Journal articles on the topic 'Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE)'

Abstract: This paper addresses a gap in research regarding the efficacy of software programs to help children with reading difficulties. Forty-two children aged 5-13 years identified as poor readers participated in a study over twelve weeks using Reading Doctor, a software program targeting phonemic awareness, orthographic-phonemic mappings, decoding ability and sight word recognition. Measures were taken using the Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test - Revised (SPAT-R), the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE), and the graphemes and decoding subtests of the Phonological Awareness Test 2 (PAT-2). A quasi-experimental one group study with three multiple baseline measures was used. The dependent variables/measures were assessed seven times over a period of 32 weeks, allowing the research to be completed in the school-allocated time frame. Significant improvements were found on all three measures of phonological/phonemic awareness and word-reading efficiency. These improvements were maintained when assessed three months later, during which time the software program was not used.

This study investigated the reliability and validity of Part 1 of the Informal Decoding Inventory (IDI), a free diagnostic assessment used to plan Tier 2 intervention for first graders with decoding deficits. Part 1 addresses single-syllable words and consists of five subtests that progress in difficulty and that contain real word and pseudoword components. The IDI was administered to a sample of 94 first graders who attended three high-poverty schools in a rural district located in a South Atlantic state. The Test of Word Recognition Efficiency–Second Edition (TOWRE-2) was given in the same session. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) exceeded .70 for the total scores and all but one subtest. Total scores for real words and pseudowords correlated highly with TOWRE-2 subtests. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiated the five-factor structure of the IDI, and mean comparisons affirmed the order of the subtests in all cases but one. Overall, this preliminary study affirmed the reliability and validity of the IDI. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Letter-name identification has been widely used as part of early screening to identify children who might be at risk for future word reading difficulty. The goal of the present study was to examine whether a reduced set of letters could have similar diagnostic accuracy rather than a full set (i.e., 26 letters) when used as a screen. First, we examined whether a hierarchical scale existed among letters by using a Mokken scale analysis. Then, we contrasted diagnostic accuracy among the 5, 10, 15, and 20 easiest letters, with all 26 letters by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and indices of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power, and negative predictive power. Results demonstrated that a hierarchical scale existed among items in the letter-name knowledge test. In addition, assessing students on the easiest 15 letters was not statistically distinguished from all 26 letters in diagnostic accuracy. The implications of the results for the use of a Mokken scale analysis in educational research are discussed.

Introduction The purpose of this study is to present three case studies of developmental dyslexia in dual-language learners (DLLs) and our assessment process. We identify how phonological and orthographic deficits influence reading outcomes. We review the literature on theoretical models of bilingualism and reading models of developmental dyslexia to guide the assessment process through a multicomponential approach. We point out differences in the manifestation of dyslexia in more and less transparent writing systems. We suggest that reading instruction in Spanish can afford benefits to English–Spanish DLLs with developmental dyslexia. Method The study included three participants, two in fifth grade (10.3–11.7 years) and one in college (18.7 years). The assessment battery included reading nonwords and sight words (Test of Word Reading Efficiency); reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension (Gray Oral Reading Tests–Fourth Edition); phonological awareness subtests (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing); and rapid automatized naming tests. A language and reading history interview was elicited from the mothers. In addition, we analyzed the participants' phonemic and word errors in reading. Results Our three participants showed core phonological deficits, with decreased performance in decoding nonwords and low accuracy in reading aloud. In spite of their reading and writing deficits, reading comprehension was within average levels for the three participants in this study. Conclusions We show the importance of assessing reading processes in students with a history of reading and writing problems. Our findings are based on three single case studies and are not generalizable. Our aim is to stimulate questions and research on dyslexia and the particular needs of DLLs.

The present study investigated the temporal processing abilities of college students with diagnosed reading disorders. A behavioral test battery was used that involved discrimination of the pattern of presentation of tone triads in which individual components differed in either frequency or duration. An additional test involving measurement of frequency difference limens for long- and short-duration tones was also administered. The college students with reading disorders exhibited significantly higher error rates in discriminating duration patterns than the normal reading group. No group differences were found for the frequency pattern discrimination task. Both groups exhibited larger frequency difference limens with the shorter 20- and 50-ms tones than with the 200-ms tones. Significant correlations were found between reading ability measures and temporal processing abilities, specifically in word recognition and duration pattern processing, suggesting a relationship between lower level auditory temporal processing skills and decoding efficiency.

