Books on the topic 'Public open on-line courses'

Making Media uncovers what it means and what it takes to make media, focusing on the lived experience of media professionals within the global media, including rich case studies of the main media industries and professions: television, journalism, social media entertainment, advertising and public relations, digital games, and music. This carefully edited volume features 35 authoritative essays by 53 researchers from 14 countries across 6 continents, all of whom are at the cutting edge of media production studies. The book is particularly designed for use in coursework on media production, media work, media management, and media industries. Specific topics highlighted: the history of media industries and production studies; production studies as a field and a research method; changing business models, economics, and management; global concentration and convergence of media industries and professions; the rise and role of startups and entrepreneurship; freelancing in the digital age; the role of creativity and innovation; the emotional quality of media work; diversity and inequality in the media industries. Open Uva Course: the University of Amsterdam has a open course around the book. The course offers a review of the key readings and debates in media production studies. Course slides 2020 Take a look at the Making Media Facebook page here. Take a look at the Table of Contents and Introduction here.

The first completely customisable, open access textbook on Australian politics, Australian Politics and Policy provides a unique, holistic coverage of politics and public topics for use in junior and senior university courses. With an online database of 43 chapters, the book innovatively enables instructors to compile a bespoke edition to suit their teaching needs, or to include individual chapters in course readers. With contributions from Australia’s leading politics and public-policy scholars, the textbook includes material on Australian political history and philosophy, key political institutions, Australian political sociology, public policy making in Australia, and specialised chapters on a range of key policy domains. Each chapter was subject to anonymous and rigorous peer-review to ensure the highest standards. The textbook comes with additional teaching resources including review questions and lecture slides. This second edition contains a number of revisions and new chapters on educational policy, the governance of COVID-19, and political leadership.

The first completely customisable, open access textbook on Australian politics, Australian Politics and Policy provides a unique, holistic coverage of politics and public topics for use in junior and senior university courses. With an online database of 43 chapters, the book innovatively enables instructors to compile a bespoke edition to suit their teaching needs, or to include individual chapters in course readers. With contributions from Australia’s leading politics and public-policy scholars, the textbook includes material on Australian political history and philosophy, key political institutions, Australian political sociology, public policy making in Australia, and specialised chapters on a range of key policy domains. Each chapter was subject to anonymous and rigorous peer-review to ensure the highest standards. The textbook comes with additional teaching resources including review questions and lecture slides. This second edition contains a number of revisions and new chapters on educational policy, the governance of COVID-19, and political leadership.

