Journal articles on the topic 'Street vendor(s)'

Street vendors is a phenomenon in almost all regions in Indonesia, which is always a positive and negative impact on the region where the street vendor activity. The positive is the economy in a sustainable life in areas where street vendor activities, while the negative effects are disturbed some public access as a result of the existence of such street vendor, such as public roads are always jammed, the sidewalk is not functioning, trash increases or the environment increasingly neglected, area aesthetics will show discomfort. For the more crowded street vendor activities will have an impact upon the producer. However street vendor unaware that what was done to give effect to society because of disruption of public facilities. It is very necessary of information for the street vendor’s understanding and perception to the impact caused by their presence in an area. The research was conducted by qualitative method with type research field investigations and descriptive analysis of the street vendor, managers, buyers and decision makers who do trading activities in S. Parman Street, UlakKarang Padang. Samples as research subjects were the street vendors as much as 5 people, managers, local government, the buyer and road users. The data used are primary data and secondary data. Data Collection Techniques conducted by observation, interview, and documentation while data analysis is conducted qualitatively by a descriptive approach. The findings and the results are show that the information obtained is correct in running its activities to seek fortune already utilizing public access such as sidewalk and road. Contributions to the street vendors are expected to have awareness in running its activities mainly on the utilization of public access and if you want to keep running its activities must be willing to abide by all the regulations set forth by the government, because it became a street vendor answers to some of the problems faced by street vendors as well as for the government attempted to manage and regulate the existence of street vendors to be in line with policies that have been set by the government for street vendors somehow able to overcome the problem of the existence of the public economy.

Street food is food obtained from a street side vendor, often from a makeshift or portable stall and it feeds millions of people daily with a wide variety of foods that are relatively cheap and easily accessible. Street food is intimately connected with take-out, junk food, snacks, and fast foods but it is not protected against insects, dust etc; which may harbor foodborne pathogens. Pathogens present in street vended foods come from different sources and practices, such as, improper food handling, improper waste disposal, contaminated water and improper storage temperature and reheating. Food borne illnesses are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. Like other African and World countries there are many food vendors in Ethiopia where they sell both raw and cooked food items along the streets of different cities but it is far more unhygienic due to several reasons. So the objective of this review paper was to assess the existing research about street food safety, types, hygiene knowledge, and preparation and forward suggestion for stakeholders/policy makers to bridge the gap. Majority of street vended foods in Ethiopia are contaminated by bacteria like Salmonella, S aureus, E coli so the Government should intervene and solve the issue before it is too late.

Street food vending has and is becoming globally a convenient and in most cases an essential service. Lifestyle changes and socio economic factors creates very little space for consumers to look at other alternatives one of which would be to prepare one’s own meal. Street food therefore becomes an easy and economic means to acquire prepared food. Safe hygiene practices should become integral to the vendor as the product will be consumed by people of all ages and many may be vulnerable to poor quality food. The street food vendor in turn relies on this service as a means of employment and income generation. The competition between vendors is increased and the pressure to cut corners becomes a reality and one significant corner is appropriate hygiene practices. The practice of appropriate hygiene practices is also as a result of total ignorance of many vendors and the nature of the food that they prepare. The paper explores lessons from various countries in respect of dealing with ensuring good hygiene practices of street food vendors and its usefulness to the South African perspective. One such initiative is the programme launched by the India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority and the National Association of Street Vendors of India. South African street food industry is rapidly increasing in size and proportion. Several studies have been undertaken to look at this operation from various perspectives including hygiene practices and small business. Employment creation has become a national imperative of the country and small business development is seen as a significant component to employment creation. This paper sets out to establish the global practices in street food vending from a hygiene perspective and its relevance to the South African context.

Street market is considered as an informal business activity. Some of the famous street markets are Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market, Souks of Marrakesh, Taipei’s Shilin Street market and Barcelona’s La Boqueria (Momondo, 2013). Street market stalls and trucks can be found almost everywhere either in housing as well as commercial areas approved by local authorities. One of the Malaysian initiatives in promoting for a well-balanced retail and micro-enterprise ecosystem is by transforming the street markets distribution and operation via the Malaysian NKEA (National Key Economic Area) (Kemubu Agriculture Development Authorithy, 2018). Stakeholders of street market includes of street vendor (seller), customer (buyer) and local authorities. The findings of the interviews with the respective local council, and street market vendors and customers showed that price non-standardization, service quality, product preference, infrastructure, convenience and accessibility and sellers’ resistance to change are the key issues. In addition, the street markets could be considered as business incubators for aspiring entrepreneurs since they would need to put in a very small investment to start the business, the risk of failure was minimal, and there was the opportunity to earn a hefty income (Salleh, Yaakub, Yunus, & Wan Sulong, 2012).

Analysis of street foods of Kathmandu for bacterial contamination was performed in 12 different street foods. The surveillance study was carried in 200 children of primary grade from public school and 12 street vendors for the health hygiene and hazards associated with street food. Poor hygiene practice in preparation and handling of street food has been observed in the vendors. The lack of the knowledge in vendors about the source of bacterial contamination and absence of surveillance on street food has subjected street food to the high potential for food borne illness. The inadequate safety measure adopted by the targeted consumers of street food, the children, has augmented the risk associated with street food. All the food samples analyzed were contaminated with bacteria. The mesophilic count was recorded highest in Panipuri while as coliform count was highest in Chana tarkari. The least count of both was observed in Aaloo chop . Highest number of Staphylococccus aureus was found in Kerau (1.5X103cfu/g) and lowest in Momo (8.3 cfu/g). The dominant bacteria contaminating the food was S. aureus followed by Bacillus alvei, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Serratia sp., S. saprophyticus. The contaminated hand and clothing of the person who prepare food are the major source of S. aureus. Highest percentage of E. coli found in Panipuri must be due to the use of contaminated water. Chana chatpate and Chana tarkari were the foods found to be contaminated with Salmonella sp. The type of food and the degree of hygiene practice adopted by vendor refl ects the type and magnitude of bacterial contamination. Implementation of hygienic practices in vendors may reduce the contamination of street food and health education of the school children will curtail the incidences of food borne illness. Periodical monitoring of quality of street food will avoid any future outbreaks of bacterial pathogen.J. Nat. Hist. Mus. Vol. 26, 2012: 1-9

Through Service Learning (S-L) program students of Typography 2 class, Visual Communication Design, Petra Christian University, had an opportunity to learn and applied their knowledge. The selected media is street vendor stall’s cover (it is known as keber Pedagang Kaki Lima or PKL in Indonesia) at Surabaya. This media usually installed in front of the street vendors stall. The cover material is fabric or outdoor vinyl. S-L itself is a new method which applied to Typography 2 class. S-L method was selected as one of learning method which allows students to implementing typography theories to society. According to S-L application a number of experts requiring benefits of parties involved. In this case it is important to measure the success of S-L considers the balancing benefits of students and PKL communities as the target. Therefore, students not only learning from their interaction with community by doing the cover design process but simultaneously must provide significant benefits of PKL. Through depth interviews researcher found benefits of both parties. Students got real experiences as graphic designers by serving the PKL communities as clients. In the other hand the PKL communities received new covers design as a promotional media for their stall.

Street-vendors in Mexico City provide ready-to-eat food to a high proportion of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, their microbiological status, general hygienic and trading practices are not well known. During spring and summer 2000, five tianguis (open markets) were visited and 48 vendors in 48 stalls interviewed. A total of 103 taco dressings were sampled for E. coli and Salmonella spp.: 44 (43%) contained E. coli and 5 (5%) Salmonella (2 S. Enteritidis phage type 8, 1 S. Agona, 2 S. B group). Both E. coli and salmonellas were isolated from three samples. Of Salmonella-positive stalls 80% (4/5) had three or more food-vendors and 80% of vendors were males, compared with 37·3% (16/43) and 46·4% (20/43) in the Salmonella-negative stalls respectively. Food-vendors kept water in buckets (reusing it all day), lacked toilet facilities, and prepared taco dressings the day before which remained at the tianguis without protection for 7·8 h on average. Consumption of street-vended food by local and tourist populations poses a health risk.

Informal businesses have decorated the streets of Harare and have become an increasingly visible and disruptive locus of conflict between the government’s efforts to maintain public order on one hand and the citizens’ efforts to generate income on the other. This study sought to investigate the problems hindering the establishment of a stable governance framework of street vending sector in Harare in Zimbabwe. The study used qualitative approach.Data were collected through in-depth personal interviews, direct observations and document reviews. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 145 street vendors in Harare. The study revealed that the inability to achieve stable governance of street vending may be rooted in problems at the national, metropolitan and local levels. First, policy contradictions caused by conflicting political incentives at different levels of the state have made establishment of sectoral governance rather elusive. Second, at the metropolitan level, neoliberal by-laws and regulations continued to exclude street vendors from participating in the economic activities of the country. These by-laws have failed to adapt to the changing circumstances. Third, street vendors lacked formal association(s) that can coordinate strategies across different groups to achieve sectoral governance. The study provided an insight into an emerging research area that is characterised by a proliferation of a variety of types of street vendors in Harare. The study showed that while vending associations had been unsuccessful in their efforts to achieve sectoral governance, the new interest regime could offer novel strategies of action to achieve this goal.

In a previous risk factor study in Jakarta we identified purchasing street food as an independent risk factor for paratyphoid. Eating from restaurants, however, was not associated with disease. To explain these findings we compared 128 street food-vendors with 74 food handlers from restaurants in a cross-sectional study in the same study area. Poor hand-washing hygiene and direct hand contact with foods, male sex and low educational level were independent characteristics of street vendors in a logistic regression analysis. Faecal contamination of drinking water (in 65% of samples), dishwater (in 91%) and ice cubes (in 100%) was frequent. Directly transmittable pathogens including S. typhi (n=1) and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. (n=6) were isolated in faecal samples in 13 (7%) vendors; the groups did not differ, however, in contamination rates of drinking water and Salmonella isolation rates in stools. Poor hygiene of street vendors compared to restaurant vendors, in combination with faecal carriage of enteric pathogens including S. typhi, may help explain the association found between purchasing street food and foodborne illness, in particular Salmonella infections. Public health interventions to reduce transmission of foodborne illness should focus on general hygienic measures in street food trade, i.e. hand washing with soap, adequate food-handling hygiene, and frequent renewal of dishwater.

Abstract Informality, associated with street vendors, is now seen as a generalised mode of metropolitan urbanisation. Street vendors form an important part of several economies around the world and are seen as a vital source of livelihood and employment opportunity for the low-skilled, lower-income class of the population. A closer understanding of profiles of street vendors and the nature of complexities present in the business of street vending—studied through the supply chain processes of product procurement and distribution—helps one in observing an entwined relationship between what are perceived as “informal” or “formal” in the urban ecosystem. This study on street vendors working across Kolkata emphasises the need to adopt an inclusive view to urban “informal” arrangements, providing a comprehensive picture in identified local market spaces. Our research focuses on two critical aspects: (a) capturing samples of oral account(s) from merchants/vendors operating in local markets across Kolkata, and (b) gauging the supply-chain (inventory) process of products procured and sold by street vendors in these markets. The observations made from the field help highlight the complexities present in studying urban supply-chain processes—especially street vending businesses—that form the core of most urban metropolises in cities (such as Kolkata) and are representative of the Global South.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the causes of foodborne diseases worldwide. Staphylococcal food poisoning ensues after ingestion of contaminated food and results in symptoms of gastroenteritis such as vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. The present paper aims to isolate Staphylococcus aureus from foods sold by street vendors in Gaborone, Botswana, and to determine its enterotoxigenic potential and antibiotic resistance profile. One hundred eight food samples comprising starch, meat, salads and vegetables portions were collected from these vendors and tested for the presence of S. aureus. Identification of Staphylococcus aureus to the species level was performed using the Vitek 2 automated identification and susceptibility testing system (BioMerieux, Marcy-I’Etoile, France). Enterotoxins were detected by the Reversed Passive Latex Agglutination method (SET-RPLA). Results showed that 49 (45%) of the samples tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus. The organism was isolated at higher frequencies in vegetables and starchy foods (34.7%) than in meats (30.6%). These differences in isolation rates however, were not statistically significant (p> 0.05). Staphylococcus aureus isolates were found to be resistant to penicillin G (52.4%), tetracycline (38.1%), methicillin (26.2%) and vancomycin (11.9%). Four Staphylococcal enterotoxin types A-D, were detected among the isolates. Staphylococcal enterotoxin D was the most prevalent (52.9%), while enterotoxin C was produced by the least number of isolates (5.9%). Of note, five isolates simultaneously expressed two or more enterotoxin types in varying combinations. The present study underscores a potential risk of staphylococcal food poisoning and transmission of methicillin resistant S. aueus strains for consumers of street vended food products in Gaborone, Botswana especially in the absence of a quality assurance regulatory framework. As a mitigating factor, sensitization of street food vendors on the importance of food and personal hygiene is strongly recommended.

Improper handling, poor hygienic practices, and lack of environmental control affect the safety of street-vended beverages. The objective of this study is to determine the bacterial contamination level of three types of beverages (cordial-based drinks, milk-based drinks, fruit juices) sold by street vendors at Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. A total of 31 samples of beverages were analyzed to determine total viable count (TVC), total coliform, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus counts via the standard plate count method. The results showed that only 9.7% of the total samples were not contaminated with the tested microorganisms. All milk-based drink samples were positive for TVC and also had the highest average bacterial counts at 5.30 ± 1.11 log Colony Forming Unit/mL (CFU/mL). About 71% of the samples were contaminated with total coliform with the average readings ranging between 4.30 and 4.75 log CFU/mL, whereas 58.1% of the samples were positive with S. aureus, with fruit juices having the highest average reading (3.42 ± 1.15 log CFU/mL). Only one sample (milk-based drink) was E. coli positive. This study showed that the microbiological safety level of street-vended beverages in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur was average and needs to be improved. Provision of food safety education and adequate sanitary facilities at vending sites are suggested to increase the safety of food products.

The objective of this study was to assess the microbiological safety of Kinnow-mandarins (Citrus nobilis X Citrus deliciosa) used for preparation of fresh squeezed juices by street vendors. One hundred and fifty Kinnow mandarin samples were collected from different points in the distribution chain from the same lot, washed and aliquots of the wash samples were analyzed for total aerobes, Staphylococcus, total and fecal coliforms, Salmonella and Shigella. Although, there was no notable increase in the total aerobic, total or fecal coliform counts, total staphylococcal counts increased significantly (P<0.05) during distribution to street vendors; seventy-two samples from the street vendors showed the presence of coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus, twenty-three of these produced enterotoxins B and C. Salmonella and Shigella were not detected in any of the samples. Sources of high numbers of enterotoxigenic S. aureus were traced to unhygienic manual handling by middle level buyers and by street vendors. The results of our study demonstrate the poor microbiological quality of Kinnow-mandarins, the possible entry points of contaminants in the distribution chain of these fruits and unhygienic vending practices. Appropriate intervention measures are needed to ensure safe fresh squeezed juices for consumers.

