst zum Verschwinden der hochfrequenten Analyse beitragen, wenn wir sie als Anforderung für zukünftige AnalytikerInnen aufgeben. Es dürfte nämlich schwer sein, zu vertreten, was man selber zeitlich und finanziell nicht bereit war zu investieren und wo dann die eigene Erfahrung fehlt.Im Forum schreibt Christiane Wolf über die erstmalige Vergabe des PSZ-Preises The missing Link an Robert Pfaller für sein Werk Die Illusionen der anderen. Seine Dankesrede findet sich im Anschluss daran. Die Psychoanalyse wirkt, so ist die Medienmitteilung überschrieben, die die interessanten Ergebnisse einer empirischen Langzeitstudie zur psychoanalytischen Psychotherapie vorstellt. Joachim Küchenhoff und Puspa Agarwalla, berichten über ihre Untersuchung und belegen die Wirksamkeit von ein- bis zweijährigen psychoanalytischen Psychotherapien. Thomas Merki, Ex-Präsident des SPV, der eine sehr umstrittene Position einnimmt, schreibt über die Gründe seines Rücktritts. Die Redaktion freut sich auf Stellungnahmen.Den Bericht über die beiden Tagungen zum Gedenken an Marie Langer hat Raimund Bahr verfasst. Es folgen Rezensionen der Bücher von Emilio Modena (Hg.), Leidenschaften. Paul Parin zum 90 Geburtstag, Josi Rom, Identitätsgrenzen des Ichs – Einblicke in innere Welten schizophrenie- und borderlinekranker Menschen sowie Franziska Lang und Andreas Sidler (Hg.), Psychodynamische Organisationsanalyse und Beratung. Einblicke in eine neue Disziplin. Den Abschluss bilden zwei Nachrufe. Im April dieses Jahres ist in Buenos Aires Amando Bauleo im Alter von 76 Jahren gestorben, und in Zürich ist am 22. Mai Judith Le Soldat ihrer schweren Krankheit erlegen. Berthold Rothschild und Thomas von Salis gedenken ihrer.

"And then I ask the question, 'How long have you been doing this?' And it says, 'That knowledge isn't given to you.' And I say, 'Jesus Christ, will you answer a question for the love of God? How long have you been doing this, and stop with those stupid answers.' I'm so pissed off at it. And it sort of just smiles and doesn't answer. And I say, 'Have you been doing this forever?' I don't think it understands forever. And then I ask what it's doing. 'What are you doing?' It wants me to give it my mind, and then it will show me what it's doing. I say, 'No dice, I don't care that much. No thanks, I'm not interested.' It says, 'Why are you afraid? Why are you worried? Don't be afraid.' All the same bullshit that it always wants to give you." -- Abductee 'Karen Morgan', interviewed in David Jacobs's Secret Life "We should learn to live by learning how not to make conversation with the ghost but how to talk with him, with her, how to let them speak or how to give them back speech, even if it is in oneself, in the other, in the other in oneself: they are always there, spectres, even if they do not exist, even if they are no longer, even if they are not yet." -- Jacques Derrida, Spectres of Marx Hundreds of people from all around the world are reporting being abducted by apparently alien beings, taken aboard a UFO or into a profoundly unfamiliar environment, and subjected to bizarre reproductive procedures and quasi-medical examinations. It's usually called alien abduction, and it's becoming increasingly common in western society. Official culture (academics, government, scientific institutions, etc.) have been very slow to acknowledge that anything at all is happening, overlooking the clear implication that even if a lot of people aren't reporting actual experience, that a lot of people believe they are reporting actual experience. The source of this apparent lack of official interest may lie in the undesirability of transgressing the superficial sensationalism that belies the phenomenon's apparent complexity. But what seems unavoidable is the implication that alien abduction represents an unprecedented sociological and psychological phenomenon. Predominantly obfuscating investigation of alien abduction is the absence of a clear mode of approach. The most obvious (and common) place to begin is with the question "is alien abduction real?" -- which quickly proves unproductive, essentially because its premises aren't appropriate. Firstly, it assumes that current definitions of 'real' are both stable and applicable to a hypothetically alien phenomenon. Alien abduction is also commonly deemed impossible a priori; in other words, it's not happening because we 'know' it can't. (Note: this premise embarrassed many French astronomers who for decades, despite villagers' reports, maintained that 'rocks could not fall from the sky'. We now know, despite the astronomers' arrogance, that meteorites do exist.) This is an effect of the dominant ontology -- literally, a reality constructed and reinforced by a minority of powerful members of a culture. Phenomena which threaten the most basic ontological, epistemological and existential premises of this minority are marginalised as tabloid, suppressed, or simply ignored in its hegemonic efforts to maintain power. Secondly, asking if alien abduction is real bypasses the highly problematic trait that connects virtually all abduction cases: the bulk of evidence is in the form of abductees' memories. Roughly 30% of abductions are remembered without the use of hypnosis, and 70% are 'recovered' memories of 'missing time'. (McLeod et al. 156) Most abduction experiences seem to involve complete, or almost complete, erasure of memory of the event. (see Hopkins, Missing Time). Memory itself thus becomes heavily problematised, and no longer reliable. Abduction (if we take any notice of it) causes us to doubt the reality of events that our memories are capable of providing for our perusal, since abductees remember, often very clearly, events which as a culture we generally consider impossible. Conversely, and most provocatively, alien abduction causes us to question the assumed fantasy of events that our memories contain. Vivid dreams are potential abduction experiences. As a society we may stubbornly assume the role of the French astronomers and tell abductees that they are not remembering experience, that their memories are 'false' or have been implanted by hypnotists predisposed to the alien hypothesis. But the abductees, and their memories, do not go away. A conceptualisation of memory that is capable of dealing with alien abduction phenomena should begin by observing that the memorial is intimately linked with the imaginative. It is the retained impression of experience, which is a convergence of imagination (creative thought) and perception (reception of sensory stimuli). Without memory, without the ability to recognise patterns, 'experience' -- meaningful perception -- would not be possible. Experience then, upon which we rely totally to formulate reality, is not possible without memory and imagination. Reality does influence imagination, and vice versa. But imagination is more powerful at the end of the day, since it is always imagination that changes reality. Put simply, discovery is invention. The earth only orbits the sun because enough people imagine (or think or believe) that it does. It only became possible to imagine that the earth orbits the sun, as opposed to the sun orbiting the earth, because of changes that occurred within the culture. Knowledge, despite its claims of universality, is always cultural. The experiences that produce knowledge are always never more than what a culture will allow, can allow. Cultural practice, including the production of knowledge, is and inevitably must be, a restrictive practice. The emergence of postmodern thought is essentially what has allowed an alien abduction phenomenon to begin an existence. Conceptual boundaries which have traditionally precluded such a phenomenon are now being attacked and acknowledged as cultural and therefore subject to change. Postmodern society recognises and appreciates the plasticity and constant change of reality and knowledge, and stresses the priority of concrete experience over fixed abstract principles (Tarnas 395). At its deepest level, alien abduction exposes the arbitrary nature of the reality/non-reality duality, since abduction experiences seem to involve something from non-reality/immateriality (alien beings that walk through walls) entering reality/materiality (its aftereffects are observed in the physical world). Importantly, people are affected not so much by their experience of alien abduction (which are usually forgotten), but by their memories of alien abduction. John E. Mack suggests as a response to this that our use of familiar words like 'happening', 'occurred' and 'real' will themselves have to be thought of differently, and less literally (405). What would have once been interpreted as an inclination towards fantasy, realistic dreams or simply insanity now has the potential to become something more. The memories that so many people are now reporting are not seen as merely memories of dreams, memories of fantasies or memories of episodes of insanity. They are seen as memories of experiences that bridge an objective/subjective dichotomy. They are memories of events that persistently evade complete detection and leave only enough traces in the physical world -- the odd anomalous scar or lesion, and distraught abductees -- to imply that something is happening. But the aliens never land on the White House lawn. Most significantly of all, alien abduction particularly involves that ambiguous bridge between reality and non-reality, perception and imagination -- memory. Memory is the true realm of alien abduction, and we will be forever frustrated if we try to transfer it neatly into other conceptual realms such as 'reality' or 'non-reality', 'perception' or 'imagination'. Alien abduction, like memory, just won't fit into them. It is the hybrid of perception and imagination, the convergence of reality and non-reality, resulting from the privileging of imagination over perception in the formulation of experience. It is the ultimate postmodern myth. References Derrida, Jacques. Spectres of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. London: Routledge, 1994. Harpur, Patrick. Diamonic Reality: Understanding Otherwordly Encounters. London: Penguin, 1994. Hopkins, Budd. Missing Time. New York: Ballantine, 1981. Jacobs, David M. Secret Life: Firsthand Documented Accounts of UFO Abductions. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. Mack, John E. Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens. London: Simon and Schuster, 1995. McLeod, Caroline C., Barbara Corbisier, and John E. Mack. "A More Parsimonious Explanation for UFO Abduction." Psychological Inquiry 7.2 (1996): 156-168. Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View. New York: Ballantine, 1991. Thompson, Keith. Angels and Aliens: UFOs and the Mythic Imagination. New York: 1993. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Adam Dodd. "'What Happened?' Deconstructing Memories of Alien Abduction." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1.2 (1998). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9808/alien.php>. Chicago style: Adam Dodd, "'What Happened?' Deconstructing Memories of Alien Abduction," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1, no. 2 (1998), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9808/alien.php>. APA style: Adam Dodd. (1998) "What happened?" Deconstructing memories of alien abduction. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1(2). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9808/alien.php> ([your date of access]).

