Far from "Fauda”: creators with disabilities in an established-outsider figuration in the Israeli film and television industries

Purpose: Ample literature has demonstrated that workers in the creative industries are excluded in terms of gender, race and class. Fewer studies, however, have examined the career advancement challenges faced by creators with disabilities. Drawing on insights from the established-outsider theory, this study aims to fill this lacuna. Design/methodology/approach: The participants were 24 creators in the Israeli film and television industries (FTIs) contending with severe forms of mental or physical and sensory impairment. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore practitioners' conceptions of the challenges they face in making careers in the FTI, as well as how they contend with these challenges. Findings: Intergroup dynamics yield an established-outsider figuration that situates creators with disabilities in a marginal occupational position in the FTI. Creators with disabilities' lack of access to networks of prominent creators place them in a disadvantageous position in the ongoing struggles over scarce resources in the FTI. The structural features of the FTI, which are intertwined with the social mechanisms of stigmatization and exclusion, make it difficult to breach any figuration once established. In defiance of their occupational figuration, creators with disabilities utilize two tactics aimed at professional advancement: hyper-meritocracy and advocacy. These tactics yield only partial success. Research limitations/implications: This study does not represent the voices of decision-makers in the film and television industries in Israel. Practical implications: Implications are suggested regarding the role of culture funds as well as policymakers in advancing workforce diversity and opportunity in the film and television industries. Originality/value: This study addresses covert and unspoken barriers to equality in the creative workforce. The findings also shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workforce diversity and opportunity in the FTI. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Gender in COVID-19 campaigns: An analysis of the Italian government communications

The gender studies approach of this contribution addresses the issue of communication in the Italian government's response to COVID-19. In the past, the government had often focused its communication on the promotion of political activities, with stereotypical representations of men and women instead of a culture of communication based on the concept of ‘civil servant' with a gender lens. This article ponders whether methods of disseminating information and representing the pandemic are driven by innovative models of communication that advocate for a gender-conscious approach. Using a qualitative analysis, this contribution examines the government's communication campaigns during the pandemic and inquires if and how the narrative of the pandemic has impacted the representation of gender. We analyse public service advertisements on television and in the digital media. Our results show distinct features of and issues with mainstream and social media storytelling strategies. © 2023 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

College television at German higher education institutions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

Higher education institutions (HEIs) create a range of media products. Among them are college media produced by students. Even though this heterogeneous media form exists throughout Germany and is therefore part of HEIs' public visibility, it remains unnoticed in the field of higher education communication. This study aims to examine the specific type of college television (CTV) in terms of organizational and editorial structures and altered workflows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study combines a two-wave online survey among all operating German CTV stations in 2017 and 2021 with a qualitative social media analysis of twelve stations. In 2017, intra-curricular CTV operations rated a higher satisfaction level than extra-curricular cases, whereby the explicit support and cooperation with the HEI scores better. The data shows that CTV operations with an intra-curricular linkage to the respective HEI enjoyed a more stable continuity than extra-curricular operations, some of which were forced to cease production over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has limited the CTV operations' workflows in terms of access to equipment and social exchange but has also stimulated a shift in topic selection and distribution strategy. © 2022, the author.

Virus on the screen: consumption habits of the television audience in Spain and Italy (2019-2022)

The effects of the pandemic affect multiple areas of our lives, including those related to the media. In the television field, the pandemic came at a time of great transformation in the sector. After more than two years since its inception, this research addresses a diachronic study that covers four years, and comparative between Italy and Spain. Starting from a longer time perspective constitutes the differential value of this study since it aims to assess what dynamics subsisted or changed after confinement once the process of returning to normality began. This research intends to know, through a quantitative descriptive exploratory methodology, the linear consumption of television by the population of both countries, trying to identify the habits of the audience and the variations in the behavior of the population with respect to the television medium. Analysis carried out allows us to confirm that media consumption during the first phase of the pandemic was exceptional in the evolution of television in both countries, but it did not introduce new dynamics but instead strengthened existing trends. © 2022 Revista Mediterranea de Comunicacion. All rights reserved.

People's Views of Hygiene and Personal Care during COVID-19 Outbreak

The present research aims to ascertain the views of the people in Russia, about their levels of awareness in terms of hygiene and personal care for protection against the coronavirus. Data for this research were collected through an online questionnaire developed by researchers using a quantitative research approach. A total of 439 people living in different districts of the Russian Federation were involved to the research based on simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages. Results revealed that the participants paid attention to not having close contact with other people to protect themselves against the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also revealed that they wash their hands after visiting the toilet and stand one meter away from other people. It was also found that television is the mass medium through which they follow the information on personal care and hygiene-related to the COVID-19 pandemic most frequently.

