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Eesti Päevalehe juhtkirjade informatsioonilis-loogiline struktuur ja arusaadavus 2006. aastal
Full text linkThe Bachelor’s thesis «Informative-logical structure and understandability of the
editorials of Eesti Päevaleht in 2006» is a study of the editorials of the newspaper
Eesti Päevaleht primarily from the structural aspect.
The purpose of the study is to identify the link between the structure of the text, its
perception and understanding, and the factors that affect the writing and editing of the
text, on one hand, and the creation of an association between what the author conveys
and what the readers perceive, on the other.
Riina Kallas analysed the structure and understandability of the editorials of Eesti
Päevaleht in 2001. Her study results give valuable information for comparison
purposes – the changes that are notable in the process of writing and editing of
editorials and in the purpose and understandability of lead story texts six years later.
The first chapter provides an overview of the most important concepts pertaining to
understanding a text and the factors affecting it in general, as well as the nature of
opinion writings and the methods used for analysing journalistic texts.
The second chapter explains how to apply the informative-logical method to the
analysis of newspaper editorials. A scheme has been drawn up of 10 texts, which
convey the structure of the article – purpose, main thesis/theses, antithesis/antitheses,
arguments, examples, background, etc. As a result of the analysis, one well-structured
and one poorly structured lead story were chosen for an understandability experiment.
Ten persons participated in the experiment; they were asked to summarise the content
of the two editorials, formulate the purpose of the text and assess whether the content
and meaning of the text was easy to understand or not. On the basis of the average
result computed from the participants’ assessments, the understandability of the two
texts, one with a more logical and the other with a less logical structure, were
compared.
The third chapter summarises the results of the text analysis and the understanding
experiment, and provides a comparison of the results of R. Kallas from 2001 and
those of this study.
The closing chapter discusses the prospective trends of further studies into opinion
writings and the developments in the opinion editorial work of Eesti Päevaleht over
the past six years, and points out the main limitations and problems that may render it difficult for journalists and editors to focus only on the publication of well-composed
and understandable texts.
The main results of the study are summarised below.
The expression of purpose in the editorials of Eesti Päevaleht has remained
relatively on the same level as in 2001.
The purpose is clearly expressed in nearly a half of the cases and hidden or implied in
less than a half of the texts. Unfortunately, there are still editorials that, in the opinion
of the author of this study, lack any purpose. Probably, the editor or journalist has not
even questioned the reason why those texts were published.
The experiment confirmed the hypothesis that a logically structured text
facilitates the readers’ understanding of its content and meaning.
The understandability of a well-structured editorial was between adequate and fairly
fully understandable according to the mathematically computed summary assessment.
Less well structured texts were partly rather than fully understandable.
A comparison of the understandability experiments of 2001 and 2006 revealed
a slight improvement of the understandability of the content and meaning of
the editorials of Eesti Päevaleht.
In summary, the opinion editorial staff of Eesti Päevaleht, whose work includes
writing editorials, should continuously and purposefully address the issues of the
formulation techniques and structure of the texts. The more attention is paid to style,
the structure of sentences and understandability, the clearer and more articulated the
expression of the newspaper’s opinion
Konkreetse ajalehenumbri loetavus: tähelepanu äratamise ja säilitamise võtted
Full text linkThis Master’s thesis Readability of a Newspaper Issue: Techniques of Getting and Keeping Attention studied how the information contained in an issue of a newspaper is noticed and read.
The first part of the thesis describes the levels of the impact processes of mass media. Theory distinguishes between macro level impacts (social impacts) and micro level impacts (individual impacts). Individual impacts are the starting point for the development of social impacts. The paper mainly focuses on the process of short-term impacts on the individual level, studied via the factors that influence the reception of a message.
The impacting effect of mass information directly depends on the selection of messages. An individual impact develops from an understanding and assessment of the content. Factors which determine the reception and personal impact of messages were identified in the paper as four major groups, detailed in the first part of the paper.