The goal of the experiment was to examine the relevance of a new French web-based assessment, Tinfolec (Test INFOrmatisé d’évaluation de la LECture), the aim of which is to evaluate the reading abilities of children in primary grades. The participants were 1,016 children from Grades 2 to 5. They completed the five tasks of Tinfolec designed to assess the efficiency of the two procedures used to identify written words (the nonlexical route and the lexical orthographic route). We tested the reliability and validity of the new tool in a subsection of this sample. Correlational analyses provided evidence of the reliability and validity of Tinfolec. The results are consistent with the conventionally observed effect of lexical factors (length, consistency, and frequency) on written word processing. The results confirm the relevance of the proposed tasks. The study produced promising results and would allow practitioners to perform online assessments of reading skills.

Switch cost and cost site have been controversial issues in the code-switching studies. This research conducted an eye tracking experiment on eight bilingual subjects to measure their switch cost and cost site in comprehending the intra-sentential code-switching (Chinese and English) and the unilingual (pure Chinese) stimuli. The English words and their Chinese translations or equivalents were assumed as the key words in either a unilingual or an intra-sentential code-switching paragraph. These key words were located as areas of interest (AOI) with the same height and consisted of three word-frequency levels. After the experiment, the subjects were required to do a comprehension test to ensure their real understanding of the English words. Their performances in two different reading contexts were compared by adopting a paired sample t-test. Their eye movement data were validated by using 2 x 3 repeated measures ANOVA. It was revealed that: 1) the subjects’ scores in the intra-sentential code-switching contexts were higher than those in the unilingual ones, i.e. reading efficiency increased in the intra-sentential code-switching contexts; 2) word frequency had little effect on word recognition speed in the intra-sentential code-switching contexts, i.e., the least frequently used words did not necessarily take the subjects’ more time or vice versa; 3) even if a switch cost occurred(on rare occasions), it was not necessarily at the switching site, and low frequency words in alternating languages did impair performance even when the switch occurred at a sentence boundary.

Phonics is one of the techniques to teach kids to learn alphabet. This technique used the sound of alphabet to teach kids. This project is to improve word reading skills by learn how to spell. The user’s mood of study can increase by the time. The memorizing technique which is Spaced Repetition Algorithm that implemented in the application can help the slow learner that have problem to memorize. The spaced repetition approach will strengthen memory, although at another efficiency using intervals. The Fonik Application (FA) target user is slow learner. This project provides the video of lips motion of how to sound the alphabet using phonics technique. It also provides two tests to view the user understanding of the learner. The tests are test of pronunciation and test of hearing. In pronunciation test, user needs to input the voice of the word that display in the screen. Speech recognition will recognize whether the speech that user input is correct or wrong. In the hearing test, user need to recognize the sound of the phonics that have given and answer the right alphabet by choosing the correct alphabet.

Resumo: O objetivo desta experiência foi testar a eficácia da leitura no estágio inicial do aprendizado de uma segunda língua. A lição usada foi baseada na técnica Total Physical Response, de James J. Asher, e consistiu de 10 emissões diferentes de 1 palavra cada.Chegou-se à conclusão de que aqueles que possuíam um roteiro e puderam lê-lo durante a aula, obtiveram um resultado 33.58 melhor do que os que não leram.Uma segunda hipótese testada lidou com a ação versus a não-ação. A diferença nos resultados obtidos pelos grupos de ação versus os grupos de não-ação não chegou a ser significativa. Abstract: The purpose of this experiment was to test the efficiency of readng in the beginning stage of second language learning. The lesson we used was based on the Total Physical Response technique, and consisted of ten different one-word utterances.It was found that those who possessed a script and were able to read it during the lesson outperformed those who did not read by 33.58.A second hypothesis we tested dealt with acting versus non-acting. The difference in the results obtained by the acting groups versus those who did not act was found to be insignificant.

