Information graphics (bar charts, line graphs, grouped bar charts, etc.) often appear in popular media such as newspapers and magazines. In most cases, the information graphic is intended to convey a high-level message; this message plays a role in understanding the document but is seldom repeated in the document’s text. This paper presents our methodology for recognizing the intended message o...

We present results of an eight-week case study of the cameraphone use of one extended family. Our goal was to understand not only how they used these technologies as part of existing socialand workrelated communication and photographic practices but also to understand what influences how people use or do not use their cameraphone and multimedia messaging technologies. Drawing from the new media...

Taking as its departure point studies on motivation in language learning, the paper examines their implications for tertiary Italian teaching in Australia. In the context of current government policies, maintenance of tertiary enrolment numbers is essential for the survival of the discipline. Accordingly, strategies which favour motivation need to be identified. These include taking steps to un...

The information explosion in modern days across various media calls for effective opinion mining for timely digestion of public views and appropriate follow-up actions. Current studies on sentiment analysis have primarily focused on uncovering aspects like subjectivity, sentiment and credibility from written data, while spoken data are less addressed. This paper reports on our pilot work on con...

Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002), a cognitive theory of human processes of innovation, can be productively used alongside critical literacy approaches, for the analysis of how teachers and learners draw selectively, transformatively and purposively from aspects of the mass media. While numerous studies have pointed to the complexity of the relationship between global...

This article suggests that the Chicago School’s use of ecological metaphors has much to offer scholars interested in the complexities of the contemporary media environment. The article opens by considering how the use of ecological metaphors enabled the Chicago School to build an empirical and progressive approach to the study of human forms of organization. It then traces how the use of ecolog...

This article presents results from a study of online presence in activist milieus associated with the radical left in Sweden discussed from a perspective of non-participation. With the aim to further the understanding of digital nonparticipation as communicative strategy in activism, it builds upon empirical findings and argues that the online practices and use of social media, as could be obse...