South Holland Research Articles

Quantifying Community Interest: A Study on the Role of Audience Metrics in Hyperlocal Journalism

ABSTRACT This study examines how editors in Dutch hyperlocal newspapers use technologies for audience metrics in the news production process. As news organizations, especially small-scaled, low-budget ones, strive to engage and retain their readership, metrics analysis provides invaluable insights into audience preferences and behaviors. However, the use and misuse of audience metrics also risk increasing the dependency of small-budget newsrooms on media platforms and metrics technologies. Drawing from thirteen semi-structured interviews with ten editors and three managers from local news media conglomerates in South Holland, our findings reveal that editors and managers rely heavily on metrics such as clicks, views, and best-read stories to inform agenda-setting decisions. This reliance is further entrenched as these metrics are embedded in all-in-one editing suites, making them a constant presence and difficult to escape in the daily news production workflow. While editors in hyperlocal newsrooms display a generally positive attitude toward innovation and metrics adoption, they also demonstrate awareness of the risk of prioritizing “scoring” over “informing.” Although this article enhances our understanding of innovation in hyperlocal newsrooms and underscores the importance of audience metrics in shaping editorial choices, it also highlights the dependent position that small-scaled local newsrooms find themselves in.

A large church in a village that failed to become a city

The Oude Jeroenskerk in the South Holland coastal village of Noordwijk is the largest, and one of the most perfectly preserved, late medieval village churches in the provinces of South and North Holland. Compared with the village in which it stands and the village churches in the surrounding area, the Oude Jeroenskerk is not just beautifully proportioned, but above all remarkably large. This phenomenon – a large church in a small settlement – is clearly interesting, yet it has never been the subject of specific research. Following the miraculous discovery in 976 of the bones of Jeroen, a missionary murdered in 856 by the Norsemen, the ancient Nordcha settlement developed into a place of pilgrimage with urban tendencies. The subsequent ‘discovery’ of Jeroen’s skull in around 1316 furthered the growth of both the village and the church. On 1 April 1398 the village was granted a city charter, but this was subsequently withdrawn on 12 March 1399.The applicants’ right to make such an application was challenged and those involved had plainly underestimated the costs associated with city status. What remained was an under-construction large church, which was eventually completed in around 1500. The construction and appearance of the Oude Jeroenskerk would seem to have been heavily influenced by the count and the local nobility, beginning with Count Dirk II, who granted permission to erect a church in 976. The architects of the brick church are unknown, but it is conceivable that the first element, a tower (1260), was the work of the master craftsman Albrecht van Velsen. In the same period he was involved in the erection of the Leeuwenhorst Cistercian convent in nearby Noordwijkerhout. The phase in which the church acquired its three-aisle, pseudo-basilica layout was possibly initiated by Count Albrecht van Beieren (1336-1404). It was he who heeded the desire of a group of ambitious villagers to elevate their village to the status of a city. This assumption is based on remarkable similarities in floor plan and elevation with the Sint Jacobskerk in ’s-Gravenhage before its radical renovation between 1434 and 1492. It is assumed that the transept (1389) in that church was commissioned by Albrecht. It was during Albrecht’s period of office that the current choir of the Oude Jeroenskerk was built (1389-1405), followed by the transept and three-aisle nave (1415/1425-1444/1500). The Sint Jacobskerk became the main church, located in the administrative heart of the county. The Oude Jeroenskerk remained an important pilgrim church up until the Reformation. A church of substantial proportions that reflected contemporary urban aspirations and still looks like an urban parish church. In terms of materials and detailing it was simple and sober and as such comparable with village churches in the surrounding area and with the Sint Jacobskerk in ’s-Gravenhage until the latter’s reconstruction in 1434. Noordwijk had the potential to grow into a small city. It had the status of a place of pilgrimage, was a religious centre and boasted a relatively large population, including members of the nobility. A large church capable of accommodating local residents and pilgrims corresponded with the urban ambitions of a group of locals. Although those briefly realized ambitions were soon dashed, what remained was the Oude Jeroenskerk: a gothic, pseudo-basilica cruciform church with a square-based tower incorporated on three sides in a three-aisled nave.

Friesische Ortsnamen im Utrechter Güterverzeichnis aus dem 10. Jahrhundert

Abstract A well-known list of properties, owned by St. Martin’s church in Utrecht, dates from the early tenth century, although it has survived in younger copies. This source contains mainly place-names from the present-day Dutch provinces of North and South Holland and Utrecht. The coastal dialect there still had North Sea Germanic characteristics. Some of these characteristics seem to have been adapted by the Utrecht scribes, who used an Old Dutch dialect, probably because they recognized elements in the names. However, the personal names in the same source were less tampered with, in all likelihood because they are possibly less transparent and hence interesting to the scribes.