AbstractDeaf readers may have larger perceptual spans than ability-matched hearing native English readers, allowing them to read more efficiently (Belanger & Rayner, 2015). To further test the hypothesis that deaf and hearing readers have different perceptual spans, the current study uses eye-movement data from two experiments in which deaf American Sign Language–English bilinguals, hearing native English speakers, and hearing Chinese–English bilinguals read semantically unrelated sentences and answered comprehension questions after a proportion of them. We analyzed skip rates, fixation times, and accuracy on comprehension questions. In addition, we analyzed how lexical properties of words affected skipping behavior and fixation durations. Deaf readers skipped words more often than native English speakers, who skipped words more often than Chinese–English bilinguals. Deaf readers had shorter first-pass fixation times than the other two groups. All groups’ skipping behaviors were affected by lexical frequency. Deaf readers’ comprehension did not differ from hearing Chinese–English bilinguals, despite greater skipping and shorter fixation times. Overall, the eye-tracking findings align with Belanger’s word processing efficiency hypothesis. Effects of lexical frequency on skipping behavior indicated further that eye movements during reading remain under cognitive control in deaf readers.

Abstract: Judicial intervention into B2B contracts should be construed as part of state infrastructure to improve business efficiency and thereby that of the market itself. The main purpose of unfair contract terms regulation should be to discharge a business from reading, analysing, or even negotiating the bulk of contract terms presented to them by other businesses. This enables businesses to prepare standard terms in advance, particularly those underlying high-volume transactions. Their customers can rest assured that such contracts would need to pass a judicial fairness test before being enforced and can therefore accept the bulk of all terms presented to them in blissful ignorance of the terms' content. However, those terms which an efficient market economy would expect businesses to read carefully and, if necessary, negotiate need not be subjected to this judicial unfairness test. Such terms exempted from the fairness test are, if transparent, those that determine the price and the main subject matter of the contract, those that any aggrieved business had actually itself supplied, and moreover, all terms in a contract of such a high value for which reasonable parties would seek legal advice and painstakingly negotiate every word. There is also no need for a judicial fairness test for those terms that have, in fact, been negotiated in detail by the parties, since the main function of the test is to compensate for the lack of negotiations. In order to free the parties in the most efficient way possible from negotiating, or even reading, all other terms, the following judicially applied unfairness test should apply. The further removed a particular non-negotiated term is from what reasonable and honest parties would have agreed in individual negotiations, the more likely it is that the individual term is unfair.

Abstract Background Postlingually deafened adult cochlear implant (CI) users routinely display large individual differences in the ability to recognize and understand speech, especially in adverse listening conditions. Although individual differences have been linked to several sensory (‘‘bottom-up’') and cognitive (‘‘top-down’') factors, little is currently known about the relative contributions of these factors in high- and low-performing CI users. Purpose The aim of the study was to investigate differences in sensory functioning and neurocognitive functioning between high- and low-performing CI users on the Perceptually Robust English Sentence Test Open-set (PRESTO), a high-variability sentence recognition test containing sentence materials produced by multiple male and female talkers with diverse regional accents. Research Design CI users with accuracy scores in the upper (HiPRESTO) or lower quartiles (LoPRESTO) on PRESTO in quiet completed a battery of behavioral tasks designed to assess spectral resolution and neurocognitive functioning. Study Sample Twenty-one postlingually deafened adult CI users, with 11 HiPRESTO and 10 LoPRESTO participants. Data Collection and Analysis A discriminant analysis was carried out to determine the extent to which measures of spectral resolution and neurocognitive functioning discriminate HiPRESTO and LoPRESTO CI users. Auditory spectral resolution was measured using the Spectral-Temporally Modulated Ripple Test (SMRT). Neurocognitive functioning was assessed with visual measures of working memory (digit span), inhibitory control (Stroop), speed of lexical/phonological access (Test of Word Reading Efficiency), and nonverbal reasoning (Raven's Progressive Matrices). Results HiPRESTO and LoPRESTO CI users were discriminated primarily by performance on the SMRT and secondarily by the Raven's test. No other neurocognitive measures contributed substantially to the discriminant function. Conclusions High- and low-performing CI users differed by spectral resolution and, to a lesser extent, nonverbal reasoning. These findings suggest that the extreme groups are determined by global factors of richness of sensory information and domain-general, nonverbal intelligence, rather than specific neurocognitive processing operations related to speech perception and spoken word recognition. Thus, although both bottom-up and top-down information contribute to speech recognition performance, low-performing CI users may not be sufficiently able to rely on neurocognitive skills specific to speech recognition to enhance processing of spectrally degraded input in adverse conditions involving high talker variability.

