Performing transnational family with the affordances of mobile apps : a case study of Polish mothers living in Finland

2020

Affordances provided by digital technologies and mobile apps (WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger) help in maintaining familyhood. These mobile apps enable the creation of in-app family groups. They also afford image sharing, which is used for phatic purposes. Digital connectivity provides the illusions of togetherness and belonging, and allows for performing family in a transnational context (emotional transnationalism). However, it also generates the feelings of guilt through infrequent communication. In the auto-driven visual elicitation interviews, the study looks at family constellations and technologically mediated communication from the perspective of five Polish mothers living in Finland. Ap…

To See More: A Model for Press Photograph Story Analysis

2013

AbstractThis article presents and evaluates an interdisciplinary model for press photograph story analysis. The research comprised two stages: (i) familiarizing study participants with the interpretation model and (ii) qualitative content analysis of the participants’ interpretations of samples of press photograph stories. The result is that the model could be used in the educational context to develop the skills of visual literacy among students. Although the study opens new directions in visual methodologies, the model requires further development.

Visual literacy practices in higher education: what, why and how?

2019

A bilingual five-year-old girl is trying to explain to her mother what she was doing at gymnastics class. Despite her best efforts to overcome the excitement, speaking a mixture of two languages an...

What does it mean to be visually literate? Examination of visual literacy definitions in a context of higher education

2018

Full Article Figures & data References Citations Metrics Reprints & Permissions Get access Abstract Competency in visual literacy (VL) is crucial for effective visual communication, and thus for living and working in a visually saturated environment. However, VL across disciplines is still marginalized in higher education curricula. This tendency is partly caused by the lack of knowledge and agreement on what it means to be visually literate. This study juxtaposes and evaluates 11 VL definitions, selected as the most relevant for higher education practitioners and coined from 1969 (the first one) to 2013 (the most recent one). The study further proposes three lists of VL skills with themati…

Connecting Polish families in Europe: changing dynamics in language and communication practices

2021

‘If you travel across Europe, the most useful language may be Polish’ ‘You Poles are everywhere!’ (some of the frequently heard comments and jokes addressed to Polish migrants)Polish migration to W...

Virtual proximity and transnational familyhood : a case study of the digital communication practices of Poles living in Finland

2020

The article presents a study of five Polish multicultural and multilingual families in Finland, and their engagement in digitally mediated family communication. Explored through an ethnographic inquiry into the in-app communication practices of Polish migrant mothers and children, the study contributes to the body of research at the intersection of new media and communication, transnational family and migration studies, and family multilingualism. Building on the concept of virtual proximity, which refers to the emotional closeness between individuals afforded by digital technologies and mobile communication, the study identifies four thematic patterns in participants’ practices in digital …

Development Speeded up by Necessity : The Future of Higher Education and Academic Work Online

2021

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on our lives and living. In higher education, it led to a swift shift from on-campus to online education resulting in practices of emergency remote teaching through virtual classrooms. In this project, we seek to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that this abrupt, enforced change to online education entailed for faculty and students in Sweden and Finland. We aim to examine the evolution of online work and study practices, their impact on the teaching and learning environment, and new expectations imposed on the faculty and students. Our goal is to enhance the theoretical understanding of e-learning, developing guideli…

Children in the visual coverage of the European refugee crisis: A case study of the World Press Photo 2016

2018

Shifts in the visual coverage of refugees arriving in Europe and prominent compassion fatigue emphasize the need to examine visual strategies utilized to report on the crisis. This study focuses on representations of refugee children using a case of the World Press Photo (WPP) 2016. The material was interpreted with a model for visual rhetorical interpretation of journalistic photographs. Findings indicate the main visual elements involved in representing refugee children: visual trope of the migrant father, relation between children and barriers, visual oxymoron (juxtaposition of contradictory elements) and atmosphere in photographs. Findings suggest that photographs address polemics speci…

WhatsApp iconology: narratives on in-app photographic practices in (transnational) family communication

2023

Sharing photographs and photo-chatting are common practices in doing family at a distance. This study looks at the processes of the production and circulation of photographs within the family network, analysing participants’ narratives about their image-based communication in WhatsApp. The data was collected as an ethnographic enquiry into the digitally mediated (transnational) family communication of five Polish women and their children living in Finland. It consists of five auto-driven visual elicitation interviews with an interactive collage, three elicitation interviews, with the participant’s smartphone used for fast reference to their in-app chats, and one semi-structured interview. T…

Enhancing visual literacy through interpretation of photo-genres: toward a genre typology of journalistic photographs

2016

ABSTRACTAlthough genre is one of the most extensively employed concepts in various disciplines, only a few attempts have been made to classify images in the press, providing either a palette of thematic categories similar to those of photography competitions or theory-based classifications, which often ignore certain types of photographs. In addition, no studies have suggested the genre typology as a tool for the interpretation of journalistic photographs. Based on a literature review and visual material analysis from the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, this study compiles a typology that sets out four photo-genres: news photography, reportage photography, portrait photography and illustrativ…

Connecting Polish families in Europe : changing dynamics in language and communication practices

2021

What’s in the family app? : Making sense of digitally mediated communication within multilingual families

2020

Communication within contemporary families is increasingly and to a significant extent mediated through technological devices and digital applications. Although the everyday reality of many multilingual families is permeated by technology, research on their digital and language practices has been scant. This article argues for the need for eclectic approaches that draw upon theories, practices, and findings from research on transnational families and migration, digitally mediated family communication, parental mediation, multilingualism online, and family multilingualism and language transmission. Two empirical case studies are presented on multilingual family constellations in Finland in w…