The advent of new technologies has always spurred questions about changes in journalism – its content, its means of production, and its consumption. A quite recent development in the realm of digital journalism is software-generated content, i.e. automatically produced content. Companies such as Automated Insights offer services that, according to themselves “humanizes big data sets by spotting patterns, trends and key insights and describing those findings in plain English that is indistinguishable from that produced by a human writer” (Automated Insights, 2012).

This paper seeks to investigate how readers perceive software-generated content in relation to similar content written by a journalist. This is investigated through the following empirical research questions:

RQ1 – How is software-generated content perceived by readers, in regards to overall quality and credibility?

RQ2 – Are the software-generated content discernable from similar content written by human journalists?

The study utilizes an experimental methodology where respondents were subjected to different news articles that were written by a journalist or software-generated. The respondents were then asked to answer questions about how they perceived the article; its overall quality, credibility, objectiveness etc.The paper presents the results from a first small-scale study and they indicate that the software-generated content is perceived as, for example, descriptive, boring and objective, but not necessarily discernable from content written by journalists.

The paper discusses the results of the study and its implication for journalism practice.

Since their breakthrough in the mid 1990's, web sites have become one of the most important channels for communication at Swedish universities. Drawing upon the analytical framework of "the production of culture perspective", the thesis investigates how the form and content of Swedish university web sites are influenced by the production milieu in which they are produced.

Based on quantitative content analysis of the home pages of university web sites, the thesis documents changes in the form and content, such as links, headings, and body matter becoming more focused on marketing, as well as an increasing need for different kinds of navigation aids on the web sites. In addition to this, the thesis presents the results of fifteen in-depth interviews with informants working at various levels of the web organizations at Swedish universities. Using the production of culture perspective, together with previous research on media production in general, and literature on more specific areas, such as organization theory and communication, and media and technology, this presentation is followed by a discussion and analysis of structural, production related, factors, and their influence on the form and content of the web sites.

The overall conclusion of the thesis is that the production of university web sites - their form and content - is about much more than available technology, web development processes, and different programming languages, to mention but a few examples. It is also about organizational routines, about the ways decisions are made, about policies for web publishing within the overall organization, about different stakeholders being put against each other, and it is about strategic choices about what to publish on the web and not. Furthermore, the thesis shows that structural factors function as constraints, as well as facilitators of web site production. For example, the width of web pages increases in correspondence with the increasing number of larger, high-resolution, displays used by the user; local policies and strategies decides the content to be focused; and a consistent form and layout of the university web sites are inhibited by the organizational structures and lines of command.

The advent of new technologies has always spurred questions about changes in journalism—its content, its means of production, and its consumption. A quite recent development in the realm of digital journalism is software-generated content, i.e. automatically produced content. This paper seeks to investigate how readers perceive software-generated content in relation to similar content written by a journalist. The study utilizes an experimental methodology where respondents were subjected to different news articles that were written either by a journalist or were software-generated. The respondents were then asked to answer questions about how they perceived the article—its overall quality, credibility, objectivity, etc. The paper presents the results from an initial small-scale study with findings suggesting that while the software-generated content is perceived as descriptive and boring, it is also considered to be objective although not necessarily discernible from content written by journalists. The paper discusses the results of the study and its implication for journalism practice.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and exemplify a method for analyzing the form and content of web sites. The paper is based on empirical work conducted by myself in late 2004 and beginning of 2005. Using quantitative content analysis I analyzed Swedish university web sites in different versions from 1996 to 2005. The purpose of the analysis was to explore how the form and content of these web sites has changed over time. This paper shows how the analysis was done; focusing on the methodological aspects of, and the different steps in, the analysis. To exemplify what kind of data the analysis yielded, a preliminary short version of the results of the analysis is included. The paper ends with a few examples of how the empirical data may be used in the analysis of how production conditions affect the outcome of the web design processes

The purpose of this paper is to describe and exemplify a method for analyzing the form and content of web sites. The paper is based on empirical work conducted by myself in late 2004 and beginning of 2005. Using quantitative content analysis I analyzed Swedish university web sites in different versions from 1996 to 2005. The purpose of the analysis was to explore how the form and content of these web sites has changed over time. This paper shows how the analysis was done; focusing on the methodological aspects of, and the different steps in, the analysis. To exemplify what kind of data the analysis yielded, a preliminary short version of the results of the analysis is included. The paper ends with a few examples of how the empirical data may be used in the analysis of how production conditions affect the outcome of the web design processes.