Background: Chotpoti is a popular street food among all groups of people from low to high income in most cities of Bangladesh.Objective: This study was conducted to describe the vending sites, the stalls and equipments used for food preparation, current level of food safety knowledge of vendors and the way to prepare foods to understand the risks of food contamination and opportunities for prevention.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between July and October, 2012. We selected 18 popular chotpoti vending sites including market places, bus stops, road sides and amusement parks located under Dhaka city corporation areas by judgment sampling. From each study site we randomly selected six vendors for interview. A structured pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were collected on (i) socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents; (ii) health and personal hygiene knowledge of vendors; (iii) vendors’ food handling practices and (iv) source of ingredients and process of chotpoti making. Location of the chotpoti vendors, utensils used, handling of food, place of preparation of chotpoti, environment surroundings of the stall, general processing of chotpoti and hygienic practices were observed and recorded through an observation checklist.Results: We interviewed a total of 110 vendors. All vendors were male, the majority was between 21 and 30 years of age. Majority (58.2%) of the vendors acquired the knowledge of chotpoti preparation through observation. Nearly all vendors (99%) handled food with bare hands, 95% did not use aprons and hair covering and 94% handled money while serving chotpoti. Most vendors had leftovers; out of those 30% reported discarding them and the rest stored them for following day’s sale with inappropriate storage. Nearly one-third (32.7%) of the vendors washed their utensils with dirty water which is recycled. Majority reported that they changed the bucket water only once per 12 hours. Presence of flies was observed on food and surroundings of 33% of the stalls. Of the vendors interviewed, most of them did not have garbage receptacles and 23% disposed wastes nearby their stalls and 76% disposed in nearby dustbin.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that chotpoti vendors do not have formal education and formal training on food preparation. Moreover, lack of hand hygiene knowledge, infrequent cleaning of utensils with soap, inappropriate management of leftover foods, and lack of proper waste management create numerous possibilities for food contamination. Consumption of street vended chotpoti may pose a risk of food borne diseases and steps should be taken to educate and train the vendors on personal hygiene and food handling practices.J Enam Med Col 2017; 7(2): 69-76

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the key food safety practices among street food handlers that lead to microbial contamination in selected street foods of Hyderabad, India. These key food safety practices will help develop and design tailor-made training material for street food vendors in future. Design/methodology/approach It is a cross-sectional study conducted in south Indian city of Hyderabad. Stratified random sampling method was employed. A total of 463 samples of street foods were collected from five zones of Hyderabad. They included 163 salad toppings, 150 fresh fruit juices and 150 panipuri samples. Identification and enumeration of foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms (S. aureus, E. coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Bacillus cereus, Yersinia spp.) were performed as described by USFDA-BAM. Information on food safety knowledge and handling practices from street vendors were collected using a structured questionnaire. Associations between hygiene practices and bacterial pathogens were done using ANOVA. Risk estimation of food safety practices was assessed by calculating odds ratio. Findings Microbiological analysis indicated that a large number of carrot (98.1 percent) and onion (75.5 percent) samples were contaminated with E. coli. Peeled and cut fruits left uncovered have 13.4 times risk (OR: 2.40-74.8) of E. coli contamination compared to the covered ones. Panipuri samples picked from the vendors who did not have soap at the vending unit had significantly (p<0.001) higher contamination of fecal coliforms than those who had. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind in the study area.

The aim of th* stufu was to recognize the faaors it{luencing theperfonnances of raailers.rThosefactors were age, mwital status, mtmber of dependan*, level of efucation, working hours, irwentory level, location, ond number of employees. The performwtces of the venfurs were meoswed byusing margin profit. The data were obtained by doing suruey questionnaires completed by street vendors. Smtples were obtained through mahod probability sompling with simple rutdom sornpling teclmique. The data were, then, analyzed byusing multiple regression analysis. The result of this study illustrated that the age, the marital status, the numberof dependan*, the educational level, the working hours, the retailers *perience before being independent, their uperience undq c-urrent position, the stock level, and the location simultowously as awhole, had significant andpositive irfluence on the mogin prafit. Hawever; partialb the individual variables that influenced the mwgin profit of the vendors were the age, the marital status, the iwentory level, and the number of employees.Keywords : Informal s ector, street vmdors, p*formances.

ABSTRACT Soy wara is a common ready-to-eat food whose production and sale are currently unregulated. Microbiological sampling indicated that 21% of the samples had standard plate counts exceeding 100,000 CFU/g, and 14% had Staphylococcus aureus counts higher than 100,000 CFU/g. The occurrence of S. aureus at these levels can result in food poisoning. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated in 14.4% of the samples, although the counts were generally low, typically &lt;1,000 CFU/g. Although counts of L. monocytogenes were low, immunocompromised individuals and children may particularly be at risk of listeriosis. All samples showed low counts of Bacillus cereus (&lt;10,000 CFU/g). Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica were detected in 5.6 and 2.2% of all samples, respectively, indicating fecal contamination and possible links to gastroenteritis and enteric fever. Fungal counts were variable, ranging from 6.0 ×103 to 2.0 ×104 CFU/g, with Alternaria spp., Fusarium spp., and Rhizopus spp. being the predominant species. Aluminum content was as high as 0.776 mg of Al per g in soy wara processed with alum. Significantly higher aluminum contents were observed in alum-processed soy wara compared with those processed with lime or ogi (an acid-fermented gruel of either maize [Zea mays], sorghum [Sorghum bicolor], or millet [Pennisetum glaucum]) (P &lt; 0.05). These results indicate the need to improve personal hygiene and environmental sanitation in the production and preparation of soy wara, and further studies are warranted for the implication of the accumulation of aluminum.

Edible insects have long been consumed as part of the diet of many Asian, African and South American cultures. The study sought to determine the microbial quality of dried insects (mopane worms, termites and stink bugs) sold around Thohoyandou markets, South Africa. For the study, 45 samples of dried mopane worms, termites and stink bugs were purchased from street vendors. About fifteen samples for each dried set of insects were randomly purchased and subjected to microbial analyses such as coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, total plate count, yeasts and moulds count. The results revealed that street vendors were not following good standards of food safety and hygiene. They need training and awareness on how to handle the food products sold at the open market. During the study, we found that the mopane worms had the highest coliforms count of 1.9964±0.02 log10 CFU/g. Termites had the highest E. coli, S. aureus and total plate count of 1.9907±0.05, 2.2562±0.02 and 6.3564±1.10 log10 CFU/ g. Termites and stink bugs had the highest amount of Salmonella spp. (1.9827±0.03 log10 CFU/g). Stink bugs had the highest yeast and mould count ranging from 1.9804±0.14 to 1.9491±0.56 log10 CFU/g as compared to other insects. The outcome of this study will be used to teach vendors about good food safety and hygiene measures. The study results are also useful in determining whether these edible insects sold at the market are microbiologically safe for human consumption.

En el centro histórico de la Ciudad de México, el Programa de Mejoramiento del Comercio Popular fue impulsado a principio de los años 90 con el fin de reubicar a los vendedores ambulantes en más de veinte plazas de comercio popular. A pesar del contexto nacional de democratización del sistema político y del cuestionamiento al corporativismo, esta política pública continúa situándose dentro de la regulación corporativista tradicional del ambulantaje, caracterizada por las negociaciones entre las autoridades políticas y las asociaciones de comerciantes ambulantes representadas por sus líderes. Sin embargo, la presencia reciente de nuevas asociaciones simpatizantes del PRD o independientes en el caso particular de las plazas comerciales populares, nos permite reflexionar sobre los cambios de las condiciones de gestión del comercio ambulante. Así mismo podemos postular una evolución hacia una acción pública multiforme.Abstract: At the beginning of the 90´s, the Program for the Improvement of Street Vending was implemented in the historical centre of Mexico City, with the objective of relocating street vendors in more than twenty popular commercial centres. Despite the national context of the democratization of the political system and the questioning of corporatism, this policy took place in the tradition of corporate regulation of street vending, characterized by the negotiations between political authorities and the leaders representing street vendors’ associations. Nevertheless, new associations, independents or sympathizers of the PRD, have more recently emerged, particularly in the case of popular commercial centers, which gives rise to debate on the changes to the conditions of public management of street vendors and speculate an evolution towards a multiform public action.Résumé : Dans le centre historique de Mexico, a été mis en place au début des années 90 le programme d’amélioration du commerce populaire dans le but de relocaliser les vendeurs ambulants dans une vingtaine de centres commerciaux populaires. En dépit du contexte national de démocratisation et de remise en cause du corporatisme, cette politique publique se situe dans la continuité de la régulation corporatiste traditionnelle du commerce ambulant, caractérisée par des négociations entre les pouvoirs publics et les associations de commerçants ambulants représentées par des leaders. Cependant, plus récemment, de nouvelles associations sympathisantes du PRD ou indépendantes sont apparues dans le cas particulier des centres de commerce populaires, ce qui nous permet de réfléchir sur les changements des conditions de gestion du commerce ambulant et de postuler une évolution en direction d’une action publique multiforme.

Background Extensively drug resistant typhoid fever (XDR-TF) has been responsible for an ongoing outbreak in Pakistan, which began in November 2016. Objective This study aimed to determine the risk factors associated with XDR-TF. Methods This age- and sex-matched case-control study was conducted during May-October 2018 in Karachi. All patients with XDR-TF were identified from the laboratory-based surveillance system data. Cases included patients aged <15 years living in Karachi with culture-positive Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi with resistance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolones, and third-generation cephalosporins. Age- and sex-matched controls included children free from the symptoms of TF, aged under 15 years, and residing in Karachi. All controls were recruited from among those who attended outpatient clinics. Results A total of 75 cases and 75 controls were included in this study. On univariate analysis, the odds of having XDR-TF were 13-fold higher among participants who used piped municipal water than among those who did not (odds ratio [OR] 12.6, 95% CI 4.1-38.6). The use of bore water was significantly associated with XDR-TF (OR 5.1, 95% CI 1.4-19.0). Cases were more likely to report eating French fries with sauce (OR 13.5, 95% CI 3.9-47.0) and poppadum (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.7-6.7) from street vendors than controls. Boiling water at home was negatively associated with XDR-TF (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.7). On multivariate analysis, 2 factors were independently associated with XDR-TF. Using piped municipal water (OR 10.3, 95% CI 3.4-30.4) and eating French fries with sauce from street vendors (OR 8.8, 95% CI 2.1-36.2) were significantly associated with an increased odds of XDR-TF. Conclusions Community water supply and street food eating habits were implicated in the spread of the superbug S typhi outbreak, which continues to grow in Karachi. Therefore, it is recommended to improve the community water supply to meet recommended standards and to develop a policy to improve the safety of street food. In addition, health authorities are required to conduct mass vaccination for TF among high-risk groups.

Ninety ?Koshari? meals samples were collected from some restaurants and street vendors located in six public quarters in central Cairo, to determine the microbiological quality of them directly after cooking and preparing and after 4 & 8 hrs of storage at room temperature. These samples examined for aerobic bacteria, Esherichia coli and coagulase positive Staphylococci to conduct a preliminary microbial risk assessment for them in” koshari “meals. According to the CDPH (2009) only 53 samples (59%) were of satisfactory microbiological quality for Aerobic plate count (APC) and 81 samples (90%) were positive for E. coli cells and 58% of them (47 samples) are acceptable quality. About coagulase positive S. aureus, 28 samples (31.1 %) were positive and only 60.7% of them (17 samples) of satisfactory microbiological quality.Moreover, the percentage of unacceptable microbiological quality samples tested (potentially hazardous) reached to 36 samples (40%), 29 samples (32.2%), and 17 samples (18.9%) for APC, E. coli and S. aureus respectively, after 8 hrs of storage at room temperature. This study reveals that “Koshari” meals sold on the public areas are unwholesome and could be a potential source of food-borne bacteria pathogens if not properly handled. Option might be to suggest that the product should be consumed within short time of purchase in these places. Improvements in processing and handling are required and the need of food-borne bacteria disease surveillance indicated. In addition, it was evident that the Egyptian Food Code needed new legal revisions.Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(3): 452-458

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence and antibiograms of bacteria isolated from various fresh fruit juices at a local market in Faisalabad. Design/methodology/approach Fresh fruit juice samples (n=125) were randomly collected using aseptic technique. Each sample (10 mL) was serially diluted with 90 mL of sterile peptone water, from 1×10−1 to 1×10−5. Each dilution was then used to inoculate nutrient agar by surface spread plating. Aerobic colony counts (ACCs) were determined by colony counting. The isolates were sub-cultured on blood and MacConkey agar. Preliminary identification was achieved on the basis of colony morphology and culture characteristic, and confirmed by API® 20E, 20NE, and API® Staph testing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion assay, per CLSI 2015 guidelines. Findings The mean ACC ranged from 2.0×106 CFU/mL to 4.93×106 CFU/mL, with the highest ACC determined for orange juice. Overall, 153 polymicrobial were identified in 125 samples; 103 of these were Gram-negative rods (GNR) and 28 were Gram-positive cocci (GPC). Escherichia coli (n=38), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=32) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=24) were the predominant GNR; Staphylococcus aureus (n=28) was the predominant GPC. Antibiogram analysis revealed that all GNR were resistant to ampicillin. However, most E. coli isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (72.4 percent of isolates), and ceftriaxone and cefepime (68.9 percent), while most K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to cefepime (72 percent) and ceftriaxone (64 percent). All S. aureus isolates were resistant to penicillin, while most (64 percent) were resistant to piperacillin; the most effective drugs against bacteria were vancomycin and imipenem. Practical implications The findings suggest that the local government regulatory food and public health authorities should take immediate emergency measures. Appropriate surveillance studies and periodic monitoring of food items should be regularly performed to safeguard public health. Originality/value The current study revealed the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in freshly prepared fruit juices sold by local street vendors.