In the UK, belief, and faith are protected under the legal frame of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and the Equality Act 2010 (Perfect 2016, 11), in which a person is given the right to hold a religion or belief and the right to change their religion or belief. It also gives them a right to show that belief as long as the display or expression does not interfere with public safety, public order, health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others (Equality Act 2010). The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from discrimination, harassment and victimisation because of religion or belief. Religion or belief are mainly divided into religion and religious belief, and philosophical belief (Equality Act 2010, chap. 1). The Dialogue Society supports the Equality Act 2010 (Perfect 2016, 11). Consequently, The Dialogue Society believes we have a duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations within our organisation and society. The Dialogue Society aims to promote equality and human rights by empowering people and bringing social issues to light. To this end, we have organised many projects, research, courses, scriptural reasoning readings/gatherings, and panel discussions specifically on interfaith dialogue, having open conversations around belief and religion. To encourage dialogue, interaction and cooperation between people working on interreligious dialogue and to demonstrate good interfaith relations and dialogue are integral and essential for peace and social cohesion in our society, the Dialogue Society has been a medium, facilitating a platform to all from faith and non-faith backgrounds. The Dialogue Society thrives on being more inclusive to those who might be overlooked in society as a group. Although women seem to be in the core of society as an essential element, the women who contravene the monotype identity tend to remain in the shadows. The media is not just used to get information but also used as a way of having a sense of belonging by the audience. The media creates collective imaginary identities for public opinion. It gathers the audience under one consensus and creates an identity for the people who share this consensus. Hence, a form of media functions as a medium for identity creation and representation. Therefore, the production and reproduction of stereotypes and a monotype representation of women and women of faith in media content are the primary sources of the public's general attitudes towards women of faith. In the context of this report, the media limits not only women's gender but also their religious identity. The monotype identity of women opposes the plurality of the concept of women. Notably, media outlets are criticised for not recognising the differences in women's identities. Women of faith are susceptible to the lack of representation or misrepresentation and get stuck between the roles constructed for their gender and religion. Women who do not fit in these policies' stereotypes get misrepresented or disregarded by the media. Moreover, policymakers also limit their scope to a single monotype of women's identity when policies are made, creating a public consensus around women of faith. As both these mediums lack representation or have very symbolic and distorted representations of women of faith, we strive to provide a platform for all women from faith and non-faith backgrounds. The Dialogue Society has organised women-only community events for women of faith to have a bottom-up approach, including interfaith knitting, reading, and cooking clubs. Several women-only courses have informed women of the importance of interfaith dialogue, promoting current best practices, and identifying and promoting promising future possibilities. We have hosted panel discussions and held women-only interfaith circles where women from different faith backgrounds came together to discuss boundaries within religion and what they believed to transgress their boundaries. Consequently, we organised a panel series to focus on the roles of women of faith within different areas of society, aiming to highlight their unique individual and shared experiences and bring to light issues of inequality that impact women of faith. Although women of faith exist within all areas of society, we chose to explore women's experiences within three different settings to give a breadth of understanding about women of faith's interactions within society. Therefore, we held a panel series titled 'Women of Faith', including three panels, each focusing on a particular area: Women of Faith in Community, Women of Faith in Public Service, and Women of Faith in Media. In this report, following the content analysis method to systematically sort the information gathered by the panel series, we have written a series of recommendations to address these issues in media and policymaking. This paper has a section on specific policy recommendations for those in decision-making positions in the community, public service, and media, according to the content and findings gathered. This report aims to initiate and provide interactive and transferable advice and guidance to those in a position. The policy paper gives insight to social workers, teachers, council members, liaison officers, academics and relevant stakeholders, policymakers, and people who wish to understand more about empowering women of faith and hearing their experiences. It also aims to inspire ongoing efforts and further action to accelerate the achievement of complete freedom of faith, gender equality in promoting, recommending, and implementing direct top-level policies for faith and gender equality, and ensuring that existing policies are gender-sensitive and practices are safe from gender-based and faith-based discrimination for women of faith. Finally, this report is to engage and illustrate the importance of allyship, the outstanding achievement through dialogue based on real-life experience, and facilitate resilient relationships among people of different religious positions. We call upon every reader of this report to join the efforts of the Dialogue Society in promoting an equal society for women of faith.

Education for all is a bold, audacious statement. But that is the very goal of open education. Can you imagine a world where access to education materials is free? Where teachers and learners have the right to reuse, revise, remix, localize and translate those materials? Where copies of textbooks and course materials can be retained without cost? Can you imagine a world where teachers and learners co-create education together? A world where learners engage in assignments that generate global public goods benefiting everyone? You may say this isn’t possible, but open educators around the world have been doing this for years. Building on the work of luminaries such as those featured in this book, open education has grown into a global movement transforming education. Each year, Open Education Global opens up nominations for awards to the entire global open education community. As part of the 10th anniversary of these awards, OEGlobal is publishing this Education For All book, collecting all ten years of award winners into a single volume. This book is a celebration of their achievements.

This book serves as both a textbook and reference for faculty and students in LIS courses on storytelling and a professional guide for practicing librarians, particularly youth services librarians in public and school libraries. Storytelling: Art and Techniqueserves professors, students, and practitioners alike as a textbook, reference, and professional guide. It provides practical instruction and concrete examples of how to use the power of story to build literacy and presentation skills, as well as to create community in those same educational spaces. This text illustrates the value of storytelling, covers the history of storytelling in libraries, and offers valuable guidance for bringing stories to contemporary listeners, with detailed instructions on the selection, preparation, and presentation of stories. It also provides guidance around the planning and administration of a storytelling program. Topics include digital storytelling, open mics and slams, and the neuroscience of storytelling. An extensive and helpful section of resources for the storyteller is included in an expanded Part V of this edition.

