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This conceptual review identifies the contributions of the Sociology of Sport Journal to the subfield of feminist sport media studies. Since the first issue of Sociology of Sport Journal, over 60 articles addressed primarily the media representations research area of feminist sport media studies, using a range of theoretical frameworks that mirrored theoretical shifts in the field. An empirical analysis of geographies of knowledge production indicates that the scholarship in Sociology of Sport Journal in this subfield is primarily based in the United States and focuses on Western contexts. The article concludes with a reflection on the importance of special issues and interdisciplinary collaborations in feminist sport media studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1978 documentary Processo per stupro (A Trial for Rape) marked the first time a trial was broadcast on Italian state television. Directed by six feminist filmmakers, the film documents a trial for gang rape and exposes the secondary victimization experienced by women who take their rapists to trial. The encounter between feminism and the new technology of videotape enabled an unprecedented production of film language: in accordance with the idea that the feminist presence in male-dominated spaces would serve to monitor the men in power, the directors produced an observational documentary. Though determined to promote viewers’ autonomous reflection, they also strategically twisted the observational mode to show that reality is never objective and that it must be critically accounted for. After reflecting on the 1970s Italian feminist approach to images, this article addresses the impact of the editing strategies via the visual close readings of certain sequences. More precisely, I argue that the combination of long, distant shots with detailed ones unveils the asymmetry between the abstract claim of “equal justice” and the specific application of the law to bodies whose gender, ethnicity, and class matter. My contribution juxtaposes the story of the violence of the judicial system as narrated in the documentary with another institutional violence, this time perpetrated by the information system which effectively censored the film. Despite this, the dissemination of the documentary within independent circuits impacted the Italian social system, promoting the reformation of laws against sexual violence. Even today, after forty years, Processo per stupro represents one of the most successful encounters between art and activism.

Online comments have become an essential component of online media consumption. A meta-analysis was conducted to understand how online comment valence affects message perception, issue-relevant beliefs and attitudes, issue-relevant behaviors and behavioral intentions, communication behaviors and intentions, and emotions. Comment valence is defined as the distinction between positive comments, which align with, support, or favor the opinions expressed in the original message, and negative comments, which oppose, criticize, or disagree with the opinions expressed in the original message. After a comprehensive search and systematic screening and coding of existing studies, we identified 44 studies that are eligible to be included in the metaanalysis. We found that positive (vs. negative) comments led to significantly more positive evaluations of original messages (r = .22), stronger beliefs and attitudes that align with the positive comments (r = .29), higher likelihood to engage in behaviors that align with the positive comments (r = .09), higher likelihood to express opinions that align with the positive comments (r = .26), and more positive emotions (r = .16). Moreover, the number of comments, whether comment valence was mixed or not, and whether the original message was news or non-news moderated the effects of online comment valence on several outcomes. The findings suggest integrating these outcomes and moderators to develop a media effect theory and guide media practices in light of comment valence effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background Objective Methods Results and Conclusion Despite the numerous positive effects of augmented reality (AR) on learning, previous research has shown ambiguous results regarding the cognitive demand on the learner arising from, for example, the overlay of virtual elements or novel interaction techniques. At the same time, the number of evidence‐based guidelines on designing AR is limited or focuses on global effects, primarily relying on media comparison studies, whose validity is criticised.To guide the meaningful design of learning and training settings, this paper systematically reviews empirical research on AR design and synthesises the findings to develop evidence‐based recommendations for designing AR systems considering cognitive load.We conducted a systematic literature review, initially screening 810 distinct papers and ultimately analysing findings from 27 publications, which report on 29 distinct experimental studies. This selection was based on rigorously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, adhering to the PRISMA guidelines.The central value of this paper is the aggregation of existing evidence from empirical studies, resulting in 15 recommendations for AR design based on six design dimensions: Spatiality‐related, Interaction‐related, Contextuality‐related, Content‐related, Guidance‐related and Display Selection. Additionally, with three points for future research, this systematic literature review, first, stresses the need for more empirical evidence and value‐added studies. Second, learner characteristics that might influence cognitive load in AR‐based learning should be examined. Third, it advocates for the inclusion of measurements beyond the NASA‐TLX, and including more physiological measurements (e.g., eye‐tracking, EEG) to enhance the applicability of the results for learning and training situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research uses a case study to observe non-binary representation in TV fiction. The Dan character from the Spanish series HIT (RTVE, 2020–present), who is the first openly non-binary character in Spanish TV fiction, is analyzed through the lens of Queer Media Studies. The research applies a combination of content and discourse analysis. Qualitative content categories include a character's visibility, identity, relevance, embodiment, and social interaction. Discourse analysis categories include character's construction, lexicalization, propositional framing, and focus. Results show that Dan's non-binary depiction revolves around three significant axes: dualism, confusion, and exceptional talent. These axes frame social attitudes toward non-binary people and are composed by a set of features identified in Dan's case which also informs society's mind-sets. These traits are proposed as an analytical-theoretical tool for further