Research universities on the ResearchGate social networking site: An examination of institutional differences,research activity level,and social networks formed

As one of the largest active academic social networking sites, ResearchGate (RG) has been utilized by scholars to share publications, seek collaborators, communicate work in progress, and build scholarly reputation. This study collects data from RG users from 61 U.S. research universities at different research activity levels, as categorized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, to examine the impact of institutional differences on RG reputational metrics. The results confirm that RG is a research-oriented academic social networking site that closely and realistically mirrors the research activity level of institutions. With an increase in the research activity level of a university, its affiliated RG users tend to have higher RG scores, more publications and citations, and more profile views and followers, while the average number of reads of their publications and followees tend to be lower and fluctuant. In addition, RG users primarily follow others from institutions of a higher research activity level, forming virtual social networks centered around esteemed institutions. The study suggests academic social networks can serve as indicators in evaluation of research activities among research institutions, and such sites can be helpful and credible for acquiring resources, keeping informed about research, and promoting academic influence.     

Quality,Innovation, and Financial Sustainability

Entrepreneurial, independent digital media sites arose in response to disruption in the journalism industry brought on by emerging technologies. This study explores this trend in Latin America from the perspective of audiences. Based on surveys of readers of entrepreneurial digital news sites in Guatemala and Nicaragua, this mixed-methods study offers a snapshot of who these readers are and what they are interested in. Results showed readers of the Guatemalan and Nicaraguan news sites valued equally quality journalism and innovation, but differed when it came to the importance they placed on the sites’ business models. This study also illuminated a new dimension of innovation, one from the readers’ perspective. While some respondents associated innovation with use of new technologies, in general readers defined innovation as unique (to the region) and alternative (to mainstream media) ways of doing journalism; their definition, unlike that of journalists, was not necessarily technologically driven.     

Nurturing Authority

When considering the role of local journalism in a networked media environment, it is crucial to examine how audiences attribute news with the power to define social knowledge. In particular, television news programs need to appeal to audiences by reinforcing a sense of local journalistic authority to assert the parameters of who and what is worthy of coverage. This article presents the findings from interviews with a range of commercial television news viewers in Sydney, Australia. It positions viewership in the context of people’s wider engagement with news, and in relation to their interpersonal and digital social interactions. The paper argues that local audiences have conflicting attitudes to the role of television news, both contesting and re-inscribing the programs with the power to demarcate social, political, and cultural knowledge. It traces how local audiences challenge the ability of news to convey boundaries within the community through processes of exclusion, connecting the contestations to the lived experiences of the individuals. It identifies that television news programs nurture journalistic authority in terms of their local relevance, and it contributes insights on the significance of local news by engaging with the means by which audiences themselves attach social power to journalism.     

Contesting Communities

This introductory article to the combined special issue of Journalism Studies and Journalism Practice provides an overview of some of the key contemporary approaches to studying journalism and social order. It argues the need to step beyond a functionalist framework when considering the news media’s central role in shaping social connections, community and cohesion. To advance our understandings of social order, our paper suggests a greater emphasis of the significance of journalism’s relationship to the wider social sphere along with three other key considerations, including (1) a critical focus on the relationship between media, politics and social order, especially in defining and/or negotiating “anti-social” practices and social disintegration; (2) a more refined focus on the “imagined” and geographic boundaries of news audiences in digital spaces; and (3) the changing relationship to norms and conventions of journalism practice from trust and legitimacy to the role of journalists as arbiters and connectors across social spaces.     

A Follower-Centric Approach to Leadership in the Newsroom

This article analyses leadership in the newsroom of the Spanish newspaper El País as well as its impact on the craft of journalism more generally. Through 23 in-depth interviews, we try to elucidate how the newsroom constructs its leaders (in the newsroom, what does it mean to be a leader?), paying particular attention to the main skills considered to be necessary. According to our newsroom findings, not all heads of section or editors-in-chief are leaders, a fact that questions formal authority relations and proclaims expertise and know-how as discriminatory skills. This study emphasizes that the collective recognition of a leader is not an ultimate disposition, but can vary over time: consequently leaders who do not achieve the professional requirements of the newsroom can be denied the status, despite their expertise and experience. Our findings indicate that leaders at El País are those journalists (no matter what their positions) with strong capacities and skills (fundamentally experience, expertise and creativity) to manage form (relationships) and substance (contents) in the daily work of the newsroom. In short, journalists seen as leaders combine reiterated and strong qualities and merit, graphically reflected in the texts they have published for years in the newspaper.     

Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity? A History of Academic Libraries and the Social Web

The emergence of social media has radically transformed the way we create and consume information. These changes have in turn given rise to new models of librarianship centered on principles of participation, interaction, and collaboration. Over the last decade, academic libraries have eagerly adopted social media as a means of enhancing services and connecting with a new generation of users. But how exactly has this technology changed libraries? In what ways has the social web transformed library services or our relationships with users? This article attempts to assess the impact of social media on academic libraries in the United States through a review of the literature published since 2005. In particular, it looks at how academic libraries have used social media to improve or develop new services. By comparing published case studies with the theoretical literature, this article seeks to separate theory from practice and determine the extent to which the social web has transformed library practice. The author concludes that, despite several noteworthy examples, the majority of social library applications ultimately fail to live up to the transformative potential promised within the literature and that this failure may have more to do with philosophical rather than technical limitations.     

Back to the Future

The emergence of “fake news” during the Brexit referendum and Trump election campaign sent news organisations scurrying to establish teams of journalists to debunk deliberately misleading stories and verify facts. This paper examines steps to counter false stories and asks whether normative values of objectivity are about to enjoy a comeback. Typical markers of objectivity (freedom from bias, detachment and fact-based reporting) date back to the nineteenth century and, despite being ingrained in the Anglo-American news culture, have always been subject to challenge. Recently, the growth of partisan and populist media has illustrated deep distrust in traditional news outlets and is questioning whether it is time to jettison objectivity. But are we experiencing a backlash? Through interviews with senior UK-based journalists at legacy news organisations and analysis of editorial policy statements prompted by a UK parliamentary inquiry, the paper explores how fake news is rekindling debate about objectivity and its potential to make quality journalism stand out. It argues that legacy news organisations in the United Kingdom have seized the opportunity to highlight the value of normative practices that draw on familiar components of the objectivity paradigm. But few have the financial strength to bolster the rhetoric with additional editorial resources.     

液压与气压传动教学改革的探索与实践

《液压与气压传动》课程是机械类各专业的一门重要技术基础课。几年来通过优化整合教学内容,充分利用以计算机技术为基础的现代教学媒体,对课程内容、教学手段及教学方法的改革进行了探索与实践,提高了教学质量,较好地完成了教学任务。     

新时代中原特色体育产业发展研究*

新时期我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，这将对体育产业发展提出更高的要求。现阶段，河南省体育产业现状还不能满足人民日益增长的健身需要。因此，我们应理清现阶段体育产业发展的主要矛盾并积极探索体育产业创新发展的路径，为缓解新时期社会主要矛盾而贡献体育智慧。 采用文献资料法、专家咨询法、实地调查法、逻辑推理等研究方法，深入探析现阶段河南省体育产业发展现状与人民日益增长的健身需要还存在的矛盾，并在充分认识河南省体育产业发展优势、理清体育产业发展的矛盾基础上，提出中原特色体育产业创新发展路径：积极推进中原特色“体育+旅游”融合发展模式，满足人民群众体育旅游需求；大力发展中原特色户外健身休闲产业，满足人民群众的休闲健身需求；以中原特色体育竞赛活动带动体育产业发展，满足群众观赏赛事需求；积极建设中原特色传统体育文化传承核心区，带动传统体育文化产业发展，满足人民群众的体育文化精神需求；合理开发公共体育服务场地资源，满足人民群众健身场地需求；积极培育社会性组织管理体系，缓解政府体育组织管理体系管理职能压力。     

项目教学法在计算机应用基础教学中的应用探析

确保计算机应用基础教学效能得到有效发挥,已成为中职教育工作者关注的焦点。文章探讨项目教学法在计算机应用基础教学中的应用,指出教师要以学生兴趣为出发点,实现任务情境的创设;以实践探究为驱动点,注重学生技能的锻炼;以开放环境为切入点,倡导创新能力的培养。