Product Description
The computer-assisted tools, methodologies and structures through which those in the arts and humanities pursue their disciplines - the humanities 'mind technologies' - have come increasingly to the forefront in recent years. Arising in part from recent meetings between the Consortium for Computing in the Humanities (COCH/COSH) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the volume is the first to document the internationally significant work of the Canadian academic community in this area. Addressing issues of funding, research and innovation, these articles focus on the individuals and organisations whose work has shaped recent computing application technology. This collection is an invaluable resource for scholars, librarians and students across Canada with an interest in the rapidly widening domain of humanities computing the post-secondary environment. ... Read more

Product Description
The integration of technology into Canadian public schools remains an illusive goal for policy-makers and educators who believe that investment in computers yields concrete results. "Policy Unplugged" documents the realities of computer use in schools and unveils the often hidden barriers to teachers' integration efforts. The authors conducted a two-year study on the implementation of computer technologies, including in-depth interviews and classroom observation at thirty-two elementary and secondary schools across Canada. Based on this research, "Policy Unplugged" explores the intersections and disconnections between provincial technology policy, school board policy, and school-based practices. The authors consider the ways in which technology policy has become "unplugged" from daily experience, showing that teachers, students, and administrators are part of complex pedagogical and social systems that have been badly served by the enforced and hasty introduction of technology. They also show how small, often unquestioned practices and power relations in schools can create seemingly insurmountable impediments to technological implementation. ... Read more

Product Description
The Second World War, with its emphasis on innovative weapons and defence technology, brought about massive changes in the role of scientists in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. This book explains how and why Canada was able to play in the big leagues of military technology, particularly in the development of radar, RDX explosives, proximity fuses, chemical and biological warfare, and the atomic bomb. It also investigates the evolution of the Canadian national security state, which attempted to protect defence secrets both from the Axis powers and from Canada's wartime ally, the Soviet Union. ... Read more

Product Description
A decade ago, when the Internet began to emerge as a popular new mode of communication, many political scientists and social commentators surmised that technologies arising from its widespread use would revolutionize our democratic institutions. Today, voter turnout levels are at historic lows, while Internet usage is at historic highs. Can we still make the claim, then, that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) enhance democratic life in Canada? In fact, what effect is the increasing mediation of political communication by ICTs having on the practice of Canadian politics? How have such digital technologies affected the distribution of power in Canadian society?

In Communication Technology, Darin Barney investigates the links between ICTs and our democratic processes. Framing his discussion around the Canadian Democratic Audit’s central concerns of inclusiveness, public participation, and responsiveness, Barney argues that the potential of ICTs to contribute to a more democratic political system will remain largely untapped unless the more conventional dimensions of Canadian politics, the economy, and modes of governance are re-oriented.

A highly original volume of the Canadian Democratic Audit, Communication Technology poses some provocative questions about the state of Canadian democracy and the place of ICTs in shaping and improving it. Students of political science and media studies, as well as those with an interest in understanding the activist potential of ICTs will find this book particularly compelling. ... Read more

Product Description

The horrors of industrial warfare that emerged during the First World War were different from the combat conditions of any conflict that had gone before, and they required a different kind of soldier. In this operational history of the Canadian Corps, Bill Rawling takes a close look at the tactics that developed from 1914 to 1918, focusing on the relationship between the tools of war and those who had to use them.

Drawing on interview transcripts, diaries, memoirs, personal papers, war diaries, after-action reports, training manuals, and staff reports, Rawling makes clear that the decisive factor in the war was not so much the technology itself as the response to it. Training was a crucial component; only well-trained troops could survive against the deadly trinity of machine-gun, barbed wire, and artillery. The Canadian Corps, like its British, French, and German counterparts on the Western Front, devised a system based on specializing tasks within the infantry and artillery, and on the close integration of these specialists and their weapons through effective communications.

The whole undertaking was coordinated with detailed planning. By late 1916 the tactical system incorporated fire and movement at two levels. Battalions followed creeping barrages and relied on artillery support. Platoons relied on their own weapons to ensure that as one group of soldiers moved it had fire support from another. Rawling offers a whole new understanding of the First World War, replacing the image of a static trench war with one in which soldiers actively struggled for control over their environment, and achieved it.

Customer Reviews (1)

The Evolution of Infantry Tactics
Dr. Bill Rawling's highly original "Surviving Trench Warfare" is groundbreaking; it is a thorough and original analysis of how the Canadian Corps reacted to the challenges of the war of attrition on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918. It is a welcome rebuttal to the view that infantry tactics in the Great War was no more than a series of advances of lines of mindless but brave infantry marching into the enemy's machine guns. In fact the leaders of the Canadian Corps took useful lessons not only from their own experiences, but also from their allies. They were thus able to develop tactics involving all-arms cooperation along with fire and movement to break the deadlock of the trenches. In the process, the Corps became, in Jack English's phrase, "the shock troops of the Empire". This book is highly recommended for any student of military history. It is also useful for serving Army officers, who can learn much from Rawling about how tactics can evolve in the face of huge combat challenges. ... Read more

Product Description
In the face of climate change and oil shortages, nuclear technology offers many important possibilities. Half-Lives evaluates the promise of nuclear technology as a source of clean energy, as well as the wide range of applications in medicine and industry it offers in a uniquely Canadian context.

Half-Lives explains the fundamentals of nuclear reactions and radioactivity with deftly crafted prose that precludes the need for a deep background in mathematics or science. The uses of nuclear technology in Canada are explored in clear, accessible language, from uranium mining to electricity-producing nuclear power reactors (including the Canadian-designed CANDU reactor), to nuclear medicine and industrial applications.

First published in 2002, Half-Lives remains the only book to consider nuclear technology from a Canadian perspective; this new edition updates the issues in light of industry developments, politics, and environmental crisis. ... Read more

Product Description
This handbook is designed to enable people who are interested in trees to identify the insects and mites causing damage to them. About 90 species of insects and mites that have caused noteworthy damage to pines in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains are included. The insect and/or its damage can be identified by means of flow chart keys, and the identity of the insect or mite can be confirmed by reference to about 190 colour illustrations. The accompanying biological sketch for each insect or mite usually includes information, based largely on Fores Insect and Disease Survey records, on necessity for control. Where control is necessary, methods are suggested. Common names of insects are generally used, but scientific names are also given in the text. ... Read more