SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES: PROGRAM EVALUATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL UNCERTAINTY

It is argued that variation in uncertainty about social program goals and causal processes should influence the selection of evaluation designs and methods. Eighteen prominent evaluation reports are examined to contrast predicted evaluation strategies derived from theory about organizational uncertainty with the actual evaluation methods used. It was found that the actual design, measurement, and analysis procedures were frequently different from procedures that were compatible with the kinds of program uncertainty described in the evaluation reports. It is suggested that theory and practice in program evaluation can be improved by systematically incorporating organizational concepts that would contribute to the selection of evaluation methods.     

POTS, HOUSES AND METAL: TECHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS AT THE BRONZE AGE TELL AT SZÁZHALOMBATTA, HUNGARY

Summary.   At the Bronze Age tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary, techniques used for making pottery echo those used in other media. Pottery and architecture have a close relationship. Not only were both made of clay, but methods of making pots echo those used for building. Similarly, pottery and metalwork share common themes and technologies for working with clay and bronze. Since choices made by potters are not solely confined to the environment, raw materials and tools, but are also socially and culturally defined, by implication the transfer of know-how must be situated within social networks between people. This paper considers how the identification of technical relationships between different media at Százhalombatta can be used to explore social relations in Bronze Age society, thereby suggesting relationships that work on both technical and social levels.     

Spreading of Innovative Technical Traits and Cumulative Technical Evolution: Continuity or Discontinuity?

This paper questions the spreading of techniques considered as advantageous when measured in terms of energetic efficiency. A present-day case study, in which techniques do not spread, is used to highlight a transmission model that can be used to understand the spread of technical systems in terms of demic or cultural processes. The model is then applied to the spread of the potter’s wheel in the second and third millennium bc in the southern and northern Levant. Results show that both demic and cultural processes explain how the potter’s wheel became prevalent in the Levant. The selective forces are discussed by comparing the ceramic production contexts. We conclude that technical evolution is regulated by social mutations, i.e., major discontinuities.     

Was zählt der Preis? Dogmengeschichte und Wissensgeschichte der Ökonomie

What’s in a Price? History of Economic Ideologies vs. History of Economic Ideas. This paper suggests applying the approach of a historical epistemology to the field of economics. We observe that an assumedly fundamental opposition between the market and the state dominates popular images of the history of economic ideas. Two conflicting ideologies are roughly assigned to the two opposing sides in the Cold War. To this historical narrative the paper opposes a different view. The argument is that when taking the technical practices of economic knowledge production in the twentieth century into view, similarities abound across ideological ruptures. The chief characteristic change in the recent history of economics was a radical turn towards quantification, measurement, and mathematical modelling. A historical epistemology of economics could show how deeply both, admirers of the state and of the market, share a history. The paper concludes that to-date critique of political economy should also take into consideration a critical perspective towards the unfolding of this measurement revolution in the social sciences.     

Conveying Mission Through Outcome Measurement: Services to the Homeless in New York City

This paper outlines the policy decision to implement a performance incentive program in a large social services agency. Specifically, it describes the evolution of services to homeless people in New York City, including the creation of the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the privatization of a majority of the shelter system, and the redefinition of the role of government in the provision of homeless services. It explains how performance measurement is an integral part of this evolution, and the numerous challenges that this initiative has presented to management of the Department.     

社区人文社会环境对汶川地震移民社会适应的影响——以北川县为例

对汶川地震移民来说,社区人文社会环境直接影响他们的社会适应状况。本文基于调研数据,构建模型来探究社区人文社会环境对移民社会适应的影响。研究表明：社区人文社会环境下的16个单一指标,仅"社区治安"和"干群关系评价"对移民的社会适应状况有显著影响;但16个单一指标集成的4个综合指标-"配套设施"、"邻里关系"、"干群关系"和"观念习俗",却均对地震移民的社会适应状况影响显著,并且除"观念习俗"与移民的社会适应程度呈弱显著的负相关关系外,其他3个综合指标与移民的社会适应程度都呈强显著的正相关关系。     

New Dimensions in Infrastructure Evaluation: The Case of Non-Technical Issues in Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems

Traditional infrastructure evaluation focuses primarily on technical criteria, such as the completion of a designated, interconnected system of facilities or a particular project's capacity to reduce costs borne by suppliers or end users. In the contemporary policymaking environment, however, nontechnical criteria are often of great importance in determining the success or failure of a particular infrastructure enterprise. Institutional considerations, for example, can often delay the implementation of a project or undermine its effectiveness. This paper examines the importance of non-technical criteria in infrastructure evaluation through a case study of the implementation of a major highway investment program in advanced communication and control technologies, known as intelligent vehicle -highway systems (IVHS). The case study focuses on the role of institutional issues as well as environmental issues, in the implementation of IVHS in the US. surface transportation system. The case emphasizes, first, the significance of institutional and environmental issues, and second, mechanisms for evaluating these issues in the context of a major infrastructure investment program.     