Antinatalism, Hannah Arendt's Natality and a Matahuman vita contemplativa

Adopting a hybrid, creative-critical approach, this article explores how Rosi Braidotti’s notion of posthuman subjectivity based on a negotiation between humans, zoe (nonhumans), geo (earth) and techno (technologies) can be put into practice creatively. Against the background of the low-lying South Holland coast, where sandscapes based on human-nonhuman collaborations prevent coastal erosion, I trace the various voices in the landscape complementing and interrupting each other. Shifting from a human perspective into the perspectives of zoe, geo and techno, the narration of this piece finally coalesces to form a new ‘we’ which represents this posthuman subjectivity. Imagining alternate futures based on this inclusive ‘we,’ this piece explores what a collaboration based on a collective posthuman subjectivity can mean in practice. Moreover, it demonstrates the potential of experiments in form and style to make tangible theoretical insights from posthuman scholarship, introducing an innovative approach that bridges the gap between academic and creative writing.

Intra-country energy community developments: What are policy implications for the energy transition?

Recent EU legislation recognizes energy communities (ECs) as central actors in the energy system. Despite a growing literature on ECs, intra-country studies have been lacking. However, regional polarization can pose an urgent challenge to accomplish energy goals. We aim to shed light on this, and investigate it via a spatial analysis of ECs, projects and policies in the Netherlands from 1986 to 2020. Substantial and persistent differences are found. Especially northern regions and part of South Holland have a higher EC concentration, while those neighboring Rotterdam/The Hague make up a significant high-low cluster which among key findings correlate with a lack of policy use. Insights from this paper can also be germane for other countries contemplating or already translating national targets to regional strategies.

The Inexhaustible

Adopting a hybrid, creative-critical approach, this article explores how Rosi Braidotti’s notion of posthuman subjectivity based on a negotiation between humans, zoe (nonhumans), geo (earth) and techno (technologies) can be put into practice creatively. Against the background of the low-lying South Holland coast, where sandscapes based on human-nonhuman collaborations prevent coastal erosion, I trace the various voices in the landscape complementing and interrupting each other. Shifting from a human perspective into the perspectives of zoe, geo and techno, the narration of this piece finally coalesces to form a new ‘we’ which represents this posthuman subjectivity. Imagining alternate futures based on this inclusive ‘we,’ this piece explores what a collaboration based on a collective posthuman subjectivity can mean in practice.

Use of electrical resistivity tomography to reveal the shallow freshwater–saline interface in The Fens coastal groundwater, eastern England (UK)

The Fens is a region that contributes 11% of the agri-food economy from just 4% of the agricultural land covering England (UK). This region is vulnerable to soil salinisation from sea-level rise with estimated 100-year flood events projected to be observed up to every 2 years by 2100. Seawater intrusion and upwelling of saline groundwater can provide an additional pathway; however, the area’s groundwater has not been assessed and the risk is unknown. This study used data from the British Geological Survey’s stratigraphic core archive to produce the first stratigraphic map of the loosely consolidated Holocene deposits in the South Holland–Holbeach Marsh region. There is a sandy unconfined aquifer towards the coast, a semiconfined central region with a silty cap and a clay confining cap in the north region. Electrical resistivity tomography data indicate water level depths of 0.58 ± 0.37 m above mean sea level (msl) in February 2021 and 0.01 ± 0.72 m msl in August 2021. The saline–freshwater boundary was at 1.70 ± 0.82 m msl in February 2021, deepening to 2.00 ± 1.02 m msl in August 2021, but the only evidence of seasonal fluctuation was within 10 km of the coast. A potential, but unverified, freshwater lens up to 3.25 m thick may exist beneath the surface. These results suggest that freshwater–saline interface fluctuations may primarily be driven by surface hydrology and would be vulnerable to climate-change-induced future variations in factors that affect surface water.

