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Today's trend is the use of information technology in all areas of our lives. Emotions are a basic human characteristic, although they are difficult to define, recognise and classify. Proper assessment and recognition of human emotions can lead to a better understanding of user behaviour. The aforementioned technologies can also be used as a suitable teaching aid, which forms the core of the research and is able to guarantee an increase in the success rate of the teaching process itself in terms of students' understanding of the learning materials. The aim of the research was the use of sensor networks as an element of information and communication technologies in the educational process. Using the possibility of measuring physiological functions through smart wristbands in order to identify changes in students' emotional states. The overall proposed system was able to identify changes in students' emotional state, specifically levels of arousal. Based on the results from the proposed system, teachers should be able to adjust their teaching style in specific situations to suit the students and provide a basis for better teaching and learning. [For the full proceedings, see ED629086.]

The research was focused on the teacher's opinions about the key and critical points of the lower secondary chemistry curriculum in the Czech Republic. Through the interviews with 40 chemistry teachers from four Czech regions was gained information about what teachers named as critical topics and what as key topics in early chemistry school contents. Some problems were identified mainly with cognition overload of learners and the necessity to realize stronger connections to everyday life and forming science literacy. [For the full proceedings, see ED619611.]

Functions form a central part of the U.S. mathematics curriculum especially at the high school level. There is a considerable body of research showing that students at all levels, including preservice secondary mathematics teachers, have difficulties with the definition of function as a correspondence between two sets with a univalence condition. Those difficulties include privileging algebraic representations and reductive interpretations of the univalence condition in the form of the vertical line test. In our research study, 47 pre-service mathematics teachers provided definitions of function, engaged with an interactive applet that had a non-standard representation of function, and then provided revised definitions of function. The results of the study show a measurable increase in the participants level of abstraction in their definitions, and an increase in their attention to the univalence condition. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606556.]

Functions form a central part of the U.S. mathematics curriculum. A large body of research shows that students at all levels, including preservice secondary mathematics teachers, have difficulties with defining function as a correspondence between two sets with a univalence condition. Those difficulties include privileging algebraic representations and reductive interpretations of the univalence condition in the form of the vertical line test. In our research study, 47 pre-service mathematics teachers provided definitions of function, engaged with an interactive applet that had a non-standard representation of function. The interaction with the applet was effective in initiating a series of dilemmas in their conception of function that resulted in the majority of the participants transforming and/or refining their conception of function. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606556.]

In this paper, we describe the analysis of multimodal data collected on small collaborative learning groups. In a previous study, we asked pairs (N=84) with no programming experience to program a robot to solve a series of mazes. The quality of the dyad's collaboration was evaluated, and two interventions were implemented to support collaborative learning. In the current study, we present the analysis of Kinect[TM] and speech data gathered on dyads during the programming task. We first show how certain movements and patterns of gestures correlate positively with collaboration and learning gains. We next use clustering algorithms to find prototypical body positions of participants and relate amount of time spent in certain postures with learning gains as in Schneider & Blikstein's work. Finally, we examine measures of proxemics and physical orientation within the dyads to explore how to detect good collaboration. We discuss the relevance of these results to designing and assessing collaborative small group activities and outline future work related to other collected sensor data. [For the full proceedings, see ED593090.]

Flipped instruction is being implemented in an increasing number of mathematics classes but the research base is not yet well developed. Many studies of flipped instruction involve a small number of flipped classes being compared to non-flipped classes, but this methodology fails to account for variations in implementations. To aid in the systematic attention to variation, this article presents a framework for flipped mathematics instruction that identifies key features of the videos assigned as homework as well as features of the in-class activities. The components of the framework are accompanied by proposed quality indicators to further distinguish between flipped implementations that are structurally similar but different in enactment. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606531.]

