Communicative Action and Citizen Journalism: A Case Study of \u3cem\u3eOhmyNews\u3c/em\u3e in South Korea

Drawing on Habermas’s theory of communicative action, this case study of OhmyNews in South Korea examines how citizen journalism operates in a broad organizational and social context. Through in-depth interviews with professional and citizen journalists, the study reveals that citizen journalism can be well understood at the intersection between the lifeworld and systems. Specifically, the study finds a coexistence mechanism by which citizen journalism competes, collaborates, coordinates, and compromises with professional journalism through communicative action, such as mutual understanding, reason-based discussion, and consensus building

Distribution of News Information through Social Bookmarking: An Examination of Shared Stories in the \u3cem\u3eDelicious\u3c/em\u3e Website

Introduction. This study examined the selection and sharing of news stories from Delicious, a popular social bookmarking site, in order to identify the most frequently consulted news information sources and news topics. Method. Targeting US-specific sources through initial computer screening of URLs, we employed content analysis to further analyse story topics and sources that were unclassified through the initial computer screening method. Analysis. After examining frequencies and percentages of the variables, a qualitative analysis was employed to assess relationships between story sources and story topics. Results. Findings document the diverse nature of stories from both traditional and new media channels. Social media sources, primarily blogs, are growing as a major news source. Prominent traditional news media were not exclusively used, and the sheer volume of uncategorized pages suggests that online news seekers consider alternative Web pages encountered during casual navigation as news sources. Conclusions. What online news audiences consider to be news is becoming increasingly broad and complex with unclassified sources dominating tagged stories. New information sources appear to make up for deficient story topics in the mainstream media

Anatomy of Front Pages: Comparison Between \u3cem\u3eThe New York Times\u3c/em\u3e and Other U.S. Major Metropolitan Newspapers

Using content analysis, this article compares the front-page elements of The New York Times with six major metropolitan national newspapers to assess how different news organizations package and present their most important page to the public. Findings reveal that The New York Times featured more international and national news stories, depended more frequently on its own staff for both stories and images, and used smaller headlines on its front pages compared with the other major metropolitan newspapers

U.S. Newspaper Editors’ Ratings of Social Media as Influential News Sources

Social media, as one key platform for citizen journalism, are becoming a useful news-gathering tool for journalists. Based on data from a nationwide probability sample of newspaper editors in the United States, this study investigates the extent to which newspaper editors consider social media an influential news source. Results show that variations in editors’ ratings of social media as a news source were related to multiple levels of influence, including professional journalistic experience, organization size, community structural pluralism, and citizen journalism credibility. Implications are discussed for the roles of social media in news production

Who’s Following Twitter? Coverage of the Microblogging Phenomenon by U.S. Cable News Networks

Through data captured in a digital content analysis (DCA) lab, we examine coverage of Twitter across three 24-hour U.S. cable news channels: CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. This investigation tracked Twitter coverage from its initial stage, followed by its rise to a massively used tool and its subsequent diffusion into society, evident through its plateauing coverage. News stories covering Twitter, as it penetrated into society, were more likely to use benefit/gain frames when discussing the technology, highlighting its positive social, communicative, political, and participatory impact. Benefit frames were also likely to associate Twitter with journalism. Patterns emerging through the indicator graphs plotted by the DCA lab showed that the most intense coverage occurred during crisis situations, as Twitter coverage reached saturation, followed by increased personal daily usage of Twitter

Incidental placental choriocarcinoma in a term pregnancy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Gestational choriocarcinoma occurs in 1 in 40,000 pregnancies. Of all forms of gestational choriocarcinoma, placental choriocarcinoma is the most rare. Maternal choriocarcinoma is usually diagnosed in symptomatic patients with metastases. The incidental finding of a choriocarcinoma confined to the placenta with no evidence of dissemination to the mother, or infant is the least common scenario.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>The patient is an 18 year-old Gravida 1 Para 1 African American female who delivered a viable 3641 g female infant at 39 weeks gestation. Her pregnancy course was complicated by gestational hypertension during the third trimester. Her placenta revealed intraplacental choriocarcinoma. She was then followed closely by the Gynecologic Oncology service with a weekly serum beta human chorionic gonadotropin value. Beta human chorionic gonadotropin values dropped from 3070 mIU/ml to less than 2 mIU/ml two months post partum. No chemotherapy was initiated. Metastasis was ruled out by chest x-ray and whole body computed tomography scan. To date, both mother and baby are well.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Due to the potential fatal outcome of placental choriocarcinoma, careful evaluation of both mother and infant after the diagnosis is made is important. The incidence of placental choriocarcinoma may actually be higher than expected since it is not routine practice to send placentas for pathological evaluation after a normal spontaneous delivery. The obstetrician, pathologist, and pediatrician should have an increased awareness of placental choriocarcinoma and its manifestations.</p

Rapid Earthquake Characterization Using MEMS Accelerometers and Volunteer Hosts Following the M 7.2 Darfield, New Zealand, Earthquake

We test the feasibility of rapidly detecting and characterizing earthquakes with the Quake‐Catcher Network (QCN) that connects low‐cost microelectromechanical systems accelerometers to a network of volunteer‐owned, Internet‐connected computers. Following the 3 September 2010 M 7.2 Darfield, New Zealand, earthquake we installed over 180 QCN sensors in the Christchurch region to record the aftershock sequence. The sensors are monitored continuously by the host computer and send trigger reports to the central server. The central server correlates incoming triggers to detect when an earthquake has occurred. The location and magnitude are then rapidly estimated from a minimal set of received ground‐motion parameters. Full seismic time series are typically not retrieved for tens of minutes or even hours after an event. We benchmark the QCN real‐time detection performance against the GNS Science GeoNet earthquake catalog. Under normal network operations, QCN detects and characterizes earthquakes within 9.1 s of the earthquake rupture and determines the magnitude within 1 magnitude unit of that reported in the GNS catalog for 90% of the detections

SARS Transmission among Hospital Workers in Hong Kong

Despite infection control measures, breakthrough transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred for many hospital workers in Hong Kong. We conducted a case-control study of 72 hospital workers with SARS and 144 matched controls. Inconsistent use of goggles, gowns, gloves, and caps was associated with a higher risk for SARS infection (unadjusted odds ratio 2.42 to 20.54, p < 0.05). The likelihood of SARS infection was strongly associated with the amount of personal protection equipment perceived to be inadequate, having <2 hours of infection control training, and not understanding infection control procedures. No significant differences existed between the case and control groups in the proportion of workers who performed high-risk procedures, reported minor protection equipment problems, or had social contact with SARS-infected persons. Perceived inadequacy of personal protection equipment supply, infection control training <2 hours, and inconsistent use of personal protection equipment when in contact with SARS patients were significant independent risk factors for SARS infection