In the Canberra Times of Saturday February 25th 2006 there was an article entitled “Iraqis under curfew to stem rage.”
I found the article interesting and reasonably balanced until I came across the words:
“. . General John Abizaid, a US born general of Palestinian descent, said he did not believe attempts to divide Iraq would succeed.”
“Nothing wrong in that,” you might say, but let’s consider it again.
Personally I would have used the words “of Palestinian ancestry” rather than “Palestinian descent”
Why?
Well for one thing I am of the view that this is correct English usage and for another that by using the word ‘descent’ the author was associating an emotive term with the general’s genealogical heritage.
The man’s family, genealogically speaking, was not on some high point from which, by his birth, he descended.
Unless of course what was being suggested is that anyone born in Palestine could only possibly “descend” by migrating to the USA?
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Assessment as Practice
Assessment as Practice
Pete's Points
Let me suggest to my readers who are familiar with my views on the need to monitor, measure and learn from our experiences so that we can improve or at worst avoid worst practice that here is a site which casts a new look at the way that measurement and learning coincide.
Worth a look if you have the time and the inclination to improve the work place you are involved with.
Pete's Points
Let me suggest to my readers who are familiar with my views on the need to monitor, measure and learn from our experiences so that we can improve or at worst avoid worst practice that here is a site which casts a new look at the way that measurement and learning coincide.
Worth a look if you have the time and the inclination to improve the work place you are involved with.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Book reviews are they worth reading
Book Reviews
What exactly is a book review? Who writes them? Why do they write them?
I guess there are professional book reviewers who make a business out of reading books and then creating a review that they then sell to companies that want to market books. Alternately there are people who already work for companies that sell books whose job is to read and review. Of course there are also people who work for magazines and news media of one sort or another and their job also is to read and review.
There may well be amateur book reviewers who publish their news, views and reviews on their web pages or perhaps their blogs however these do not come to attention as easily as those whose missives fill the pages of our printed media or blare from our radios and TV screens.
Is it worth reading these reviews?
This is an interesting question. We already KNOW that generally, people who write reviews, are either going to sell their product to someone or are being commissioned by someone to write them in the first place. The cynic within me would suggest, that those working directly for a book publisher, are less likely to write an unfavourable review of a book that is being published by their firm, since they have been retained to put the best possible spin on the product that their employer has given them to review. People working for large media organisations would seem to be less affected by the views of their employers – after all newspapers, radio and television stations want to sell their advertising and so the more popular their product the greater the chance of it selling.
Unfortunately this view does not take into account the cross media ownership issues that abound in our society. Is it more or less likely, for example, that a reviewer will be favourably disposed towards a product, if the company for which this person works also owns the company that is publishing the book being reviewed?
The jacket on the cover of the book usually contains a lot of information about the contents of the book as well as the author. Is it better to read this than the official review?
More to the point, is it more worthwhile to find and read blogs that provide a view about the book that is (hopefully) less likely to be influenced by where one works. On the other hand there are so many people blogging these days who make their living from advertisements on their pages that even their views are likely to be subject to being influenced.
What exactly is a book review? Who writes them? Why do they write them?
I guess there are professional book reviewers who make a business out of reading books and then creating a review that they then sell to companies that want to market books. Alternately there are people who already work for companies that sell books whose job is to read and review. Of course there are also people who work for magazines and news media of one sort or another and their job also is to read and review.
There may well be amateur book reviewers who publish their news, views and reviews on their web pages or perhaps their blogs however these do not come to attention as easily as those whose missives fill the pages of our printed media or blare from our radios and TV screens.
Is it worth reading these reviews?
This is an interesting question. We already KNOW that generally, people who write reviews, are either going to sell their product to someone or are being commissioned by someone to write them in the first place. The cynic within me would suggest, that those working directly for a book publisher, are less likely to write an unfavourable review of a book that is being published by their firm, since they have been retained to put the best possible spin on the product that their employer has given them to review. People working for large media organisations would seem to be less affected by the views of their employers – after all newspapers, radio and television stations want to sell their advertising and so the more popular their product the greater the chance of it selling.
Unfortunately this view does not take into account the cross media ownership issues that abound in our society. Is it more or less likely, for example, that a reviewer will be favourably disposed towards a product, if the company for which this person works also owns the company that is publishing the book being reviewed?
The jacket on the cover of the book usually contains a lot of information about the contents of the book as well as the author. Is it better to read this than the official review?
More to the point, is it more worthwhile to find and read blogs that provide a view about the book that is (hopefully) less likely to be influenced by where one works. On the other hand there are so many people blogging these days who make their living from advertisements on their pages that even their views are likely to be subject to being influenced.
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