There is a clear prevalence of equipment and spatial arrangements for traditional teaching from the front of the class in Croatian classrooms. During such instruction, pupils mostly sit, listen and watch. Further, it is evident that primary school classrooms feature several elements pointing to the use of constructivist didactics, and include attempts at adjusting the space and equipment to the developmental needs of pupils in middle childhood. A research team called "School and Classes for the Net Generation" organised several examinations of the assessments of curricular determinants in Croatian primary and secondary schools. The aim of this study is to examine the assessments of changes that happen in school and in classes (or those that could happen) under the influence of new didactic understandings and digital education technology. A specifically constructed questionnaire was used on a sample of primary education male and female teachers (N = 214), which is representative for Central Croatia, since the data were collected through individual surveys in schools located in the City of Zagreb and in eight counties. The questionnaire contained 50 statements that the respondents had to assess on a Likert-type scale. In this paper, we shall present only part of the results relating to the pedagogical and curricular characteristics of the teaching methods and didactics of primary education. Differences in assessments were tested in terms of the working experience of primary education teachers. Primary education teachers recognise the characteristics of constructivist didactics and modern developments in the theory of education and the theory of school quite well. Most agree that it is important to organise classes in which the pupils are more active than the teacher, and that any curriculum is regarded as implemented if pupils are actually active. Most respondents hold that classic textbooks will soon be replaced by modern digital multimedia sources of knowledge. Teachers agree that all pupils should be provided with an opportunity to exercise their abilities in the best possible way, bearing in mind that everyone has different talents.

Despite the understandings that constructivist and multimedia didactics, as well as curricular theory and multiple intelligences theory, have been providing for years, what happens in the classroom and in the teaching process is still mostly teacher-centred. The didactic and methodological scenarios that prevail in our classes are more suitable to times long ago than to students belonging to the net-generation. The aim of this study is to examine the assessments of changes that happen in school and in classes (or those that could happen) under the influence of new didactic understandings and digital education technology. A specifically constructed questionnaire was used on a sample of primary education teachers (N = 213), which is representative of Central Croatia, since the data were collected through individual surveys in schools located in the City of Zagreb and in eight counties. The data were collected by fourth-year students of teacher education studies from Zagreb, Petrinja, and Cakovec at the beginning of 2015. The questionnaire contained 25 statements that the respondents had to assess on a Likert-type scale. The results show that teachers consider that curricular changes are needed and that classes still lack a pedagogy of success for all. However, less criticism is directed towards the present (inadequate) teaching environment.

The aim of this study was to establish whether there are differences between the computer self-efficacy of pupils and teachers (N = 507) in the context of the classroom, as a developing workplace of the teacher in elementary education. The survey covered 184 teachers and 323 pupils in elementary school. The results show that there is no statistically significant difference in the Basic Computer Skills dimension. In other words, both pupils and teachers assess their own self-efficacy in Basic Computer Skills equally. Further, the results show a statistically significant difference of the medium effect size in Media-Related Skills. In other words, pupils assess their self-efficacy in this dimension higher than the teachers. The results also reveal a statistically significant difference in the medium effect size concerning the self-efficacy dimension of Web-Based Skills, i.e. the pupils' assessment of self-efficacy in the skill of internet use is higher than the teachers' assessment of self-efficacy in the same area. The results also show that pupils generally assess their computer self-efficacy more highly than the teachers do, which may be explained by the fact that these pupils are digital natives, belonging to what is known as the Net Generation, while their teachers are known as digital immigrants. This paper explains the implications of these results for modern multimedia student-centred classes, and the role of the pupil and teacher in such classes. [This paper was published in: "E-Learning at Work and the Workplace: From Education to Employment and Meaningful Work with ICTs." Proceedings of the European Distance and E-Learning Network 2014 Annual Conference (Zagreb, Croatia, June 10-13, 2014). p517-526. ISBN 978-963-89559-7-5.]