Membership Committee: Member Profiles

Rosie Camargo, Cultural Literacy Specialist, South Holland (IL) Public LibraryAryssa Damron, Children’s Librarian, Washington, DC, Public Library SystemSally Battle, Youth Programming Librarian, Mount Prospect (IL) Public Library

التّعليم الدّيني وتشكيل هوية الطفل في مجتمع متعدد الثقافات دراسة ميدانية حول المدارس الإسلامية في مقاطعة جنوب هولندا

One of the most critical challenges facing the Muslim family and the Islamic school in the Netherlands is the formation of the identity of the child according to an equation that harmoniously combines his belonging to Islam and belonging to the multicultural Dutch society. The curricula of Islamic religious education are considered one of the essential tools in facing this challenge. This study aims to research fourteen values maid to help the child in the harmonious form of his Dutch Islamic identity in its three dimensions: collective, relational, and personal, by diagnosing the extent of these values ​​in Islamic religious education curricula. This study relied on the descriptive approach, according to a comprehensive survey method, and using a questionnaire sent to the research community consisting of all religious education teachers in Islamic primary schools in the province of South Holland. In analyzing the data, the study relied on descriptive analysis methods. The study revealed that the general orientation of the research community is neutrality regarding the presence of four of these values, which are: human brotherhood, citizenship, at-tazkiyah (cleaning and development) and al-omran (being constructive), and also neutrality regarding the curricula's observance of cultural pluralism in the family and school environments of the child in presenting the values of the relational dimension. The study made recommendations related to the content of Islamic religious education curricula to raise their ability to contribute to the desired formation of the child's identity within the pluralistic Dutch social context and recommend benefiting from the experience of this research in similar social settings contexts.

The true identity of Eutrombicula alfreddugesi (Oudemans, 1910) (Acari: Trombidiformes: Trombiculidae)

The genus Eutrombicula Ewing (Trombiculidae) currently includes more than 80 species parasitizing amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals worldwide. More than forty species have been recorded from the Americas. Eutrombicula alfreddugesi (Oudemans) is the type species for the genus and has been recorded from: Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, USA, and Venezuela. In the present study, we redescribed E. alfreddugesi based on examination of the types deposited at the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (formerly Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, RMNH), Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands. Drawings were made using a phase contrast microscopy Nikon eclipse E600 and all the figures were prepared using Inkscape and Photoshop software. After examination of the types described by Oudemans in 1910, we noticed differences between type slides and the numerous redescriptions made over the last 100+ years. While none of the characters observed will affect the diagnosis of the genus, we did find characters to reliably identify this species. However, all the records for this species from the Americas should be reviewed considering our redescription. In this study, we provided a redescription of E. alfreddugesi, as a starting point for the reorganizing of all records of this and other Eutrombicula species in the Americas.

Bicycle trips in Endomondo, Google Maps, and MapQuest: A comparison between South Florida and North Holland

ABSTRACT Comparison of routes recommended by online trip planners, such as Google Maps and MapQuest, with routes traveled by cyclists allows estimation of whether the routing criteria used in such trip planners are the same as those used by cyclists. This study uses GPS tracking data from the Endomondo fitness tracker app from trips in Miami-Dade (Florida) and North Holland and compares their characteristics to cycling routes suggested by Google Maps, MapQuest and the shortest path. Results highlight which trip attributes differ between Endomondo and its alternative trips, and how consistent those differences are across the two study areas. For example, Endomondo cyclists in both regions go through fewer traffic signals, and use more cycleways, footways, or bike lanes than suggested routes from Google and MapQuest. A multinomial logit model on observed Endomondo trips provides insight into the routing preferences of Endomondo commute and sport cyclists in both study regions.

Experiments in sandscaping: Liminal entanglements on the Norfolk and South Holland Coast

This hybrid creative-critical article explores how new ways of living beyond the current environmental crisis are forged on two sandscaping schemes that have been constructed as new experimental measures against coastal erosion. The Zandmotor, created in 2011, is an artificial peninsula built out of sand on the coast of South Holland. The success of this project inspired a similar sandscaping scheme at Bacton on the coast of Norfolk, constructed in 2019. The strange liminal landscapes that are the result of these projects are not just symbols of adaptive, nature-based water management in times of rising sea levels, they also become time machines, making fossils of different times emerge out of the sand taken from the seabed of the North Sea. In addition, the sandscapes are symbols of the artificialization of the coastal landscape, given the fact that sand suppletions disrupt not only life on the beach, but also destroy much bottom-dwelling life on the seabed from which the sand is harvested. However, these unique liminal landscapes between land and sea also create new ecological opportunities. At the Zandmotor, for example, rare bristle worms and Baltic clams have made their unexpected appearance. Moreover, the sandscape invites people not just to look for fossilized mammoth teeth, but also inspires them to create sense-altering art projects specifically adapted to the unique conditions in the area. In this article, I trace these various significances of both sandscaping schemes and argue that they cannot be reduced to any of these different meanings. Instead, I describe the Zandmotor as an example of Donna Haraway’s idea of ‘staying with the trouble’ (: 4) and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s concept of ‘contaminated diversity’ (: 30). For although enormous amounts of animal and plant life have been destroyed for the creation of the Zandmotor, this does not discredit the fact that this new liminal environment has opened up new ecological opportunities for multispecies flourishing, creating unexpected combinations of landscapes and creatures. These new combinations inspire a shift in thinking about coastal environments and present new ways of living that may emerge beyond the current environmental crisis.