Analysis of the State of Digital Contact Habits of Primary School Students

The aim of this study is to examine the status of digital contact habits of primary school students during the pandemic period. This study is important because it will reveal the difference between primary school students' digital contact habits before and after the COVID-19 period. The study also has the distinction of being the first within the scope of studies conducted at primary school level in the direction of digital life skills and addiction. Survey method was used. The study group consists of 986 parents of primary school students in three different provinces in districts similar to each other in terms of socioeconomic and cultural aspects. The collected data were obtained by Digital analyze technique. The data was interpreted in the artificial intelligence-algorithmic system. According to the findings, the addiction rate increased in the study group students during the COVID-19 period, and one out of every four children was digitally dependent.

Parents' Views on Distance Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study was conducted to reveal how parents perceive the distance education process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study group consists of 15 participants in Lüleburgaz district of Kirklareli province. The case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study and data were collected online with a semi-structured interview form. Demographic characteristics, problems experienced by parents in distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic, positive and negative experiences, and opinions were interrogated via "Google Forms". The descriptive analysis and content analysis methods were preferred to analyse data. The results showed that parents attributed the inability to learn efficiently during the COVID-19 process to the inefficacy of online education, distraction, anxiety, environment, and noise. Trainings can be given to parents so that they can help their children efficiently in the distance education process. It is recommended that internet infrastructure be strengthened to deal with connection problems.

Data Disaggregation for Inclusive Quality Education in Emergencies: The COVID-19 Experience in Ghana

The process of data analysis provides, undoubtedly, some of the major challenges facing organizations during the implementation of interventions in emergencies. The challenges are primarily due to the lack of direct access to beneficiaries and the rapidly evolving nature of emergencies. This paper outlines how Plan International's Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) project used phone-based surveys to assess the uptake of a Ghana Learning TV (GLTV) programme implemented in partnership with the government. Due to the emergency context and the need for real-time information to guide the implementation of this intervention, there was little time to undertake a major statistical analysis of survey data. This paper discusses how the MGCubed project adopted a simple data disaggregation method using a logic tree technique to gain valuable insights from the survey data. The method allowed for exploring the insights of the data set in real-time without requiring more complex and time-consuming analysis. All views expressed in this article are the author's and not of FCDO.

Reopening with Resilience: Lessons from Remote Learning during COVID-19 in Eastern and Southern Africa

The widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the learning crisis for children living in Eastern and Southern Africa. The crisis has also shown the great need to develop resilient education systems that can provide learning when schools are forced to close. Understanding how to provide remote learning equitably utilizing multiple modalities and emphasizing low-tech solutions in Eastern and Southern Africa is critical given the great challenges facing the region in terms of electricity and connectivity access. This report provides a summary of lessons learned in the East and Southern Africa region from remote learning during COVID-19 and provides concrete recommendations on how to increase the resilience of education systems.

A Worldwide Journey through Distance Education--From the Post Office to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Realities, and Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Surprisingly, distance education is quite an old concept. Its origins date back to the first correspondence-based course, which took place via the postal service in Boston, USA, in the 18th century. Rapid technological developments, especially in video and audio streaming, have increased the availability of such courses and moved learning into the virtual world. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing an accelerated revolution in the learning process, as nearly all forms of education have been shifted online. Will this have a destructive effect on the human psyche? Is humanity sufficiently aware and ready for such a dramatic change? Will we return to physical in-classroom studies, or is remote distance education set to become the new norm? In particular, in medicine, computer science, fine arts, or architectural design, such a rapid change in the way students learn can be quite challenging. In this paper, we provide an overview of the history of distance learning, taking into account teachers' and students' points of view in both secondary and higher education.

Screen-viewing behaviours of children before and after the 2020-21 COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased screen-viewing among children, especially during strict periods of lockdown. However, the extent to which screen-viewing patterns in UK school children have changed post lockdowns is unclear. The aim of this paper is to examine how screen-viewing changed in 10-11-year-old children over the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic, how this compares to before the pandemic, and the influences on screen-viewing behaviour. METHODS: This is a mixed methods study with 10-11-year-olds from 50 schools in the Greater Bristol area, UK. Cross-sectional questionnaire data on minutes of weekday and weekend television (TV) viewing and total leisure screen-viewing were collected pre-COVID-19 in 2017-18 (N = 1,296) and again post-lockdowns in 2021 (N = 393). Data were modelled using Poisson mixed models, adjusted for age, gender, household education and seasonality, with interactions by gender and household education. Qualitative data were drawn from six focus groups (47 children) and 21 one-to-one parent interviews that explored screen-viewing behaviour during the pandemic and analysed using the framework method. RESULTS: Total leisure screen-viewing was 11% (95% CI: 12%-18%) higher post-lockdown compared to pre-COVID-19 on weekdays, and 8% (95% CI: 6%-10%) on weekends, equating to around 12-15 min. TV-viewing (including streaming) was higher by 68% (95% CI: 63%-74%) on weekdays and 80% (95% CI: 75%-85%) on weekend days. Differences in both were higher for girls and children from households with lower educational attainment. Qualitative themes reflected an unavoidable increase in screen-based activities during lockdowns, the resulting habitualisation of screen-viewing post-lockdown, and the role of the parent in reducing post-2020/21 lockdown screen-viewing. CONCLUSIONS: Although screen-viewing was higher post-lockdown compared to pre-COVID-19, the high increases reported during lockdowns were not, on average, sustained post-lockdown. This may be attributed to a combination of short-term fluctuations during periods of strict restrictions, parental support in regulating post-lockdown behaviour and age-related, rather than COVID-19-specific, increases in screen-viewing. However, socio-economic differences in our sample suggest that not all families were able to break the COVID-19-related adoption of screen-viewing, and that some groups may need additional support in managing a healthy balance of screen-viewing and other activities following the lockdowns.

