Journal articles on the topic 'Multimedia editorial staff'

This final issue for 2016 contains ten papers that broadly cover the use of multimedia resources and tasks to engage students in active learning, curriculum and pedagogical strategies designed to support students’ transition and success, and the complex issues facing higher education in the face of increasing casualization of staff and multi-campus delivery. The first four papers of this issue describe and evaluate pedagogical strategies that involve the use of multimedia in teaching and tasks as one means for promoting active learning and fostering student agency. Dune, Bidewell, Firdaus and Kirwan describe a learning and teaching innovation informed by popular culture where students produce and evaluate educational videos in a competitive context. The approach was designed to increase student agency and engagement in what the authors refer to as a ‘consumer culture’ in higher education. The authors identify the significant constraints with this kind of approach, but suggest that this project highlights the benefits of harnessing popular genres for student agency and engagement.

[Purpose] To explore the network publishing formed by the combination of the network and the traditional publishing industry, the rapid development of new media and its effect on the editorial activities. [Process and method] Adopting the combining of empirical analysis with normative analysis, system analysis with statistical analysis, and actual investigation with literature research.[Results] To demonstrate the concept and connotation of network publishing, to discuss rich and colorful, blending, invariance properties of editing activities under the environment of network publishing, from the collection of information, research, planning, organizing, peer review, editing, proofreading to graphic design and other aspects, which has effect of the network publishing on editorial activities. [Conclusions] Network and multimedia technology promotes the development of editing industry, has profound effect on editing activities and challenges the editing staff.

The article is devoted to the identification of specific features of the social organization edition of the Internet media. The purpose of this article is to consider the network edition from the point of view of a new form of social organization of modern specialists. The principles of organization of its functioning, interaction of editorial staff with the target audience, technological capabilities of measurement of various parameters in order to identify its information needs are considered on the example of the typical small online magazine. The objectives of the study include the consideration of the concepts of “online publication” and “Internet media” in the relevant Federal legislation, the analysis of the functioning of the online magazine “Peter Online”, the identification of specific online publication methods of working with the audience. The data obtained in the measurement of classroom indicators make it possible to study the behavioral characteristics of different segments of users and analyze the effectiveness of advertising messages. As a result, it can be noted that the Internet media — a publication, implemented as a resource on the Internet, which has interactivity, multimedia, hypertextuality. These characteristics distinguish online media from traditional publications. The editorial office of the online media is a social organization in which specific relationships are formed due to the status-role hierarchy and the common goal of the team. The network organization of the editorial Board has both pros and cons. The undeniable advantage is the technological possibility of studying the audience, interactive communication methods with it that allows you to build a strategy for the development of the publication.

As a new year is coming, this is a proper time to evaluate what we have done,, think our expectations over and define new goals. IJHDR is completing its 6th year with full satisfaction for having fulfilled its mission of providing authors and readers a fully open access multimedia journal focused on High Dilution Research that functions as an unbiased vehicle for the diffusion of new ideas and research results. This heavy but pleasant task is currently performed by a small number of editors with the support of reviewers and authors from all over the world! In 2014, IJHDR will try to grow even more by applying to several databases and adopting new editorial rules and guidelines for authors. To meet those challenges, a new editorial structure ought to be implemented. This topic will be in the agenda all throughout 2014!
 What does IJHDR expect from authors? Possibly too many things!!! New experimental evidences and methodological refinements are expected from the collaboration among various international groups, centers and universities. The discussion concerning the possible participation of nanostructures in the mechanism of action of HD must certainly continue. Informational models focusing on the transfer of medicinal properties might provide us more hints about the nature and characterization of the HD phenomenon. Clinical research, assessment of the quality and efficacy of public and private health systems as well as education experiences are also expected. And why not also technological developments, patents and new products based on HD?
 IJHDR is ready to publish and spread any high quality results associated with the HD phenomenon. We are aware that to perform studies in this field is not an easy task, as a stable background for it is still under construction. And certainly it will not be available in one year’s time!
 On behalf of IJHDR Editorial Staff, I wish you much inspiration, persistence and pleasure in the study of the HD phenomenon!

<p><strong><em>The purpose</em></strong><em> of the study is to determine the peculiarities of information presentation in multimedia online publications of state bodies especially in wartime by analysing the content of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration (hereinafter – ZRSA) website.</em></p><p><strong><em>The research methodology</em></strong><em> is based on the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis of materials on the ZRSA website (25.05.2023, 01.06.2024 and 29.06.2024) for the efficiency of presentation and use of multimedia. The choice of dates is explained by the rocket attacks on the city and the region: 25.05.2023 – a strike on the terminal of Zaporizhzhia International Airport, 01.06.2024 – a strike on the Dnipro hydroelectric power station dam, 29.06.2024 – a strike on the centre of Vilniansk city, so, in authors’ opinion, it is appropriate to analyse how the website of a state body presents official information on pathogenic informational occasions and what multimedia it uses for this purpose.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results</em></strong><em>. The media field in a near-frontline location is constantly forced to adapt to ongoing challenges: the work of correspondents in dangerous areas, regular (permanent) air raid alarms, psychological problems of editorial staff caused by chronic stress, intensification of the information flow, competition, struggle for the audience’s attention in terms of efficiency, accuracy of data presentation, the emergence of local («civilian» – with a wide range of content that is quickly adapted to certain news events – authors’ note) micro-media that exist only in social networks, etc.</em></p><p><em>The analysis of the source base of content published on the website of the ZRSA (https://www.zoda.gov.ua/) revealed that the websites of official bodies comply with the current legislation in terms of covering information of a pathogenic nature, sometimes at the expense of efficiency, but in compliance with legal norms. It was noted that today, practical cases specifically are developing more actively than academic developments in the field of social communications, which indicates the rapid development of the media industry under the influence of military challenges. The problem of incorrect perception of the term «war journalism» by the audience was emphasized and the consequences of this situation were noted.</em></p><p><strong><em>The scientific novelty</em></strong><em> lies in the first attempt to describe the principle of presenting sensitive information of a pathogenic nature on the website of the regional state administration of a near-frontline city using multimedia.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance.</em></strong><em> The results of the study can be used in teaching disciplines related to the work of press services, the activities of military journalists, in filling media literacy courses that are of interest to students, practical journalists to improve their skills and competencies, and to teachers of specialised faculties.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> multimedia, photo and video content, professional standards, martial law, legal aspect, journalistic ethics.</em></p>

The editor functions in traditional and online media are considered. In the duties of editors who work there, there is a number of common and different features.In online and traditional media, it is the editor who directs all editorial processes: examines the needs of the consumer of information, builds up the agenda and the general policy of the publication in accordance with them. In addition, the editor prepares materials for publication, gives the authors recommendations for improving the conceptual and linguistic aspects of the articles; monitors the compliance of the materials with regulatory requirements, the format of the publication, its ideological orientation.As in the traditional and online editions, the editor checks the spelling of the cited numerical data and quotations, the writing and use of scientific and technical terms, names, units of measurement, the correspondence of symbols; determines the form of the material feed.The editors of traditional and network media are responsible for the timely provision of information, the observance of the publication schedule, and the coordination of the actions of all the employees. In any media the editor is the author’s assistant. In fact, composition and presentation style are also the subject of editor’s close attention.However, the transition to the online format has put forward additional requirements for all employees of mass communication activities. The terms of reference for the network media editor have considerably expanded. Now the content should be updated around the clock and seven days a week. It should be done according to the requirements of the audience.The transprofessionalism of the online media editor has become common. Such specialist has the knowledge and skills that traditional media have inherent to journalists and managers. Considering that the web resources have absorbed the characteristics of various media formats, the editor has to think in terms of hypertextuality, super-operativeness, multimedia, focus on individual user requests.All this puts forward new requirements for the preparation of editorial staff in specialized universities.

