The Emergence of Native Podcasts in Journalism: Editorial Strategies and Business Opportunities in Latin America

This article analyses the state of the art of podcasting in the new digital landscape as well as the structures, editorial strategies, and business models of native podcasts launched in Latin America over the last few years. To this end, a multiple case study has been made to examine the way new digital outlets are using audio content. This qualitative research is made up of a variety of approaches, such as interviews, online surveys of podcasters, as well as the collection and analysis of secondary data. A specific aim of this comparative study was to include a sample of podcasts produced by thirteen emerging media platforms from eight countries registered in the directory of digital natives conducted by SembraMedia (https://www.sembramedia.org). This is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the diversity and quality of Spanish language content by helping digital media entrepreneurs become more sustainable and successful. Results of this exploratory study reveal that native podcasting in Spanish is still expanding and that where the new media are small in scale, they are more oriented to the full exploitation of the narrative and innovative possibilities of this audio format and do not have responding to their target audiences’ needs as their main priority. These new media are finding different ways to become monetised (mainly content production for clients, sponsored content, sponsorship, consulting services, and advertising) and to make a profit

Waiting for the barbarians : seeking solutions or awaiting answers?

Cavafy's (1961) famous poem describes the paralysis induced when waiting for an event that never happens, finding distraction in other things while expecting imminent cataclysm. Libraries have perhaps been guilty of this in recent years, joining the chorus bemoaning the imminent arrival of the digital barbarians and undertaking a whole series of avoidance tactics which make libraries ever more efficient but ever less relevant. Like Cavafy's senators, libraries have prepared themselves, decked themselves in finery but have waited for the future to come to them rather than gone out to engage with it

The digitization of music and the accessibility of the artist

©Journal of Professional Communication, ISSN: 1920-685. All rights reservedThis article uses case studies to explore two ways in which technology can impact on artist production. First, technological innovations could facilitate many things that are not new by rather making existing processes better or cheaper in ways that might alter the situation meaningfully. Second, technology can change art through the more profound revision of the role of artist and art-perceiver (Fineberg, 2006). This article examines several examples of how the music industry has been impacted by new technology: Radiohead Rainbows, slicethepie.com, Ditto Music, Music Rainbow, YouTube Orchestra, micro-chunking and LiveFi. The article examines the impact of new technologies on classical music.Peer reviewe

The communication and exchange of information between state and stakeholders.

This thesis presents a critical review of the candidates Portfolio of Public Output, which is based on research conducted in the period November 2000 to date, and which consists of 21 peer-reviewed, publicly available papers published since 2001. The subject area which forms the basis of the thesis is the communication and exchange of information between the state (i.e. parliaments and governments at the local, devolved, national and European levels, as well as those who aspire to become part of the state during parliamentary elections) and its stakeholders (i.e. citizens, businesses, interest groups, etc.). Within this overarching theme, the thesis focuses on three distinct but interrelated sub-themes: 1) the provision and communication of information by, and within, parliaments; 2) the use of the Internet for information provision and exchange by political parties and candidates during parliamentary election campaigns; and 3) the exchange of information between government and stakeholders during formal public consultation processes. Within all three sub-themes, the thesis demonstrates the candidates contribution to the advancement of knowledge in two key and closely linked areas: the investigation of users information needs and informationseeking behaviour; and the critical evaluation of information service provision. The thesis begins by placing the Portfolio of Public Output in an historical, political context, by discussing the various parliamentary and government openness, transparency and consultative agendas that have influenced or driven the research on which the 21 papers are based. It continues by describing some of the candidates earlier research work, to illustrate his long-standing interest in state-stakeholder information provision and exchange, before outlining the various research projects from which the Portfolio outputs have emerged. In the core part of the thesis the 21 Portfolio outputs are synthesised and considered as part of a narrative whole, which reflects critically on their contents and which illustrates the candidates empirical, methodological and theoretical contribution to the field of library and information science (LIS). Here, the candidate argues that he has contributed significantly towards developing a better understanding of the information behaviour of stakeholders when engaging with the state, and a greater awareness of the ways in which government and parliamentary information systems and services might be more responsive to their stakeholders information needs, thus theoretically enabling a more informed, engaged and participatory body politic. In terms of the candidates empirical contribution, the thesis demonstrates that his papers have largely been unique, relevant and timely additions to the literature, written in a conscious effort to address gaps in our knowledge of: parliamentary information services and the ways in which citizens, elected members and officials engage with parliamentary information; the nature and the extent of online information provision and exchange by political actors during parliamentary election campaigns, as well as the online behaviour of voters when attempting to determine their democratic choice; and the accessibility and communication of information during government consultative processes. With regard to the candidates methodological contribution, the thesis records his key role in the design of innovative and effective data collection and analytical techniques, including: a series of protocol analysis codes to record citizens use of parliamentary websites; frameworks and schemata for the content analyses of political actors election campaign websites and social media sites; the use of covert research to measure politicians responsiveness online; and, perhaps most significantly, the interactive, electronicallyassisted interview in a roadshow setting. In terms of his theoretical contribution, the thesis discusses the candidates part in the development of the theory of Information Interchange, which considers the roles and aims of both the information provider and the information user in assessing the effectiveness of the information communication process, and which is built upon the dichotomy that appears to exist between the two perspectives. The theory recognises the significance of the different agendas and objectives of the actors involved in information interchange, in what can be a complex interaction between two or more parties with potentially conflicting conceptions of the purpose of the interchange process. Throughout the thesis, the candidate considers the actual and potential impact of his work on the LIS academic and practitioner communities. His 21 Portfolio outputs have created considerable academic interest internationally, and have been discussed and critiqued in numerous text books, journal articles, conference papers, research reports and doctoral theses; although there is only minimal evidence of others adopting, or adapting, his data collection and analytical techniques. While interest has been most significant amongst those in the LIS field, the multidisciplinary relevance of the candidates work has resulted in it being cited by authors from a wide range of other disciplines, from business administration to computing, and from engineering to public relations. In terms of the more practical impact of the candidates research work, on government and parliamentary information services and practices, the picture has been mixed. Research commissioned by the European Parliament has had the clearest and most significant impact, on its Librarys marketing and service strategies. In some cases, although a number of the candidates recommendations - relating to parliamentary public information services in the UK, and Scottish Government website deficiencies - have subsequently been addressed by these bodies, no direct causal relationship can be established. In other cases - particularly in relation to Scottish Government consultative processes, and the online electioneering of parliamentary candidates in Scotland - his recommendations have been ignored completely, and information practices have remained idiosyncratic, inconsistent and flawed. The thesis concludes by considering some of the candidates future research plans and opportunities in the specific field of state-stakeholder information provision and exchange

