Communications Agency Research Articles

Improvisation and Communicative Agency: Contribution of an Improvisational Model to the Analysis of Communicative Agency

Introduction: Persons with congenital deafblindness mainly communicate using the bodily tactile modality. Their expressive communication is often formulated by an authentic language that gives the persons with congenital deafblindness low readability towards the rest of the world. This can be an obstacle for the development of their communicative agency. In the present study it is investigated whether a theoretical approach to improvisation can contribute to the development of communicative agency in a person with congenital deafblindness with low readability and authentic language in a dialogical perspective. Method: The study employs a qualitative design conducted as a dialogical single case study. Even though this research is based only on one recording of a communicative encounter between a person with deafblindness and her communication partner, it is assumed that the study can be used as a representative case study for people with low readability and authentic language. A video of communication between a person with CDB and a sighted/hearing communication partner is transcribed and the transcription is analysed in three stages through 1) Conversational analysis (CA), 2) Improvisation analysis and 3) Subjectivity/intersubjectivity analysis. Results: The Conversation analysis proved useful to identify complex turn-taking patterns in the communication. Through the improvisation model it was possible to define the degree of subjectivity/intersubjectivity in every utterance by each participant, as well as how each act was met by the other. With the improvisation model discriminations could be made between the different modalities, as vocal speech and bodily tactile acts. Regarding communicative agency, the model was useful to analyze degrees of self-expression as well as the balance of subjectivity and intersubjectivity between the participants. Conclusion and discussion: The model of improvisation contributed to specify subjectivity/intersubjectivity and multimodality in communication, though it did not contribute to the analysis of turn-taking. The model contributed to the development of communicative agency by pointing to the open-ended outcome for each utterance as the most important factor for developing and sustaining communicative agency. Limitations: The main limitation of this study was that the analyses were performed on only one video-clip with one dyad. Due to time constraints, a consensus check could not be carried out. Recommendations for future research is that, since this is a very innovative method in the deafblind field, replications of the study should be performed on more dyads, different dialogues and more video clips. Recommendation for practice: The combination of conversation analysis and improvisation analyses can very well be used with focus groups of care professionals in clinical practice under supervision of a trained expert in this method of communication analyses.

Wooden Language - a Contemporary Tool in Political and Advertising Communication

Appeared with the totalitarian ideology, the wooden language remains a linguistic phenomenon frequently used in contemporary discourse. Used in contemporary thought circles, by advertisers, by communication agencies, by the media, by politicians, by polling institutes, etc., the wooden language pejoratively qualifies the discourse that contains it, provided that its specific structures be decrypted, as well as the intention of the issuer who wants to give the impression of authenticity, credibility and transparency. The issue of the use of wooden language in discourse presupposes a complex and transdisciplinary decryption process, which goes first through the identification of the means and procedures of realization, then through the identification of the functions that these linguistic structures hold at the level of discourse.

Russian Public Relations in 2020: Peculiar Features of Transformation

The paper presents the current transformations of Russian public relations during the SaRS-COVID-19 pandemic and remote working in 2020. In response to the crisis and uncertainty, companies have adapted and restructured corporate strategies and communications. The increasing demand for communication support of strategies and daily support of corporate activities indicates the growing significance of PR and the implementation of organizational strategies, as well as the demand for the optimization of corporate communication in society. The PR industry in general and professional communication are becoming more and more integrated due to the attraction of knowledge, competencies, specialists from a wide range of related industries: marketing, sociology, management. The current communication situation caused changes in the characteristics of Russian PR in the segment of communication agencies. Despite the traditionally high volume of the agencies marketing services, the growth of crisis and digital communications has turned to be stable, which indicates the demand for more flexible PR formats. Based on an analysis of public relations of the leading local communication agencies in 2020, the authors put forward a hypothesis on the formation of the prerequisites for the transition of Russian public relations to the format of strategic communications.

IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN PENGELOLAAN KETERBUKAAN INFORMASI PUBLIK MELALUI SITUS WEB (MEDIA CENTER) DISKOMINFO KOTA BENGKULU

The implementation of public information disclosure policy is one of the efforts to fulfill Human Rights (HAM), because public information is a basic need for everyone. The purpose of this study is to find out and describe how the mechanism of the law or policy is implemented related to the management of the media center at the Bengkulu City Communication and Information Agency in providing public information disclosure. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative to provide a clear picture of the research problem. The research aspect is guided by Edward III's theory which explains that there are 4 variables that determine a successful policy implementation, namely communication, resources, disposition and organizational structure. The results of research in the field indicate that, in general, the communication aspect can be said that the communication aspect that has been carried out has not been carried out properly in its implementation and in terms of information delivery. Then on the aspect of resources which from the results of the study indicate that there is still a lack of facilities and infrastructure to support public information management activities. Furthermore, the aspect of the bureaucratic structure, which in this aspect has been carried out systematically in accordance with existing rules, and the last aspect is disposition, which from the research results shows that the implementation is carried out in accordance with the agreed division of labor.

