Designing the Auditor: A Prototype of Locative Radio with Original Sound Content

Location-based sound media are similar to traditional radio in that they rely on communication in sound alone. The smartphone has GPS and Bluetooth, and it is easy to attach sound to locations like a rail station, a neighborhood, or a street. The research team designed a media prototype, Auditor, and produced a soundscape called “The Railroad Dialogues.” The medium and content were tested in a field trial with 42 young, urban headphone listeners. The article reports on the informants’ level of immersion in the sound content and interface, and considers their potential to supplement radio in the future.     

The Changing Ecology of Tools for Live News Reporting

Broadcast news channels provide fresh, continuously updated coverage of events, in sharp competition with other news channels in the same market. The live moment is a valuable feature, and broadcasters have always relied on teams that can react quickly to breaking news and report live from the scene. Technology plays an important role in the production of live news, and a number of tools are applied by skilled actors in what can be called an ecology of tools for live news reporting. This study explores new video tools for television news, and the tinkering conducted by the reporting teams to adapt to such tools. Six journalists and photographers at broadcaster TV 2 in Norway were interviewed about their everyday work practices out in the field, and we present the findings in an analysis where six aspects of contemporary live news reporting are explored: (1) from heavy to light equipment, (2) more live news at TV 2, (3) the practice of going live, (4) the mobility of live reporters, (5) tinkering to go live, and (6) quicker pace of production. In the concluding remarks we summarize our insights about live news reporting.     

Changes in U.S. Journalism

During the past decade, great changes have occurred in journalism, many of them due to the rapid rise of social media. What has happened to American journalists in the decade since the early 2000s, a time of tumultuous changes in society, economics, and technology? What impact have the many cutbacks and the dramatic growth of the internet had on US journalists’ attitudes, and behaviors—and even on the definition of who is a journalist? To answer the questions raised above, in late 2013 we conducted a national online survey of 1080 US journalists. The survey is part of the American Journalist project, which conducted similar surveys of US journalists in 1982, 1992, and 2002. We found that US journalists use social media mainly to check on what other news organizations are doing and to look for breaking news events. A majority also use social media to find ideas for stories, keep in touch with their readers and viewers, and find additional information. Thus, journalists use social media predominantly as information-gathering tools and much less to interview sources or to validate information. Our findings also indicate that most journalists consider social media to have a positive impact on their work. Of particular value, it seems, was the fact that social media make journalism more accountable to the public. However, only about a third of the journalists also think that social media have a positive influence on the journalistic profession overall. One of the most common negative perceptions was that online journalism has sacrificed accuracy for speed. Overall, then, it appears that most journalists do see the benefits of social media, but fewer are convinced that these new forms of digital communication will benefit journalistic professionalism.     

Where is the engineering I applied for? A longitudinal study of students' transition into higher education engineering,and their considerations of staying or leaving

This paper presents results from a qualitative longitudinal study of students' transition into higher education engineering. The study aims at comparing upper-secondary school students' expectations of engineering with their actual experiences when encountering the engineering programme. It explores how this encounter provides a platform for students to become integrated during first year. We find that students' expectations are poorly met by their first-year study programme. In their attempt to bridge the gap between their expectations and their experiences, the students apply three strategies: some endure the gap, some constantly try out different study strategies and some compromised their expectations and identities to become more aligned with the study programme. The findings show that even when students successfully manage to bridge the gap, their strategy may turn out to be counterproductive from a learning point of view. The implications of the study are discussed.     

Students’ Perceptions of E‐learning in University Education

This paper examines students’ perceptions of e‐learning taking students at Jönköping University in Sweden as an example. The students had experiences from two years of e‐learning on campus. Students (n = 150) filled in a questionnaire with closed as well as open‐ended questions. The answers were analysed in a multiple regression analysis, putting the students’ perceptions in relation to gender, age, previous knowledge of computers, attitudes to new technology, learning styles and the way of implementing e‐learning at the university. Advantages and disadvantages of e‐leaming were categorized in a qualitative content analysis. The main conclusion from the study was that the strategy of implementing the e‐leaming system at the university was more important in influencing students’ perceptions than the individual background variables. Students did not regard access to e‐learning on campus as a benefit. Male students, students with previous knowledge of computers and students with positive attitudes to new technologies were all less positive to e‐leaming on campus than other students.     

The association of socio-economic factors with physical fitness and activity behaviours,spinal posture and retinal vessel parameters in first graders in urban Switzerland

Socio-economic status during childhood has been shown to be a strong predictor of adult health outcome. Therefore, we examined associations of parental educational level, household income and migrant background with physical fitness, spinal flexibility, spinal posture as well as retinal vessel diameters in children of an urban Swiss region. A total of 358 first graders of the Swiss canton Basel-Stadt (age: 7.3, SD: 0.4) were examined. Physical fitness (20 m shuttle run test, 20 m sprint, jumping sidewards and balancing backwards), spinal flexibility and spinal posture (MediMouse^®, Idiag, Fehraltdorf, Switzerland) and retinal microcirculation (Static Retinal Vessel Analyzer, Imedos Systems UG, Jena, Germany) were assessed. Parental education, household income, migrant background and activity behaviour were evaluated with a questionnaire. Parental education was associated with child aerobic fitness (P = 0.03) and screen time (P < 0.001). Household income was associated with jumping sidewards (P = 0.009), balancing backwards (P = 0.03) and sports club participation (P = 0.02). Migrant background was associated with BMI (P = 0.001), body fat (P = 0.03), aerobic fitness (P = 0.007), time spent playing outdoors (P < 0.001) and screen time (P < 0.001). For spinal flexibility and retinal vessel diameter, no associations were found (0.06 < P < 0.8). Low parental education, low household income and a migrant background are associated with poor physical fitness, higher BMI and body fat percentage and low-activity behaviour.     

Game-like regulation of universities: Will the new regulatory framework for higher education in Sweden work?

A major reform of higher education in Sweden took place in 1993, making a radical change from central planning by parliament to deregulation, privatisation and performance-related funding. To analyse the new kind of interaction between government and universities, a model based on game theory can be used, where government and universities are seen as actors in an iterated Prisoners' Dilemma. The analysis is based on a model of “responsive regulation”, in which a number of recommendations are made on how cooperation can be achieved in a regulatory relationship. This model is then compared to the new formal regulatory framework in Sweden, which can be described in six points. Secondly I compare the model to the available evidence of what has happened in “real life” since the reform was enacted. This approach adds to the literature on implementation, in which studies usually focus on specific orders from the top, whereas this is about shifting initiative from the central to the local level. As such, it is a starting point in an analysis of how “freedom” is implemented; “will universities take advantage of their greater independence and, if so, how will they do it?”. “What are the necessary prerequisites for this to take place?”.     

Organising professional support staff at higher education institutions: a multidimensional,continuous balancing act

Tertiary Education and Management - Centralisation is a recurrent theme when the organisational structure of contemporary higher education institutions is on the agenda. This may be in large part...     

The two faces of political science studies—junior and senior students’ thoughts about their education and their future profession

The article reports on an empirical small scaled interview study among junior and senior students in the political science programme in a Swedish University. The aim is to describe how students at various stages of their studies conceive of their education as well as their future professional life. Questions about their identity as students have also been posed. The results indicate that a programme with a major emphasis on political science appears to have two different faces as experienced by the students. The first half of the programme is experienced as traditional liberal arts studies, i.e., the students enrol in a ‘personal bildung project’ and conceive of political scientists as a kind of watchdog for democracy. Students in the latter part of their studies report an emerging identity as investigators and civil servants and an appreciation of the parts of the studies that enhance their generic skills.