Tweeting the Viewer—Use of Twitter in a Talk Show Context

Twitter is currently one of the most popular outlets of so-called social media, Internet services that allow their users to communicate and share content in a variety of ways. As with the Internet itself, Twitter has been heralded to hold interesting possibilities within the context of journalism—potentially bringing journalists and their respective audiences closer to each other through supposedly common Twitter practices like @ messages and retweeting. This article presents a large-scale empirical study on Twitter use in the journalistic context. The aim is to assess patterns of journalist-audience interaction on Twitter. Specifically, the article outlines a structural analysis of Twitter use pertaining to the first season of the current events talk show Hübinette, which aired on Swedish public service television during the fall of 2011. Employing state-of-the-art approaches for data collection and analysis, the article shows that while traditional patterns of journalist-reader relationships are most common, some users are employing the Twitter platform in somewhat unforeseen ways.     

Steps towards inclusion in Hungary

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a rhythmic gymnastics programme on the dynamic balance ability of a group of children with deafness. The sample consisted of 29 children with deafness. The subjects met the same criteria in terms of age, aetiology, hearing level, intelligence, school placement and socioeconomic status, and in this way, they were assigned to two groups of 12 and 17 children, for the control and experimental groups respectively. The experimental group received a 16-week rhythmic gymnastic programme at a frequency of three lessons per week, for 40 minutes, whereas the control group adhered to its regular school routine. The methods of data collection included pre-/post-test measurements of the dynamic balance for all participants of both groups. The dynamic balance ability was measured by means of a balance deck (Lafayette) in duration of 30, 45 and 60 s intervals. The findings of this study provide evidence that the specific rhythmic gymnastic programme facilitates significant improvement in the dynamic balance ability of this sample of children with deafness.     

Pervasive and Non‐pervasive Conduct Problems in a Clinic Sample Aged 4–8 years: Child,family and day‐care/school factors

Differences between pervasive (home and day‐care/school) versus non‐pervasive (home only) conduct problems were examined in regard to various child, parent/family, and day‐care/school characteristics in an outpatient clinic sample of 120 children aged 4–8 years. All children scored above the 90th percentile on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory for home problems and met the criteria for a possible or a confirmed diagnosis of oppositional defiant behaviours. The proportion of children with pervasive conduct problems was high, 83%. Teachers in day care and school reported children in the pervasive group to have significantly more attention and internalizing problems as well as lower social competence scores than those in the non‐pervasive group. Children in the pervasive group also showed consistently more problems in their relationships both with teachers and peers than those in the non‐pervasive group. The implications for assessment and treatment of children with conduct problems in these age‐groups are discussed.     

User Experiences with Editorial Control in Online Newspaper Comment Fields

This article investigates user experiences with editorial control in online newspaper comment fields following the public backlash against online comments after the 2011 terror attacks in Norway. We analyze data from a survey of online news consumers focusing on experiences and attitudes towards editorial control set against a spectrum between “interventionist” and “noninterventionist” positions. Results indicate that interventionist respondents rate the quality of online comments as poor, whereas noninterventionist respondents have most often experienced being the target of editorial control measures and feel that editorial control has intensified after the terror attacks. We conclude that newspapers should pay attention to the different needs of participants when devising strategies for editorial control. Media professionals should also consider changes to increase the transparency of moderation practices.     

Beyond “J-Tweeters”

Based on a survey (N?=?1613) directed to members of the Norwegian Journalist Association (NJ), this paper presents an extensive overview of the ways in which comparably older and newer online platforms have been incorporated into the professional lives of Norwegian journalists. While plenty of research is available that explores the uses of Twitter by journalists, the results presented here suggest that Facebook is by far the most frequently used platform throughout the journalistic process—from collecting information, distributing content and engaging with readers. Statistical analyses provide further insights into which variables appear to influence certain modes of usage across the studied platforms. Based on the results, the argument is made that the advantages of using Facebook as a platform for journalistic practices are obvious due to its popularity among the general public, but that this utilization of one platform over others also could be problematic. As Facebook continues to gain leverage towards the newspapers they host, questions of journalistic practices need to come to the fore.     