The nematophagous – fungi Paecilomyces sp. is curently developed as a biocontrol agent against plant parasitic nematodes (Khan et al., 2003; Yang et al., 2007). Biological control agents can infiltrate certain nematode sites and destroy them by producing some enzymes including chitinase (Khadijeh et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was to purify, determine the chitinase activity from Paecilomyces sp. P1. With Lugol reagent, chitinase of this strain was characterized by diffusion on agar plate. Chitinase specific activity was determined by measuring the release of reducing saccharides from colloidal chitin by the N-acetyl-glucosamine-dinitrosalicylate method at 540 nm. By using the saturated (NH4)2SO4 precipitation at 65% concentration, DEAE A-50 ion exchange chromatography and SDS - PAGE concentration 12.5%, chitinase molecules weigh nearly 50kDa, having a specific activity of 133,3 U/mg, 2,1-fold higher than that of supernatant. Furthermore, method of testing with the nematode Meloidogyne sp., the ability to kill nematodes of Paecilomyces sp. P1 reached 58% efficiency in 96h. These results were a scientific basis for the application of Paecilomyces sp. P1 in the production of nematode insecticides. Keywords Paecilomyces sp. P1; chitinase; purify, biocontrol, Meloidogyne sp References [1] Nguyễn Ngọc Châu, Tuyến trùng thực vật và cơ sở phòng trừ, NXBKHKTHN, 2003.[2] Nguyễn Hữu Quân, Vũ Văn Hạnh, Quyền Đình Thi, Phạm Thị Huyền, Tinh sạch và đánh giá tính chất lý hóa của chitinase từ nấm Lecanicillium lecanii, Kỷ yếu Hội nghị Công nghệ Sinh học toàn quốc, 1 (2013) 426.[3] CM Baratto, V Dutra, JT Boldo, LB Leiria, MH Vainstein, A. Schrank Isolation, characterization and transcriptional analysis of the chitinase chi2 gene (DQ011663) from the biocontrol fungus Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae., Curr Microbiol, 53 (2006) 217.[4] D. Wharton,. Nematode eggshells, Parasitology 81 (1980) 447.[5] F. A. Zaki, D. S. Bhatti , Effect of castor (Ricinus communus) and the biocontrol fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus on Meloidogyne javanica, Nematologica 36 (1980) 114.[6] H. M. Hussein Al Ajrami., Evaluation the Effect of Paecilomyces lilacinus as a Biocontrol Agent of Meloidogyne javanica on Tomato in Gaza Strip, Faculty of science Master of Biological Sciences Microbiology., 2016.[7] J. De la Cruz, A Hidalgo-Gallego, JM Lora, T Benitez, JA Pintor-Toro, A Llobell , Isolation and characterization of three chitinases from Trichoderma harzianum., Eur. J. Biochem,. 206 (1992) 859.[8] JLD Marco, MC Valadares-Inglis . Purification and characterization of an N-acetylglucosaminidase produced by a Trichodermaharzianum strain which controls Crinipellis perniciosa. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 64 (2003) 70.[9] JLD Marco , LHC Lima, MV Sousa MV, CR Felix A Trichoderma harzianum chitinase destroys the cell wall of the phytopathogen Crinipellis perniciosa, the causal agent of witches’ broomof cocoa, J Microbiol Biotechnol 16 (2000) 383.[10] Khan Alamgir, Williams Keith, Mark P. Molloy, and Nevalainen Henlena, Purification and characterization of a serine protease and chitinases from Paecilomyces lilacinus and detection of chitinase activity on 2D gels, Protein Expression and Purification 32 (2003) 210.[11] Khadijeh Abbsi, Doustmorad ZAFARI, Robert WICK., Evaluation of chitinase enzyme in fungal isolates obtained from golden potato cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis) Zemdirbyste-Agriculture, 2 (2017) 179.[12] Kopparapu Narasimha Kumar, Peng Zhou, Shuping Zhang, Qiaojuan Yan, Zhuqing Liu, Zhengqiang Jiang, Purification and characterization of a novel chitinase gene from Paecilomyces thermophila expressed in Escherichia coli. Carbonhydrate Reseach 347 (2012) 155.[13] Methanee Homthong, Anchanee Kubera, Matana Srihuttagum, Vipa Hongtrakul, Isolation and characterization of chitinase from soil fungi, Paecilomyces sp. Agriculture and Natural Resources, 1 (2016) 50.[14] RS Patil, V Ghormade, MV Desphande MV ,Chitinolytic enzymes: an exploration. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 26 (2002) 473[15] RJ Leger St , RM Cooper, AK Charnley, Characterization of chitinase and chitobiase produced by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. J. Invertebr. Pathol. 58 (1991) 415.[16] S Leger, RJ Joshi RJ, RJ Bidochka, DW Roberts . Characterization and ultrastructural localization of Metarhizium anisopliae, M. xavoviride, and Beauveria bassiana during fungal invasion of host (Manduca sexta) cuticle. Appl Environ Microbiol 62 (1996)907.[17] SC Kang, S. Park, DG Lee ,, Purification and characterization of a novel chitinase from the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhiziumanisopliae. 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Women in Universities Women have been fighting for the right to participate in universities since 1873, when Sophia Jex Blake went to court with her fight to enrol at Edinburgh University. In rejecting her application, one of the judges stated: It is a belief, widely entertained, that there is a great difference in the mental constitution of the two sexes, just as there is in their physical conformation. The powers and susceptibilities of women are as noble as those of men; but they are thought to be different, and, in particular, it is considered that they have not the same power of intense labour as men .... (Scutt 224) In Australia, from the 1850s to the 1880s, both the University of Sydney and The University of Melbourne refused to admit women as students. In 1879, the Chancellor of the University of Sydney suggested that: The best course to be taken by advocates of advanced education for women, would be to found some sort of affiliated college for them in the vicinity of the University ... if there really be a widespread wish on the part of young women for a higher education ..." (Scutt 228). Having finally won the right to study at university in 1881, and to enter the academic workforce, women are still finding many of the old prejudices remain. Numerous studies have demonstrated that women's experiences in academe are qualitatively different from men's and that women are systematically paid lower salaries than men of equivalent academic achievement, age and length of service (Bagilhole 431-47; Loder 713-4; McElrath 269-81;). Studies have shown that differences in the experiences of male and female faculty are largely explained by gender (Booth & Burton 312-33; Everett 159-75; Over & Lancaster 309-18; Ready 7) and sex discrimination is highlighted as an ongoing contributor to the inequity (Allport 5-8; Hall & Swadener 1; Tuohy 8). A recent UNESCO-Commonwealth (http://www.unesco.org/) report states that: ... in spite of advances which women have made in many areas of public life in the past two decades, in the area of higher education management they are still a long way from participating on the same footing as men. With hardly an exception, the global picture is one of men outnumbering women at about five to one at middle management level and at about twenty to one at senior management level (Singh 4). The introduction in Australia of Sex Discrimination legislation (http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sex_discrimination/) in 1984 and more recently, Affirmative Action policies ( http://www.austlii.edu.au/) in employment and promotion rounds in some universities has not improved women's situation to the extent expected. In 1978, women held 16% of full time academic posts while gaining 25% of all higher degrees and 30% of undergraduate degrees (Commonwealth Government statistics cited by Over and McKenzie 61-71). In 1999, 54% of students were women yet women's participation in academe had only increased to 35% (DETYA) (http://www.deet.gov.au/). Women are mainly employed at the lowest academic levels. In 1999, 72% of women were employed at Levels A and B (Associate Lecturer/Lecturer) compared to 46% of men, with only 8% of women reaching Levels D and E (Associate Professor/Professor) compared to 26% of men. Women continue to be clustered in the traditionally female areas of Health, Education and Arts while few seem to have successfully broken through the barriers in the traditionally male areas of Engineering, Architecture or Agriculture (DETYA) (http://www.deet.gov.au/). Business has traditionally been viewed as a male preserve but enrolments have increased to the point where women almost equal men. However, the staff ratio of men to women remains very low at 70/30 (DETYA) (http://www.deet.gov.au/). The slow growth rate for women in academe belies the fact that more women than men are now completing university degrees. The purpose of this study was to determine how well the experiences of academic women in the male-dominated faculties of business and commerce, reflect the literature on women in universities, in general. Previous empirical studies have found inequitable treatment of women without necessarily exploring the processes of discrimination. The Study This study involved interviews with academic women who had been employed in faculties of business and commerce for at least five years. The research used the 'snowballing' technique: participants initially comprised women known to me but as these women told female colleagues of my study I was given the names of other women who were willing to participate. Participants comprised twenty-one women from three universities in Western Australia, two universities in New South Wales and one Victorian university. One woman had recently left academe and started her own business because of discriminatory practices she had encountered and another was contemplating leaving. In each university, women comprised a minority of the faculty and felt disadvantaged in some way. A semi-structured interview was used to explore with the women the issues that had been identified from previous studies of sex discrimination in the academic profession. Open-ended questions were used and the interviews conducted face to face, or, in the case of those interstate, via telephone or email. The women spoke frankly about their experiences. Findings and Discussion Promotion Each of the women in this study said that their university had established an internal promotion policy based on merit. However, they felt the greatest problem they had encountered in gaining promotion was in determining the criteria upon which they would be judged each year, and in meeting those criteria. "I have been chasing promotion for over five years. At first I was told that I would not be promoted until I got my masters degree so I worked really hard to complete it but then a male colleague was promoted without a masters. Once I got the masters I was told I needed to publish to be promoted but in the next year someone else was promoted without any publications. You go all out to meet the criteria each year but in the next year the promotions committee changes and so do the criteria for that year"(Lecturer applying for Senior Lecturer position). The promotion procedure at one university was explained by a Senior Lecturer who had served on promotion committees on two occasions. "There are about ten criteria upon which promotion can be based. When the applications are received we all get together to determine which are the criteria to be applied. In the last promotion round only four of the ten criteria were used so only people satisfying those criteria were selected." When asked whether the criteria were the same as the previous year she replied: "Last year there was more emphasis on qualifications and publications. This year community involvement and involvement in university affairs were judged as more important ... it varies from year to year". On questioning about the promotion procedures at their universities, women stated they were largely dissatisfied with the process, that they were presumed to be satisfied with their lot while the men were actively encouraged to apply. "I was told not to bother to apply (for a senior lecturer position) as I would not get it ... that there was a queue of people to be promoted before me - (named males) - and until they were promoted, I would not be considered" (Lecturer). "The position was advertised with a specific male applicant in mind and specifically excluded me by stating that the appointee must have supervisory experience. Women in my department are not given the opportunity to supervise students so I didn't even bother applying."