Two hundred-fifty samples of raw vegetables and salads that were collected from hotels, restaurants, small foodservice shops, markets and street vendors in Egypt were tested for Salmonella, Shigella and aerobic colony (30°C) count. Thirty-six of these samples were tested for Staphylococcus aureus. Salmonella was isolated from two samples of green leafy vegetables (greens) and one sample of mixed salad that most likely contained greens. Shigellae were isolated from one sample of greens, one sample of parsley, and three samples of mixed salads. Most samples of raw vegetables and salads were at either room or outside temperature just before sampling. Eighty percent of the samples had aerobic colony counts of more than 106 CFU/g. Three of 36 samples contained ca. 1 × 103 S. aureus/g.

Introduction: Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) contamination in poultry and poultry products is a major cause of food-borne disease in humans. This study presents the molecular epidemiology of NTS isolated from poultry in Senegal. Methodology: A total of 261 NTS recovered from broiler farms, chicken carcasses and street vendors were characterized using random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) techniques. Results: We observed 20 distinct RAPD profiles corresponding to 18 different serotypes. Strains from each of these 20 groups were further analysed using MLST. Consequently, 12 new MLST alleles and 17 new sequence types were discovered. Three sequence types (S. Kentucky ST198, S. Agona ST13 and S. Istanbul ST33) have previously been described in Senegal and other countries, suggesting that these clones are geographically widely distributed and are circulating in a wide range of hosts. Nine clones showed multi-resistance to the most commonly used antibiotics in both humans and animals. However, a novel multi-resistant clone of S. Kentucky ST832 was found. Conclusion: This study gives new insights into the genetic diversity of NTS in Senegal. Molecular tools remain essential to improve our understanding of the epidemiology of NTS by tracking the sources of infection and/or contamination.

ABSTRACT The consumption of food contaminated with microbial populations remains a key route of foodborne infection in developing countries and creates a serious public health burden. This study aimed at identifying foodborne pathogens and their antibiotic resistance profiles in ready-to-eat meat sold in public eateries in the Johannesburg area. A total of 115 samples were examined for the incidence of bacteria pathogens and their antibiotic resistance profiles against commonly used antibiotics (ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, and sulphonamides) using the molecular and the disc diffusion methods. Fifteen bacteria species were detected in the samples. Staphylococcus aureus had the highest prevalence (25%), and 53.33% of the isolates exhibited multidrug resistance to the antibiotics tested. Among the isolated bacteria, S. aureus was resistant to at least six antimicrobial agents, whereas 100% of S. aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Planomicrobium glaciei were resistant to streptomycin, ciprofloxacin, and chloramphenicol, respectively. This study revealed that a wide diversity of bacteria species contaminate meat sold on the street, which indicates that consumers of ready-to-eat meat sold in public eateries are at risk of food poisoning. Hence, strict intervention strategies should be put in place by government agencies to reduce the menace of food poisoning in the country. HIGHLIGHTS

Raw and cooked fish and other sea foods (108 samples) were collected from hotels of different classes, restaurants, markets, street vendors, and small cook-shops and analyzed for common foodborne pathogens. Salmonellae were isolated from two samples of raw shrimp, but not from raw fish and other seafoods. Shigella was isolated from one sample of raw fish and from two samples of raw shrimp. Vibrio parahaemolyticus was isolated from three raw fish samples and one raw shrimp sample. Forty-eight percent of samples of raw fish, 30% of samples of raw shrimp, and a sample of raw mussels and a sample of crab contained Staphylococcus aureus. Cooked products were free from salmonellae, shigellae and V. parahaemolyticus, but approximately 1/3 of these contained S. aureus, which suggests contamination after cooking. Aerobic colony count (30°C) of cooked fish and shellfish dishes was more than a million organisms/g. Such large numbers of microorganisms on cooked products suggests either a prolonged holding time or gross contamination after cooking.

Unsafe food is a major threat to public health both globally and in the Southeast Asia region. In Indonesia, various food safety problems are still encountered such as cases of food poisoning, food containing hazardous materials and poor food handlers’ sanitation hygiene. One of The National Agency of Drug and Food Control (NADFC)’s efforts to overcome food safety issues in Indonesia is the development of safe food villages with village community-based food safety interventions through the Food Safety Movement in Village (Gerakan Keamanan Pangan Desa/GKPD). The study used RE-AIM framework with a case study design. The study sites were Pandowoharjo Village, Sendangsari Village and Mangunan Village, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Informants were selected purposively as many as 73 people. Data were collected through six FGDs, 16 interviews face to face and using telephone, observation and document review. The analytical approach used was qualitative content analysis with Opencode software version 3.6.2.0. The results of the study showed that the GKPD program involved community policy makers (village officials), the formation of food safety cadres from various community groups (family health empowerment organization, youth organizations, teachers) and the fostering of various food provider communities in the village (housewives, home-industries, food retailers, school canteen, and street food vendors), as well as the involvement of public health centre, but in its implementation there were obstacles to the adoption of food safety practices by the food vendors community which caused the program to not be fully effective in changing food safety behaviour due to economic and human resources factors.

Stuffed mussel is a traditional food, sold by street vendors in coastal parts of Turkey and other Mediterranean countries. In the present study, the microbiological quality of not only the stuffing mixture, but also the outer surface of the stuffed mussels was evaluated for 1 year, and the effect of the ambient temperatures on the prevalence and the count levels of the microorganisms were evaluated. Fifty samples (750 stuffed mussels in total) were collected periodically, and microbiological analyses were performed by standard procedures for aerobic plate count, coliforms, fecal coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Vibrio spp. Aerobic plate counts above 5 log CFU/g were obtained in 16 and 72% of stuffing mixture samples at high and low ambient temperatures, respectively, and average aerobic plate counts of outer surface samples at high and low ambient temperatures were 3.21 and 4.34 log CFU/ml, respectively. The prevalence and the count levels of coliforms, fecal coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, and Vibrio spp. (except for the prevalence of Vibrio spp. in stuffing mixture samples) in the samples at high ambient temperatures were considerably higher compared with those at low ambient temperatures (P &lt; 0.05). High frequencies of pathogens S. aureus and B. cereus were found in stuffing mixture samples at high ambient temperatures, with averages of 2.84 and 2.94 log CFU/g, respectively (P &lt; 0.05). The result of this investigation indicates that stuffed mussels as a street food may constitute a potential health hazard, especially at high ambient temperatures, depending on contamination level and lack of sanitary practices, and therefore, handling practices should require more attention and improvement.

Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by Salmonella typhi or by the related but less virulent Salmonella paratyphi. The provision of clean water and good sewage systems led to a dramatic decrease in the incidence of typhoid in these regions. Early antibiotic therapy has transformed a previously life-threatening illness of several weeks' duration with an overall mortality rate approaching 20.0% into a short-term febrile illness with negligible mortality. Case fatality rates of 10.0-50.0% have been reported from endemic countries when diagnosis is delayed. Attack rates are highest in persons younger than 20 years or older than 70 years; however, the highest rate is found in infants. Neonates are at a greater risk to fecal-oral transmission secondary to relative decreased stomach acidity and buffering of ingested breast milk and formula. Elderly persons are at a relative greater risk to infection secondary to chronic underlying illness and weakened immunity. In endemic areas, children aged 1-5 years are at the highest risk of infection, morbidity, and mortality because of waning of passively acquired maternal antibody and a lack of acquired immunity. In young children, the clinical syndrome is often a nonspecific febrile illness that is not recognized as typhoid fever. Typhoid is usually contracted by ingestion of food or water contaminated by fecal or urinary carriers excreting S. enterica serotype typhi. It is a sporadic disease in developed countries that occurs mainly in returning traveler, with occasional point-source epidemics. In endemic areas, identified risk factors for disease include eating food prepared outside the home, such as ice cream or flavored iced drinks from street vendors, drinking contaminated water, having a close contact or relative with recent typhoid fever, poor housing with inadequate facilities for personal hygiene, and recent use of antimicrobial drugs. The infectious dose of S. enterica serotype typhi in volunteers varies between 1000 and 1 million organisms. Vi-negative strains of S. enterica serotype typhi are less infectious and less virulent than Vi-positive strains. S. enterica serotype typhi must survive the gastric acid barrier to reach the small intestine, and a low gastric pH is an important defense mechanism.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsf.v10i1.16310 J Sci Foundation, January-June 2012;10(1):38-49

Cooked rice and other dishes containing rice (172 samples) were tested for aerobic colony count (30°C), Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, and presumptive Bacillus cereus. Salmonella was isolated from a sample of Oriental rice that was prepared in a five-star hotel kitchen. Shigella was isolated from a sample of boiled rice from a four-star hotel kitchen. Nineteen percent of the samples were contaminated by S. aureus, and 73% of these contained more than 103/g. Forty percent of the samples were contaminated by B. cereus, 31% of these contained more than 103/g. Rice was more frequently stored at safe temperatures (&gt;55°C) in four- and five-star hotels than in any other type of establishment or that which was sold by street venders. Aerobic colony counts (30°C) per g were usually quite low when rice was held at temperatures of 55°C or higher. These counts generally became progressively higher as the temperature decreased, often reaching quantities exceeding 106 when temperatures were 44°C or below. This was particularly so when the temperature range was 25–34°C. These counts were lower for fried and Oriental rice than for boiled rice, rice and vegetables, kushari (a mixture of rice, macaroni and lentils), and rice and shirea (thin, wheat macaroni).

<p class="authors" align="left">ABSTRAK</p><p>Jalur pejalan kaki pada sebuah kota adalah bagian yang penting, baik sebagai kelengkapan sebuah kota maupun sebagai tempat orang untuk menuju dari satu tempat ke tempat lainnya. Kenyamanan berjalan kaki merupakan faktor utama yang harus diperhatikan sebagai bentuk pelayanan kepada pejalan kaki. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui pengaruh keberadaan pedagang kaki lima terhadap kualitas jalur pejalan kaki, dan mengidentifikasi pola dan waktu penyebaran kegiatan sektor informal pada area jalur pejalan kaki. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa di beberapa titik keberadaan kegiatan sektor informal pada jalur pejalan kaki cukup mengganggu kegiatan formal di jalur pejalan kaki. Tetapi keberadaan kegiatan sektor informal di area tersebut juga terjadi dikarenakan adanya faktor yang memicu seperti adanya respon masyarakat terhadap keberadaan mereka dan terjadinya kegiatan jual beli antara pedagang dan pejalan kaki yang sedang melintas.</p><p>Kata kunci : pejalan kaki, jalur pejalan kaki, sektor informal</p><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p><p align="center"><strong><em>ABSTRACT</em></strong></p><p><em>The pedestrian path in a city is an important part, both as a completeness of a city and as a place for people to go from one place to another. Walking comfort is the main factor that must be considered as a form of pedestrian service. This study was conducted to determine the effect of the presence of street vendors on the quality of pedestrian pathways, and to identify patterns and timing of the spread of informal sector activities in the area of pedestrian pathways. The results showed that at some point the existence of informal sector activities on pedestrian pathways was enough to disturb formal activities in the pedestrian path. But the existence of informal sector activities in these areas also occurs due to triggering factors such as the community's response to their existence and the occurrence of buying and selling activities between traders and pedestrians who are passing.</em></p><p><em>Keywords: pedestrians, pedestrian paths, informal sector</em></p><p> </p>

The development of resistance in bacteria against commonly used antibiotics/drugs is of considerable medical significance. Aim of this study was to determine the microbial load of un-pasteurized packed fruit juices sold in Lahore city and to determine antibacterial activity of five different honey samples against isolated bacteria. Unpasteurized fruit juice samples (n=60) were collected from street vendors. All the samples were subjected to Total viable count (TVC), Staphylococcal count (SC) and Coliform count (CC). One hundred and ten strains of bacteria were isolated from various fruit juices and identified on the basis of cultural characters, morphology and biochemical characters. Mean TVCs, SCs and CCs of juices (6.80±1.91, 5.45±1.06 and 3.25±1.25 log10 CFU/ml respectively) were non-significant with standard permissible limits (p<0.05). Among all the fruit juices, 66.66% of samples had TVC more than 4 log10 CFU/ml, 51.66% of samples had SC more than 3 log10 CFU/ml and 46.66% of samples had CC more than 2 log10 CFU/ml. Among the bacillus isolates purified, were Bacillus alvei, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus polymyxa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli and Enterobecter. All five different types of honey samples used in this study showed antibacterial activity against B. alvei, B. polymyxa, B. subtilis and S. aureus and no activity against P. aeruginosa, K. pneumonia, Enterobecter and E. coli. It is concluded that microbial load in unpasteurized fruit juices is significantly higher than standard permissible limits which insinuates its possible role in spoilage and food borne illnesses. Periodic monitoring of packed fruit juices should be carried out to make them safe for consumption. Honey can be used as an alternative for treatment of various infections, especially those caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria.