Elite Interaction

While a good deal of research has examined the uses of Twitter in journalism, comparably few research projects employ comparative research designs in order to provide new insights. The present study details Twitter use by public service broadcasters (PSBs) during recent national elections in Norway and Sweden. Utilizing quantitative analysis of social media content in tandem with qualitative interviews with key PSB journalists, the main results indicate that while the PSB organizations—the Norwegian NRK and the Swedish SVT—are both frequently contacted by “regular” citizens on Twitter, they seem to prefer to retweet and interact with journalists, politicians or other “elite” users. Compared with the interviews performed, the study uncovers an interesting tension as journalists often talk about the need to engage with “regular” users—a practice that is arguably in line with PSB regulations, but that is seldom adhered to in the contexts studied here.     

What should a physical education teacher know? An analysis of learning outcomes for future physical education teachers in Sweden

Background: Research indicates that physical education teacher education (PETE) has only limited impact on how physical education (PE) is taught in schools. In this paper, our starting point is that the difficulties of challenging the dominating subject traditions in PE could be due to difficulties of challenging certain epistemological assumptions recurring in significant PETE subject matter and didactics courses.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise how knowledge is expressed in learning outcomes formulated in curriculum documents at PETE institutions in Sweden and to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underlying the analysed expressions of knowledge.

Setting and participants: This paper offers possible explanations for the difficulties of influencing subject traditions in PE through analysing learning outcomes formulated in PETE curriculum documents. The analysis is based on 224 learning outcomes collected from a total of 18 course syllabi, spread at 6 PETE institutions in Sweden.

Research design, data collection and analysis: The documents have been collected through contact by e-mail with representatives for each institution. Through the analysis different themes in the material have been identified and clustered together. Inspired by Fenstermacher's ideas about teacher knowledge as propositional knowledge and performance knowledge, our ambition is to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underpinning the analysed learning outcomes.

Findings: In the collected learning outcomes, the following themes were identified: teaching PE, interpreting curriculum documents, physical movement skills, science, social health, pedagogy, critical inquiry, and research methods. In most of the identified themes, the learning outcomes represent both subject matter knowledge and general teacher knowledge and are also formulated with an integrated perspective on so-called performance knowledge and propositional knowledge. However, particularly in the themes science and physical movement skills, two very influential themes, the learning outcomes are limited to subject matter knowledge and the concept of knowledge in these themes is also limited and unilateral in relation to ideas of different forms of teacher knowledge.

Conclusions: We argue that a decontextualisation of knowledge, in this paper identified through dissolving science from its use in practice and through detaching physical movement skills from other conceptual foundations, contributes to the reproduction of subject traditions that render PE teachers incapable of critically reflecting over their practice, for instance how different groups of students benefit or suffer from the teaching of certain content. Drawing on the work of Tinning, we offer an explanation as to how teacher knowledge in the themes science and physical movement skills, emanating from behaviouristic and craft knowledge orientations, is formulated.     

‘Rings on the water’: examining the pedagogical approach at a football program for detained youth in Sweden

Abstract

Studies indicate that sport within youth institutional settings can be beneficial (e.g. learning social skills) or problematic (e.g. social exclusion) depending on how they are structured, delivered and, ultimately, experienced by students. In this article, we examine the experiences of students and staff in an educational sport program at a Swedish all-male youth detention home (ages 16–20) in order to increase understanding of the pedagogical approach of a sports-based program for detained youth. Drawing on interviews with both students and staff, we identify and elaborate four aspects of the program—building a pedagogical platform, ‘seeing’ and meeting students, creating a supportive environment, and thinking beyond the institution—that were collectively represented to initiate and guide a process of growth and change for students. We discuss how these aspects of the program’s pedagogical approach, in contrast to deficiency-based approaches, can provide a useful framework for delivering sport in ways that can benefit detained youth and other young people in socially vulnerable situations.