How the Web Has Changed Our Lives

by Péter Bajomi-Lázár, Budapest Business School. A dual anniversary The year 2019 is a dual anniversary: ARPANET, the network designed to meet military and academic purposes was established 50 years ago, and the world wide web, allowing for the civil use of the network, was launched 30 years ago. How has the rise of the internet transformed our lives? What were the early predictions—and have they come true?  Innovations and their aftermath Accounts of the history of the media tell us that the inventors of new technology themselves were often unable to foresee the societal uses of their innovations. The telegraph, created by Samuel Morse and his colleagues, was originally to ease the transfer of information from one place to another (e.g., to let the next railway station know that the train would be late), yet the wireless has also contributed to the rise of the ‘news paradigm’ in journalism, focusing on facts and omitting comments, as correspondents had to pay for every single word transmitted. The photography invented by Nicéphore Nièpce and Louis Daguerre was to allow…

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MEDIA AND IDENTITY

by Péter Bajomi-Lázár, Budapest Business School. What explains the persistence of partisan journalism in Central and Eastern Europe? During and after the political transformations of 1989–91, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe sought to Americanise, or Anglicise, their media systems. They made efforts to introduce public service media as modeled on the British Broadcasting Corporation; their broadcasting acts prescribed standards of neutrality and balance; and their freshly passed ethical codes prescribed objectivity as the main journalism standard to follow. Their efforts, however, have largely failed. In Hungary, “the one-party model of the press has not disappeared completely but has been transformed into a multi-party model that is still far away from the nonpartisan model of the press” (Lázár 1992). In the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, the failure of this concept of the press “is reflected in a lack of impartiality” (Školkay 2001). In Poland, most journalists continue to “represent partisan politician viewpoints” (Dobek-Ostrowska 2012). In the Baltic states, the media system “has not yet been fully separated from the existing political system” (Balčytiene, 2012, p. 62).…

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Second ISP: Budapest

Just a few days to go before our second International Study Programme (ISP) from 24 to 28 June - this time we meet in Budapest, Hungary's beautiful capital city. The Budapest Business School, BBS will be our host. Budapesti Gazdasàgi Egyetem is a public university business school specialised in business studies and social sciences. Again, over 40 students and their teachers from six countries will participate and continue their work and research on European identities and behaviour. On the programme: lectures about contemporary Hungary, stereotype and predjudice in general, practical exercises in order to reflect on behaviour and train self-awareness, and of course several sessions of SYMLOG observation practice. These observations will be done in small mixed groups, focussing on both every-day and business behaviour. Time for analyses and report will conclude the intensive 5-days-programme.

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News from the 1st ISP in Cergy

So here we are! 41 students and 11 teachers from all six countries, learning and working together during the 5-days-ISP at the University of Cergy-Pontoise.  Wednesday 15th was a day of mere SYMLOG observation practice, a welcome change to the theoretical work of the first two days. In small groups, we observed the behaviour of persons in every-day (like mother-child) and business (like shop assistant-client) situations and took systematical (anonymous) notes. It is not quite easy in the beginning to keep the focus on smallest interactions, but this SYMLOG method can be quickly learned. On the picture: the group on the stairs under the “Grande Arche” in Paris La Défense.

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Just a few days to go before our First International Study Programme

All of us are in the last preliminaries for our first International Study Programme in Cergy-Pontoise / France next week. We are looking forward to a good and fruitful and very European week, bringing together 41 students and 11 teachers. Already, the German EU-CAB students have been testing the data analysis tool, ingeniously developed by our colleague Jamie Fins from Portugal. Big thanks to Jaime and to our brave guinea pigs! On the schedule for the week: lectures and workshops about various aspects of contemporary France, project presentations, and above all, the learning and application of the scientific methods, data input, analysis and report. Convivial evenings round up the programme. The ISPs are at the heart of the project, and we are eager to see how everything will work out.

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Spreading the news!

In preparation of our first International Study Programme, held in Cergy-Pontoise, France, there is a lot of work going on in the background: Defining the students who will participate, specifying accomodation and travel issues, putting the final touches on the documents that will serve to carry out the surveys and observations. Other activities are more visible: Some partners have put detailed information about the project on their websites, like these ... https://www.iscap.ipp.pt/investigacao-1/projetos/a-decorrer/eu-cab-comparative-analyses-of-european-identities-in-business-and-every-day-behaviour https://www.ismai.pt/pt/noticias/2018/projeto-eu-cab https://www.u-cergy.fr/fr/ufr-langues/les-actualites-de-l-ufr/erasmus.html

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Cooperation started!

We had a very good Kick-off meeting last week in Karlsruhe, joining our 1st Transnational Project Meeting with a so-called Joint Staff Training Event. The issues of the three-days-meeting were twofold: a) to discuss and determine the further steps of organisation, as well as dissemination and budget issues, and b) to learn and apply the methods of SYMLOG and Self-Concept Grid in order to be able to teach them to the students during the Study Programmes. We had intensive and long working days, but also lots of fun and team spirit. Thanks to our guests for their great commitment; all of us are looking forward to meeting again during the first ISP, held in Cergy in May 2019.

Cooperation started!
First Transnational Partner Meeting
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First EU-CAB Partner Meeting, 21-25 January 2019

We eagerly look forward to our first partner meeting, or more officially “Transnational Project Meeting” (TMP), being held next week in Karlsruhe. This is the first time that we will meet with our project’s colleagues in person. Apart from the French who we have known for years, we have been in contact with them only by e-mail and an Adobe conference so far. We have elaborated an intensive schedule. On the list are: general information and discussion about the project and the further planning, learning and applying the scientific methods, as well as informal items such as a welcome dinner and a guided city tour through Karlsruhe

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