INNOVATIONS IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN NEWSROOMS

This paper is an overview of modern newsroom models in Central European countries, especially Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Editorial job divisions, as well as routines and work practices, in newspaper and news agency newsrooms, have experienced revolutionary changes in these countries—not only through the global trend towards convergence, but also by bridging traditional barriers between departments and by introducing more flexible structures. Large and open newsrooms, for example, are now becoming increasingly popular. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from a case study of the innovations process of the news agency Austria Presse Agentur in Vienna, it is suggested that modernized newsrooms can increase speed and journalistic quality. At the same time building structure and space play an important role in the innovations process of a newsroom. There are significant correlations between satisfaction with the work site and the assessment of rising quality.     

Effective e-learning for health professionals and students--barriers and their solutions. A systematic review of the literature--findings from the HeXL project

Introduction: In 2003/4 the Information Management Research Institute, Northumbria University, conducted a research project to identify the barriers to e‐learning for health professionals and students. The project also established possible ways to overcome these barriers. The North of England Workforce Development Confederation funded the project. Methodology: The project comprised a systematic review of the literature on barriers to and solutions/critical success factors for e‐learning in the health field. Fifty‐seven references were suitable for analysis. This review was supplemented by a questionnaire survey of learners and an interview study of learning providers to ensure that data identified from the literature were grounded in reality. Results: The main barriers are: requirement for change; costs; poorly designed packages; inadequate technology; lack of skills; need for a component of face‐to‐face teaching; time intensive nature of e‐learning; computer anxiety. A range of solutions can solve these barriers. The main solutions are: standardization; strategies; funding; integration of e‐learning into the curriculum; blended teaching; user friendly packages; access to technology; skills training; support; employers paying e‐learning costs; dedicated work time for e‐learning. Conclusions: The authors argue that librarians can play an important role in e‐learning: providing support and support materials; teaching information skills; managing and providing access to online information resources; producing their own e‐learning packages; assisting in the development of other packages.     

Understanding adopters of audio information innovations

The use of two phone‐based audio innovations—audiotext audio information services and fax—was assessed in a probability survey of urban respondents. Support was found for the notion that social indicators are less important in the prediction of innovation use than are attitudinal and communication variables. Findings are interpreted in light of diffusion of innovation theory and research on the adoption of new technologies.     

Incorporating the views of obstetric clinicians in implementing evidence-supported labour and delivery suite ward rounds: a case study

Objectives: To implement evidence‐supported delivery suite ward rounds using strategies to overcome barriers. Design: Qualitative case study to identify barriers and a quantitative assessment of outcomes on ward rounds. Method: After an introduction to the proposed evidence‐supported delivery suite ward round reactions were elicited from 15 clinicians. Responses were categorized into barriers related to knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour. Using strategies to overcome these barriers, a weekly evidence‐supported ward round was established. During patient‐centred discussions, clinical questions were formulated. Following literature searches, evidence was acquired and appraised. Results: Clinicians had limited awareness about the potential benefits of a clinical librarian's support during ward rounds. They were unsure of their skills in evidence‐based practice. There was scepticism, fear of loss of autonomy, poor motivation and resistance to change. Clinicians identified several factors that could impinge on their practice. Using appropriate strategies when evidence‐supported ward rounds were conducted, 67 questions were raised. However only seven articles were appraised in time to affect decisions on that ward round. Conclusions: Knowledge of barriers was helpful in developing plans for implementation of evidence‐supported ward rounds. The pilot study indicates the feasibility of this approach.     

Medical journals and effective dissemination of health research

Clinical medical journals have not been effective in meeting the information needs of practitioners and bridging the gap between clinical research and practice. The slow adoption of results of clinical research is at least partly due to the failure of clinical journals to disseminate information in a way that would motivate practitioners to change practice. Although implementation is primarily a local process, medical journals are in a unique position to advance implementation by modifying their focus and adjusting their contents. Strategies that may be useful include publication of pre‐appraised evidence summaries and ‘clinical bottom‐lines’ and giving importance to systematic reviews and large evaluative research articles as they represent higher levels of evidence and have greater potential to change practice. Clinical journals should encourage researchers to consider how and by whom the findings will be used and provide information on implications for implementation such as possible strategies that may work, cost‐effectiveness, side‐effects and potential barriers to implementation. Medical journal publishers should explore ways to cooperate so that findings of landmark clinical trials could be shared thus reducing the ‘scatter’ of medical information. Electronic media offers numerous advantages such as quick accessibility and linking of information, and medical journals should capitalize on such innovations. There is a paradigm shift in health care practice as evidence is consciously and explicitly incorporated into individual patient care. Medical journals need to change to reflect this change in practice and provide practitioners with valid and relevant information.     