analyses of non-binary representation in different cultural contexts. The outcomes of this research may inform audiovisual industries, regulations and academia, and are useful to consolidate non-binary media studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to examine how social anxiety moderates the effect of media selection during initial online interactions for making new friends. The study recruited 147 individuals with high levels and another 147 individuals with low levels of social anxiety who measured their intention to use various types of media to meet new friends online. The results demonstrated that individuals with high (low) social anxiety tended to choose visually (non-visually) anonymous media for initial interactions. Interestingly, once engaged in visually anonymous media, individuals with high social anxiety experienced reduced discomfort, following the expected pattern of media richness theory (MRT) by gradually adopting richer media for improved communication. The findings hold valuable implications for MRT and offer practical insights for media designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with a close look at the VR 'apparatus' – technology plus ideology – this essay seeks to interrogate the phenomenal sway that the notion of VR as the 'ultimate empathy machine' holds in the public imagination, following Chris Milk's oft quoted Ted Talk of 2015. Offering a close reading of two seminal VR works – 'Clouds Over Sidra' (2015) by Gabo Arora and Chris Milk himself, and 'Carne y Arena' (2017) by Alejandro G Iñárritu – along with a range of scholarly studies by traditional critics and writers like Susan Sontag and Virginia Woolf as well as a range of contemporary VR scholars, this essay clears the ground for a more sophisticated VR aesthetic to evolve, one that is fully cognizant of both the limitations and risks of the empathy model. As a foundational theory for this emergent medium, it is held that this reappraisal would be of value to VR practitioners, scholars and pedagogues alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the representation of Jews in the Finnish general press before the Second World War. The data comprise of 313 texts gathered from newspapers and magazines that were targeted at general audiences and that appeared between the years 1821–1936. The texts were examined on three levels: First, the upfront topics pertaining to Jews were identified and grouped under 12 themes. Second, the tone of the mentions was evaluated as positive, neutral, or negative. Third, underlying assumptions, opinions and attitudes expressed aside the upfront topics were identified from the texts. Until recent decades, the idea in Finland has been that there was hardly any antisemitism in the country before or during the Second World War. As new research has emerged, this view has repeatedly been challenged. However, research on the general media's representation of Jews has remained scarce. This article aims at filling this gap. In doing so, it offers a view on how Jews were seen and discussed in the Finnish society at large. So far, the studies on pre-WWII media have concluded that antisemitism was limited to far-right or ultranationalist papers. This article ends up with the opposite conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes that Japanese science fiction emerged as an escape from the limits of the realistic representation of the world proposed by Naturalism. It reads three science fiction short stories published in the magazines Tanken sekai (World of Exploration) and Bōken sekai (World of Adventure) between 1907 and 1910 to discuss early science fiction in which authors utilised technoscientific discourse. Engaging in a set of textual practices centred on developments of modern science and technology, these authors developed one of science fiction's distinctive features: anti-mimeticism, a literary mode focused on the depiction of anything that cannot happen in real life. This article focuses on the modalities by which these stories—Tenkūkaikatsu Dōjin's 'Gessekai shinkon ryokō' (Lunar Honeymoon), Ishii Kendō's 'Gessekai dokuryoku tanken' (Self-made Exploration to the Moon), and Hakui Michihito's 'Yukai to benri wo kiwametaru ōgon jidai no tokai seikatsu' (The Extremely Amusing and Comfortable Golden Age of Urban Life)1—employ a rationalistic view of the phenomenal realm to generate fictional worlds that relinquish the dominance of a mimetic representation of reality. An analysis of early Japanese science fiction from the late Meiji period reveals two elements that eschewed the realistic literature such as Naturalism: objective narration and an anti-mimetic base for the fictional world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines narrative construction in the Chinese official Party newspaper Inner Mongolia Daily (IMD), analyzing narratives within the context of bilingual education reform among Mongolians. Three key frames emerge: collective development and prosperity under the Chinese Communist Party's leadership, Inner Mongolia as a model of ethnic unity, and the integration of minority religions into socialist society. This study reveals how IMD portrays Inner Mongolia during education reforms using media framing theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines interactions between full-time members and web traffic across 137 Mexican online media platforms, as cataloged by Sembramedia in May 2023, focusing on the number of technological platforms and the type of interactivity involved. We used descriptive analyses and a structural equation model to test our hypotheses. Findings highlight the crucial role of human-to-content interactivity in shaping online media design and significantly influencing user content consumption patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the reflection phenomenon of plane harmonic waves in a functionally graded thermoelastic medium is studied based on the generalized theory of thermoelasticity. The boundary is assumed to be stress free and thermally insulated. For the incidence of quasi-longitudinal (QL) wave or quasi-transverse (QT) type wave, there may exist three types of reflected waves. For each reflected wave, the corresponding slowness vector is resolved to define its phase speed and reflected angle. Further, the effect of the functionally graded factor on the phase speeds, reflected angles as well as the reflection coefficients for the incidence of QL or QT wave were investigated and shown graphically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001, the film Legally Blonde was released into a pop cultural landscape saturated with the Spice Girls' brand of feminism-lite and postfeminist media texts like Sex and the City (1998–2004). With its firm hold on "girlie" feminism, Legally Blonde is postfeminist — but not post-femme. I extend the claim that femme theory can be located in low-cultural spaces and texts to understand the "chick flick" as another possible site of