The advent of new technologies has always spurred questions about changes injournalism – its content, its means of production, and its consumption. A quite recentdevelopment in the realm of digital journalism is software-generated content, i.e.automatically produced content.

This paper seeks to investigate how readers perceive software-generated content inrelation to similar content written by (human) journalists. This is investigated through the following empirical research questions:

RQ1 – How is software-generated content perceived by readers, in regards to overallquality and credibility?

RQ2 – Are the software-generated content discernable from similar content written byhuman journalists?

Media matter. Most citizens’ in contemporary democracies get their information about current affairs and politics through the media. Political communication studies have for long time analysed the interplay between media content and journalistic style and political attitudes and public trust in political institutions. This paper adds to this discussion by addressing another dimension: the possible impact of journalistic transparency – offered in online-journalism – on political trust.

Methodologically, the study was based on a web-based experiment including 1,320 respondents. The treatment groups comprised the same version of an online news article with additional indicators for disclosure transparency and participatory transparency. The article covered a local political issue and politicians form both ruling and opposition political parties appeared in the text.

The results indicate that transparency effects on political trust may be overestimated. This experimental study did not confirm any significant positive correlation between transparency and the public trust towards local politicians appearing in the news.

A contemporary debate in media studies concerns participation and empowerment, and to whatextent digital media shift power to the citizens. This study assesses the long-term viability of participatoryjournalism using Swedish content and user data. Inclusion of comments and blog-linkson news sites increased from 2007 to 2010, and decreased rather dramatically from 2011 onward.Posting user comments or writing blogs have never been activities that have appealed to a majorityof the Swedes. Participatory journalism seems to have decreasing value to producers and little appealto users. A shift in how power is distributed in the public sphere is absent. This is not primarily aproblem of reluctant producers but, more importantly, a lack of interest from users.

Journalism's appeal to the public is in decline and the causes and remedies for this are debated in society and academia. One dimension that has garnered attention is that of journalistic norms and how they are performed; it has been proposed that a journalism based on a different, more transparent, normative base can better connect with citizens, compared with the current prevailing norm of journalistic objectivity. However, the opinions of citizens themselves have been remarkably absent and, in order to inform the debate, this study inductively investigates how citizens view and relate to the notion of good journalism. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of Bourdieu's concept of doxa, journalistic role performance, and social contract theory, this study is based on the results of 13 focus groups. The findings suggest that the respondents’ views about good journalism are quite in accordance with the traditional norms of the journalistic field; however, there is more emphasis on stylistic and linguistic qualities. Few calls are made for transparency. The results suggest that a remedy to the decreasing trust in news may not lay in the changing of norms, but rather in how already established norms and values of the journalistic field are performed.

The accelerating news cycle means there is a risk that errors become more common but digital media also allows for correcting errors continuously and being transparent about this. In this study we investigate Swedish citizens’ attitudes towards errors and corrections. The results demonstrate that citizens have strong expectations that news media publish correct information and they have little tolerance for errors. People’s background and media use does not affect attitudes towards errors and corrections to any large extent but media trust explains a small fraction of the results – it is only those who already trust the media that appreciate corrections.

Digital media allow for instant tracking of audience behaviour, thus enabling a potential negotiation between journalists’ traditional authority and professional news values, on the one hand, and the audience’s power in terms of ignoring or paying attention to the journalistic outcome, on the other. The present study investigates whether clicks change news values and have an impact on news routines in tabloid, broadsheet and public service newsrooms. The findings indicate that audience metrics bring a new dimension to the news evaluation process regardless of publishing tradition, but that the commercial media seem to keep a closer tab on traffic. In general, journalists strive for a “good mix” between customization to achieve audience satisfaction and a desire for editorial independence.

This longitudinal study compares the development and implementation of multimedia on Swedish broadsheet and tabloid online news sites between 2005 and 2010. It also seeks the reasons behind these developments by interviewing journalists working on the sites. The results show that the initial implementation of multimedia was slow but increased sharply in pace between 2007 and 2008. By 2010, on average, one in four news items had some element of multimedia attached to them. Furthermore, results show that it was the quality papers that were the quickest off the mark rather than tabloids. The antecedents for this advance seem to be a mix of technological capacities, professional norms and economic needs.