Digital Enhancements for Primary Medical Manuscripts: A Survey on Perceptions, Challenges, and Needs of Medical Publication Professionals

Given their potential for engaging audiences, there has been increasing interest recently in the use of digital enhancements, such as video abstracts and infographics, for primary publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. However, their uptake by authors and sponsors of medical publications has been mixed, with few top journals offering the possibility of publishing digital enhancements beyond supporting slides and lay summaries. Digital enhancements for primary manuscripts may provide new opportunities for medical writers to expand their skills and services, but it is unclear whether medical writers receive and accept requests to develop digital enhancements regularly and what training they need to generate high-quality deliverables for their clients. Understanding the perspectives of medical publication professionals and their clients on digital enhancements for peer-reviewed journals may help address misconceptions and concerns and identify more effective ways to create auxiliary digital content to support the dissemination of research findings. Here, a survey was conducted to gauge the overall interest in accompanying digital enhancements among medical publication professionals and their perception of their clients’ needs, determine the perceived value of these features, and identify barriers in development. The survey was created and posted on AMWA Engage, AMWA New England Chapter E-News, LinkedIn, and the MedComms Networking webpage. A total of 116 respondents completed the survey. About half had developed digital enhancements for primary publications, mostly for pharmaceutical companies, medical communication agencies, and other nonacademic organizations. Infographics and visual abstracts were the most frequently requested type of enhanced content. Although the respondents recognized the importance of digital enhancements to facilitate data visualization, approximately half reported not having specific training or experience to enable them to accept such assignments. For their clients, the main reasons given for not developing digital enhancements were cost and time constraints, lack of interest, and author unavailability.

TOURISM-LED GROWTH HYPOTHESIS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN KENYA

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze tourism-led growth hypothesis in Kenya’s economy. 
 Materials and Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted. This study targeted international tourism receipts, employment, economies of scale and capital investments in tourism related economic activities that included hotels and food service activities, wholesale and retail trade, transport and information communication and travel agencies, entertainment and recreation in the period 1980 to 2019.The study used purposive sampling. a sample size of data for 40 years from 1980 to 2019 was used. The data were collected from KNBS, the World Bank and WTTC using a secondary data collection sheet. Using real GDP per capita as the dependent variable and international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments as the independent variables, the study used regression and vector error correction (VEC) to carry out the analysis. The analysis was systematic and begins with diagnostic tests that included Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM test, Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey test for homoscedasticity, Jarque-Bera normality test, VIF multi-collinearity test, Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test and Johansen Co-integration test and finally the regression and the vector error correction analysis. Data analysis was done using E-views software.
 Results: The study results showed that international tourism receipts, tourism related employment and economies of scale positively influence real GDP per capita in both short run and long run equilibrium. Capital investments negatively affected real GDP per capita in the long run but had a positive effect in the short run equilibrium. Granger causality test presented a bi-directional causality between international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments and real GDP per capita.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The country should enact policies that promote tourism related activities because the benefits derived from tourist expenditures positively influence the growth of the economy. Institutions such as Brand Kenya, Tourism Promotion Council, the Ministry of Tourism and recruitment of international tourism ambassadors should be strengthened to ensure more foreign tourists are attracted into the country.

Stress resilience: researching a key competence for professionals in communication management

PurposeNowadays, communication practitioners are well-equipped with all kinds of skills and competencies. Nevertheless, those capabilities seem not to prevent professionals from stress and burnout. Stress resilience, i.e. the ability to deal with high demands at work, to cope with and recover from stress, seems to be a missing competence. This study sheds light on this important, but barely discussed aspect of communication management.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was applied to understand sources of stress and to identify opportunities to build stress resilience competence. Therefore, 40 in-depth interviews with senior leaders and young professionals in 30 agencies in the largest countries on two continents were conducted (United States vs Germany).FindingsThis study revealed common and threat drivers of stress. Overall, the work environment can be summarised as highly demanding and multifaceted, where stress resilience might be a useful competence to have to be successful and to be protected against negative stress outcomes such as burnout. The study identifies several reasons why resilient professionals are more successful in coping with stress. It is further shown that most communication agencies in the sample have already implemented programmes to increase employees' resilience.Originality/valueThis study offers an alternative view on the much-debated future of work by using an interdisciplinary approach and large-scale, qualitative insights from the agency environment. A novel concept is introduced that can stimulate further research.