<p>We all know the enigma that compels us to dive into the excitement and vivacity of a certain story we are reading or a series we are watching. The characters become a part of us and the streets, café shops, etc., design our thoughts and dreams as they display the ‘vitrines’ of our reality. All is triggered by a simple word “once upon a time.” In this article, we go in-depth by analyzing storytelling and by exploring the significant role of the character as positioned in a text. However, our main concern is the possibility of being able to decipher values transmitted by a text, where the character plays a major role in terms of reflecting empathy/sympathy towards audiences’ perceptions. We, therefore, came with the idea of designing an innovative value analysis framework – based on Pierre Glaudes’s and Yves Reuter’s grid analysis pattern for value depiction – where two studies that analyze the famous series Bab El Hara, are cross referenced. Then, in order to test the validity of the framework, an original qualitative analysis based on a focus group session is conducted on ten Lebanese respondents (aged between 35 and 45) who relate their personal opinions and beliefs in terms of what they perceive in Bab El Hara, giving, therefore, indication to what values they identify with the most. Effectively, the values which respondents did identify with seemed to correspond perfectly with the value analysis framework which has shown to be a suitable base for value depiction. </p>

Studies on stop unrelease in second language acquisition have hitherto focused on the productions of Slavic learners of English (Šimačkova & Podlipsky, 2015) and experiments on Polish learners of English; the latter show the tendency to release stops on a more regular basis depending on the type of stop combinations (Rojczyk et al. 2013). In the present study, we aim to test the efficiency of audio-visual explanations as opposed to distracted imitation in pronunciation teaching amongst French learners of English. While unreleased stops are rather frequent in French and English - especially in plosives clusters (Byrd, 1993; Davidson, 2010), unreleased plosives in final positions are less common in French (Van Dommelen, 1983). During phase 1 of the experiment, three groups of 12 native French learners of English (level A1/A2, B1/B2 and C1/C2) were asked to read idiomatic expressions containing both homogeneous and heterogeneous sequences of voiceless stops straddled between words, namely, in sequences like “that cat” [dat˺ kat˺], and stops at the end of sentences like “I told him to speak” [tə spiːk˺]. In the second phase of the experiment, one half in each group was given a different task. The first group heard recorded versions of phase 1 sentences and before reading them out loud, counted up to five in their L1. Stimuli for imitation contained no release in the contexts under scrutiny. The other half had to watch a video explaining the phenomenon of unreleased stops with a production of phase-two expressions propped up by hand gestures. They were then asked to re-read the sentences given in phase 1. Based on these results the current study makes recommendations about what working environment should be prioritized in pronunciation teaching both in class and online (Kroger et al. 2010), and suggests ways to assess students and visually keep track of their progress.

49 Background: Pulmonary nodule incidental findings challenge providers to balance resource efficiency and high clinical quality. Incidental findings tend to be under evaluated with studies reporting appropriate follow-up rates as low as 29%. The efficient identification of patients with high risk nodules is foundational to ensuring appropriate follow-up and requires the clinical reading and classification of radiology reports. We tested the feasibility of automating this process with natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Methods: In cooperation with Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, we conducted a series of experiments on 8,879 free-text, narrative CT radiology reports. A representative sample of health system ED, IP, and OP reports dated from Dec 2015 - April 2017 were divided into a development set for model training and validation, and a test set to evaluate model performance. A “Nodule Model” was trained to detect the reported presence of a pulmonary nodule and a rules-based “Size Model” was developed to extract the size of the nodule in mms. Reports were bucketed into three prediction groups: ≥ 6 mm, <6 mm, and no size indicated. Nodules were placed in a queue for follow-up if the nodule was predicted ≥ 6 mm, or if the nodule had no size indicated and the report contained the word “mass.” The Fleischner Society Guidelines and clinical review informed these definitions. Results: Precision and recall metrics were calculated for multiple model thresholds. A threshold was selected based on the validation set calculations and a success criterion of 90% queue precision was selected to minimize false positives. On the test dataset, the F1 measure of the entire pipeline was 72.9%, recall was 60.3%, and queue precision was 90.2%, exceeding success criteria. Conclusions: The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of technology to automate the detection and classification of pulmonary nodule incidental findings in radiology reports. This approach promises to improve healthcare quality by increasing the rate of appropriate lung nodule incidental finding follow-up and treatment without excessive labor or risking overutilization.

