Reading sites as sights for reading. The sale of newspapers in Germany before 1933 : Bookshops in railway stations,kiosks and street vendors

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the founding of the German nation-state, the removal of various restrictions on the distribution of newspapers, a decrease in the price of paper and an improvement in printing techniques, lighting and means of communication opened the way in Germany for the mass distribution of reading material, in general, and newspapers in particular. In those years a closely-knit network of distribution of newspapers and journals developed which had a decisive role in popularising a reading culture in the period of transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. Various aspects of this system of distribution are considered through examination of three points of distribution of newspapers and journals; bookshops in railway stations, kiosks and the sale of newspapers on the streets. Methods of distributing newspapers and the position of these points of distribution in the social space are considered to decipher the social and cultural significance of these points of distribution as 'reading sites': that is, as places where readers and newspapers came together, representing a variety of social, economic and cultural interests. Thus the aim of this paper is not only to examine the points of distribution as 'reading sites' but to reveal these places as 'sights of reading'; that is, as places that helped people orient themselves in the modern space. Orientation in the modern urban space depended more and more on the eyes and this rapid development of the 'viewing' culture led to an increase in semiotic sensibility and to a need for means of learning and sources of information to cultivate this sensibility.     

宣南文化与北京清末民初的报刊

北京的近代报刊出现较晚 ,辛亥革命后成为全国报刊发行中心之一。北京近代报刊的发行中心在宣南地区 ,尤其是以琉璃厂为中心的区域。这一分布特征的形成是受到清代形成的宣南士人文化的影响 ,是宣南文化的余波。其内容反映了北京官僚、知识阶层及民众的政治倾向。     

How does newspaper coverage of collective action vary?: Protest by Indigenous people in Canada

Newspapers are a widely used source of data about collective action and social movements. In this study, we build upon a growing body of literature that critically assesses the coverage that newspapers provide of protest. We consider coverage in relation to a set of protest events that have yet to be considered in the literature (protest by Indigenous people in Canada); we consider multiple years (1985 and 1995); and finally, we measure coverage differently than has been done in previous studies (multiple articles and type of coverage as opposed to yes/no assessments). Using data on forty-three protest events, covered in seven Canadian newspapers, we find that while some events are covered by a similar number of newspapers, the volume of articles and type of coverage can be very different. We also find that for most newspapers, coverage rates improved over time. Scholars must be careful to assess whether increases in protest are real or merely reflect increases in coverage.     

A sensorial No Man’s Land: corporeality and the Western Front during the First World War

ABSTRACT

During the First World War in France and Belgium life on the Western Front was predominantly lived below the surface. The proliferation of hitherto unimaginably powerful weaponry rendered surface existence untenable. This retreat into the earth necessitated a complete revision of soldiers’ somatic engagement with their immediate environment. In my work as an archeologist of modern conflict landscapes, I have devised a methodology which combines archeological exploration with participant sensation or “sensory ethnography” to interrogate these complex, ambiguous and often dangerous subterranean places. In this article I show that as the war destroyed it also created new realities in which the senses were forced to work together like never before under the pressures of industrialized warfare. My work suggests how a holistic investigation (grounded in sensorality) of particular modern conflict landscapes can take the form of an ethnographic archeology, or an ethnography of the dead, demonstrating the potential for archeology and anthropology to work together in the increasingly interdisciplinary field of modern conflict studies.     

Simmel on Acceleration, Boredom, and Extreme Aesthesia

By focusing on the unique velocity and over‐stimulation of metropolitan life, Georg Simmel pioneered an interpretation of cultural boredom that has had a significant impact on contemporary social theory by viewing it through the modern experience of time‐pressure and social acceleration. This paper explores Simmel's account of boredom by showing how—in the frenzy of modern life—it has become increasingly difficult to qualitatively distinguish which choices and commitments actually matter to us. Furthermore, this emotional indifference invariably pushes us towards more excessive and risky behavior, towards, what I call, “extreme aeshesia.” Insofar as novel experiences quickly become routine in the technological age, it appears that only extreme sensations and experiences can break the spell of boredom, allowing us to momentarily feel strongly for something.     

中国化新闻教育的滥觞——从20世纪20年代燕大新闻系谈起

中国新闻教育事业缘起于应付近代化报业发展之需。本文试图通过追溯中国近代化报业发展轨迹 ,来突显新闻教育在新闻事业发展过程中所扮演的角色。另一方面 ,当人们谈论到新闻教育单位之时 ,燕大新闻系的地位与贡献则是不容忽视的。本文以燕大新闻系为研究载体 ,并从该系办学经费来源的转换、所举办的专业学术活动、强调“中国化”及“理论与实践相结合”的课程设置和实习刊物 ,以及毕业生的贡献等方面探讨该系对我国新闻教育事业做出的巨大贡献。     

