Liz Marr

Situated Knowledge and the Virtual Science and Industry Museum: Problems in the Social-Technical Interface

The Museum is a perspicuous site for analysing the complex interplay between social, organisational, cultural and political factors which have relevance to the design and use of ‘virtual’ technologies. Specifically, the introduction of virtual technologies in museums runs up against the issue of the situated character of information use. Across a number of disciplines (anthropology, sociology, psychology, cognitive science) there is growing recognition of the ‘situatedness’ of knowledge and its importance for the design and use of technology. This awareness is fostered by the fact that technological developments are often associated with disappointing gains for users. The effective use of technology relies on the degree to which it can be embedded in or congruent with the ‘local’ practices of museum users. Drawing upon field research in two museums of science and technology, both of which are in the process of introducing virtual technologies and exploring the possibilities of on-line access, findings are presented which suggest that the success of such developments will depend on the extent to which they are informed by detailed understanding of practice-practices that are essentially socially constituted in the activities of museum visitors and the daily work of museum professionals.

Easing Access for Lifelong Learners: A Comparison of European Models for University Lifelong Learning.

Easing access to higher education (HE) for those engaging in lifelong learning has been a common policy objective across the European Union since the late 1990s. To reach this goal, the transition between vocational and academic routes must be simplified, but European countries are at different developmental stages. This article maps the development in Denmark, Finland, Germany and England using a case study approach deploying data triangulation from a national and institutional perspective. It explores the extent/commonality of structural factors for easing access for students engaging in lifelong learning. The cases are at widely different stages, but the following factors were considered essential in all countries for opening universities: the establishment of transition paths from secondary education and working life into HE and links between HE, businesses and adult education from a national perspective and the recognition of all forms of learning, the flexibilization of study formats and the design of a curriculum that suits all from an institutional perspective.

Il calcio come prodotto giornalistico: come si fanno i servizi sulle società calcistiche

This paper seeks to apply insights from the ethnomethodological studies of work programme to study of the ordinary, mundane, day-by-day work of a football journalist. In so doing contrasts are drawn between the analytic orientation drawn from this programme and the characteristic concerns and theoretical assumptions of sociological studies of the media, and studies of the «occupational culture» of journalism in particular. The «focus» of the article is the examination of the ordinary and practical work done by the journalist both within the newspaper and within the football club concerned : the authors suggest both that «common sense» views of the journalist as intrusive and «story seeking» are far from accurate, and further that some typical sociological approaches to journalism are a gloss on an elaborate set of practices. This paper takes as its topic the ordinary, day to day working of a journalist who reports on the affairs of one of Englands football clubs. The football club concerned is one of the best known of clubs in the English Premier League. The data reported on is taken from an «occasional» ethnography, that is, a study of journalism which, while lasting a number of years has only occasionally taken football as a specific topic of enquiry