User needs in television archive access:Acquiring knowledge necessary for system design

This paper presents a methodical approach for generating deep knowledge about users, as a prerequisite for design and construction of digital information access to cultural heritage information objects. We exemplify this methodical approach by reporting on an explorative study of information need characteristics in a television broadcast context. The methodical approach is inspired by naturalistic research, and our main data is nine in-depth interviews conducted with scholars and students within the academic field of Media Studies. The analysis identifies four characteristics. Firstly, broadcasts are needed as objects of analysis in empirical research. Secondly, the needs are related to three broadcast dimensions: 1) Transmission; 2) Archive; and 3) Reception. Thirdly, four fundamental types of information needs are verified in a television broadcast context: 1) Known item; 2) Factual data; 3) Known topic or content; and 4) Muddled topic or content. Fourthly, the interviewees’ needs consist of four phases: 1) Getting an overview of transmitted broadcasts; 2) Identification of borderline exemplars; 3) Selection of specific programmes; and 4) Verification of facts. The present paper presents novel research on characteristics of information needs in a television broadcast context. We demonstrate how one may go about generating knowledge which is imperative for the design and construction of future broadcast retrieval systems

Media Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship

Media literacy education has come a long way since the 1970s, when the first "critical thinking" courses were introduced in a few American schools. Most educators today understand that with the revolutionary changes in communication that have occurred in the last half-century, media literacy has become as essential a skill as the ability to read the printed word. Equally important, media literacy education can relieve the pressures for censorship that have, over the last decade, distorted the political process, threatened First Amendment values, and distracted policymakers from truly effective approaches to widely shared concerns about the mass media's influence on youth

Media portrayals of athletes in televised sports: a content analysis of ice hockey broadcasts during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games are probably the best time for casual sports fans to watch women\u27s ice hockey at its finest, and the commentary of sports broadcasters can greatly shape viewers\u27 impressions of the sporting event. This study explored ways in which the NBC broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament differed based on the sex of the ice hockey players including differences in production value, the use of gendered language, and the commentators\u27 portrayals of female and male ice hockey players. The primary method for ascertaining differences was content analysis using a mixed-methods approach to analyze the descriptions of athletes. Chi-Square analysis was used to compare category frequencies between female and male athletes. Results showed similar levels of production value other than the use of the telestrator in which all uses were during the men\u27s games. Gendered language was also present. For example, the women\u27s competition was gender marked frequently as women\u27s hockey, there were many references to female players with male-gendered terms such as defensemen, and commentators named female players by just their first names. Finally, the coding of the informative, descriptive, and evaluative commentary showed that female athletes were portrayed as athletes first with the top-ranked description being their fine technical skills. However, commentators also focused on the female players\u27 emotions and personalities indicating that these aspects also contribute to their success and thus perpetuating that gendered stereotype in sports

Public interest standard characteristics in hybrid digital multicasts of noncommercial educational radio

Radio broadcasting implements digital multicasting in the United States with the adoption of HD Radio from iBiquity. Hybrid digital radio multicasts can upgrade either AM or FM facilities, and stations adopt the technology without loosing traditional analogue broadcasts. Broadcasting with digital technology creates additional channels of information, extending limitations of the electromagnetic spectrum. Scholarly research about hybrid digital technology considers motivations for adoption by stations but has not focused on content of existing multicasts. This study examines noncommercial educational radio multicasts for characteristics of service in the public interest. Discourse characteristics find a mix of sounds that include both speech and music. There are generally multiple voices participating within 15 minutes of multicast content. The mix within a segment offers more than one kind of material, this and offering multiple voices in a segment are markers for public service. The mix of female, male, and other voices present in the sample advances demographic diversity. Two diversity characteristics, social role and language, indicate areas where content is usual presented by an adult speaking English. Demographic diversity scarcity offers areas of potential development for multicast service. Normative information about a society can improve understanding of how individuals participate in the public sphere during a period of current converged, mobile, and digital media use. This study incorporates concepts of ritual media use that James W. Carey introduces in Communication as Culture. The exploration of public interest standards with the ritual media use model allows for discussion about created communities not bound by physical and geographic limitations. This examines radio’s hybrid digital multicasts as part of the public airwaves legislated through the 1934 Communications Act (1934, 1952, 1996) to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Four perspectives clarify the meaning of public interest standards in the United States. These perspectives are democratic discourse, legislative history, administrative law, and judicial review. Informed with normative theory and a ritual media model, this content analysis of hybrid digital multicasts contributes to our understanding of media environments, transitions in media, public discourse, and democratic governance in the United States

