This article reports the findings of an ethnographic study of internet use conducted in Vancouver, Canada. Our goal was to examine how non-professional users interpret, `domesticate' (Silverstone, 1994) and creatively appropriate (Feenberg, 1999) the internet in order to integrate it into the relevance structures and activities of their everyday lives. We identify new cultural practices emerging on this basis and reflect on what these practices mean for the social shaping of the internet as a communication medium. The methods of data collection included ethnographic interviews, and `tours' of the home and computer space of 30 domestic users of the internet in different socio-biographical situations.

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractRadical shifts are taking place in management theory; equivalent shifts need to occur, we argue, in the theory of training and development. The move towards a knowledge economy makes such a shift particularly urgent. Notions of training tend to foreclose on outcomes; typically they are short-term and assume transferability of skills. Notions of personal development may be insufficiently focused on the workplace. We argue for a conception of workplace learning that foregrounds the dialectical relationship between persons and their organisations. Crucial in that relationship are notions of openness, uncertainty, complexity, relationships, reflection, reframing and restoration. Electronic accessThe current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

This investigation evaluated the effects of Furst's mnemonic technique applied to serial verbal learning using consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) lists of Low (1.07), Medium (2.75), and High (4.37) scaled meaningfulness ( m‘) values. On the basis of three pre-experimental tasks known to correlate well with serial learning performance, 126 college Ss were recruited to form 18 matched pairs at each of seven ability levels. One member of each pair was assigned to the experimental group and given a 1-hr. lecture-demonstration on Furst's “hook” method. This was followed by four days of private practice in imagery using a list of 100 random digits. The other Ss were assigned to the control group. All Ss were then divided into three experimental and three control groups of 21 comparable Ss each. Ss received 20 Learning trials on one of the three 10-item CVC lists, were excused for 24 hr., then retested for 10 Relearning trials on the same list. Furst's method produced significant differences in Recall (loss over the 24-hr. test) and Relearning, but the differences failed to reach statistical significance for the Learning phase. A complex relationship existed between the effectiveness of the Method and Meaningfulness, with no differences occurring for highly meaningful lists, large differences for medium m' lists, and small differences for low m' lists. Superiority of the experimental groups over the control groups was mainly attributable to better performance on the part of low-ability Ss. Both Meaningfulness and Ability were primary sources of between-group differences during Learning, Recall, and Relearning. Complex interactions appeared between degree of meaningfulness, level of ability, and Furst's method. Some methodological problems were discussed. It was concluded that Furst's mnemonic technique has limited usefulness during the acquisition of a serial verbal list, and perhaps a significant facilitating effect on retention, provided the material to be recalled is of medium or low meaningfulness, but no efficacy for remembering highly meaningful materials learned under the present conditions.