‘Away with the fairies?’ Disability within primary‐age children's literature

This article outlines the findings of a new study that explores the portrayal of disability within a sample of the primary‐age children's literature most readily available to UK schools. The kind of literature to which children are exposed is likely to influence their general perceptions of social life. How disability is handled by authors is therefore important from the standpoint of disability equality. Findings suggest that whilst there are some good examples of inclusive literature ‘out there’, discriminatory language and/or negative stereotypes about disability continue to be present in a range of more contemporary children's books. Clearly, more still needs to be done to ensure that schools and teachers are provided with information relating to the best examples of inclusion literature and efforts must continue to be made to inform authors, publishers and illustrators about how to approach the issue of disability.     

Management,Governance and Intellectual Property: Electronic Publishing in the UK

Intellectual property issues have been formulated mostly in termsof legal and regulatory aspects. In the case of electronicpublishing, as with a number of other technology-basedindustries, there has been concern on the part of government andinternational bodies to tighten intellectual property rights(IPRs). On the basis of a survey of smaller electronicpublishing firms in the UK, we find that such tightening of IPRshas little support from them. Instead, they voice concern thatintensified regulation, whatever it gains for them in revenues,could alter the whole structure of the industry in ways veryunfavourable to them. The survey reveals that their mainconcerns are, instead, directed at the kind of issues portrayedin the recent literature on ``dynamic capabilities'. In thisliterature, the extent of replicability is central to theprovision of IPRs. We find that policy-makers see electronicpublishing as an instance of `easy replicability', thuswarranting tougher IPRs, whereas the industry itself seesreplicability as considerably harder, because of dependence oninternal capabilities generated within firms. Changes ingovernance need to relate more closely to managementcapabilities.     

Managers' Innovations as 'Sense-making'

Interpretations related to the social construction of innovation, derived from data provided by managers in an IT company, are placed within a conceptual framework of 'sense-making', modified to take account of power relationships. The discussion in the body of the paper, illustrated and structured by reference to three case studies, deals with how innovators rely on experience in securing and shaping their identities in the face of disruptive events and how, from these origins, innovations are socially enacted within the organizational context, infused by power relations. In the concluding section it is proposed that the novelty of 'an innovation', and the degree of individual and social creativity required to achieve it, depend on the difficulty of making sense of disruptive events within the constraints of social relationships in their organizational context. It seems sensible, therefore, that a research agenda concerned with enhancing understanding of innovation processes should focus on the social construction of innovations, driven by the need individuals experience to make sense of disturbing stimuli in ways which protect and, preferably, enhance self-identity.     

Cleveland 20 years on: what have we learned about intervening in child sexual abuse?

This is the first of two linked papers. It examines the main changes in approach to child sexual abuse that have occurred since the events in Cleveland 20 years ago. Comparison between estimated prevalence rates and registrations for sexual abuse suggests that we are aware of only the tip of the iceberg. It is argued that in many cases uncertainty may have to be accepted, and that protection may be better achieved through a protective parent than through the child protection system. Clinical examples of cases presenting to a specialist child and adolescent mental health service are given. It is argued that, although society is now more willing to recognise the existence of child sexual abuse and professionals are better at dealing with families, outcomes for this group of children are not much improved. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.