GLBTQ content in comics/graphic novels for teens

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an historical perspective and current guidance for youth librarians collecting graphic novels for teens. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a brief review of the historical issues involved with censorship/intellectual freedom and comics and of current teen-oriented graphic novels with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning of sexual orientation (GLBTQ) content in Canada and the USA. It also provides a context for negotiating intellectual freedom and collection management policy issues, and suggestions for targeted acquisitions of teen graphic novels with GLTBQ content. Findings – The paper provides a brief overview of US and Canadian censorship of comics, including how this legacy affects today’s market. It recognizes the difficulty of obtaining information and recommendations for teen-appropriate graphic novels containing GLBTQ content, and makes suggestions for core collection items. Research limitations/implications – Only English sources from the USA and Canada are reviewed. Francophone Canadian literature is relevant but outside of the scope of this paper. Practical implications – The paper is a useful source of information for the librarian looking for collection development suggestions, and/or for the librarian dealing with or preparing against intellectual freedom challenges to graphic novels or GLBTQ material for teens. Originality/value – This paper furthers discussion of censorship of graphic novels and of GLBTQ material, and provides concrete suggestions to librarians developing a teen graphic novel collection. The issue is timely, as the graphic novel industry is booming and the ALA has documented an increasing number of challenges to graphic novels in libraries. Few previous papers on graphic novels or comics have included Canadian content, although the Canada-American library worlds, publishing industries and legal codes are historically and currently intertwined. Paper type General revie

Challenges in vaccine communication

Vaccine communication is a scientifically complex, ethically laden, and highly multidisciplinary area in which to conduct research or practice. Due to vaccination’s status as a key topic in public health and medicine, communication about vaccination serves as fertile ground for social scientific and critical research that can both improve health and help us understand health-related values, mental-models, and discourses. This chapter presents background necessary to understand vaccine communication as a topic of study, provides an overview of contemporary communication research about vaccines and vaccination, and describes frameworks for addressing ethical considerations particular to vaccine communication

Info Policy News: Issues to Watch in 2011 & Facts about Wikileaks

This issue's Info Policy News column highlights a sample of some information policy issues to keep an eye on in 2011. Included are the census, Crookes v. Newton, Copyright, Lawful Access legislation and Wikileaks. This quarter's "Five Facts About" features Wikileaks

Net Neutrality: A Library Issue

Net neutrality is a critical component of equitable access to information and freedom of expression. While Canada has recently made some progress toward enshrining principles of net neutrality in our telecommunications regulations, the status quo does not guarantee protection of consumers from unnecessary “traffic management” on the part of ISPs. Librarians and library associations in Canada and the U.S. have advocated for net neutrality as part of their goal of protecting intellectual freedom, and such efforts must continue until net neutrality is assured

Toward a definition of pharmaceutical innovation

Ongoing debates in the pharmaceutical sector about intellectual property, pricing and reimbursement, and public research investments have a common denominator: he pursuit of innovation. However, there is little clarity about what constitutes a true pharmaceutical innovation, and as a result there is confusion about what kind of new products should be pursued, protected and encouraged through health policy and clinical practice. If the concept of pharmaceutical innovation can be clarified, then it may become easier for health policy-makers and practitioners to evaluate, adopt and procure products in ways that appropriately recognize, encourage and give priority to truly valuable pharmaceutical innovations

Diagnosing onset of labor : a systematic review of definitions in the research literature

Background: The diagnosis of labor onset has been described as one of the most important judgments in maternity care. There is compelling evidence that the duration of both latent and active phase labor are clinically important and require consistent approaches to measurement. In order to measure the duration of labor phases systematically, we need standard definitions of their onset. We reviewed the literature to examine definitions of labor onset and the evidentiary basis provided for these definitions. Methods: Five electronic databases were searched using predefined search terms. We included English, French and German language studies published between January 1978 and March 2014 defining the onset of latent labor and/or active labor in a population of healthy women with term births. Studies focusing exclusively on induced labor were excluded. Results: We included 62 studies. Four ‘types’ of labor onset were defined: latent phase, active phase, first stage and unspecified. Labor onset was most commonly defined through the presence of regular painful contractions (71 % of studies) and/or some measure of cervical dilatation (68 % of studies). However, there was considerable discrepancy about what constituted onset of labor even within ‘type’ of labor onset. The majority of studies did not provide evidentiary support for their choice of definition of labor onset. Conclusions: There is little consensus regarding definitions of labor onset in the research literature. In order to avoid misdiagnosis of the onset of labor and identify departures from normal labor trajectories, a consistent and measurable definition of labor onset for each phase and stage is essential. In choosing standard definitions, the consequences of their use on rates of maternal and fetal morbidity must also be examined

Visual analysis of information world maps: An exploration of four methods

Information researchers increasingly use participatory, arts-based methods to better understand the social contexts of individuals and populations. However, it remains rare to engage in qualitative analysis of the resulting visual artefacts. This article explores approaches to analysing visual media generated through a specific arts-based method, information world mapping (IWM), an interdisciplinary draw-and-talk technique that elicits data about individuals’ social information worlds. Here, we test four approaches to analysing visual media generated through IWM: directed qualitative content analysis (QCA), compositional interpretation, conceptual analysis and visual discourse analysis using situational analysis (SA). QCA was effective in creating an overview of participants’ information practices, yet raised concern regarding interpretive bias. Using an inductive taxonomy for compositional interpretation, we identified genre conventions for IWMs. Conceptual analysis resulted primarily in a reflection of the research procedures and epistemology. SA, while time-consuming, generated a large amount of rich data, including discourses and power relations that were not identified in previous analysis of textual data. In a reversal of our previous stance that cautioned against IWM analysis, we encourage other researchers to consider integrated or secondary visual analysis of IWMs

Ethics, effectiveness and population health information interventions: a Canadian analysis

Population health information interventions (PHIIs) use information in efforts to promote health. PHIIs may push information to a target audience (communication), pull information from the public (surveillance), or combine both in a bidirectional intervention. Although PHIIs have often been framed as non-invasive and ethically innocuous, in reality they may be intrusive into people’s lives, affecting not only their health but their senses of security, respect, and self-determination. Ethical acceptability of PHIIs may have impacts on intervention effectiveness, potentially giving rise to unintended consequences. This article examines push, pull, and bidirectional PHIIs using empirical data from an ethnographic study of young mothers in Greater Vancouver, Canada. Data were collected from October 2013 to December 2014 via naturalistic observation and individual interviews with 37 young mothers ages 16-22. Transcribed interviews and field notes were analyzed using inductive qualitative thematic analysis. Both push and pull interventions were experienced as non-neutral by the target population, and implementation factors on a structural and individual scale affected intervention ethics and effectiveness. Based on our findings, we suggest that careful ethical consideration be applied to use of PHIIs as health promotion tools. Advancing the ‘ethics of PHIIs’ will benefit from empirical data that is informed by information and computer science theory and methods. Information technologies, digital health promotion services, and integrated surveillance programs reflect important areas for investigation in terms of their effects and ethics. Health promotion researchers, practitioners, and ethicists should explore these across contexts and populations