Analysis Of The Effect Of Organizational Culture On Performance Of Employees (Case Study Of The Kominfo Office Of Pariaman City)

This study aims to analyze, Influence Organizational Culture Against Employee Performance At the Office of Communications and Information Technology of Pariaman. This research is a quantitative research that shows a causal relationship. The sample in this study were 47 employees. Data collection techniques used were observation, questionnaire and documentation. Data analysis techniques used are descriptive statistical analysis using percentages, averages, and standard deviations and for inferential statistical analysis using data normality tests, simple linear regression analysis, and product moment correlation analysis. The results of the study show that the organizational culture is in a very good category in terms of indicators, namely: Innovation and Courage to take risks; Attention to detail; Results oriented; Human oriented; Team oriented; Aggressive; and stable. Employee performance is in a very good category in terms of indicators of discipline of service personnel, responsibility of service personnel, ability of service personnel, politeness and friendliness of officers, based on simple linear regression analysis shows that there is an influence of organizational culture on employee performance at the Pariaman City Communication and Information Agency Pariaman City. From the results of product moment correlation analysis obtained a significant level of relationship between the influence of organizational culture on the performance of employees at the Office of Communication and Information Office of , Pariaman City with the Strong category.

Writing for Players

This article describes a technical writing assignment that requires students to use Minecraft to design and document interactive learning environments. In this project, students balance a critical awareness of this game's technical features with a rhetorical understanding of how those features impact the audience’s experiences and actions. This article demonstrates how video game-based writing projects can help students understand the role of an audience's agency in technical communication.

Celebrity selection in social media ecosystems: a flexible and interactive framework

PurposeQuantitative objective studies on the problem of celebrity selection are lacking. Furthermore, existing research does not recognize the group decision-making nature and the possibility of customer involvement in celebrity or influencer selection for social media marketing. This study conceptualizes celebrity selection as a multi-attribute group decision-making problem while deriving the final ranking of celebrities/influencers using interactive and flexible criteria based on the value tradeoff approach. The article thus proposes and demonstrates a quantitative objective method of celebrity selection for a brand or campaign in an interactive manner incorporating customer's preferences as well.Design/methodology/approachEach decision-maker's preferences for celebrity selection criteria are objectively captured and converted into an overall group preference using a modified generalized fuzzy evaluation method (MGFEM). The final ranking of celebrities is then derived from an interactive and criteria-based value tradeoff approach using the flexible and interactive tradeoff method.FindingsThe approach gives a different ranking of celebrities for two campaigns based on group members' perceived importance of the selection criteria in different scenarios. This group includes decision-makers (DMs) from the brand, marketing communication agency and brand's customers. Further, each group member has an almost equal say in the decision-making based on fuzzy evaluation and an interactive and flexible value tradeoff approach to celebrity selection for receiving a rank order.Research limitations/implicationsThe approach uses secondary data on celebrities and hypothetical scenarios. Comparison with other methods is difficult, as no other study proposes a multi-criteria group decision-making approach to celebrity selection especially in a social media context.Practical implicationsThis approach can help DMs make more informed, objective and effective decisions on celebrity selection for their brands or campaigns. It recognizes that there are multiple stakeholders, including the end customers, each of whose views is objectively considered in the aspects of group decision-making through a fuzzy evaluation method. Further, this study provides a selection mechanism for a given context of endorsement by objectively and interactively encapsulating stakeholder preferences.Originality/valueThis robust and holistic approach to celebrity selection can help DMs objectively make consensual decisions with partial or complete information. This quantitative approach contributes to the literature on selection mechanisms of influencers, celebrities, social media opinion leaders etc. by providing a methodological aid that encompasses aspects of interactive group decision-making for a given context. Moreover, this method is useful to DMs and stakeholders in understanding and incorporating the effect of nature or context of the brand and the campaign type in the selection of a celebrity or an influencer.

