"This article sheds light on a set of religious literacy practices which have so far received very little scientific attention, namely ‘quranic app practices’. Quranic app practices are conceptualized as ways of engaging with the Quran through religious apps on smartphones or tablets. The articl
...
e is based primarily on an explorative group interview with four young people from a Year 8 class in a multilingual lower secondary school in Denmark. The youth have Somali and Afghan background, consider themselves practicing Muslims and can be described as ‘religious heritage learners of Arabic’ (Temples 2013). The article explores the quranic app practices of the young people as reported in the interview and shows how the young people use the quranic apps to engage with the sacred text of the Quran in different ways, with different objectives and drawing on different languages. Building on Rosowsky’s (2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015) research on faith literacies, the analysis reveals that the young people have radically different understandings of that it entails to ‘read the Quran’ and that their quranic app practices vary greatly, but also that their choice of app is consistent with their stated objectives, priorities, preferences and practices. The different quranic app practices thus all appear meaningful, consistent and legitimate. Based on the analysis, the article calls for further investigation of young people’s quranic app practices." (Abstract)
more
"As Scandinavian societies experience increased ethno-religious diversity, their Christian-Lutheran heritage and strong traditions of welfare and solidarity are being challenged and contested. This book explores conflicts related to religion as they play out in public broadcasting, social media, loc
...
al civic settings, and schools. It examines how the mediatization of these controversies influences people’s engagement with contested issues about religion, and redraws the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion." (Publisher description)
more
"As television production becomes increasingly global, television studies must advance its understanding of how the global and the local intersect and impact upon the cultures of production. Drawing on original comparative research of three small European nations – Denmark, Ireland and Wales – t
...
his article offers empirical insights into the distinct challenges and opportunities for non-Anglophone producers and public service broadcasters (PSBs). The concept of small nations is employed critically to reveal how distinctions of scale and power make a tangible difference to how television is produced and distributed, and to how smaller, national PSBs are trying to secure a sustainable future." (Abstract)
more
"The use of social media for news has started to fall in a number of key markets after years of continuous growth. Usage is down six percentage points in the United States, and is also down in the UK and France. Almost all of this is due to a specific decline in the discovery, posting, and sharing o
...
f news in Facebook. At the same time, we continue to see a rise in the use of messaging apps for news as consumers look for more private (and less confrontational) spaces to communicate. WhatsApp is now used for news by around half of our sample of online users in Malaysia (54%) and Brazil (48%) and by around third in Spain (36%) and Turkey (30%). Across all countries, the average level of trust in the news in general remains relatively stable at 44%, with just over half (51%) agreeing that they trust the news media they themselves use most of the time. By contrast, 34% of respondents say they trust news they find via search and fewer than a quarter (23%) say they trust the news they find in social media. Over half (54%) agree or strongly agree that they are concerned about what is real and fake on the internet. This is highest in countries like Brazil (85%), Spain (69%), and the United States (64%) where polarised political situations combine with high social media use. It is lowest in Germany (37%) and the Netherlands (30%) where recent elections were largely untroubled by concerns over fake content." (Key findings, page 9)
more
"The tension between blasphemy laws and the freedom of expression in modern times is a key area of debate within legal academia and beyond. With contributions by leading scholars, this volume compares blasphemy laws within a number of Western liberal democracies and debates the legitimacy of these l
...
aws in the twenty- first century. Including comprehensive and up-to-date comparative country studies, this book considers the formulation of blasphemy bans, relevant jurisprudential interpretations, the effect on society, and the ensuing convictions and penalties where applicable. It provides a useful historical analysis by discussing the legal-political rationales behind the recent abolition of blasphemy laws in some Western states. Contributors also consider the challenges to the tenability of blasphemy laws in a selection of well- balanced theoretical chapters. This book is essential reading for scholars working within the fields of human rights law, philosophy and sociology of religion and comparative politics." (Publisher description)
more
"This edited collection focuses on successful small and medium-sized film and television companies in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Using original interviews with company founders and other employees, contributors explore case studies of businesses that have made successfu
...
l productions, both in terms of popularity and critical acclaim, for at least five years. The book gives an overview of the film and television sector in each of the four featured countries, followed by chapters that investigate particular companies and their relationship to a wider industrial context. The Introduction provides a theoretical and methodological discussion and the Conclusion draws together the common elements that may explain how these companies have been able to survive and thrive." (Publisher description)
more
"The accelerating digitalisation of the media landscape has released enormous forces of change in the Nordic advertising markets. The overall impression from the results of this study is that the sweeping changes digitalisation is bringing about are not just undermining the business model on which t
...
