Object of the study: The broad object of this study is the academic field of the book and the book as an area of interdisciplinary teaching. Purpose: to prove that the 21st-century cross-media and hybrid media ecosystem emancipates Book Science from the rest of the sciences in whose objects it can partake only as a constituent using one of its…

Responds to six articles in the same issue on images in retrospect. Deals collectively rather than individually with ideas that underlie the work of the respective authors and attempts to provide a critical interpretation guided by the maxim "always historicize!" (SR)

Documents the nature and extent of electronic bulletin board use. Compares predictions about the success of collaborative media based on two theoretical perspectives: file contribution levels, and system adoption rates. Finds both to be related to a measure of symmetry in user participation. (NH)

Examines the media's influence on the political information available to the public and its impact on voting behavior in state and local elections. (RB)

Develops an interpretation of contemporary social and cultural life which conceives of "the religious" as radically located within "the secular." Notes that such a situation implicates some received understandings, particularly in the area of secularization. Explores implications for media theory and research, along with…

Explores the potential role of mental imagery for media effects in emotional responses to frightening mass media, and in the effects of the media on beliefs in UFOs. Finds that individual differences in vividness of mental imagery may play a crucial role in moderating both types of media impact. (SR)

Introduces a symposium in this journal issue: "Technology through a Retrospective Eye: Imaging Practices between the World Wars and Beyond." Notes that each article of the symposium keys into a central moment of expansion of imaging practice and focuses on the debates that accompanied that expansion. (SR)

Adding social sanction as a variable to value-belief models improves the explanatory power with regard to people's intentions toward the media. (RB)

Refutes the thesis that relates various types of mass media, especially the newspaper, to rates of aggression, violence, and deviance by comparing crime statistics during strike and nonstrike periods.

Concludes that print and broadcast media differ substantially in terms of the extent and nature of the responses to advertising they elicit from viewers. (RB)

Describes how the media survive on the Commonwealth Caribbean Islands without interference from outside ownership and control. (RB)

Argues that the inclusion of viewer interpretation variables in experimental design and analysis procedures can greatly increase the methodology's ability to explain variance. Focuses attention on the between-group differences, while an analysis of how individual participants interpret the cues in the stimulus material focused attention on the…

Examines the history of the cultural imperialism debate. Reviews international questions raised concerning the role and influence of the still-popular Hollywood products. Examines changing ownership patterns in Hollywood (buyouts by major foreign interests). Notes important trends, and suggests areas for critical research. (SR)