Libraries are public places—open to anyone and everyone. This book contains invaluable, practical tips for library staff who sometimes must deal with difficult or even dangerous individuals and situations. Every library experiences difficult patrons. Thorough preparation is the best defense: it's always much better to be proactive than reactive. The authors ofCrash Course in Dealing with Difficult Library Customersrealized that these kinds of situations are more universal than unique, despite the great variations in library environments and customer bases, and pooled their more than 100 years of experience to offer practical advice that will help library staff prepare for the many kinds of "worst case scenarios"—before they arise. The book identifies the basic types of problem-causing individuals, thoroughly overviews effective strategies for offsetting their actions, and explains how to successfully manage the stressful, emotionally charged situations that can arise. Drawing on their extensive real-world experience, the authors provide instructions for "last resort" options when dealing with illegal activities, acknowledge the rights of employees in difficult situations, and present strategies that will minimize staff members' stress levels when dealing with patrons. While this book will be extremely valuable to public library staff, it addresses common situations that can happen in public service at any type of library. Administrators who need to develop policies to protect their staff and their users will also find this unique work essential reading.

Abstract On election day, citizens typically place a mark beside a party or candidate on a ballot paper. The right to cast this mark has been a historic conquest and today, voting is among the most frequent political acts citizens perform. But what does that mark mean to them? This book explores the diverse conceptualizations of voting among citizens in 13 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. This book presents empirical evidence based on nearly a million words about voting from over 25,000 people through an open-ended survey and both qualitative and quantitative methods. The book’s innovative approach includes conceptual, theoretical, and empirical advancements and provides a comprehensive understanding of what voting means to citizens and how these meanings influence political engagement. This book challenges assumptions about universal views on democracy and reveals how meanings of voting vary among individuals and across both liberal democracies and electoral autocracies. The book also examines the implications of these meanings for political behaviour and election reforms. The Meanings of Voting for Citizens is a critical reference for scholars of public opinion, behaviour, and democratization, as well as a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative political behaviour, empirical methods, and survey research. Practitioners working on election reforms will find it particularly relevant via its insights into how citizens’ meanings of voting impact the effectiveness of electoral reforms.

This long-awaited second edition of Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology covers all of the considerable new developments in psychiatric epidemiology that have occurred since the first edition was published in 2003. It includes new content on key topics such as life course epidemiology, gene–environment interactions, bioethics, patient and public involvement in research, mixed methods research, new statistical methods, case registers, policy, and implementation. Looking to the future of this rapidly evolving scientific discipline and how it will respond to the emerging opportunities and challenges posed by ‘big data’, new technologies, open science, and globalization, this new edition will serve as an invaluable reference for clinicians in practice and in training. It will also be of interest to researchers in mental health and people studying or teaching psychiatric epidemiology at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

The case study developed as part of IIEP‐UNESCO Research Project ‘Open Government: Learning From Experience’ analyses how an open government approach is being applied in Ukraine to resolve the critical issue of non‐transparent school financing through parents’ donations that undermines trust among key educational stakeholders. Developed in 2016, the Open School Platform (OS) is an online tool that allows parents to visualise the school’s budget, needs and expenditures in an easy‐ to‐read format. The study shows that OS has contributed to: improved trust among key stakeholders, improved communication and collaboration between school personnel and local public authorities, and more effective planning. But it also confirms that the use of ICT can lead to inequalities in poor rural communities having low levels of Internet access or computer literacy. It concludes on the importance of open government for shifting to a new paradigm of cooperation and partnership. And it recommends providing access to information in line with the Open Data Charter; ensuring a legal framework for citizen participation; using handy and accessible technological solutions; and following a ‘learning‐by‐doing’ approach to build up social capital for constructive interaction with authorities.