Evaluation of RTD in regional systems of innovation

This paper focuses on the evaluation of research and technical development (RTD) in regional systems of innovation (RSIs). It is argued that regional systems of innovation are distinctly different from national systems of innovation, and, thus, different approaches are called for in the evaluation of RSIs. The most relevant aspects of RSIs, from the evaluation perspective, relate to their largely tacit and context‐specific character. In this paper, the concept and characteristics of RSIs are reviewed, and the implications of these for evaluation practice are discussed. Pointers for good practice in the evaluation of RTD in RSIs are listed.     

居民社区活动空间共享的公共接触潜力测度方法

社区内的日常活动空间共享有利于创造居民面对面的社会接触,进而增进理解、提升社区信任和社区融合。基于行为地理学理论与方法,提出“物质空间—活动空间共享—社会心理空间”的关系路径,揭示社区居民的活动空间共享的研究意义;从结构、层级、尺度和载体四个角度构建居民社区活动空间共享的公共接触潜力分析框架;从社区和个体两个层级构建公共接触潜力测度方法,基于共同活动的联系衡量社区居民空间共享的广泛程度和频繁程度。在理论框架与指标测度的基础上,使用上海市郊区调查数据进行实证检验,分析了活动空间共享的社区差异和个体差异。研究指出,提升居民空间共享对建设充满人气的活力社区具有意义,能够为郊区社区生活圈建设和社区治理提供支持。     

Evaluating social sustainability in historic urban environments

Government policies aimed at the alleviation of poverty and social exclusion have been moving toward a multi-faceted approach that includes community capacity building and collaborative partnerships. This implies greater community consultation and the involvement of public and private institutions and the voluntary sector in the democratic management of local affairs. While these are established theoretical concepts, implementing localised social policy and measuring the outcomes are notoriously difficult, particularly in historic urban areas where democratic decision making has the potential to conflict with the management of heritage value. Drawing on recent policy and academic literature, this paper explores the concept of social sustainability and the characteristics of its evaluation. The paper illustrates how social sustainability indicators favour multi-dimensional themes that support national political agendas. The tension between this and the rise of participatory governance is highlighted. The paper concludes with a suggested approach to the evaluation of social sustainability in historic urban environments.     

旅游目的地形象测量的内容与工具研究

旅游目的地形象测量的内容包括两个方面,一是形成目的地形象认知成分的目的地属性,二是构成目的地形象感情成分的感情维度。基于认知属性和感情维度构建的量表是目的地形象主要的测量工具。认知属性的生成可以从研究人员和调查对象两个角度着手。文献回顾和对宣传材料的内容分析是调查人员确定目的地属性的两种方法,开放答案提取法和个人建构理论,是从调查对象角度入手生成属性的常用技术。另外,在使用结构性的测量工具之外,还可以尝试使用非结构性的测量方法,来对目的地的整体形象进行把握。     

Ceramics and change: an overview of pottery production techniques in northern South Africa and eastern Zimbabwe during the first and second millennium AD

In southern African Iron Age studies, there are few attempts to systematically apply and include laboratory analyses when studying archaeological ceramic materials. As demonstrated in this paper, such analyses help to understand the technological aspects such as raw materials, manufacturing techniques and vessel function. Combined with vessel shape and decoration as well as ethnographic studies, the results provide new ways to understand local and regional distribution networks of the ceramics craft. Furthermore, laboratory analyses are most useful when studying continuity and changes in the ceramics handicraft over time, which has implications both on cultural and social change as seen in the shift in ceramic production techniques. We use examples from Zimbabwe and South Africa to illustrate these changes and discuss them in a broader social and technological context in Iron Age southern Africa.     

School Choice and Educational Stratification

Recent growth in the number of school choice programs across the country has ignited debate on the stratifying effects of these programs. In the context of interdistrict open enrollment, this paper analyzes—both theoretically and empirically—how choice programs affect stratification levels through the mechanisms of (i) the relative characteristics of program participants and nonparticipants and (ii) the schooling choices of different groups of program participants. The theoretical analysis uses Monte Carlo simulation techniques to analyze a hypothetical world where interdistrict choice is available to students in three school districts that are allowed to vary in student composition, the type of students who take advantage of the interdistrict choice program, and schooling choices of students who open enroll. The results of these simulations provide an understanding of the conditions under which an interdistrict open enrollment program leads to increases, decreases, or no changes in stratification levels. The empirical analysis uses data from the universe of students attending Colorado public schools in 2009–10 to examine how the state's interdistrict choice program affects stratification levels. It also analyzes the factors responsible for any increases or decreases in stratification and finds both participation patterns and differences in schooling decisions across groups to play important roles. The paper concludes with a discussion of its implications for research and policy.     