e18093 Background: Pulmonary nodule incidental findings challenge providers to balance resource efficiency and high clinical quality. Incidental findings tend to be undertreated with studies reporting appropriate follow-up rates as low as 29%. Ensuring appropriate follow-up on all incidental findings is labor-intensive; requires the clinical reading and classification of radiology reports to identify high-risk lung nodules. We tested the feasibility of automating this process with natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Methods: In cooperation with Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), we conducted a series of data science experiments utilizing NLP and ML computing techniques on 8,879 free-text, narrative CT (computerized tomography) radiology reports. Reports used were dated from Dec 8, 2015 - April 23, 2017, came from SCRI-affiliated Emergency Department, Inpatient, and Outpatient facilities and were a representative, random sample of the patient populations. Reports were divided into a development set for model training and validation, and a test set to evaluate model performance. Two models were developed - a “Nodule Model” was trained to detect the reported presence of a pulmonary nodule and a rules-based “Sizing Model” was developed to extract the size of the nodule in millimeters. Reports were bucketed into three prediction groups: > = 6 mm, < 6 mm, and no size indicated. Nodules were considered positives and placed in a queue for follow-up if the nodule was predicted > = 6 mm, or if the nodule had no size indicated and the radiology report contained the word “mass.” The Fleischner Society Guidelines and clinical review informed these definitions. Results: Precision and recall metrics were calculated for multiple model thresholds. A threshold was selected based on the validation set calculations and a success criterion of 90% queue precision was selected to minimize false positives. On the test dataset, the F1 measure of the entire pipeline (lung nodule classification model and size extraction model) was 72.9%, recall was 60.3%, and queue precision was 90.2%, exceeding success criteria. Conclusions: The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of NLP and ML technology to automate the detection and classification of pulmonary nodule incidental findings in radiology reports. This approach promises to improve healthcare quality by increasing the rate of appropriate lung nodule incidental finding follow-up and treatment without excessive labor or risking overutilization.

We present findings from the first cohort of third- and fourth-grade students with reading difficulties (128 students from 31 classrooms) who participated in a 2-year intervention examining the effects of a reading intervention with and without anxiety management. Using a randomized controlled trial, students were assigned to one of three conditions: (a) small-group reading intervention with anxiety management instruction (RANX), (b) small-group reading intervention with math fact practice (RMATH), and (c) business-as-usual (BAU) comparison condition (no researcher provided treatment). Personnel from the research team provided participants in the RANX and RMATH the same reading intervention with the variation in the two treatments being whether the same amount of time per lesson was allocated to anxiety management (RANX) or practicing math facts (RMATH). Students in the RANX significantly outperformed students in the BAU on reading comprehension (effect size [ES] = 1.22) and students in the RMATH outperformed BAU on reading comprehension (ES = 0.77). Groups did not differ significantly on other reading outcomes. Reading anxiety moderated the main effect of the RANX intervention on Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) word reading when contrasted against the BAU group indicating a significant difference favoring RANX where treatment’s effect decreased by 0.94 units (about 1 point on the outcome) on word reading for each additional point increase in reading anxiety.

