Search results for "Media and communication"
showing 10 items of 746 documents
Content Analysis as a Research Method: A Content Analysis of Content Analyses in Sport Communication
2021
Content analysis is a popular method in communication and media research. However, to what extent and in which contexts it is used in sport communication research has hardly been investigated. In order to provide empirically grounded insight, the authors conducted a quantitative content analysis of scholarly journal articles using content analysis as a research method, focusing on three major international sport communication journals during the 10 years between 2010 and 2019 (N = 267). Results indicate that qualitative and quantitative methods are used equally while combinations with other methods are comparatively rare. The studies cover a broad portfolio of different topics. Social media…
Patterns of successful media production
2016
While it has been acknowledged that convergence is a multidimensional phenomenon, the convergence of media production processes has received little attention from researchers so far. In this article, we address this research gap with a qualitative study of production processes in different types of media. Our starting point is that independent of the media type, common product characteristics can be identified, that promote success in the audience market. We ask whether the same is true for process characteristics; whether there are converged processes that promote audience success independent of the media type. The study is based on n = 39 interviews in the German-speaking markets. Our fi…
Adaptive techniques in e-Learning for transnational programs
2019
In this article we present a set of methods and models to help the inclusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in transnational programs. The material that we are presenting takes advantage of several adaptive models that automatically react to students' activity. These models are extremely useful in environments where a huge number of very different students (such as those found in transnational programs) are enrolled in the courses or where the distance is a problem for face-to-face activities. We present the theoretical background, the gamification and adaptive techniques included in the model and the platform where the courses are implemented.
Measuring user responses to interactive stories: Towards a standardized assessment tool
2010
With the increasing number of prototypes and market applications of interactive storytelling, the understanding and optimization of how end users respond to computer-mediated interactive narratives is of growing importance. Based on a conceptual model of user experiences in interactive storytelling, a measurement instrument for empirical user-based research was developed. We report findings from an initial test of the self-report scales that was conducted with N=80 players of the adventure game "Fahrenheit". Interactivity was manipulated experimentally in order to validate the measures. Results suggest that the scales will be useful for comparing user responses to 'real' interactive storyte…
Appetizer or main dish? Explaining the use of Facebook news posts as a substitute for other news sources
2019
An increasing number of, especially younger, users use Facebook as their primary source for news about political and societal issues. At the same time, research suggests that Facebook use contributes to societal knowledge gaps. Against this background, we investigate the antecedents of using Facebook as a substitute for other news sources. We argue that exposure to news posts on Facebook increases the feeling of being well-informed, regardless of actual knowledge acquisition. This might lead users, especially those with a low need for cognition (NfC), to use Facebook as a substitute for other news sources. We test these assumptions with an online survey (n=390) of German Internet users. Res…
LaCoDa: Layered connected topology for massive data centers
2017
One of the fundamental challenges of existing data centers is to design a network that interconnects massive number of servers, and therefore providing an efficient and fault-tolerant routing service to upper-layer applications. Several solutions have been proposed (e.g. FatTree, DCell and BCube), however they either scale too fast (i.e., double exponentially) or too slow. This paper proposes a new data center topology, called LaCoDa, that combines the advantages of previous topologies while avoiding their limitations. LaCoDa uses a small node degree that matches physical restriction for servers, and it also interconnects a large number of servers while reducing the wiring complexity and wi…
Understanding the influence of context in technology integration from teacher educators’ perspective
2021
The perspective of teachers is important for advancing the use of technology in classrooms. A considerable number of research studies have explained context in ways that have narrowed the understanding of its impact on successful technology integration. This study employs the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model as a lens in understanding factors influencing teachers’ integration of technology in classrooms. Data were collected using focused interviews of 19 teacher educators of three colleges of education from the southern part of Nigeria. The results reveal that among the level contexts, the meso level presented the most challenges to teachers’ efforts at integrat…
Mutual-information based rate-adaptation for Multi-User TH-IR-UWB coded system
2011
In this paper we present a coding rate adaptation technique for a Time-Hopping Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wide Band (TH-IR-UWB) system assuming that the Multi-User Interference (MUI) is modeled as an additive interference noise following a Generalized Gaussian Distribution (GGD). The shape parameter induced by the GGD model is in general time-variant since it strongly depends on the essential UWB system parameters and the received signal power of the active users. In this paper, we show that the performance of a TH-IR-UWB LDPC coded system is quite independent of the GGD shape parameter when we consider the mutual information between the soft input to the decoder and the transmitted sequence, espe…
How social network sites and other online intermediaries increase exposure to news
2020
Research has prominently assumed that social media and web portals that aggregate news restrict the diversity of content that users are exposed to by tailoring news diets toward the users’ preferences. In our empirical test of this argument, we apply a random-effects within–between model to two large representative datasets of individual web browsing histories. This approach allows us to better encapsulate the effects of social media and other intermediaries on news exposure. We find strong evidence that intermediaries foster more varied online news diets. The results call into question fears about the vanishing potential for incidental news exposure in digital media environments.
The Big Meaning of Small Messages: The Use of WhatsApp in Intergenerational Family Communication
2018
This study explores the use of WhatsApp instant messenger in extended families in two countries, Finland and Italy, that represent different family and communication cultures. Qualitative research material was collected in 2014/2015 from families consisting of three or more generations and living either in the same or different households. A directed approach to qualitative content analysis was applied in the analysis of the research data. The results of the study show that WhatsApp is considered to facilitate family interaction across generations. The success of WhatsApp in the family context accounts for two main factors: first, for the possibility to reach the whole family at once; and s…