The authors present a joint research on the specifics of editorial management of a news agency in the context of digitalization and the ongoing media convergence. In particular, they examine the particular characteristics of the product and product portfolio of the media. The direct practical part is the examination of the product line of a news agency, as well as an empirical study on the aspects of modern editorial management in relation to the formation of this line. The work was carried out as part of a comprehensive study of the hybridization of business processes of Russian news agencies in the context of media convergence. The leading hypothesis in this material is the assertion that a news agency, which previously existed as a special, infrastructural media, has turned into an entire media “combine” that works for absolutely different audience segments, which allows the agency to compete with other media. In addition, this transformation leads to completely new managerial practices – in addition to news production, managers produce non-news content, experiment with virtual reality, and enter other content promotion platforms. The academic novelty of the material lies in the examination of the formation of the product portfolio through the focus on managerial practices. It is worth pointing out that there are almost no works in the domestic scientific discourse, which would deal specifically with the product approach in the organization of news agencies’ functioning. The key works for forming the theoretical background were the works of Henry Jenkins, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Terhi Rantanen, Elena Vartanova, Evgeniy Prokhorov, Anna Kachkaeva, Georgiy Viren, Tatyana Frolova, Vasiliy Polynov. The authors divided the theoretical foundation into three subgroups – media convergence, media management, and the functioning of news agencies. Among the methods used were observation, open data analysis, reflexive thematic analysis, in-depth interviews, and generalization. The article presents the authors’ definition of the “product of a news agency”, a direct review of the product portfolio of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, as well as the results of in-depth interviews, which were conducted with former and current managers of this media group. The results of the empirical study were divided into the following categories: “Organization of the production of news content”, “Organization of the production of multimedia special projects”, “Managing the editorial staff”, “Organization of content distribution”, “Organization of the back office in terms of IT”. The authors also tried to summarize management practices, as well as to form a small recommendation base for further development of the agency’s products in the digital environment.

Abstract Background Accurate and rapid dissemination of clinical information is vital during pandemics, particularly with novel pathogens. To respond to the high volume and constantly evolving knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) created an online educational COVID-19 Resource Center for frontline clinicians. Methods In February 2020, IDSA launched an online resource center for COVID-19, which housed relevant clinical guidance, institutional protocols, and clinical trials. Then, in September 2020, IDSA leveraged a CDC grant to transform the resource center into the COVID-19 Real Time Learning Network (RTLN), a user-friendly, up-to-date microsite that contains clinically focused original content, guidelines, resources, and multimedia (Figure 1). The RTLN is supported by a team consisting of a Medical Editor, Associate Editors, an Online Editor, and IDSA staff. As of June 2021, the RTLN housed 12 sections, 7 of which are comprised of original content; these 7 sections contain a total of 37 subsections. A Twitter account (@RealTimeCOVID19) was also created in October 2020 to share information from RTLN in real-time. Figure 1. COVID-19 Real Time Learning Network Microsite Results As of June 2021, the most visited page of the RTLN was the Moderna Vaccine page, with 486,969 page views (Figure 2). Peak monthly page views are displayed in Figure 3. Between October 2020 and June 2021, the RTLN Twitter account had 2,911 followers, 2,135,783 impressions, and 41,793 engagements. The account had also hosted 2 Twitter Chats on COVID-19 vaccines; these chats resulted in 19 million and 5.3 million impressions, respectively. Twitter engagements by month are displayed in Figure 4. Figure 2. Literature Review of Moderna COVID 19 Vaccine on RTLN Figure 4. RTLN Twitter Engagements By Month Conclusion A comprehensive educational microsite housing clinically relevant COVID-19 information had high uptake, and an accompanying Twitter account had significant engagement. Rapid curation is labor-intensive and required expansion of our editorial team. To ensure we continue to serve the needs of our users a qualitative survey is planned. Our experience launching the RTLN can serve as a roadmap for the development of accessible and nimble educational resources during future pandemics. Disclosures Varun Phadke, MD, Nothing to disclose

According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, as of December 2022, the whole country has 127 news agencies; 670 journal agencies (there are 327 journals of political theory and science, 72 journals of literature and art); 72 radio and television agencies. Personnel operating in the field of journalism are about 41,000 people, of which the radio and television sector is approximately 16,500 people. Compared with 2021, personnel is relatively stable and the number of personnel granted journalist cards increases significantly. There have been 19,356 cases of being granted journalist cards. It is easy for the public to check the names of long-term online newspapers and major readers such as “VnExpress,” “Dan Tri,” “Vietnamplus,” “VietNamNet,” etc. The emergence of multimedia journalism is an important step towards shaping the new type of digital storytelling and the future of journalism. In the process of renovation, the Vietnamese press is also gradually transforming and approaching new media products (Long-form/E-Magazine/Megastory) that show long, in-depth stories and multi-purpose writing, photos, audio, video, photographers, etc. According to “Vietnamplus” – a press agency leading this trend, when you first bring this type of work to the public, it is unexpected that these works are received more strongly than other types of media. We use questionnaires to build public perceptions and observations as journalists working for five major online newspapers in Vietnam. The data is taken from in-depth interviews with journalists, editors, editorial staff, and editors-in-chief of five major online newspapers in Vietnam. We choose the sample according to the sampling method of the case. In the context of social media, Vietnam’s online newspapers have developed and changed significantly. These findings will enrich and have a typical impact by clarifying two main contradictions that exist in Vietnam’s online newspapers. Those are conflicts between news products, regular articles and media products, e-magazines, megastory and conflicts in organizations producing online newspapers. From there, the article looks at how Vietnam’s online newspaper is going to grow, how it uses visual reporting, and how excited journalists and press managers are about it.

In article it is considered a trend creation of multimedia and cross-media editorial staff on regional TV for coverage of uneven-age audience. It was analyzed compliance of definitions "Multimedia" and "Cross-media" to structures of news offices of two TV channels of the Dnipro city. During the research was advantages of creation multimedia about the organizations on the basis of editions on regional TV channels are marked out, it is examined the most popular platforms for distribution the content by them and a role of social networks in creation audience and image of TV channel. In the course of the study, we identified an active use of popular youth information platforms – Telegram, Instagram and YouTube channels. It was noted that the Facebook network is also in demand among viewers (for example, two regional Dnipro TV channels – 34 TV channels and Open TV). With this social network, journalists not only share information and video footage, but also receive feedback from their viewers. It is not only the “likes” that allow you to navigate topics that are popular with the locals, but also a source of additional content, because in most cases, simple passers-by become witnesses of extraordinary events, fix them on a smartphone and post to the network. The growing role of social networks in the media can be distinguished, both pluses and minuses. An undeniable plus is expanding your potential audience and increasing your viewership. Among the downsides is a large layer of "fake" information that journalists have to distinguish among current topics and adapt the text to different platforms.

