Browsing by Subject "blogi"
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(2019)In this study, I approach happiness as a discursive practice and foucault’dian governance instead of empirical and objective phenomena. The basic assumption is that current western understanding of happiness is based on positive psychology that equates happiness as mental state. In this discourse, happy mind becomes the symbol of a good person and being happy a moral demand for self. In this happiness imperative, one must constantly labor on their personality, thoughts and feelings in the name of better self and life. The context of the study is postfeminist self-help-culture, which is understood as neoliberal and gendered governance. Thus, the demand of happiness is directed especially to young women. Besides the construct of happiness, the interest of the study also is the ideal happy subject which is constructed in the hegemonic happiness discourse. Thus the study explores how happiness, good life and ideal happy figure are constructed in the postfeminist self-help-culture. The data consist of seven wellness blogs. These are analyzed using discourse analytical method and feminist media study readings. Discourse is understood as a regime of knowledge and practice which orders human’s thoughts and actions in the world. Hereby the blogs are not understood as personal writings by the blogger but wider material performatives of the postfeminist self-help-culture. In the study results happiness showed as taken for granted goal of the life, but happiness imperative could also be read as cruel optimism when one becomes exhausted continuously working on themselves. Anyhow, the self-governance was justified by the promise of happiness. According to self-help ethos, positive thinking, cultivating one’s authenticity and continuous work on the self showed to be fundamental objects of happiness. The ideal happy subject also followed this individualistic logic. It showed to be a postfeminist figure, which have a masculine mind but feminine body. Although the hegemonic discourse of happiness claims to be based on the rhetoric of freedom and equality, I propose that its ideal subject follows gendered and heteronormative ideals. Hence many subjects and different ways to be and live are classified as unhappy and abnormal.
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(2014)Objective. The objective of this study is to investigate the use of online learning journals in the context of vocational adult education. The research questions were: What was the meaning of online learning journals for students learning? What aspects influenced the learning experience of students when using online learning journals as part of the activities of the communities of practice? The writing of learning journals was studied using Bereiter and Scardamalia's (1987) theory of writing as knowledge telling and knowledge transformation. Online learning journals were studied as part of activities in communities of practice. They were regarded as artifacts that supported the activities of a community. In the courses investigated blogs were used to facilitate the learning journals and online learning journals were used according to blended learning tradition. Methods. The views of students of three Jollas Institute training courses were studied. Eleven students were interviewed and the information was complemented with interviews of three instructors. Interviews were conducted as focused interviews and the material was analyzed using inductive content analysis. Outcomes and conclusions. Online learning journals had a major impact on students learning. Writing and reading learning journals helped to revise course content, to share experiences and to clarify thoughts. Learning from face-to-face meetings was enhanced by writing the online learning journal. Online learning journals worked as a good tool for the communities of practice. With them students could read and comment on each other's postings. It was important that only the members of the class saw the online learning journals. This created a safe environment to write and comment. Learning assignments can be submitted into the online learning journal. The best kinds of assignments for this are those with concrete subjects that encourage sharing experiences and giving ones opinions. Writing was improved if it was not instructed too precisely and when the grammar did not need to be flawless. The use of online learning journals can be activated by submitting all the assignments into the journal. When using online learning journals, special attention should be paid to creating a closed and safe learning environment, to integrate work based learning with learning journals and to ensure that the technical environment functions well and that it supports the activities of a community. Instructors should play an active role.
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(2016)Goals. The goal of this thesis is to find out the motives for following three different food blogs. The research focuses on readers of the blogs 52 weeks of deliciousness, Lunni leipoo and Perinneruokaa prkl, all of which are located at the website maku.fi. The selection of the research subject was influenced partly by the fact that blog readers and their following motives have yet been researched only little. Blogs are associated with communality and therefore it's interesting to know whether readers participate in commenting the blog posts and how do they do it. Methods. The data was acquired with an online questionnaire that contained open and multiple-choice questions. The online questionnaire was an appropriate method for reaching the target group. The theoretic focus was on qualitative methods, but quantitative methods were utilized as well. The results of the questionnaire were processed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Multiple-choice questions were presented graphically, open questions in turn were analysed by defining types and themes. At first every blog was examined individually, after which the whole material was subjected to analysis in order to define different reader types. Results and conclusions. The questionnaire gathered answers from 132 readers. Blog 52 weeks of deliciousness was interesting due to recipes, food ideas and the atmosphere created by the blogger. The blog was also a source for daily inspiration and restaurant tips. Blog Lunni leipoo was followed particularly for its visuality, but the entirety, recipes and stories were also felt important. The readers of blog Perinneruokaa prkl were interested in the blog's theme of traditional food. Although the blog was mainly a source for recipes, the funny and narrative writing style was part of the blog's charm. The reader types defined from the material were information seekers, inspiration hunters and self-entertainers. These types were divided into two types by purposes of use: blogs are either idea banks or entertainment platforms. As an idea bank the blog functions as a source for ideas and information. The information seeker values accessibility and searches the blog for recipes or cooking-related information. The inspiration hunter seeks inspiration, which is basically related to all aspects of the blog, such as the recipes, pictures and the blogger's persona. Both inspiration hunter and self-entertainer use the food blog as an entertainment platform. The self-entertainer is after the blog's atmosphere, looking for fun or just passing time. The blog's visuality, stories and attitude gratify the reader. Commenting in the blogs was scarce. The readers didn't comment, because they didn't find their own thoughts important enough, they didn't feel commenting was appropriate for their behaviour, they felt comments had to have value to other readers and the blogger or they wanted to preserve their anonymity. The readers felt that reasons good enough for commenting were asking a question, sharing an own experience, praising, a particularly interesting or emotive post, testing the recipe at hand and asking for advice.
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