<p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><em><strong>Introduction</strong>: Overweight and obesity are conditions resulting from an imbalance of calories in the body that occur in a long time and cause more deaths than underweight. One of factors related is food pattern, which also infl uenced the selection of food outlets. Surabaya is an urban area so it has many types and characteristic s of food outlet. Elementary school (4, 5, 6) do not really depend on their parents, so their food consumption and physical activity began to vary. </em></p><p><em><strong>Objectives</strong>: To identify the relationship between the selection of food outlets and overweight/obesity status of elementary school in Tegalsari district, Surabaya.</em></p><p><em><strong>Methods</strong>: This research used a case-control study design. Samples were 51 children for each group of cases and control and obtained from 11 primary school in the 5 subdistricts in Tegalsari district, Surabaya. Data were obtained by interview, direct observation of food outlets, and interview to select informants about the reasons of selecting food outlets . Quantitative data were processed by bivariate (chi-square) and multivariate (binomial regression) test. </em></p><p><em><strong>Results</strong>: Bivariate test results showed that there were signifi cant relationships between the frequency to the street vendors consumption (OR=4.09, 95% CI:1.60-10.75), frequency of fast food consumption (OR=2.86, 95% CI:1.19-6.94) and snacks (OR=6,05, 95% CI:2.20-17.62), physical activity (OR=3.09, 95% CI:1.28-7.51) and gender (OR=2.70, 95% CI:1.11-6.64) with overweight/obesity status, while frequency of stores (total, supermarket, market, mini-market), frequency of food service place (total, restaurants, fast food restaurants), frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption, and socio-economic status of respondents did not relate signifi cantly. In multivariate analysis, the variables that affected frequency of </em><em>the street vendors were snack consumption, physical activity, sex and total expenditure. </em></p><p><em><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Frequency of the street vendors, fast food consumption, physical activity,gender, and total expenditure had relationship with overweight/obesity status.</em></p><p><br /><strong>KEYWORDS</strong>: <em>food outlet, obesity, overweight</em></p><p><br /><strong>ABSTRAK</strong><br /><em><strong>Latar belakang</strong>: Overweight dan obesitas adalah keadaan akibat ketidakseimbangan kalori dalam tubuh yang terjadi dalam waktu lama dan menjadi penyebab kematian lebih banyak dibanding underweight. Salah satu faktor yang berhubungan langsung adalah pola makan, yang juga dipengaruhi pemilihan food outlet. Surabaya merupakan daerah perkotaan sehingga memiliki jenis dan karakteristik food oulet lebih beragam. Anak usia SD kelas IV, V, VI sudah tidak terlalu bergantung pada orang tua, sehingga konsumsi pangan dan aktivitas fisiknya mulai beragam. </em></p><p><em><strong>Tujuan</strong>: Mengetahui hubungan antara pemilihan food outlet dan status berat badan lebih pada anak usia sekolah dasar di Kecamatan Tegalsari, Surabaya.</em></p><p><em><strong>Metode</strong>: Penelitian menggunakan desain studi kasus-kontrol. Sampel penelitian adalah 51 anak untuk masing-masing kelompok kasus dan kontrol dari 11 SD di 5 Kelurahan di Kecamatan Tegalsari, Surabaya. Data diperoleh dengan wawancara, observasi langsung ke food outlet dan wawancara alasan pemilihan food outlet pada informan terpilih. Data kuantitatif diolah dengan uji bivariat (chi-square) dan multivariariat (regresi binomial).</em></p><p><em><strong>Hasil</strong>: Uji bivariat menyatakan terdapat hubungan signifi kan antara frekuensi datang ke pedagang kaki lima (OR=4,09, 95% CI:1,60-10,75), frekuensi konsumsi fast food (OR=2,86, 95% CI:1,19-6,94) dan kudapan (OR=6,05, 95% CI:2,20-17,62), aktivitas fi sik (OR=3,09, 95% CI:1,28-7,51) serta jenis kelamin (OR=2,70, 95% CI:1,11-6,64) dengan berat badan lebih, sedangkan frekuensi ke food store (total, supermarket, pasar, mini-market), frekuensi ke food service place total, rumah makan, restoran fast food), pola konsumsi sayur buah, dan sosial ekonomi responden tidak berhubungan signifi kan. Pada analisis multivariat, variabel yang mempengaruhi frekuensi datang ke pedagang kaki lima adalah frekuensi konsumsi kudapan, aktivitas fisik, jenis kelamin, dan total pengeluaran.</em></p><p><em><strong>Kesimpulan</strong>: Frekuensi datang ke pedagang kaki lima, konsumsi kudapan, aktivitas fisik, jenis kelamin, dan total pengeluaran berhubungan dengan status berat badan lebih.</em></p><p><strong>KATA KUNCI</strong>: <em>food outlet, overweight, obesitas</em></p>

<p><em>Surakarta</em><em> as a city of culture and commerce services has many economic facilities to develop the trade sector. One of those economic facilities is traditional market. Traditional markets that has just been made by the government to regulate activities of street vendors, hereinafter in this research is referred to as new traditional market. Among four new traditional markets in Surakarta have different activity crowds. Since new traditional markets were established, there was development of trade and services activities around it. In addition, there is also a theory stating that economic activities will cause physical development of city, especially in terms of trade and services land use. So this research has objective to find out how the correlation between levels of activity on new traditional markets in Surakarta with changes in land use around it becomes trade and services functions. This research uses a deductive approach and classified as correlational study. Research analysis technique used is: scoring analysis to assess level of activity on new traditional markets and qualitative relationship matrix analysis to assess correlation between level of activity on new traditional markets with each changes in land use of trade and services sub-variable. The results obtained that level of activity </em><em>on all new traditional markets in Surakarta has strong correlation to changes in type of trade and services land use around it, has moderate correlation to changes in basic building coefficient, also has strong correlation to changes in floor building coefficient around it.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p align="left"><strong><em>Keywords: </em></strong><em>land use, new market</em><em>s</em><em>, trade and services</em></p>

Abstract Prodi D3 Public Relations FIS UNJ standing since June 3, 2005, by Decree No.1846 / D / T2005. In the development of these courses has been developed into a favorite Prodi, but a number of studies need to be done to get accurate data that Prodi DIII FIS PR UNJ some of the authors are interested kelebihan.Untuk perform a SWOT analysis. The results showed that the S or the strength of the study program is to produce qualified graduates, have a qualified lecturer, low cost, study programs of public universities have a good name. W or weakness of the study program is accredited C and inadequate facilities. O or opportunities are expanding relations department of street vendors as graduates opportunities to work anyway. T or threat Prodi is a demand immediately improve lectures, use of introductory English, open S1, not to compete with PTN / PTS other more favorites. Keywords: SWOT Analysis, Prodi DIII Public Relations UNJ Abstrak Terkadang mahasiswa menemui banyak kendala dan beragam baik akademis maupun masalah pribadi yang dapat mengganggu proses belajar mahasiswa dan akan menentukan tercapai tidaknya hasil pengembangan potensi dan hasil belajar yang optimal. Oleh karena itu, diperlukanlah peran dosen penasehat akademik untuk memberikan bimbingan, motivasi serta nasehat yang bersifat akademik kepada mahasiswa. Dari sudut pandang ilmu komunikasi, agar proses kepenasehatan akademik berjalan sebagaimana mestinya maka diperlukan sebuah pola komunikasi yang efektif dan efisien antara dosen penasehat akademik dan mahasiswa. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori komunikasi antar pribadi yang efektif menurut ancangan humanistic dengan keterbukaan, empati, sikap positif, sikap mendukung dan kesetaraan. Metodologi yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif, dengan menentukan key informan dan informan sebelumnya. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan wawancara mendalam. Pola komunikasi antar pribadi dengan menggunakan ancangan humanistis belum dilaksanakan secara optimal, keterbukaan, empati, sikap mendukung, sikap positif dan kesetaraan pada dasarnya sudah dilakukan namun masih dalam tataran permasalahan akademis saja. Berdasarkan temuan tersebut penulis menyarankan agar komunikasi antar pribadi dilakukan lebih intensif, tidak hanya pada permasalahan akademis dan jemput bola perlu dilakukan oleh dosen PA terhadap mahasiswa. Kata kunci : Pola Komunikasi Antar Pribadi yang Efektif, Dosen PA, Masalah mahasiswa

Street vendors are informal types of work (small businesses) that arise primarily in urban areas, carried out by low-income people (daily salaries), have limited capital, and consist of only one worker (self employed). The presence of street vendors in various major cities in Indonesia, including in Denpasar City, has become a dilemma that creates pro-contra, and has the potential to clash between citizens and officials of government. This is because street vendors sell their wares in public places that are considered strategic, thus disrupting public order, and other public peace. On the other hand, according to one of the SDG’s programs, the government has an obligation to realize decent work for everyone. In the effort of structuring street vendors, as well as helping small traders of economic actors in the informal sector, the government of Denpasar City issues Denpasar City Local Law No. 2 of the year 2015 about Street Vendors. Therefore, an analysis is needed to find out the implementation of Denpasar City Local Law No. 2 of the year 2015, as well as to find out the supporting factors and inhibiting factors of its implementation. This research is a qualitative descriptive study, where the data obtained through the process of observation, interviews, and documentation studies. Selection of informants through purposive sampling technique, and data analysis techniques using Merilee S. Grindle's theory of policy implementation and contingency theory by James Lester. The results of the analysis show that the implementation of Denpasar City Local Law No. 2 of the year 2015 for arranging street vendors is still faced with several obstacles such as: lack of location according to allotment, lack of adequate budget, evaluation that is rarely done, and sanctions that are not in accordance with what is written in the Regional Regulation and the lack of understanding of street vendors on the local law. An interesting finding is that it turns out that governemtn of villages and custom village have an important role in organizing street vendors in their areas.

Background: In many developing countries, the risk of contracting a food-borne disease is high after consuming contaminated ready-to-eat Street-Vended Foods (SVFs). The main objective of this research was to assess the microbiological quality of SVF groups sold in the Johannesburg Metropolis, South Africa. Methods: A stratified random sampling procedure was used for collecting the ready-toeat SVF samples. Methods prescribed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) were used for analyses for aerobic colony count, Enterobacteriaceae count, presence of Escherichia coli O15:H7, detection of Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes. The bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics V25.0. Results: Of the 205 ready-to-eat SVF samples, 85.37% had aerobic growth. The vast majority (78.18%) of the 110 ready-to-eat SVF samples had Enterobacteriaceae growth. From the 110 SVF samples, the prevalence rates of L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, Salmonella spp., and E. coli O15:H7 were 46.36, 31.8, 21.8, and 1.8%, respectively. There was no statistical significant difference (p>0.05) in the prevalence rates of L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, Salmonella spp., and E. coli O15:H7 in the various SVF groups. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the microbial quality and safety of ready-to-eat SVFs sold in the Johannesburg Metropolis remain a serious public health concern. Hence, it is necessary to educate street food vendors and enforce food safety legislation in the street food sector in the country.

The consumption of ready-to-eat foods vended in streets have raised public health concern in terms of food safety implying their microbiological quality status could be questionable; consequently, this study therefore aimed at investigating consortium of microbes present in ready-to-eat foods vended in five streets of Gombe metropolis. Traditional culture method was adopted for the isolation of microorganisms via pour plating method, then identification by colonial morphology, Gram staining and microscopy, and further biochemical analysis for confirmation of microbes. Findings revealed the presence of sixteen diverse microorganisms of bacteria and fungi lineage with varied percentage of occurrences. Microorganisms isolated ranges from spoilage group (P. aeruginosa (11.5%), Rhizopus spp (4%)), Coliform (E. coli (34.5%), K. pneumoniae (16.1%)), pathogenic (S. typhi (15%), Shigella spp (2.30%), S. aureus (12.6%), P. aeruginosa (11.5%), Aspergillus niger (26%), Aspergillus flavus (18%), Fusarium oxysporum (4%)) and opportunistic pathogens (Aspergillus fumigates (14%), Penicillium spp. (4%)) – where the pathogenic microbes are known to cause food-borne diseases and fungal poisoning. Accordingly, the presence of these pathogenic microbes suggests significant public health hazards. Therefore, stringent enforcement of standard and food safety measures is advised to curtail future outbreak of food-borne diseases. Keywords: Microorganisms, microbiological quality, ready-to-eat foods, coliform group, faecal contamination

Antimicrobial resistance is a subject of great concern in the public health. The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among food pathogens has increased during recent decades. Studying the incidence and antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial species isolated from fish and vended street fruits. Eleven fish swabs and thirteen sliced fruit samples were collected and prepared for isolation of bacterial species through inoculation onto selective and non-selective nutrient media. The grown colonies were purified through subculturing on nutrient agar plates then identified by morphological and biochemical methods. The obtained pure cultures were then kept on nutrient agar slants. Testing antibiotic resistance of the isolated bacterial strains was studied by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar using ten antibiotics belonging to different classes. The resultant inhibition zone was interpreted according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute. Twenty-eight bacterial cultures were isolated from the collected food samples. The conventional identification using morphological and biochemical methods of these cultures revealed presence of three Gram positive species; Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp. and Bacillus subtilis in addition to four Gram negative; Escherichia coli, Brucella sp., Enterococcus faecalis and Proteus mirabilis. The incidence of the obtained bacterial species was arranged as 29.16% for both S. aureus and E. faecalis followed by Brucella sp. 16.66%; B. subtilis & E. coli 12.5% then Streptococcus sp. and P. mirabilis with an incidence of 8.33% each. Testing antibiotic resistance pattern of seven bacterial species against ten antibiotics showed that, among three Gram positive bacterial species, only one (33.33%) strain S. aureus exhibited resistance to six antibiotics; amoxicillin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, fluconazole and dicloxacillin. Among four Gram negative bacterial strains only one (25.0%) strain Enterococcus faecalis exhibited resistance to eight antibiotics; amoxicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sparfloxacin and cloxacillin. Occurrence of multi-drug resistant bacteria in fish and vended street fruits poses not only risk of disease to the foods but public health hazard to food handlers and consumers in general. Also the result of this study recommended augmentin and cephazolin as good choice antibiotics for treatment of infection in the study area.

Background: Salmonella typhi infection is endemic in Nigeria with varied morbidity and mortality rates. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence rate of Salmonella typhi infection among the undergraduate Students of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State using rapid diagnostic method. Study Design: This is a descriptive-epidemiological survey. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, between April and June, 2018. Materials and Methods: Blood and stool specimens were randomly collected from 200 consenting undergraduate Students and screened using Solid Rapid Diagnostic Typhoid (United Kingdom) and Accu-Chek S. typhi antigen (India) Test Kits, respectively according to the manufacturer instruction. Results: Out of the 200 participants screened, 7(3.5%) were positive for S. typhi serum immunoglobulin M antibody (IgM Ab), 68 (34.0%) were positive for S. typhi serum immunoglobulin G antibody (IgG Ab), while 18 (9.0%) were positive for S. typhi stool antigen (SAg). Percentage sero-positivity for S. typhi serum IgG antibody was significantly (P < 0.05) higher among participants who were male (29.0%), 16-20 years (17.0%) and Occupants of Hall 15 (8.0%). Risk factors associated with the occurrence of Salmonella typhi infection in this study include: lack of Typhoid fever vaccination, past history of typhoid fever, drinking of unsafe water and raw cow milk, consumption of beef, poultry and street vended food, as well as poor toilet hygiene. Conclusion: The outcome of this study show that Salmonella typi infection exist among undergraduate Students of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State; therefore, prompt treatment of all identified cases, in addition to a sustainable implementation of preventive measures is needed to halt the cycle of transmission.