Honorary Editor Steven Ross, Johns Hopkins University, USA Editor-in-Chief Fezile Ozdamli, Near East University, Cyprus Editorial Board Hafize Keser, Ankara University, Turkey Jesus Garcia Laborda, Universidad de Alcala, Spain Huseyin Uzunboylu, Near East University, Cyprus Selma Koc, Cleveland State University, USA Huseyin Bicen, University of Kyrenia, Cyprus Owner and Publisher SciencePark Science Organization and Counseling LTD.Publisher Contact SciencePark Science, Organization and Counseling LTD.13 Subat Street, No: 17, 99030 Kyrenia – CyprusE-mail: info@sproc.org Tel: +90 5338366993 Fax: +90 3928157195 www.sproc.orgEditorial Contact Fezile OzdamliNear East University,Faculty of Education Chairperson of Department ofEducational Technology Nicosia, Cypruswjet.editor@gmail.comTel. +90 392 6802000 - 111 Sponsor World Journal on Educational Technology is an academic journal which is sponsored by Near East University and Cyprus Educational Sciences Association. Frequency 3 issues (April 30, August 31 and December 31) per year. Technical Staff Meltem Haksiz Vasfi Tugun Basak Baglama Proofreading Academic Proofreading www.academicproofreading.com Cover Design Hasan Ozdal Azmiye Yinal Abstracting/Indexing Academic Keys, DOAJ, PsycINFO, EBSCO, Ulrich's Educational Research Abstracts (ERA), Asian Education Index, Turkish Education Index, Georgetown University Library, Google Scholar, AWER Index and InfoBase Index Publishing Language All Manuscripts must be in English language. Issue Publishing Date April 2015 International Advisory Board Abdullah Kuzu, Anadolu University, Turkey Adem Karahoca, Bahcesehir University, Turkey Antonella Carbonaro, University of Bologna, Italy Birikim Ozgur, Near East University, Cyprus Christine Harmes, James Madison University, USA Eralp Altun, Ege University, Turkey Ferhan Odabaşı, Anadolu University, Turkey Gulsun Kurubacak, Anadolu University, Turkey Hafize Keser, Ankara University, Turkey Halil İbrahim Yalın, EMU, Cyprus Huseyin Uzunboylu, Near East University, Cyprus Mehmet Ali Öztürk, Bahcesehir University, Turkey Murat Tezer, Near East University, Cyprus Nadire Cavus, Near East University, Cyprus Özge Hacıfazlıoğlu, Istanbul Kultur University, Turkey Ray Webster, Murdoch University, Australia Saniye Tugba Bulu, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Servet Bayram, Marmara University, Turkey Sharifah Norhaidah S. Idros, UniversitiSains Malaysia, Malaysia Sonia María Suárez‐Garaboa, University of A Coruña, Spain Steven M. Ross, Johns Hopkins University, USA Thirusellvan Vandeyar, University of Pretoria, South Africa Tom Baranowski, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Tse‐Kian Neo, Multimedia University, Malaysia Yavuz Akpınar, Bogaziçi University, Turkey Yolanda Sealey‐Ruiz, Columbia University, United States Yu‐chu Yeh, National Chengchi University, Taiwan Yu‐Mei Wang, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA Zehra Ozcinar, Ataturk Teacher Academy, Cyprus Note: All members of international advisory board articles' indexed in SSCI. Important Information During review process we use iThenticate plagiarism software. So, it is recommended to the authors should scan with iThenticate plagiarism or other free plagiarism software of their manuscripts. ©2015 SciencePark Science Organization and Counseling LTD. All rights reserved. The ideas published in the journal belong to the authors. Important Announcement We would like to announce that World Journal on Educational Technology will only be published online from 1 September 2015. There will not be a printed version (ISSN: 1309-1506) of the journal.

Honorary Editor Steven Ross, Johns Hopkins University, USA Editor-in-Chief Fezile Ozdamli, Near East University, Cyprus Editorial Board Hafize Keser, Ankara University, Turkey Jesus Garcia Laborda, Universidad de Alcala, Spain Huseyin Uzunboylu, Near East University, Cyprus Selma Koc, Cleveland State University, USA Huseyin Bicen, University of Kyrenia, Cyprus Owner and Publisher SciencePark Science Organization and Counseling LTD.Publisher Contact SciencePark Science, Organization and Counseling LTD.13 Subat Street, No: 17, 99030 Kyrenia – CyprusE-mail: info@sproc.org Tel: +90 5338366993Fax: +90 3928157195www.sproc.orgEditorial Contact Fezile OzdamliNear East University,Faculty of Education Chairperson of Department of Educational Technology Nicosia, Cypruswjet.editor@gmail.comTel. +90 392 6802000 - 111 Sponsor World Journal on Educational Technology is an academic journal which is sponsored by Near East University and Cyprus Educational Sciences Association. Frequency 3 issues (April 30, August 31 and December 31) per year. Technical Staff Meltem Haksiz Vasfi Tugun Basak Baglama Proofreading Academic Proofreading www.academicproofreading.com Cover Design Hasan Ozdal Azmiye Yinal Abstracting/Indexing Academic Keys, DOAJ, PsycINFO, EBSCO, Ulrich's Educational Research Abstracts (ERA), Asian Education Index, Turkish Education Index, Georgetown University Library, Google Scholar, AWER Index and InfoBase Index Publishing Language All Manuscripts must be in English language. Issue Publishing Date August 2015 International Advisory Board Abdullah Kuzu, Anadolu University, Turkey Adem Karahoca, Bahcesehir University, Turkey Antonella Carbonaro, University of Bologna, Italy Birikim Ozgur, Near East University, Cyprus Christine Harmes, James Madison University, USA Eralp Altun, Ege University, Turkey Ferhan Odabaşı, Anadolu University, Turkey Gulsun Kurubacak, Anadolu University, Turkey Hafize Keser, Ankara University, Turkey Halil İbrahim Yalın, EMU, Cyprus Huseyin Uzunboylu, Near East University, Cyprus Mehmet Ali Öztürk, Bahcesehir University, Turkey Murat Tezer, Near East University, Cyprus Nadire Cavus, Near East University, Cyprus Özge Hacıfazlıoğlu, Istanbul Kultur University, Turkey Ray Webster, Murdoch University, Australia Saniye Tugba Bulu, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Servet Bayram, Marmara University, Turkey Sharifah Norhaidah S. Idros, UniversitiSains Malaysia, Malaysia Sonia María Suárez‐Garaboa, University of A Coruña, Spain Steven M. Ross, Johns Hopkins University, USA Thirusellvan Vandeyar, University of Pretoria, South Africa Tom Baranowski, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Tse‐Kian Neo, Multimedia University, Malaysia Yavuz Akpınar, Bogaziçi University, Turkey Yolanda Sealey‐Ruiz, Columbia University, United States Yu‐chu Yeh, National Chengchi University, Taiwan Yu‐Mei Wang, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA Zehra Ozcinar, Ataturk Teacher Academy, Cyprus Note: All members of international advisory board articles' indexed in SSCI. Important Information During review process we use iThenticate plagiarism software. So, it is recommended to the authors should scan with iThenticate plagiarism or other free plagiarism software of their manuscripts. ©2015 SciencePark Science Organization and Counseling LTD. All rights reserved. The ideas published in the journal belong to the authors. Important Announcement We would like to announce that World Journal on Educational Technology will only be published online from 1 September 2015. There will not be a printed version (ISSN: 1309-1506) of the journal.

Dear Readers,We have reached an important milestone now that the Deakin Review is in its third year of publication. To wit, we have published well over 200 reviews, our readership continues to grow, and we’ve been delighted to receive so many compliments about the overall quality and appeal of our online content.For the entire month of September 2013, we displayed two full-scale exhibitions of Deakin books in the Humanities and Social Sciences and Coutts Education Libraries at the University of Alberta. We relished this opportunity to show more than 100 books, accompanied by excerpts from the corresponding reviews, to the campus community, which further raised the profile of our quarterly journal. In fact, many students have since asked about opportunities to submit book reviews to our editors for consideration.As many of you know, the Deakin Review was originally conceived as an in-house publication that would publish content from our own librarians and support staff, but we now believe that this is a good time to expand our pool of reviewers to ensure that our journal continues to grow and thrive. So, if you are thinking of submitting a review, please contact me by email and I’ll be pleased to review the submission process with you. Our editorial team will still be comprised of librarians from the University of Alberta Libraries—a unique point of distinction that sets us apart from other journals with similar content—but we will begin accepting well-written reviews of recently published children’s books from anyone, effective immediately.In other news, we recently decided that the Deakin Review should transition to a peer-reviewed journal within 18 months. This means that we’ll continue to publish thoughtful and well-written book reviews just as we have been doing, but in due course we’ll also include a peer-reviewed article in each issue about practitioner, cultural, or social issues relating to children’s books (e.g., how children’s books are used in the classroom; readers’ advisory services offered by YA librarians; language development rates for young children who use multimedia e-books). We’re looking forward to publishing excellent scholarship in these areas, so please contact our content editors if you would like to submit a paper for peer review and we’ll be pleased to discuss whether your paper meets the criteria for publication in our journal.It’s exciting to consider that we aspire to peer-reviewed status, which would mean that our content would be indexed by full-text scholarly databases for multidisciplinary research. Clearly, this is an ideal time to contribute to the growth and success of our journal, but rest assured that we will continue to help readers select children’s books by looking for excellence in writing, design, and illustration. Our main focus is, and always will be, to handpick the books that will appeal to children, young adults, and all those interested in children’s books.Enjoy our new issue!Best wishes,Robert DesmaraisManaging Editor