The origins and development of the diffusion of innovations paradigm as an example of scientific growth

Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system. The diffusion of innovations is a communication theory which has laid the groundwork for behavior change models across the social sciences, representing a widely applicable perspective. The diffusion of innovations paradigm began with the 1943 publication of the results of an hybrid seed corn study conducted by Bryce Ryan and Neal C. Gross, rural sociologists at Iowa State University. The diffusion paradigm spread among midwestern rural sociological researchers in the 1950s and 1960s, and then to a larger, interdisciplinary field of diffusion scholars. By the late 1960s, rural sociologists lost interest in diffusion studies, not because it was ineffective scientifically, but because of lack of support for such study as a consequence of farm overproduction and because most of the interesting research questions were thought to be answered. Since 1943, more than 4000 research publications have appeared and diffusion research became a widely practiced variety of scholarly study in sociology and other social sciences. This paper describes some of the history of rural sociological research on the diffusion of agricultural innovations with the goal of understanding how the research tradition emerged and to determine how it influenced the larger body of diffusion research conducted later by scholars in other disciplinary specialties. The authors describe how diffusion of innovations research followed and deviated from the Kuhnian concept of paradigm development.     

Healthcare librarians and the delivery of critical appraisal training: barriers to involvement

Background: Many healthcare librarians are undertaking training in critical appraisal but a significant number are not cascading the training to their end‐users. Objectives: To examine the barriers to healthcare librarian involvement in delivering critical appraisal training. Methods: A questionnaire survey of 57 library services across 48 NHS Trust Library Services in north west England followed up with 21 semi‐structured interviews. Results: Two types of barriers were noted: extrinsic barriers (organisational, environmental, training, role expectations) and intrinsic barriers (knowledge, skills, attitude). Conclusions: These barriers are not mutually exclusive and by overcoming one of them it does not necessarily follow that healthcare librarians will engage in delivering critical appraisal skills training. The challenge lies in developing strategies to deal effectively with these barriers to encourage and support healthcare librarians in the delivery of critical appraisal training at a level at which they feel confident and able.     

Applying the communication theory of Diffusion of Innovations to economic sciences: a response to the ‘Using gossips to spread information’ experiments conducted by the 2019 Nobel Laureates

ABSTRACT

Drs Abhijit Banergee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their remarkable series of large-scale field experiments to lessen global poverty. The main theoretical framework that they employed was the diffusion of innovations research and practice paradigm (DOI) which has had a long presence in communication research dating back to the 1940s. Here, we reviewed the Nobel laureates’ article, ‘Using gossips to spread information: Theory and evidence from two randomized controlled trials,’ that is illustrative of how economists applied the communication theory of diffusion of innovations to their projects of social change. The present article poses questions and makes recommendations for similar future projects from a communication perspective.     

Information support for general practice in the new NHS

Surveys of GP computing suggest that over 95% of practices now have computers. Unfortunately, many of these practices are making little effective use of this technology. Recent White Papers, The New NHS and Information for Health place an even greater emphasis upon the effective use of information and its associated technology. This paper describes a model for the assessment and managed change of information management maturity within general practice. The model, known as GPIMM (General Practice Information Maturity Model), which has been developed from related models in fields such as software quality and diffusion of innovation, provides a framework for the assessment of the maturity of information processes within general practice. The model can also be used to define key tasks in terms of training and information strategies to facilitate practice development. The model and its antecedents are described, and it is shown how this model can be used to assess and improve information processes within case study practices. This paper then goes on to examine the health librarians’ role in the process of change and discuss the metaphor of a ‘virtual library’ as a means to shift the agenda from information technology to information itself.     

The relationship between student communication motives and information seeking

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between college students’ communication motives (i.e., relational, functional, participatory, excuse making, sycophantic) and their use of information‐seeking strategies (i.e., overt, indirect, third party, testing, observing). Participants were 149 students enrolled in an introductory communication course at a Mid‐Atlantic university. Results indicated that (a) students who communicate for the sycophantic, relational, and participatory motives use the indirect and observing information‐seeking strategies and (b) students who communicate for the functional communication motive use the overt information‐seeking strategy, but do not use the testing information‐seeking strategy. Future research should examine whether college students use information‐seeking strategies with their classmates and the impact of the use of these strategies on their learning experience.     