femme theory. I argue that Legally Blonde demonstrates that femme resistance can be located in the success of femininity, rather than only in its failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users adapt infrastructures materially to fit their needs, they engage in maintenance and repair, and they learn about the inner workings of infrastructures. Different degrees of user engagement with infrastructures are empirically analysed using the case of user-developed alternative mobile operating systems. Some observations of user agency made already in early studies of the appropriation of media and technology were found to be still relevant: moral considerations motivate users to engage in infrastructuring and users actively negotiate their infrastructural attachments. But 'acting on' infrastructures is also different from 'acting on' devices: the users' experiments with infrastructures require redundancy and they are inherently collective. Moreover, certain designs of infrastructures can enable and demand user-driven infrastructures, while others block it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes the concept of anticipated affordances as an analytical supplement to affordance theory. 'Anticipated affordances' refers to how actors anticipate or speculate on a technology's affordances before they have any direct use experience with it. To demonstrate the consequences of such speculation on the social life of new technologies, the article analyses why teachers in Norwegian schools have expressed scepticism towards AV1: a telepresence robot meant to reconnect 'homebound' children with their school. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the article finds that teachers anticipated three undesirable affordances from having AV1 in their classrooms: peeping, broadcasting, and parental auditing. The article also discusses how these anticipations intersected with issues of domestication, gatekeeping and experiences of AV1's actual affordances. In sum, the article advances anticipated affordances as a central topic of inquiry for new media studies, which can complement existing analytical foci and shed new light on the (non)adoption of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that unplayability must be a considered component of game analysis and further discussed in new media studies. The concept that games cannot be or should not be played does not limit game analysis. On the contrary, the "unplayable aspect" of a particular game or genre of games is what must be investigated. This essay hopes to expand upon why new media such as video games are becoming inaccessible by using Nicholas Baer et al.'s Unwatchable to discuss a range of unplayable games for common reasons such as: (1) excessive violence, (2) sexual violence, and (3) preservation issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on the effect of calcareous cementation on rock resistivity has been limited to qualitative analysis, while quantitative research has been lacking. Therefore, a quantitative study on the effect of calcium on rock resistivity is carried out based on the effective medium H-B theory; then, a new electrical conduction model suitable for the evaluation on oil–gas potential of calcium-bearing shaly formations is established accordingly. First, the repeatability of two parallel artificial cores is analyzed with petrophysical parameters to insure the accuracy of the artificial core technology. Then, 51 artificial rock samples with different calcium and clay content but basically with consistent quartz particle size distribution are made using artificial core technology, and the resistivity of these artificial rock samples saturated with different salinity water is measured experimentally. Next, considering the salt exclusion effect of clay pore water and its dispersion distribution, the effective medium Hanai-Bruggeman resistivity model is improved by treating the clay pore water as a dispersed phase. The improved model is more accurate and reasonable when compared with the oil testing results and the sealed coring results. Then, based on the improved effective medium Hanai-Bruggeman resistivity model, the relationship between the cementation exponent and calcium content and that between the cementation exponent with clay content was established. Meanwhile, the relationship among the cementation exponent, calcium content and clay content was established. These were done using the resistivity experimental data of the artificial cores with different clay and calcium contents, while being saturated with water of different salinities. Finally, treating the calcareous particles as a dispersed phase, the established relationship among the cementation exponent, calcium content and clay content was added to the improved model, after which a new electrical conduction model suitable for calcium-bearing shaly sandstone formation was formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to shed light on the conceptual implications of emerging media or emergent media from a transdisciplinary perspective. Drawing on the philosophical thoughts of complex dynamic systems and emergentism, this study reviews the literature across various disciplines bearing on emerging media and illustrates the value of invoking the concept to understand the fast-evolving communication technologies. Emerging media is defined as complex dynamic systems that are constituted through and in communication practices, suggestive of both materiality and sociality, and characterized by emergent processes. By emphasizing a conceptualization of media as dynamic, emergent, relational, and situated systems, this study calls for empirical studies of emerging media employing a transdisciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses John D. Lyons' book "Women and Irony in Molière's Comedies of Marriage" and the reviews it has received. The author expresses gratitude to the reviewers and acknowledges the influence of their teachers in their study of Molière. The reviewers praise the value of close reading, classroom engagement, and interpretation in Lyons' work. However, one reviewer, Claude Bourqui, finds the book's characteristics undesirable in the French university context. The author sympathizes with Bourqui's perspective, recognizing the differences in disciplines, languages, cultures, and audiences. They express dissatisfaction with the current state of French scholarship and argue for the value of close reading and the essay form over excessive accumulation of materials. The author also reflects on their own experiences with French scholarship and suggests that embracing distance and difference can lead to meaningful conversations about specific texts and themes, rather than relying solely on tools like Google Books. [Extracted from the article]