PurposeThe primary objective was to determine the prevalence of indicator microorganisms [Staphylococcus aureus, non-S. aureus staphylococci (NSAS), coliforms and aerobic bacteria] for contamination of chicken carcasses, carcass drip and rinse water from the informal chicken market in Gauteng, South Africa.Design/methodology/approachChicken swabs, chicken drips and rinse waters were collected from 151 chickens from 47 random outlets. Pre-tested questionnaires were administered to capture the risk factors for bacterial contamination. Standard microbiological procedures were conducted for isolation and enumeration of target bacteria.FindingsNSAS (64% and 41%) and S. aureus (12% and 31%) were prevalent on carcasses and in carcass drip respectively. Coliforms (62%) and aerobic bacteria (85%) were detected in rinse water. Significant risk factors for contamination of carcasses with NSAS, S. aureus and coliform organisms were: evisceration of chickens on the same location used for sale, cleaning of display counter with dirty clothes/wipes, holding of differently sourced chickens in the same cage prior to slaughter, not cleaning the display table/counter and hands at all, washing knives in rinse water, high turnover of daily slaughter and length of time to display chickens.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this research were the limited geographical coverage and small sample size.Practical implicationsThe isolation of these indicator microorganisms suggests the potential presence of other chicken-borne pathogens not tested for in the study.Social implicationsThe findings serve to inform policy on public health and street-vended food and can guide control on good sanitary practices.Originality/valueThis is the first comprehensive report on ready to eat chickens from the informal markets in Gauteng, South Africa.

<p class="Pa2">This journal is now to be known as UIC Research Journal International Edition. Nothing is really changed except that the Editorial Board has tapped some international reviewers to help evaluate and determine the scholarly merits of the papers submitted for publications. Thus, aside from the Filipino scholar reviewers who edit the manuscripts, six foreign-based experts also appraised the papers. Since the articles have already been critiqued by Filipino scholars at the specific areas of expertise, what the international reviewers actually did was to judge mainly the over-all quality of the journal article. For this issue, the following criteria were observed by the international referees: Technical Soundness - 30 percent, for the presentation, organization, and over-all appearance of the research article as a piece of technical write up; Readability for International Setting - 30 percent, for the acceptability of the research articles to non-Filipino readers, in terms of language, practices, level of technology and methods, laws, and culture in general; and Scholarship Quality – 40 percent, for the substance, writing style, editing, and relevance and timeliness of the research article. We would like to thank all the international reviewers who took time in helping us evaluate the papers included in this particular issue. Your generosity is priceless! A million thanks!</p> <p class="Pa2">This journal presents the articles of faculty researchers not only from UIC but also of other universities and colleges in Davao City, Philippines. As usual, the entries are classified according to fields of study. Thus, for Section One - Engineering, Mathematics and Technology, four studies are showcased. These reports are authored by Raymundo S. Moso &amp; Neil C. Capricho, Eric John G. Emberda &amp; Lovie Mae N. Dalagan, S. Ma. Lorelyn D. Santos, and Renan P. Limjuco &amp; Ma. Teresa M. Gravino. Their studies revolve around issues pertaining to instructional and auxiliary technologies that emanate from their areas of specialization. The Section Two – Health, tackles topics about health delivery system and food safety. These issues are discussed in the following: Knowledge, Skills and Attitude on Insulin Administration of Nurses in Davao City by Domingo T. So Jr. (Davao Doctors College), Rancidity of Used Cooking Oil and Heavy Metal Analyses on and Selected Street-Vended Foods by Annabelle A. Callano, and Leukocyte and Thrombocyte Increasing Activity and Nutritional Value of Formulated Suspension from Yellow Passion Fruit (<em>Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa</em>, Passifloraceae) Juice by Florie C. Casalan. The Section Three - Education and Administration, deals on interesting topics coming from the following writers, namely, Ariel E. San Jose (University of Mindanao), Rhodora S. Ranalan, Felix C. Chavez Jr., Gloria P. Gempes and Ronel V. Sudaria (University of Mindanao), Joseph Elmer G. Noval (AMA Computer College-Davao), and Cesar A. Adegue IV. Diverse issues were investigated adding relevant bulk of knowledge in the mainstream of research activities and involvement. The Section Four – Pharmacy/Chemistry, presents studies that deals on phytochemical screening and determination of antibacterial activity of plants for medicinal uses and applications. The researchers for these studies are Judee N. Nogodula, Kathleen G. Bersabal, and Ma. Eva C. San Juan.</p> <p class="Pa3">Dr. Renan P. Limjuco</p> <p class="Pa3">Editor in Chief</p> <p class="Pa3">UIC Research Journal</p>

Introducción: El artículo que presento se enmarca en una investigación más amplia titulada “Miradas sobre la otredad. Producción de representaciones sociales en torno a los migrantes senegaleses y argentinos en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. 2010- 2014”, en el marco del Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Allí he abordado las relaciones que se producen entre ambas poblaciones y las representaciones que un grupo construye sobre el otro. En este escrito me propongo analizar la movilidad y la inserción que dichos migrantes tienen en la sociedad receptora.Método: Para ello he analizado veinte entrevistas en profundidad realizadas a migrantes senegaleses que arribaron a la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires entre los años 2000 y 2014. Las mismas han sido grilladas y analizadas bajo diversas categorías que me han permitido reflexionar respecto de su circulación e inserción en el territorio.Resultados: Los migrantes senegaleses arribados en la última década y media a la Argentina siguen un patrón de circulación particular en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, signado por su inserción laboral marginal y su segregación residencial, como resultado de la aplicación de políticas neoliberales durante los años ’90 en la Argentina que tuvieron como contrapartida la reducción de oportunidades para la población más pobre y vulnerable, donde suelen ubicarse los grupos migrantes.Conclusiones: La venta ambulante y la residencia en hoteles pensiones en barrios empobrecidos de la ciudad de Buenos Aires son parte de las estrategias que los migrantes senegaleses ponen en juego para insertarse en la sociedad, donde intervienen pautas culturales propias de este colectivo migratorio. Introduction: The present article is part of a broader research entitled "Perspectives on otherness. Production of social representations about Senegalese and Argentinean migrants in Buenos Aires. 2010-2014", in the framework of the Doctorate in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, in which I sought to address the relationships that occur between the two populations and the representations that a group built on the other.Method: I analyzed twenty in-depth interviews with Senegalese migrants who had arrived in Buenos Aires Autonomous City between 1995 and 2014. This data have been analyzed under various categories, which have allowed me to reflect on those migrants’ circulation and insertion in the territory.Results: Senegalese migrants who arrived in Argentina over the last decade and a half follow a particular pattern of movement in the city of Buenos Aires, marked by their employment and residential segregation, as a result of the implementation of neoliberal policies during the 1990’s. Such policies led to a reduction of opportunities among the most poor and vulnerable population, to which migrant groups tend to belong.Conclusion: Some of the strategies developed by Senegalese migrants to get integrated into society are: working as street vendors and residing in hotels located at impoverished neighborhoods in the City of Buenos Aires. Those strategies involve migrants’ own cultural patterns.

Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments. —Marshall McLuhan. What is visible and tangible in things represents our possible action upon them. —Henri Bergson. Introduction: Subjective Maps as ‘Contact Zones’ Maps feature heavily in a variety of media; they appear in textbooks, on television, in print, and on the screens of our handheld devices. The production of cartographic texts is a process that is imbued with power relations and bound up with the production and reproduction of social life (Pinder 405). Mapping involves choices as to what information is and is not included. In their organisation, categorisation, modeling, and representation maps show and they hide. Thus “the idea that a small number of maps or even a single (and singular) map might be sufficient can only apply in a spatialised area of study whose own self-affirmation depends on isolation from its context” (Lefebvre 85–86). These isolations determine the way we interpret the physical, biological, and social worlds. The map can be thought of as a schematic for political systems within a confined set of spatial relations, or as a container for political discourse. Mapping contributes equally to the construction of experiential realities as to the representation of physical space, which also contains the potential to incorporate representations of temporality and rhythm to spatial schemata. Thus maps construct realities as much as they represent them and coproduce space as much as the political identities of people who inhabit them. Maps are active texts and have the ability to promote social change (Pickles 146). It is no wonder, then, that artists, theorists and activists alike readily engage in the conflicted praxis of mapping. This critical engagement “becomes a method to track the past, embody memories, explain the unexplainable” and manifest the latent (Ibarra 66). In this paper I present a short case study of Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies a new media art project that aims to model a citizen driven effort to participate in a critical form of cartography, which challenges dominant representations of the city-space. I present a critical textual analysis of the maps produced in the workshops, the artist statements relating to these works used in the exhibition setting, and statements made by the participants on the project’s blog. This “praxis-logical” approach allows for a focus on the project as a space of aggregation and the communicative processes set in motion within them. In analysing such projects we could (and should) be asking questions about the functions served by the experimental concepts under study—who has put it forward? Who is utilising it and under what circumstances? Where and how has it come into being? How does discourse circulate within it? How do these spaces as sites of emergent forms of resistance within global capitalism challenge traditional social movements? How do they create self-reflexive systems?—as opposed to focusing on ontological and technical aspects of digital mapping (Renzi 73). In de-emphasising the technology of digital cartography and honing in on social relations embedded within the text(s), this study attempts to complement other studies on digital mapping (see Strom) by presenting a case from the field of politically oriented tactical media. Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies has been selected for analysis, in this exploration of media as “zone.” It goes some way to incorporating subjective narratives into spatial texts. This is a three-step process where participants tapped into spatial subjectivities by data collection or environmental sensing led by personal reflection or ethnographic enquiry, documenting and geo-tagging their findings in the map. Finally they engaged an imaginative or ludic process of synthesising their data in ways not inherent within the traditional conventions of cartography, such as the use of sound and distortion to explicate the intensity of invisible phenomena at various coordinates in the city-space. In what follows I address the “zone” theme by suggesting that if we apply McLuhan’s notion of media as environment together with Henri Bergson’s assertion that visibility and tangibility constitutes the potential for action to digital maps, projects such as Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies constitute a “contact zone.” A type of zone where groups come together at the local level and flows of discourse about art, information communication, media, technology, and environment intersect with local histories and cultures within the cartographic text. A “contact zone,” then, is a site where latent subjectivities are manifested and made potentially politically potent. “Contact zones,” however, need not be spaces for the aggrieved or excluded (Renzi 82), as they may well foster the ongoing cumulative politics of the mundane capable of developing into liminal spaces where dominant orders may be perforated. A “contact zone” is also not limitless and it must be made clear that the breaking of cartographic convention, as is the case with the project under study here, need not be viewed as resistances per se. It could equally represent thresholds for public versus private life, the city-as-text and the city-as-social space, or the zone where representations of space and representational spaces interface (Lefebvre 233), and culture flows between the mediated and ideated (Appadurai 33–36). I argue that a project like Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies demonstrates that maps as urban text form said “contact zones,” where not only are media forms such as image, text, sound, and video are juxtaposed in a singular spatial schematic, but narratives of individual and collective subjectivities (which challenge dominant orders of space and time, and city-rhythm) are contested. Such a “contact zone” in turn may not only act as a resource for citizens in the struggle of urban design reform and a democratisation of the facilities it produces, but may also serve as a heuristic device for researchers of new media spatiotemporalities and their social implications. Critical Cartography and Media Tactility Before presenting this brief illustrative study something needs to be said of the context from which Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies has arisen. Although a number of Web 2.0 applications have come into existence since the introduction of Google Maps and map application program interfaces, which generate a great deal of geo-tagged user generated content aimed at reconceptualising the mapped city-space (see historypin for example), few have exhibited great significance for researchers of media and communications from the perspective of building critical theories relating to political potential in mediated spaces. The expression of power through mapping can be understood from two perspectives. The first—attributed largely to the Frankfurt School—seeks to uncover the potential of a society that is repressed by capitalist co-opting of the cultural realm. This perspective sees maps as a potential challenge to, and means of providing emancipation from, existing power structures. The second, less concerned with dispelling false ideologies, deals with the politics of epistemology (Crampton and Krygier 14). According to Foucault, power was not applied from the top down but manifested laterally in a highly diffused manner (Foucault 117; Crampton and Krygier 14). Foucault’s privileging of the spatial and epistemological aspects of power and resistance complements the Frankfurt School’s resistance to oppression in the local. Together the two perspectives orient power relative to spatial and temporal subjectivities, and thus fit congruently into cartographic conventions. In order to make sense of these practices the post-oppositional character of tactical media maps should be located within an economy of power relations where resistance is never outside of the field of forces but rather is its indispensable element (Renzi 72). Such exercises in critical cartography are strongly informed by the critical politico-aesthetic praxis of political/art collective The Situationist International, whose maps of Paris were inherently political. The Situationist International incorporated appropriated texts into, and manipulated, existing maps to explicate city-rhythms and intensities to construct imaginative and alternate representations of the city. Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies adopts a similar approach. The artists’ statement reads: We build our subjective maps by combining different methods: photography, film, and sound recording; […] to explore the visible and invisible […] city; […] we adopt psycho-geographical approaches in exploring territory, defined as the study of the precise effects of the geographical environment, consciously developed or not, acting directly on the emotional behaviour of individuals. The project proposals put forth by workshop participants also draw heavily from the Situationists’s A New Theatre of Operations for Culture. A number of Situationist theories and practices feature in the rationale for the maps created in the Bangalore Subjective Cartographies workshop. For example, the Situationists took as their base a general notion of experimental behaviour and permanent play where rationality was approached on the basis of whether or not something interesting could be created out of it (Wark 12). The dérive is the rapid passage through various ambiences with a playful-constructive awareness of the psychographic contours of a specific section of space-time (Debord). The dérive can be thought of as an exploration of an environment without preconceptions about the contours of its geography, but rather a focus on the reality of inhabiting a place. Détournement involves the re-use of elements from recognised media to create a new work with meaning often opposed to the original. Psycho-geography is taken to be the subjective ambiences of particular spaces and times. The principles of détournement and psycho-geography imply a unitary urbanism, which hints at the potential of achieving in environments what may be achieved in media with détournement. Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies carries Situationist praxis forward by attempting to exploit certain properties of information digitalisation to formulate textual representations of unitary urbanism. Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies is demonstrative of a certain media tactility that exists more generally across digital-networked media ecologies and channels this to political ends. This tactility of media is best understood through textual properties awarded by the process and logic of digitalisation described in Lev Manovich’s Language of New Media. These properties are: numerical representation in the form of binary code, which allows for the reification of spatial data in a uniform format that can be stored and retrieved in-silico as opposed to in-situ; manipulation of this code by the use of algorithms, which renders the scales and lines of maps open to alteration; modularity that enables incorporation of other textual objects into the map whilst maintaining each incorporated item’s individual identity; the removal to some degree of human interaction in terms of the translation of environmental data into cartographic form (whilst other properties listed here enable human interaction with the cartographic text), and the nature of digital code allows for changes to accumulate incrementally creating infinite potential for refinements (Manovich 49–63). The Subjective Mapping of Bangalore Bangalore is an interesting site for such a project given the recent and rapid evolution of its media infrastructure. As a “media city,” the first television sets appeared in Bangalore at some point in the early 1980s. The first Internet Service Provider (ISP), which served corporate clients only, commenced operating a decade later and then offered dial-up services to domestic clients in the mid-1990s. At present, however, Bangalore has the largest number of broadband Internet connections in India. With the increasing convergence of computing and telecommunications with traditional forms of media such as film and photography, Bangalore demonstrates well what Scott McQuire terms a media-architecture complex, the core infrastructure for “contact zones” (vii). Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies was a workshop initiated by French artists Benjamin Cadon and Ewen Cardonnet. It was conducted with a number of students at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in November and December 2009. Using Metamap.fr (an online cartographic tool that makes it possible to add multimedia content such as texts, video, photos, sounds, links, location points, and paths to digital maps) students were asked to, in groups of two or three, collect and consult data on ‘felt’ life in Bangalore using an ethnographic, transverse geographic, thematic, or temporal approach. The objective of the project was to model a citizen driven effort to subvert dominant cartographic representations of the city. In doing so, the project and this paper posits that there is potential for such methods to be adopted to form new literacies of cartographic media and to render the cartographic imaginary politically potent. The participants’ brief outlined two themes. The first was the visible and symbolic city where participants were asked to investigate the influence of the urban environment on the behaviours and sensations of its inhabitants, and to research and collect signifiers of traditional and modern worlds. The invisible city brief asked participants to consider the latent environment and link it to human behaviour—in this case electromagnetic radiation linked to the cities telecommunications and media infrastructure was to be specifically investigated. The Visible and Symbolic City During British rule many Indian cities functioned as dual entities where flow of people and commodities circulated between localised enclaves and the centralised British-built areas. Mirroring this was the dual mode of administration where power was shared between elected Indian legislators and appointed British officials (Hoselitz 432–33). Reflecting on this diarchy leads naturally to questions about the politics of civic services such as the water supply, modes of public communication and instruction, and the nature of the city’s administration, distribution, and manufacturing functions. Workshop participants approached these issues in a variety of ways. In the subjective maps entitled Microbial Streets and Water Use and Reuse, food and water sources of street vendors are traced with the aim to map water supply sources relative to the movements of street vendors operating in the city. Images of the microorganisms are captured using hacked webcams as makeshift microscopes. The data was then converted to audio using Pure Data—a real-time graphical programming environment for the processing audio, video and graphical data. The intention of Microbial Streets is to demonstrate how mapping technologies could be used to investigate the flows of food and water from source to consumer, and uncover some of the latencies involved in things consumed unhesitatingly everyday. Typographical Lens surveys Russell Market, an older part of the city through an exploration of the aesthetic and informational transformation of the city’s shop and street signage. In Ethni City, Avenue Road is mapped from the perspective of local goldsmiths who inhabit the area. Both these maps attempt to study the convergence of the city’s dual function and how the relationship between merchants and their customers has changed during the transition from localised enclaves, catering to the sale of particular types of goods, to the development of shopping precincts, where a variety of goods and services can be sought. Two of the project’s maps take a spatiotemporal-archivist approach to the city. Bangalore 8mm 1940s uses archival Super 8 footage and places digitised copies on the map at the corresponding locations of where they were originally filmed. The film sequences, when combined with satellite or street-view images, allow for the juxtaposition of present day visions of the city with those of the 1940s pre-partition era. Chronicles of Collection focuses on the relationship between people and their possessions from the point of view of the object and its pathways through the city in space and time. Collectors were chosen for this map as the value they placed on the object goes beyond the functional and the monetary, which allowed the resultant maps to access and express spatially the layers of meaning a particular object may take on in differing contexts of place and time in the city-space. The Invisible City In the expression of power through city-spaces, and by extension city-texts, certain circuits and flows are ossified and others rendered latent. Raymond Williams in Politics and Letters writes: however dominant a social system may be, the very meaning of its domination involves a limitation or selection of the activities it covers, so that by definition it cannot exhaust all social experience, which therefore always potentially contains space for alternative acts and alternative intentions which are not yet articulated as a social institution or even project. (252) The artists’ statement puts forward this possible response, an exploration of the latent aesthetics of the city-space: In this sense then, each device that enriches our perception for possible action on the real is worthy of attention. Even if it means the use of subjective methods, that may not be considered ‘evidence’. However, we must admit that any subjective investigation, when used systematically and in parallel with the results of technical measures, could lead to new possibilities of knowledge. Electromagnetic City maps the city’s sources of electromagnetic radiation, primarily from mobile phone towers, but also as a by-product of our everyday use of technologies, televisions, mobile phones, Internet Wi-Fi computer screens, and handheld devices. This map explores issues around how the city’s inhabitants hear, see, feel, and represent things that are a part of our environment but invisible, and asks: are there ways that the intangible can be oriented spatially? The intensity of electromagnetic radiation being emitted from these sources, which are thought to negatively influence the meditation of ancient sadhus (sages) also features in this map. This data was collected by taking electromagnetic flow meters into the suburb of Yelhanka (which is also of interest because it houses the largest milk dairy in the state of Karnataka) in a Situationist-like derive and then incorporated back into Metamap. Signal to Noise looks at the struggle between residents concerned with the placement of mobile phone towers around the city. It does so from the perspectives of people who seek information about their placement concerned about mobile phone signal quality, and others concerned about the proximity of this infrastructure to their homes due to to potential negative health effects. Interview footage was taken (using a mobile phone) and manipulated using Pure Data to distort the visual and audio quality of the footage in proportion to the fidelity of the mobile phone signal in the geographic area where the footage was taken. Conclusion The “contact zone” operating in Bangalore: Subjective Cartographies, and the underlying modes of social enquiry that make it valuable, creates potential for the contestation of new forms of polity that may in turn influence urban administration and result in more representative facilities of, and for, city-spaces and their citizenry. Robert Hassan argues that: This project would mean using tactical media to produce new spaces and temporalities that are explicitly concerned with working against the unsustainable “acceleration of just about everything” that our present neoliberal configuration of the network society has generated, showing that alternatives are possible and workable—in ones job, home life, family life, showing that digital [spaces and] temporality need not mean the unerring or unbending meter of real-time [and real city-space] but that an infinite number of temporalities [and subjectivities of space-time] can exist within the network society to correspond with a diversity of local and contextual cultures, societies and polities. (174) As maps and locative motifs begin to feature more prominently in media, analyses such as the one discussed in this paper may allow for researchers to develop theoretical approaches to studying newer forms of media. References Appadurai, Arjun. 