Playing to be influencers: A comparative study on Spanish and Colombian young people on Instagram

This paper explores and describes how Colombian and Spanish young people present themselves on Instagram according to the social game and the symbolic capital that they infer as normative from influencers. The methodology used combines the focus group technique (seven groups) with a content analysis of the profiles of the informants (N = 651). In total, 53 first-year creative industries university students participated. The results show that the work developed by the influencers has given rise to an aspirational narrative genre that young people tend to emulate according to the Instagram habitus in order to be recognised as leading players. Their self-presentation has three main features: a) a preference for showing ‘in-classifying’ practices such as leisure and tastes for freedom; b) the predominance of a specific type of profile and gestures that avoids self-production markers and aspires towards a global audience; and c) the normalisation of self-promotional discourse. Most informants experience Instagram as a game in which they compete to accumulate visibility conceived as relational validation, although in the case of Colombian informants there is a more professional outlook towards the platform. Finally, for all of them, Instagram constitutes a serious game, and many of them admit to feeling too exposed. As a result, they have implemented self-surveillance practices, such as consulting with peers before posting photographs, using secondary accounts and deleting posts.

multimodal forms of tourism promotional discourse in the age COVID-19

The study aimed at finding out the multimodal forms of tourism promotional discourse of promoting hotels in Bali in the age of COVID-19. The theory used in this study is the semiotic theory. In addition, descriptive qualitative is a method used to find forms of advertising, text construction, linguistic aspects, and visual elements of hotel advertisements in the Sanur and Kuta areas in the era of implementing the new normal with researchers as instruments or tools in this study. The data, then, were analyzed inductively. Based on the results of the study, the forms of hotel and tourism advertisements during the implementation of the New Normal were categorized into hotel and tourism audiovisual advertisements and printed hotel and tourism advertisements. Text construction in marketing hotels covers three aspects, namely representational aspects, relational aspects, and textual identity aspects. In addition, the type of semiotic system found in hotel and tourism advertisements during the implementation of the New Normal consists of linguistic aspects, visual forms, and body language. Transcreation of tourism advertisements after the implementation of the new normal consists of verbal, visual, and cultural aspects of advertising.

SURVEILLANCE FOR INDEPENDENCE: DISCURSIVE FRAMEWORKS IN SMART CARE FOR DEMENTIA

Smart technologies promise a future in which the care needed by vulnerable people can be delivered at a distance, informed by Internet of Things-enabled remote sensing and by artificial intelligence used to identify problematic patterns in physiological readings and behavioural data. In this context, surveillance is widely portrayed as a means to maintain the independence of those being monitored. This paper examines the promise of smart care through analysis of documentation from policy, from research and development settings and from marketing materials aimed at carers, people living with dementia and social care agencies in the UK. For informal carers, the monitoring carried out by smart care systems is predominantly framed as reassurance for the carer, while for the person living with dementia a reassurance is offered that there will be help at times of need. For healthcare professionals, lack of knowledge is positioned as a limiting factor on providing optimal care and hence the monitoring offered by smart care becomes an ethical responsibility in the search for improved care as well as a means to increased efficiency. While smart care aims to promote independence, this form of surveillance and the AI-generated predictions that are built upon it can offer imperatives to action that may act against autonomy. To evaluate ethical implications more fully we need to move beyond the promotional discourse to find out more about how people live with such systems and how these systems become a part of the relations of expertise and responsibility that pervade care.

“Inspiring” and configuring consumer experience in times of crisis: An analysis of the discursive practices of an Athenian shopping mall’s promotional system

This article focuses on the processes that the largest shopping mall in Athens has developed in order to produce meaning about itself as an institution of consumption, as well as the consumer experience and practices, and its visitors–consumers. From a poststructuralist perspective, we analyze the signifying articulations that the promotional discourse attempts, along with the linguistic and visual techniques which activate specific significations about this microcosm of consumption, the “fun” experience, fashion, beauty, shopping and entertainment practices, eating out, and the consumer subjectivity. The ultimate aim of this research is to point out the cultural role of such an institution with regard to the configuration of an order of discourse about consumption and the reproduction of the consumerist ethos during an economic crisis, as well as the possible effects that such a discourse might have on a wider cultural level.

“I felt a bit nervous”

Virtual Exchange is a collective term for a set of collaborative online learning practices that cut across institutional, cultural, and international borders. Moving outside their learning environments, the participants engage in project work with foreign peers. The teams have to work across time zones, use foreign languages, manage cultural differences and apply digital tools for communication and collaboration. The virtual projects enhance the development of transversal work/life skills, which are an asset in today’s global labour market. The aim of the present study is to explore the emotional trajectory of Virtual Exchange based on the students’ e-portfolios. By analysing the self-evaluations, we can get a better understanding of the emotional experience of participating in Virtual Exchange and use the findings to develop the pedagogical facilitation of such projects. The research questions address the emotions that the students described when they were reporting on their learning experiences and the individual emotional trajectories that emerge in the students’ reports. Data was collected in the form of e-portfolios that the student participants submitted at the end of a Finnish-Polish Virtual Exchange project in 2019. The “Combining Expertise from Linguistics and Tourism: A Tale of Two Cities Told in Videos” collaboration had promotional discourse in tourism as its main theme. The participants (N=25) were university students majoring in tourism (Poland) and in foreign language studies (Finland). The e-portfolios were analysed with the help of dialogical approach combined with discourse analytical insights (Sullivan, 2012).

