Public service television at the digital crossroads ‐the case of Austria

Abstract

The present article examines the impact of new digital technologies, services and markets on changes to television in Austria from a media‐economics perspective. This article started form the assumption that the process of transformation towards digital distribution modes would make questions about the role and legitimacy of public service television in Austria more prominent than ever before. Since the technical development of digitisation steps up competition in the programming, advertising and viewer markets, the continued existence of public service broadcasting in Austria is at risk. Already facing strong competition from private cross‐border analogue television, private digital services promise increased competition for the ORF, will take away advertising volume and accelerate the cost spiral for rights. The ORF will have to face these challenges as the regulator has assigned it the role of a chief enabler of digital television in the market segments for satellite and terrestrial transmission. This article argues that programme universality as leading principle for public service broadcasting faces a legitimacy crisis as digital competitors may better target minority demands in fragmented audience environments. It remains to be seen how far the ORF is able to being both distinctive and attractive to its target audiences, so to ensure its position into the next millennium. Affordability and reliability of technology comes as another critical success factor. For the time being, the continuous confusion about lasting, stable and interoperable receivers in viewer homes is the main cause for the poor development of digital TV in Austria. This is aggravated by excessive prices and the current difficulty in seeing any added value in new digital content. To conclude, much hope is put into the Digitale Plattform Austria, a working group of experts to produce a coherent and evaluable digitisation concept, that will take up these challenges in a competent way.     

Impediments to Digital Distribution for Software and Books

One of the greatest benefits of electronic commerce occurs when physical processes and products are replaced with digital ones. Digital distribution eliminates manufacturing and shipping costs as well as related intermediary margins. The software and book industries, among others, should be able to take advantage of these economies but for the most part have not. Impediments to digital distribution include the benefits of in-person browsing and demonstration, user readiness, device, infrastructure, intellectual property protection, the sensory experience of shopping, the relative probability of impulse buying, the value of display at retail locations, display and gift tangibility, and the need for alternative Internet payment methods.     

The NHS Lanarkshire Intranet site (FirstPort) and its effectiveness as a knowledge management tool

The use of intranets as knowledge management tools in the NHS has been applied with varying success. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of the NHS Lanarkshire intranet site FirstPort as a knowledge management tool and to capture opinions on what would be required of a new FirstPort 2 site to be launched in the summer of 2012. The research was conducted in June 2011 by Paul Herbert as part of MSc in Health Informatics at the University of Sheffield, supervised by Nigel Ford. At the time of the study, Paul was working at NHS Lanarkshire and he was able to give his employers a useful set of recommendations. He moved to his present post with Healthcare Improvement Scotland in June 2012. This article is the first in the Dissertations into Practice series to investigate web‐based tools for information and communication inside the NHS, but there are more in the pipeline. AM     

The Influence of Religiosity and Ethnic Identification on Media Use Among Muslims and Non-Muslims in France and Britain

This is an examination of the ethnic media use of French and British Muslims. A total of 677 Muslims participated in the study. Analysis reveals being an immigrant or a native of a nation does not significantly influence ethnic media use in France but does in Britain. Ethnic identification was also revealed as an influential predictor of ethnic media use among Muslims in France but not in Britain. Religiosity significantly predicted ethnic media use among British Muslims. The article argues religiosity and ethnic identification should be included in studies examining media use among ethnic groups.     

Library Outreach Positions: From Planning to Practice

East Tennessee State University has a diverse student population of approximately 12,500 students. Recent statistics have indicated that the student body is bypassing the physical library building, including reference services, and connecting to online sources from off campus. With only six public service librarians whose duties include interlibrary loan, instruction, and other key library functions, librarians are limited in their ability to provide outreach to those students who might never enter the library. In this article, the authors describe the decision process in developing outreach librarian positions for the graduate programs librarian and the undergraduate student services librarian and discuss the specific services that these librarians provide to students.     

Project Transfer: A Publisher's Perspective

The Transfer Code of Conduct is designed to improve the process of journal transfer between publishers. It was launched by the UKSG (United Kingdom Serials Group) in May 2007. Taylor & Francis is one of eight publishers to support the project. It is different from previous initiatives in that it was created by publishers, librarians, and intermediaries, and it aims to provide a firmer, more practical set of guidelines than those that have been published previously. Despite a strong initial take-up, the Code has not yet been endorsed by some of the larger publishers and trade bodies. These organizations are now working with Transfer to re-draft the Code of Conduct. Once this is in place, further measures are planned to track journal transfer and monitor compliance. Long-term governance of Transfer is also being considered.     

Majority/minority size and the evaluations of persuasive arguments

The present study examines the influence of relative minority size on perceptions of argument quality and attitude change. Strong and weak arguments for both cautious and risky positions were presented in conjunction with information describing the size of minority factions as either small or large. Results demonstrated that cautious argument quality influenced perceptions of argument quality only when the majority advocated a cautious position or when the minority faction was large. Results are discussed in light of their implications for normative and informational influences in group polarization.     

Choosing and Reading Online News: How Available Choice Affects Cognitive Processing

A within-subjects experiment explored how the number of online, hyperlinked stories available for individuals to choose from affects cognitive processing of a selected story. Participants chose and read unpleasant online news stories from a Web page containing either 5 or 15 headline/photo hyperlinks. Heart rate data indicated more cognitive resources were allocated to reading stories selected from the larger array of hyperlinks. This increased allocation of cognitive resources also led to more accurate story recognition. Results of this study provide insight into information processing of interactive, online news as well as limited suggestions for the design of news Web sites.