(Lecturer aspiring to a Senior Lecturer position). One woman, upon inquiring why she was not promoted, was told that she should be grateful to have tenure and asked why she wanted to be promoted, anyway. "They would never have said that to a male, they would have expected a male to be working towards promotion" (Associate Lecturer). All women interviewed stated that they had problems keeping up with the 'goal posts' which moved from year to year. The 'moving of the goal posts' is one means by which universities are able to maintain the position of women at lower levels. Unsurprisingly, some women said they felt that promotion at their university was based on politics rather than merit. However, defining merit in universities is problematic. According to Burton (430), definitions of what is meritorious depend upon the power of particular groups to define it and, as a result, can change. The narrow view of merit is 'the best person for the job' which Burton (113) describes as an "overwhelming tendency to select in your own image". Burton (430) and Allport (5) claim universities define merit along male cultural lines with current selection, remuneration and career progression practices strongly influenced by an underlying gender bias. Burton (430) argues that there is still a tendency for work to be ranked as 'men's' or women's work with lower status attributed to the latter and an assumption that different skills and abilities are needed for each. Over and McKenzie (61-71) claim that women are disadvantaged by the fact that invalid merit criteria are applied to them which men as a group are more likely to satisfy. They state that the academic careers of most women do not fit the stereotypic male experience and it is mainly men who decide whether women should be promoted. At one university in the study, the merit criteria for senior lecturer include the requirement that aspirants have a number of overseas conference presentations. "Some of us are single working mothers and overseas conference attendance is out of the question because who's going to mind our children while we are away? The senior males were astonished when I mentioned that this was a problem for me. It had never occurred to them" (Associate Lecturer on why women at her university do not apply for promotion). Family Responsibilities The women commented on the numerous difficulties they had encountered in combining an academic career with responsibility for children. They felt that certain male faculty members perceived married women with children as lacking in career commitment, whereas married men with families were viewed as being more stable and committed to their careers. One married woman claimed that when she needed to go home to tend a sick child, her male Head of Department told her she should "get her priorities right". In 1992, Family Responsibility provisions were added to the Sex Discrimination Act (http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/171/top.htm). However, it would appear that individual practice doesn't always follow as a result of changes in policy. Equal Pay On the subject of equal pay for equal work, the women said that they were often paid lower wages than their male colleagues despite having higher qualifications and equivalent teaching and research experience. Some women felt that the barriers between academic levels were used to artificially maintain the wage gap between men and women, regardless of qualifications and ability. This was felt to be particularly the case between the levels of Associate Lecturer (Level A) and Lecturer (Level B). "They find excuses to keep you at Associate Lecturer so that they can pay you less to do the same work that you would be doing as a lecturer ... lecturing, coordinating units and so on"(Associate Lecturer). "There are no men below Lecturer in my Department, either lecturing or with Masters degrees. As soon as they get their Masters they are promoted to Lecturer.... I'm coordinating units as an Associate Lecturer while some male lecturers have less responsibility' (Associate Lecturer with Masters degree and publications) Two women said that they had been performing higher level duties (Level B) for up to five years while working on their Masters but their university refused to pay them at the higher level until they had completed their degree. Even when they satisfied all the requirements for the Masters degree and had a letter from their supervisor saying they had satisfied all the requirements, the university refused to pay them until they had actually graduated, which was some time later. Shortly afterwards their university took on two men to perform the same duties, paying these at the higher level even though they had not completed a masters degree. One former lecturer claimed that she was employed at a time when there was a large turnover of staff in her department. A number of new staff were appointed of whom she was the only female. Although she and the other new staff were all employed at Lecturer Level B, it wasn't until later on that she discovered that the men were appointed at the top of the Lecturer salary scale while she was appointed at the bottom, with a salary differential of about10 000pa. This was despite the fact that both she and the men had similar qualifications and work experience at commencement. Teaching Loads Another complaint by women concerned inequitable teaching loads. An analysis in one Business School showed that women had higher teaching loads while men were given more time off for research. The women complained that the supervision of post-graduate students was divided up between the men, and women were excluded. Since research publication and student supervision are usually the most highly ranked criteria in academic promotion rounds, women who are not given the opportunity to participate in these areas are disadvantaged when applying for promotion. This problem is compounded since women are overwhelmingly employed at the lower levels where responsibility for the majority of teaching takes place. This leaves them with little time left to devote to research even if given the opportunity. The women also said they were often pressured into taking on higher duties than those prescribed in the Position Classification Standards for their level. They tended to acquiesce because of their need to prove they were better than men to gain promotion. One woman said that the extra administrative duties she had been given meant that she had less time for research which actually reduced her prospects for tenure and promotion. She said she didn't dare complain as the men in her department would use it as an excuse to question her commitment to her job. Conclusion An examination of women's perceptions and experiences in the workplace can help us understand the informal processes that work against women. The experiences of the women discussed in this paper provide an insight into the subtle processes that continue to operate in some higher education institutions to prevent women from reaching their full potential. Although equal opportunity legislation (http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about_the_commission/legislation/index.html) has been enacted to prevent discrimination and disadvantage to women, the implementation of policy does not always filter through to the operational levels. It is still possible to circumvent legislation in subtle ways, perhaps without even being aware that these practices are discriminative. The women in this study spoke frankly about their experiences and the difficulties they had encountered in gaining equal recognition to men, with very few satisfied that they were receiving equitable treatment. The women felt that their work was not valued as highly as that of the men they worked with and they were given less opportunities for advancement. Overall, the interviews with the women revealed interesting insights into their experiences in pursuing academic careers and in trying to gain recognition for their achievements. The collective experiences of the women provide an insight into the subtle ways in which disadvantage can be engendered. The findings of this study have serious implications for university administrators, particularly deans and heads of schools. There are many well-qualified women academics and universities cannot afford to overlook the valuable contribution these women can make to teaching, research and university governance. References Allport, Caroline. "Improving Gender Equity: Using Industrial Bargaining". NTEU Frontline4.1 (1996): 5-8. Bacchi, Carol. "The Brick Wall: Why So Few Women Become Senior Academics". Australian Universities Review36.1 (1993): 36-41. Bagilhole, Barbara. "Survivors in a Male Preserve: A Study of British Women Academics' Experiences and Perceptions of Discrimination in a UK University". Higher Education26 (1993): 431-47. Booth, Alison, and Jonathon Burton. "The Position of Women in UK Academic Economics". The Economic Journal110.464 (2000): 312-33. Burton, Clare. "Merit and Gender: Organisations and the Mobilisation of Masculine Bias." Australian Journal of Social Issues22 (1987): 424-35. Burton, Clare. An Equity Review of Staffing Policies and Associated Decision-making at Edith Cowan University. Report commissioned by ECU. 1994. DETYA. Selected Higher Education Statistics. 1999. Everett, James. "Sex, Rank and Qualifications at Australian Universities". Australian Journal of Management19.2 (1994): 159-75. Hall, Elaine, and Beth Blue Swadener. "Chilly Climate: A Study of Subtle Sex Discrimination at a State University". Initiatives (Online)59.3 (2000): 1. Loder, Natasha. "US Science Shocked by Revelations of Sexual Discrimination". Nature405.6787 (2000): 713-4. McElrath, Karen. "Gender, Career Disruption and Academic Rewards". Journal of Higher Education63.3 (1992): 269-81. Over, Ray, and Sandra Lancaster. "The Early Career Patterns of Men and Women in Australian Universities". The Australian Journal of Education28.3 (1984): 309-18. Over, Ray, and Beryl Mckenzie. "Career Prospects for Women in Australian Universities". Journal of Tertiary Educational Administration7.1 (1985): 61-71. Ready, Tinker. "West Coast US Recognizes Academic Gender Bias". Nature Medicine 7.1 (2000): 1. Scutt, Jocelyn. The Sexual Gerrymander.The Law Printer, 1994. Singh, Jasbir. "Women and Management in Higher Education: A Commonwealth Project." A.C.U. Bulletin of Current Documentation. 133 (1998): 2-8. Tuohy, John. "Sex Discrimination Infects Med Schools: Women Say Bias Blocks Chances for Advancement". USA Today2000. 8. Links http://www.unesco.org/ http://www.deet.gov.au/ http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sex_discrimination/ http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about_the_commission/legislation/index.html http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgibin/disp.pl/au/legis/cth/consol%5fact/aaeofwa 1986634/?query=title+%28+%22affirmative+action%22+%29 http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/171/top.htm Citation reference for this article MLA Style Ellis-Newman, Jennifer. "Women and Work" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4.5 (2001). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Ellis-Newman.xml >. Chicago Style Ellis-Newman, Jennifer, "Women and Work" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4, no. 5 (2001), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Ellis-Newman.xml > ([your date of access]). APA Style Ellis-Newman, Jennifer. (2001) Women and Work. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 4(5). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0111/Ellis-Newman.xml > ([your date of access]).