Class Acts looks at two often neglected aspects of Jacques Derrida’s work as a philosopher, namely, his public presentations and his teaching, along with the question of the “speech act” that links them, that is, the question of what one is doing when one speaks in public in these ways. The work is divided into two parts, each of which follows Derrida’s itinerary with regard to speech act theory from the 1970s through the 1990s. Part I, titled “Derrida in Montreal,” analyzes Derrida’s critique of John Austin and his own subsequent redefinition of speech act theory over the course of three public lectures or events (in 1971, 1979, and 1997), all three, for reasons I try to identify and explain, in Montreal. Part II. “The Open Seminar,” begins with an overview of Derrida’s teaching career and his famous “seminar” presentations, along with his own explicit reflections on pedagogy and educational institutions beginning in the mid-1970s. It then turns to the way Derrida interrogated and himself redeployed speech act theory in three recently published seminars (on life-death, theory and practice, and forgiveness). We ultimately come to see through this juxtaposition that, whether he was in a conference hall or a classroom, Derrida was always interested in the way in which spoken or written words might not just communicate some meaning or intent but give rise to something like an event. This is a book about the possibility of such events in Derrida’s work as a pedagogue and public intellectual.

Transparency describes openness, accessibility and public understanding of the family justice system. The principle of open justice has long been limited by the need for privacy to protect the interests of vulnerable parties, and the balance between privacy and publicity is subject to a complex web of legislation and case law, especially in family courts. This book provides a detailed practical guide to the relevant legislation, case law, policy and procedure, and how the balance between privacy and publicity has changed over time. Written in the context of the outcome of the President’s Transparency Review (2021), the Second Edition of this title covers recent case law and procedural changes. This includes: - Press attendance and reporting from pilot courts - Legal blogging developments - Privacy of financial applications - Updated judicial guidance on anonymisation and publication, including the transfer of primary publication from BAILII to TNA The Appendix of case studies has been updated to include recent key cases. This title provides practitioners in family courts with an explanation of the relevant law, so that they are well-equipped to advise their clients on their remedies, rights and obligations with regard to transparency. It will also assist media lawyers, journalists, legal bloggers and social workers. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law online service.

This monograph presents a detailed, lively, and original chronicle and analysis of New Zealand’s competition law. The modern era began with the Commerce Act 1986 and since then a steady corpus of case law has traversed all the major areas of antitrust law: cartels, resale price maintenance, exclusive dealing, tying, monopolization, predatory pricing, mergers, private and public enforcement, and so on. The volume explains the rationale for the major reforms of the Commerce Act and traces the development of key concepts such as effective competition, efficiency, market power, market definition, entry barriers, wealth transfers, and public benefit over the last 34 years. The book provides an extended critique of the landmark cases and legislative amendments. It assesses the desirable, and undesirable, aspects of competition law’s interpretation and doctrinal development by the courts and Commerce Commission. Systemic issues are explored such as: how well has New Zealand moulded its own competition law, whilst, nonetheless, selectively drawing upon the policy prescriptions, case law, and wisdom from foreign jurisdictions? How well has it adapted its competition law to the reality of it being a small, distant, isolated, deregulated, open economy? How has the transplanted Harvard School versus Chicago School debate played out in New Zealand? How have unique, if not rash, experiments such as its “light-handed” regulation for utilities worked? It concludes by drawing together the common threads that mark the modern era and offering some predictions about how the next decades of New Zealand competition law might unfold.

Scientists must communicate their work through clear writing and publish it where it will be read. To succeed, you need method, but also need to understand the worlds of journals, publishers and science evaluation. The Editor’s Guide to Writing and Publishing Science provides a comprehensive approach to how to write engaging papers, and strategies for publishing where they will be read and have impact. Drawing on decades of experience as a scientist, mentor and chief editor, Michael Hochberg offers a unique, authoritative view on writing science and into the little-known worlds of journals and publication. Succeeding in science means being a citizen of science, and The Editor’s Guide educates the reader in some of the most pressing issues and possible solutions, and provides key references for deeper exploration. Developing one’s career does not mean careerism, and Hochberg provides guidelines and advice for young researchers to engage in the craft of science, forge collaborations, contribute to the scientific commons as a peer reviewer and interact through social media. Understanding the challenges and opportunities in publishing is only possible with knowledge of how science communication is changing, and the reader is introduced to the important, emerging world of Open Science. Written in a practical and accessible way for students, postdoctoral researchers, early-career scientists and professionals across a wide range of scientific fields, The Editor’s Guide is a powerful tool for learning and improving individual skills, and can be the basis for discussion groups, or used as a text for dedicated classroom courses.

