ITALY: WEB TOURISM PROMOTION

Tourism, an important industry with a significant social and cultural dimensions, provides interesting stimuli for the study of communication, particularly in the search for adequate tools for persuading potential clients. Since the internet is an essential tool for self-promotion nowadays, specialists examine how tourist destinations are presented in different types of digital texts such as official tourism websites, which combine the informative function of guidebooks with the promotional function of brochures and leaflets. The purpose of this study is to analyse the rhetorical strategies used on the official homepages of nine Italian regions to catch the eye of potential clients and create an identity for a particular region as a tourist destination. Il turismo, industria importante che ha una significativa dimensione sociale e culturale, costituisce un’area che fornisce stimoli interessanti per lo studio della comunicazione, in particolare nella ricerca di strumenti adeguati a persuadere potenziali clienti. Dal momento che oggi Internet è uno strumento essenziale per l’auto-promozione, molti specialisti si sono dedicati allo studio di come le destinazioni turistiche sono presentate in diversi tipi di testi digitali quali, ad esempio, i siti turistici ufficiali, che combinano la funzione informativa delle guide con quella promozionale di opuscoli e volantini. Scopo di questo studio è analizzare le strategie retoriche utilizzate nelle homepage ufficiali di nove regioni italiane per catturare l’attenzione dei potenziali clienti e per caratterizzare la regione come destinazione turistica

Sociable Robot ‘Lometh’: Exploring Interactive Regions of a Product-Promoting Robot in a Supermarket

The robot ‘Lometh’ is an information-presenting robot that naturally interacts with people in a supermarket environment. In recent years, considerable effort has been devoted to the implementation of robotic interfaces to identify effective behaviors of communication robots focusing only on the social and physical factors of the addresser and the hearer. As attention focus and attention target shifting of people differs based on the human visual focus and the spatiality, this study considered four interactive regions, considering the visual focus of attention as well as the interpersonal space between robot and human. The collected primary data revealed that 56% attention shifts occurred in near peripheral field of view regions and 44% attention shifts in far peripheral field of view regions. Using correspondence analysis, we identified that the bodily behaviors of the robot showed the highest success rate in the left near peripheral field of view region. The verbal behaviors of the robot captured human attention best in the right near peripheral field of view region. In this experiment of finding a socially acceptable way to accomplish the attention attracting goals of a communication robot, we observed that the robots’ affective behaviors were successful in shifting human attention towards itself in both left and right far- peripheral field of view regions, so we concluded that for far field of view regions, designing similar interaction interventions can be expected to be successful

Sociable Robot ‘Lometh’: Exploring Interactive Regions of a Product-Promoting Robot in a Supermarket

The robot ‘Lometh’ is an information-presenting robot that naturally interacts with people in a supermarket environment. In recent years, considerable effort has been devoted to the implementation of robotic interfaces to identify effective behaviors of communication robots focusing only on the social and physical factors of the addresser and the hearer. As attention focus and attention target shifting of people differs based on the human visual focus and the spatiality, this study considered four interactive regions, considering the visual focus of attention as well as the interpersonal space between robot and human. The collected primary data revealed that 56% attention shifts occurred in near peripheral field of view regions and 44% attention shifts in far peripheral field of view regions. Using correspondence analysis, we identified that the bodily behaviors of the robot showed the highest success rate in the left near peripheral field of view region. The verbal behaviors of the robot captured human attention best in the right near peripheral field of view region. In this experiment of finding a socially acceptable way to accomplish the attention attracting goals of a communication robot, we observed that the robots’ affective behaviors were successful in shifting human attention towards itself in both left and right far- peripheral field of view regions, so we concluded that for far field of view regions, designing similar interaction interventions can be expected to be successful