公共数字文化资源整合的障碍调查与对策

[目的/意义] 调查公共数字文化资源整合的障碍因素, 以为相关部门制订对策提供依据。[方法/过程] 通过问卷调查方法, 分析公共文化服务机构的从业者对关于公共数字文化资源整合障碍的认同程度, 从现有研究成果中总结出障碍因素。[结果/结论] 通过调查得出政府和公共文化机构的认识不充分、政策支持力度不够、知识产权归属不清及侵权问题、资金来源渠道单一、分散的管理体制及缺乏对资源整合项目的管理、机构意愿不强、机构能力不足是目前公共数字文化资源整合的障碍, 消除障碍的对策包括:提高政府和公共文化机构的认识;加强有针对性的政策保障体系建设;建立多层面的管理协调机构;扩大资金来源渠道;加快标准化建设, 建立完整的标准体系;解决知识产权问题;提高机构参与意愿, 增强机构自身能力。     

Expediting the transfer of evidence into practice: building clinical partnerships

A librarian/clinician partnership was fostered in one hospital through the formation of the Evidence-based Practice Committee, with an ulterior goal of facilitating the transfer of evidence into practice. The paper will describe barriers to evidence-based practice and outline the committee's strategies for overcoming these barriers, including the development and promotion of a Web-based guide to evidence-based practice specifically designed for clinicians (health professionals). Educational strategies for use of the Web-based guide will also be addressed. Advantages of this partnership are that the skills of librarians in meeting the needs of clinicians are maximized. The evidence-based practice skills of clinicians are honed and librarians make a valuable contribution to the knowledge-base of the clinical staff. The knowledge acquired through the partnership by both clinicians and librarians will increase the sophistication of the dialogue between the two groups and in turn will expedite the transfer of evidence into practice.     

Diffusion of Innovations: Communication Evolution and Influences

Diffusion of innovations research has altered the research trajectories of those in the field of communication. In this article, the authors briefly explore the evolution of diffusion research, in terms of theoretical influences and applied research advances, and then address how the evolution of diffusion of innovations provided the impetus for a communication discipline identity search. An explication of how diffusion of innovations can be viewed as mechanistically affecting media convergence is presented. This piece closes with a call to return to diffusion research, especially given the face of current communication vehicles and media convergence.     

Overcoming barriers to digital government: mapping the strategies of digital champions

Previous research has identified a variety of barriers to digital government, and regularly emphasizes the importance of individuals that navigate institutional contexts and strategically pursue digital government solutions. This exploratory analysis investigates how these individuals understand barriers to digital government and the strategies that they apply to overcome them. Using interviews with digital champions in the U.S government, we extract the tactics employed to overcome these barriers including storytelling, community building, external validation, orientation towards citizen perspectives and a reliance on external peer networks. Results highlight the interconnected nature of barriers and the non-linear quality of strategies, and allow the construction of a theoretical model for structural and cultural barriers and strategies as experienced by digital champions. This model highlights the perceived efficacy and impact of cultural strategies, and the association of these strategies with external peer networks and citizens, and a tension in how digital champions describe actors and approaches introduced from the private sector.     

The state of new media technology research in China: a review and critique

Scholars argue that the history of communication technology is a history of social change, often in unpredictable ways under the influence of various socio-political forces and technological innovations. How does this insight apply to China which has witnessed a boom of new media technologies amidst rapid social change? To what extent does new media research conducted by Chinese scholars help us understand the process of new media diffusion and consumption in China? By reviewing research published in Chinese-language scholarly journals, this paper reviews current new media research in China by tracing trends in such research, identifying research agenda, applications of theory, and use of methodology. Gaps in Chinese new media research will be explored; directions that lead to further research will be suggested.     

Joining forces for public value creation? Exploring collaborative innovation in smart city initiatives

Creating public value is a key goal of public administrations, both in their daily business and in the growing field of smart government and smart cities, which focuses on IT-enabled innovations in the public sphere. However, many public administrations still struggle with such innovations due to complex technologies, high investments, and the numerous stakeholders involved. To address this issue, some local governments in continental Europe have turned to collaborative innovation approaches, partnering with (semi-)public utility companies in the hope that their additional innovation assets will boost innovativeness. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how exactly such collaborations should be governed to ensure that the focus remains on creating public value, as utility companies may have their own agendas. To explore this question, we conducted a comparative case study in the context of smart city initiatives with four cases in Swiss local governments. Drawing on agency and stewardship theory, we then propose a model of public-value-focused collaborative innovation, enabling us to explore various collaboration characteristics and their effects on public value creation. Our findings suggest that both agency- and stewardship-based collaborations increase innovativeness. However, while agency collaborations tend to produce smart city innovations that mainly serve the utility companies' business interests, stewardship relationships lead to innovations that are focused more on public value creation. As such, our study extends the literature on the effects of collaborative innovation on public value, and it provides practical recommendations on how such collaborative innovation should be designed.     