Reading comprehension tests vary in format and characteristics, which may influence the extent to which component skills are involved in test performance. With students in Grades 6 to 8 with reading difficulties, dominance analyses examined the differential importance of component reading and language skills (word- and text-reading fluency, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and working memory) on several standardized tests of reading comprehension: The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, 4th edition (GMRT), Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation, Gray Oral Reading Test, 5th edition (GORT-5), and the Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension (TOSREC). Students’ word- and text-reading fluency skills were generally the most dominant predictors of performance on most reading comprehension tests, especially those with a time limit (GMRT and TOSREC). Listening comprehension was most important on the GORT-5, a test in which students read passages orally and listen to questions read by an examiner. Working memory was the least important component skill across the reading comprehension tests. Overall, results were consistent with previous work indicating that reading comprehension measures vary with regard to the skills or knowledge sources that are most important for test performance and extend these findings to struggling adolescent readers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The main aim of this work is to check the bio fouling in cooling tower and its effect on power generation. The way to reduce bio fouling is necessary issue within the thermal power station, as it results in reduction of the heat transfer rate and ultimately reduction in the power generation rate of plant. So as to attenuate the energy consumption in process plant equipped with device network. In various branches of chemical industries fouling builds up on heat transfer surfaces is a heat transfer equipment burning extra fuel to compensate for a reduced heat recovery accepting reduction of plant output due to periodic equipment cleaning and recovering the cost of cleaning interventions. Microbiological fouling can cause energy losses and loss of tower efficiency. The pilot plant is very useful in the thermal power plant to test the cooling water and then it is used in the thermal power plant to reduce the losses due to the bio fouling. In large power plant they having pilot plant with PLC system and microprocessor with highly accurate sensors. It will give very accurate and direct digital readings on screen

Abstract Background Cognitive Reserve (CR) protects against cognitive decline, but whether CR influences the efficiency of cortical control of gait has not been reported. The current study addressed this important gap in the literature. Specifically, we determined the role of CR in moderating the efficiency of functional Near-Infrared-Spectroscopy (fNIRS)-derived HbO2 in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) assessed during active walking. We hypothesized that higher CR would be associated with more efficient brain activation patterns. Methods Participants were 55 (mean age=74.84; %female=49.1) older adults who underwent the combined walking/fNIRS protocol and had MRI data. We used an established dual-task walking paradigm that consisted of three task conditions: Single-Task-Walk (STW), Single-Task-Alpha (STA, cognitive task) and Dual-Task-Walk (DTW). Using the residuals approach, CR was derived from a word-reading test score by removing variance accounted for by socio-demographic variables, tests of current cognitive functions and a measure of structural brain integrity. Results CR moderated the change in fNIRS-derived HbO2 in the PFC across tasks. Higher CR was associated with smaller increases in fNIRS-derived HbO2 from the single tasks to dual task walking (CR x DTW compared to STW: estimate = .183; p &lt; .001; CR x DTW compared to STA: estimate =.257; p &lt; .001). The moderation effect of CR remained significant when adjusting for multiple covariates and concurrent moderation effects of measures of gait performance, current cognitive functions and structural integrity of the brain. Conclusion The current study provided first evidence that higher CR was associated with better neural efficiency of walking in older adults.