1) Source factors pertain to the reputation and credibility of the channel, as well as the degree to which the author or presenter is known and personally appealing.
2) Message factors pertain to the substantive and formal characteristics of the mass communication message.
3) Circumstantial factors pertain to the general situation in society and the specific situation at the time of reception of the message.
4) Recipient’s factors pertain to the recipient’s social environment, as well as socio-psychological and individual psychological aspects.
These various factors come together in the context – the playing field where reception takes place.
In addition to theoretical points of departure, the first part of the paper gives an overview of earlier empirical studies of the readability of newspapers and columns, which were mainly conducted at the University of Tartu. The earliest studies date back to the 1960s and 1970s; the most recent ones are from the present decade. Peeter Vihalemm started studying the reception of information communicated via means of influence at the (State)University of Tartu as early as in the second half of the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1980s, Mati Määrits studied the readability of an issue of the regional newspaper Edasi and Meelis Lokk studied the readability of specific columns. The readability of the weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress during the period 1993–1998 was analysed by Aivar Viidik; the readability of specific writings and advertisements in the newspaper Postimees and related determining factors during 1991–1997 were studied by Epp Väljaots. This paper also makes use of the results of Vihalemm’s readability survey of an issue of the Eesti Päevaleht in 1999 and 2000.
The questions that this paper seeks to answer focus on the problems facing the communicator. They mainly concern getting and keeping the recipient’s attention on the message. Firstly, the factors on which getting and keeping the recipients’ attention depends are identified based on empirical information from a survey. Secondly, various techniques are presented which the editorial office or author could use to reduce the reader’s negative prejudices, so as to pave the way for a more positive reception of the message. Thirdly, the paper discusses the degree to which the noticing process reflects the reader’s social and communicative experience.
The second part of the paper describes the preparation and conduct of a survey based on two issues of Eesti Päevaleht.
The third part gives an overview of the parts of the issue which were studied in greater depth, as well as of the readability and noticeability of specific materials. A survey of 153 readers was conducted to study the readability of the 9 October 2008 issue of the Eesti Päevaleht. A comparison of the respondents with the general population showed that men and women were represented proportionally, while the age structure inclined toward younger people. Most of the respondents were 20–29 years old. Persons with higher education were 50% overrepresented, while persons with basic education were nearly 2/3 underrepresented. Because of the sample, the survey results cannot be transposed to the actual audience, while the information collected and its analysis point to the validity of a number of general trends in the readability of a newspaper issue. Below is a brief summary of the survey results.
The most readable column in the edition was the Estonian news column, which was read by an average of 60% of the respondents. This was followed by foreign and economics news, which were read by an average of 55% of the respondents. An equivalent degree of interest (49%) was shown in the opinions column and Tallinn news, followed by the science column on the back side of the newspaper (42%). Classified ads and announcements deserved the least attention and were read by an average of 12% of the respondents.
The most readable article was the one on the lower side of page 6, which was a most modestly marked news story about the quality of education provided in Estonia. Nearly 70% of the respondents noticed the story and 50% read it through. The second most readable story was a paired article about the coping of disabled persons in the Estonian news column. Although the stories described the environment in which autistic persons live in Sweden, not in Estonia, 47% of the respondents read through the main article. Differences in noticing particular materials and in the choice of articles for a more thorough reading were the most evident in a comparison of age groups. The results in the age groups under 30 and over 40 were compared; the first group tended to prefer information with a more entertaining content.
The fourth and fifth parts of the thesis analyse the scope and effect of the major impact factors that determine reception and compare the identified trends with the main conclusions of earlier studies.