The study explores media discourse through the lexical and semantic realization of text. For that, online hard news on the disruption of tension due to targeting Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani as the Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 3rd January 2020 in Iraq was selected from "Tehran Times" and "USA Today." The "Appraisal Analysis" of Martin and White under "Attitude" and "Graduation" resources were employed to analyze the lexical strategies. The dataset comprises 322 words from the "Tehran Times" and 1727 words from "USA Today." The study reveals that both newspapers have presented their views via social actors (Irani President Rouhani & U.S. President Donald Trump) as an external voice. President Rouhani presented in negative invoked instances with determination to respond in "Tehran Times." At the same time, "USA Today" portrayed Donald Trump on a positive with correct measures as the need of an hour. The findings suggest "USA Today" only had inscribed judgment and invoked stances. Both newspapers had represented "subjectivity" along with "objectivity" by presenting social actors' positive image in their local newspapers through direct speech that showed the ideological orientation of newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview and analysis of how the study of sport at the intersection with the media has developed in the Slovenian context over the last three decades. The first part of the article briefly explains the importance and role of sport and media in the broader social context. By looking in particular at sports journalism and introducing the Slovenian context, the purpose of the study is clarified. The second part identifies and reviews all academic research contributions published on the highlighted intersection and during the selected period. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the most frequently addressed aspects of the sports media system, the main research topics identified and the media outlets studied, the main findings are summarized and highlighted. While studies addressing different aspects of nationality predominate, attention to gendered nationalism is highlighted as particularly valuable in the context of studies focusing on gender and its intersections. Event-oriented and decontextualized sports content is problematized in the context of recent studies focusing on some aspects of sports journalism. In the final section of the article, some guidelines are formulated to encourage further research in (and of) this geographical area (and beyond). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have been increasingly engaging with discourse analysis as theory and method. At its essence, this approach is centered around communicative acts, and thus is foundational to the study of sport media and communication. However, to our knowledge, no overview of the use of discourse analysis in sport, exercise, and physical education studies exists. Therefore, we conducted a structured scoping review by identifying 1892 papers in 277 journals from 2000 to April 2022, then narrowed the sample to 587 papers that specifically conducted a discourse analysis of sport. We sought to understand which theoretical traditions are commonly utilized, which sub-disciplines embrace discourse analysis with specific attention to communication, and how this approach can enrich and add to the methodological and theoretical development of media and communication studies in sport. Our review illustrated a heavy reliance on Foucauldian discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis across a multitude of sport disciplines, though discourse analysis generally appears less frequently in sport communication journals. To advance our field's use of discourse analysis, we suggest the need to emphasis a multimodal approach to discourse analysis, the integration of technology within this approach, and directions to theorize beyond dominant approaches to focus on mediated social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research updates the study of media of proximity in Spain, addressing the in-depth study of hyperlocal digital media. The main objectives are to determine the motivations for their growth, the models they establish and the factors that condition their stability in the post-pandemic context. After mapping hyperlocal media in 2018 (n = 62), a survey was conducted among their directors to discover the motivations for their creation, the characteristics of their professional teams and business models, the conditions of news production and their relationship with the audience. The map was updated in December 2021 and a new questionnaire was provided to directors to discover its adaptation to the post-pandemic context. The results show that hyperlocal media in Spain have established their own organizational, productive and economic model. The commitment of the directors to providing the community with the information they need from their own neighborhoods is evident, as well as the human and economic resource limitations they must face. The pandemic has strengthened the relationship with the audience, the news service mission, and the search for new financing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drawing on media richness theory and a framework of interpersonal communication goals, this study investigates how and why the IT industry's top managers use communication media to achieve their interaction goals in e-leadership. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach is applied to understand top managers' communication media use and interaction goals. The empirical data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 33 top managers from large IT companies and analysed using theory-guided thematic and ideal-type analyses. Findings: Top managers were categorized into three types, based on their communication goals through face-to-face communication. Relationship-oriented top managers pursued relational and communal goals, whereas task-oriented ones wished to achieve instrumental and communal goals. Task- and relationship-oriented top managers pursued relational, instrumental, and communal goals. This study indicates that communal, instrumental, relational, and self-presentational goals influence managers' communication media selection. Originality/value: This study brings new knowledge to the management communication research field. It expands the framework of interpersonal communication goals by identifying communal goals as a new category, in addition to existing instrumental, relational and self-presentational goals. This study suggests that media richness theory could be advanced by recognizing that a broader set of communication goals – including communal, instrumental, relational, and self-presentational – influences managers' communication media selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing societal datafication and, most recently, the widely noticed launch of ChatGPT, continue to raise the "user question": what role(s) does the user play in datafied, artificial, and automated environments? Recent technological advancements have begun to