Promotional practices in mission and vision statements of corporate companies: A systemic functional linguistic analysis

Promotional strategies have become discursive practices in corporate companies’ mission and vision statements. However, less focus was given to the role of grammar in shaping this text type as part of promotional discourse. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is arguably the most definite and certain linguistic analysis as a meaning-making resource. Hence, the purpose of this study was to use transitivity grammar theory in SFL to analyse the use of experiential processes in enacting promotional rhetorical moves. Following purposive sampling, mission and vision statements of hundred international companies, which were ranked by current market capitalization, were selected. Using textual analysis, we applied transitivity grammar theory to manually analyse promotional rhetorical moves. The results were quantified and presented in tabulation form. The findings revealed that mental and relational processes are favoured grammatical patterns used by corporate firms to write mission statements that focus on building public image and establish self-concept. The findings of this research can prove helpful for other corporate companies to use similar grammatical patterns to develop mission and vision statements.

Analysis of Barcelona’s tourist landscape as projected in tourism promotional videos

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the tourist landscape as represented in Turisme de Barcelona’s YouTube tourism promotional videos, looking at the landscape’s tangible locations, symbolic and tourist assets and the protagonists in an effort to interpret its storytelling in an overtourism context. Design/methodology/approach The mixed methodology is based on a visual content analysis of promotional videos posted on the official Barcelona tourism YouTube channel. Quantitative data analysis about the assets and their localization was completed with a qualitative assessment of the way these assets are displayed to unveil the narrative they convey. Findings The results highlight that Barcelona’s projected image is mainly based on tangible heritage (especially monuments), its recognizable cityscape and its eno-gastronomic assets. This rather conventional image is geographically concentrated on the neighborhoods perceived as tourist neighborhoods. Practical implications This analysis provides a critical reflection of the actual strategy of destination management organizations and the storytelling they transmit. The findings can help to orientate their future actions and provide a method of analysis that can be repeated for other destinations. Originality/value This paper sheds new light on the use of urban landscapes in nonstatic images both as a narrative subject and as a tangible tourist space in promotional discourse.

A KÖZÖSSÉG ÁLTAL TÁMOGATOTT MEZŐGAZDÁLKODÁS SZUBJEKTÍV ASPEKTUSAI

Elméleti háttérA közösség által támogatott mezőgazdálkodás (CSA) gyorsan növekvő jelenség világszerte, a helyi élelmiszer termelésének és elosztásának az a módja, amikor a termelő és a fogyasztók (tagok) közvetlenül elköteleződnek egymás felé. A közösségi mezőgazdálkodási rendszerek, mint alulról jövő társadalmi kezdeményezések, az élelmiszerek „árutlanítása" felé tett törekvésként is értelmezhetők, és szorosan kapcsolódnak a fenntarthatóság kérdésköréhez, mely a pszichológiai és az egészségfejlesztési diskurzusba hazánkban még alig került be.MódszertanA szakirodalmak kiválasztása során először konkrét szókombinációk mentén kerestünk cikkeket, majd a talált cikkek irodalmi hivatkozásait áttanulmányoztuk; illetve szakirodalom-kereső portálok elsődlegesen talált cikkeihez ajánlott további cikkeit tekintettük át a CSA-részvétellel járó tapasztalatok szempontjából.EredményekÁttekintésünk alapján látható, hogy a részvétel nemcsak konkrét előnyök mentén értelmezhető, hanem a további aspektusok, mint Hasonló gondolkodás, Lokalitás (város-vidék tengely), Személyes törődés, Életmódváltás, valamint az Újraírt sémák taglalása is legalább olyan fontos.KövetkeztetésekVéleményünk szerint a CSA-ban való részvétel átgondolása hasznos információkat nyújthat többek között a fenntartható pozitív mentális egészség fogalmának kibontásában.Theoretical backgroundCommunity Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a rapidly growing phenomenon worldwide, a model of production and distribution of local food that connects the producer and consumers (members) directly. As a grassroot initiative, CSAs can be seen as a step towards the decommodification of food and are directly associated with sustainability which is rarely involved in psychological and health promotional discourse in Hungary.MethodsIn the selection process of literature, at first papers containing specific word combinations were selected. Articles recommended by academic literature search portals during this process and references section of the selected papers were studied further in the context CSA involvement to find more relevant articles.ResultsBased on our review it seems that CSA participation can be interpreted not only through factual advantages: Similar Thinking, Locality: urban-rural axis, Personal Care, Lifestyle Change, and Rewriting of Schemes are at least as important.ConsequenciesAccording to our view, studying participation in CSA may yield useful information for developing the concept of sustainable positive mental health.