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Alfred Hermida recently posited ‘ambient journalism’ as a new framework for para- and professional journalists, who use social networks like Twitter for story sources, and as a news delivery platform. Beginning with this framework, this article explores the following questions: How does Hermida define ‘ambient journalism’ and what is its significance? Are there alternative definitions? What lessons do current platforms provide for the design of future, real-time platforms that ‘ambient journalists’ might use? What lessons does the work of Brian Eno provide–the musician and producer who coined the term ‘ambient music’ over three decades ago? My aim here is to formulate an alternative definition of ambient journalism that emphasises craft, skills acquisition, and the mental models of professional journalists, which are the foundations more generally for journalism practices. Rather than Hermida’s participatory media context I emphasise ‘institutional adaptiveness’: how journalists and newsrooms in media institutions rely on craft and skills, and how emerging platforms can augment these foundations, rather than replace them. Hermida’s Ambient Journalism and the Role of Journalists Hermida describes ambient journalism as: “broad, asynchronous, lightweight and always-on communication systems [that] are creating new kinds of interactions around the news, and are enabling citizens to maintain a mental model of news and events around them” (Hermida 2). His ideas appear to have two related aspects. He conceives ambient journalism as an “awareness system” between individuals that functions as a collective intelligence or kind of ‘distributed cognition’ at a group level (Hermida 2, 4-6). Facebook, Twitter and other online social networks are examples. Hermida also suggests that such networks enable non-professionals to engage in ‘communication’ and ‘conversation’ about news and media events (Hermida 2, 7). In a helpful clarification, Hermida observes that ‘para-journalists’ are like the paralegals or non-lawyers who provide administrative support in the legal profession and, in academic debates about journalism, are more commonly known as ‘citizen journalists’. Thus, Hermida’s ambient journalism appears to be: (1) an information systems model of new platforms and networks, and (2) a normative argument that these tools empower ‘para-journalists’ to engage in journalism and real-time commentary. Hermida’s thesis is intriguing and worthy of further discussion and debate. As currently formulated however it risks sharing the blind-spots and contradictions of the academic literature that Hermida cites, which suffers from poor theory-building (Burns). A major reason is that the participatory media context on which Hermida often builds his work has different mental models and normative theories than the journalists or media institutions that are the target of critique. Ambient journalism would be a stronger and more convincing framework if these incorrect assumptions were jettisoned. Others may also potentially misunderstand what Hermida proposes, because the academic debate is often polarised between para-journalists and professional journalists, due to different views about institutions, the politics of knowledge, decision heuristics, journalist training, and normative theoretical traditions (Christians et al. 126; Cole and Harcup 166-176). In the academic debate, para-journalists or ‘citizen journalists’ may be said to have a communitarian ethic and desire more autonomous solutions to journalists who are framed as uncritical and reliant on official sources, and to media institutions who are portrayed as surveillance-like ‘monitors’ of society (Christians et al. 124-127). This is however only one of a range of possible relationships. Sole reliance on para-journalists could be a premature solution to a more complex media ecology. Journalism craft, which does not rely just on official sources, also has a range of practices that already provides the “more complex ways of understanding and reporting on the subtleties of public communication” sought (Hermida 2). Citizen- and para-journalist accounts may overlook micro-studies in how newsrooms adopt technological innovations and integrate them into newsgathering routines (Hemmingway 196). Thus, an examination of the realities of professional journalism will help to cast a better light on how ambient journalism can shape the mental models of para-journalists, and provide more rigorous analysis of news and similar events. Professional journalism has several core dimensions that para-journalists may overlook. Journalism’s foundation as an experiential craft includes guidance and norms that orient the journalist to information, and that includes practitioner ethics. This craft is experiential; the basis for journalism’s claim to “social expertise” as a discipline; and more like the original Linux and Open Source movements which evolved through creative conflict (Sennett 9, 25-27, 125-127, 249-251). There are learnable, transmissible skills to contextually evaluate, filter, select and distil the essential insights. This craft-based foundation and skills informs and structures the journalist’s cognitive witnessing of an event, either directly or via reconstructed, cultivated sources. The journalist publishes through a recognised media institution or online platform, which provides communal validation and verification. There is far more here than the academic portrayal of journalists as ‘gate-watchers’ for a ‘corporatist’ media elite. Craft and skills distinguish the professional journalist from Hermida’s para-journalist. Increasingly, media institutions hire journalists who are trained in other craft-based research methods (Burns and Saunders). Bethany McLean who ‘broke’ the Enron scandal was an investment banker; documentary filmmaker Errol Morris first interviewed serial killers for an early project; and Neil Chenoweth used ‘forensic accounting’ techniques to investigate Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer. Such expertise allows the journalist to filter information, and to mediate any influences in the external environment, in order to develop an individualised, ‘embodied’ perspective (Hofstadter 234; Thompson; Garfinkel and Rawls). Para-journalists and social network platforms cannot replace this expertise, which is often unique to individual journalists and their research teams. Ambient Journalism and Twitter Current academic debates about how citizen- and para-journalists may augment or even replace professional journalists can often turn into legitimation battles whether the ‘de facto’ solution is a social media network rather than a media institution. For example, Hermida discusses Twitter, a micro-blogging platform that allows users to post 140-character messages that are small, discrete information chunks, for short-term and episodic memory. Twitter enables users to monitor other users, to group other messages, and to search for terms specified by a hashtag. Twitter thus illustrates how social media platforms can make data more transparent and explicit to non-specialists like para-journalists. In fact, Twitter is suitable for five different categories of real-time information: news, pre-news, rumours, the formation of social media and subject-based networks, and “molecular search” using granular data-mining tools (Leinweber 204-205). In this model, the para-journalist acts as a navigator and “way-finder” to new information (Morville, Findability). Jaron Lanier, an early designer of ‘virtual reality’ systems, is perhaps the most vocal critic of relying on groups of non-experts and tools like Twitter, instead of individuals who have professional expertise. For Lanier, what underlies debates about citizen- and para-journalists is a philosophy of “cybernetic totalism” and “digital Maoism” which exalts the Internet collective at the expense of truly individual views. He is deeply critical of Hermida’s chosen platform, Twitter: “A design that shares Twitter’s feature of providing ambient continuous contact between people could perhaps drop Twitter’s adoration of fragments. We don’t really know, because it is an unexplored design space” [emphasis added] (Lanier 24). In part, Lanier’s objection is traceable back to an unresolved debate on human factors and design in information science. Influenced by the post-war research into cybernetics, J.C.R. Licklider proposed a cyborg-like model of “man-machine symbiosis” between computers and humans (Licklider). In turn, Licklider’s framework influenced Douglas Engelbart, who shaped the growth of human-computer interaction, and the design of computer interfaces, the mouse, and other tools (Engelbart). In taking a system-level view of platforms Hermida builds on the strength of Licklider and Engelbart’s work. Yet because he focuses on para-journalists, and does not appear to include the craft and skills-based expertise of professional journalists, it is unclear how he would answer Lanier’s fears about how reliance on groups for news and other information is superior to individual expertise and judgment. Hermida’s two case studies point to this unresolved problem. Both cases appear to show how Twitter provides quicker and better forms of news and information, thereby increasing the effectiveness of para-journalists to engage in journalism and real-time commentary. However, alternative explanations may exist that raise questions about Twitter as a new platform, and thus these cases might actually reveal circumstances in which ambient journalism may fail. Hermida alludes to how para-journalists now fulfil the earlier role of ‘first responders’ and stringers, in providing the “immediate dissemination” of non-official information about disasters and emergencies (Hermida 1-2; Haddow and Haddow 117-118). Whilst important, this is really a specific role. In fact, disaster and emergency reporting occurs within well-established practices, professional ethics, and institutional routines that may involve journalists, government officials, and professional communication experts (Moeller). Officials and emergency management planners are concerned that citizen- or para-journalism is equated with the craft and skills of professional journalism. The experience of these officials and planners in 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and in 2009’s Black Saturday bushfires in Australia, suggests that whilst para-journalists might be ‘first responders’ in a decentralised, complex crisis, they are perceived to spread rumours and potential social unrest when people need reliable information (Haddow and Haddow 39). These terms of engagement between officials, planners and para-journalists are still to be resolved. Hermida readily acknowledges that Twitter and other social network platforms are vulnerable to rumours (Hermida 3-4; Sunstein). However, his other case study, Iran’s 2009 election crisis, further complicates the vision of ambient journalism, and always-on communication systems in particular. Hermida discusses several events during the crisis: the US State Department request to halt a server upgrade, how the Basij’s shooting of bystander Neda Soltan was captured on a mobile phone camera, the spread across social network platforms, and the high-velocity number of ‘tweets’ or messages during the first two weeks of Iran’s electoral uncertainty (Hermida 1). The US State Department was interested in how Twitter could be used for non-official sources, and to inform people who were monitoring the election events. Twitter’s perceived ‘success’ during Iran’s 2009 election now looks rather different when other factors are considered such as: the dynamics and patterns of Tehran street protests; Iran’s clerics who used Soltan’s death as propaganda; claims that Iran’s intelligence services used Twitter to track down and to kill protestors; the ‘black box’ case of what the US State Department and others actually did during the crisis; the history of neo-conservative interest in a Twitter-like platform for strategic information operations; and the Iranian diaspora’s incitement of Tehran student protests via satellite broadcasts. Iran’s 2009 election crisis has important lessons for ambient journalism: always-on communication systems may create noise and spread rumours; ‘mirror-imaging’ of mental models may occur, when other participants have very different worldviews and ‘contexts of use’ for social network platforms; and the new kinds of interaction may not lead to effective intervention in crisis events. Hermida’s combination of news and non-news fragments is the perfect environment for psychological operations and strategic information warfare (Burns and Eltham). Lessons of Current Platforms for Ambient Journalism We have discussed some unresolved problems for ambient journalism as a framework for journalists, and as mental models for news and similar events. Hermida’s goal of an “awareness system” faces a further challenge: the phenomenological limitations of human consciousness to deal with information complexity and ambiguous situations, whether by becoming ‘entangled’ in abstract information or by developing new, unexpected uses for emergent technologies (Thackara; Thompson; Hofstadter 101-102, 186; Morville, Findability, 55, 57, 158). The recursive and reflective capacities of human consciousness imposes its own epistemological frames. It’s still unclear how Licklider’s human-computer interaction will shape consciousness, but Douglas Hofstadter’s experiments with art and video-based group experiments may be suggestive. Hofstadter observes: “the interpenetration of our worlds becomes so great that our worldviews start to fuse” (266). Current research into user experience and information design provides some validation of Hofstadter’s experience, such as how Google is now the ‘default’ search engine, and how its interface design shapes the user’s subjective experience of online search (Morville, Findability; Morville, Search Patterns). Several models of Hermida’s awareness system already exist that build on Hofstadter’s insight. Within the information systems field, on-going research into artificial intelligence–‘expert systems’ that can model expertise as algorithms and decision rules, genetic algorithms, and evolutionary computation–has attempted to achieve Hermida’s goal. What these systems share are mental models of cognition, learning and adaptiveness to new information, often with forecasting and prediction capabilities. Such systems work in journalism areas such as finance and sports that involve analytics, data-mining and statistics, and in related fields such as health informatics where there are clear, explicit guidelines on information and international standards. After a mid-1980s investment bubble (Leinweber 183-184) these systems now underpin the technology platforms of global finance and news intermediaries. Bloomberg LP’s ubiquitous dual-screen computers, proprietary network and data analytics (www.bloomberg.com), and its competitors such as Thomson Reuters (www.thomsonreuters.com and www.reuters.com), illustrate how financial analysts and traders rely on an “awareness system” to navigate global stock-markets (Clifford and Creswell). For example, a Bloomberg subscriber can access real-time analytics from exchanges, markets, and from data vendors such as Dow Jones, NYSE Euronext and Thomson Reuters. They can use portfolio management tools to evaluate market information, to make allocation and trading decisions, to monitor ‘breaking’ news, and to integrate this information. Twitter is perhaps the para-journalist equivalent to how professional journalists and finance analysts rely on Bloomberg’s platform for real-time market and business information. Already, hedge funds like PhaseCapital are data-mining Twitter’s ‘tweets’ or messages for rumours, shifts in stock-market sentiment, and to analyse potential trading patterns (Pritchett and Palmer). The US-based Securities and Exchange Commission, and researchers like David Gelernter and Paul Tetlock, have also shown the benefits of applied data-mining for regulatory market supervision, in particular to uncover analysts who provide ‘whisper numbers’ to online message boards, and who have access to material, non-public information (Leinweber 60, 136, 144-145, 208, 219, 241-246). Hermida’s framework might be developed further for such regulatory supervision. Hermida’s awareness system may also benefit from the algorithms found in high-frequency trading (HFT) systems that Citadel Group, Goldman Sachs, Renaissance Technologies, and other quantitative financial institutions use. Rather than human traders, HFT uses co-located servers and complex algorithms, to make high-volume trades on stock-markets that take advantage of microsecond changes in prices (Duhigg). HFT capabilities are shrouded in secrecy, and became the focus of regulatory attention after several high-profile investigations of traders alleged to have stolen the software code (Bray and Bunge). One public example is Streambase (www.streambase.com), a ‘complex event processing’ (CEP) platform that can be used in HFT, and commercialised from the Project Aurora research collaboration between Brandeis University, Brown University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. CEP and HFT may be the ‘killer apps’ of Hermida’s awareness system. Alternatively, they may confirm Jaron Lanier’s worst fears: your data-stream and user-generated content can be harvested by others–for their gain, and your loss! Conclusion: Brian Eno and Redefining ‘Ambient Journalism’ On the basis of the above discussion, I suggest a modified definition of Hermida’s thesis: ‘Ambient journalism’ is an emerging analytical framework for journalists, informed by cognitive, cybernetic, and information systems research. It ‘sensitises’ the individual journalist, whether professional or ‘para-professional’, to observe and to evaluate their immediate context. In doing so, ‘ambient journalism’, like journalism generally, emphasises ‘novel’ information. It can also inform the design of real-time platforms for journalistic sources and news delivery. Individual ‘ambient journalists’ can learn much from the career of musician and producer Brian Eno. His personal definition of ‘ambient’ is “an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence: a tint,” that relies on the co-evolution of the musician, creative horizons, and studio technology as a tool, just as para-journalists use Twitter as a platform (Sheppard 278; Eno 293-297). Like para-journalists, Eno claims to be a “self-educated but largely untrained” musician and yet also a craft-based producer (McFadzean; Tamm 177; 44-50). Perhaps Eno would frame the distinction between para-journalist and professional journalist as “axis thinking” (Eno 298, 302) which is needlessly polarised due to different normative theories, stances, and practices. Furthermore, I would argue that Eno’s worldview was shaped by similar influences to Licklider and Engelbart, who appear to have informed Hermida’s assumptions. These influences include the mathematician and game theorist John von Neumann and biologist Richard Dawkins (Eno 162); musicians Eric Satie, John Cage and his book Silence (Eno 19-22, 162; Sheppard 22, 36, 378-379); and the field of self-organising systems, in particular cyberneticist Stafford Beer (Eno 245; Tamm 86; Sheppard 224). Eno summed up the central lesson of this theoretical corpus during his collaborations with New York’s ‘No Wave’ scene in 1978, of “people experimenting with their lives” (Eno 253; Reynolds 146-147; Sheppard 290-295). Importantly, he developed a personal view of normative theories through practice-based research, on a range of projects, and with different creative and collaborative teams. Rather than a technological solution, Eno settled on a way to encode his craft and skills into a quasi-experimental, transmittable method—an aim of practitioner development in professional journalism. Even if only a “founding myth,” the story of Eno’s 1975 street accident with a taxi, and how he conceived ‘ambient music’ during his hospital stay, illustrates how ambient journalists might perceive something new in specific circumstances (Tamm 131; Sheppard 186-188). More tellingly, this background informed his collaboration with the late painter Peter Schmidt, to co-create the Oblique Strategies deck of aphorisms: aleatory, oracular messages that appeared dependent on chance, luck, and randomness, but that in fact were based on Eno and Schmidt’s creative philosophy and work guidelines (Tamm 77-78; Sheppard 178-179; Reynolds 170). In short, Eno was engaging with the kind of reflective practices that underpin exemplary professional journalism. He was able to encode this craft and skills into a quasi-experimental method, rather than a technological solution. Journalists and practitioners who adopt Hermida’s framework could learn much from the published accounts of Eno’s practice-based research, in the context of creative projects and collaborative teams. In particular, these detail the contexts and choices of Eno’s early ambient music recordings (Sheppard 199-200); Eno’s duels with David Bowie during ‘Sense of Doubt’ for the Heroes album (Tamm 158; Sheppard 254-255); troubled collaborations with Talking Heads and David Byrne (Reynolds 165-170; Sheppard; 338-347, 353); a curatorial, mentor role on U2’s The Unforgettable Fire (Sheppard 368-369); the ‘grand, stadium scale’ experiments of U2’s 1991-93 ZooTV tour (Sheppard 404); the Zorn-like games of Bowie’s Outside album (Eno 382-389); and the ‘generative’ artwork 77 Million Paintings (Eno 330-332; Tamm 133-135; Sheppard 278-279; Eno 435). Eno is clearly a highly flexible maker and producer. Developing such flexibility would ensure ambient journalism remains open to novelty as an analytical framework that may enhance the practitioner development and work of professional journalists and para-journalists alike.Acknowledgments The author thanks editor Luke Jaaniste, Alfred Hermida, and the two blind peer reviewers for their constructive feedback and reflective insights. References Bray, Chad, and Jacob Bunge. “Ex-Goldman Programmer Indicted for Trade Secrets Theft.” The Wall Street Journal 12 Feb. 2010. 17 March 2010 ‹http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703382904575059660427173510.html›. Burns, Alex. “Select Issues with New Media Theories of Citizen Journalism.” M/C Journal 11.1 (2008). 17 March 2010 ‹http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/30›.———, and Barry Saunders. “Journalists as Investigators and ‘Quality Media’ Reputation.” Record of the Communications Policy and Research Forum 2009. Eds. Franco Papandrea and Mark Armstrong. Sydney: Network Insight Institute, 281-297. 17 March 2010 ‹http://eprints.vu.edu.au/15229/1/CPRF09BurnsSaunders.pdf›.———, and Ben Eltham. “Twitter Free Iran: An Evaluation of Twitter’s Role in Public Diplomacy and Information Operations in Iran’s 2009 Election Crisis.” Record of the Communications Policy and Research Forum 2009. Eds. Franco Papandrea and Mark Armstrong. Sydney: Network Insight Institute, 298-310. 17 March 2010 ‹http://eprints.vu.edu.au/15230/1/CPRF09BurnsEltham.pdf›. Christians, Clifford G., Theodore Glasser, Denis McQuail, Kaarle Nordenstreng, and Robert A. White. Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009. Clifford, Stephanie, and Julie Creswell. “At Bloomberg, Modest Strategy to Rule the World.” The New York Times 14 Nov. 2009. 17 March 2010 ‹http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/business/media/15bloom.html?ref=businessandpagewanted=all›.Cole, Peter, and Tony Harcup. Newspaper Journalism. 