The aim of this research is to assess the frequency of learning through the new media and from textbooks at home and in class, and the frequency of learning from exercise books, and the correlation according to the type of school and to the form the students attend. The survey conducted on a sample of secondary school students attending either vocational schools or gymnasia (N = 524) showed that students, regardless of the type of school and form they attend, most frequently tend to learn from their exercise books, and less frequently through the new media. The majority of students sometimes use textbooks from which to learn, both at home and at school. The findings also show that gymnasium and vocational school students who more frequently use textbooks in class also tend more often to learn from textbooks at home. Vocational school and gymnasium students, both in the first and in the fourth form, who more frequently use exercise books for learning, less frequently learn from textbooks at home. First and fourth form students who more frequently learn from exercise books less frequently learn through the new media. Students who more frequently use textbooks in class also tend to more frequently learn from textbooks at home. All the subsamples show that students learn significantly less frequently with the aid of the new media, regardless of how often they learn from textbooks and exercise books. This study shows that the new media have not yet attained sufficient presence in Croatian schools. [This paper was published in: "The Joy of Learning: Enhancing Learning Experience - Improving Learning Quality." Proceedings of the European Distance and E-Learning Network 2013 Annual Conference (Oslo, Norway, June 12-15, 2013). p937-946. ISBN 978-963-89559-3-7.]

The development and use of new media in the class emphasizes independent learning based on the activities of the students, constructivist learning and student-centred lessons in general. Using new media in the class does not prompt more efficient learning and teaching in itself, but can initiate the learning processes by didactically shaping the class with regards to student and teacher motivation, previous knowledge, aims, methods and content. Thus,the media changes the role of the teacher, who becomes the organizer of students' independent learning activities. On the other hand, differences have traditionally been seen between teachers from rural (village) and urban (towns/cities) areas. This research was carried out to investigate how often new media are used by elementary school teachers in rural and urban areas (N = 158), and what the differences are between those two subgroups of teachers in terms of ownership of new media. The research was conducted in February 2012 by using a questionnaire.The study demonstrates that there is no difference in terms of ownership of any of the new media items relating to the area in which the school is situated (rural or urban). The results show that computers, mobile phones and the internet are owned and used to a greater degree than social media, smartphones and tablet computers. Teachers who work in rural and urban areas use personal computers, the internet and multimedia software in their classes most often, while they do not use tablet computers, smartphones, social networking or mobile phones as frequently. The results show that using new media decreases the traditional differences between teachers from rural and urban areas, which implies that students can learn in classes organized with the help of new media, regardless of where their school is situated.

This study uses the Mathematical Tasks Framework (Stein & Smith, 1998) to assess the cognitive demand of mathematical tasks implemented in four mathematics classrooms, and to investigate the role of technology in both low- and high-level cognitive demand tasks. The metaphor of using technology as an amplifier or reorganizer (Pea, 1987) is used to characterize technology use. Results indicate that when technology is used as an amplifier, it has no influence on the thinking demands of a mathematical task, but when used as a reorganizer it is intimately related to the supporting students' high-level mathematical thinking. Furthermore, this distinction can be an important part of mathematics teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Niess et al., 2009) by providing ways to distinguish uses of technology along dimensions that matter for students' mathematical thinking and learning. [For the complete proceedings, see ED584829.]

An anthology of speeches of the 14th conference of the European Network for Improving Research and Development in Educational Management (ENIRDEM), held on 22 to 25 September 2005 in Brno and Telc, the Czech Republic, this book contains 13 contributions by 19 speakers and co-authors, covering various questions related to the topic of diversity in educational management, such as dealing with diversity as education's challenge in creating human solidarity (David Oldroyd), values in educational management (Anne Gold), philosophical thinking as a precondition for dealing with diversity (Iena Rocena), equity and school leadership (Anita Trnavcevic and Paul Mahieu), effectivity of schools and school leadership (Chris James, Michael Connolly, Gerald Dunning, and Tony Elliott), school culture development (Lenka Hlouskova), headteachers and school quality management (Milan Pol and Petr Novotny), school leaders' coping strategies (Anne Karikoski), special education needs and diversity (Agris Upenieks), motivation of late-career teachers (Bohumira Lazarova), school-to-family relations (Ilze Ivanova), and school self-evaluation (Jana Vastatkova). (Individual papers contain references.) [This book of the conference proceedings was published by Masaryk University and sponsored by the Regions of South Moravia and Vysocina and by the Department of Educational Sciences of the Masaryk University's Faculty of Arts.]

