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(March 8, 2001, Gazette)
Putting
the Hum on the Humber ...
the first 75 years
Star
Trek and Sacred Ground
Edited by Dr. Jennifer
Porter
Perspectives
in Web Course Management
Dr. Bruce L. Mann,
contributing editor
Steam, Water, and Hydrothermal Systems:
Physics and Chemistry Meeting the Needs of Industry
Edited by Drs. Peter R.
Tremaine, P. G. Hill, D. E. Irish and P. V. Balakrishnan
Dr.
Peter R. Tremaine
In September 1999 over 160
scientists and engineers from 17 countries met in Toronto to
attend the 13th International Conference on the Properties of
Water and Steam, where they presented more than 140 papers on
pure and applied research related to the physics and chemistry
of hydrothermal systems.
The conference continued the series begun in 1929. These meetings
have traditionally provided the scientific foundation for very
accurate representations of the thermophysical properties of
water and steam. In recent years, the conference has expanded
to include pure and applied research on aqueous solutions at
high temperature and pressure for applications to electric power
cycle chemistry and other industrial technologies that involve
the use of high-temperature water and supercritical steam.
The
13th conference continued a trend of covering an increasingly
wide range of topics associated with water, steam and high-temperature
aqueous systems. In addition to the traditional subjects related
to the thermophysical properties of water and new formulations
for scientific and industrial use, this volume includes papers
on such topics as metastable states, nucleation, super-cooled
water, near-critical behaviour, molecular modelling of aqueous
systems, and new developments in the physical chemistry of aqueous
solutions.
The proceedings of the 1999 conference were published by the
National Research Council Research Press and edited in part by
Memorial’s Dr. Peter Tremaine, who also served as conference
chair.
Advocating Change: Contemporary Issues in Subject
English
Edited
by Drs. Roberta Hammett and Barrie Barrell
Dr. Roberta Hammett
There was a
time when being an English teacher meant that you taught reading
and writing, but contemporary English learning involves a multitude
of forms and representations. Since 1996, English language curricula
has been standardized in Canada, with jurisdictional amalgamations
in the Western provinces, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic region.
Under this framework secondary English language arts have de-emphasized
the reading of canonical works and has increased the types of
texts to be read, included media education and technology, and
broadened the variety of ways students were to compose and represent
knowledge.
Drs. Roberta Hammett and Barrie Barrell from the Faculty of
Education
have brought together the work of over 20 leading researchers
in a comprehensive critique of the changing face of subject English
in Advocating Change: Contemporary Issues in Subject English.
The book looks at similarities in standardized English 
curricula
and the contemporary challenges and transformations taking place
within English language arts education. “This book is about
re-thinking, not only the subject but also what and how it is
taught,” said Dr. Hammett, associate dean for graduate programs.
The book looks at six strands of teaching English: reading and
writing, speaking, and listening, viewing, and representing in
other ways. The collection aims to assist pre-service and in-service
teachers understand and implement the new curricula and adjust
to a different conception of English teaching. “The idea
of this book arose out of the new vision for secondary English
language arts and an evolving view of literacy. It also came
into being because of a lack of Canadian texts that specifically
addressed contemporary issues in Canadian secondary English education,”
said Dr. Hammett.
A new edition of the book will be published in the United States
by the Teacher’s College Press.
Putting the Hum on the Humber ...
the first 75 years
The
team that published Putting the Hum on the Humber are pictured
here: (L-R) Pamela Gill, SWGC information officer, Ed Andrews,
professor of environmental science, Joseph Kruger, chairperson
and chief executive officer of Kruger Inc., Dr. Olaf Janzen,
professor of historical studies, Susan Kruger, Dr. Don Downer,
manager, Applied Research Unit, and Lori Lee Hollett and Ed Hollett,
owners, Hollet Visual Communications.
Printed in
August 2000, Putting the Hum on the Humber... The First 75
years, was a project of the Applied Research Unit at Sir
Wilfred Grenfell College and Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Inc.
The text, printed by Robinson-Blackmore, is an illustrated 75-year
history of the paper mill in Corner Brook, and was published
as part of the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper 75th anniversary celebrations.
The
writing/design team consisted of Ed Andrews, professor of environmental
science, Pamela Gill, SWGC information officer, Dr. Olaf Janzen,
professor of historical studies, and Lori Lee Hollett and Ed
Hollett of Hollet Visual Communications, a Corner Brook design
firm.
The Applied Research Unit is a single point of contact for businesses,
organizations and individuals interested in using the expertise,
services and resources at Grenfell College.
The Quest for Christian Unity, Peace, and Purity
in Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address: Text and Studies
Edited
by Dr. Hans Rollmann (with Thomas H. Olbricht)
Dr. Hans Rollmann
The Declaration
and Address of 1809 is a unity proposal for Christianity
based on restitutionist thinking — that is, the notion that
if you go back to biblical or early Christian beginning you can
recover an ideal age.