he majority of commercially financed media companies in the Nordic countries have based their journalistic operations, they are also making it more difficult for the same companies to find a sustainable business model in a digital environment. The battle for advertising revenue is now an unfair fight. Media companies at the national and local level are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the advertising solutions that global digital actors such as Google and Facebook are bringing to the market. The latter are not just more sophisticated than the domestic alternatives, they are also significantly cheaper. The results of this study indicate unequivocally that the differences in competitiveness between Nordic and non-Nordic advertising platforms will be exacerbated as digital advertising investments grow." (Executive summary)
more
"This study examines the existence of criminal defamation and insult laws in the territory of the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In doing so, it offers a broad, comparative overview of the compliance of OSCE participating States’ legislat
...
ion with international standards and best practices in the field of defamation law and freedom of expression. The primary purpose of the study is to identify relevant provisions in law. Although the study does include examples of the usage of these provisions, it is not an analysis of legal practice [...] The study is divided into two sections. The first section offers conclusions according to each of the principal categories researched and in reference to international standards on freedom of expression. The second section provides the detailed research findings for each country, including relevant examples. As the study’s title suggests, the primary research category is general criminal laws on defamation and insult. However, this study also covers special laws protecting the reputation or honour of particular persons or groups of people (e.g., presidents, public officials, deceased persons); special laws protecting the ‘honour’ of the state and state symbols; and blasphemy and religious insult laws." (About this study, page 2)
more
"Currency research organisations, i.e. organisations conducting research into media use, whose results constitute a nationally valid standard (“currency”) for the advertising business, are of prime importance for developed media systems. In 2017, the global advertising market will reach a volume
...
of more than 500 billion US dollars. Nearly a third of that is spent in the USA, but countries such as China, Brazil and Mexico are registering big increases too.(199) Therefore, currency organisations and their research findings contribute not only to the allocation of economically significant resources, but also determine the very existence of media companies and products. Their relevance is thus not only of an (advertising) economic nature, but indirectly bears a political dimension. First and foremost, however, the function of the currency organisations is to provide transparency for the advertisers in terms of the advertising media’s contact performance. The current situation of currency research organisations is heavily shaped on onehand by developments in the media markets, and on the other by historic circumstances and the institutionalisation of the media systems in the various countries. As a general rule, in countries with strongly libertarian institutionalised media such as the USA and Brazil it seems to be harder to establish nationally recognised currencies – in the USA this is even banned through anti-trust laws. Then again, the institutionalisation of currencies may also hit difficulties in a country such as South Korea, where the boundaries between the media and (the rest of) the economic system are somewhat fluid, as the major industry conglomerates have their own media and advertising agencies." (Conclusions)
more
"Applied Theatre: Performing Health and Wellbeing is the first volume in the field to address the role that theatre, drama and performance have in relation to promoting, developing and sustaining health and wellbeing in diverse communities. Challenging concepts and understanding of health, wellbeing
...
and illness, it offers insight into different approaches to major health issues through applied performance. With a strong emphasis on the artistry involved in performance-based health responses, situated within a history of the field of practice, the volume is divided into two sections: Part One examines some of the key questions around research and practice in applied performance in health and wellbeing, specifically addressing the different regional challenges that dominate the provision of health care and influence wellbeing: how the aging population of the global north creates pressure on lifetime healthcare provision, while the global south is dominated by a higher birth rate and a larger population under 15 years old. Part Two comprises case studies and interviews from international practitioners that reflect the diversity of practices across the world and in particular differences between work in the northern and southern hemispheres. These case studies include a sanitation project in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in the 1980s, and the sanitation and rural development projects initiated by the traveling theatre troupes of a number of University theatre departments in Africa – Makerere in Kampala, Uganda; Botswana; Lesotho and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – which began in the 1960s. It considers the emergence of Theatre for Development's use as a health approach, considering the work of Laedza Batanani and the influences of Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed." (Publisher description)
more
"The report is based on a survey of more than 70,000 people in 36 markets, along with additional qualitative research, which together make it the most comprehensive ongoing comparative study of news consumption in the world. A key focus remains in Europe where we have added Slovakia, Croatia, and Ro
...
mania for the first time – but we have also added four markets in Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore) along with three additional Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, and Mexico) [...] In particular we have focused on two areas: (1) the extent to which people are prepared to pay for news or the different ways journalism might be funded in the future, and (2) understanding more about some of the drivers of low, and in some cases declining, trust in the media. For the first time we’ve attempted to measure and visualise relative levels of media polarisation across countries and identify a link between media polarisation and trust. Another focus has been on the media’s relationship with platforms – in particular how news is discovered and consumed within distributed environments such as social media, search, and online aggregators." (Foreword)
more
"This year we have evidence of the growth of distributed (offsite) news consumption, a sharpening move to mobile and we can reveal the full extent of ad-blocking worldwide. These three trends in combination are putting further severe pressure on the business models of both traditional publishers and
...