The Second Pedagogical Notebook is a continuation of the first ‘notebook’, dedicated to the Urban Planning Research course. The course and the notebook were created by Prof. Ivana Šverko, with the aim of offering students of architecture in Split the basics of urban planning research in a Mediterranean context. The idea behind the pedagogical notebook is to contribute to the recognition of the research phase as an essential starting point in the entire, complicated process of urban planning and design, as well as an understanding of research methodologies in specific spatial and social conditions. One of the ideal real-world templates for realising this goal is Zrinsko- Frankopanska Street, which developed along one of the Split peninsula’s Roman centuriation lines. This street connects the historical southern city harbour with the newer, northern one. Zrinsko-Frankopanska is an exceptionally important city street, and along its length there are a range of buildings dating from the ancient period to the 21st century, with almost every historical period represented. It is here that the most diverse range of public facilities can be found. The students mapped, studied, and analysed this city street, using historical and morphological analysis of spatial connections, greenery, the relationship between the public and the private, the accessible and inaccessible spaces, purpose, urban equipment, and so on. In doing so, they also noted relevant everyday human activities such as disposing of rubbish, as well as things such as the position and content of graffiti. They also included morphography – the description of forms without reference to their sources and development process – in their analytical approach. After the research phase, the students were instructed to target the problems they detected by proposing improvements to the existing elements, or by redesigning them. They were also required to open up the possibility of alternate uses for the space, up to the point in the design process when an architect or designer would usually take over. By presenting the study of a specific segment in this book, we wish to help students consider the complexity of the urban tissue, define the basic urban elements, research development processes, the typological and morphological characteristics of constriction and, ultimately, to identify everything that constitutes the “urban space as a whole”. We wish to guide them so that with their unique knowledge and tools, and their inclusion of all the other relevant professions in the processes of urban planning, they can become architects with sound professional and ethical principles, and develop into a new generation of responsible city-builders.

Greek Music in America: A Reader provides a foundation for understanding the scope, practice, and development of Greek music in America through essays by the principal scholars in the field. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive view of the subject; despite the richness, diversity, and longevity of Greek music in America, there has been relatively little available on the topic. The volume includes several previously published essays, as well as recent work by contemporary specialists on the Greek diaspora. The book opens with a sociohistorical overview of Greek music in America, followed by four major sections. The essays brought together in Musical Genre, Style, and Content cover topics ranging from changes in sacred music in the United States to Café Aman, rebetika, amanedes, Turkish influences, and verbal interjections in musical performances. In the Places section, authors interrogate the musical culture of specific Greek American communities. Delivering the Music: Recording Companies and Performance Venues examines the many ways that music was made available. Profiles provides biographical sketches of noteworthy individuals or entities that shaped the course of Greek music in America or contributed to its allure and perpetuation through their exceptional skills. An additional essay on publicly available Greek music collections completes the book.

The words housing developer and housing development have been defined in section 3 of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 (the Act). These statutory definitions have severally been discussed and examined by the courts in several case law and it has been contended that the meanings of the definitions are too loose,enigmatic and vague. The certitude on the meaning of housing developer and housing development is a must for otherwise, it would be difficult for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) and as well as to the public to identify persons deemed to be housing developers or carrying out housing development. It is perceived that not all persons, who have literally been called as housing developers, or carrying out housingdevelopments activities fall within the intended legal and statutory definitions of the Act. Thus they are not requiredto abide by the provisions of the Act. Conversely, persons who may have been initially deemed not to have undertakenactivities of housing developer or carrying out housing development, yet based on the principles adopted and defined in section 3 of the Act and the judgments in the case law, have rendered them not to have fallen into the meaning of housing developers and/or carrying out housing development and thus are subject to the provisions and obligations provided in the Act. Again, based on examinations over these definitions, it is found that the definitions of housing developer and housing development as spelt out in section 3 and surprisingly from the principles enunciated in the case law, the meaning of housing developer and housing development are still uncertain and open to various interpretations.