Convergence is often said to have great impact on journalism. More specifically, multimedia, as one dimension of convergence, is predicted to have impact on the journalistic skill-set. Moreover, convergence, in the form of online content syndication, has been suggested to affect the quality and diversity of online news. Some studies indicate that convergence does not have any significant effect, whereas others indicate that it does. So far, few studies have investigated the impact of convergence on online news over time. The small number of existing longitudinal studies has only investigated the existence of convergence (in various aspects) on American news sites, which indicate presence but not the level of impact. Furthermore, none of the longitudinal studies examine the reasons for the development, as they focus on news content and not the processes behind the creation of news. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine impact of convergence on online news content over time as well as the reasons for this impact.Previous scholarship highlights that convergence is a term with many facets that may be investigated on numerous levels. In this paper two dimensions of convergence of news content are investigated: multimedia and online content syndication. Multimedia refers to content which integrates images, text, graphics, moving images, and/or sound in a way that is not possible in a regular paper magazine. Online content syndication refers to content presented on the web site, but which is originated (and sometimes stored) on another web site.The paper studies the evolution of convergence on four major Swedish news sites, and it presents results from a two-legged study comprising interviews with executives at news sites and a longitudinal quantitative content analysis of news sites spanning from 2005 to 2010. Preliminary results indicate that all four news sites increasingly adopt multimedia and online content syndication over time. Since 2008 1 in 5 news stories has some multimedia features and since 2009 1 in 6 news stories are syndicated on average. Furthermore, the rise of multimedia in news content is concentrated to 2007 and 2008 on all four news sites while the implementation of content syndication is more dispersed.The main reasons given for adopting multimedia is that the technology and software now supports multimedia content. The main reasons stated for adopting online content syndication are economic incentives and that it is seen as a way to help the readers find information in an information-rich environment. The development and the reasons behind it, as well as its implications for journalism are discussed.

Transparency has emerged as an ethical principle in contemporary journalism and is contended to improve accountability and credibility by journalists and scholars alike. However, to date, few attempts have been made to record the public’s views on transparency. This study enriches current knowledge by using data from an experiment, survey and focus groups in Sweden collected between 2013 and 2015. Overall, the results suggest that the respondents are not particularly moved by transparency in any form; it does not produce much effect in the experiments and is not brought up in the focus groups. While that is the key finding of this study, it should also be noted that various forms of user participation are evaluated negatively, while providing hyperlinks, explaining news selection and framing, and correcting errors are viewed positively. Implications for journalism practice and research are discussed.

Research on relationship management in digital political public relations is scarce. Departing from arelationship management perspective, then, this study seeks to contribute to the field of political public relations by investigating whether political parties take advantage of what digital media platforms offer in terms of long-term commitment and reciprocity utilizing the Swedish national election in 2010 as a case study. The results show that the political parties utilized social media outlets primarily during and just before the time of the election and that interaction between parties and constituents were scarce and shallow. All parties shared the same pattern of activity, although there were some differences in the frequencies of use. Additionally, although user commitment increased over time, there were relatively few users who chose to follow/friend the political parties, suggesting that the large majority of the voters could not easily be reached through these platforms. In essence, the results indicate that social media as a political public relations tool is, so far, dwarfed by more traditional and analogue approaches.

One of the main debates within journalism research during the last decade has been the role of citizens as contributors or, conversely, as threats to the practice of journalism. While participation has been explored from many different theoretical, empirical, and methodological perspectives, one perspective remains noticeably underexplored – the perspective of the citizens themselves. Using social contract theory as a backdrop, this study draws on a representative survey (N = 2091) and focus groups (N = 82) in Sweden. The results show that although citizens do not bring up participation as an important element of journalism, they become more skeptical the more participation affects journalism. Furthermore, they expect journalists to moderate citizen contributions according to established journalistic standards. From the perspective of social contract theory, participation in journalism appears to be more of a problem than a benefit to citizens.