This issue of M/C Journal asks what’s your vote worth? And what does citizenship mean now? These questions are pressing, not only for the authors and editors of this special issue, but for anyone who contends with the challenges and opportunities presented by the relationship of the individual to the modern state, the difficulty and necessity of effecting change in our polities, and the needs of individuals and communities within frameworks of unequally representative democracies. And we think that’s pretty well all of us. Talk of voting and citizenship also raise further questions about the relationship of macro-level power politics to the mundane sphere of our everyday lives. Voting is a decision that is decidedly personal, requiring the seclusion of the ballot-box, and in Australia at least, a personal inscription of one’s choice on the ballot paper. It’s an important externalisation of our private thoughts and concerns, and it links us, through our nominated representative, to the machinery of State. Citizenship is a matter of rights and duties, and describes all that we are able or expected to do in our relationship with the State and in our membership of communities, however these defined. Our level of activity as citizens is an expression of our affective relationship with State and community – the political volunteerism of small donations and envelope-stuffing, the assertions of protest, membership in unions, parties or community groups are all ways in which our mundane lives link up with tectonic shifts in national, even global governance. Ever since the debacle of the 2000 US presidential election, there has been intensified debate about the effects of apathy, spin and outright corruption on electoral politics. And since the events of the following September, citizens’ rights have been diminished and duties put on something of a war footing in Western democracies, as States militarise in the face of ‘terror’. (“Be alert, not alarmed”). Branches of cultural theory and political science have redoubled their critique of liberal democracy, and the communicative frameworks that are supposed to sustain it, with some scholars presenting voting as a false choice, political communication as lies, and discourses of citizenship as a disciplinary straightjacket. But recent events have made the editors, at least, a little more optimistic. During the time in which we were taking submissions for this special, double issue of M/C Journal, the citizens of Australia voted to change their Federal Government. After 11 years the John Howard-led Liberal Government came to an end on 23 November, swept aside in an election that cost the former PM his own seat. Within a few weeks the new Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd had, on behalf of the nation, ratified the Kyoto protocol on climate change, apologised to the indigenous ‘stolen generation’ who had been taken from their parents as part of a tragically misconceived project of assimilation, and was preparing to pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq. Australia’s long-delayed Kyoto decision was being tipped at the time of writing as an additional pressure the next US president could not possibly ignore. If the Americans sign up, pressure might in turn build on other big emitters like China to find new solutions to their energy needs. Pulling out of Iraq also left the US looking more isolated still in that seemingly interminable occupation. And the apology, though not enough on its own to overcome the terrible disadvantage of Aboriginal people, made front pages around the world, and will no doubt encourage indigenous peoples in their separate, but related struggles. After so many years of divisive intransigence on these and many other issues, after a decade in which the outgoing Government made the country a linchpin of an aggressive, US-led geopolitics of conflict, change was brought about by a succession of little things. Things like the effect on individuals’ relationships and happiness of a new, unfavourable balance in their workplace. Things like a person’s decision to renounce long-standing fears and reassurances. Things like the choices made by people holding stubby pencils in cardboard ballot boxes. These things cascaded, multiplied, and added up to some things that may become bigger than they already are. It was hard to spot these changes in the mundanity of Australia’s electoral rituals – the queue outside the local primary school, the eye-searing welter of bunting and how-to-vote cards, the floppy-hatted volunteers, and the customary fund-raising sausage-sizzle by the exit door. But they were there; they took place; and they matter. The Prime Minister before Howard, Paul Keating, had famously warned the voters off his successor during his losing campaign in 1996 by saying, at the last gasp, that ‘If you change the Prime Minister, you change the country’. For Keating, the choice embodied in a vote had consequences not just for the future of the Nation, but for its character, its being. Keating, famously, was to his bones a creature of electoral politics – he would say this, one might think, and there are many objections to be made to the claim that anything can change the country, any country, so quickly or decisively. Critical voices will say that liberal democracy really only grafts an illusion of choice onto what’s really a late-capitalist consensus – the apparent changes brought about by elections, and even the very idea of popular or national sovereignties are precisely ideological. Others will argue that democratic elections don’t qualify as a choice because there is evidence that the voters are irrational, making decisions on the basis of slender, or incorrect information, and as a result they often choose leaders that do not serve their interests. Others – like Judith Brett in her latest Quarterly Essay, “Exit Right” – argue that any talk of election results signifying a change in ‘national mood’ belies the fact that changes of government usually reflect quite small overall changes in the vote. In 2007, for example, over 46% of the Australian electorate voted for another Howard term, and only a little over 5% of us changed our minds. There is something to all of these arguments, but not enough to diminish the acts of engaged, mundane citizenship that underpinned Australia’s recent transformation. The Australian Council of Trade Unions’ ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign, which started in 2006, was a grassroots effort to build awareness about the import of the Howard Government’s neoliberal industrial relations reform. As well as bringing down the Government, this may have given Australia’s labour movement a new, independent lease of life. Organisations like GetUp also mobilised progressive grassroots activism in key electorates. Former ABC journalist Maxine McKew, the high profile Labor challenger in Howard’s seat of Bennelong, was assisted by an army of volunteer workers. They letterboxed, doorknocked and answered phones for weeks and were rewarded with the unseating of the Prime Minister. Perhaps what Keating should have said is, ‘by the time you change the Prime Minister, the country already has’. By the time the community at large starts flexing its muscles of citizenship, the big decisions have already been collectively made. In the media sphere too, there was heartening evidence of new forms of engagement. In the old media camp, Murdoch’s The Australian tried to fight a rear-guard campaign to maintain the mainstream media as the sole legitimate forum for public discussion. But its commentaries and editorials looked more than ever anachronistic, as Australia’s increasingly mature blogosphere carried debate and alternative forms of reporting on the election right throughout the year leading up to the long campaign. Politicians too made efforts to engage with participatory culture, with smart uses of Facebook, MySpace and blogs by some leading figures — and a much-derided intervention on YouTube by John Howard, whose video clip misguidedly beginning with the words ‘Good morning’ served as an emblem for a government whose moment had passed. There is evidence this year that America is changing, too, and even though the current rise of Barack Obama as a presidential contender may not result in victory, or even in his nomination, his early successes give more grounds for hope in citizenship. Although the enthusiastic reception for the speeches of this great political orator are described by cynics as ‘creepy’ or ‘cultish’, there are other ways of reading it. We could say that this is evidence of a euphoric affective reinvestment in the possibility of citizenship, and of voting as an agent for change — ‘Yes we can’ is his signature line. The enthusiasm for Obama could also simply be the relief of being able to throw off the defensive versions of citizenship that have prevailed in recent years. It could be that the greatest ‘hope’ Obama is offering is of democratic (and Democratic) renewal, a return to electoral politics, and citizenship, being conducted as if they mean something. The mechanics of Obama’s campaign suggest, too, that ordinary acts of citizenship can make a difference when it comes to institutions of great power, such as the US Presidency. Like Howard Dean before him, Obama’s campaign resourcing is powered by myriad, online gifts from small donors – ordinary men and women have ensured that Obama has more money than the Democrat-establishment Clinton campaign. If nothing else, this suggests that the ‘supply-chain’ of politics is reorienting itself to citizen engagement. Not all of the papers in this issue of M/C Journal are as optimistic as this introduction. Some of them talk about citizenship as a means of exclusion – as a way of defining ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups, as a locus of paranoia. Some see citizenship as heterogenous, and that unequal access to its benefits is a deficit in our democracy. The limits to citizenship, and to the forms of choice that liberal democracy allows need to be acknowledged. But we also need to see these mundane acts of participation as a locus of possibility, and a fulcrum for change. Everyday acts of democracy may not change the country, but they can change the framework in which our conversations about it take place. Indeed, democracy is both more popular and less popular than ever. In our feature article, Brian McNair explores the ‘democratic paradox’ that, on the one hand, democracy spread to 120 countries in the twentieth century while, on the other hand, voter participation in the more established democracies is falling. While rightly cautioning against drawing too neat an equivalence between X Factor and a general election, McNair considers the popularity of voting in participatory TV shows, noting that people will indeed vote when they are motivated enough. He asks whether the evident popularity of voting for play purposes can be harnessed into active citizenship. Melissa Bellanta questions the use of rhetoric of ‘democracy’ in relation to participatory media forms, such as voting in reality TV competitions or in online polls. Bellanta shows how audience interaction was central to late-nineteenth century popular theatre and draws provocative parallels between the ‘voting’ practices of Victorian theatre audiences and contemporary viewer-voting. She argues that the attendant rhetoric of ‘democracy’ in such interactions can divert our attention from the real characteristics of such behaviour. Digital artist xtine explores a ‘crisis of democracy’ created by tensions between participation and control. She draws upon, on the one hand, Guattari’s analysis of strategies for social change and, on the other, polemical discussions of culture jamming by Naomi Klein, and by Adbusters’ founder Kalle Lasn. Her paper introduces a number of Web projects which aim to enable new forms of local consumption and interaction. Kimberley Mullins surveys the shifting relationships between concepts of ‘public’ and ‘audience’. She discuses how these different perspectives blur and intertwine in contemporary political communication, with voters sometimes invoked as citizens and sometimes presented with entertainment spectacles in political discourse. Mark Hayward looks at the development of global television in Italy, specifically the public broadcaster RAI International, in light of the changing nature of political institutions. He links changes in the nature of the State broadcaster, RAI, with changes in national institutions made under the Berlusconi government. Hayward sees these changes as linked to a narrowing conception of citizenship used as a tool for increasingly ethno-centric forms of exclusion. Panizza Allmark considers one response to the 7 July 2005 bombings in London – the “We’re not afraid” Website, where Londoners posted images of life going on “as normal” in the face of the Tube attacks. As Allmark puts it, these photographs “promote the pleasures of western cultural values as a defense against the anxiety of terror.” Paradoxically, these “domestic snapshots” work to “arouse the collective memory of terrorism and violence”, only ambiguously resolving the impact of the 7 July events. This piece adds to the small but important literature on the relationship between photography, blogging and everyday life. James Arvanitakis’s piece, “The Heterogenous Citizen: How Many of Us Care about Don Bradman’s Average” opens out from a consideration of Australia’s Citizenship Test, introduced by the former government, into a typology of citizenship that allows for different versions of citizenship, and understandings of it “as a fluid and heterogenous phenomenon that can be in surplus, deficit, progressive and reactionary”. His typology seeks to open up new spaces for understanding citizenship as a practice, and as a relation to others, communities and the State. Anne Aly and Lelia Green’s piece, “Moderate Islam: Defining the Good Citizen”, thinks through the dilemmas Australian Muslims face in engaging with the broader community, and the heavy mediation of the state in defining the “good”, moderate Muslim identity in the age of terror. Their research is a result of a major project investigating Australian Muslim identity and citizenship, and finds that they are dealt with in media and political discourse through the lens of the “clash” between East and West embodied on the “war on terror”. For them, “religion has become the sole and only characteristic by which Muslims are recognised, denying them political citizenship and access to the public spaces of citizenship.” Alex Burns offers a critical assessment of claims made, and theories advanced about citizen media. He is skeptical about the definitions of citizenship and journalism that underpin optimistic new media theory. He notes the need for future research the reevaluates citizen journalism, and suggests an approach that builds on rich descriptions of journalistic experience, and “practice-based” approaches. Derek Barry’s “Wilde’s Evenings” offers a brief overview of the relationships between citizen journalism, the mainstream media and citizenship, through the lens of recent developments in Australia, and the 2007 Federal election, mentioned earlier in this introduction. As a practitioner and observer, Derek’s focus is on the status of citizen journalism as political activism, and whether the aim of citizen journalism, going forward, should be “payment or empowerment”. Finally, our cover image, by Drew, author of the successful Webcomic toothpastefordinner.com, offers a more sardonic take on the processes of voting and citizenship than we have in our introduction. The Web has not only provided a space for bloggers and citizen journalists, but also for a plethora of brilliant independent comic artists, who not only offer economical, mordant political commentary, but in some ways point the way towards sustainable practices in online independent media. Toothpastefordinner.com is not exclusively focused on political content, but it is flourishing on the basis of giving core content away, and subsisting largely on self-generated merchandise. This is one area for future research in online citizen media to explore. The tension between optimistic and pessimistic assessments of voting, citizenship, and the other apparatuses of liberal democracy will not be going anywhere soon, and nor will the need to “change the country” once in awhile. Meanwhile, the authors and editors of this special edition of M/C Journal hope to have explored these issues in a way that has provoked some further thought and debate among you, as voters, citizens and readers. References Brett, Judith. “Exit Right.” Quarterly Essay 28 (2008). Citation reference for this article MLA Style Meikle, Graham, Jason A. Wilson, and Barry Saunders. "Vote / Citizen." M/C Journal 10.6/11.1 (2008). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/00-editorial.php>. APA Style Meikle, G., J. Wilson, and B. Saunders. (Apr. 2008) "Vote / Citizen," M/C Journal, 10(6)/11(1). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/00-editorial.php>.