EditorialIt is the great honor for us to edit proceedings of “2nd Global Conference on Contemporary Issues in Education
(GLOBE-EDU 2015)” August 27-28, The University of Chicago Chicago, USA. This privileged scientific event has contributed to the field of educational research for two years. As the guest editors of this issue, we are glad to see variety of articles focusing on arts education, Adult Education, Competitive Skills, Continuing Education, Higher Education, Vocational Education, Transferring Disciplines, Business Education, Educational Administration, Human Resource Development, Academic Advising and Counselling, Education Policy and Leadership, Industrial Cooperation, Life-long Learning Experiences, Workplace Learning and Collaborative Learning, Work Employability, Educational Institution Government Partnership, Patent Registration and Technology Transfer, University Spin-Off Companies, Course Management, Accreditation and Quality Assurance, Academic Experiences and Best Practice Contributions, Copy-right, Digital Libraries and Repositories, Digital Rights Management, Evaluation and Assessment, E-content Management and Development, Open Content, e-Portfolios, Grading Methods, Knowledge Management, Quality processes at National and International level, Security and Data Protection, Student Selection Criteria in Interdisciplinary Studies, User-Generated Content, Curriculum, Research and Development, Acoustics in Education Environment, APD/Listening, Counsellor Education, Courses, Tutorials and Labs, Curriculum Design, ESL/TESL, Special Area Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Geographical Education, Health Education, Home Education, Mathematics Education, Rural Education, Science Education, Secondary Education, Second life Educators, Social Studies Education, Special Education, Learning / Teaching Methodologies and Assessment, Simulated Communities and Online Mentoring, e-Testing and new Test Theories, Supervising and Managing Student Projects, Pedagogy Enhancement with e-Learning, Educating the Educators, Immersive Learning, Blended Learning, Computer-Aided Assessment, Metrics and Performance Measurement, Assessment Software Tools, Assessment Methods in Blended Learning Environments, Global Issues In Education and Research, Education, Research and Globalization, Barriers to Learning (ethnicity, age, psychosocial factors, …), Women and Minorities in Science and Technology, Indigenous and Diversity Issues, Government Policy issues, Organizational, Legal and Financial Aspects, Digital Divide, Increasing Affordability and Access to the Internet, Ethical issues in Education, Intellectual Property Rights and Plagiarism, Pedagogy, Teacher Education, Cross-disciplinary areas of Education, Educational Psychology, Education practice trends and issues, Indigenous Education, Kinesiology and Leisure Science, K12, Life-long Learning Education, Mathematics Education, Physical Education (PE), Reading Education, Religion and Education Studies Research Management, Research Methodologies,Academic Research Projects, Joint-research programmes, Research on Technology in Education, Research Centres, Links between Education and Research, New Challenges in Education, ECTS experiences, The Bologna Process and its implementation, Joint-Degree Programmes, Erasmus and Exchange experiences in universities, Students and Teaching staff Exchange programmes, Ubiquitous Learning, Accessibility to Disabled Users, Animation, 3D, and Web 3D Applications, Context Dependent Learning, Distance Education, E-Learning, E-Manufacturing, Educational Technology, Educational Games and Software, Human Computer Interaction, ICT Education, Internet technologies, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Mobile Applications and Learning (M-learning), Multi-Virtual Environment, Standards and Interoperability, Technology Enhanced Learning, Technology Support for Pervasive Learning, Ubiquitous Computing, Videos for Learning and Educational Multimedia, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), Web 2.0, Social Networking, Blogs and Wikis, Wireless Applications, Research In Progress, On going research from undergraduates, graduates/postgraduates and professionals Projects, Collaborative Research, Integration of cross-cultural studies in curriculum, Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), New Trends And Experiences, Other Areas of Education                                                                                                                                                             Furthermore, the conference is getting more international each year, which is an indicator that it is getting worldwide known and recognized. Scholars from all over the world contributed to the conference. Special thanks are to all the reviewers, the members of the international editorial board, the publisher, and those involved in technical processes. We would like to thank all who contributed to in every process to make this issue actualized. A total of 21 full papers or abstracts were submitted for this conference and each paper has been peer reviewed by the reviewers specialized in the related field. At the end of the review process, a total of 7 high quality research papers were selected and accepted for publication. I hope that you will enjoy reading the papers.Best Regards  Guest EditorsProf. Dr. Gul Celkan, Middle Georgia State College, USA Editorial AssistantMsc. Zeynep Genç, Near East University, North Cyprus

A recent analysis of the “digital condition” of Norwegian higher education finds that a considerable number of teachers are willing to implement the use of technology in the classroom, but only to a limited degree. The study, which was carried out by the “Norway Opening University” (2006), found that there are no incentives for teachers in higher education to pursue and develop their use of technology. Research is still conceived of as far more rewarding than teaching. Another finding was that teachers and administrators lack knowledge about, and therefore have little belief in, the benefits of using technology. Younger teachers tend to use technology more than their older colleagues and the report suggests that they use technology more because they know more about the potentials of the technology. The report suggests that higher education institutions need to simplify the technology used and support academics more consistently. The report also suggests that such peer support will improve the chances of other academics finding the pedagogical use of ICT more legitimate and interesting. However, in the larger picture the report finds that academics have implemented technology to a significant degree. From being a marginal activity a decade and a half ago, it now influences the whole educational field in higher education. A different study from the US asks whether ICT has made any significant impact on teaching in American higher education. Instead of opening the pearly gates, the implementation of ICT and online learning has increased conservatism in American higher education, is one of the claims in the report “Thwarted innovation” (Zemsky and Massey 2004). The study suggests that implementing the use of technology does not necessarily lead to improved learning on behalf of the students. The authors rather suggest: “A number of people are coming to believe that the rapid introduction of course management tools has actually reduced elearning’s impact on the way most faculty teach. Blackboard and WebCT make it almost too easy for faculty to transfer their standard teaching materials to the Web” (Zemsky and Massy 2004). In a remarkable book, by James Cornford & Neil Pollock: Putting the university online. Information, technology and organizational change (2003), the authors posit a significantly more complex interpretation of why universities are slow actors in adopting ICT. The authors address the uncertainties that challenge the stability of conservative and “dinosaur-like” institutions such as higher education. They look at the “big picture” issue of what the use of ICT means for the university as an institution by focusing on technology as a process rather than as a black box. In doing this they consider the implications of the complex university functions of teaching, learning, organization and research for bringing the university “online” : how technology, social participation and human activity interact in creating the “new” realities of the university. In an interesting account of why efforts to make courses accessible and teachable online are often stalled, the authors note that the reasons are not simply “resistance”, "unstable technologies” or “costs”, but the sheer complexity of moving from on-campus to on-line. This process is so demanding that staff inevitably start calculating the cost-benefit dimensions of what Burbules and Callister jr. (2000) call “the promising risks and the risky promises” of change. This enterprise is influenced by the conflicting forces and ideas that engage the members of the academic community: enthusiasm, threats, marketing and resistance – all related to the interpretation of how ICT will affect and change the essential functions of the university. Simmons (2001) even argues that the educational technology threatens the very concept of Academic Freedom. In spite of a centurylong effort to upgrade teaching, research seems to survive as the most prestigious activity in U.S. universities, as it is in most European ones. In addition, the tendency is strong towards deeper polarization between research and teaching positions. Also, a rapid growth in the employment of part-time non-tenured teachers in the US poses a significant challenge to the traditional structure of employment. About one half of the faculty members in the U.S. are now part-time (Rice, Finkelstein, Hall & Schuster 2004). Most of these part time academics are doing teaching, and many of them are associated with online teaching and learning. Some have hopes and dreams about making repetitive work simpler and automated, like paying invoices. Handling teaching and learning is a totally different issue. If the case is that using technology will be outsourced to part-time personnel or restricted to learning centres etc. we shall miss the opportunity of addressing the more profound issues about technology, teaching and learning. Douglas Kellner (2001) argues that these issues are so serious that, much more than before, they “require a reformulation and expansion of the concept of critical or committed intellectual”. And there are numerous good reasons. If critical intellectuals do not commit themselves to investigating both risks and promises, other institutions, mainly commercial, will fill the gap. Higher education needs to become involved and set standards for the critical and reflective use of educational technology. Burbules and Callister jr. anticipate that ”Colleges and universities will change because of pressures from the outside as well as conscious decisions made from the inside, and technologies will be incorporated, in some ways and to some degree, in everything that colleges and universities try to do.” (ibid. p.7). The articles presented in this issue address such topics in many ways. Training university teachers to use online learning in a critical way is the topic Erika Løfstrøm and Anne Nevgi address in this issue. They suggest that letting university teachers study online would be a valuable exercise before letting them organize and run online learning themselves. Their paper reveals how teachers reflect on being students themselves when they learn how to study online. This is in a profound way an essential step in making colleagues critical about e-learning. Kristen Snyder coins the term “digital culture” as a key term in understanding the “information age”. She proposes that technology in human communication is a part of the communication act and therefore a part of the process of creating meaning. Her aim is to develop an awareness of the implications for behavior, norms and values, and how meaning making is integral to understanding the digital culture. She addresses in many respect the concerns voiced by Douglas Kellner (above). In developing a digital culture within the university, we can already trace significant differences between student cohorts. A general feeling is that mature students are less confident with ICT and its associated soft- and hardware than the youngest students arriving directly from upper secondary education. In a journal addressing lifelong learning, Håvard Skaar’s contribution suggests it is interesting to understand children’s learning processes from an early stage in the area of ICT. The article focuses on how boys and girls express themselves differently when using multimedia. Finally, Gunilla Jedeskog, who has followed the implementation of ICT in Swedish schools for more than two decades, makes an analysis of policy documents that guided this development. She addresses ownership of the process, and how it was interpreted. She finds that implementation was anything but a streamlined process, in many ways similar to the process in higher education, and that it changed focus over time. References:Burbules, N. C. og Callister, T. A.jr. (2000) Watch IT. The Risks and Promises of Information Technologies for Education. Boulder, Col., Westview Press Cornford, J. & Pollock, N (2003) Putting the University Online. Information, technology and organizational change. The Society for Research into Higher education & Open University press, Buckingham Kellner, D. (2001 ): Intellectuals and New Technologies. (http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/INT.htm) (21.03.07) Norway Opening University (2006) Utredning om digital tilstand i høyere utdanning, fase II, http://norgesuniversitetet.no/artikler/2006/digitaltilstand2 Rice, R. E, Finkelstein, M. J., & Schuster, J. H. The Future of the American Faculty, Change, Mar/Apr2004, Vol. 36, Issue 2, p.27-35. Simmons, J. (2001) Educational Technology and Academic Freedom. Techné: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology Nr. 3 Zemsky, R. & Massy, W.F (2004) Thwarted Innovation. What happened to e-learning and why? http://www.irhe.upenn.edu/Docs/Jun2004/ThwartedInnovation.pdf