The accelerating news cycle means there is a risk that errors become more common, but digital media also allow for correcting errors continuously and being transparent about this. In this study, we investigate Swedish citizens’ attitudes toward errors and corrections. The results demonstrate that citizens have strong expectations that news media publish correct information and they have little tolerance for errors. People’s background and media use do not affect attitudes toward errors and corrections to any large extent, but media trust explains a small fraction of the results—It is only those who already trust the media that appreciate corrections.

One of the main debates within journalism research the last decade has been the role of citizens as contributors or, conversely, threats to journalism practice. While participation has been explored from many different theoretical, empirical and methodological perspectives, one is eye-catching by its almost complete absence – the perspectives from the citizens themselves. The study situated in a Swedish context, draws from focus groups (N=82) and a representative survey (N=2091). The results show that citizens, firstly, do not bring forth participation as an important element of journalism and, secondly, expects journalists to moderate such contributions according to established journalistic standards. Consequently, the results suggest that the focus from previous research on various forms of participation in journalism is somewhat misguided as it has little appeal to citizens.

Transparency has been proposed to both change the way journalism is being produced and increase its credibility. However, little research has been conducted to assess the connection between transparency and credibility. This study utilizes an experimental setting (N=1320) to measure what impact transparency have on source and message credibility from the user perspective. The results reveals an almost absence of any transparency effect on both source and message credibility although some small significant effects could be observed primarily regarding internal hyperlinks, comments and contextual information. Although further research is desperately needed in this area the study suggest that transparency does not affect the credibility of journalism in the eyes of the contemporary audience and thus have limited appeal as a new norm in journalism.

Transparency has been proposed to both change the way journalism is being produced and increase its credibility. However, little research has been conducted to assess the connection between transparency and credibility. This study utilizes an experimental setting with, in total, 1320 respondents to measure what impact transparency have on source and message credibility from the user perspective. The results reveal an almost absence of any transparency effect on both source and message credibility although some small significant effects could be observed primarily regarding internal hyperlinks, comments and contextual information. Although further research is needed in this area the study suggest that transparency does not affect the credibility of journalism in the eyes of the contemporary audience and thus have limited appeal as a new norm in journalism.

Transparency has been proposed to both change the way journalism is being produced and increase its credibility. However, little research has been conducted to assess the connection between transparency and credibility. This study utilizes an experimental setting (N=1320) to measure what impact transparency have on source and message credibility from the user perspective. The results reveals an almost absence of any transparency effect on both source and message credibility although some small significant effects could be observed primarily regarding internal hyperlinks, comments and contextual information. Although further research is desperately needed in this area the study suggest that transparency does not affect the credibility of journalism in the eyes of the contemporary audience and thus have limited appeal as a new norm in journalism.

Although hyperlinks is essential both in the Internet architecture and pointing out pertinent material in an ocean of information abundance remarkably little research have been committed to this area. Furthermore, few studies have been conducted scrutinizing the long-term impact of communication technology on journalism and journalistic practices. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the research on one specific area of online journalism – the practice of hyperlinking. The study utilizes a longitudinal content analysis of hyperlinking practices in Swedish online news from 2006 to 2012 that allows for comparison if and to what extent publishing tradition and ownership shapes journalistic practice. Five hypotheses are posed and three research questions are asked, all relating to how the news sites make use of hyperlinks, and to what extent. The findings show an erratic pattern in the use of hyperlinks as well for internal as external, and between publishing traditions. The general conclusion is that hyperlinks are not an important aspect of online journalism practice.

Hyperlinks are considered vital to both Internet and digital journalism. This study utilizes a longitudinal content analysis of hyperlinking practices in Swedish online news from 2007 to 2013 to see how hyperlinking evolves over time. It also compares if and to what extent publishing tradition shapes journalistic practice. The findings primarily shows that the over all impact of hyperlinks remain rather unchanged over time but that internal links, while still being most common, decrease in relative importance while external links increase. The general conclusion is that hyperlinks are not an important aspect of online journalism practice.

Hyperlinks are considered vital to both the Web and to digital journalism. This study utilizes alongitudinal content analysis of hyperlinking practices in Swedish online news from 2007 to2013 to see how hyperlinking evolves over time. It also compares if and to what extentpublishing tradition shapes journalistic practice. The findings primarily show that the overallimpact of hyperlinks remains largely unchanged over time but that internal links, while stillbeing most common, decrease in relative importance while external links increase. Thegeneral conclusion is that hyperlinks, so far, are not an important aspect of onlinejournalism practice.