A friend of mine once tried to capture the feeling that one gets from a new thing. He decided that there was no word to describe the sensation of having an unblemished eraser when you were in primary school, but nevertheless it produced a kind of fascinating awe in the apparent perfection of the new. A similar feeling captures the new car owner in smelling the interior's recently minted plastic. Used car dealers would doubtless love to bottle that smell because it produces the momentary pleasure of new ownership. And I am sure there are certain people who are addicted to that smell, and go test drive new cars with no intention of buying just for the experience of the "new" smell. New clothes produce that same sensation: most of us ignore the label which says "wash before wearing" because we want to experience the incredible stiff tactile sensation of a new shirt. My friend called this gle-gle, and it is a pervasive relationship to New in a variety of guises. New implies two kinds of objects or practices: it implies either the replacement of the old or it points to the emergence of something that has not existed before. In both cases, new always heralds change and has the potential for social or cultural transformation. As a result, popular writers and ad copy editors often link new with revolution. For example, the advent of the computer was seen to be revolutionary. Similarly a new detergent which worked in cold water promised cataclysmic change in the 1960s. But these promises of revolution through some innovation have not necessarily led to massive social upheaval; rather they have identified a discursive trope of contemporary culture which links new with rejuvenation. The claim that something is new is the mantra of modernity and the kitsch of the postmodern. This double-play of the concept of the new is best untangled through thinking how a once new object becomes the contemporary way of expressing the former hope of progress and change -- with raised and knowing eyebrow. I recently stumbled into one of these double-plays. While searching for bedding for yet another birthday slumber party, I picked up an old mattress which still had its 1950s label, where it proudly announced that the cushioning was the wonderful new revolutionary foam system called the Dunlopillo. The Dunlopillo system was certainly trademarked and no doubt patented for its then unique system of troughs and cones of army green foam; but in its current incarnation the foam was weak and the bed easily crumpled in half. All that was left of the sentiment of newness was the label, which in its graphics expressed the necessary connection to science as the future, and authoritative zeal in its seriousness of its revolutionary potential. But seen from 1998, the claims seemed bombastic and beautifully optimistic. Modernity's relationship to the new is to celebrate the potential for change. It is a cultural project that has enveloped the sentiments of capitalism and socialism from their origins in the 18th and 19th centuries, and manifested itself in what Schudson labelled "capitalist realism" in advertising, and what is known as socialist realism as a state-sanctioned artistic movement in the Soviet Union. Both representations provided their systems with the capacity to repaint the cultural canvas with each new product such as Dunlopillo, or in the Soviet system with each new five-year productivity plan for the collective. Maintaining the unity of the cultural project was a challenge to each system's representational regime; sustaining the power of the new as a revolutionary force is the fundamental link between capitalist and socialist systems throughout the twentieth century. These representational regimes were in fact connected to the production of new phenomena, new materials, new social formations. However, the message of the new has gradually weakened over the last thirty years. Think of the way in which the Space Race produced all sorts of new technologies of computing, calculation and the integration of electronics into the running of the automobile. It also produced the breakfast orange-juice substitute, 'Tang'. Indeed, the first advertisements for Tang intoned that it was the drink that astronauts enjoyed in space. Tang and its flavour crystals provided the ultimate form of efficiency and convenience, and provided a clear link between the highly ideologically driven space program and the everyday lives of citizens of the "free" world. In the 60s and 70s the link between the general project of modernity and improving everyday life was made evidently clear every time you added water to your Tang flavour crystals. One has to ask: where is Tang today? Not only is it difficult to find in my supermarket, but even if it were available it would not operate as the same representation of progress and the project of modernity. Instead, it would have little more than a nostalgic -- or, kitsch -- hold on a generation that has seen too many representations of the new and too many attempts at indicating improvement. The decay of the cultural power of the new is clearly linked to consumer culture's dependence on and overuse of the concept. The entire century has been enveloped by an accelerating pattern of symbolic change. Symbolic change is not necessarily the same as the futurologist Toffler claiming that we are in a constant state of "future shock"; rather it is much more the introduction of new designs as if there were not only transformed designs, but fundamentally transformed products. This perpetually 'new' is a feature of the fashion industry as it works toward seasonal transformation. Toothbrushes have also been the object of this design therapy, which produces both continual change over the last twenty years, and claims of new revolutionary designs. Central to this notion of symbolic change is advertising. Advertising plays with the hopes and desires of its audience by providing the contradictory symbolic materiality of progressive change. The cultural and political power of the new is the symbolic terrain that advertising has mined to present its "images of well-being". What one can now detect in the circulation of advertising is at least two responses to the decay of the power of the new. First, instead of advertising invoking the wonders of science and its technological offspring providing you with something revolutionary, advertising has moved increasingly towards personal transformation, echoing the 30-year-old self-help, self-discovery book industry. In