A mixed-methods approach to elucidate SARS-CoV-2 transmission routes and clustering in outbreaks in native workers and labour migrants in the fruit and vegetable packaging industry in South Holland, the Netherlands, May to July 2020

ObjectivesTo obtain insight into SARS-CoV-2 clustering and transmission routes during outbreaks in the predominantly migrant workforce of the fruit and vegetable packaging industry of South Holland, the Netherlands, May to July 2020. DesignThis mixed-methods study applied direct observation and interviews, epidemiologic investigation, source and contact data analysis and whole-genome sequencing. ResultsWe detected 46 SARS-CoV-2 cases and 4 outbreaks with a proportional representation of labour migrant and native workers in 6 unrelated facilities. Complete viral genome sequences revealed at least 3 clusters of native workers and labour migrants, 2 within and 1 between facilities. On-site inspections found adequate implementation of preventative measures to which both native workers and labour migrants showed suboptimal adherence. Being a labour migrant was associated with living in shared housing, but not with more contacts or different sources. ConclusionsThe fruit and vegetable packaging industry gave the impression of sufficient preparedness and control. Suboptimal adherence to the facilities’ preventative guidelines could have facilitated work floor transmission. Community and household transmission are likely to have contributed to outbreaks. We encourage further research into risk factors for transmission in labour migrants and application of these insights into targeted public health policy.

Comparison of cycling path characteristics in South Florida and North Holland among three GPS fitness tracker apps

Data from GPS-based fitness tracker apps have become a prominent source for studying cycling behavior. This type of crowd-sourced data provides larger datasets than were previously attainable by travel surveys and cyclist counts, which allows for the comparison of trip characteristics between geographic regions and the study of temporal trends in bicycle ridership. Researchers acknowledge that different types of biases come with tracking data from fitness tracker apps, such as self-selection bias, which is partially based on different target audiences among fitness tracker apps. This begs the question as to whether the behavior of cyclists, and thus the characteristics of routes traveled, varies among the apps. To provide a first insight into this question, this research analyzes trips reported on three fitness tracker apps, Bikemap, Endomondo, and MapMyFitness, for South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties) and North Holland. Comparison of trip characteristics is made among the three apps and across both study regions. Results show that cycling behavior observed in the three apps is similar relative to a set of control trips in each region (e.g. fewer primary roads than reference trips observed), but that there are some pronounced differences in trips recorded with the different apps between both regions. This suggests that geographic region plays a role in how trip characteristics recorded on different apps compare to each other, demonstrating the presence of an additional aspect of geographic bias in crowd-sourced cycling data.

Building with Nature perspectives

This publication offers an overview of the latest cross-disciplinary developments in the field of Building with Nature (BwN) for the protection of coastal regions. The key philosophy of BwN is the employment of natural processes to serve societal goals, such as flood safety. The starting point is a systems-based approach, making interventions that employ the shaping forces of the natural system to perform measures by self-regulation. Initial pilots of this innovative approach originate from coastal engineering, with the Sand Motor along the coast of South Holland as one of the prime examples. From here, the BwN approach has evolved into a new generation of nature-based hydraulic solutions, such as mangrove forests, coastal reefs, and green dikes.

De forten langs de Rijn in Romeins Nederland

Summary During the early forties AD the Roman army built several timber auxiliary forts on the southern bank of the Lower Rhine. Remains of nine timber forts and a fortlet, sometimes well preserved, have been found in the western part of the Netherlands, in the Rhine delta: at Vechten (Bunnik), Utrecht, De Meern, Woerden, Bodegraven, Zwammerdam, Alphen aan den Rijn, Leiden-Roomburg and Valkenburg (South Holland) and the fortlet at Valkenburg-Marktveld. There also are indications of military presence further upstream, but there are hardly any traces to be found. The Rhine has destroyed most of the evidence, except for dredge finds and some structures in Arnhem-Meinerswijk and Herwen-De Bijland. Wood was available in the surroundings and it was used for building the forts. In the last quarter of the second century AD most of these auxiliary forts were partly rebuilt in stone. This paper gives an overview of the recent thoughts on the Roman forts on the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands in their political context.

