When Journalists go "Below the Line': comment spaces at the Guardian (2006-2017)

Based on a longitudinal research design (2006–2017), this article analyses how Guardian journalists engage in “below the line” comment spaces; what factors shape this engagement; and how this has evolved over time. The article combines a large-scale quantitative analysis of the total number of comments made (n = 110,263,661) and a manual content analysis of all comments made by 26 journalists (n = 5448) and their broader writing practices with 18 semi-structured interviews conducted in two phases (13 in 2012 and 5 repeated in 2017–18). The results show that there is considerable interest in comment spaces amongst readers, with exponential growth in user commenting. Furthermore, there has been significant engagement below the line by some Guardian journalists, and this is often in the form of direct and sustained reciprocity. Journalist commenting has waned in recent years due to difficulties coping with the volume of comments; changes in editorial emphasis; concerns over incivility and abuse; and a decrease in perceived journalistic benefits of commenting, alongside the rise in importance of Twitter. When journalists comment, they do so in a variety of ways and their comments are often substantive, significantly adding to the story by, for example, defending and explaining their journalism practice

A Tale of Two Stories from "Below the Line": Comment Fields at the Guardian

This article analyzes the nature of debate on “below the line” comment fields at the United Kingdom’s Guardian, and how, if at all, such debates are impacting journalism practice. The article combines a content analysis of 3,792 comments across eighty-five articles that focused on the UN Climate Change Summit, with ten interviews with journalists, two with affiliated commentators, plus the community manager. The results suggest a more positive picture than has been found by many existing studies: Debates were often deliberative in nature, and journalists reported that it was positively impacting their practice in several ways, including providing new story leads and enhanced critical reflection. However, citizen–journalist debate was limited. The results are attributed to the normalization of comment fields into everyday journalism practice, extensive support and encouragement from senior management, and a realization that comment fields can actually make the journalists’ life a little easier

Mediesportpubliken : Demografi och preferenser

En kvantitativ undersökning av den svenska mediesportpubliken: osu, 1197 respondenter mellan 16 och 85 år, svarsfrekvens 61 %. Konsumtionen av tv, radio, kvälls- och morgonpress, sporttidskrifter och internet undersöks, liksom tv-preferenser. Publiken studeras som helhet, men också efter variablerna kön, ålder, idrottslig aktivitet, geografi, etnicitet och klass

Who Actually Becomes a Silver Surfer? : Prerequisites for Digital Inclusion

The notion of silver surfers has been recurring in research for two decades. It often refers to elderly skilled and affluent users of digital media. Departing from domestication theory, and drawing on the concept of online repertoires, this article sets out to offer critical insights into what it actually takes, sociologically speaking, to become a silver surfer. The analysis starts from a set of interviews with 19 respondents (66–82 years) covering appropriation and incorporation of digital media and online repertoires. Based on insights from interview data, we turn to a quantitative analysis of a national postal survey (Swedish). In these data (N = 1,264), we first filter out the silver surfers and then perform a logistic regression analysis in order to investigate the factors that promote the status of being a silver surfer. Our analysis shows that only 19% of the sample could be categorised as silver surfers. It further reveals the important influence of factors such as age, income, interest and self-efficacy in particular. Silver surfers are a privileged group. However, contemporary ICT policy tends to assume that they are representative of senior users in general. Thus, there is a significant risk that current policy objectives will be misdirected

Digitalisering och integration : en studie av digital teknikanvändning bland äldre utrikes födda

Sammanfattning: rapporten kartlägger äldres (65-85 år) digitala vardag, och analyserar särskilt om skillnader föreligger mellan utrikes födda och inrikes födda. Analysen visar att skillnaderna grupperna emellan beträffande såväl tillgång till, som användande av, digital teknik är små. De utrikes födda har tillgång till apparater (persondatorer, smarttelefoner, surfplattor, osv.) i samma uträckning som inrikes födda. De använder dem lika ofta som inrikes födda i kontakter med offentlig service. Det visar sig därtill att utrikes födda anslår mer tid till internetanvändning än infödda. Å andra sidan har de en något snävare användningsrepertoar. Rapportens huvudsakliga slutsats är att de utrikes födda i allt väsentligt är digitalt inkluderade i samma omfattning som de inrikes födda. Data har samlats in genom en postenkät (n=3 000) där 1 000 respondenter utgörs av infödda och 2 000 av utrikes födda (invandrade till Sverige före 1990). Bruttosvarsfrekvensen är 64,1 procent

Remaining divides : Access to and use of ICTs among elderly citizens

The ambition to make all kinds of societal services, public as well as commercial ones, more effective and accessible via online applications is reoccurring all over the western world. To a large extent, such ambitions hold the promise to make citizens’ everyday lives easier, but they are, however, also problematic in that they presuppose a number of important prerequisites. They presuppose widespread access to ICT-applications of a standard that is fast and solid enough to manage to make users actually make use of these services. They further presuppose that all citizens and consumers, who are the inscribed users of these applications, have enough competences and skills to make use of them. Hence, there is an obvious risk that people who do not have access are being left behind in the transformations of these services from analogue to digital. In this chapter we attend to these risks by paying attention to contemporary patterns of access to, and use of, digital applications. The chapter is inspired by domestication theory and looks into and analyses different patterns of ICT access and use among Swedish senior citizens, with the following questions in mind: What ICT-devices do various groups of senior citizens have access to? To what extent do they make everyday use of them? For what purposes do they use these devices? The empirical material has been derived from a pilot survey which was conducted from August to September 2015

Digitalised Welfare : Access, Usage, and Outcomes Among Older Adults

The slogan “digital first” has become a buzzword for public organisational development at the local, regional, and national levels in Sweden. The slogan alludes to the idea that providing information to and communication with citizens should take place primarily through digital channels. This idea is also popular in other parts of the digitalised world. Obviously, digital solutions have the potential to become pedagogical, reliable, and effective interfaces for governmental interaction with citizens. However, the extent to which they are actually accessible, brought to use, and valued among older adult users (more than 65 years of age) has not attracted much research interest. Drawing on national survey data, collected in November–December 2020, on Swedish citizens (aged 65 to 90 years), this article will start to compensate for this deficit. First, it analyses the extent to which citizens have physical access to required devices and how access is related to material, discursive, and social resources. Second, it analyses resources and usage of important platforms for public services for older adults: the Pensions Agency, health care, e-pharmacy, the Social Insurance Agency, and the Tax Agency. Finally, the article examines outcomes: feelings and attitudes towards experiences of encountering a digitalising society. The article demonstrates how all three levels of divides—access, usage, and outcomes—are clearly related to older adults’ access to material, discursive, and social resources, as well as to age and pre-retirement experience with computers. It is comparatively younger individuals with longer formal education and at least average incomes and social networks who benefit the most from digitalised public services

Warm experts for elderly users : who are they and what do they do?

This paper examines “warm experts”—that is, nonprofessional persons who help inexperienced users come to terms with digital devices—and their significance for the use of digital media in everyday life by elderly Swedes. We analyze data from a national survey (N = 1264) and from qualitative, semistructured interviews with 18 elderly Swedes (aged 65+). Our data reveal that the warm expert usually is a closelyrelated person, often a child or grandchild, who is strongly involved in nearly every stage of technology domestication, from appropriation (i.e., identifying the need, buying the item, and installing and adjusting it) to incorporation (i.e., choosing and downloading suitable apps, teaching how to use them, and solving technical problems). Although the clear majority of elderly Swedes have been online for more than a decade, the need for continuous assistance from warm experts seems to persist also among experienced users.peerReviewe