Free software and copyright enforcement: A tool for global copyright policy?

One of the paradoxes of the free software ideology is its reliance on the legal institutions it was created to object to. One could argue that Free Software Foundation is using copyright to enforce their free software licenses as aggressively as the Business Software Alliance is enforcing its clients’ copyrights. We will show that the reality is more complex and that there is a significant difference: the free software community uses primarily non-legal enforcement methods and trusts on social norms. We argue that free software could be used as a tool to make copyright more accepted in the less developed world because of its positive connection with copyright and community based approach. We explain why strong copyright is also in the interest of free software developers. The article concludes by suggesting that World Intellectual Property Organization should include free software into its development agenda.     

Jesus and the Play of Imagination: The Role of His Stories and Parables in Faith Formation

Jesus’ stories and parables—the products of his own imagination—are at the core of Christian religious education. Christian religious educators are to encourage their audience to engage their imagination to let Jesus’ stories retain their power to form and transform them. Although imagination operates imperceptibly, it is essential to faith formation. Religious educators are to befriend imagination and employ it as an efficacious means to form their audiences in the faith. This article aims to describe the “obvious” dynamics involved in the act of imagining. The first part of this essay examines the multifaceted nature of imagination. The second part suggests ways how religious educators may develop the imagining skills of their audience.     

“P300” and memory: Individual differences in the von Restorff effect

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were elicited by words in a free recall paradigm that included a novel item. The P300 component of the ERP is elicited by novel, task-relevant events, and we tested the hypothesis that P300 is a manifestation of the cognitive processing invoked during “context updating.” If the degree to which current representations in working memory need revision is related to P300 amplitude, then the P300 elicited by a given item should be related to the ability to recall that item on a subsequent test. Forty lists were presented to 12 subjects in each of two sessions. The lists were 15 words long, and 1 word, in position 6 through 10, was “isolated” by changing its size. Most subjects recalled these isolated words more often than other words in the same positions (von Restorff effect), and these words also elicited larger P300s than other words. Analysis of variance on the component scores from a principal components analysis revealed that words recalled had a larger amplitude P300 (on initial presentation) than words not recalled. Striking individual differences emerged, and there were strong relationships between the von Restorff effect, overall recall performance, mnemonic strategies, and the association between components of the ERP and recall performance. The overall recall performance of subjects who reported simple (rote) mnemonic strategies was low, but they showed a high von Restorff effect. For these subjects the amplitude of the P300 elicited by words during initial presentation predicted later recall. In contrast, subjects who reported complex mnemonic strategies remembered a high percentage of words and did not show a von Restorff effect. For these subjects P300 did not predict later recall, although a later “slow wave” component of the ERP did. The initial response to isolated items was the same for all subjects (a large P300), and all subjects recognized the isolates faster than other words in a recognition test given at the end of each session. The subjects in whom P300 did not predict recall reported mnemonic strategies that involved organizing the material. These strategies continue long after the time period reflected by P300 (600 msec). Because they were so effective they may have overshadowed the relationship between P300 and recall, which is based on the initial encoding of an event. Our interpretations were further confirmed and clarified from data obtained in a final grand recall and in the recognition test.     

Effects of biased psychological reports on two types of teachers' ratings

This study investigated the effects of biased psychological reports on teachers' behavioral and expectations ratings of a kindergarten child seen in a videotape. Biases were produced by randomly distributing to one third of the subjects a fictitious favorable psychological report, while one third read a fictitious unfavorable version. The remaining third read a short fable and acted as a control group. Subjects rated the test performance of the child in the videotape and then attributed their expectations for his possessing certain cognitive and effective traits. A significant difference was noted in ratings of expected characteristics, but not in performance ratings, suggesting that the biased psychological report influenced one type of rating but not the other. Furthermore, the two dependent variables were not significantly correlated.     

Video games as research tools: The Space Fortress game

From 1983 through 1986, several laboratories investigated the role of practice in skill acquisition in a joint project called theLearning Strategies Program. The principal research tool for this project was a video game calledSpace Fortress. The present article summarizes the major findings obtained with Space Fortress, and examines several problems that arise in choosing a video game for use as a research tool.     

Self psychology,intersubjectivity, and group psychotherapy

The basic concepts of self psychology are presented. The three self-object transferences of mirroring, idealizing, and twinship are described and applied to group therapy. The therapist's role is: 1) to accept the patient's need to idealize the leader, the group, or the specific members; 2) to receive recognition and admiration; and 3) to understand the patients search for twinship. The group therapist also has the responsibility of teaching group members to have empathy for one another.     

Ways of Using Words: On Semantic Intentions

Intentionalism is the view that demonstratives, gradable adjectives, quantifiers, modals and other context-sensitive expressions are intention-sensitive: their semantic value on a given use is fixed by speaker intentions. The first aim of this paper is to defend Intentionalism against three recent objections, according to which speakers at least sometimes do not have suitable intentions when using supposedly intention-sensitive expressions. Its second aim is to thereby shed light on the so far little-explored question of which kinds of intentions can be semantically relevant.