The following generalisations can be highlighted. The psychological closeness of the topic of the message for the recipient plays a major role among the factors influencing the reception of newspaper materials. It is reflected in both the general interest for topics and in the link between the closeness of the content of the message on the one hand and the direction and intensity of attitudes on the other. The psychological closeness of a message covers a) the sphere described, b) the writer’s approach, and c) the reader’s social and communicative experience. The degree to which the phenomena reflected in the message are known and significant for the recipient is expressed in whether and how much attention the recipient pays to the message and how much the material concerns him or her personally. Noticing and selection of the message is the beginning of the communication process.
The author’s or source’s influence on getting the reader’s attention is decisive mainly where the author’s person is somehow significant for the reader – whether the author is publicly or personally known. The author’s personal appeal to the recipient also counts. Depending on the message and the situation, the aspect that raises attention can be a negative attitude toward the particular author, i.e. the reader notices the story but does not wish to read it. In such case, the author’s person subdues the content of the message. As a general trend, trust in politicians is lower and trust in experts writing about their area of competence is higher. Skilful presentation of both the content and form of the message (including a compactly constructed message, apt headline, visually attractive formal elements, etc.) contribute to the material’s being noticed and read. It should be noted that illustrations (photos, informative graphics, etc.) yield the desired result especially together with the main content. Recipients attach importance to a message’s topicality, an exhaustive approach and compliance with the reader’s expectations.
Although this Master’s thesis summarises a large volume of material that covers a lengthy period and concerns the readability of a newspaper, studies in this field should be continued and the results should be elaborated. All the more so because over the past decade, methods of monitoring psychophysical responses have been increasingly applied and these allow for drawing much more thorough conclusions about how materials are noticed and received.http://www.ester.ee/record=b4037297*es
Generational Use of News Media in Estonia : Media Access, Spatial Orientations and Discursive Characteristics of the News Media
No full textContemporary media research highlights the importance of empirically analysing the relationships between media and age, changing user patterns over the life course, and generational experiences within media discourse beyond the widely hyped buzz terms such as the ‘digital natives’, ‘Google generation’, and other digitally and technologically capable generation groups. This doctoral thesis seeks to define the ‘repertoires’ of news media that different generations use to obtain topical information and create their ‘media space’. It contributes to the development of a framework within which to analyse generational features in news audiences by putting the main focus on the cultural view of generations. This perspective was first introduced by Karl Mannheim in 1928. Departing from his legacy, generations can be better conceived as social formations that are built on self-identification, rather than equally distributed cohorts. With the purpose of discussing the emergence of various ‘audiencing’ patterns from the perspectives of age, life course and generational identity, the thesis presents Estonia – a post-Soviet Baltic state – as an empirical example of a transforming society with a dynamic media landscape which is witnessing the expanding impact of new media and a shift to digitisation.The thesis is based on data from two nationally representative cross-section surveys on media use and media attitudes (conducted during the 2002-2012 period) and focus group discussions, that are used to map similarities and differences among five generation cohorts born between 1932 and 1997 with regard to the access and use of the established news media, thematic preferences and spatial orientations of media use, and discursive approach to news formats. The findings demonstrate remarkable differences between the cohorts, suggesting that they could be merged into three main groups that represent the prevailing types of relations with the news media. Yet, the study also reveals that attitudes and behaviour (including media behaviour), are not necessarily divided by year of birth, but are more and more dispersed along individualised interests and preferences
Youth news media use in Estonia
No full textThe preparation of this article was supported by the grants from the Estonian Research Council (Personal Post-doctoral Research Funding, project no. PUTJD570, and Institutional Research Funding, project no. IUT20-38). Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility
Youth news media use in Estonia
No full textThe preparation of this article was supported by the grants from the Estonian Research Council (Personal Post-doctoral Research Funding, project no. PUTJD570, and Institutional Research Funding, project no. IUT20-38). Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility
Generational Use of News Media in Estonia : Media Access, Spatial Orientations and Discursive Characteristics of the News Media