This paper reports on a study of reflective practice, which has been a gradual process in education in the Czech Republic. Until the 1990s, most research and development in education and in preservice and inservice teacher education and training had been different from this reflective approach. Instead, quantitative research approaches had been conducted exclusively by professional researchers from outside the school. Teaching was regarded as a job of an executive nature, and the main headteacher's function was to control its execution by teachers. Critical inquires were not wanted. Both preservice and inservice teacher education were quite removed from efforts to make reflective activities an important part of learning and development. Although schools got a large deal of autonomy in the 1990s, inservice teacher education and training did not help them much to learn and use their independence. The last decade has brought many significant changes, and some of them have created opportunities for the recognition of reflective practitioner research. However, many of these fundamental changes were carried out predominantly to remove existing barriers and to make some link to the precommunist era, rather than to take into account current developments in the West. The pre-1989 system was abandoned, but there was no systematic replacement for the old system. In spite of many efforts, there is an urgent necessity to encourage reflective practice in almost every field of education. (DFR)

A discussion of the role of technology in teaching and learning in higher education focuses on obstacles to the successful infusion of information technologies in the classroom. It comes at a time when colleges and universities are poised for a giant leap forward into a variety of new technologies, a situation brought on by increasing societal pressure and continued advances in technology. Colleges and universities are faced with keeping pace with a technological revolution of mammoth proportions, but the pace of introduction of various technologies has moved slowly despite the increasing proliferation on the market of computing, audio, video, and such interactive technologies as videodisc and two-way audio-video systems. The role of information technology in higher education is discussed in terms of historical perspectives, and reasons for using or not using technology. Information on the obstacles to appropriate and effective instructional use of information technologies is presented in relation to on-campus learning (technical, structural, and attitudinal obstacles) and distance learning (with the same obstacles). Despite various complex, interrelated obstacles to technology use there are signs of genuine progress in the development of varying uses of technology in colleges and universities. It is time to encourage strategies to pilot developments, expand existing usages, and cooperate with the private sector in order to embrace the profit motive and the goals of education. (SM)

Dramatic changes in the economic and political structure of the Czech Republic in recent years have challenged schools to transform themselves from closed institutions into open organizations that collaborate with families and communities. This study explored the questions: (1) Are changes in school/family relations really occurring? (2) What are the circumstances of these changes? (3) What might be blocking these changes? (3) What attitudes do schools and parents have about each other and the change in their relationship? and (4) What activities do schools perform to involve parents, and how do they perceive the possibility of applying other recommended strategies? The study employed a questionnaire of headmasters at 63 state basic schools (first through ninth grades) in Brno, as well as in-depth interviews, examination of documents, and observation. Findings include the following: (1) schools lack both effective forms of communication with parents and sufficient information about pupils' families; (2) economic pressure and lack of reliable information is contributing to low family participation in their children's education; (3) the school/family relationship declines in upper grades; (4) despite some initiatives, schools' attitudes to non-traditional ways of working with parents remain somewhat reserved; (5) the new emphasis on individualized contacts between schools and families may lead to a fragmentation of parents' participation, while formal representative bodies may become isolated from a majority of parents; and (6) schools' and parents' perceptions and expectations of each other are not very positive. Results highlight the need for better legislative and financial support of schools and more effort from both sides of the relationship. (Contains 20 references.) (EV)

Copyright of International Symposium 'Modern Trends in Livestock Production' is the property of Institute for Animal Husbandry and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Symposium 'Modern Trends in Livestock Production' is the property of Institute for Animal Husbandry and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This analysis of government regulation of America's broadcast service provides: (1) a historical view of radio and television regulation, including the doctrines of scarcity and public trustee and other areas affected by deregulation in particular; (2) an analysis of the argument for deregulation; and (3) an assessment of the First Amendment, the public interest standard, and content regulation. The major goal of the analysis is to determine the degree to which deregulation accommodates the contemporary American broadcast marketplace including both broadcasters and the public. It concludes that: (1) deregulation is likely to be beneficial to both broadcasters and the public in terms of greater program flexibility and innovation, and in reducing unnecessary economic burdens; (2) broadcasters will still be subject to comparative applications and renewals, as well as other statutory rules still in force, which may result in very little change; and (3) little progress has been made on the crucial issue of full First Amendment rights. (28 end notes) (CGD)