In 19th-century France, fashion was a powerful and lucrative regime that depended on women’s expert manipulation of its raw materials. The delicate finger work of seamstresses and modistes yielded frothy dresses and ethereal hats; the subtle, persuasive rhetoric of written chronicles resulted in savvy, targeted marketing campaigns of goods and behaviors; and the stylized visual splendor of the detailed drawing, engraving, and painting of fashion plates fed an aspirational fantasy that ended in consumption. Yet this fashion system paradoxically effaced many of the women on whom it depended. Behind the Seams examines these women—both working- and middle-class—who were key to shaping the fashion economy while remaining largely out of sight. Susan Hiner’s inquiry opens both fashion studies and French cultural studies to new ways of understanding the nineteenth century. Rather than repeating the familiar narrative of women as victims of fashion, this book tells a more complicated story. Indeed, Behind the Seams uncovers productive women workers, writers, and artists who achieved both agency and influence within a system that was undeniably oppressive. Although these women’s work and lives were masked by popular mythologizing, anonymity, and marginalization, Hiner’s close examination reveals how they developed sophisticated strategies for achieving active livings careers. This social history describes the women workers of the French fashion industry in the nineteenth century, first the world of les petites mains (little hands), and then the fashion columnists and illustrators—“fashion’s eyes and ears.” The story is foundational for the industry that endures to this day. At its origins, of course, the industry was practically revolutionary, for it involved immense social upheaval: women who had been compelled by convention to live sequestered lives, were now compelled to take work, and hence to enter the public sphere—and to negotiate the boundary between invisibility and visibility. Behind the Seams uses the metaphor of seams—equating hiddenness with respectability—to reveal a story more complex than previously acknowledged. Behind the Seams ushers women workers and their work out of obscurity and asks that we rethink women’s relation to fashion as one not only of passive consumption, but also, importantly, of productive agency and self-determination.

Chinese media in the reform era walk a fine line between commercialized diversification and party-state control. Nowhere have these two trends been in more open conflict than at Southern Weekly (Nanfang Zhoumo), a Guangzhou-based newspaper known for reliably pushing the envelope on media controls. Soon after a new group of political leaders rose to power in early 2013, these tensions boiled over, with censors making draconian cuts to the paper’s New Year’s edition. Fiery debates raged inside the paper about how to push back against ever-tightening constraints on reporting, while daring public protests outside the paper’s headquarters demanded freedom of speech. As the protests came to an end, the party-state’s hold on media had only tightened. Silencing Chinese Media, a gripping insider’s account of these events, highlights the tensions inherent within the program of “reform and opening” and foreshadows the challenges facing Chinese media and civil society in this new era.

Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine (February 2022), hackers have become more active on a global scale. The clashes between Russian and Ukrainian “cyber armies” are at its central front line. Russian Hackers and the War in Ukraine: Digital Threats and Real-World Consequences scrutinizes the unique situation where cyber criminals, who usually operate clandestinely, have surfaced and looked for public attention and approval. This book does not cover technical aspects of hacking. Instead, it scrutinizes the public activity of Russian hacker groups including building their brand, communicating with supporters, their financial situation, and other crucial aspects. This research draws mainly on open sources such as social media entries comprised of texts, videos, images, and chat comments which were collected through daily monitoring of the hacking groups’ activities.

