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Public Contexts (public + context)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Going Public: Teaching Students to Speak Out in Public Contexts

ENGLISH IN EDUCATION, Issue 2 2000
Judith Baxter
Abstract Many students find speaking in large group, whole class or ,public' contexts intimidating. Over the last 30 years, a model of collaborative talk in small groups has been favoured within English teaching in British education but, with the new generation of GCSE syllabuses, students are required to speak effectively to larger audiences. This article explores what constitutes an effective ,public' speaker at GCSE level, and suggests various teaching strategies as starting points. [source]

THE CHANGING NATURE OF MUSEUMS

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 4 2000
Gordon Freedman
The historical circumstances,scientific, social, and economic,that brought forth the great museums of the world no longer exist. In their place is a new public context that shifts attention from museums whose business is objects to organizations whose business is information. At the same time, the economic-survival mechanism of museums is shifting from grand philanthropy to innovative development programs and market-sensitive commercial endeavors. Meeting the needs of the next generations of visitors and cultivating the next generation of funders will not be simple. Massive changes in the social fabric of the nation will soon demand new kinds of institutions that play new roles in society. Museums that meet this challenge will not simply be competing with other sectors of society for public attention and funds. Future success will require the fundamental reinvention of museums so that their purpose is obvious and their mission is clearly aligned with the needs of future generations. [source]

Extending the Theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) Through a Community Dialogue Process

COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2000
W. Barnett Pearce
CMM is a communication theory that has most often been used as an interpretive heuristic in interpersonal communication contexts. Within the past 5 years, however, CMM has guided the work of the Public Dialogue Consortium, a not-for-profit organization involved in a multiyear, citywide collaborative community action project. This project has extended CMM from an interpretive to a practical theory and from interpersonal to public contexts. This essay describes the coevolution of the theory and practices that occurred in that project, strongly confirming the utility of treating communication as the primary social process-CMM's central thesis. Six other CMM concepts, including coordination, forms of communication, episode, logical force, person position, and contextual reconstruction, were also significantly elaborated. Appropriately for a practical theory (Cronen, 1995a, p. 231), the extensions of CMM include both new forms of practice and additions and refinements to its grammar for discursive and conversational practices. [source]