Functions form a central part of the U.S. mathematics curriculum especially at the high school level. There is a considerable body of research showing that students at all levels, including preservice secondary mathematics teachers, have difficulties with the definition of function as a correspondence between two sets with a univalence condition. Those difficulties include privileging algebraic representations and reductive interpretations of the univalence condition in the form of the vertical line test. In our research study, 47 pre-service mathematics teachers provided definitions of function, engaged with an interactive applet that had a non-standard representation of function, and then provided revised definitions of function. The results of the study show a measurable increase in the participants level of abstraction in their definitions, and an increase in their attention to the univalence condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functions form a central part of the U.S. mathematics curriculum. A large body of research shows that students at all levels, including preservice secondary mathematics teachers, have difficulties with defining function as a correspondence between two sets with a univalence condition. Those difficulties include privileging algebraic representations and reductive interpretations of the univalence condition in the form of the vertical line test. In our research study, 47 pre-service mathematics teachers provided definitions of function, engaged with an interactive applet that had a non-standard representation of function. The interaction with the applet was effective in initiating a series of dilemmas in their conception of function that resulted in the majority of the participants transforming and/or refining their conception of function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the presence of instructional technology in secondary mathematics classrooms increases, the need for teacher resources supporting its use becomes of greater importance. Mathematics textbooks are one resource that teachers rely on for instruction, so it is important to know how they support teachers in this regard. We analyzed a nationally representative sample of 20 high school textbooks, including integrated/non-integrated and conventional/investigative curricula, to compare the level of technology integration and the types of technology utilized. Findings indicate a relatively low percentage of tasks integrating technology, and that calculators are the predominant technology within this sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores challenges of adapting business schools in transition countries to the external context in the process of emerging globalization of the business education market. In view of the increasingly significant trends that have emerged recently in a global academic environment and consequently affect business education, their effects are increasingly reflected in the need of business schools in transition countries for strengthening their market orientation in order to better adjust their interaction with changing realities in the external context. With the aim of identifying the relevant influences from the external context and evaluate the extent to which university business schools in selected transition countries have already integrated the key aspects of their market orientation into their business strategy, we analysed the data collected from the websites of a defined sample of university business schools in transition countries. Our main empirical findings show the explicit need for more proactive institutional market orientation of university business schools, the need for developing a more distinctive international market positioning, improve their visibility and image, and, at the same time, to frame adequate mechanisms for more systematically attracting additional financing of their operation from private sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the implications of high cognitive demand tasks for student learning, we sought to determine how to support teachers in selecting or designing tasks that use Dynamic Geometry Software to support students' high-level thinking. We discuss the development of a practical framework for supporting teachers in this important work of teaching. The framework integrates Sinclair's Design Principles (2003) and the amplifier and reorganizer metaphor for technology use (Pea, 1987) in order to assess the role of technology in relation the thinking requirements of a task. Following the description of the framework and its development, we discuss results regarding how pre- and inservice teachers used the framework to evaluate and revise tasks found in current Geometry textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers' market performance is increasingly dependent on their customer service and efficiency of their distribution strategy in foreign markets as a consistent strategic framework for customer experience building and developing strong own brands as key drivers of their sales growth and market positioning. In face of increased competition and aggressive retail chain internationalisation, their distribution function should be framed at the operational level as a marketing mix component and, as a strategic dimension of their brand development process in international markets for ensuring the appropriate sales service to customers and driving the firm's sales growth and its market performance. We explore in the paper the key effects of a changing global market context on manufacturers' marketing channel strategies in times of retail firm internationalisation and proliferation of retailer brands in international markets. Empirical research is based on surveying a random sample of Slovenian manufacturing firms and explores the underlying relationships between the manufacturer export market orientation, innovativeness, relationships with customers in foreign markets, proliferation of retailer brands and the manufacturers' distribution strategy. The study highlights the relationships between these dimensions of international marketing process and delineates some key strategic responses of firms to changing marketing