Credibility is fundamental to news media, without it journalism cannot exist.  In recent years many practitioners and researchers have proposed that a new norm, transparency, is changing the way journalism builds credibility. Moreover, it is also suggested that transparency actually improves journalistic credibility and that users will put greater trust in news media as a results of this shift in journalistic practice. Previous research on transparency has investigated journalists’ attitudes and news production settings as well as to what extent transparency is employed in the actual news contents. Although transparency is beginning to be explored on the production and content side, and often praised, no study so far have investigated if different forms of transparency have uniform, if any, effect on user perceptions. Thus, a vital link is missing in exploring if a movement towards a transparency norm is likely or even desirable.

In this study we try to address this, by employing a web-based experimental study to investigate if, and to what extent, different frequently used transparency techniques – such as corrections, timestamps and different forms of user-generated contributions – impinge on journalistic credibility. Consequently, the results will inform what, if any, forms of transparency that could be eligible in journalism practice.

The Centre for HumanIT at Karlstad University aims at strengthening research on "the Human aspects of IT". The present volume consists of contributions from seventeen of the researchers and research students involved in HumanIT activities during the last three years. Some chapters report past activities, some are directed more towards future research activities. The contributions span from the linguistic details of Internet chats, over IT-related stress and privacy risk management, to using ICT to alleviate poverty in the large portions of the world where no-one has ever used any kind of IT appliance. The volume also includes an introduction to the Centre itself.The Swedish Knowledge Foundation (KK-Stiftelsen) has supported HumanIT by a special Platform grant to Karlstad University during January 2001-August 2003. The mentors of this Platform project have provided a preface to the present volume.ContentsBridging the Digital Divide - ICT Solutions Supporting Economic and Social Development for the Unseen MajoritySusanne Sundén & Gudrun WicanderReflecting on ICT and Stress: Conceptual Connections and a Suggested ApplicationBirgitta Johansson-Hidén, Erik Wästlund & Susanne WallinLearning and Understanding E-commerceSten CarlssonPrivacy Risk Management in a Business EnvironmentAlbin ZuccatomCrowds: Anonymity for the Mobile InternetChrister Andersson, Simone Fischer-Hübner & Reine LundinInformation Architecture - a Descriptive OverviewChrister ClerwallThe Trade-off Between Latency and Image Quality on the Web: A User PerspectiveKatarina Asplund & Anna BrunströmTowards a Better System for Text Predicition in Mobile PhonesYlva Hård af SegerstadThe Significance of English Content in a Swedish Web ChatMalin SveningssonOzlab - a System Overview with an Account of Two Years of ExperiencesJohn Sören PetterssonEnterprise Modeling Approach for Information Systems EngineeringPrima Gustiene

This article examines how journalists perceive workplace autonomy in five European countries, based on an email survey (N = 2238) conducted in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Estonia. The article argues that the workplace level functions as a link between the macro level of external pressures and the micro level of perceived influences on news work. Using principal component analysis we explore the dimensionality of workplace autonomy based on a set of 20 survey questions. Regression analysis is then used on the dimensions found in order to determine what affects perception of autonomy in the different dimensions. The most salient explanatory variables are found on the country and organisational levels, whereas the variables age, experience, gender, managerial role and medium have no or limited effects. The results show the organisational and country levels being integrated and that national journalistic culture is the most salient factor explaining perception of autonomy.

This article examines how journalists perceive workplace autonomy in five European countries, based on an email survey (N = 2238) conducted in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Estonia. The article argues that the workplace level functions as a link between the macro level of external pressures and the micro level of perceived influences on news work. Using principal component analysis we explore the dimensionality of workplace autonomy based on a set of 20 survey questions. Regression analysis is then used on the dimensions found in order to determine what affects perception of autonomy in the different dimensions. The most salient explanatory variables are found on the country and organisational levels, whereas the variables age, experience, gender, managerial role and medium have no or limited effects. The results show the organisational and country levels being integrated and that national journalistic culture is the most salient factor explaining perception of autonomy.