"For most of us, if we do not talk of ourselves, or at any rate of the individual circles of which we are the centres, we can talk of nothing. I cannot hold with those who wish to put down the insignificant chatter of the world." -- Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage This issue of M/C explores the notion of 'chat', examining its contexts, forms, functions and operations. 'Chat' appears to be a descriptive subset of 'talk', often characterised somewhat unfairly as idle or frivolous 'small talk', 'gossip' -- the kind of tête-à-tête that is mediated through cups of tea (alluded to in Jen Henzell's cover image). However, 'chat' is not only an extremely prevalent activity, but, as Trollope implies, a primary social activity. Serious academic regard for 'chat' can be traced to Malinowski's (150) coining of the term "phatic communion" to refer to talk that expresses the "ties of union", a notion later taken up by Laver ("Communicative Functions"; "Linguistic Routines"). Watzlawick, Beavin and Jackson made a similar distinction between the content level of communication (contains assumptions that are communicable) and the relationship level (which reveals the speaker's attitude to the assumptions communicated and the speaker's relationship with and opinion of the hearer). 'Chat', they argue, is more about building and solidifying relationships between interactants than imparting information. Even gossip, probably the most content driven form of 'chat', lets hearers know that they are regarded well enough by the speakers to be drawn into confidence. We have divided the M/C 'chat' issue into two sections along the lines of context. The first section deals with what might be termed 'traditional' or 'more general' forms of chat, where the interactants are either physically (face-to-face) or acoustically (telephone) copresent. Given both the period and the medium in which M/C 'chat' is being published, it should not be surprising that the second section deals with computer-mediated communication (CMC). With the advent of CMC, 'chat' -- and research on it -- has been transformed, taking with it much of the old formula and leaving behind some of its trappings. M/C 'chat' is introduced by Charles Antaki's Feature Article "Two Rhetorical Uses of the Description 'Chat'". In this insightful and highly accessible piece, Antaki explores the paradoxical manner in which the description of a discursive event as 'chat' may be used to socially persuasive ends. Antaki takes as his starting point the fact that some uses of the word 'chat' demonstrate an old-fashioned view of spoken discourse as an inefficient information-transmission system ('mere talk' and 'gossip'). This, he argues, belies -- and belittles -- its use in actual talk. Analyses of four transcripts containing the descriptor 'chat' illustrate how speakers deploy it as a tactic to promote a description of an informal and blameless event, when in fact the episode in question might be categorised as something rather different. As befits an article by a member of Loughborough University's influential Discourse and Rhetoric Group, folded into the analysis is a persuasive demonstration of the methodological and theoretical strength of Conversation Analysis (CA) for describing language-in-use. However, as Antaki concludes, this is not just a game for analysts - we are all fundamentally sensitive to the power of the 'chat' descriptor. M/C 'chat' is introduced by Charles Antaki's Feature Article "Two Rhetorical Uses of the Description 'Chat'". In this insightful and highly accessible piece, Antaki explores the paradoxical manner in which the description of a discursive event as 'chat' may be used to socially persuasive ends. Antaki takes as his starting point the fact that some uses of the word 'chat' demonstrate an old-fashioned view of spoken discourse as an inefficient information-transmission system ('mere talk' and 'gossip'). This, he argues, belies -- and belittles -- its use in actual talk. Analyses of four transcripts containing the descriptor 'chat' illustrate how speakers deploy it as a tactic to promote a description of an informal and blameless event, when in fact the episode in question might be categorised as something rather different. As befits an article by a member of Loughborough University's influential Discourse and Rhetoric Group, folded into the analysis is a persuasive demonstration of the methodological and theoretical strength of Conversation Analysis (CA) for describing language-in-use. However, as Antaki concludes, this is not just a game for analysts - we are all fundamentally sensitive to the power of the 'chat' descriptor. In a turn away from the micro-level world of Conversation Analysis (CA), Mark Frankland's "Chatting in the Neighbourhood: Does It Have a Place in the World of Globalised Media?" is a broad diachronic and synchronic overview of the place local media such as 'chat' and community newspapers fit into an evolving and increasingly global media-scape. The first half of Frankland's article is an historical demonstration of the almost inevitable links between the rise of the urban form and moves away from local media to media globalisation. Given this history, in the second half of the article Frankland asks what effect the absence of local forms of media might have. He argues that local media forms are important sense-making mechanisms, operating at the level of personal effectivity, for assimilating the constantly changing media-scape. Local news media, and the even more micro level of 'chat' may act as "transition discourses", meaningful local contexts in which we may discuss the global. Most of the articles in this collection are about forms of chat to which both parties consent. "Invitation or Sexual Harassment? An Analysis of an Intercultural Communication Breakdown" by Zhu Yunxia and Peter Thompson considers quite the opposite -- unwelcome 'chatting up' or verbal sexual harassment. Zhu and Thompson examine a series of three telephone invitations to a party from a male Chinese tutor to a female Australian student, which resulted in an accusation of sexual harassment. Through an analysis combining Searle's speech acts, Austin's felicity conditions and Aristotle's rhetorical strategies, Zhu and Thompson suggest that different cultures use different tactics in the speech act of an invitation and they believe that the potential for miscommunication is increased when intercultural differences are present in the interaction. "The Naturally-Occurring Chat Machine" is Darren Reed and Malcolm Ashmore's interesting methodological reflection on the nature of the data collection and transcription processes of Conversation Analysis (CA), in order to "provoke a reconsideration of the marginal status of textually conducted interaction as a proper topic for CA". The worked-up complexities of CA transcripts, they argue, produce a myth of an unmediated origin, when in fact 'machinic-productive processes' are used to produce data considered 'studiable' in the CA of face-to-face conversations. Analogous processes produce data for the CA of Internet newsgroup messages. Ironically, in terms of CA's claim of using 'naturally occurring' data, Reed and Ashmore make the controversial counter-claim that newsgroup data might be considered superior to transcribed data, as the textual character of Internet newsgroups is the result of participants' work. In effect, therefore, Internet newsgroup data is considerably less mediated than recorded and transcribed conversations. Reed and Ashmore provide a neat link between bring the first section of M/C 'chat', dealing with what might be termed 'traditional chat media', and the second section concentrating on computer-mediated communication (CMC). The boom in CMC also marks the renaissance of Conversation Analytic research. Interestingly, both Reed and Ashmore, who end this section, and Paul ten Have, who we asked to introduce the CMC section, note that the proliferation of new interaction media not only provides new contexts in which to investigate human interaction, but also very conveniently produce easy-to-use data as a natural process of participation. Paul ten Have begins the CMC section with an introduction to some of the fundamental features and concerns of CMC research in his ethnographic investigation of how to find someone to talk to in a chat room. From the standpoint of Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), "Computer-Mediated Chat: Ways of Finding Chat Partners" takes us through a description of the more or less generic categorisation features of most chat rooms, and then into the three primary concerns that CMC users often make apparent very early in an interaction: age, sex and location, indicated by the acronymic "a/s/l please". Interestingly, his conclusion is that while it is clear that pre-existing communication procedures must be adapted to the new environment -- manifested perhaps most obviously by a more explicit questioning when searching for chat partners -- current media do not provide much scope for radical change in the fundamentals of 'chat'. Paul ten Have begins the CMC section with an introduction to some of the fundamental features and concerns of CMC research in his ethnographic investigation of how to find someone to talk to in a chat room. From the standpoint of Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), "Computer-Mediated Chat: Ways of Finding Chat Partners" takes us through a description of the more or less generic categorisation features of most chat rooms, and then into the three primary concerns that CMC users often make apparent very early in an interaction: age, sex and location, indicated by the acronymic "a/s/l please". Interestingly, his conclusion is that while it is clear that pre-existing communication procedures must be adapted to the new environment -- manifested perhaps most obviously by a more explicit questioning when searching for chat partners -- current media do not provide much scope for radical change in the fundamentals of 'chat'. Miranda Mowbray continues this theme of the false perception of restrictiveness. She notes that most interactive CMC systems place certain restrictions on the way in which a person may present themselves on arrival in the room. In her article, "Neither Male nor Female: Other -- Gendered Chat in Little Italy", Mowbray notes that the Little Italy's system (created by Pavel Curtis originally for Lambda MOO) gives participants the opportunity to broaden their gender presentation options from 'female' or 'male' to a range of 'other genders'. Mowbray observes that a fifth of the inhabitants of Little Italy opt to choose a gender other than that of the traditional 'female' or 'male', and, significantly, that half of users presenting as 'other genders' are still participating after a year -- more than the traditionally gendered Little Italians. Through 28 responses from these Little Italians, Mowbray investigates why these other-gendered participants are more likely to remain in the one space than those who chose 'female' or 'male'. She concludes that it is "the personal creative investment by the other-gendered citizens in Little Italy that makes them especially likely to remain active citizens." Mowbray considers Little Italy's system to be an excellent demonstration of a "stickiness" feature -- a feature of a CMC system that attracts long term use. Her results should be of interest to software companies wanting to design popular -- and profitable -- chat rooms. Since interactive synchronous and quasi-synchronous CMC systems became popular with the release of IRC, ICQ, Webchat and various ISP chat rooms, a flood of research about the transformation of language in computer-mediated situations has resulted. However most of this work has concentrated on chat between strangers. Campbell and Wickman observe this bias in their article, "Familiars in a Strange Land: A Case Study of Friends Chatting Online", choosing instead to concentrate on computer-mediated chat between acquaintances. In this autoethnographic account, the authors note