At Intersections of Technology and a Modern Mass Medium

This article examines the intersections of technology and the exhibition medium by focusing on an individual, the mechanical engineer Robert Runeberg. It makes visible individual involvement in transnational mobility and in large-scale processes of modernization. The article explores how becoming a modern professional was not only connected to formal education and practical training, but also to the capacity to extract and produce knowledge via the exhibition medium. Concurrently, the case discloses essential qualities, such as the cohesion, dynamicity and flexibility of the exhibition medium.     

A novel typology of media clusters

Is the clustering of audio-visual companies in London’s Soho really the same as the clustering of Berlin’s new media industry? The media cluster approach has gained a lot of attention not only in academia, but also in political discourse. But, as appealing as the media cluster concept is, one of the most fundamental issues is the comparability of the phenomenon. This article tackles this issue and an analysis of 43 case studies has been conducted. The case studies have been grouped to find a new typology for media clusters. The research revealed six different types: The Creative Region, the Giant Anchor, the Specialized Area, the Attracting Enabler, the Real Estate and the Pooling Initiative. The typologies showed that they distinguish especially in their geographical scale and specialization in media activities, while at the same time cluster types can be found in the same area. They are driven by four rationales: agglomeration, urbanization, localization economies and artificial formation.     

Heritage spectacles: the case of Amphipolis excavations during the Greek economic crisis

This article explores the ways in which the archaeological excavations at Amphipolis, Northern Greece, were transformed into a ‘heritage spectacle’ during the summer of 2014. The article argues that the spectacularisation of Amphipolis excavations constituted a powerful, political medium for dis-orientating the wider Greek public from issues related to the severe economic crisis of the country. Although the practice of heritage spectacularisation is not new, the media spectacle of Amphipolis introduced an advanced mechanism for spectacularizing archaeological research and the past. The article deconstructs this mechanism through a thematic content analysis of about 100 newspaper articles published in the Greek press, filtered through the lenses of spectacle theory. As it is demonstrated, the spectacularisation process of Amphipolis excavations is embodied by emotive dramatisation, banal cultural symbols, escapism and power imbalances. The article concludes with an interpretive framework for heritage spectacles while highlighting ethical and practical implications regarding the role of archaeologists and heritage practitioners towards political ‘abuse’ of heritage in times of socio-economic and political crises.     

‘A matter of commonsense’: the Coventry poliomyelitis epidemic 1957 and the British public

In 1956, the British Ministry of Health instituted a vaccination programme against poliomyelitis, but run into myriad supply and administrative issues. When Coventry experienced an epidemic in 1957, it came to symbolise these problems. Throughout, it was claimed that the government lacked ‘common sense’. This article explores how and why ‘common sense’ was used as a rhetorical weapon in the debates over policy at the local and national level. While those claiming ‘common sense’ were often at odds with medical and administrative authorities, the arguments were often informed by deeply held beliefs about vaccination and disease.     

When ‘Angelino’ squirrels don’t eat nuts: a feminist posthumanist politics of consumption across southern California

Eastern fox squirrels (Sciurus niger), reddish-brown tree squirrels native to the eastern and southeastern United States, were introduced to and now thrive in suburban/urban California. As a result, many residents in the greater Los Angeles region are grappling with living amongst tree squirrels, particularly because the state’s native western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) is less tolerant of human beings and, as a result, has historically been absent from most sections of the greater Los Angeles area. ‘Easties,’ as they are colloquially referred to in the popular press, are willing to feed on trash and have an ‘appetite for everything.’ Given that the shift in tree squirrel demographics is a relatively recent phenomenon, this case presents a unique opportunity to question and re-theorize the ontological given of ‘otherness’ that manifests, in part, through a politics whereby animal food choices ‘[come] to stand in for both compliance and resistance to the dominant forces in [human] culture’. I, therefore, juxtapose feminist posthumanist theories and feminist food studies scholarship to demonstrate how eastern fox squirrels are subjected to gendered, racialized, and speciesist thinking in the popular news media as a result of their feeding/eating practices, their unique and unfixed spatial arrangements in the greater Los Angeles region, and the western, modernist human frame through which humans interpret these actions. I conclude by drawing out the implications of this research for the fields of animal geography and feminist geography.     