Dr. Hans Rollmann, Religious Studies, is interested in North
American church history of the 18th and early 19th centuries,
especially restitutionist thought. Because of this research interest,
he and Dr. Thomas Olbricht, Maine, organized an international
on-line seminar in 1997-98. This required Web-based materials,
a list for discussion, Web-based logs and papers as well as an
electronic mailbox for additional input.
“Almost all of the administration was carried out by me
from MUN,” said Dr. Rollmann. “Scholars were willing
to co-operate and the seminar participants came from all over
North America, from Alaska to Texas and from California to Newfoundland.”
Composed
in 1809 in order to organize and direct a loosely assembled network
of Scots-Irish Presbyterians on the western Pennsylvania frontier,
Thomas Campbell’s Declaration never quite achieved
the immediate objectives that compelled its composition. “Yet
the document’s lofty vision of a unified Christian Church,
restored to the peace and purity that the New Testament had preached
and promised, has for generations fuelled the imagination and
fired the commitment of millions of Christians worldwide —
with, often, quite contradictory results,” said Dr. Rollmann.
Emerging from the on-line seminar, this book includes both the
first critical edition of the text of the Declaration,
and 18 studies of the document’s historical provenance,
its theological and ecclesiastical significance, and its continuing
influence.
Dr. Rollmann’s own contribution is an article on the Eschatology
of the Declaration which shows how much the crisis and end-time
expectations of the European upheavals shaped the thought and
motivation of the author in America. He also co-wrote the introduction
and gave advice on the critical edition and bibliography in the
book.
Dr. Rollmann said one surprise arising from the Web-based seminar
was that an authentic community of scholars was established on
the Internet. “The human dimension was amplified by the
tragic death of two seminar participants, one by stroke, the
other by heart attack. We had never experienced death on the
Internet, but the experience heightened our sense of community.
The volume was dedicated to the two members who died, and the
widows were given copies of the book at our book launch in Nashville,
Tennessee, in November of last year.”
Dr. Rollman said the audience for this book includes students,
scholars and people interested in church history, theology and
ecumenism. It is published in soft and hardcover by the American
Theological Library Association Monograph Series, No. 46 (Lanham,
Maryland & London: Scarecrow Press, 2000).
Star
Trek and Sacred Ground
Edited
by Dr. Jennifer Porter
Dr. Jennifer Porter
Dr. Jennifer
Porter, Religious Studies, went where no (wo)man had gone before
and co-edited a book on the representation of religion in the
many volumes of the Star Trek epic.
For many, trekking to the TV for their daily dose of Captain
Kirk and the crew is something of a religious experience. In
Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion,
and American Culture, Dr. Porter and the other contributors
looked at religion itself in Star Trek.
Dr. Porter has had a long, but somewhat mixed, relationship with
Star Trek. “I’m a fan of the show, but I’m
not a fan generally of the way Star Trek portrayed religion.
I would often get annoyed at the way religion was treated in
the show,” she said. “The combination of those two
things really inspired the desire to look at just what the show
says about religion and whether that has changed.”
And changes there have been.
“God got thoroughly trounced repeatedly in the original
series,” she remarked; “there is a very clear sense
that religion is bad for humanity.”
The situation with Star Trek: The Next Generation was
not much improved, but Deep Space Nine “was the first
to present religion in a somewhat positive light.”
Nonetheless,
the improvement was slight: “it’s a positive change,
but at the same time it’s a bit problematic because religion
is apparently only OK for aliens –— humans aren’t
religious ... there’s always a scientific explanation for
the same set of data. (The creators) always juxtapose the religious
interpretation to the scientific.”
“Voyager is the first Star Trek series where
a human being is shown to be religious. That is again one step
up from Deep Space Nine,” Dr. Porter noted about
the most recent addition to the Star Trek family.
Even here, broader cultural dynamics are at play, as the creators
of the show seemed to still exclude non-aboriginal peoples from
the right to be religious. One of Porter’s articles in the
book – (Re)Covering Sacred Ground: New Age Spirituality
in Star Trek: Voyager – examines these issues in
greater detail.
The book itself consists of three main parts. In the first part,
the contributors examine how religion has been presented in Star
Trek. The second is dedicated to an examination of themes
derived from religion that have permeated the various series.
Finally, the articles in the third section take a look at religious
attitudes and characteristics amongst “Star Trek
fandom.”
Finding
Our Sea Legs: Linking Fishery People and Their Knowledge with
Science and Management
Edited
by Drs. Barbara Neis and Lawrence Felt
Drs. Barbara Neis and
Lawrence Felt
The product
of a 1998 workshop, Finding Our Sea Legs documents efforts
in the North Atlantic Ocean to find a common ground between the
natural sciences and the knowledge and lore of people who work
in the fishery. Bringing Fishers' Knowledge into Fisheries Science
and Management saw fishery workers, natural scientists and social
scientists from several different countries congregate at Memorial.