Television and the popular: viewing from the British perspective

The academic discipline of television studies has been constituted by the claim that television is worth studying because it is popular. Yet this claim has also entailed a need to defend the subject against the triviality that is associated with the television medium because of its very popularity. This article analyses the many attempts in the later twentieth and twenty-first centuries to constitute critical discourses about television as a popular medium. It focuses on how the theoretical currents of Television Studies emerged and changed in the UK, where a disciplinary identity for the subject was founded by borrowing from related disciplines, yet argued for the specificity of the medium as an object of criticism. Eschewing technological determinism, moral pathologization and sterile debates about television's supposed effects, UK writers such as Raymond Williams addressed television as an aspect of culture. Television theory in Britain has been part of, and also separate from, the disciplinary fields of media theory, literary theory and film theory. It has focused its attention on institutions, audio-visual texts, genres, authors and viewers according to the ways that research problems and theoretical inadequacies have emerged over time. But a consistent feature has been the problem of moving from a descriptive discourse to an analytical and evaluative one, and from studies of specific texts, moments and locations of television to larger theories. By discussing some historically significant critical work about television, the article considers how academic work has constructed relationships between the different kinds of objects of study. The article argues that a fundamental tension between descriptive and politically activist discourses has confused academic writing about ›the popular‹. Television study in Britain arose not to supply graduate professionals to the television industry, nor to perfect the instrumental techniques of allied sectors such as advertising and marketing, but to analyse and critique the medium's aesthetic forms and to evaluate its role in culture. Since television cannot be made by ›the people‹, the empowerment that discourses of television theory and analysis aimed for was focused on disseminating the tools for critique. Recent developments in factual entertainment television (in Britain and elsewhere) have greatly increased the visibility of ›the people‹ in programmes, notably in docusoaps, game shows and other participative formats. This has led to renewed debates about whether such ›popular‹ programmes appropriately represent ›the people‹ and how factual entertainment that is often despised relates to genres hitherto considered to be of high quality, such as scripted drama and socially-engaged documentary television. A further aspect of this problem of evaluation is how television globalisation has been addressed, and the example that the issue has crystallised around most is the reality TV contest Big Brother. Television theory has been largely based on studying the texts, institutions and audiences of television in the Anglophone world, and thus in specific geographical contexts. The transnational contexts of popular television have been addressed as spaces of contestation, for example between Americanisation and national or regional identities. Commentators have been ambivalent about whether the discipline's role is to celebrate or critique television, and whether to do so within a national, regional or global context. In the discourses of the television industry, ›popular television‹ is a quantitative and comparative measure, and because of the overlap between the programming with the largest audiences and the scheduling of established programme types at the times of day when the largest audiences are available, it has a strong relationship with genre. The measurement of audiences and the design of schedules are carried out in predominantly national contexts, but the article refers to programmes like Big Brother that have been broadcast transnationally, and programmes that have been extensively exported, to consider in what ways they too might be called popular. Strands of work in television studies have at different times attempted to diagnose what is at stake in the most popular programme types, such as reality TV, situation comedy and drama series. This has centred on questions of how aesthetic quality might be discriminated in television programmes, and how quality relates to popularity. The interaction of the designations ›popular‹ and ›quality‹ is exemplified in the ways that critical discourse has addressed US drama series that have been widely exported around the world, and the article shows how the two critical terms are both distinct and interrelated. In this context and in the article as a whole, the aim is not to arrive at a definitive meaning for ›the popular‹ inasmuch as it designates programmes or indeed the medium of television itself. Instead the aim is to show how, in historically and geographically contingent ways, these terms and ideas have been dynamically adopted and contested in order to address a multiple and changing object of analysis

Cultural Capital: Challenges to New York State’s Competitive Advantages in the Arts and Entertainment Industry

This is a report on the findings of the Cornell University ILR planning process conducted with support of a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to investigate trends in the arts and entertainment industry in New York State and assess industry stakeholders’ needs and demand for industry studies and applied research. Building on a track record of research and technical assistance to arts and entertainment organizations, Cornell ILR moved toward a long-term goal of establishing an arts and entertainment research center by forging alliances with faculty from other schools and departments in the university and by establishing an advisory committee of key players in the industry. The outcome of this planning process is a research agenda designed to serve the priority needs and interests of the arts and entertainment industry in New York State

Brooking no excuses: university staff and students are encouraged to develop their engagement

Brooking no excuses: university staff and students are encouraged to develop their engagement This paper will explore the internal and external factors that have prompted the University of East Anglia's decision to give Public Engagement into a more central role within the Universities Corporate Plan. It will illustrate how the SEARCH Action Learning Programme facilitated the design, implementation and delivery of new Staff and Student Development Programmes that aim to provide the confidence, skills and mentorship that will encourage staff to develop their engagement activities. We will use a SWOT analysis to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Public Engagement Practitioner. As part of this, we will explore how many of the issues we face as Science communicators with the public are similar to issues encountered by Communicators within the Arts and Humanities disciplines. Finally we will outline and detail our future plans, opportunities and vision that will enable us to move this agenda forward

Institution-Driven Competition: The Regulation of Cross-Border Broadcasting in the EU

The regulation of media markets at the national level is under severe pressure, due to technological change, the existence of open markets, and international competition. The European Union's Television Without Frontiers (1989) Directive provided a framework which facilitated regulatory competition in the media field, particularly in satellite regulation. The paper will examine evidence of 'investment flight' towards lax regulatory jurisdictions resulting in an erosion of regulatory restrictions on broadcasting at national levels, particularly those relating to content, advertising and ownership. A political backlash, prompted by fears of 'race to the bottom' scenarios, has resulted in efforts at regulatory co-operation at national and European levels. Policy makers have looked towards the European Union level for measure to counteract 'unfair' regulatory competition and provide a European framework for media regulation.regulatory competition; regulation; media