No full textContemporary media research highlights the importance of empirically analysing the relationships between media and age, changing user patterns over the life course, and generational experiences within media discourse beyond the widely hyped buzz terms such as the ‘digital natives’, ‘Google generation’, and other digitally and technologically capable generation groups. This doctoral thesis seeks to define the ‘repertoires’ of news media that different generations use to obtain topical information and create their ‘media space’. It contributes to the development of a framework within which to analyse generational features in news audiences by putting the main focus on the cultural view of generations. This perspective was first introduced by Karl Mannheim in 1928. Departing from his legacy, generations can be better conceived as social formations that are built on self-identification, rather than equally distributed cohorts. With the purpose of discussing the emergence of various ‘audiencing’ patterns from the perspectives of age, life course and generational identity, the thesis presents Estonia – a post-Soviet Baltic state – as an empirical example of a transforming society with a dynamic media landscape which is witnessing the expanding impact of new media and a shift to digitisation.The thesis is based on data from two nationally representative cross-section surveys on media use and media attitudes (conducted during the 2002-2012 period) and focus group discussions, that are used to map similarities and differences among five generation cohorts born between 1932 and 1997 with regard to the access and use of the established news media, thematic preferences and spatial orientations of media use, and discursive approach to news formats. The findings demonstrate remarkable differences between the cohorts, suggesting that they could be merged into three main groups that represent the prevailing types of relations with the news media. Yet, the study also reveals that attitudes and behaviour (including media behaviour), are not necessarily divided by year of birth, but are more and more dispersed along individualised interests and preferences
The Routledge International Handbook of European Social Transformations
No full textThis book focuses on social transformations as one of the central topics in the social sciences. The study of European social transformations is very valuable in the context of universal discussions within social sciences: explaining invariable, universal attributes of societies and examining changing attributes. The book consists of 20 chapters on European social transformations, written from the perspectives of distinguished scholars from such disciplines as economics, political science, educational science, geography, media and communication studies, public management and administration, social psychology and sociology. The temporal and spatial range of the book is wide, including such global changes as time-space compression, focusing particularly on change processes in Europe during the last two decades. The book consists of four main parts, beginning with an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches, and then focusing separately on post-communist transformations, institutional drivers of social transformations in the European Union, and European transformations in the context of global processes. The book presents current theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches that complement the scientific literature on social transformations. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, and policy-makers studying how this diverse region has changed over recent years
The Routledge International Handbook of European Social Transformations
No full textThis book focuses on social transformations as one of the central topics in the social sciences. The study of European social transformations is very valuable in the context of universal discussions within social sciences: explaining invariable, universal attributes of societies and examining changing attributes. The book consists of 20 chapters on European social transformations, written from the perspectives of distinguished scholars from such disciplines as economics, political science, educational science, geography, media and communication studies, public management and administration, social psychology and sociology. The temporal and spatial range of the book is wide, including such global changes as time-space compression, focusing particularly on change processes in Europe during the last two decades. The book consists of four main parts, beginning with an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches, and then focusing separately on post-communist transformations, institutional drivers of social transformations in the European Union, and European transformations in the context of global processes. The book presents current theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches that complement the scientific literature on social transformations. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, and policy-makers studying how this diverse region has changed over recent years
The Routledge International Handbook of European Social Transformations