The impact of information sources on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination remains the most powerful weapon against the emergence of new variants of coronavirus (COVID-19). However, false information about COVID-19 vaccines through various platforms including social media remains a major threat to global public health. This study examined the impact of information sources on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). METHODS: A validated web-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 14 March to 16 May 2021, and was administered in both French and English to 2572 participants aged 18 years and over. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, medical and vaccination history, and the information sources (mainstream media and social media) used by the participants during the pandemic were obtained. There were three main outcomes: The vaccinated group were those who responded in the affirmation (Yes) to the question of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who responded 'not sure' or 'no' to the question were then asked if they were willing to be vaccinated when the vaccine became available in their home countries. The responses to this follow-up question were used to derive the second and third outcome variables of 'vaccine hesitancy' and 'vaccine resistance', respectively. A series of logistic regression analyses were used to examine the impact of information sources on the three main outcomes. RESULTS: The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the participants was lowest among newspaper readers (42%) and highest among TV (72%) and social media users (73%). The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine-resistance was also lowest among newspaper readers (37%) but highest among social media users (87%). Multivariate analyses revealed that compared to those who did not use these information sources, SSA participants who relied on the radio (aOR 0.83, 95%CI = 0.70, 0.99), TV (aOR 0.80, 95%CI = 0.65, 0.97) and social media (aOR 0.79, 95%CI = 0.65, 0.97) for information during the pandemic were less likely to be hesitant towards taking the vaccines. However, social media users (aOR 2.13, 95%CI = 1.62, 2.80), those who watched TV (aOR 1.40, 95%CI =1.08, 1.80), relied on healthcare workers (HCWs: aOR 1.32, 95%CI = 1.07, 1.63) and families/friends (aOR 1.31, 95%CI = 1.06, 1.61) for COVID-19 related information during the pandemic were more likely to resist taking the COVID vaccines in this study. Participants who relied on the newspaper for information during the pandemic were less likely to resist the vaccines (aOR 0.77, 95%CI = 0.62, 0.95) compared to non-readers of a newspaper. CONCLUSION: We found that all six information sources except radio were strong predictors of the resistance towards COVID-19 vaccination. Further research on how these channels can be used to improve the availability of reliable healthcare information is needed. Investments in these resources will protect people and empower them to make appropriate choices about their health.

A digital divide in the COVID-19 pandemic: information exchange among older Medicare beneficiaries and stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges for older adults. Medicare enrollment was already an overwhelming process for a high fraction of older adults pre-pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to gain understanding from community organizations and stakeholders about their pre-pandemic and during-pandemic experiences while adapting to continue offering insurance advice to seniors, what resources are available to seniors, and what needs to be done to help seniors make higher quality insurance choices in the Medicare program. In addition, we wanted to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the ways that these stakeholders interacted with Medicare beneficiaries. METHODS: We employed a qualitative strategy to gain a deep understanding of the challenges that these organizations may have faced while offering advice/counseling to older adults. We accomplished this by interviewing a group of 30 stakeholders from different states. RESULTS: Every stakeholder mentioned that some older adults have difficulty making Medicare decisions, and 16 stakeholders mentioned that their system is complex and/or overwhelming for older adults. Twenty-three stakeholders mentioned that Medicare beneficiaries are often confused about Medicare, and this is more noticeable among new enrollees. With the onset of the pandemic, 22 of these organizations mentioned that they had to move to a virtual model in order to assist beneficiaries, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. However, older adults seeking advice/meetings have a strong preference for in-person meetings even during the pandemic. Given that the majority of the beneficiaries that these stakeholders serve may not have access to technology, it was difficult for some of them to smoothly transition to a virtual environment. With Medicare counseling moving to virtual or telephone methods, stakeholders discussed that many beneficiaries had difficulty utilizing these options in a variety of ways. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from our interviews with stakeholders provided information regarding experiences providing Medicare counseling pre- and during-COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the barriers faced by older adults included a complex and overwhelming system, a strong preference for in-person meetings among beneficiaries, challenges with technology, and an increased risk of information overload and misinformation. While bias may exist within the study and sample, given that technology-savvy beneficiaries may not seek help from organizations our study participants work in, they show how the current Medicare system may impact vulnerable older adults who may need support with access to high-speed internet and digital literacy.