challenge fundamental assumptions in media and communication theory and, thus, urge scholars to (re-)visit and (re-)examine the interrelations, dynamics, and entanglements of (human) users with datafied environments. Two rapidly expanding but still largely distinct bodies of research are addressing these topics: critical data and platform studies, primarily focusing on structural approaches, and user-centered perspectives anchored in the tradition of audience research. Situated at the intersection of studying platform power and user agency, the aim of this special issue is to connect structural approaches with studies of lived user experiences through the lenses of reflectivity and reflexivity. We believe that linking platform and data perspectives dealing with questions of power, accountability, and governance on a societal level to users' engagement with digital technologies and automated systems in an everyday context is a fruitful path when aiming for a comprehensive understanding of the societal implications of the widespread adoption and integration of digital platforms and intelligent technologies. The concepts of reflectivity and reflexivity provide a valuable conceptual starting point for a more integrated and holistic discussion of the complex user-data relations emerging in and from datafied environments. While the individual contributions in this special issue present their own take on the proposed concepts, the purpose of this introduction is to establish a broader theoretical foundation by outlining some overarching considerations on how these concepts can be understood and integrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a transnational case study on binge-watching and media habits. The contributions of this paper are two-fold. The first contribution is methodological, proposing 'data-prompted interviewing', a variant of trace interviewing. Participants' own trace data is used to help them recall their own behavior in more detail, which in turn enables them to identify gaps or flaws in trace data records. This case study, which includes sixty interviews in platform logs from YouTube, Netflix and a large self-tracking service, provides evidence that 'data-prompted interviewing' yields robust results. Using data to prompt interviewees' memories substantially improved their recall, and interviewees' insights into platform data substantially improved its interpretation. The second contribution of this case study is theoretical, engaging with calls for reflexivity in media studies by empirically embracing Jenssen's idea of dual 'data movements' and operationalizing reflexivity into concrete methods. Looking at the platform logs with the interviewee revealed patterns and habits in watching behavior which an interview alone would have entirely missed. But interviews also revealed quirks in the platform data which would have completely misled a researcher working with platform logs alone. The combination produces more insightful and robust research results for both 'big data' and 'small data' approaches. Recent data protection laws, which give millions of people the right to access their own trace data from platforms, make this approach practical for a wide range of questions in media studies. We propose that media studies scholars embrace reflexivity as not just theory but method, and through data-prompted interviews, fully embrace how the field affects research, and how research affects the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to create a shorthand for video game history – from video games' infancy to the current subscription model that is dominating gaming. In this essay, I will apply the practices of historical media scholarship that have helped parse out television history (e.g., TV I, TV II, TV III, and TV IV) and film history (e.g., Cinema 1, 2, and 3.0) to define the various shifts in video game history. Gaming I represents the arcade and home system boom up until the 1983 video game Crash, Gaming II describes the post-Crash console period, and finally, Gaming III materializes due to the arrival of modern video game subscriptions. Rather than constructing an exhaustive account of video game history, this essay means to generate more studies on what video game history can mean in the context of the established academic studies on visual media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) is a trans-spatial narrative found in the Walt Disney Company theme parks that extends the storytelling of these parks with a connected narrative across global locations. Elements of S.E.A. appear in Disney’s parks in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong and tie together these far-flung places and their different cultures and languages together with a story one cannot find in Disney’s film and television offerings. By performing a close reading of S.E.A. themed attractions, we can understand how the fictional organization’s four tenets (Adventure, Romance, Discovery, and Innovation) are representative of the theme park as an experiential medium. Ultimately, S.E.A. is an autobiography of Imagineering’s creative milieu and its role in developing the theme park as a cultural practice and medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2020, a wave of academic and trade books has brought unprecedented attention to queer nightlife. Whereas this special issue of TSQ advances queer nightlife as a site for continued study in sociology, this forum opens a conversation between ten leading scholars who have often carried out their work in distinct social science and humanities fields, including sociology, geography, ethnomusicology, performance studies, religion, and media studies. In a spirit of academic generosity, they become interlocutors who exchange stories, analytical frameworks, and investments with the goal that they might learn from each other; they bond over shared nightlife and research experiences, including ethnographic methods and attention to affect. This forum poses questions and insights that will enrich how future scholarship can build toward more rigorous, capacious, and imaginative queer methods – within and beyond sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe deteriorating environment necessitates immediate remedial measures to preserve life forms in their natural state. There is an urgent need to regulate anthropogenic activities. This scholarly work examined the factors that lead to environmentally friendly consumption among consumers. We extended the TPB model with additional variables, namely social media marketing (SMM) and environmental concern (EC) to investigate consumers’ green purchase behavior. Furthermore, the moderating effect of greenwashing (GW) was examined. Data from 388 respondents were analyzed using the PLS-SEM technique. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to incorporate greenwashing as a moderating variable between GPI and GPB. Finally, the study discusses theoretical and managerial implications and outlines several strategies for marketers to promote green products and mitigate the negative effects of greenwashing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The portrayal of key participants in gender-based violence (GBV) by the media has been analyzed as ideologically driven by critical discourse analysis (CDA) scholars. Nevertheless, previous studies of media coverage of GBV cases with a CDA approach were confined to qualitative analysis while quantitative evidence was lacking and were perpetrator-oriented without the victim’s perspectives. Addressing these gaps, this study conducted a case analysis of four British newspapers, each representing different political inclinations. Results revealed that the political inclinations did not influence media’s preference for certain constructions. However, the perpetrator was ascribed with a much greater degree of agency in high frequency active constructions. Even in passive and nominal constructions, he was specified more frequently than deleted, contradicting most previous research indicating that the perpetrators were often deleted to conjure away responsibility. We also verified the significance of the context particularly in interpreting the agentless passive and nominal constructions. Further research from diachronic and reader-oriented perspectives should bring more converging evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While direct homogenisation approaches such as the FE 2$$ {}^2 $$ method are subject to the assumption of scale separation, the mesh‐in‐element (MIEL) approach is based on an approach with strong scale coupling, which is based on a discretization with finite elements. In this contribution we propose a two‐scale MIEL scheme in the framework of the theory of porous media (TPM). This work is a further development of the MIEL method which is based on the works of the authors A. Ibrahimbegovic, R.L. Taylor, D. Markovic, H.G. Matthies, R. Niekamp (in alphabetical order); where we find the physical and mathematical as well as the software coupling implementation aspects of the multi‐scale modeling of heterogeneous structures with inelastic constitutive behaviour, see for example, [Eng Comput, 2005;22(5‐6):664‐683.] and [Eng Comput, 2009;26(1/2):6‐28.]. Within the scope of this contribution, the necessary theoretical foundations of TPM are provided and the special features of the algorithmic implementation in the context of the MIEL method are worked out. Their fusion is investigated in representative numerical examples to evaluate the characteristics of this approach and to determine its range of application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is growing academic attention to readers of hyperpartisan, alternative, and conspiracy (HAC) media, our understanding of these sites has developed in separate bodies of work. We make a case for studying HAC media in unison, recognizing them as different information sources that share the same underlying anti-establishment sentiment. We do so by painting a detailed portrait of HAC media users, detailing 1) who consumes HAC media; 2) how they access it; and 3) how its consumption relates to public opinion. This is made possible by the unique combination of panel surveys taken before and after the first COVID-19 lockdowns in Germany and Switzerland, and webtracking data capturing participants' actual online behavior. Our results show that those exposed to HAC media have a strong distrust of government and place themselves at the ideological extremes. While social media was a quintessential entry point for such media, most visits were registered by a small percentage of repeat visitors. Lastly, we show that those who consumed HAC media developed distinct opinions about the threat posed by COVID-19, mirroring the sentiments expressed in HAC media that the danger of the virus was exaggerated and that the real threat was to individual freedoms. With this case study, we showcase the theoretical utility of taking an integrated approach to HAC media, while providing nuanced insights into their audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document discusses the twentieth-anniversary conference of the journal "French Screen Studies," which was held in Lyon in November 2021. The conference marked a significant change in the journal's name and editorial team. The event focused on continuity, change, and perspectives in French cinema and screen media, with a collection of leading international scholars presenting their work. The document highlights the evolution of the journal, thematic issues, and the impact of digital age on publication and research in the field of French and Francophone cinema and media studies. [Extracted from the article]

In Katell Quillévéré's Réparer les vivants (2016), based on Maylis de Kerangal's best-selling novel, a fatal road accident after a surfing trip leaves Simon Limbres (Gabin Verdet) braindead. His vital organs will be donated, and his heart transplanted into Claire Méjean (Anne Dorval). These grave events shape the film's narrative arc, with the heart connecting Simon's death to Claire's rebirth. Yet this heart transplant film is indebted to a more archaic, elemental connectivity between the heart and the sea, blood and seawater, recognised variously from Galen to René Quinton and beyond. A fusion of the elements of air and water with breath positions the film distinctively in relation to scholarship on the elements and on breathing in film and media studies, inviting its watery bonds to be theorised anew. Engaging with such research before drawing upon Gilles Deleuze's writings on the fold and film scholarship indebted to his work, this article explores how the film's narrative is enfolded into tight formal bonds with the elements, air and water in particular. The lifeblood of this film and its affective heart emerge through myriad folds of foaming, curving waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today’s media environment lacks coverage of faith, religion, and spirituality, yet these are important topics in the lives of people around the globe. This article explored the effectiveness of religious and spiritual cues on Jews and the non-religious (atheists and agnostics) in Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies examining atheists and agnostics are scant in media research and within the Jewish context. Since people use media to gratify a variety of needs, the article used identity theory and congruity theory to show that religious Jews appreciated both religious and spiritual messaging, while the non-religious favourably responded to the spiritual message alone. The results provide insights for future research and support for greater religious and spiritual coverage in the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates how the shift to a more robust mandate in Bosnia was made intelligible to the Swedish TV audience. The turn to peace-enforcement and NATO command in December 1995 