The presentations from that workshop comprise the bulk of Finding
Our Sea Legs; the editors also added “one or two papers
we knew about that helped to flesh it out.”
Drs. Neis and Felt have been exploring this area for several
years — Dr. Felt since the 1970s and Dr. Neis since 1990.
In the past decade and a half, there has been what Dr. Neis describes
as “a crisis in managed fisheries” all over the world.
The northern cod crisis we face in Newfoundland is reflected
in countries in both hemispheres.
Scientific
knowledge leaves some gaps when managing a fishery. For example,
catch rates are used as a measure of abundance, but factors such
as technological innovation can give the impression of a continuous
resource level when in fact more efficient gear is simply catching
more of the available fish.
Fish harvesters often have very fine scale knowledge of a particular
area, a fine scale that isn't possible with the large areas survived
by scientists. People working in a fishery can also provide
oral history of the abundance in that area. While this can't
provide precise information for any particular point in time,
it gives a very good idea of trends in an area.
Each of the book's five sections is prefaced by quotes from Bill
Broderick, other fish harvesters, and scientists. Mr. Broderick
sums up the spirit of the ongoing collaborative efforts when
he says, “The relationship among fish harvesters, scientists,
and managers has become critical to the future fishery, and like
any relationship it must be based on trust and respect.”
Finding Our Sea Legs was published by ISER Books.
Perspectives
in Web Course Management
Dr.
Bruce L. Mann, contributing editor
Dr. Bruce L. Mann
Perspectives
in Web Course Management tackles the ever-changing internet as a pedagogical
tool. The wide variety of perspectives from Canadian, American
and Australian teachers and experts make this the essential guide
to Web course management.
The book moves beyond 1980s technology (e-mail, listservs and
newsgroups) that have been incorporated into more sophisticated
systems; it also suggests that Web-supported systems that incorporate
VR, IRC and ICQ are not yet feasible for today’s use.
Perspectives focuses specifically on managing courses
using comprehensive Web course management systems such as WebCT,
TopClass and Lotus LearningSpace. Web course development tools
and development efforts at particular institutions are covered.
Other chapters are theoretical, offering models or commenting
on the current state of the art.
“I
think it is fair to say that none of the authors of this book
believe in a ‘total solution’ to learning over the
Internet,” explained Dr. Mann in the preface. “We all
know that the provision of Web management software in no way
guarantees critical thinking; that the current status of online
collaborative social learning in no way matches the variety of
interactions in seminars and tutorials.
“That said, most of us believe that Web course management
systems have the potential to offer some of us in higher education
a new means of self-expression and new opportunities for student
engagement with our course material.”
Bruce Mann, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education,
contributed the opening chapter, titled Phase Theory: A Teleological
Taxonomy of Web Course Management, and another chapter titled
Adding Digitized Speech to Web Courses.
Dr. Marc Glassman, Education, also contributed a chapter titled
Creating a Nexus Between Tele-Teaching and Tele-Learning.
Perspectives is published by Canadian Scholars’ Press
in Toronto.
Place
Names of the Northern Peninsula
By
E.R. Seary
Edited by Robert Hollett and Dr. William J. Kirwin
Robert Hollett and
Dr. William J. Kirwin
This material,
first published in 1960, will be of interest to geographers,
historians, folklorists and the just plain curious who want to
know how Ha Ha Bay got its name.
Hollett and Kirwin have written in the foreword a careful explanation
of the changes they have made, and why. The book contains a version
of Seary’s 1960 preface and his 1959 and 1960 introductions,
which meticulously detail the cartographical history of the area
and include tidbits that might be included in a Newfoundland
trivia game. For example, the earliest recorded names on the
Great Northern Peninsula are credited to Jacques Cartier during
his first voyage to Canada in 1534: Already known was Karpont
(now Quirpon), and named by Cartier was cap Pointu (now Cow Head).
The book explains the structures of names: single or multiple
elements with modifiers and specifics of colour, size, direction,
vegetation, etc. It also has a phonetic key, a glossary of foreign
terms, and a wealth of other reference material. Each community
name is accompanied by latitude and longitude, reference points,
maps and a bit of history that shows its chronological development.
Here’s a sample: |
“The
shores nearly all round are bordered by rocky ledges” (NLP
I, 353).Okay, so it’s not scintillating prose. But by searching the book we find the coves that make up Rocky Harbour: Lobster Cove Head (known to Cook as North Point in 1770) and The Bottom (Cove) were noted by Admiralty cartographers in 1887; Bear Cove (once Anse à l’Ours) and Woody Cove were known in 1882. Oh, well, maybe you have to be from there ….
Robert Hollett and William Kirwin are preparing two other place name monographs on Placentia Bay and Trinity Bay. Hm. How did Tickle Harbour get its name?