Nightingallery: theatrical framing and orchestration in participatory performance

The Nightingallery project encouraged participants to converse, sing, and perform with a musically responsive animatronic bird, playfully interacting with the character while members of the public could look on and observe. We used Nightingallery to frame an HCI investigation into how people would engage with one another when confronted with unfamiliar technologies in conspicuously public, social spaces. Structuring performances as improvisational street theatre, we styled our method of exhibiting the bird character. We cast ourselves in supporting roles as carnival barkers and minders of the bird, presenting him as if he were a fantastical creature in a fairground sideshow display, allowing him the agency to shape and maintain dialogues with participants, and positioning him as the focal character upon which the encounter was centred. We explored how the anthropomorphic nature of the bird itself, along with the cultural connotations associated with the carnival/sideshow tradition helped signpost and entice participants through the trajectory of their encounters with the exhibit. Situating ourselves as secondary characters within the narrative defining the performance/use context, our methods of mediation, observation, and evaluation were integrated into the performance frame. In this paper, we explore recent HCI theories in mixed reality performance to reflect upon how genre-based cultural connotations can be used to frame trajectories of experience, and how manipulation of roles and agency in participatory performance can facilitate HCI investigation of social encounters with playful technologies. © 2014 Springer-Verlag London

Bandida do pomar: breaking the status quo through communication strategy

Recently, we have been witnessing a global attractiveness enhancement for cider. People have discovered its enjoyable natural and uplifting taste, creating tailwinds in this market. Cider itself, is a refreshing alcoholic drink made essentially from fermented apple juice, designed specifically to be an alternative for those who don’t find satisfaction in drinking beer and prefer a sweetener option for their drinking enjoyments. Despite being a tasty and natural drink, cider brands have a privation when it comes to establishing long-term relationships of loyalty along with consumers, which is a fact that contributes to a path towards becoming forgotten in the future. With this relationship absence, brands end up losing their strength in their market’s sector, losing their relevance among possible clients. The present case-study aims to analyze the impact that communications has when it comes to reaching the success of brands in general and, in a more specific investigation, analyzing the example of the cider brand Bandida do Pomar. Despite being a new born brand inside the Portuguese market, Bandida aspires to break the traditional communication rules regarding this type of products. In order to understand the situation point of the theme, it will be initially explored the overall market position of ciders, leading to the specific Portuguese market and, in a more concrete form, it will be analyzed the brand itself, which is already present in several countries with several names, being part of the Global Heineken Group. Furthermore, it will be presented the strategy adapted by the brand in Portugal, referring to its communication and impact regarding the position that the brand wants to establish in the market. In order to successfully understand that, it will be added a more detailed approach to the 4 P’s of the brand, giving a special focus on Promotion, and it will also be explored the Brands’ Awareness and Equity. This case-study will be mainly focusing on the performance and potential growth of the brand within the Portuguese market.Recentemente, temos vindo a assistir a uma atração a nível global pela categoria sidra. As pessoas têm descoberto o seu sabor natural e revigorante, mexendo com este mercado. A Sidra é uma bebida refrescante, com álcool, produzida essencialmente com sumo de maça fermentado, desenhada especificamente como alternativa para aqueles que não encontram qualquer satisfação no consumo da cerveja, preferindo um sabor mais doce para a sua bebida de eleição. Apesar de ser uma bebida natural e saborosa, as marcas de sidra têm um handicap no que respeita ao relacionamento de longo prazo com os consumidores, facto que contribui para um percurso que se quer esquecer no futuro. Com esta dificuldade de relacionamento, as marcas acabam por perder força no seu sector de mercado, perdendo também relevo entre os possíveis clientes. O presente Case-Study visa analisar o impacto que as comunicações têm quando se trata de alcançar sucesso das marcas em geral e, de uma forma mais específica, analisar a marca de sidra “Bandida do Pomar”. Apesar de ser uma marca criada recentemente no mercado português, Bandida aspira a quebrar as regras tradicionais de comunicações em relação a este tipo de produtos. Esta marca está a lançar-se no mercado de uma forma mais disruptiva, superando a ideia de apenas vender uma bebida e se tornar numa moda a ser seguida. Em ordem a compreender o ponto de situação, inicialmente, será analisada a posição geral no mercado das sidras, no que diz respeito ao mercado específico de Portugal e, de uma forma mais concreta, será analisada a própria marca, que já se encontra presente em diversos países, com os seus respetivos nomes, fazendo parte do Grupo Global Heineken. Além disso, será apresentada a estratégia adaptada pela marca em Portugal, referindo-se à sua comunicação e impacto em relação à posição que a marca quer estabelecer no mercado. Este Case-Study centrar-se-á principalmente no desempenho e potencial de crescimento da marca no mercado português