Framing same-sex marriage: Media constructions of California's Proposition 8

Legislation regarding the legalization of same-sex marriages has been advocated for and opposed across distinct states in the United States. Claims makers on either side of the issue have attempted to have their voices heard in local and national newspapers. Newspaper personnel determine how to frame the issue, deciding which meanings associated with same-sex marriage will be highlighted and which will go unrepresented. This paper analyzes the media framing of Proposition 8 in California, a voter initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage, comparing frames across three newspapers: one local to California, the San Francisco Chronicle, and two national, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The paper illustrates shifts in frames from May 2008 to August 2010, a time period extending from the vote on the initiative through two court challenges. Overall, the results indicate that these newspapers more frequently frame same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and that those attempting to block same-sex marriage do so as a function of discrimination. Less frequently, they frame same-sex marriage as a threat to heterosexual marriage. The findings show that the frequency with which the frames appear shift across newspapers as well as the time period of study.     

简化字应否无限类推——读横排简化字整理本古籍有感

简化字的法定数目到底有多少 ,能否采用无限类推简化的方法简化汉字 ,这在目前的权威工具书以及出版物中都有不同的处理。本文从国务院废止“二简”通知有关稳定汉字的精神出发 ,考虑中文信息化以及因特网发展的现实 ,主张以目前的GBK字库 (也就是GB1 30 0 0 .1 )为准 ,不采用无限类推简化的方法 ,并呼吁加快语言文字立法的进程     

The Politics of Expertise in Congress and the News Media

Objective. Experts are increasingly active in U.S. policymaking, but what accounts for their varied visibility is unclear. The agenda-setting and media studies literature suggest that experts are generally neutral, distant actors in policymaking whose products are made visible by Congress and the news media when helpful. This study examines how and when the intentional efforts of experts can also affect their relative visibility and whether a proliferation of expert organizations, as has occurred in American policymaking in recent decades, is correctly viewed as creating conditions for more rational, thoughtful decisionmaking, as some existing scholarship might suggest. Methods. I consider the conveyance of expertise among a sample of 66 public policy think tanks in congressional testimony and three national newspapers between 1991 and 1995. In a multivariate analysis, I evaluate what accounts for the quantity of congressional and media visibility. I then use a content analysis to examine differences in the nature of visibility received by think tanks. Results. Washington-based think tanks and think tanks of no identifiable ideology have some advantage in gaining congressional and media visibility overall. Think tanks deemed credible receive more, and more substantive, visibility than those that are ideological and marketing-oriented. Conclusions. Cumulatively, my findings suggest that more credible, staid, not identifiably ideological expert organizations are slightly favored by congressional staff members and journalists to provide guidance on issues and news stories. More ideological and marketing-oriented sources of expertise, by contrast, are more relied upon to build support for ideas, either in staged congressional hearings or on the editorial pages of newspapers. Expert organizations can affect their relative visibility; the evidence is mixed on whether their proliferation makes policymaking and decisionmaking better informed or more rational or thoughtful.     

清末北京社会教育述论

19-20世纪之交,在清政府和一些热心人士的推动下,北京社会教育通过近代报刊、宣讲所、阅报处、简易识字学塾、半日学堂、夜学堂、戏曲等途径逐渐开展起来。这些活动不仅增加了北京普通民众的识字机会,激发了北京市民的爱国热情,而且对净化当时北京地区的社会风气起到了一定的作用。     

不应一概否定“人治”

在强调＂依法治国＂的当今社会,＂人治＂成了权大于法、无法无天、滥用职权、肆意枉为、徇私舞弊的代名词,犹如过街老鼠,早已臭名昭著了。但多数人对＂人治＂的理解是片面的,甚至是误解或曲解的,使＂人治＂在很大程度上蒙受了不白之冤,故欲冒天下之大不韪,为其正名。     

理想的双性文化及其对社会进步的意义

男女两性是构成社会的两个相对独立的两极.在社会的发展中,生产力的发展状况制约了人力资源的开发和利用.从古至今,两性文化经历了两次大的偏离,并且迄今仍然延续着父权时代的某些特征.在当代社会,应当打破两性文化的二歧化思维,建设有益于社会发展的和谐、文明的理想双性文化.     

Measuring Away the Importance of Institutions: The Case of Seigneurial Tenure and Agricultural Output in Canada East, 1851*

This article argues that the 1851 census of Canada East (the modern‐day province of Quebec) requires a set of important corrections. Using corrections based on ethnic origin composition, I demonstrate how significantly wheat and oat yields were underestimated in Canada East. More importantly, I argue that the measurement errors are not randomly distributed and that they are biased against attempts to test the role of institutions. I show how the new method of correcting the data change our interpretation of agricultural efficiency in Lower Canada in the mid‐19th century. While this correction may seem minor, it shows that in the past, the data took a form that was biased against numerous hypotheses concerning land tenure institutions.     