Resistances in the “Resilient City”: Rise and fall of a disputed concept in New Orleans and Medellin

Medellin and New Orleans were regularly presented as resilience flagships of the Rockefeller's 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program. In this article, I will demonstrate how 100RC was embedded or abandoned in both cities' policies. The two case studies provide an opportunity to understand how the 100RC approach to resilience offered – or failed to offer – an appropriate space for the multiple deployments of resilience. 100RC initially promoted an integrative definition of resilience, aiming to address natural as well as social stresses and shocks. I argue that this holistic approach paradoxically contributed to limiting the multiplicity of resilience in both cities. In Medellin, the project came to a halt after political changes. New Orleans eventually developed a more reductionist and technical approach than that initially formulated, focusing on the effectiveness of infrastructures rather than social changes. Considering the importance of contextualizing resilience to local concerns, this analysis will thus demonstrate some of the challenges implied in the institutionalization of a global model of resilience. Moreover, it will also highlight the importance of contextualizing neoliberalism and question the widespread vision of resilient cities as being merely neoliberal.     

Le Travail Artisanal En Chine (Xe–XIIe Siècles)

This study deals with collective representations of handcrafts, which were elaborated by the Song (960–1279) literati. Stirred by the strong demand of urban populations, this ideology was constituted combining the literati’s interpretations of the classical tradition, the social promotion of talent and technical know-how, and the standardization of specialized knowledge in response to government demands. This process had a long-term social impact, in terms of both the professional identity of workers, and the social perceptions of technical knowledge.     

PROCESSING CLAY FOR POTTERY IN NORTHERN CAMEROON: SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS*

For several decades, interpreting technical variations in the physical characteristics of pottery has followed two major trends: the ‘cultural’approach and the ‘behavioural or ‘techno‐functionalist’approach. Using data collected during extensive ethnographic fieldwork, I will consider the relative importance of social and technical requirements in the field of clay processing techniques in the Faro area (northern Cameroon) 1 will show that environmental and techno‐functional constraints cannot explain technical variations, while cultural factors appear determinant. However, faking the discussion one step further, I will show the complexity of the social/cultural mechanism involved in the regional distribution of these techniques.     

城市容积率确定的技术要点透视

容积率是反映城市土地利用强度的一项重要指标。本文提出了利用大比例尺航空像片测定现状容积率的技术路线和方法。对于规划容积率,可通过逐层控制、地块测算和因素修正的方法,予以确定。     

国家重点生态功能区乡村人居环境演变及影响机制——以湖北省利川市为例

采用层次分析等方法,从农民生活、生产环境、生态产品供给以及生态安全等人居环境核心领域出发,构建重点生态功能区乡村人居环境评价体系,对1998-2012年间利川市乡村人居环境做了评价,剖析了自然生态环境、社会经济要素空间变化特征。研究表明:①重点生态功能区乡村人居环境建设时序演变历经传统发展、过渡发展、生态化建设三个阶段,人居环境系统及影响因子在不同时期呈现出不同的特征;②社会经济环境、生态环境空间格局变化显著,主要表现为农村人口向盆地、城镇集聚,城乡收入差距增大,河流流域生态环境改善,高山区生态脆弱性增强;③农户行为受政策调控作用由无序、扭曲化向规范化变迁,政策调控与农户行为互动作用促使重点生态功能区乡村人居环境演变。     

国外社会旅游研究回顾与评述

诞生于欧洲的社会旅游,在以改善民生、提高社会福祉、推动社会平等为宗旨的社会公共政策中发挥了重要作用。本文系统回顾了国外有关社会旅游的英文研究文献,从'社会旅游'术语的由来入手,对社会旅游的缘起及其特征进行了归纳;研究详细评述了社会旅游的概念、运作机制、发展缘由、价值及效益评价和在各国的发展模式等;最后对未来研究亟待深化之处作了简要展望,以期为在我国的制度环境下推行社会旅游公共政策及其研究的本土化提供借鉴和参考。     

Creative geographies of ceramic artists: knowledges and experiences of landscape,practices of art and skill

This paper argues for a conception of art as an embodied and creative material practice. It draws on research conducted with seven professional ceramic artists who deal with landscape in their work to explore their processes of art-making through interview and (filmed) observation. It demonstrates the distributed range of embodied and relational more-than-artistic practices which inform how landscape is encountered, known and ultimately represented. It argues that artists’ self-expression in art is based upon material, social and political knowledges which interweave in artists’ lives. By studying ceramicists’ making this paper demonstrates both the non-conscious skill and the conscious technical knowledge needed to make art. It shows chance to have a triple role in practices of making, as something to work alongside, to work against and to draw on as a creative resource. This paper both argues for and demonstrates the value of an approach to art-making that frames it as a complex of both conscious, socio-cultural, technical knowledges and non-conscious skills which together (in)form works of (ceramic) art.