that although they have adopted some of the more common conversational CMC strategies, they have also created their own, relevant to their particular circumstances. Historically, CMC research has argued that the 'cues-filtered-out' nature of CMC systems leads to depersonalisation and the lack of necessity to adhere to social conventions of politeness. However, Campbell and Wickman note that in their own chat as online and offline familiars, they observe a strong need to adhere to politeness conventions, due to the face-to-face consequences of their online actions. This interesting finding suggests that politeness theory may be of great value in future CMC research, particularly that comparing and contrasting chat between familiars and strangers, and/or face-to-face and online interaction. As Ylva Hård af Segerstad points out, most CMC research is conducted on English language forums. M/C 'chat' is pleased to help redress this balance with the publication of investigations on the impact of computer-mediation on languages other than English, in this case Swedish. Given the English focus of the Internet, however, CMC research on languages other than English must, of course, take account of the variations between the language-specific and 'international' (read English-language) forums. This being the case, Hård af Segerstad discusses the result of questionnaire data and logged conversations to determine if written online Swedish is being adapted in ways particular to it, or if Swedish written language is being developed in analogy with adaptations observable in international chat rooms. While the surprisingly uniform results of the two data sources indicate that Swedish written language is being adapted for online chat (rather than using one language offline and another online), the actual adaptation strategies are much the same as those observed in other adaptations of writing in general. In their paper "Chatting to Learn and Learning to Chat in Collaborative Virtual Environments", Teresa Cerratto and Yvonne Wærn discuss the importance of conversation to educational contexts and the communication problems inherent in using an electronic medium as an educational tool. These authors are more concerned with the information transmission aspect of chat rather than its dominant relationship characteristics. They examine two groups of teachers in Sweden who are learning to use the new collaborative virtual environment, TAPPED IN™. Cerratto and Wærn note some of the strategies that the teachers adopt in attempting to gain the floor in this CVE where there are a number of people vying for attention. At the same time, tactics used by teachers for communicative collaboration are also discussed by these authors. Finally, on the basis of an analysis of their data, Cerratto and Wærn provide arguments for the importance of leadership in these particular learning environments, arguing a leader helps maintain the informational coherence of the discussions. In terms of redressing imbalances in CMC research, not only has language been particularly biased to English, but in some media -- Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in particular -- most research has been qualitative in nature. We may know how users manage their interactions online, but how many are doing so? The bases of many generalisations about adaptation strategies are somewhat shaky on the quantitative front. Much can be gained by combining the quantitative with the qualitative, and with this in mind, Hinner has taken it upon himself to not only create a system capable of capturing usage statistics for all the major IRC networks, but also to provide two years of these statistics and make this system available on his Website. His article details the processes involved in creating the Socip statistical program and sample graphs of the kinds of information that his system can provide. The CMC section of M/C 'Chat' brought to our attention many more articles than we could publish in the already quite expanded issue, and we were sorry to have had to pass over promising work in this popular field. The contributions included, however, represent a turning point in CMC research, in which our wonder -- and glee -- of describing findings of social interaction in what were assumed to be anti-social media, has turned to the detailed consideration of just how socialisation is accomplished in what promise to be increasingly common media. What has not changed, as Paul ten Have notes, and, indeed, as Charles Antaki began the issue, is that all human life can be found in language-in-use -- wherever it takes place. Hinner's article brings the CMC section of M/C 'chat' to a close, but is not quite the last blast. Very early in the article submission process, Ulf Wilhelmsson contacted us about including his "Dialogue on Film and Philosophy". Wilhelmsson wanted to translate -- from the original Swedish -- his Socratic dialogue about film in which Quentin Tarantino moderates a discussion involving numerous influential philosophers, film-makers, film-scholars and the odd Beatle (John Lennon). While we were somewhat taken aback, the rough translation of the first few lines was interesting, and, as it turns out, quite entertaining. Unfortunately, due to its length, the dialogue can not be supplied in regular M/C 'bits', and so we have made it available as a downloadable Rich Text Format file. See the Editor's Preface to Wilhelmsson's article for more information on its content and to download the file itself. This very global issue of M/C brings together people in Germany to New Zealand, Sweden to the UK, all chatting about chat. We hope you enjoy this collection of articles. Felicity Meakins & E. Sean Rintel -- 'Chat' Issue Editors References Laver, John. "Communicative Functions of Phatic Communication." The Organisation of Behaviour in Face-to-Face Interaction. Eds. Adam Kendon, Richard M. Harris, and Mary Ritchie Key. The Hague: Mouton, 1975. 215-38. ---. "Linguistic Routines and Politeness in Greeting and Parting." Conversational Routine: Explorations in Standardised Communication Situations and Prepatterned Speech. Ed. Florian Coulmas. The Hague: Mouton, 1981. 289-304. Malinowski, Bronislaw. Supplement. The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and the Science of Symbolism. C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trebner, 1923. 451-510. Rpt. as "Phatic Communion." Communication in Face-to-Face Interaction. Ed. John Laver and Sandy Hutchinson. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1972. 126-52. Trollope, Antony. Framley Parsonage. New York: Oxford UP, 1980. Watzlawick, Paul, Janet Helmick Beavin, and Don D. Jackson. Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes. New York: Norton, 1967. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Felicity Meakins, E. Sean Rintel. "Editorial: 'Chat'." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.4 (2000). [your date of access] <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/edit.php>. Chicago style: Felicity Meakins, E. Sean Rintel, "Editorial: 'Chat'," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3, no. 4 (2000), <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/edit.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Felicity Meakins, E. Sean Rintel. (2000) Editorial: 'chat'. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(4). <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/edit.php> ([your date of access]).

This issue of M/C Journal asks what’s your vote worth? And what does citizenship mean now? These questions are pressing, not only for the authors and editors of this special issue, but for anyone who contends with the challenges and opportunities presented by the relationship of the individual to the modern state, the difficulty and necessity of effecting change in our polities, and the needs of individuals and communities within frameworks of unequally representative democracies. And we think that’s pretty well all of us. Talk of voting and citizenship also raise further questions about the relationship of macro-level power politics to the mundane sphere of our everyday lives. Voting is a decision that is decidedly personal, requiring the seclusion of the ballot-box, and in Australia at least, a personal inscription of one’s choice on the ballot paper. It’s an important externalisation of our private thoughts and concerns, and it links us, through our nominated representative, to the machinery of State. Citizenship is a matter of rights and duties, and describes all that we are able or expected to do in our relationship with the State and in our membership of communities, however these defined. Our level of activity as citizens is an expression of our affective relationship with State and community – the political volunteerism of small donations and envelope-stuffing, the assertions of protest, membership in unions, parties or community groups are all ways in which our mundane lives link up with tectonic shifts in national, even global governance. Ever since the debacle of the 2000 US presidential election, there has been intensified debate about the effects of apathy, spin and outright corruption on electoral politics. And since the events of the following September, citizens’ rights have been diminished and duties put on something of a war footing in Western democracies, as States militarise in the face of ‘terror’. (“Be alert, not alarmed”). Branches of cultural theory and political science have redoubled their critique of liberal democracy, and the communicative frameworks that are supposed to sustain it, with some scholars presenting voting as a false choice, political communication as lies, and discourses of citizenship as a disciplinary straightjacket. But recent events have made the editors, at least, a little more optimistic. During the time in which we were taking submissions for this special, double issue of M/C Journal, the citizens of Australia voted to change their Federal Government. After 11 years the John Howard-led Liberal Government came to an end on 23 November, swept aside in an election that cost the former PM his own seat. Within a few weeks the new Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd had, on behalf of the nation, ratified the Kyoto protocol on climate change, apologised to the indigenous ‘stolen generation’ who had been taken from their parents as part of a tragically misconceived project of assimilation, and was preparing to pull Australian combat troops out of Iraq. Australia’s long-delayed Kyoto decision was being tipped at the time of writing as an additional pressure the next US president could not possibly ignore. If the Americans sign up, pressure might in turn build on other big emitters like China to find new solutions to their energy needs. Pulling out of Iraq also left the US looking more isolated still in that seemingly interminable occupation. And the apology, though not enough on its own to overcome the terrible disadvantage of Aboriginal people, made front pages around the world, and will no doubt encourage indigenous peoples in their separate, but related struggles. After so many years of divisive intransigence on these and many other issues, after a decade in which the outgoing Government made the country a linchpin of an aggressive, US-led geopolitics of conflict, change was brought about by a succession of little things. Things like the effect on individuals’ relationships and happiness of a new, unfavourable balance in their workplace. Things like a person’s decision to renounce long-standing fears and reassurances. Things like the choices made by people holding stubby pencils in cardboard ballot boxes. These things cascaded, multiplied, and added up to some things that may become bigger than they already are. It was hard to spot these changes in the mundanity of Australia’s electoral rituals – the queue outside the local primary school, the eye-searing welter of bunting and how-to-vote cards, the floppy-hatted volunteers, and the customary fund-raising sausage-sizzle by the exit door. But they were there; they