Direcionamento da visibilidade nas mídias sociais a partir da estratégia de baralhamento / Targeting visibility on social medias from the shuffling strategy

Nossa pesquisa se insere no contexto dos relacionamentos com públicos nas ambiências digitais e tem como objetivos: refletir sobre as noções e práticas de (in)visibilidade nas mídias sociais e apresentar iniciativas adotadas pelas organizações visando ao baralhamento e a incompreensões de uma situação, enquanto estratégia de direcionamento da visibilidade nessas mídias. As discussões são feitas a partir de relatos de profissionais que atuam em agências filiadas à Associação Brasileira de Agentes Digitais, coletados em entrevistas em profundidade por Da Silva (2018), os quais evidenciam tais iniciativas. Os resultados revelam um conjunto de oito possibilidades a partir das quais as organizações buscam conduzir a visibilidade para enfoques que não embatam com os desejos de posicionamento ou que sejam menos prejudiciais em um comparativo com outros sentidos visibilizados, ou com esse potencial. Tais achados sinalizam a profissionalização em nível sociotécnico, visto que há uma série de alternativas adotadas com o intuito de preservar as organizações. Observamos tais resultados com preocupação e os problematizamos sob a ótica do interesse público, visto que há distorções éticas que podem causar danos expressivos à sociedade.Palavras-chave: comunicação organizacional, mídias sociais, direcionamento da visibilidade, baralhamento da visibilidade, agências de comunicação digitalAbstractOur research is inserted in the context of relationship with publics in digital environments. Specifically, it is related to strategies for directing visibility in social medias, triggered when identifying risks or emerging issues (in society and/or in the media) that may go against how organizations want to be perceived (Da Silva & Baldissera, 2019). We understand that visibility, in its broadest sense, is usually indicated as the most incident desire of organizations in social media (Silva, 2020). However, studies that deal with this theme tend to disregard the fact that being in the spotlight can be negative, especially when the correlated issues and approaches are unfavorable or uninteresting. In these cases, organizations, opportunely, activate a set of strategies that try – along the dynamics of relationship and interaction with the publics – to direct visibility towards something that seems (more) opportune to them (Da Silva, 2018). The purposes of this article are reflect on the notions and practices of (in)visibility in social medias and present initiatives adopted by organizations aiming at shuffling and misunderstanding a situation, as a strategy to direct visibility in these medias. Symbolic interactionism is the epistemic foundation of research. Discussions are based on reports from professionals working in agencies affiliated to the Brazilian Association of Digital Agents, collected in depth interviews by Da Silva (2018), which evidenced such initiatives. The results reveal a set of eight possibilities from which associations seek to lead visibility to approaches that do not conflict with the positioning desires or that are less harmful in comparison with other senses seen, or with this potential. We are referring to the deviation of the focus towards positive guidelines, the generation of facts, the promotion of other approaches based on paid investment, the infiltration of organizational actors in the discussions, the “purchase of audience”, the incidence or hiring of influencers, the competitor imbalance, and the optimization of the desired visibility in search engines. Such findings signal professionalization at the sociotechnical level, since there are a number of alternatives adopted in order to preserve organizations. We observed these results with concern and problematized them from the perspective of the public interest, because there are ethical distortions that can cause significant damage to society. The practices learned show and allowed us to perceive that there are many dynamics that are part of the problem we have discussed. All these paths disturb us. In these cases, there is a certain disqualification of the place (and strength) of the subjects, who seem to be led/perceived almost like “puppets”, in a conception that organizational interventions lead to certain behaviors, which have already been predicted. An action-reaction idea prevails. It is important to emphasize that, if, on the one hand, appropriations of visibility targeting strategies can enhance the communication processes of organizations and their public presence in the sense they want, on the other hand, they can lead organizations to different levels of "omission" and/or concealment of matters of public interest, ranging from moral issues to legal commitments. This situation is enhanced, in the current context, due to the incipient initiatives that aim to observe and, in some way, monitor these (potentially) abusive practices, such as the distortion of information, the dissemination of false news and the act of spreading rumors (Henriques & Silva, 2014). Furthermore, “most of the time, surveillance initiatives end up discovering abusive practices long after the effects of those actions, which implies a research that is always focused on the past” (Henriques & Silva, 2020: 49).Keywords: organizational communication, social medias, visibility targeting, visibility shuffling, digital communication agencies

“You Gotta here these Stories”: An Ecocritical Analysis of mother!