new digital-born players – as well as changing the way in which news is packaged and distributed." (Overview & key findings)
more
"Of the 939 identified main media literacy stakeholders, over a third were categorised as “civil society” (305), followed by “public authorities” (175) and “academia” (161). Over two-thirds of them do not have a statutory responsibility in this area and base their involvement on a differ
...
ent motivation. 189 networks were identified and the vast majority of them (135) are operating at national level. Since the level of activity differs a lot between countries, of the maximum of 580 projects (20 possible projects for each of the 29 respondents, but not all of them were able to detect 20), only 547 were identified. The most common project type is “resources” (173); the second is “end-user engagement” (107). These two together account for more than half of all analysed projects, showing that providing frontline support to citizens is a priority. As to the a ddressed media literacy skills, “critical thinking” was the clear winner, being dealt with by 403 of the 547 projects, followed by “media use” (385). This trend is also confirmed by the case study analysis of the most significant 145 projects, which also feature projects on “intercultural dialogue” (46 of 145), including skills around challenging radicalisation and hate speech online." (Executive summary, page 3-4)
more
"International trade in creative industries showed sustained growth in the last decade. The global market for traded creative goods and services totaled a record $547billion in 2012, as compared to $302 billion in 2003. Exports from developing countries, led by Asian countries, were growing faster t
...
han exports from developed countries. Among developed country regions, Europe is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 creative goods exporters included Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Exports of creative goods from developed economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $134 billion to $197 billion. Among developing countries, China is the largest exporter of creative goods. In 2012, the top 5 exporters were China, Hong Kong, China, India, Turkey and South Korea. Exports of creative goods from developing economies grew during the period 2003 to 2012, with export earnings rising from $87 billion to $272 billion. Developing countries are playing an increasingly important role in international trade in creative industries." (Executive summary)
more
"Sex offenders know that social media offer new opportunities for contacting children and forming friendships with them. They have also realised how simple it is to take pictures and make videos of sexual abuse and share them with other people with the same sexual interests. Digital information tech
...
nology and social media add new aspects to our understanding of how sexual abuse takes place and how it affects victims. It is necessary for all practitioners working with children and young people to have knowledge of this field. All types of sexual abuse are shameful and taboo-ridden. Consequently, children and young people who feel unhappy need to be asked directly how negative online encounters have affected them. However, the dialogue with them must proceed with an understanding of ow demeaning, intimidating and traumatic such experiences can be, including when living through them on the internet. Save the Children Denmark has compiled this anthology with the latest knowledge in a field that is in constant flux and full of professional challenges." (Back cover)
more
"This collection takes the study of diasporic communication beyond the level of simply praising its existence, to offering critical engagements and analysis with the systems of journalistic production, process and consumption practices as they relate to people who are living outside the borders of t
...
heir birth nation." (Publisher description)
more
"This volume explores the way governments endeavoured to build and maintain public support for the war in Afghanistan, combining new insights on the effects of strategic narratives with an exhaustive series of case studies. In contemporary wars, with public opinion impacting heavily on outcomes, str
...
ategic narratives provide a grid for interpreting the why, what and how of the conflict. This book asks how public support for the deployment of military troops to Afghanistan was garnered, sustained or lost in thirteen contributing nations. Public attitudes in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe towards the use of military force were greatly shaped by the cohesiveness and content of the strategic narratives employed by national policy-makers. Assessing the ability of countries to craft a successful strategic narrative, the book addresses the following key areas: 1) how governments employ strategic narratives to gain public support; 2) how strategic narratives develop during the course of the conflict; 3) how these narratives are disseminated, framed and perceived through various media outlets; 4) how domestic audiences respond to strategic narratives; 5) how this interplay is conditioned by both events on the ground, in Afghanistan, and by structural elements of the domestic political systems." (Publisher description)
more
"We see the smartphone more clearly as the defining device for digital news with a disruptive impact on consumption, formats, and business models. Our data suggest it provides an environment dominated by a few successful brands, with others struggling to reach a wider audience, both via apps and bro
...
wsers. The move to online video, new visual formats, and social media coincides in many countries with a fall in audiences for traditional TV bulletins. The trend is most pronounced amongst the under 35s. We see a strengthening in the role played by Facebook in finding, discussing and sharing news. Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp are playing a big role amongst younger groups." (Executive summary)
more