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Introduction The exhibition of an artist’s work is traditionally accepted as representing the final stage of the creative process (Staniszewski). This article asks, however, whether this traditional view can be reassessed so that the curatorial practice of mounting an exhibition becomes, itself, a creative outcome feeding into work that may still be in progress, and that simultaneously operates as a learning and teaching tool. To provide a preliminary examination of the issue, we use a single case study approach, taking an example of practice currently used at an Australian university. In this program, internal and external students work together to develop and deliver an exhibition of their own work in progress. The exhibition space has a professional website (‘CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space’), many community members and the local media attend exhibition openings, and the exhibition (which runs for three to four weeks) becomes an outcome students can include in their curriculum vitae. This article reflects on the experiences, challenges, and outcomes that have been gained through this process over the past twelve months. Due to this time frame, the case study is exploratory and its findings are provisional. The case study is an appropriate method to explore a small sample of events (in this case exhibitions) as, following Merriam, it allows the construction of a richer picture of an under-examined phenomenon to be constructed. Although it is clear that this approach will not offer results which can be generalised, it can, nevertheless, assist in opening up a field for investigation and constructing a holistic account of a phenomenon (in this case, the exhibition space as authentic learning experience and productive teaching tool), for, as Merriam states, “much can be learned from a particular case” (51). Jennings adds that even the smallest case study is useful as it includes an “in-depth examination of the subject with which to confirm or contest received generalizations” (14). Donmoyer extends thoughts on this, suggesting that the single case study is extremely useful as the “restricted conception of generalizability … solely in terms of sampling and statistical significance is no longer defensible or functional” (45). Using the available student course feedback, anonymous end-of-term course evaluations, and other available information, this case study account offers an example of what Merriam terms a “narrative description” (51), which seeks to offer readers the opportunity to engage and “learn vicariously from an encounter with the case” (Merriam 51) in question. This may, we propose, be particularly productive for other educators since what is “learn[ed] in a particular case can be transferred to similar situations” (Merriam 51). Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Background The Graduate Certificate of Creative Industries (Creative Practice) (CQU ‘CB82’) was developed in 2011 to meet the national Australian Quality Framework agency’s Level 8 (Graduate Certificate) standards in terms of what is called in their policies, the “level” of learning. This states that, following the program, graduates from this level of program “will have advanced knowledge and skills for professional or highly skilled work and/or further learning … [and] will apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgment, adaptability and responsibility as a practitioner or learner” (AQF). The program was first delivered in 2012 and, since then, has been offered both two and three terms a year, attracting small numbers of students each term, with an average of 8 to 12 students a term. To meet these requirements, such programs are sometimes developed to provide professional and work-integrated learning tasks and learning outcomes for students (Patrick et al., Smith et al.). In this case, professionally relevant and related tasks and outcomes formed the basis for the program, its learning tasks, and its assessment regime. To this end, each student enrolled in this program works on an individual, self-determined (but developed in association with the teaching team and with feedback from peers) creative/professional project that is planned, developed, and delivered across one term of study for full- time students and two terms for part- timers. In order to ensure the AQF-required professional-level outcomes, many projects are designed and/or developed in partnership with professional arts institutions and community bodies. Partnerships mobilised utilised in this way have included those with local, state, and national bodies, including the local arts community, festivals, and educational support programs, as well as private business and community organisations. Student interaction with curation occurs regularly at art schools, where graduate and other student shows are scheduled as a regular events on the calendar of most tertiary art schools (Al-Amri), and the curated exhibition as an outcome has a longstanding tradition in tertiary fine arts education (Webb, Brien, and Burr). Yet in these cases, it is ultimately the creative work on show that is the focus of the learning experience and assessment process, rather than any focus on engagement with the curatorial process itself (Dally et al.). When art schools do involve students in the curatorial process, the focus usually still remains on the students' creative work (Sullivan). Another interaction with curation is when students undertaking a tertiary-level course or program in museum, and/or curatorial practice are engaged in the process of developing, mounting, and/or critiquing curated activities. These programs are, however, very small in number in Australia, where they are only offered at postgraduate level, with the exception of an undergraduate program at the University of Canberra (‘215JA.2’). By adopting “the exhibition” as a component of the learning process rather than its end product, including documentation of students’ work in progress as exhibition pieces, and incorporating it into a more general creative industries focused program, we argue that the curatorial experience can become an interactive learning platform for students ranging from diverse creative disciplines. The Student Experience Students in the program under consideration in this case study come from a wide spectrum of the creative industries, including creative writing, film, multimedia, music, and visual arts. Each term, at least half of the enrolments are distance students. The decision to establish an on-campus exhibition space was an experimental strategy that sought to bring together students from different creative disciplines and diverse locations, and actively involve them in the exhibition development and curatorial process. As well as their individual project work, the students also bring differing levels of prior professional experience to the program, and exhibit a wide range of learning styles and approaches when developing and completing their creative works and exegetical reflections. To cater for the variations listed above, but still meet the program milestones and learning outcomes that must (under the program rules) remain consistent for each student, we employed a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching that included strategies informed by Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, Frames of Mind), which proposed and defined seven intelligences, and repeatedly criticised what he identified as an over-reliance on linguistic and logical indices as identifiers of intelligence. He asserted that these were traditional indicators of high scores on most IQ measures or tests of achievement but were not representative of overall levels of intelligence. Gardner later reinforced that, “unless individuals take a very active role in what it is that they’re studying, unless they learn to ask questions, to do things hands on, to essentially re-create things in their own mind and transform them as is needed, the ideas just disappear” (Edutopia). In alignment with Gardner’s views, we have noted that students enrolled in the program demonstrate strengths in several key intelligence areas, particularly interpersonal, musical, body-kinaesthetic, and spacial/visual intelligences (see Gardner, ‘Multiple Intelligences’, 8–18). To cater for, and further develop, these strengths, and also for the external students who were unable to attend university-based workshop sessions, we developed a range of resources with various approaches to hands-on creative tasks that related to the projects students were completing that term. These resources included the usual scholarly articles, books, and textbooks but were also sourced from the print and online media, guest speaker presentations, and digital sites such as You Tube and TED Talks, and through student input into group discussions. The positive reception of these individual project-relevant resources is evidenced in the class online discussion forums, where consecutive groups of students have consistently reflected on the positive impact these resources have had on their individual creative projects: This has been a difficult week with many issues presenting. As part of our Free Writing exercise in class, we explored ‘brain dumping’ and wrote anything (no matter how ridiculous) down. The great thing I discovered after completing this task was that by allowing myself to not censor my thoughts by compiling a writing masterpiece, I was indeed “free” to express everything. …. … I understand that this may not have been the original intended goal of Free Writing – but it is something I would highly recommend external students to try and see if it works for you (Student 'A', week 5, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). I found our discussion about crowdfunding particularly interesting. ... I intend to look at this model for future exhibitions. I think it could be a great way for me to look into developing an exhibition of paintings alongside some more commercial collateral such as prints and cards (Student 'B', week 6, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). In class I specifically enjoyed the black out activity and found the online videos exceptional, inspiring and innovating. I really enjoyed this activity and it was something that I can take away and use within the classroom when educating (Student 'C', week 8, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). The application of Gardner’s principles and strategies dovetailed with our framework for assessing learning outcomes, where we were guided by Boud’s seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education, which aim to “set directions for change, designed to enhance learning achievements for all students and improve the quality of their experience” (26). Boud asserts that assessment has most effect when: it is used to engage students in productive learning; feedback is used to improve student learning; students and teachers become partners in learning and assessment; students are inducted into the assessment practices of higher education; assessment and learning are placed at the centre of subject and program design; assessment and learning is a focus for staff and institutional development; and, assessment provides inclusive and trustworthy representation of student achievement. These propositions were integral to the design of learning outcomes for the exhibition. Teachers worked with students, individually and as a group, to build their capacity to curate the exhibition, and this included such things as the design and administration of invitations, and also the physical placement of works within the exhibition space. In this way, teachers and students became partners in the process of assessment. The final exhibition, as a learning outcome, meant that students were engaged in productive learning that placed both assessment and knowledge at the centre of subject and project design. It is a collation of creative pieces that embodies the class, as a whole; however, each piece also represents the skills and creativity of individual students and, in this way, are is a trustworthy representations of student achievement. While we aimed to employ all seven recommendations, our main focus was on ensuring that the exhibition, as an authentic learning experience, was productive and that the students were engaged as responsible and accountable co-facilitators of it. These factors are particularly relevant as almost all the students were either currently working, or planning to work, in their chosen creative field, where the work would necessarily involve both publication, performance, and/or exhibition of their artwork plus collaborative practice across disciplinary boundaries to make this happen (Brien). For this reason, we provided exhibition-related coursework tasks that we hoped were engaging and that also represented an authentic learning outcome for the students. Student Curatorship In this context, the opportunity to exhibit their own works-in-progress provided an authentic reason, with a deadline, for students to both work, and reflect, on their creative projects. The documentation of each student’s creative process was showcased as a stand-alone exhibition piece within the display. These exhibits not only served not only to highlight the different learning styles of each student, but also proved to inspire creativity and skill development. They also provided a working model whereby students (and potential enrollees) could view other students’ work and creative processes from inception to fully-realised project outcomes. The sample online reflections quoted above not only highlight the effectiveness of the online content delivery, but this engagement with the online forum also allowed remote students to comment on each other’s projects as well as to and respond to issues they were encountering in their project planning and development and creative practice. It was essential that this level of peer engagement was fostered for the curatorial project to be viable, as both internal and external students are involved in designing the invitation, catalogue, labels, and design of the space, while on-campus students hang and label work according to the group’s directions. Distance students send in items. This is a key point of this experiment: the process of curating an exhibition of work from diverse creative fields, and from students located thousands of kilometres apart, as a way of bringing cohesion to a diverse cohort of students. That cohesiveness provided an opportunity for authentic learning to occur because it was in relation to a task that each student apparently understood as personally, academically, and professionally relevant. This was supported by the anonymous course evaluation comments, which were overwhelmingly positive about the exhibition process – there were no negative comments regarding this aspect of the program, and over 60 per cent of the class supplied these evaluations. This also met a considerable point of anxiety in the current university environment whereby actively engaging students in online learning interactions is a continuing issue (Dixon, Dixon, and Axmann). A key question is: what relevance does this curatorial process have for a student whose field is not visual art, but, for instance, music, film, or writing? By displaying documentation of work in progress, this process connects students of all disciplines with an audience. For example, one student in 2014 who was a singer/songwriter, had her song available to be played on a laptop, alongside photographs of the studio when she was recording her song with her band. In conjunction with this, the cover artwork for her CD, together with the actual CD and CD cover, were framed and exhibited. Another student, who was also a musician but who was completing a music history project, sent in pages of the music transcriptions he had been working on during the course. This manuscript was bound and exhibited in a way that prompted some audience members to commented that it was like an artist’s book as well as a collection of data. Both of these students lived over 1,000 kilometres from the campus where the exhibition was held, but they were able to share with us as teaching staff, as well as with other students who were involved in the physical setting up of the exhibition, exactly how they envisaged their work being displayed. The feedback from both of these students was that this experience gave them a strong connection to the program. They described how, despite the issue of distance, they had had the opportunity to participate in a professional event that they were very keen to include on their curricula vitae. Another aspect of students actively participating in the curation of an exhibition which features work from diverse disciplines is that these students get a true sense of the collaborative interconnectedness of the disciplines of the creative industries (Brien). By way of example, the exhibit of the singer/songwriter referred to above involved not only the student and her band, but also the photographer who took the photographs, and the artist who designed the CD cover. Students collaboratively decided how this material was handled in the exhibition catalogue – all these names were included and their roles described. Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Outcomes and Conclusion We believe that the curation of an exhibition and the delivery of its constituent components raises student awareness that they are, as creatives, part of a network of industries, developing in them a genuine understanding of the way the creating industries works as a profession outside the academic setting. It is in this sense that this curatorial task is an authentic learning experience. In fact, what was initially perceived as a significant challenge—, that is, exhibiting work in progress from diverse creative fields—, has become a strength of the curatorial project. In reflecting on the experiences and outcomes that have occurred through the implementation of this example of curatorial practice, both as a learning tool and as a creative outcome in its own right, a key positive indicator for this approach is the high level of student satisfaction with the course, as recorded in the formal, anonymous university student evaluations (with 60–100 per cent of these completed for each term, when the university benchmark is 50 per cent completion), and the high level of professional outcomes achieved post-completion. The university evaluation scores have been in the top (4.5–5/.5) range for satisfaction over the program’s eight terms of delivery since 2012. Particularly in relation to subsequent professional outcomes, anecdotal feedback has been that the curatorial process served as an authentic and engaged learning experience because it equipped the students, now graduates, of the program with not only knowledge about how exhibitions work, but also a genuine understanding of the web of connections between the diverse creative arts and industries. Indeed, a number of students have submitted proposals to exhibit professionally in the space after graduation, again providing anecdotal feedback that the experience they gained through our model has had a sustaining impact on their creative practice. While the focus of this activity has been on creative learning for the students, it has also provided an interesting and engaging teaching experience for us as the program’s staff. We will continue to gather evidence relating to our model, and, with the next iteration of the exhibition project, a more detailed comparative analysis will be attempted. At this stage, with ethics approval, we plan to run an anonymous survey with all students involved in this activity, to develop questions for a focus group discussion with graduates. We are also in the process of contacting alumni of the program regarding professional outcomes to map these one, two, and five years after graduation. We will also keep a record of what percentage of students apply to exhibit in the space after graduation, as this will also be an additional marker of how professional and useful they perceive the experience to be. In conclusion, it can be stated that the 100 per cent pass rate and 0 per cent attrition rate from the program since its inception, coupled with a high level (over 60 per cent) of student progression to further post-graduate study in the creative industries, has not been detrimentally affected by this curatorial experiment, and has encouraged staff to continue with this approach. References Al-Amri, Mohammed. “Assessment Techniques Practiced in Teaching Art at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.” International Journal of Education through Art 7.3 (2011): 267–282. AQF Levels. Australian Qualifications Framework website. 