Abstract By sharing the experiences of two teacher educators, this article interrogates a tendency in ecojustice education to position humans-as-saviors in climate crisis narratives. The authors postulate the use of film—specifically, Darren Aronofsky’s (2017) mother!—to facilitate the complex process of a critical ontology that decenters humans in stories of ecological relationality. The authors ask: How might we use film to disrupt the ways future teachers are commonly positioned as protagonists in the human-as-savior narrative? How might teachers be positioned to promote Holland, Lachiocotte, Skinner, and Cain’s (2001) pillars of ecological democracy: intelligent communication, recognized identity, and critical agency between multiple species? The authors share how they work with/in teacher education to address these tensions in a Social Foundations or Multicultural Education course. They conclude with pedagogical examples of how the authors envision film as part of a teacher education curriculum.

Normativity, power, and agency: On the chronotopic organization of orthographic conventions on social media

AbstractThis article examines Iranian social media users’ understandings of normative behavior by focusing on a new online ‘nonstandard’ orthographic norm: the ‘hekasreh’. Adopting a chronotopic approach to the study of discourse, I analyze Iranian Twitter users’ social positionings towards the ‘hekasreh’ phenomenon. I show how tweeters invoke different spatiotemporal configurations, and the normative behaviors associated with them, to argue for and/or against this new orthographic norm. Focusing on the argumentative dynamics of the invoked chronotopes, I investigate the agentive and creative ways in which power is claimed and maintained in online spaces. This study, on the one hand, provides more empirical data to highlight the significance of attending to the online-offline nexus, and on the other hand argues for a more dynamic conceptualization of the interaction between normativity, power, and agency in online communication. (Social media, Farsi/Persian orthography, sociolinguistic normativity, chronotope, power, agency)*

Developments in B to B and B to C Marketing and Sales Automation Systems

ABSTRACT Purpose This viewpoint article considers the impact of the latest developments in information and communications technology on the automation of and support for marketing and sales. It compares the situation in business to business and business to consumer markets and identifies the similarities and differences between the two. It compares the situation with what is being covered in academic literature – mostly CRM systems, social media and platform supply – and identifies gaps in academic research – with the purpose of giving clear guidance for academics who are researching or teaching in this area, from practitioners who are involved deeply in the area. Methodology The methodology is a review of academic and gray literature and conceptual analysis, with a strong autoethnographic input from the, one of whom is actively involved in delivery situations involving marketing and sales automations and the other in advising companies in this area. It draws on discussions with practitioners in leading firms, on the trade press, supplier case studies and the experiences of a leading marketing communications agency with its clients to identify best and normal practice. The discussions and advisory input are confidential so cannot be referenced. Findings The automation of marketing and sales activity is progressing quickly, supported by developments in information technology. The review of academic literature shows that academics tend to focus on specific aspects of marketing and sales automation and not on the comprehensive approach followed by leading companies. It is important for academics to keep up with these developments, by reading the professional literature, particularly that relating to comprehensive marketing and sales automation, and by becoming involved in projects with companies that are automating their approaches, focusing particularly on projects which aim to automate the entire marketing and sales process rather than individual parts of it. Practical implications Companies which are falling behind in their use of marketing and sales automation should consider how to embody it in their approach, on a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal basis. This would normally be initiated by a review of the company’s marketing and sales processes and comparison with best practice (overall rather than in specific areas), and then engagement with one or more suppliers of marketing and sales automation systems and services, to identify the benefits of the automation approach and the roadmap to its implementation. Research implications Academics should build into their career plans research projects which will bring them into direct contact with advanced practitioners of marketing and sales automation, probably by case study rather than survey work. This might be through collaboration with consultancy firms which require some secondary research or training inoput.

Agile Cooperation between Communication Agencies and Companies

ABSTRACT Communications agencies and communications departments of companies are mutually dependent. The agencies need companies as clients, while the companies need agencies primarily for their expertise and resources. However, cooperation between communications agencies and client companies is often fraught with fundamental problems, in particular due to cost issues and differing expectations on each side. This study shows that implementing agility is an effective approach for meeting these challenges and those of the rapidly changing, volatile environment in which both operate, for a successful client-agency cooperation. Due to their experience with many different companies as clients, based experts from public relations and advertising agencies were interviewed on the subject of agility. From the interview results, it becomes clear that a consistently implemented agility, with characteristics such as a flat working structure, iterative processes with many evaluations, and innovative collaboration tools, is beneficial for an effective client-agency relationship in an uncertain and volatile environment, especially in the field of online communication. In addition, agility may help to counter the typical client-agency problems of hidden information, hidden action and hidden intention. The results lead us to a model for the ideal-typical agile cooperation between agencies and communications departments of companies.