represented a clear break with Swedish tradition and identity, and essentially signified a turning point in Sweden's policy on the use of force. The analysis reveals how four characterizations of the Swedish UN soldiers served to make sense of recent events and ultimately paved way for future policy changes; throughout the six-month period under scrutiny, the depictions, very broadly, moved from weak soldiers and failed warriors, to honourable peacekeepers and unique combat soldiers. The Swedish peacekeeper figure is thus reconstructed, essentially accommodating an increased involvement in activities of peace-enforcement and war-like operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of online interruption pace and information richness on managerial task performance. A computer game simulating external interruptions online was used to expose participants to either a slow or rapid pace of interruptions and provide them with either lean or rich information during the task. Task performance was measured based on the points scored in the game. Results indicate that the pace of interruptions significantly affected task performance, with participants experiencing a slow pace of interruptions performing better than those experiencing a rapid one. Information richness did not significantly affect task performance. However, the interaction between the two variables significantly affected task performance, with optimal performance occurring with fewer interruptions and richer information. The growing prevalence of remote work and its potential for more frequent and varied interruptions calls for investigating a more complex model of interruption effects, helping managers better understand interruptions in work environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies exploring the association between social media use and belief in conspiracy theories have yielded mixed evidence. To address this inconsistency, we focus on conspiracy thinking – a predisposition to interpret events as products of secret, malevolent plots – for which contextual confounds can be better isolated. We posit that social media use and conspiracy thinking are positively related, and examine whether this relationship stems from selectivity effects, media effects, or reinforcing effects. The analysis relies on a random intercept cross-lagged panel model estimated with data from an original three-wave panel survey (N = 331) fielded in Chile. Results support the existence of a reciprocal, lagged relationship between frequency of use of social media platforms, and conspiracy thinking. In line with recent studies on social media, the association becomes manifest at the within-, rather than between-, person level. We close with a discussion of how these results align with the reinforcing spirals model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary U.S. media environment is characterized by a strong partisan divide. Both Democrats and Republicans express strong distrust in oppositional media and accuse them of showing partisan bias. Clearly, this public opinion climate is not helpful to a healthy democracy. Unlike the common wisdom, these news outlets do provide neutral political coverage. Based on propositions from expectancy violation theory and hostile media perceptions, we test the effects of exposure to neutral news from an out-party outlet on violation interpretation and attitudes toward oppositional media. An online experiment (N = 610) shows that exposure to neutral news from an out-party outlet leads to violation unexpectedness and valence for Democrats and violation valence for Republicans. We also find an indirect positive effect of exposure to neutral news on attitudes toward an out-party outlet through violation valence for Democrats and Republicans. Unlike what can be expected of hostile media perceptions, these effects are more noticeable for stronger partisans. Our study also reveals different patterns of partisan reactions to neutral news from in-party outlets. Theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern journalism practices rely heavily on the use of sources, yet white, male officials have dominated as sources in print, television, and online media. Sources are given the power to shape public opinion by providing their version of facts and defining the framing of events. Symbolic annihilation theory suggests the media largely ignores women or portrays them in stereotypical roles. Symbolic annihilation is particularly important in media representations of sexual misconduct charges where gendered dynamics are critical to framing. This study extends symbolic annihilation by exploring the journalistic sourcing practices post-#MeToo. Through a content analysis of news coverage of sexual assault allegations against US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the study provides a framework by which to explore how women appear in news coverage and influences over journalists' decisions leading to reifying hegemonic sourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While both the journalism industry and journalism studies research have long celebrated engagement as both a normative goal and a potential revenue source, scant evidence exists illustrating how an organization can turn engagement into profit. This study, utilizing a case study of the sports and culture news organization Defector, examines how one newsroom monetizes engagement. Through the lens of market theory for news production, the study examines what engagement practices Defector enacts, and how those successfully catalyze subscribers to pay almost 50% more annually for the ability to engage with the organization. Lastly, the study introduces, to journalism studies, the concept of market alignment, a necessity for monetizing engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that GamerGate, a critical hashtag event in the history of digital harassment, is key to understanding contemporary identity verification systems and digital labour. We build our argument from a comparative analysis of two case studies: (1) digital journalistic responses to GamerGate and (2) Twitter's account verification 'checkmark' system from 2021 to 2022. These phenomena showcase the linkages between the gendered and raced policing of journalists and users during GamerGate and the rise of 'authenticity' as a key resource for journalists and other platformed creators in the present. We draw on digital games, journalism and critical media studies to analyse the work of 'authenticity'. We argue that platform affordances such as identity verification badges are fundamentally implicated in the work of users to appear 'real', even as the visibility requisite for realness brings uneven risks for marginalised cultural workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about digital games, their evolving connections with platforms and infrastructures, and the influence that a decade of Minecraft's development is having on this process. It begins