This chapter argues that EU socioeconomic coordination can support social investment. Both the Lisbon Treaty’s main norms and goals and the European Semester’s short-term goals are in line with social investment. This chapter closely scrutinizes the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) stemming from the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). Whereas this coordination cycle has been criticized for having a one-sided focus on limiting public expenditure, even the SGP at times results in recommendations that encourage social investment. Such recommendations only address a limited number of policies and are communicated to a small number of countries. However, the scope for and the content of social investment recommendations changes from year to year, reflecting that coordination is open to changes. This adjustment capacity provides new opportunities for social investment to further integrate into the European Semester process of socioeconomic coordination, thus building on core social principles of the Lisbon Treaty.

Stand-up comedians have a long history of walking a careful line between serious and playful engagement with social issues: Lenny Bruce questioned the symbolic valence of racial slurs, Dick Gregory took time away from the stage to speak alongside Martin Luther King Jr. , and—more recently—Tig Notaro challenged popular notions of damaged or abject bodies. Stand-up comedians deploy humor to open up difficult topics for broader examination, which only underscores the social and cultural importance of their work. Taking a Stand: Contemporary US Stand-Up Comedians as Public Intellectuals draws together essays that contribute to the analysis of the stand-up comedian as public intellectual since the 1980s. The chapters explore stand-up comedians as contributors to and shapers of public discourse via their live performances, podcasts, social media presence, and political activism. Each chapter highlights a stand-up comedian and their ongoing discussion of a cultural issue or expression of a political ideology/standpoint: Lisa Lampanelli’s use of problematic postracial humor, Aziz Ansari’s merging of sociology and technology, or Maria Bamford’s emphasis on mental health, to name just a few. Taking a Stand offers a starting point for understanding the work stand-up comedians do as well as its reach beyond the stage. Comedians influence discourse, perspectives, even public policy on myriad issues, and this book sets out to take those jokes seriously.

The first CBs were private institutions that were given a monopoly over the issuance of currency by government in return for help in financing the budget and adherence to the rules of the gold standard. Under this standard the price of gold in terms of currency was fixed and the CB could issue or retire domestic currency only in line with gold inflows or outflows. Due to the scarcity of gold this system assured price stability as long as it functioned. Wars and depressions led to the replacement of the gold standard by the more flexible gold exchange standard. Along with restrictions on international capital flows this standard became a major pillar of the post–WWII Bretton Woods system. Under this system the U.S. dollar (USD) was pegged to gold, and other countries’ exchange rates were pegged to the USD. In many developing economies CBs functioned as governmental development banks.Following the world inflation of the 1970s and the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, eradication of inflation gradually became the explicit number one priority of CBs. The hyperinflationary experiences of the first half of the 20th century, which were mainly caused by over-utilization of the printing press to finance budgetary expenditures, convinced policymakers in developed economies, following Germany’s lead, that the conduct of monetary policy should be delegated to instrument independent CBs, that governments should be prohibited from borrowing from them, and that the main goal of the CB should be price stability. During the late 1980s and the 1990s numerous CBs obtained instrument independence and started to operate on inflation targeting systems. Under this system the CB is expected to use interest rate policy to deliver a low inflation rate in the long run and to stabilize fluctuations in economic activity in the short and medium terms. In parallel the fixed exchange rates of the Bretton Woods system were replaced by flexible rates or dirty floats. The conjunction of more flexible rates and IT effectively moved the control over exchange rates from governments to CBs.The global financial crisis reminded policymakers that, of all public institutions, the CB has a comparative advantage in swiftly preventing the crisis from becoming a generalized panic that would seriously cripple the financial system. The crisis precipitated the financial stability motive into the forefront of CBs’ policy concerns and revived the explicit recognition of the lender of last resort function of the CB in the face of shocks to the financial system. Although the financial stability objective appeared in CBs’ charters, along with the price stability objective, also prior to the crisis, the crisis highlighted the critical importance of the supervisory and regulatory functions of CBs and other regulators. An important lesson from the crisis was that micro-prudential supervision and regulation should be supplemented with macro-prudential regulation and that the CB is the choice institution to perform this function. The crisis led CBs of major developed economies to reduce their policy rates to zero (and even to negative values in some cases) and to engage in large-scale asset purchases that bloat their balance sheets to this day. It also induced CBs of small open economies to supplement their interest rate policies with occasional foreign exchange interventions.