Influencers as socio-technical actors: mapping the paths of influence and the traces of the digital influencers’ system in Italy

In recent years, digital influencers or digital opinion leaders have emerged as a global phenomenon, one providing a rich field of investigation for several disciplines from sociology to marketing. The goal of the paper is to study this phenomenon by adopting an ecological approach, not focusing only on a single dimension but observing the influencer system as an environment with its own rules and subjects, examining the other components of the system and tracing the relationships between them. The original contribution of this paper is to conceptualize influencers as socio-technical actors, i.e. as social subjects that operate within technological platforms, and to adopt an interdisciplinary approach, starting from sociological and marketing studies on the influencer phenomenon and then moving on to STS studies that have focused on the social shaping of technology to shed light on how the influencers are transforming the (social) media system in which they are inserted and then the chain of communication industry. The argument will therefore start by reviewing the theories that address this phenomenon and by sketching a genealogy, tracing its roots in the cultural and social context of the participatory web and web 2.0. It will move, then, to investigate the dynamics of shaping social media platforms, reviewing the studies that have investigated them, from the Social Shaping of Technology approach to platform studies. The paper will apply the analysis to the Italian context, unfolding the dynamics of influence with the support of the case study of ClioMakeUp (the leading beauty creator in Italy), examples, and grey literature from the Italian context. In the final part, the paper will map the traces of the influencer system in Italy and the communication chain, focusing on the processes of mutual shaping between brands, communication agencies, influencer enterprises, regulatory bodies, media, and of course platforms. The STS approach proved to be useful in disentangling the several actors of the system, but as platforms evolved the opportunities for mutual shaping have gradually diminished as the balance of power seems to be tending in favor of the platforms. More research is needed to further understand the concepts of closure, script, and relevant social groups within social media platforms.

Agglomerations, Relationality, and In-betweenness: Re-learning to Research Agency in Digital Communication

As today’s communicative acts are usually irrevocably tied with digital technology, it is important to better understand the resulting ontological and epistemological shifts. The central claim of this article is that humans can no longer be the prime referents of research, either as pure communicators or pure audiences. Instead, research must become sensitive to relational agential flows, whereby different entities interact within ontologically flat agglomerations. For this purpose, the article develops a posthumanist account of the research process that explicitly rejects traditional anthropocentric assumptions in favor of an egalitarian framework that emphasizes relationality and, therefore, constant multidirectional change without linear paths of causation.

Breakfast Food Advertising and Prevention of Obesity: Analysis of the Nutritional Value of the Products and Discursive Strategies Used in the Breakfast Ads from 2015 to 2019.

Breakfast is widely considered the most important meal of the day. Despite this, the consumption of ready to eat industrial products with low nutritional value is increasing. This study correlated longitudinally the nutritional value of breakfast products with advertising discursive strategies. The research design applied quantitative analysis to compile all media advertising data from 2015 to 2019, qualitative analysis of the content, and a study of the adverts’ discourse. Moreover, a Nutri-score analysis was used to determine the products’ nutritional value. Results indicated that breakfast products advertised in Spain presented a low or very low nutritional value. In addition, they showed that the lower the nutritional value of the product, the greater the proportion of positive emotions or moods that emerge from the discourse used in the advertisement. To establish effective policies for the prevention of obesity, greater involvement of the government, and better self-regulation mechanisms for the food industry, communication agencies, and advertisers are needed. In this sense, the hedonistic language used in advertisements for unhealthy food must treated as a priority. This measure would have the aim not only of protecting minors from ads for unhealthy food that are broadcast during breakfast time but would also generate healthy eating patterns within the family.

A recent eye-tracking study fails to reveal agency in assisted autistic communication

In May 2020, Scientific Reports published a paper entitled “Eye-tracking Reveals Agency in Assisted Autistic Communication” (Jaswal et al., 2020). This paper has attracted widespread attention amon...

After the Crisis, A “New Normal” for Democratic Citizenship?

The global pandemic and consequent economic tumult have strained conventional theoretical accounts of what it means to be a citizen. The notion of a “new normal” has been widely adopted to describe the potential historical reframing that the pandemic has engendered. Drawing on previous theoretical accounts of crises and their ramifications, this article explores how the communicative features of democratic citizenship might be imagined and practised differently in the aftermath of the pandemic. It considers the spatial and ontological recasting of the idea of the civic public that has been precipitated by the present global crisis. The article calls for the elaboration of a language of public discourse by which people can develop new forms of communicative agency, enabling them to respond to urgent contingencies; negotiate tensions between historical possibilities; and cultivate emergent futures.