Trans youth and social media: moving between counterpublics and the wider web

Today’s trans youth grew up with the internet and online LGBTQ resources and spaces are important to these communities. This article focuses on conceptualising the digital cultural strategies that trans and gender questioning youth adopt both as social media users and producers in order to cope and thrive. Drawing on ethnographic data detailing a group of trans youth’s engagements with LGBTQ social media counterpublics and the wider web, and their movement between these spheres, in combination with close readings of online material identified as salient by the participants, this article argues that in the face of rampant transphobia and cis coded online paradigms, trans youth respond both critically and creatively. More specifically, I highlight how they resist prescribed user protocols of mainstream social networking sites as well as employ pragmatic strategies for navigating a binary gendered online world, staking out their own methods and aesthetics for self expression and community formation. Having examined the content and style of social media examples highlighted by the participants, the article contends that trans youth’s consumption and production of types of online and social media is significantly more diverse than research to date has recognised.     

A power elite in the cultural field. A story of Norwegian neo-corporatism

The organizational culture elite is studied as a new elite group emerging within a stable neo-corporatist state. Does this new elite adopt existing modes of operation or place itself at bay from the more established elite groups? The emergence of and changes in the culture elite are discussed from a historical perspective in terms of social background, recruitment processes, occupational careers, gender composition, political outlooks, lobbying, and media strategies. The culture elite is systematically compared to two other elites: the university elite, the most similar among the elites, and the economic elite, assumedly representing the greatest contrast. Despite special characteristics in the social situations and political views of the culture elite, it is concluded that the mode of operation of this group indicates a high degree of adaptability to the general system of elites. A main reason is assumed to be the integrative power and liberal quality of the state in a neo-corporatist regime.     

Why context matters: the role of campaign context in the relationship between digital media use and political participation

Many questions remain about the effects of digital media use on citizens’ political engagement. This article argues that this is because such effects depend on the context in which digital media are used. Its findings are based on two cross-sectional sets from the 2010 and 2013 Australian Election Study and show that (1) political resources played different moderating roles in the association between digital media and offline participation, and (2) such a moderating role depended on different campaign contexts in the two elections, with context affecting political efficacy. The findings confirm that campaign context can function as leverage in motivating online news consumption and political participation, thereby emphasising the importance of political contexts in media use and political behaviour.     

The press and issue framing in the Australian mining tax debate

Using supervised learning techniques to code newspaper articles on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (originally known as the Resources Super Profits Tax), this article analyses sources of partiality and emphasis in media coverage of the issue. It shows that opponents were more successful in airing their views in the opening stages of the debate, but the government's re-branding led to more favourable media coverage. There was a regional bias, however, with newspapers in states dominated by mining interests more critical than newspapers from other states. The only truly national newspaper (the Australian) was notable for having fewer ‘neutral’ articles, with a relatively high number of both negative and positive articles. The Australian Financial Review, meanwhile, had a greater number of neutral articles. Framing remained homogenous over time though variable across publications.

本文使用指导学习技术,对有关矿产资源租借税的报刊文章进行编码,分析了媒体就此话题的报道其中中立性和重点性的根源。研究显示,反对者在辩论的开始阶段成功地传播他们的观点。不过,政府的再推广也达到了有利的媒体宣传效果。当然,会有地区偏差,矿业利益集团控制的州,那里的报纸会比其他州更持批判立场。唯一名副其实的全国性大报登载的“中性”文章明显要少,负面和正面的文章都比较多,而《澳大利亚财经评论》倒是刊登了较多的中性文章。总之,格局一直比较单一,但具体到出版物则有参差。     

Chinese Independent Documentary Films: Alternative Media,Public Spheres and the Emergence of the Citizen Activist

This article argues that contemporary independent documentary filmmaking in China has been used as a tool by Chinese citizens to intervene in the public sphere and to provoke social change. I therefore propose to look at the phenomenon of Chinese video activism under the umbrella of alternative media. In particular, I take into consideration the “rhizomatic” media approach, which focuses on the interaction of alternative media with authority, the market and civil society. The case studies I present consist of several documentary projects completed between 2004 and 2010 that opened up spaces of dialogue between filmmakers and local authority, mass media and civil society. The paper claims that documentary films have an impact on audiences, whose members are consequently motivated to engage in discussion and action. I argue that activist video-making in China is reshaping the identity of urban citizens: through filmmaking, urban citizens claim their right to access information and demonstrate their will to participate and intervene in social issues.