Towards a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of small and medium ente…

This research demonstrates the relevance of the evaluative cycle and its diverse methodological designs in small and medium enterprise (SME) policy. We structure our arguments based on the most common phases of the cycle, namely policy justification, needs, policy theory, implementation, impact and efficiency assessments. We use an in-depth case study of public assistance to an SME to illustrat…

Developing expertise in managing dialogue in the ‘third space’: Lessons f…

Where two or more persons from different professions meet to discuss a shared project, a dialogic ‘third space’ is opened up. Such dialogues (or multilogues) can be problematic for reasons which are well attested to in the literature. Third spaces can be sites of hostility and defensiveness, or of creativity and learning. This article explores the nature and management of the third space, notin…

A holistic, learning-centred approach to building evaluation capacity in deve…

There is growing pressure on development organizations to improve their evaluation systems and capacities. This presents considerable challenges for time- and resource-poor organizations in developing countries. Evaluation capacity development (ECD) approaches are needed that are appropriate and effective for such organizations. We argue that this requires a long-term, holistic, participatory, …

Aspects of the institutionalization of evaluation in Finland: Basic, agency, …

This article draws on neo-institutional theoretical ideas to empirically examine the institutionalization of evaluation in the national government of Finland. The results indicate ambiguity in the basic institutionalization of Finnish evaluation, and imprecision in the agency of the actors that carry out or commission evaluations or utilize the evaluation results. Some Finnish institutional pra…

Policy experiments: Investigating effectiveness or confirming direction?

In England, ‘policy experiments’ are largely synonymous with the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to test whether one policy ‘works’ better than another. While advocacy of the use of RCTs in public policy presents this as relatively straightforward, even common sense, the reality is different, as shown through analysis of three high profile policy pilots and their evaluations undertak…

From mechanism to virtue: Evaluating Nudge theory

Ever since Thaler and Sunstein published their influential book Nudge, the book and the theory it presents have received great praise and opposition. Nudge theory, and more particularly, nudging may be considered an additional strategy providing some novel instruments to the already rich governance toolbox. But what is its value? The current debates on Nudge theory are often highly normative or…

The strategic ritual of irony: post-Tiananmen China as seen through the ‘Pe…

Inspired by Tuchman’s concept of the ‘strategic ritual of objectivity’, we argue that journalists employ what can be called the ‘strategic ritual of irony’ in their accounts to convey moral stance toward morally ‘tainted’ stories, often under the façade of objectivity. Systematic reading of American journalists’ memoirs and writings reveals that their portrayals of post-1989 China, against the …

Stop griping, start complaining: how public discontent can trigger a change i…

This study examines the conditions under which public manifestation of discontent can lead to changes in the broadcasting of offensive media content. Our analysis is based on ethnographic research within the ombudsman at a regulatory institution in Israel, on content analysis of 2142 complaints regarding perceived inappropriate broadcasted content between the years 2005 and 2010, and on an exam…

Broadcasting to reflect ‘life and culture as we know it’: media policy, d…

The possibility that broadcasting powers could be devolved from the UK government to the Northern Ireland (NI) Assembly has been a matter for political discussion in NI. During a 2013 debate in the Assembly on the matter, the dominant Irish nationalist political party called for such devolution to increase the levels of programming that reflect ‘life and culture as we know it’. The subject is d…

Pro-anorexia/bulimia censorship and public service announcements: the price o…

Individuals, particularly women, are fixated on weight loss, driven by the goal of achieving a ‘skinny’ female physique that is desirable in western/ized cultures. There are online forums where individuals refer to themselves or their eating disorders as ‘pro-ana’ and ‘pro-mia’; their posts on these sites both align with, and challenge, what medical and mental health professionals define as ser…

The exercise of symbolic power by women’s magazines from the 1960s to the p…

This study analyses alcohol-related articles appearing in Finnish women’s magazines from the 1960s to the present day. Women’s magazines are approached as institutions constituting feminine publicities that address issues of interest as well as problems and contradictions in women’s everyday life. Influenced by Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital, data analysis focuses arou…

Losing focus: goal displacement at an alternative newspaper in El Salvador

This study examines whether a Salvadoran alternative newspaper maintained its critical, independent, and alternative position after the country’s first leftist president was elected and the newspaper no longer was in opposition to the government. Via a content analysis and in-depth interviews that drove the content analysis, this study improves our understanding of ‘alternativeness’ in a non-US…

Media encoding in science fiction television: Battlestar Galactica as a site …

We examine the television show Battlestar Galactica (BSG) through interviews with creative people working on the show to illustrate the production context of the show and the science fiction (sf) genre. Media scholars suggest sf stories are critical stories about our political systems and our anxieties about new technologies, social change, race, gender, class, and religious conflicts. We inves…

The discursive construction of ‘good parenting’ and digital media – the…

This article investigates ways discourses which are present on the virtual world gaming websites and in popular press produce constructions of ‘good parents’ and ‘good websites’ for children, and in the process create distinctions which position other parental practices and online media as undesirable. The article includes a discussion of historical constructs of parenting in relation to screen…

Media, pluralism and democracy: what’s in a name?

Media pluralism has become a buzzword in public, political, and academic discourses. However, it is generally unclear what is meant by referring to pluralistic media content or how pluralistic media should operate within democratic societies. The goal of this article is to distinguish between different conceptual and normative assumptions about media, pluralism, and democracy that demarcate the…

Behind the newspaper paywall – lessons in charging for online content: a co…

This article examines one response to the financial ‘crisis’ of print newspapers addressing the rise of digital paywall systems to monetise journalism. It analyses selected daily mastheads’ paywalls in the United States, Britain and Australia, comparing the type, pricing and audience uptake. This article reviews scholarly and industry literature to identify international newspaper paywall trend…

Newsroom moves and the newspaper crisis evaluated: space, place, and cultural…

Across the United States, newspapers are physically relocating their headquarters to smaller spaces, often away from the centers of downtown. This is the latest manifestation of the newspaper crisis manifest through a tangible and visible public manner. This article investigates these newsroom moves through a discussion of space, looking at why these moves matter by examining their impact on ho…

Theorizing media production: the poverty of political economy

This article argues that the Political Economy of Communication (PEC) has generally failed to develop theories of media production. Such theory as exists has been heavily influenced by accounts of mass production and flexible specialization in Hollywood. Hollywood film production has been viewed as paradigmatic of media production in general, in the same way as Ford was for manufacturing, and t…

Resilience 2.0: social media use and (self-)care during the 2011 Norway attacks

Departing from the understanding that resilience is a technique of self-organization during emergencies, this article provides a study on the way in which the use of social media influenced and engendered societal resilience practices during the 2011 Norway attacks. It builds on the concepts of governmentality and mediality to discuss how the interplay between social media and its users created…

Desentralisasi kewenangan pertanahan, kelautan dan pendidikan

Edition

1st print

ISBN/ISSN

979-97654-0-4

Collation

ill., xx, 251p.; 20,5 cm

Series Title

-

Call Number

352, SUH, d