Advocating for controversial issues: The effect of activism on compliance‐gaining strategy likelihood of use

Previous research has demonstrated that compliance‐gaining strategies can he arrayed on an unidimensional continuum, anchored by positive, pro‐social strategies and negative, antisocial strategies (Hunter & Boster, 1987; Rolojf & Barnicott, 1978, 1979). Individual differences, including argumentativeness and verbal aggression (Boster & Levine, 1988), have been shown to affect one's ethical threshold. This ethical threshold is consistent with a Guttman simplex and determines both how many, as well as how antisocial, compliance‐gaining strategies individuals may consider using. Activists, who are highly involved and committed to their cause and who tend to be less verbally aggressive and more argumentative than the general public (Campo, 1999), are likely to have a lower threshold and to use more strategies. This study examines to what extent activism predicts one's ethical threshold, when controlling for the known effects of argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, and sex. Participants (N = 454) at two separate universities completed a repeated measures questionnaire that asked them to indicate their likelihood of use of 25 separate compliance‐gaining strategies. Based on respondents’ likelihood of use of these 25 strategies, the data were consistent with a Guttman simplex. A multiple regression model was tested, and indicated that one's ethical threshold is directly predicted by level of activism and verbal aggressiveness. Sex and argumentativeness were not found to be significant predictors in this revised model. In addition, activists used more strategies than non‐activists. Implications for advancing research related to activism and compliance‐gaining strategy selection are discussed.     

Evaluating IT innovations in a business-to-government context: A framework and its applications

This paper highlights the challenges of assessing the value of business-to-government IT innovations for both private and public stakeholders. Due to the different backgrounds of inhomogeneous stakeholders, potential adopters of business-to-government systems have varying requirements; in particular, they address understandings of value attributed to the implementation and the usage of such systems. Incorporating specific perspectives of each stakeholder in its own domain for evaluation is vital for supporting diffusion of IT innovations. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a value assessment framework that combines the value understanding from both public and private stakeholders. Applying this framework not only allows the value assessment of business-to-government IT innovations incorporating different needs and requirements of various current stakeholders, but it also provides common and objective evaluation criteria on similar business-to-government IT innovations for potential adopters from both domains. We discuss the application of the proposed value framework in the case of e-customs systems redesign based on an example of the introduction of e-customs IT solutions in a Finnish multinational company.     

Enabling customer relationship management: Multi‐channel content model and management for financial eservices

Abstract

This study examines convergence as both a concept and a process. It examines the current state of convergence, various definitions of convergence, convergence practices, and it identifies Seven Observations of Convergence to be used as a strategy for best practices for organizations to integrate new and old media. Everett Rogers (1995) diffusion of innovations and the five stages of the innovation process in organizations, coupled with innovation management research are theoretical foundations used to examine the infusion of technological changes into business practices in the media industry. The study is based on research conducted during the summer of 2002 that included in‐depth interviews, participation‐observation, and archival documents from three leading corporate media groups and convergence pioneers‐Tribune Company, Media‐General, and Belo Corp at their integrated business units in Chicago, Dallas, and Tampa, Florida. The three organizations were selected for field study because they are convergence pioneers that fell under the grandfather clause of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission 1975 cross‐ownership rule and were allowed to maintain ownership of their television broadcast and newspaper business units in the same market.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of implicit theories of requesting

The primary aim of this paper is to identify cross‐cultural similarities and differences in people's implicit theories of requesting. Implicit theories are conceptualized as containing information about five interactive constraints that influence choices about requests: (1) Clarity, (2) Perceived imposition, (3) Consideration for the other's feelings, (4) Risking disapproval for self, and (5) Effectiveness. The paper compares how these five constraints are perceived and rated across cultures and traces possible links between the constraints and perceptions of the likelihood of using various request strategies. Participants are a total of 595 undergraduates: 296 Koreans (native speakers of Korean) and 299 Americans (native American English speakers) studying in their respective countries. After reading a hypothetical request situation, participants evaluated request strategies along the five constraint dimensions as well as for likelihood of use. The rank‐ordering of the request strategies along the dimensions were similar across cultures except for effectiveness of strategies. Striking cross‐cultural differences were found in the rank and mean strategy ratings for effectiveness judgments: U.S. participants considered the direct statement strategy as the most effective way of making a request, while Korean participants rated it as the least effective strategy. Regarding the incompatibility among interactive constraints, U.S. participants saw clarity to be closely related to effectiveness of strategies; for Korean participants clarity of strategies was counterproductive to effectiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.