with a discussion of previously disparate but increasingly convergent methodologies and literatures, including platform studies, media archeology, game studies, and cultural anthropological approaches to the study of infrastructure. Then, it applies points of convergence within these literatures to a political economic analysis of Minecraft that attributes its decade of growth to the systemic and metaphoric merging of platforms and infrastructures. Finally, it provides an ethnographic analysis of computers, made in Minecraft, which show how the game is not only taking on characteristics of platforms and infrastructures, but also affording a means of programming, visualizing, and experiencing platforms as infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Produce Camp 2021, an online Chinese talent show, an underdog named Lelush rose to fame as a slack laborer icon. This study investigated this case through a critical discourse analysis incorporating media events theory, the concept of carnival, aesthetic public sphere theory, and the concept of structures of feeling. It was revealed that the audience related to Lelush's slackness on carnivalesque social media, indirectly addressing work oppression and social stratification in an aesthetic public sphere. However, the audience's ambiguities, where they also objectified Lelush, somewhat diminished the aesthetic discussions' critical potential. This contradiction suggested a new structure of feeling associated with rapid social changes in China. Besides, this study demonstrated that although the audience discourse appeared challenging, it was harnessed by the producer for commercial benefit. Meanwhile, as the audience's critical discourse did not directly threaten the political legitimacy, the Party-State allowed it for political and economic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hallin and Mancini's Comparing Media Systems has provided Mass Communication research with valuable tools to compare media settings from a transnational viewpoint. However, most recent contributions around media systems theory focus on suggesting new dimensions or variables to update the three models presented in the authors' book, leaving behind the discussion concerning the factors galvanizing the transformation processes. We then ask: What factors explain the transformation of media systems? Through a literature review and the discussion of an extensive array of examples from different countries, our essay formulates new insights to refine a crucial concept in media studies. We examine material, institutional, and cultural logics of change to point out how the described transformations might unfold at different paces in particular social systems. By resorting to the idea of "critical junctures," our essay illustrates how supposedly isolated shifts in the media systems can have unexpected impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how the Meta Quest virtual reality headset's implementation requires one's domestic space to be rearranged to accommodate for its use. Analyzing tutorials, help videos, and advertisements for Quest, we demonstrate how its production of space relies on classist and ableist biases which presume easy access to an open play grid and user mobility. We additionally draw from user-generated videos on YouTube which show additional ways "VR rooms" are tied to socioeconomic status as well as videos which are focused on making VR more accessible for users with mobility or neurocognitive differences. We situate these videos within media studies research on emergent technologies' domestication, and how the process of "making space for" and accommodating emergent media technology continues to rely on assumptions about the identities of normal and ideal users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are social media posts with emoji more engaging? Guided by the media richness theory, this study explores the relationship between visual (i.e., emoji) and textual content, and how they collectively impact user engagement with peer-to-peer accommodation brands. A three-stage sequential design using naturalist data, including text mining, frequent/rare itemset mining, and one-way ANOVA, was used. This study revealed that the combination of { Travel Tips and Inspiration, } and { Interaction and Motivation, } tended to result in an increased amount of likes and shares in social media posts. By theoretically revealing and empirically examining the complex relationship between verbal and visual content, this study enriches the theoretical understanding of media richness in tourism brands. Practically, this study provides actionable guidelines for tourism brands to increase user engagement by effectively using visual-verbal content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Douglas Kellner emerged in the late 1980s as a media theorist. This article reconstructs his intellectual trajectory, analyzing the developments and problems of his media theory. His path was influenced by so-called Western Marxism, notably by the Frankfurt School and, later, by British cultural studies. Kellner made both currents of European thought dialogue and incorporated them into French postmodernism, in a context configured by the 'culture wars' in the United States. All of this shaped the analysis of what he called 'media culture' and, a few years later, 'media spectacle', as well as his proposal for critical media literacy. It is argued that Kellner proposes an innovative synthesis in theoretical and methodological terms, outlined with Cultural Marxism. On the other hand, his proposition is not exempt from conceptual contradictions that generate analytical simplifications during the practice of research, as it moves between immanent to transcendent critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intersection between sustainability and social media activity by studying how user-generated content (UGC) creation enacted and communicated social sustainability in times of restricted social interaction. The context is Wuhan in China, a city that implemented a 76-day lockdown in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a sample of 187 short videos created and posted by Wuhan residents on Douyin (TikTok) during the lockdown, this paper answers this question – how did UGC creators produce short videos on social media to facilitate social connections with others? UGC creators' video-making practices are conceptualised in the typology of Evoking, Performing, Collaborating, and Narrating, and each practice enabled creators to connect and socialise virtually with others, thus contributing to all participants' social sustainability in a pandemic. This study contributes to media management scholarship by adding knowledge to the understanding of two areas: the productive role of media audiences, especially their content production practices and logics; the nature of short videos as media products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]