18 June 2015 ‹http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/in-detail/aqf-levels/›. Boud, D. Student Assessment for Learning in and after Courses: Final Report for Senior Fellowship. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2010. 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Introduction As music listening transitions from physical to digital formats, the model for how people organise and discover new music is being taken over by the features of digital streaming services (Lüders; Rothenbuhler; Wikström). Playlists, akin to the mixtape of the analogue era, have broken up the album model, catering to specific moods, genres, and events (Bonini and Gandini; Prey; Siles et al., "Genres"). On Spotify, algorithmic playlists are readily mixed in with human-curated playlists, blurring the lines between the selections of personal human choice, and the datafied choices driven by computational algorithms and commercial influences (Prey; Seaver). In this article, we take up the question of real vs. artificial in music curation through an exploratory investigation of Christmas music playlists in Norway. This investigation came about through a larger project on music streaming (Cole). We observed that, despite wide taste differences between participants, many of them had created playlists around the theme of Christmas. Christmas music, while often criticised for its commercialisation and perceived lack of authenticity, has been theorised by scholars to have an important role both in personal, autobiographical nostalgia and in building collective identity (Whiteley; Jarman-Ivens), particularly in the Nordic region (Hebert et al.; Lundmark; Schiermer and Carlsen). Placing Christmas music at the intersection of user and algorithmic curation, we combine data from Spotify interviewees with data from Spotify’s API. By mapping the playlists into networks, we are able to identify songs and artists that are important connectors. We find that even in this largely formulaic and homogenous genre, the users employed playlists as a form of self-expression and individuality. Yet unexpectedly, the Spotify-created playlists may do more for linguistic preservation. Informed by interviews with Spotify users, we discuss “artificiality” in Spotify’s playlists, and consider how digital platforms mediate personal expression and collective identity. The Rise of the Playlist One of the major disruptions of musical digitisation has been the breakup of the traditional album. Spotify, in particular, has pushed the organisation of music toward playlists (Prey; Bonini and Gandini) which do not even follow traditional musical genres but are often keyed to events and moods (Eriksson et al.; Hagen; Siles et al., "Genres"), as exemplified by Nostalgic Jams, Bad Day, or Birthday. This has implications for how people experience music. On the one hand, Avdeeff suggests the decline of musical genres as categories of personal identity (e.g. a metalhead or a punk) contributes to more eclecticism. On the other hand, Siles and colleagues ("Genres") argue that playlists have merely ushered in a new vocabulary—that “affective genres” have become the new grammar for musical identity organisation. Like the mixtape, the playlist can be a highly personal creation, and complements the tendency found in listeners to use music as an archival practice, saving it to remember life events (Hagen; Lüders)—a practice that Lüders notes sometimes puts them at odds with streaming platforms’ incentive to push new “discoveries”. Yet the playlist is also personalised. As part of what’s been called the “algorithmic-streaming phase” (Maasø and Spilker 4), Spotify now generates a range of playlists, many of which have little human contribution (Hagen; Dias et al.). Although listeners can still create their own playlists, Spotify also offers entirely algorithmically created playlists, such as Discover Weekly and Daily Mix, which are personalised for each user based on tastes and listening habits (Types of Spotify Playlists). In addition to the purely algorithmically created playlists, Spotify also involves human editors in the creation of playlists. “Editorial playlists” are created by Spotify staff based on “data-informed” choices (“Made by Editors”). These are organised around themes such as Rock, K-Pop, Workout, Trending, Gaming, Netflix, and—important to this study—Holiday, and are also tailored to domestic artists, national holidays, and even upcoming local concerts (Belanger). Editorial playlists are further personalised through what Spotify calls an “algotorial” process, in which the initial pool of human-chosen songs is filled in with songs personalised to each user’s taste (Barthle; Bonini and Gandini). Hodgson notes that an irony of Spotify’s personalisation is that, even as the platform seeks to recreate the human touch of music recommendations, these “personalised” recommendations for every user are by necessity machine-generated, due to the scale of the platform (8). The push toward machine-generated playlists has been credited with creating new incentives in the music industry, as we will discuss in the next section. Streaming Services and Linguistic Diversity Spotify’s role in shaping listeners’ discovery of new tracks and artists, and the necessity to do this at scale, has raised concerns about how the platform is influencing both music listening and musical creation. Rather than democratising music, scholars have argued that Spotify pushes artists toward certain types of sounds because they maximise user engagement and playlist inclusion (Hodgson; Siles et al., "Playing"). While platforms often claim cosmopolitan intermingling in their marketing (Elkins), for smaller countries especially streaming platforms present potential threats to the national music industry and may further exacerbate the Americanisation of popular culture (Achterberg et al.; Verboord and Branderello; van der Hoeven et al.). As a Norwegian government report warned, “international streaming services pose a particular challenge to Norwegian music, because Norwegian listeners listen less to Norwegian music and more to foreign music through these global services” (Eidsvold-Tøien et al. 12). Language dominance can be further reinforced when artists from non-Anglophone countries choose to sing in English rather than their native tongue, in order to gain access to a wider global audience (Verboord and Branderello; van der Hoeven et al.). Even so, empirical findings have been mixed. Demont-Heinrich found that English-language songs dominate global streaming charts, with Spanish-language songs following at a distance. Likewise, Aguiar and Waldfogel find that American music still dominates global lists, though domestic music accounted for about one out of five songs on New Music Friday playlists (688). Contrastingly, an analysis by Bello and Garcia found increasing diversity over time on Spotify and iTunes' most-streamed lists. Moreover, they find growing taste divergence between countries, mirroring Page and Dalla Riva’s finding of glocalisation in European music charts, where chart-topping songs are increasingly domestic. Research from the listener perspective suggests that the reasons audiences have for selecting music in their own language or in English are complex. Certain genres are rooted in local identities, while others are identified with cosmopolitan values and legitimised by being in English; meanwhile, diverse socioeconomic factors can influence the choice of cultural products (Meuleman and Savage; van der Hoeven et al). Yet despite the central role of playlists in listening habits, and the increasingly central role of algorithms in creating them, little research so far has investigated the differences between human- and platform-created playlists—particularly with an eye toward language. We take up this question by exploring language diversity in music listening in Norway, focussing on the genre of Christmas. Christmas Music As December approaches, pop music slows down and Christmas music takes over. It is a moment of musical nostalgia, when we “look forward to looking back” (Arbide 96)—so much so that researchers have noted seasonal shifts in Spotify listening patterns in Christian-dominant countries (Bello and Garcia; Mok et al.). This genre, deeply rooted in Victorian England's Industrial Revolution, initially served to promote middle-class family values and moral conduct among the working population (Whiteley). Christmas music focussed on themes of benevolence, charity, and the importance of family. With the arrival of recorded music, radio, and television, Christmas music became a pop subgenre, largely through recordings of Victorian-era “classics”. Today, as more users choose to stream Christmas music in December, it has also become an important economic event for musicians (Maasø). Yet even within the fairly narrow—even cloyingly homogenous—genre that is Christmas music, it is also characterised by music that subverts the genre (Whiteley; Jarman-Ivens). From Elvis’s conversion of Christmas songs into love songs—seen as profane by some U.S. radio stations (Whiteley 101)—to the loneliness and social critique in Joni Mitchell’s River and The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York, artists have challenged the unproblematically joyful nostalgia of Christmas music (Whiteley; Jarman-Ivens). Christmas traditions in Nordic countries, though heavily influenced by commercialised Anglophone customs, historically possess a darker undertone (Bjerkeland), and are more deeply intertwined with national identity and community in these otherwise secular countries (Hebert et al.; Lundmark). Many Nordic artists record Christmas songs in their national languages that resonate with regional audiences and reflect the cultural significance of winter “coziness”, a concept popularised internationally by Denmark’s hygge. Many of these songs also reflect what Schiermer and Carlsen describe as an ambivalent attitude toward the profit-driven traditions now prevalent during the holiday period in the Nordics (169). We thus consider Christmas music to be a culturally rich, yet specific enough genre that will allow for comparison between user and Spotify playlists. In the next section, we describe our data and analytical approach. Method Our methodological approach uses what we have called reciprocal digital methods, which place digital trace data in the context of users’ self-described digital practices (Robinson and