Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture

This article explores the possibilities for new forms of ‘digital citizenship’ currently emerging through digitally supported processes of narrative exchange. Using Dahlgren's (Dahlgren, P. 2003. “Reconfiguring Civic Culture in the New Media Milieu.” In Media and the Restyling of Politics, edited by J. Corner, and D. Pels, 151–170. London: Sage; Dahlgren, P. 2009. Media and Political Engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) circuit of ‘civic culture’ as a model for exploring the interlinking preconditions for new acts of citizenship, we discuss the contrasting outcomes of research at three fieldwork sites in the North of England – educational (a sixth form college), civil society (a community reporters' network) and social (a local club). Each site provided clear evidence of the elements of Dahlgren's circuit (some depending on the intensive use of digital infrastructure, others predating it), but there were also breaks in the circuit that constrained its effectiveness. A crucial factor in each case for building a lasting circuit of civic culture (and an effective base for new forms of digital citizenship) is the role that digital infrastructure can play in extending the scale of interactions beyond the purely local.     

Bombing at the Speed of Thought: Intelligence in the Coming Age of Cyberwar

The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) puts new technology at the service of an old idea: the perfectability of intelligence. At least since the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, defense and intelligence officials have entertained fantasies of an ideal information environment in which a complete, impartial, and accurate picture of events dispels the fog of politics and war. Amid the enthusiasm among military futurists for ‘total information dominance’, it is worth asking why the intelligence community has this recurring dream.     

Invisible populations: LGBTQ people and federal health policy in Canada

This article reviews the state of federal health policy discourse toward the LGBTQ population in Canada. Despite the advent of greater attention to diversity and gender mainstreaming in federal public policy and the shift to legalized rights protections for LGBTQ people, symbolized by policies such as same‐sex marriage, LGBTQ health concerns continue to be marginalized in federal health policy. Based on a systematic review of federal policy documents and websites as well as a small number of interviews with federal policy‐makers, the research demonstrates the extent to which LGBTQ health concerns are rendered invisible in federal health policy. The article suggests several ways in which a commitment to gender‐based policy analysis could be expanded to take account of diverse health needs of LGBTQ Canadians.     

Applicability of the ParaDNA® Screening System to Seminal Samples

Seminal fluid represents a common biological material recovered from sexual assault crime scenes. Such samples can be prescreened using different techniques to determine cell type and relative amount before submitting for full STR profiling. The ParaDNA^® Screening System is a novel forensic test which identifies the presence of DNA through amplification and detection of two common STR loci (D16S539 and TH01) and the Amelogenin marker. The detection of the Y allele in samples could provide a useful tool in the triage and submission of sexual assault samples by enforcement authorities. Male template material was detected on a range of common sexual assault evidence items including cotton pillow cases, condoms, swab heads and glass surfaces and shows a detection limit of 1 in 1000 dilution of neat semen. These data indicate this technology has the potential to be a useful tool for the detection of male donor DNA in sexual assault casework.     

Torn Down

正Biking toward the village, where I should have seen nothing but rare Beijing darkness, I saw a gleaming new Holiday Inn-complete with valet park- ing and big, gaudy columns. It is a route I took every day in August 2008, to get to the Olympic wrestling     

Age and changing masculinities in gay–straight male workplace friendships

Abstract

Drawing on interview data gathered from 35 gay men in the UK, this article explores how age influences the negotiation of masculinity within gay–straight male workplace friendships. Study findings show that gay–straight workplace friendships between younger men appear to be framed in terms of equality, not homophobia. Older gay men also report similar experiences, some suggesting how these friendships were not possible in their youth. Gay and straight men of a similar age are also united in friendship by their experiences of ageing and its implications for carrying out work. Interview data also reveal how gay–straight male friendships are constrained at work, thus limiting the opportunities for emotional openness and physical tactility. Overall, the study reveals how younger and older gay men, and their straight male friends, variously align themselves to inclusive masculinities within friendship. This article contributes to inclusive masculinity theory by extending the types of contexts currently studied, both relational and work-related, and adding further emphasis to the contextually contingent nature of inclusive masculinities. It also advances the limited literature on gay–straight friendships by highlighting how they might challenge and reshape the heteronormative contours of work contexts.