This paper discusses the future of journalism, including social-media use. The findings within this paper are based on the results of the "Social Survey on Social Media Use in the Great East Japan Earthquake." The author conducted this Internet-based survey in June 2012, and the results discussed herein are based on a sample size of 1,000 persons. The main findings suggest that social-media use during and immediately following the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan has been developing in a mutually complementary manner with traditional media.
Previous research assessed media reporting on nuclear accidents and risks, whilst studies about the Fukushima accident focused on the impact of the Internet on coverage of the incident. However, little research has addressed news framing or comparisons of the perceptions of journalists in relation to reporting nuclear accidents. The aim of this study is to apply framing analysis to news content in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today about the Fukushima accident. It explores the question of how journalists view reporting on complex events. Content analysis of these three newspapers shows that conflict, responsibility, and economic consequences were the most frequently used frames. According to the journalists interviewed, the biggest problem was the inability to assess information due to contrary positions held by experts. It is argued that the Fukushima accident was framed as a conflict of experts and officials' opinions, utility and government officials' responsibility, and economic consequences for the United States. Adherence to professional norms of objectivity and impartiality was signified as the best approaches to risk reporting.
This study aims to understand haiku phenomena from the viewpoint of communication, which emerges from reciprocal relationships among haiku poets, haiku societies, media on haiku, and other establishments relating to haiku. Such an analytic point of view, which tries to consider both the operation of each autonomous agent and that of the whole system consisted by the agents, is included in the realm of second-order cybernetics. The operation of a system cannot be reduced completely to a system's individual components, which is why such a viewpoint is required. Fundamental informatics, which is employed as a theoretical framework, and two haiku movements, which include shin keiko haiku ("new-trend" haiku) and dento ha haiku (Hototogisu-school haiku), forming an important part of modern haiku history, are the focus of this study. As a result, modern haiku history is considered to be an evolution of a haiku system, whose main incentive is an awareness of the production mechanism of haiku communication occurring through second-order observations in the system. This study also illuminates how haiku poets, haiku societies, and media covereage of haiku play roles in the evolution of the haiku system.
Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have become popular. In the age of social media, many people have become more active online. For example, about half of all global active Internet users are on Facebook (Perry 2012). Personal branding is a very important strategy to build on an individual's strengths, and this kind of branding is expected to contribute to self-actualization. Therefore, the presence of mentors who advise users to discover their own strong points for self-actualization is necessary. In this paper, we propose a personal branding support service, Mentors, which connects mentors and mentees. The core concept is: "Everyone has the face of both a mentor and mentee." The key function is sharing stages of self-analysis in human life design: Determining value, creating a mission, and forming a strategy. From this function, a good match between a mentor and mentee can be found. The program aims to improve human life by understanding the client's strengths and using social media effectively. Future work includes launching Mentors and evaluating its service.
This study applies grounded theory to develop an emic substantive theory of regional integration in Greater East Asia. The role of norms and policies is explored through discursive content analysis of a wide theoretical sample of official elite policy statements dealing with regionalism and related policy areas. A resulting model of regional integration titled "Harmony through Holistic Engagement" is then discussed in relation to the etic consensus on the phenomenon. The study concludes that the etic consensus on the nature of regional integration in Greater East Asia greatly differs from the results of an emic approach and thus reflects a normative consensus rather than a descriptive reality.
This paper explores the influences of the traditional Chinese culture on social relations in China. It provides an introduction to the concept of Guanxi, the notion that social connections are based on socially situated reciprocity. This is different from social interaction in Western society that is based on self-interest and equity. Guanxi represents the foundation of social networks in many Eastern countries. As such, the study of social networks in China requires scholars to examine Guanxi networks. The paper demonstrates how a Guanxi perspective might be added to the examination of various theories that comprise structural (network) theory, including social capital theory, social exchange theory, cognitive and contagion theories, and the role of homophily for the study of Chinese society and its social organizations.