Lecturers' use of Web 2.0 in the faculty of Information Science and communications at MZUZU University, Malawi

The study reported on in this article investigated the use of Web 2.0 technologies by lecturers in the Faculty of Information Science and Communications at Mzuzu University (MZUNI), Mzuzu, Malawi. By distributing a questionnaire to 19 lecturers, conducting follow-up interviews with seven lecturers and analysing the curricula, the study showed that between 10 (58.8%) and 13 (76.5%) lecturers use Wikipedia, YouTube, blogs, Google Apps and Twitter to accomplish various academic activities, such as handing out assignments to students; receiving feedback from students; uploading lecture notes; searching for content; storing lecture notes; and carrying out collaborative educational activities. The study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (Taylor and Todd 1995) and the theory's elements that strongly affected lecturers' use of the technologies according to the results included attitude and perceived behaviour control. The study also found that poor Internet access remains the key stumbling block towards a successful adoption of Web 2.0 technologies by lecturers at MZUNI. To this end, the study recommends that the newly established Department of ICT Directorate with support from MZUNI management should install campuswide Wi-Fi and improve Internet bandwidth so that lecturers' access to the Internet is not limited to their offices but rather is available in the teaching rooms across the campus.DHE

The impact of conference attendance on Australian academic librarians and libraries

The focus of this research project is the impact of conference attendance, in the context of Australian academic librarians and libraries. The impact of conference attendance is shown to consist of three key themes: informational; social; and affective impact. In addition, the study found nine factors that can influence the impact conference attendance can have on the delegate and on their institution, and it presents connections between key themes of impact and influencing factors

Attending IFLA was amazing: Benefits of conference attendance as reported by delegates

A large amount of time and resources is spent every year in the library and information science (LIS) sector in Australia to organise, fund and attend conferences. However, the possible benefits of conference attendance for librarians have not been a focus of research in the field. This article, reporting on the findings of a pilot study conducted in the context of a PhD research project, addresses this gap and analyses conference attendance benefits as reported by librarians who attended a specific international conference. The findings of this study link directly to issues and themes that are relevant to all library sectors in Australia

Practice links [Issue 70, December 2016]

Practice Links is a free e-publication for practitioners working in Irish social services, voluntary and nongovernmental sectors. Practice Links was created to enable practitioners to keep up-to-date with new publications, electronic resources and conference opportunities

Practice links [Issue 69, October 2016]

Practice Links is a free e-publication for practitioners working in Irish social services, voluntary and nongovernmental sectors. Practice Links was created to enable practitioners to keep up-to-date with new publications, electronic resources and conference opportunities