took place; and they matter. The Prime Minister before Howard, Paul Keating, had famously warned the voters off his successor during his losing campaign in 1996 by saying, at the last gasp, that ‘If you change the Prime Minister, you change the country’. For Keating, the choice embodied in a vote had consequences not just for the future of the Nation, but for its character, its being. Keating, famously, was to his bones a creature of electoral politics – he would say this, one might think, and there are many objections to be made to the claim that anything can change the country, any country, so quickly or decisively. Critical voices will say that liberal democracy really only grafts an illusion of choice onto what’s really a late-capitalist consensus – the apparent changes brought about by elections, and even the very idea of popular or national sovereignties are precisely ideological. Others will argue that democratic elections don’t qualify as a choice because there is evidence that the voters are irrational, making decisions on the basis of slender, or incorrect information, and as a result they often choose leaders that do not serve their interests. Others – like Judith Brett in her latest Quarterly Essay, “Exit Right” – argue that any talk of election results signifying a change in ‘national mood’ belies the fact that changes of government usually reflect quite small overall changes in the vote. In 2007, for example, over 46% of the Australian electorate voted for another Howard term, and only a little over 5% of us changed our minds. There is something to all of these arguments, but not enough to diminish the acts of engaged, mundane citizenship that underpinned Australia’s recent transformation. The Australian Council of Trade Unions’ ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign, which started in 2006, was a grassroots effort to build awareness about the import of the Howard Government’s neoliberal industrial relations reform. As well as bringing down the Government, this may have given Australia’s labour movement a new, independent lease of life. Organisations like GetUp also mobilised progressive grassroots activism in key electorates. Former ABC journalist Maxine McKew, the high profile Labor challenger in Howard’s seat of Bennelong, was assisted by an army of volunteer workers. They letterboxed, doorknocked and answered phones for weeks and were rewarded with the unseating of the Prime Minister. Perhaps what Keating should have said is, ‘by the time you change the Prime Minister, the country already has’. By the time the community at large starts flexing its muscles of citizenship, the big decisions have already been collectively made. In the media sphere too, there was heartening evidence of new forms of engagement. In the old media camp, Murdoch’s The Australian tried to fight a rear-guard campaign to maintain the mainstream media as the sole legitimate forum for public discussion. But its commentaries and editorials looked more than ever anachronistic, as Australia’s increasingly mature blogosphere carried debate and alternative forms of reporting on the election right throughout the year leading up to the long campaign. Politicians too made efforts to engage with participatory culture, with smart uses of Facebook, MySpace and blogs by some leading figures — and a much-derided intervention on YouTube by John Howard, whose video clip misguidedly beginning with the words ‘Good morning’ served as an emblem for a government whose moment had passed. There is evidence this year that America is changing, too, and even though the current rise of Barack Obama as a presidential contender may not result in victory, or even in his nomination, his early successes give more grounds for hope in citizenship. Although the enthusiastic reception for the speeches of this great political orator are described by cynics as ‘creepy’ or ‘cultish’, there are other ways of reading it. We could say that this is evidence of a euphoric affective reinvestment in the possibility of citizenship, and of voting as an agent for change — ‘Yes we can’ is his signature line. The enthusiasm for Obama could also simply be the relief of being able to throw off the defensive versions of citizenship that have prevailed in recent years. It could be that the greatest ‘hope’ Obama is offering is of democratic (and Democratic) renewal, a return to electoral politics, and citizenship, being conducted as if they mean something. The mechanics of Obama’s campaign suggest, too, that ordinary acts of citizenship can make a difference when it comes to institutions of great power, such as the US Presidency. Like Howard Dean before him, Obama’s campaign resourcing is powered by myriad, online gifts from small donors – ordinary men and women have ensured that Obama has more money than the Democrat-establishment Clinton campaign. If nothing else, this suggests that the ‘supply-chain’ of politics is reorienting itself to citizen engagement. Not all of the papers in this issue of M/C Journal are as optimistic as this introduction. Some of them talk about citizenship as a means of exclusion – as a way of defining ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups, as a locus of paranoia. Some see citizenship as heterogenous, and that unequal access to its benefits is a deficit in our democracy. The limits to citizenship, and to the forms of choice that liberal democracy allows need to be acknowledged. But we also need to see these mundane acts of participation as a locus of possibility, and a fulcrum for change. Everyday acts of democracy may not change the country, but they can change the framework in which our conversations about it take place. Indeed, democracy is both more popular and less popular than ever. In our feature article, Brian McNair explores the ‘democratic paradox’ that, on the one hand, democracy spread to 120 countries in the twentieth century while, on the other hand, voter participation in the more established democracies is falling. While rightly cautioning against drawing too neat an equivalence between X Factor and a general election, McNair considers the popularity of voting in participatory TV shows, noting that people will indeed vote when they are motivated enough. He asks whether the evident popularity of voting for play purposes can be harnessed into active citizenship. Melissa Bellanta questions the use of rhetoric of ‘democracy’ in relation to participatory media forms, such as voting in reality TV competitions or in online polls. Bellanta shows how audience interaction was central to late-nineteenth century popular theatre and draws provocative parallels between the ‘voting’ practices of Victorian theatre audiences and contemporary viewer-voting. She argues that the attendant rhetoric of ‘democracy’ in such interactions can divert our attention from the real characteristics of such behaviour. Digital artist xtine explores a ‘crisis of democracy’ created by tensions between participation and control. She draws upon, on the one hand, Guattari’s analysis of strategies for social change and, on the other, polemical discussions of culture jamming by Naomi Klein, and by Adbusters’ founder Kalle Lasn. Her paper introduces a number of Web projects which aim to enable new forms of local consumption and interaction. Kimberley Mullins surveys the shifting relationships between concepts of ‘public’ and ‘audience’. She discuses how these different perspectives blur and intertwine in contemporary political communication, with voters sometimes invoked as citizens and sometimes presented with entertainment spectacles in political discourse. Mark Hayward looks at the development of global television in Italy, specifically the public broadcaster RAI International, in light of the changing nature of political institutions. He links changes in the nature of the State broadcaster, RAI, with changes in national institutions made under the Berlusconi government. Hayward sees these changes as linked to a narrowing conception of citizenship used as a tool for increasingly ethno-centric forms of exclusion. Panizza Allmark considers one response to the 7 July 2005 bombings in London – the “We’re not afraid” Website, where Londoners posted images of life going on “as normal” in the face of the Tube attacks. As Allmark puts it, these photographs “promote the pleasures of western cultural values as a defense against the anxiety of terror.” Paradoxically, these “domestic snapshots” work to “arouse the collective memory of terrorism and violence”, only ambiguously resolving the impact of the 7 July events. This piece adds to the small but important literature on the relationship between photography, blogging and everyday life. James Arvanitakis’s piece, “The Heterogenous Citizen: How Many of Us Care about Don Bradman’s Average” opens out from a consideration of Australia’s Citizenship Test, introduced by the former government, into a typology of citizenship that allows for different versions of citizenship, and understandings of it “as a fluid and heterogenous phenomenon that can be in surplus, deficit, progressive and reactionary”. His typology seeks to open up new spaces for understanding citizenship as a practice, and as a relation to others, communities and the State. Anne Aly and Lelia Green’s piece, “Moderate Islam: Defining the Good Citizen”, thinks through the dilemmas Australian Muslims face in engaging with the broader community, and the heavy mediation of the state in defining the “good”, moderate Muslim identity in the age of terror. Their research is a result of a major project investigating Australian Muslim identity and citizenship, and finds that they are dealt with in media and political discourse through the lens of the “clash” between East and West embodied on the “war on terror”. For them, “religion has become the sole and only characteristic by which Muslims are recognised, denying them political citizenship and access to the public spaces of citizenship.” Alex Burns offers a critical assessment of claims made, and theories advanced about citizen media. He is skeptical about the definitions of citizenship and journalism that underpin optimistic new media theory. He notes the need for future research the reevaluates citizen journalism, and suggests an approach that builds on rich descriptions of journalistic experience, and “practice-based” approaches. Derek Barry’s “Wilde’s Evenings” offers a brief overview of the relationships between citizen journalism, the mainstream media and citizenship, through the lens of recent developments in Australia, and the 2007 Federal election, mentioned earlier in this introduction. As a practitioner and observer, Derek’s focus is on the status of citizen journalism as political activism, and whether the aim of citizen journalism, going forward, should be “payment or empowerment”. Finally, our cover image, by Drew, author of the successful Webcomic toothpastefordinner.com, offers a more sardonic take on the processes of voting and citizenship than we have in our introduction. The Web has not only provided a space for bloggers and citizen journalists, but also for a plethora of brilliant independent comic artists, who not only offer economical, mordant political commentary, but in some ways point the way towards sustainable practices in online independent media. Toothpastefordinner.com is not exclusively focused on political content, but it is flourishing on the basis of giving core content away, and subsisting largely on self-generated merchandise. This is one area for future research in online citizen media to explore.The tension between optimistic and pessimistic assessments of voting, citizenship, and the other apparatuses of liberal democracy will not be going anywhere soon, and nor will the need to “change the country” once in awhile. Meanwhile, the authors and editors of this special edition of M/C Journal hope to have explored these issues in a way that has provoked some further thought and debate among you, as voters, citizens and readers. ReferencesBrett, Judith. “Exit Right.” Quarterly Essay 28 (2008).