Implementation of Internet based courses in computer information systems at Milwaukee Area Technical College

Includes bibliographical references

The integration of print, radio and television material in tertiary distance learning courses with reference to the Open University (United Kingdom) and Sukothai Thammathirat Open University (Thailand)

The success of a distance education institution depends greatly on the effectiveness of its media system. Distance learning courses are normally designed in the form of integrated multi- media packages. To design an effective distance learning course, careful selection of media must be taken into account. This is because it is believed that the right choice of medium for instruction, together with careful integration of components in multi-media learning packages, can enhance students'learning skills. The main concern addressed in this study is the criteria used in the selection, design, and use of media in distance learning courses in the Open University of the United Kingdom (OU) and Sukothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand (STOU). The study observes two different kinds of integration employed in course design processes at OU and STOU. Attitudes of media producers and students in both universities towards the design of broadcast materials as integral parts of multi-media packages are examined. The study describes how different approaches to multi-media integration affect ways in which students learn, and develop their skills in learning. It goes on to suggest that higher- order learning skills cannot be taught and learned as part of a regular curriculum, but they can be developed through the use of well-designed integrated multi-media packages. Two selected courses from OU and STOU are analyzed in this respect

Studying soap operas

This present issue of Communication Research Trends will focus on research about soap operas published in the last 15 years, that is, from the year 2000 to the present. This more recent research shows one key difference: the interest in soap opera has become worldwide. This appears in the programs that people listen to or watch and in communication researchers who themselves come from different countries

An Ideal-Type through Innovation Diffusion: Recording the Construction History of Football Stadiums in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)

Dr. John Bale (1984) argued sport scholars need to examine whether innovation diffusion occurred in sport. Rogers (1962, 2003) argued innovation diffusion process involves the following: 1) an innovation; 2) an available communication system(s); and occurs 3) over time; and 4) among members of a social system (p. 11). This project also adds geography as suggested by Bale (1984) and Hagerstrand (1952, 1953) to the study of innovation diffusion. The purpose of the current project is to examine whether innovation diffusion exists within the strong social system of college football. The study involves the collection of data on college football from 1869 to 2014 to examine whether the concept of diffusion of innovation theory can be found in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The investigation concludes that five stages exist concerning the development of the college football stadium. Stage One starts with the development of college football from its humble beginnings as temporary facilities until the development of Harvard Stadium, the first reinforced concrete and steel venue. Stage Two is the golden age of college football stadium construction as the innovation of reinforced concrete and steel diffused to universities around the United States. Stage Three acknowledges the innovations occurring during the Great Depression and how both federal and state governments invested in stadiums as part of public works projects. Stage Four examines technology innovations such as television, artificial turf, modern scoreboards, and luxury areas and their respective impacts on the stadium. The final stage, Stage Five, examines the additions of luxury spaces to almost every venue along with the development of the modern video board. This project finds innovation diffusion occurs throughout time within Division I FBS. The project also concludes that due to improved communications technology and easing of the travel challenges, traditional geography as discussed by Bale (1984) influenced innovation diffusion in the earlier stages (i.e., Stages One through Three) while virtual geography influences innovation diffusion in later stages (i.e., Stage Four and Five). The project also finds that renovation was more common than new construction and that rehabilitation occurs more than any other types of renovation