Australia, GM-Holden's Barina television ads provide a typical example. No technical detail about the car is given in the ads, but a great deal of information --- via the singing, the superimposed dancers, and the graphics employed -- signifies that the car is designed for the young female driver. Symbolically, the car is transformed into a new space of feminine subjectivity. Second, advertising plays with the cynicism of the cognoscenti. If the new itself can no longer work to signify genuine change and improvement in contemporary culture, it is instead represented as a changed attitude to the contemporary world that only a particular demographic will actually comprehend. The level of sophistication in reading the new as a cultural phenomenon by advertisers (or by proxy, their agencies) is sometimes astounding. A recent Coca-Cola radio ad played with a singing style of ennui and anger that embodied punk, but only as punk has been reinvented in the mid-90s through such groups as Green Day. The lyrics were identical to the rest of the "Always Coca-Cola" campaign that has been circulating internationally for the last five years; however, the cynicism of the singers, the bare tunefulness, and even the use of a popular culture icon such as Coke as the object of a song (and ridicule), tries to capture a particular new cultural moment with a different audience. Advertising as a cultural discourse on its own expresses a malaise within the transforming promise of the new that has been so much a part of modernity. However, the myths of modernity -- its clear association with social progress -- have never completely dissipated. In contemporary culture, it has fallen on new computer technologies to keep the ember of modernity and progress glowing. Over the last two decades the personal computer has maintained the naiveté of the new that was central to mid-twentieth century advertising, if not post-war culture in general. Very much like the Space Race stitched together an ideological weave that connected the populace to the interests of what Eisenhower first described as a military-industrial complex, the computer has ignited a new generation of optimism. It has been appropriated by governments from Singapore and Malaysia (think of the Multimedia Super Corridor) to the United States (think of Vice President Al Gore's NII) as the rescue package for the organisation of capitalism. Through Microsoft's hegemony there is a sense of coherence in "operating systems" which makes their slogan "where do you want to go today?", in its evocation of choice, also an invocation of unity of purpose. The wonderful synergy of the personal computer is that it weaves the conception of personal desire back into a generalisable social system of value. Despite all these efforts at harnessing the new computer technologies into established political and economic forces, the new nature of computer technology draws us back to the reason why new is intrinsically exciting: the defining nature of the new is that it offers the potential for some form of social change. The Internet has been the source for this new discourse of utopia. If we follow Howard Rheingold's logic, New "virtual communities" are formed online. A disequilibrium in who controls the flow of information is part of the appeal of the Internet, and the very appearance of this journal stems from that sense of new access. The Internet is said to challenge the boundaries of nations and states (although English language hegemony and pure economic access continue to operate to control the flow of those boundaries), with regulation devolving out of state policy towards the individual. Transforming identities are also very much an element of online communities: if nothing else, the play of gender in online game and chat programs identifies the constructed nature of our identities. All of this energy, and what I would call affect, refers to how computer technology and the Internet have managed to produce a sensation of agency. What I mean by agency is not necessarily attached to the project of modernity; rather it is the sense of being able to produce the new itself, as opposed to just living in the architecture of the new provided by someone else. On one level, the Internet and personal computers do provide a way to make your information look as if it is more significant and of a higher quality. The continuing proliferation of personal websites attests to this narcissistic drive of contemporary culture. On another level, the narcissism also identifies activity and agency in engaging in a form of communication with others. The Internet then can be thought of as paralleling movements in contemporary music, where the ability to construct soundscapes through computer interfaces has given the musician greater agency in the production of new electronic music. The new is intrinsically an odd phenomenon. It continually threatens established patterns. What is different about the new and its meaning in the twentieth century is that it has become part of the central ideology of western culture in its characterised representation of modernity. In a strange mix, the new reinforces the old and established. Nonetheless, the new, like culture itself, is never completely contained by any overarching architecture. The new expresses the potential, and occasionally the enactment, of significant cultural change. The fatigue that I have identified in our thinking about the new identifies a decline in the power of modernity to capture change, difference and transformation. That very fatigue may indicate in and of itself something profoundly new. References Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Schudson, Michael. Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society. New York: Basic Books, 1984. Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. London: Pan Books, 1971. Citation reference for this article MLA style: P. David Marshall. "Thinking through New." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1.1 (1998). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/think.php>. Chicago style: P. David Marshall, "Thinking through New," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1, no. 1 (1998), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/think.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: P. David Marshall. (1998) Thinking through new. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1(1). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9807/think.php> ([your date of access]).