In the past decade international and national environmental policy and action have been dominated by issues generally defined as global environmental problems. In this article, we identify the major discourses associated with four global environmental issues: deforestation, desertification, biodiversity use and climate change. These discourses are analysed in terms of their messages, narrative ...

Dr. Pies is with Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. Address correspondence to Dr. Pies, Tufts University School of Medicine, BOX 1007, 750 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111; [email protected] (E-mail). Copyright 2005 American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. C the case of the optician and the art critic. Each is viewing a painting at a museum, and each is asked to describe ...

This special issue contributes to a better understanding of science-policy interactions in environmental governance, by assembling studies based on interpretative policy analysis. We introduce the theory and use of interpretative approaches in the analysis of science-policy interactions and draw on Stone’s Policy Paradox (2002) to demonstrate how policy discourses are constituted by expertise b...

The paper focuses on the potential of a work based Personal Learning Environment. It examines relations, context, actions and learning discourses in line with Vygotsky’s sociocultural approach to cognitive development, working on the assumption that “action is mediated and cannot be separated from the milieu in which it is carried out” (Wertsch, 1991). The key aspect of learning discourses it t...

Scientific discourses are rhetorical constructs for interpreting, articulating, and coordinating the bits of information and knowledge produced by science. Discourses also help scientific communities promote and advocate particular strategies for action. A review of the literature on ecological integrity has led us to identify four scientific discourses: (1) Wilderness-Normative, (2) Systemic-N...

The thesis critically examines discursive construction of 'organizational culture' and 'user involvement' in academia and in the information technology (IT) artifact product development industry. IT artifacts are perceived as texts that are written by the writer-designers and afterwards read by the reader-users. User involvement explored is indirect; 'user surrogates' labeled as usability speci...

Introduction. The aim of the study reported is to examine user discourses identified in the Swedish public library field. The following questions are posed: What user discourses can be found and what characterises them? How are users categorised and what does this categorisation imply? The departure point in this paper is that the ways users are categorised may influence their information behav...