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? - Habakkuk 1:13 Australia's official national anthem since 1984 has been a song entitled 'Advance Australia Fair'1. This paper asks, very simply, what is the meaning of the word fair in the title and the song. The song is about a collective effort, not so much at being a nation as at being seen to be one, being worthy of the name. The claim is justified on two grounds: possession and intention. We have golden soil, wealth, youth, the ability to toil, freedom, a beautiful country possessed of nature's gifts, boundless plains and so on. We make no particular claim to have done anything as yet but we have good intentions, specifically to toil with hearts and hands to make our nation famous as such. The setting of the song then is temporally ambiguous: we have x and we're about to y. The question naturally enough is: who are we? The song is naturally enough, as an anthem, about answering and not answering that question. Note that the hymn-like qualities of 'God save the Queen' are absent from the new anthem. And yet the song begins as if it were a hymn or a prayer, with the formula: 'Let us (pray/sing?)'. A pseudo-hymn. Who is addressed? We are. The temporal setting of the hymn is substituted with the imminence of an imperative: 'Let us rejoice.' Rejoicing is something we should all do for a long list of reasons. That being the case, 'let us sing'. In 'Advance Australia Fair' it is the imminent future to which voices attend in their act of unison. Whose act of unison? Who is the we? Anthems are always coy about this question which touches on their function and their efficacy. The unspoken answer which the song implies is however that the we addressing and addressed the self-identifying we of the song is fair and going to be fair, and will get there by being fair. That kind of fairness I would argue is characteristic of the we of white man's burden. 'Advance Australia Fair' is eat your cake and have it too stuff: we want to be a young nation about to play on the world's stage but at the same time we want to pretend that what is ours has an eternal quality. We want to borrow the timeless land myth; we don't want to acknowledge the time before our coming. We don't anymore even want to acknowledge our coming. We want to have always been here; but in an ahistoric way. The past should be irrelevant to the way we are now. This consciousness of an identity of pretended eternal rights is only achieved by multiple erasure: of time before the historic, of our historic consciousness of time. It is achieved by means of the terra nullius myth, the myth of an empty land prior to our coming. The song as it stands, the anthem as it is, is the perfect representative of that myth. The explanation of 'the historic facts' in the original version has been removed as an embarrassment. The emptiness posited by 'Advance Australia Fair' is deeply ironic. It represents a refusal of the ethical question which must lie under European presence in Australia. The land is empty because we emptied it. We have land to share because we took land. We only get to look generous because of a theft for which we do not wish to acknowledge responsibility. We sing from an emptiness wrought on ourselves in the act of emptying; the emptying of the land and at once the popular consciousness: emptying it of the fact of the emptying. Emptying ourselves of truth is the reflective act of nation: the basis of the collectivity on which a polity is claimed. It is a making colourless. How fair would that be? The 'Australians all...' update leaves untouched two serious problems with the song, these being the ways in which it might be unsatisfactory from the point of view of indigenous Australians (i.e. their erasure) and, linked with this, the serious ambiguity of the title and the chorus: the problem with the word 'fair'. The word-order inversion in the title/chorus is a kind of pseudo-archaism which tilts the song in the direction of the unintelligible. The inscrutable sign of identity becomes a kind of rite of passage; something which needs to be explained to children and migrants alike. Perfect form of mystification to express as collective sentiment the sentiment of collectivity; no one can definitively know what these words mean. The unknowable privileges a teachers' grasp of the archaic as originary lore: the teacher says it means 'Let's all work together to make Australia a beautiful country, a great country' or 'We should all be proud of Australia because it's such a great country, so we should pull together to make it even better.' Fair enough. Who could object? The central ambiguity means that when we sing the song we don't know whether we are describing how things are or how they should be. Advance Australia because it is fair or so that it will be fair or both reasons: to keep the fair fair? Of course this speculation begs the question about the meaning of the word 'fair'. Of all the various dictionary entries for the word fair the three which seem to coalesce in this usage are: fair as in beautiful, fair as in just and fair as in white. I would argue that these three uses coalesce likewise in the use of fair equally in that typically Australian expression, fair enough: characteristic expression of a country seriously worried for most of its European history about the risk of racial impurity even from 'other' Europeans. In the song the line is emphatic because it is actually repeated in each rendition of the chorus. It is the point the song is making. Or we could say it is the question the song asks: how should Australia be advanced? But this form of the question implies an adverbial construction. An adverb in this position would imply process and therefore a future orientation toward the quality of that process: how Australia ought to be advanced. But if the 'fair' of the chorus is really an adjective then the implication is that Australia is already a 'fair' entity; in advancing Australia one advances its already attained quality of fairness. The beautiful inhabit a just polity. A just polity is a white polity. This is the advance, in the song, that is happening, or has happened, in Australia. In fact this is the advance which the European word (Latin made English down here) constitutes for the continent formerly known to Europe as New Holland: Australia is becoming a white man's country. This song is specifically about the civilising process, about the white man's burden, as it applied to this particular far-flung reach of empire. The advance of the title concerns the progress of civilisation; it assigns to this process a very specific metaphor, that of a military movement. The progress of the white race over the continent is an advance. What appears to be an external motion (promote Australia abroad) belies an internal one: the still ongoing process of conquest and likewise the encouragement to get that done without miscegenation. That Aborigines are given no specific role in this song becomes less mysterious in this light: it is not their country or nationality which is being described here; rather the advance of fair Australia, an advance which takes place at the expense of an unmentioned (unmentionable?) non-polity. The non-inclusion of Aboriginal people in the Australian polity prior to the 1967 referendum shocks many today. And it shocks as unjust, unfair, unreasonable. That it did not seem so for long stretches of white Australia's memory indicates that a different logic was then in force. The convergence of moral value or integrity with race, with language, with tribal membership, is certainly a widespread human phenomenon and one with plenty of Old Testament backing (and plenty of Old Testament caveat as well). And it is familiar to anyone over the age of about thirty in Australia today, to anyone who ever sang the hymn 'All things white and wonderful'. That it is a sentiment unacceptable today in a world dominated by human rights consciousness indicates that the ethics of the last couple of decades have evolved radically from those which preceded them. The British Empire may have carted a lot of white man's burden about the globe but it is fairly hard to claim that it did not primarily exist for the benefit of white men. To argue otherwise now is to acquiesce in a rhetoric which those of us who accept universal human rights have no choice but to reject as racist. Today the civilising mission of the white man and the personal gain it brought white men remain spectacularly successful even and perhaps especially as the colour has been drained from the map. The sun sets on one kind of empire but only because that empire has been succeeded by one more lucrative, and, like the words of the successful anthem, harder to pin down than those in the one that preceded it. As to the event of singing ourselves into the 'fair' future: three connotations just, beautiful, white conflate in an ambiguity where through repetition, through emphasis, and through the dignifying effect of an anthem setting, they come to imply each other. The unspoken terms of the song suffice to imply the conflation: the white man (now all the people) toil to make the land beautiful and just. Whether this is an accomplished fact or an uphill battle, regardless of who is now included in this mission, there is no doubt that this notion of progress as 'Australia-making' is owing to the coming of the white man. Should the question be asked of this chorus then: if this is not blatant racism, is it something subtler? Is it a kind of deep-seated racism which survives the bowdlerizing of those for whom white supremacist rhetoric might be a little close to the bone? One can go further: this polysemy, on which nothing can be pinned, might be a closet racist's gift, because it generates paranoia. It accumulates the force of an exclusion without resorting to any culpable act of exclusion as such. Is this racism at the inscrutable and unconscious core of the nation's sense of itself? Is this the taunting of those whom the nation defines itself as excluding? Is this song taunting them to sing themselves out of the picture? If so then note that they would have two ways to go: they could be assimilated (fair enough?) or they could see themselves excluded. If the effect of this chorus is to say that Australia should go forward under the stewardship of the fair=inter alia white race2, then it is not a question of a particular idea of progress being conveyed despite the erasure of a previous story. The erasure of a particular past, which we are too polite to mention, enables the new story. The other past is erased together with the others who inhabited it. In the world outside of the song however, the others, whom we might be too polite to see, do still inhabit. They inhabit the new story, not as flies on the wall but as flies in the ointment. Should the song be scrapped? Should the lyrics be scrapped? The project of dismantling empires and their signs is, as the eastern bloc has been learning, not as straightforward as it may seem. Cutting the star out of the flag may leave a star-shaped hole for all to see. Advance Australia Fair, its evolution, its status, its popular reading, taboo readings (e.g. this one), the suppression of its earlier version, the fact that what it says and fails to say is officially accepted by Australians to represent Australians: all these things are living reminders of where Australians come from, of the thinking that brought us, of what we possess and how we come to possess it. Fostering awareness of these is of great value to Australians both in understanding ourselves and in deciding where we should go with that knowledge. Thanks to my mother, Sylvia Kelen, for help with research on this paper. Notes 1 It first succeeded 'God Save the Queen' in that role in 1974 following a national opinion poll conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the then Labor government. Incoming Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, reinstated 'God Save the Queen' in 1976. 'Advance Australia Fair' was politically corrected (not a phrase in use at the time) when re-instated as national anthem in 1984, with a view to giving the girls a fair go. The original opening line of Peter Dodds McCormick's nineteenth century song was: 'Australian sons let us rejoice/for we are young and free'. The 'correction' of the present version of the song is noteworthy given the emphasis which the song, and particularly the chorus, places on historical consciousness, more specifically on the self-consciousness of an effort at nationhood. 2 Note that there is plenty of evidence for this in the evolution of the song, especially in the second stanza of the original version: When gallant Cook from Albion sail'd, To trace wide oceans o'er, True British courage bore him onTill he landed on our shore. Then here he raised old England's flag, The standard of the brave; With all her faults we love her still, 'Britannia rules the wave'In joyful, etc The fourth and fifth stanzas of the original version of Peter Dodds McCormick's song describe who would be acceptable as a migrant and what this new political entity would be defending itself from in the case of war:While other nations of the globe Behold us from afar, We'll rise to high renown and shineLike our glorious southern star;From England, Scotia, Erin's Isle, Who come our lot to share, Let all combine with heart and handTo advance and etc.Should foreign foe e'er sight our coast,Or dare a foot to land, We'll rise to arms like sires of yoreTo guard our native strand; Britannia then shall surely know, Beyond wide ocean's roll, Her son's in fair Australia's landStill keep a British soul, In joyful strains and etc. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Kelen, Christopher. "How fair is fair? " M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.3 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/fairisfair.php>. Chicago Style Kelen, Christopher, "How fair is fair? " M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5, no. 3 (2002), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/fairisfair.php> ([your date of access]). APA Style Kelen, Christopher. (2002) How fair is fair? . M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5(3). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0207/fairisfair.php> ([your date of access]).