Accounting for ideas: Bringing a knowledge economy into the picture

Abstract

Over the past 15–20 years, the margins of industrial classifications, corporate balance sheets and GDP have been altered to capture knowledge as a new category of value. This has resulted in the institutionalization of categories such as an information economy (1997), intangible assets (2001) and, most recently, a knowledge-adjusted GDP (2013) in these calculating technologies. By harnessing knowledge as a manageable and valuable object, these shifts are responding but also contributing to the concept of a knowledge economy. This paper investigates the conditions necessary to anchor these new categories of value. The analysis attends not only to the changing rules and regulations, but also to the rhetorics of visibility/invisibility, materiality/immateriality, and measurability/immeasurability used to make a case for these transformations.     

Nationalists without a nation: South Moluccan terrorism in the Netherlands

Abstract

This article focuses on the phenomenon of South Moluccan terrorism in the Netherlands. Beginning with a historical examination of the colonial relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia, attention is then given to the circumstances in which some 21,000 South Moluccans came to the Netherlands in the early 1950s, and the social, economic, and political conditions of the South Moluccan community in Holland since then. Then follows a detailed examination of the main incidents of South Moluccan terrorism in the Netherlands which climaxed in a series of violent incidents against Dutch and Indonesian targets in the mid‐1970s. Special attention is placed on the ways in which successive Dutch governments have responded to the various outbreaks of terrorism, as well as to the effects of this terrorism on public opinion. The article then shows what effects South Moluccan terrorism has had on the policies of Dutch and Indonesian governments; on national and international public opinion; on the South Moluccans in the Moluccas; and on the international terrorist community. The paper concludes that the focus of South Moluccan terrorism in the Netherlands is likely to shift from attempts to secure an independent homeland for their people to closer contacts with other terrorist groups espousing anti‐colonial, anti‐imperialist, and nationalist ideals.     

A meta-theoretical glimpse into the future of South African corporate communication management

Abstract

This article provides a concise discussion of meta-theoretical (critical-rhetorical, feminist and postmodernistic) approaches towards corporate communication management utilising meta-ethical points of departure with the aim of providing a glimpse into the meta-theoretical future of corporate communication management. The discussion is supplemented by an analysis of the challenges that face organisations in the fast-changing environment of the twenty-first century and corporate communication management as a critical/strategic management function that has the potential to assist organisations in adapting and remaining relevant to their environment, and by implication to the needs of their key internal and external stakeholders. The article is concluded by an explication of corporate communication management as being inextricably linked to ethical conduct and a product of the amalgamation of different meta-theoretical approaches, which interprets and advances the values of both stakeholders and the organisation in a manner that socially and ethically responsible, dialogical mutually adaptive, and contributes to democratising the organisation's decision-making and management processes. This poses challenges to, and insight into, the meta-theoretical approach held while engaging in discourse on the comprehensive nature of corporate communication management.     

THE ODDS ON CASINO PAINTINGS

ABSTRACT

This article considers the role of decorative paintings in two South African casinos, namely Carnival City and Caesars Gauteng. It suggests that entertainment landscapes such as casinos are subject to subtle and elaborate mechanisms whereby the creation of seductive milieus reinforces the myth of leisure and paradigms of hedonistic consumption. The use of strategies such as themeing is examined in order to propose that entertainment is increasingly predicated on the imperative of creating exotic, fantastic, escapist or extraordinary experiences – but at a price. The contentious issue of the need for a more authentic so-called African identity in casino developments is also broached. The authors point out that within the postmodern cultural hypermarket of unlimited choices, eclecticism and pastiche, cultures and histories have the potential to be reduced to themes and stereotypes, and can be endlessly re-duplicated in simulacral fantasy landscapes. This production of escapist consumer spaces is important, because the social role of casinos in South Africa has undergone radical changes during the last few years – far from being places of adult entertainment, they now embrace diverse forms of leisure activities for families.     

Readability in South African financial advertising

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to share with fellow lecturers and teachers in the communication field perspectives on some of the issues of satellite communication and the University of Zululand's practical experiences in exposing students to satellite television communication. The point of departure is that there is a great deal of speculation about the impact of global telecommunications and information technology, and the nature of the information society, but very little data about what is actually going on. With this in mind certain trends, concepts and issues in the field of satellite communication are discussed, and followed up by a case study amongst the students and staff at the University of Zululand.     

Making a difference: On the constraints of consensus building and the relevance of deliberation in stakeholder dialogues

This article illuminates the contribution of stakeholder dialogues to environmental policy making. It makes a distinction between stakeholder dialogues as consensus building and stakeholder dialogues as deliberation. Although consensus building seems to be the dominant approach in participatory environmental policy making, this article questions the merits of consensus building and it uses the experience of the Dutch stakeholder dialogue project Climate OptiOns for the Long term (COOL) to explore, in a deliberative design, the shortcomings of a consensus-building approach and how they are possibly dealt with. The article presents the results of two deliberative methods that have been used in the COOL project – the repertory grid analysis and the dialectical approach – to demonstrate how a deliberative design can help policy makers to critically assess arguments in favor of and against a broad range of policy options, and deal with stakeholder conflict in an early phase of the policy process.     

The importance of policy design fit for effectiveness: a qualitative comparative analysis of policy integration in regional transport planning

Policy Sciences - Policy design has returned as a central topic in public policy research. An important area of policy design study deals with effectively attaining desired policy outcomes by...     

Eyewitness Memory of a Supermarket Robbery: A Case Study of Accuracy and Confidence After 3 Months

In this case study, 14 witnesses of an armed robbery were interviewed after 3 months. Security camera recordings were used to assess memory accuracy. Of all information that could be remembered about 84% was correct. Although accurately recalled information had a higher confidence level on average than inaccurately recalled information, the mean accuracy–confidence correlation was rather modest (0.38). These findings indicate that confidence is not a reliable predictor of accuracy. A higher level of self-reported, post-event thinking about the incident was associated with higher confidence levels, while a higher level of self-reported emotional impact was associated with greater accuracy. A potential source of (mis)information, a reconstruction of the robbery broadcasted on TV, did not alter the original memories of the witnesses.