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Introduction Many destinations promote culinary encounters. Foods and beverages, and especially how these will taste in situ, are being marketed as niche travel motivators and used in destination brand building across the globe. While initial usage of the term culinary tourism focused on experiencing exotic cultures of foreign destinations by sampling unfamiliar food and drinks, the term has expanded to embrace a range of leisure travel experiences where the aim is to locate and taste local specialities as part of a pleasurable, and hopefully notable, culinary encounter (Wolf). Long’s foundational work was central in developing the idea of culinary tourism as an active endeavor, suggesting that via consumption, individuals construct unique experiences. Ignatov and Smith’s literature review-inspired definition confirms the nature of activity as participatory, and adds consuming food production skills—from observing agriculture and local processors to visiting food markets and attending cooking schools—to culinary purchases. Despite importing almost all of its foodstuffs and beverages, including some of its water, Singapore is an acknowledged global leader in culinary tourism. Horng and Tsai note that culinary tourism conceptually implies that a transferal of “local or special knowledge and information that represent local culture and identities” (41) occurs via these experiences. This article adds the act of reading to these participatory activities and suggests that, because food writing forms an important component of Singapore’s suite of culinary tourism offerings, taste contributes to the cultural experience offered to both visitors and locals. While Singapore foodways have attracted significant scholarship (see, for instance, work by Bishop; Duruz; Huat & Rajah; Tarulevicz, Eating), Singapore food writing, like many artefacts of popular culture, has attracted less notice. Yet, this writing is an increasingly visible component of cultural production of, and about, Singapore, and performs a range of functions for locals, tourists and visitors before they arrive. Although many languages are spoken in Singapore, English is the national language (Alsagoff) and this study focuses on food writing in English. Background Tourism comprises a major part of Singapore’s economy, with recent figures detailing that food and beverage sales contribute over 10 per cent of this revenue, with spend on culinary tours and cookery classes, home wares such as tea-sets and cookbooks, food magazines and food memoirs additional to this (Singapore Government). This may be related to the fact that Singapore not only promotes food as a tourist attraction, but also actively promotes itself as an exceptional culinary destination. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) includes food in its general information brochures and websites, and its print, television and cinema commercials (Huat and Rajah). It also mounts information-rich campaigns both abroad and inside Singapore. The 2007 ‘Singapore Seasons’ campaign, for instance, promoted Singaporean cuisine alongside films, design, books and other cultural products in London, New York and Beijing. Touring cities identified as key tourist markets in 2011, the ‘Singapore Takeout’ pop-up restaurant brought the taste of Singaporean foods into closer focus. Singaporean chefs worked with high profile locals in its kitchen in a custom-fabricated shipping container to create and demonstrate Singaporean dishes, attracting public and media interest. In country, the STB similarly actively promotes the tastes of Singaporean foods, hosting the annual World Gourmet Summit (Chaney and Ryan) and Pacific Food Expo, both attracting international culinary professionals to work alongside local leaders. The Singapore Food Festival each July is marketed to both locals and visitors. In these ways, the STB, as well as providing events for visitors, is actively urging Singaporeans to proud of their food culture and heritage, so that each Singaporean becomes a proactive ambassador of their cuisine. Singapore Food Writing Popular print guidebooks and online guides to Singapore pay significantly more attention to Singaporean food than they do for many other destinations. Sections on food in such publications discuss at relative length the taste of Singaporean food (always delicious) as well as how varied, authentic, hygienic and suited-to-all-budgets it is. These texts also recommend hawker stalls and food courts alongside cafés and restaurants (Henderson et al.), and a range of other culinary experiences such as city and farm food tours and cookery classes. This writing describes not only what can be seen or learned during these experiences, but also what foods can be sampled, and how these might taste. This focus on taste is reflected in the printed materials that greet the in-bound tourist at the airport. On a visit in October 2013, arrival banners featuring mouth-watering images of local specialities such as chicken rice and chilli crab marked the route from arrival to immigration and baggage collection. Even advertising for a bank was illustrated with photographs of luscious-looking fruits. The free maps and guidebooks available featured food-focused tours and restaurant locations, and there were also substantial free booklets dedicated solely to discussing local delicacies and their flavours, plus recommended locations to sample them. A website and free mobile app were available that contain practical information about dishes, ingredients, cookery methods, and places to eat, as well as historical and cultural information. These resources are also freely distributed to many hotels and popular tourist destinations. Alongside organising food walks, bus tours and cookery classes, the STB also recommends the work of a number of Singaporean food writers—principally prominent Singapore food bloggers, reviewers and a number of memoirists—as authentic guides to what are described as unique Singaporean flavours. The strategies at the heart of this promotion are linking advertising to useful information. At a number of food centres, for instance, STB information panels provide details about both specific dishes and Singapore’s food culture more generally (Henderson et al.). This focus is apparent at many tourist destinations, many of which are also popular local attractions. In historic Fort Canning Park, for instance, there is a recreation of Raffles’ experimental garden, established in 1822, where he grew the nutmeg, clove and other plants that were intended to form the foundation for spice plantations but were largely unsuccessful (Reisz). Today, information panels not only indicate the food plants’ names and how to grow them, but also their culinary and medicinal uses, recipes featuring them and the related food memories of famous Singaporeans. The Singapore Botanic Gardens similarly houses the Ginger Garden displaying several hundred species of ginger and information, and an Eco(-nomic/logical) Garden featuring many food plants and their stories. In Chinatown, panels mounted outside prominent heritage brands (often still quite small shops) add content to the shopping experience. A number of museums profile Singapore’s food culture in more depth. The National Museum of Singapore has a permanent Living History gallery that focuses on Singapore’s street food from the 1950s to 1970s. This display includes food-related artefacts, interactive aromatic displays of spices, films of dishes being made and eaten, and oral histories about food vendors, all supported by text panels and booklets. Here food is used to convey messages about the value of Singapore’s ethnic diversity and cross-cultural exchanges. Versions of some of these dishes can then be sampled in the museum café (Time Out Singapore). The Peranakan Museum—which profiles the unique hybrid culture of the descendants of the Chinese and South Indian traders who married local Malay women—shares this focus, with reconstructed kitchens and dining rooms, exhibits of cooking and eating utensils and displays on food’s ceremonial role in weddings and funerals all supported with significant textual information. The Chinatown Heritage Centre not only recreates food preparation areas as a vivid indicator of poor Chinese immigrants’ living conditions, but also houses The National Restaurant of Singapore, which translates this research directly into meals that recreate the heritage kopi tiam (traditional coffee shop) cuisine of Singapore in the 1930s, purposefully bringing taste into the service of education, as its descriptive menu states, “educationally delighting the palate” (Chinatown Heritage Centre). These museums recognise that shopping is a core tourist activity in Singapore (Chang; Yeung et al.). Their gift- and bookshops cater to the culinary tourist by featuring quality culinary products for sale (including, for instance, teapots and cups, teas, spices and traditional sweets, and other foods) many of which are accompanied by informative tags or brochures. At the centre of these curated, purchasable collections are a range written materials: culinary magazines, cookbooks, food histories and memoirs, as well as postcards and stationery printed with recipes. Food Magazines Locally produced food magazines cater to a range of readerships and serve to extend the culinary experience both in, and outside, Singapore. These include high-end gourmet, luxury lifestyle publications like venerable monthly Wine & Dine: The Art of Good Living, which, in in print for almost thirty years, targets an affluent readership (Wine & Dine). The magazine runs features on local dining, gourmet products and trends, as well as international epicurean locations and products. Beautifully illustrated recipes also feature, as the magazine declares, “we’ve recognised that sharing more recipes should be in the DNA of Wine & Dine’s editorial” (Wine & Dine). Appetite magazine, launched in 2006, targets the “new and emerging generation of gourmets—foodies with a discerning and cosmopolitan outlook, broad horizons and a insatiable appetite” (Edipresse Asia) and is reminiscent in much of its styling of New Zealand’s award-winning Cuisine magazine. Its focus is to present a fresh approach to both cooking at home and dining out, as readers are invited to “Whip up the perfect soufflé or feast with us at the finest restaurants in Singapore and around the region” (Edipresse Asia). Chefs from leading local restaurants are interviewed, and the voices of “fellow foodies and industry watchers” offer an “insider track” on food-related news: “what’s good and what’s new” (Edipresse Asia). In between these publications sits Epicure: Life’s Refinements, which features local dishes, chefs, and restaurants as well as an overseas travel section and a food memories column by a featured author. Locally available ingredients are also highlighted, such as abalone (Cheng) and an interesting range of mushrooms (Epicure). While there is a focus on an epicurean experience, this is presented slightly more casually than in Wine & Dine. Food & Travel focuses more on home cookery, but each issue also includes reviews of Singapore restaurants. The bimonthly bilingual (Chinese and English) Gourmet Living features recipes alongside a notable focus on food culture—with food history columns, restaurant reviews and profiles of celebrated chefs. An extensive range of imported international food magazines are also available, with those from nearby Malaysia and Indonesia regularly including articles on Singapore. Cookbooks These magazines all include reviews of cookery books including Singaporean examples – and some feature other food writing such as food histories, memoirs and blogs. These reviews draw attention to how many Singaporean cookbooks include a focus on food history alongside recipes. Cookery teacher Yee Soo Leong’s 1976 Singaporean Cooking was an early example of cookbook as heritage preservation. This 1976 book takes an unusual view of ‘Singaporean’ flavours. Beginning with sweet foods—Nonya/Singaporean and western cakes, biscuits, pies, pastries, bread, desserts and icings—it also focuses on both Singaporean and Western dishes. This text is also unusual as there are only 6 lines of direct authorial address in the author’s acknowledgements section. Expatriate food writer Wendy Hutton’s Singapore Food, first published in 1979, reprinted many times after and revised in 2007, has long been recognised as one of the most authoritative titles on Singapore’s food heritage. Providing an socio-historical map of Singapore’s culinary traditions, some one third of the first edition was devoted to information about Singaporean multi-cultural food history, including detailed profiles of a number of home cooks alongside its recipes. Published in 1980, Kenneth Mitchell’s A Taste of Singapore is clearly aimed at a foreign readership, noting the variety of foods available due to the racial origins of its inhabitants. The more modest, but equally educational in intent, Hawkers Flavour: A Guide to Hawkers Gourmet in Malaysia and Singapore (in its fourth printing in 1998) contains a detailed introductory essay outlining local food culture, favourite foods and drinks and times these might be served, festivals and festive foods, Indian, Indian Muslim, Chinese, Nyonya (Chinese-Malay), Malay and Halal foods and customs, followed with a selection of recipes from each. More contemporary examples of such information-rich cookbooks, such as those published in the frequently reprinted Periplus Mini Cookbook series, are sold at tourist attractions. Each of these modestly priced, 64-page, mouthwateringly illustrated booklets offer framing information, such as about a specific food culture as in the Nonya kitchen in Nonya Favourites (Boi), and explanatory glossaries of ingredients, as in Homestyle Malay Cooking (Jelani). Most recipes include a boxed paragraph detailing cookery or ingredient information that adds cultural nuance, as well as trying to describe tastes that the (obviously foreign) intended reader may not have encountered. Malaysian-born Violet Oon, who has been called the Julia Child of Singapore (Bergman), writes for both local and visiting readers. The FOOD Paper, published monthly for a decade from January 1987 was, she has stated, then “Singapore’s only monthly publication dedicated to the CSF—Certified Singapore Foodie” (Oon, Violet Oon Cooks 7). Under its auspices, Oon promoted her version of Singaporean cuisine to both locals and visitors, as well as running cookery classes and culinary events, hosting her own television cooking series on the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, and touring internationally for the STB as a ‘Singapore Food Ambassador’ (Ahmad; Kraal). Taking this representation of flavor further, Oon has also produced a branded range of curry powders, spices, and biscuits, and set up a number of food outlets. Her first cookbook, World Peranakan Cookbook, was published in 1978. Her Singapore: 101 Meals of 1986 was commissioned by the STB, then known as the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board. Violet Oon Cooks, a compilation of recipes from The FOOD Paper, published in 1992, attracted a range of major international as well as Singaporean food sponsors, and her Timeless Recipes, published in 1997, similarly aimed to show how manufactured products could be incorporated into classic Singaporean dishes cooked at home. In 1998, Oon produced A Singapore Family Cookbook featuring 100 dishes. Many were from Nonya cuisine and her following books continued to focus on preserving heritage Singaporean recipes, as do a number of other nationally-cuisine focused collections such as Joyceline Tully and Christopher Tan’s Heritage Feasts: A Collection of Singapore Family Recipes. Sylvia Tan’s Singapore Heritage Food: Yesterday’s Recipes for Today’s Cooks, published in 2004, provides “a tentative account of Singapore’s food history” (5). It does this by mapping the various taste profiles of six thematically-arranged chronologically-overlapping sections, from the heritage of British colonialism, to the uptake of American and Russia foods in the Snackbar era of the 1960s and the use of convenience flavoring ingredients such as curry pastes, sauces, dried and frozen supermarket products from the 1970s. Other Volumes Other food-themed volumes focus on specific historical periods. Cecilia Leong-Salobir’s Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire discusses the “unique hybrid” (1) cuisine of British expatriates in Singapore from 1858 to 1963. In 2009, the National Museum of Singapore produced the moving Wong Hong Suen’s Wartime Kitchen: Food and Eating in Singapore 1942–1950. This details the resilience and adaptability of both diners and cooks during the Japanese Occupation and in post-war Singapore, when shortages stimulated creativity. There is a centenary history of the Cold Storage company which shipped frozen foods all over south east Asia (Boon) and location-based studies such as Annette Tan’s Savour Chinatown: Stories Memories & Recipes. Tan interviewed hawkers, chefs and restaurant owners, working from this information to write both the book’s recipes and reflect on Chinatown’s culinary history. Food culture also features in (although it is not the main focus) more general book-length studies such as educational texts such as Chew Yen Fook’s The Magic of Singapore and Melanie Guile’s Culture in Singapore (2000). Works that navigate both spaces (of Singaporean culture more generally and its foodways) such Lily Kong’s Singapore Hawker Centres: People, Places, Food, provide an consistent narrative of food in Singapore, stressing its multicultural flavours that can be enjoyed from eateries ranging from hawker stalls to high-end restaurants that, interestingly, that agrees with that promulgated in the food writing discussed above. Food Memoirs and Blogs Many of these narratives include personal material, drawing on the author’s own food experiences and taste memories. This approach is fully developed in the food memoir, a growing sub-genre of Singapore food writing. While memoirs by expatriate Singaporeans such as Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family, produced by major publisher Hyperion in New York, has attracted considerable international attention, it presents a story of Singapore cuisine that agrees with such locally produced texts as television chef and food writer Terry Tan’s Stir-fried and Not Shaken: A Nostalgic Trip Down Singapore’s Memory Lane and the food memoir of the Singaporean chef credited with introducing fine Malay dining to Singapore, Aziza Ali’s Sambal Days, Kampong Cuisine, published in Singapore in 2013 with the support of the National Heritage Board. All these memoirs are currently available in Singapore in both bookshops and a number of museums and other attractions. While underscoring the historical and cultural value of these foods, all describe the unique flavours of Singaporean cuisine and its deliciousness. A number of prominent Singapore food bloggers are featured in general guidebooks and promoted by the STB as useful resources to dining out in Singapore. One of the most prominent of these is Leslie Tay, a medical doctor and “passionate foodie” (Knipp) whose awardwinning ieatŸishootŸipost is currently attracting some 90,000 unique visitors every month and has had over 20,000 million hits since its launch in 2006. An online diary of Tay’s visits to hundreds of Singaporean hawker stalls, it includes descriptions and photographs of meals consumed, creating accumulative oral culinary histories of these dishes and those who prepared them. These narratives have been reorganised and reshaped in Tay’s first book The End of Char Kway Teow and Other Hawker Mysteries, where each chapter tells the story of one particular dish, including recommended hawker stalls where it can be enjoyed. Ladyironchef.com is a popular food and travel site that began as a blog in 2007. An edited collection of reviews of eateries and travel information, many by the editor himself, the site features lists of, for example, the best cafes (LadyIronChef “Best Cafes”), eateries at the airport (LadyIronChef “Guide to Dining”), and hawker stalls (Lim). While attesting to the cultural value of these foods, many articles also discuss flavour, as in Lim’s musings on: ‘how good can chicken on rice taste? … The glistening grains of rice perfumed by fresh chicken stock and a whiff of ginger is so good you can even eat it on its own’. Conclusion Recent Singapore food publishing reflects this focus on taste. Tay’s publisher, Epigram, growing Singaporean food list includes the recently released Heritage Cookbooks Series. This highlights specialist Singaporean recipes and cookery techniques, with the stated aim of preserving tastes and foodways that continue to influence Singaporean food culture today. Volumes published to date on Peranakan, South Indian, Cantonese, Eurasian, and Teochew (from the Chaoshan region in the east of China’s Guangdong province) cuisines offer both cultural and practical guides to the quintessential dishes and flavours of each cuisine, featuring simple family dishes alongside more elaborate special occasion meals. In common with the food writing discussed above, the books in this series, although dealing with very different styles of cookery, contribute to an overall impression of the taste of Singapore food that is highly consistent and extremely persuasive. This food writing narrates that Singapore has a delicious as well as distinctive and interesting food culture that plays a significant role in Singaporean life both currently and historically. It also posits that this food culture is, at the same time, easily accessible and also worthy of detailed consideration and discussion. 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Acknowledgements Research to complete this article was supported by Central Queensland University, Australia, under its Outside Studies Program (OSPRO) and Learning and Teaching Education Research Centre (LTERC). An earlier version of part of this article was presented at the 2nd Australasian Regional Food Networks and Cultures Conference, in the Barossa Valley in South Australia, Australia, 11–14 November 2012. The delegates of that conference and expert reviewers of this article offered some excellent suggestions regarding strengthening this article and their advice was much appreciated. All errors are, of course, my own.