Cole). Interviews with Spotify users were conducted in 2022 and 2023 as part of a project on music streaming and algorithmic knowledge (Cole). Spotify Premium users over 18 were recruited through snowball sampling starting at libraries, record stores, university campuses, and through acquaintances. From a larger international sample of 20, nine Norwegian participants aged 25–51 (M = 36; six female) were selected for this study. In addition to being interviewed, these participants have also donated their Spotify data, which include their streaming history and self-created playlists. Of the nine Norwegian participants, seven had created one or more Christmas playlists; one playlist did not have any data, so has been excluded. Mirroring the number of participant playlists, Spotify’s top six playlists in the Popular Holiday Playlists section of Spotify’s Happy Holidays genre were accessed through the Spotify API (see tab. 1). To avoid personalisation based on listening history, the API was accessed via a new account; this account was created from a Norwegian IP address, the age given was 36 (the participant average), and no gender was given (“Rather not say”). The user- and Spotify-created playlists were mapped in the program Gephi, with shared artists connecting playlists. In addition to visual analysis, we consider average degree and modularity of the networks. Average degree shows how many times an artist appears on different playlists. Modularity (Blondel et al.) calculates the number of communities, as well as the overall tendency of the network to group into communities. To assess linguistic diversity, the language of each song was labelled, based on the title and artist, in ChatGPT, and then manually reviewed by the authors. We then calculate Shannon’s Diversity Index for each playlist and average this for each group of playlists. This index, often applied in ecology and linguistics, considers not only richness (the total count of different languages) but also evenness (how the total number of songs is distributed among those languages) while accounting for the relative size of each playlist. The Personal vs. the Personalised In interviews with participants, we learned that playlist creation was an important mode of organising their musical taste. As in previous studies, participants described using playlists for archival purposes—associated with certain events—as well as for organising their tastes into genres, moods, and specific artists, or even language. Participant 9 (M, 41yo) compared his approach to the pre-Spotify novel High Fidelity, in which the protagonist considers making mix tapes an art form. “I would never play shuffle”, Participant 9 said, “I want to decide what I [listen to]”, highlighting the importance of the human touch. He said Spotify makes it harder to find something that feels “rare” because “everyone has access to everything. So, you aren’t special. You’re just one more”. Some participants enjoyed using Spotify’s playlists when they were tired of their own playlists or were looking to discover and explore new music. However, while participants liked how personalised Spotify playlists can be, these playlists feel artificial and monotonous. As Participant 13 (F, 27yo) explained: “sometimes they put too many songs that I already know and sometimes maybe I would want something different. ... They have the same songs, in every playlist, almost. ... It can be repetitive and boring”. In the interviews, several participants said they enjoy listening to music in a variety of languages and genres, which Spotify often fails to recommend. While participants were not asked about Christmas music specifically, they did describe tailoring their music to particular seasons and occasions. Music was a way to revisit moments in life. “I know that there are periods in there so I can kind of go back and say, ok, now I want to listen to this period”, said Participant 7 (M, 32yo). This convergence between memory and music has been described in the literature on Christmas music, and indeed, the majority of the Norwegian participants did have Christmas playlists. We next take a quantitative approach to exploring these playlists further, and analyse how they compare with Spotify-created playlists. Christmas Playlists In order to establish the connections between playlists, we created networks based on the artists that appear in each playlist. Fig. 1 shows these visualisations, in which playlists are drawn together (or repelled from each other) by their mutual inclusion of artists (or lack thereof). Key artists, based on their shared appearance on playlists in the network, are labelled. (We used artists rather than songs because many Christmas recordings share the same name.) Fig. 1: Artist Networks A, B, & C. In fig. 1a, we see that the participants share American classics from Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, as well as songs from Norwegian artists Bugge Wesseltoft and Nils Bech. Comparing this to fig. 1b, we see the Spotify-created playlists share more artists in common. The Spotify network has a few clusters of playlists (denoted by the colourisation), while in the participant network playlists tend to be their own islands. Participant 7’s Jól playlist is entirely disconnected, suggesting that some users interpret even a narrow genre like Christmas very differently. The differences in shared artists are also notable. While all playlists can be considered part of the Christmas pop subgenre, contemporary pop artists singing conventional Christmas songs, such as Michael Bublé and Ariana Grande, as well as perennial favourite Mariah Carey, are key connectors in the Spotify network. Meanwhile, in the participant network, Joni Mitchell, Elvis, and John Lennon are important links between clusters. In fig. 1c, we have combined the networks. The artists that appear on both Spotify and participant playlists have been labelled. Given that the participants are Norwegian, and several of the Spotify playlists are global, we expected Spotify’s Norwegian playlists (Julen er her, Norske Julesanger, Nye julelåter, Juleparty 2023) to be most connected to the Norwegian participants. This is not the case. Spotify playlists continue to constitute their own communities, and if anything, the participants’ playlists are more connected to the global playlists (Christmas Classics, Christmas Hits). In fact, the previously disconnected playlist (Jól) is now connected, thanks to the appearance of José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad on Spotify’s Christmas Classics. The Language of Christmas Fig. 2 shows the same networks of playlists from fig. 1, but this time the playlists have been linked to language nodes based on the language of each song. We see that Spotify playlists are largely divided between English and Norwegian, and the communities from fig. 1b generally map onto the communities created by language in fig. 2b, though Julen er her now clusters with the Christmas Classics and Christmas Hits. The participant networks, on the other hand, not only have songs in more languages but are not as defined by language as the Spotify network. Moving from fig. 1a to 2a, we see that playlists are not clustered in the same communities. Even the two playlists by Participant 5 (Jul and Julelunsj) do not group together—though we see Jól by Participant 7 may constitute its own cluster due to its remarkable linguistic eclecticism. We confirm the respective diversity of languages mathematically using Shannon’s Diversity Index. Fig. 2: Language Networks A and B. Fig. 2 highlights another distinction: the Spotify playlists overall feature more Norwegian than the user playlists. This is visible in the thickness of the lines in fig. 2, but we also confirm this with a one-sided t-test. The participants’ playlists average 15% Norwegian, while Spotify playlists average 51% Norwegian, t(5.9)=2.01, p=.05, equal variances not assumed. This is a remarkable difference considering the calculation includes Spotify’s English-only global playlists. In other words, despite more reuse of the same artists and the overall lower linguistic diversity in Spotify playlists, the platform-created playlists feature a higher proportion of Norwegian music than the participant-created playlists do. Conclusion: Real or Artificial? In analysing the networks created from user- and Spotify-curated Christmas playlists, distinct patterns emerge that complicate previous discourses on both the eclectic potential of streaming platforms and their influence on musical diversity (Prey; Hagen; Siles et al., "Genres"). The results are of course limited by a small, non-random sample of users, and a highly specific music genre. Even so, the study provides an entry point into exploring the differences between user- and platform-created playlists. Overall, users demonstrate a desire for personalised and diverse musical experiences, both in interviews and in their playlist compositions. Meanwhile, Spotify’s algorithms—designed to cater to broad user bases—sometimes prioritise uniformity and familiarity. Yet, in doing so, they promote the national language. As hinted at in the interviews, user-generated playlists exhibit a greater degree of linguistic diversity compared to those curated by Spotify. The playlist data show the participants to be effectively taste islands, tending to incorporate a broader range of languages and songs within their playlists—even within the narrow genre of Christmas music. These playlists also include more songs that challenge the “dominant Christmas values” (Jarman-Ivens 131), and even non-Christmas songs, indicating a level of personal expression and exploration that is not as prevalent in the “artificial”, platform-generated playlists. Spotify-curated playlists show a tendency towards linguistic segregation, featuring nearly all-Norwegian or all-English playlists, and with a narrower range of languages represented overall. The playlists also tend to be more similar to each other—even those created by human editors at Spotify—, suggesting a more standardised approach to playlist creation. This could be attributed to both the human and the algorithms’ reliance on popularity metrics and user listening habits. Yet by promoting playlists that emphasise Norwegian songs, Spotify potentially contributes to the reinforcement and revitalisation of national cultural expressions during the holiday season. 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