No full textThis book focuses on social transformations as one of the central topics in the social sciences. The study of European social transformations is very valuable in the context of universal discussions within social sciences: explaining invariable, universal attributes of societies and examining changing attributes. The book consists of 20 chapters on European social transformations, written from the perspectives of distinguished scholars from such disciplines as economics, political science, educational science, geography, media and communication studies, public management and administration, social psychology and sociology. The temporal and spatial range of the book is wide, including such global changes as time-space compression, focusing particularly on change processes in Europe during the last two decades. The book consists of four main parts, beginning with an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches, and then focusing separately on post-communist transformations, institutional drivers of social transformations in the European Union, and European transformations in the context of global processes. The book presents current theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches that complement the scientific literature on social transformations. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, and policy-makers studying how this diverse region has changed over recent years
En busca del aula del futuro: Explorando la contribución de las empresas de tecnología educativa de Estonia como vanguardia sociotécnica
No full textAquest article examina com els col·lectius petits, les "avantguardes sociotècniques", contribueixen a donar forma a les visions de les aules futures, centrant-se en les empreses d'edtech a Estònia. Allunyant-se dels "imaginaris sociotècnics" globals, l'estudi se centra en les visions de l'aula de futur articulades per les empreses d'edtech d'Estònia com a avantguarda sociotècnica del sistema educatiu K12 a l'hora de descriure els seus productes i serveis. A més, l'estudi analitza diferents tipus de futurs educatius que comporten aquestes visions.Mitjançant el mètode d'entrevistes d'experts per a la recollida de dades i l'anàlisi temàtica reflexiva per a l'anàlisi de dades, el procés d'identificació de com aquestes empreses redefineixen els límits tradicionals de l'aula va incloure extensions dels límits de l'aula més enllà de l'edifici de l'escola, dins del món interior dels estudiants, al món de les carreres futures, mitjançant la democratització de l'accés a experiències significatives i a través d'activitats d'aprenentatge formal i informal. L'estudi mostra que les visions de les empreses d'edtech reflecteixen variacions localitzades geogràficament sobre un tema en lloc de futurs alternatius, alineant-se més amb les prioritats educatives actuals que amb futurs bojos o especulatius. En aquest sentit, ‘el futur’ que es materialitza en els seus dissenys continua sent una continuació i millora dels reptes i aspiracions educatives actuals.This article examines how small collectives, ‘sociotechnical vanguards’, contribute to shaping visions of future classrooms, focusing on edtech companies in Estonia. Moving away from global ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’, the study focuses on the visions of the future classroom articulated by the Estonian edtech companies as a sociotechnical vanguard in the K12 education system when describing their products and services. Also, the study looks at different kinds of educational futures those visions entail.
Using the expert interviews method for data collection and reflexive thematic analysis for data analysis, the process of identifying how these companies redefine traditional classroom boundaries included extensions of the classroom boundaries beyond the school building, inside the students’ inner world, into the world of future careers, through democratising the access to meaningful experiences, and across formal and informal learning activities. The study shows that the visions of edtech companies reflect geographically localised variations on a theme rather than alternative futures,aligning more with current educational priorities than crazy or speculative futures. In this sense, ‘the future’ that materialises in their designs remains a continuation and enhancement of present educational challenges and aspirations.Este artículo examina cómo pequeños colectivos, «vanguardias sociotécnicas», contribuyen a la configuración de las visiones de las aulas del futuro, centrándose en las empresas de tecnología educativa de Estonia. Alejándose de los «imaginarios sociotécnicos» globales, el estudio se centra en las visiones del aula del futuro que articulan las empresas estonias de tecnología educativa como vanguardia sociotécnica en el sistema educativo K12 al describir sus productos y servicios. Asimismo, el estudio analiza los diferentes tipos de futuros educativos que estas visiones conllevan.
Utilizando el método de entrevistas a expertos para la recopilación de datos y el análisis temático reflexivo para el análisis de datos, el proceso de identificar cómo estas empresas redefinen los límites tradicionales del aula incluyó la extensión de los límites del aula más allá del edificio escolar, dentro del mundo interior de los estudiantes, hacia el mundo de las futuras carreras profesionales, mediante la democratización del acceso a experiencias significativas y en actividades de aprendizaje formales e informales. El estudio muestra que las visiones de las empresas de tecnología educativa reflejan variaciones geográficas sobre un tema en lugar de futuros alternativos, alineándose más con las prioridades educativas actuales que con futuros descabellados o especulativos. En este sentido, el futuro que se materializa en sus diseños sigue siendo una continuación y una mejora de los desafíos y aspiraciones educativas actuales
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