Policing the Borderlands: White- and Black-American Newspaper Perceptions of Multiracial Heritage and the Idea of Race, 1996–2006

By employing a new policy of "check all that apply," the Census Bureau accommodated a mushrooming multiracial lobby demanding that its members be allowed a right to self-identification. With its implied shifting meaning of race, newspapers portrayed the reaction to this change as a firestorm of debate along racial fault lines, highlighted by Black-American inferences that this was a perilous decision. Using textual analysis, I examine from 1996 to 2006 how five Black-American and three White-American newspapers characterized multiracial people. White-American papers framed the discussion in two ways: (a) multiracial people epitomize a new era in which race has lost its bite, and (b) Black America stands in the way of their gaining their civil rights. There were also two frames for the Black-American papers: (a) The lobby advocates individual identity and is undergirded by denial or distancing from Blackness, and (b) that focus undermines Black America's future by playing into the misguided notion that race is socially insignificant.     

Caring for the poor versus degrading the poor – the case of Hong Kong newspaper charity

This study examined how Hong Kong newspapers constructed charity and what the implications were for Hong Kong's residual welfare state. The Oriental Daily (OD) and the Apple Daily (AD), the two most popular newspapers, with over 50 per cent of Hong Kong's newspaper market, were selected as the objects of study. A total of 155 cases were collected from the social service columns of these two newspapers between 1 August and 31 October 2000. The study found that poor physical health and 'incomplete family patterns' were the criteria used to verify the recipients' dependency, which also formed the basis for charitable welfare entitlements. Moreover, an extremely unequal social status was produced between donors and recipients. The former were accorded high social recognition for their charitable contributions whereas the latter were presented as being desperate, weak and helpless people. In addition, four categories of needs were identified; tradition-oriented needs, emergency assistance, basic material assistance and basic health needs. The study concluded that Hong Kong newspaper charity has helped to consolidate the basis for a residual welfare state. It also revealed that charity was mainly able to deal only with short-term and specific needs at a particular point in time. More importantly, it was found that a code of practice is needed for journalists involved in charitable activities in order to safeguard the dignity of recipients.     

对《兵马俑证谬》一文的问谬

《唐都学刊》2009年第2期发表刘九生《兵马俑证谬》一文,质疑秦始皇兵马俑身份,并提出＂兵马俑＂不是所谓的＂兵＂与＂马＂,而是一群＂郎＂系统。此文一出,报纸、电台、网络媒体风云而动,大有席卷之势。笔者限于学识,无法全面评价,仅对＂证谬＂不能释疑之处＂问谬＂一二。     

试论俄语随机词的特征与功能

报刊俄语中大量出现的随机词是言语的词汇单位,它的自造性、使用的一次性、对上下文的依赖性以及修辞功能上的强大表现力,使它与规范词有着本质上的区别。同时,它也是变革中的俄罗斯社会政治、经济形势、社会风气在现代俄语中的生动反映。分析和研究随机词,对于我们学好俄语、熟悉和了解俄罗斯国情文化不但具有一定的理论意义,而且具有较大的实践意义。     

试论《经典释文》对古汉语常用异读字异读音性质的确认

所谓常用异读字,是指古今均常用、古代汉语有一个或多个与常见音相对的异读的字。所谓异读音的性质,是指异读是否区别意义。对常用异读字异读性质的确定是一项实用性很强的研究。学者们一般通过《广韵》的释义来确定常用异读字异读音的性质,但由于受其韵书性质的局限,确定常用异读字异读音的性质往往有很多不足。《经典释文》是弥补《广韵》这方面不足的好材料。利用《经典释文》常用异读字的注音数据与《广韵》常用异读字的音义相互印证,可以提高确定常用异读字异读音性质的准确性。     

Gauging crime in late eighteenth-century London

This article uses a new method to gauge eighteenth-century crime. It counts the crimes committed against metropolitan London's justices noted in newspapers and in the Old Bailey Sessions Papers, and finds crime more prevalent than current historiography acknowledges. The article contests current claims that the manner in which newspapers noted crime constructed their readers' perception of crime, making their readers believe crime was much more horrific, and the judicial system much more just, than readers would otherwise have thought they were. The article also argues that some crimes were attacks on the powerful because they were powerful.     

Spain

I spent several miserable weeks in Paris: each day I relayed to Izvestia the communiqu6s from Spain appearing in the French newspapers, I kept going to the Spanish embassy, I helped the fist volunteers make their way to Barcelona. I only remained in Paris because I could get no answer from the home office as to whether or not I might leave for Spain as a war correspondent. Again and again I was given the laconic, mysterious answer, W e are deciding the matter." I still did not wholly know the meaning of that magical verb, I lost my temper, and finally I felt I could not wait any longer. One day the paper called my Paris apartment to inquire why I had stopped wiring them, and Liuba answered: "Didn't you know? He's in Spain."