channel context. Finally, some strategic suggestions for their international distribution channel strategy are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most attempts to implement organizational changes do not achieve desired outcomes. Although a linear implementation containing several steps is recommended, in reality changes interweave, overlap and blend. The aim of this paper is to examine how managers can improve their approach to implementing change, and at the same time deal with employees' resistance. The working hypothesis is that changes can be successfully implemented if management is familiar with the most typical reasons for failure and causes of resistance to it. Fifty Croatian managers from 25 business areas took part in a recent empirical online survey. The main reason for the change failure in their enterprises is the incompetence of change agents during implementation. The power of habit is the most important individual cause of resistance to change. We can conclude that prerequisites for successful change implementation are good preparation, equable willingness of all employees to accept change, and change managers' high level of professionalism and competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For thousands of years of agricultural era, land was the key economic and developmental factor, whereas in industrial era, these factors were tangible resources, financial capital and manual labor. In the new economy of the 21st century the basic factor has turned out to be the knowledge, i.e. intellectual capital as an economic form of knowledge. In global economy, it is possible for everyone on the planet to trade mutually without ever physically meeting each another. Instead of doing business with tangible assets, companies must develop the feeling for creation, transfer, integration, protection and use of their intangible intellectual assets. Knowledge and intellectual capital form permanent resources for competitive edge provision. We will introduce the results of the empirical research on target population of corporations and physical persons involved in the hospitality industry in the Republic of Croatia. A multistage stratified proportional sample at the 5% statistical mass level was used from those entrepreneurs only who had less than a hundred employees. 311 respondents were covered, 100 of which are hotel and other type of accommodation owners together with 211 restaurant owners and owners of other type of food catering facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is a stress-strain analysis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) with subtotal replacement. The temporomandibular joint is a complex, sensitive and highly mobile joint which works bilaterally so each side influences the contralateral joint and because of this the distribution of the stresses is changed in the healthy joint as well. Detailed knowledge about function these are necessary for clinical application of temporomandibular joint prosthesis and also help us estimate the lifetime of the prosthesis a possibilities of alteration in the contra lateral joint components. The mathematical model of TMJ with replacement is based on the theory of semi-coercive unilateral contact problems in linear elasticity. The numerical solution is based on finite element approximation. The obtained numerical results will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two main goals. One is to report on community engagement work in regard to the Alberta SuperNet, a half billion dollar public investment in fiber optic technology that connects schools and public sector offices in rural and remote communities, which has facilitated the growth of internet-protocol video-conferencing. The second is to report community leaders' plans to develop physical centers that are focal points connecting community members to and through the virtual network. Problematizing the concept of community helps us understand the role of such centers in community development. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research evaluates the comparative advantage of upland cotton production in different states within the U.S. in 1980-2005. This study quantifies the comparative advantage of upland cotton production by comparing different states in the U.S. by using three different indices: Efficiency Advantage Indices (EAI), Scale Advantage Indices (SAI), and Aggregate Advantage Indices (AAI). This study reveals the changes in efficiency, scale, and overall advantages, among the different states in upland cotton production in 1990-2005. This helps to understand the performance and advantages of cotton production in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Marketing and Institutional Aspects of Rapidly Internationalising Small and Medium-Sized Firms in Transition Countries: The Case of Slovenia," by Milan Jurše and Ina Lejko is presented.

An abstract of the article "Strategic Thinking as a Requisite Management Tool for Managing International Marketing in Turbulent Times," by Milan Jurše and Romana Korez Vide is presented.

The paper looks at the evolution of mobilizations around communication rights from the theoretical perspective of the political processes involved. It outlines the main features of the communication and media policy contexts in the decades 1975-2005 with the aim of clarifying how structures of political opportunities have changed over the years, in terms of inclusiveness and openness to actors and issues, fostering or constraining collective action in trans-national spaces. It contributes to the historical review of social mobilizations around information, knowledge and culture by looking at global communication governance as a stage characterized by distinctive features, on which collective action has taken place for some time and developed practices of critical framing in relation to processes and issues that have become central to contemporary struggles on the broader global scene: the sharing of knowledge as a basis for human development, the idea of information as a common good and participation in policy-definition as a way to fulfill human rights. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]