Regional variation in the pronunciation of /s/ in the Dutch language area

Abstract This paper reports on an explorative sociophonetic study of the phoneme /s/ in the Dutch language area. Our aim is to investigate the regional variation in the realisation of this phoneme, and to test experimentally the observation of ) that /s/ is sometimes pronounced more like [ ʃ ], especially in the Randstad area (called s-retraction). One hundred native speakers of Dutch produced nineteen monosyllabic words containing /s/ in different syllabic contexts. The speakers were born and raised in one of five regions of the Dutch language area (West Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Netherlands Limburg, South Holland and Groningen). Spectral centre of gravity (CoG) and duration were used to measure the degree of s-retraction. CoG values turned out to be significantly lower (consistent with more retraction) in the regions in The Netherlands than in the Flemish regions. Speakers from South Holland produced significantly shorter /s/ than the other speakers. In conclusion, /s/ shows patterns of regional variation that are not fully in line with the observation forwarded by ). The difference between the Flemish and Dutch regions shows that s-retraction is found in an area larger than the Randstad, possibly pointing towards a North-South pattern of variation.

Sravnitel´noe stikhovedenie: metrika i ritmika by E. V. Kazartsev (review)

Sravnitel´noe stikhovedenie: metrika i ritmika by E. V. Kazartsev (review)

Tackling the “New Normal”: A Resilience Assessment Method Applied to Real-World Urban Water Systems

The water sector is, currently and for the foreseeable future, challenged by rising levels of uncertainty in demand and availability of water, in a context of aging infrastructure and limited investment. In order to support strategic planning, water companies need a way to assess how their system behaves when faced with a range of changing conditions (climatic trends, asset deterioration, behavioral patterns, etc.) as well as accidents/incidents and/or extreme events (wildcards). In this study, a resilience assessment methodology was demonstrated, with ‘stress tests’ alternative water system configurations (including systems designed with decentralized or distributed philosophies) under a range of scenarios and extreme events. A ‘resilience profile graph’ was developed to quantify the performance of each configuration. The methodology was applied to the real-world urban water system of Oasen, which supplies the eastern part of the Province of South Holland, where the current system configuration and two potential future configurations were tested (one decentralized and one distributed). We show how the concept of resilience, operationalized through this methodology, can assist long term decision making and support strategic infrastructure planning.

New indicators and indexes for benchmarking university\u2013industry\u2013government innovation in medical and life science clusters: results from the European FP7 Regions of Knowledge HealthTIES project

BackgroundWhile the European Union is striving to become the ‘Innovation Union’, there remains a lack of quantifiable indicators to compare and benchmark regional innovation clusters. To address this issue, a HealthTIES (Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for Economic Success) consortium was funded by the European Union’s Regions of Knowledge initiative, research and innovation funding programme FP7. HealthTIES examined whether the health technology innovation cycle was functioning differently in five European regional innovation clusters and proposed regional and joint actions to improve their performance. The clusters included BioCat (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), Medical Delta (Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft, South Holland, Netherlands), Oxford and Thames Valley (United Kingdom), Life Science Zürich (Switzerland), and Innova Észak-Alföld (Debrecen, Hungary).MethodsAppreciation of the ‘triple helix’ of university–industry–government innovation provided the impetus for the development of two quantifiable innovation indexes and related indicators. The HealthTIES H-index is calculated for disease and technology platforms based on the h-index proposed by Hirsch. The HealthTIES Innovation Index is calculated for regions based on 32 relevant quantitative and discriminative indicators grouped into 12 categories and 3 innovation phases, namely ‘Input’ (n = 12), ‘Innovation System’ (n = 9) and ‘Output’ (n = 11).ResultsThe HealthTIES regions had developed relatively similar disease and technology platform profiles, yet with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The regional profiles of the innovation cycle in each of the three phases were surprisingly divergent. Comparative assessments based on the indicators and indexes helped identify and share best practice and inform regional and joint action plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the HealthTIES regions.ConclusionThe HealthTIES indicators and indexes provide useful practical tools for the measurement and benchmarking of university–industry–government innovation in European medical and life science clusters. They are validated internally within the HealthTIES consortium and appear to have a degree of external prima facie validity. Potentially, the tools and accompanying analyses can be used beyond the HealthTIES consortium to inform other regional governments, researchers and, possibly, large companies searching for their next location, analyse and benchmark ‘triple helix’ dynamics within their own networks over time, and to develop integrated public–private and cross-regional research and innovation strategies in Europe and beyond.