In recent times, the central concept of “a good judgment" or “professional judgement” has once again been on the back burner in the general debate about the transformation of work practice life. Not least in relation to renewed discussions of the role of artificial intelligence ( AI)  asking once again; who is really the smartest one – the humans or the machine?  Jonna Bornemark talked about the forgotten “human judgement” in her celebrated speech before the opening of the Swedish Riksdag in 2019, where she was questioning the lack of trust in the official's personal judgement skills. Gradually, the concept of “professional judgment” has been abstracted, discussed, and redefined, but it remains undefined and open for individual interpretation. However, the ability of making swift and informed decisions and choices in a stressful and narrow situation has always been relevant in most of the professions that vocational teaching is about. Concepts are also essential in the understanding of the practical knowledge as well as in the knowledge-theoretical base of the professional knowledge also including silenced or tacit knowledge.

Hargreaves and Fullan (2013) divide professional knowledge in three different dimensions of professional capital, i.e.  human capital, social capital, and decision-making capital. All these parts are essential for a work practice of good quality. These could also be seen as vital parts of developing a “good judgment” as well as qualitative teaching. These dimensions are also important for analyses of didactic choices in a teaching- and learning situation about conceptualization of your own, embedded, and silent professional knowledge.

Bornemark (2020) adds new aspects to the concept of judgment by talking about a “pactive judgment “and its need of space and agency in addition to dimensions of power. This new discussion based on a working life that is undergoing rapid transformation makes it interesting to empirically examine how it is used in the social discourse today; "if" and if so "how" the concept of “professional judgement” is used or linked to in the practices of vocational teachers didactics and in which contexts. It is not an easy concept to introduce and make understandable in the physical and virtual spaces where learning takes place today, which is why it would be interesting to perform a deep dive in this area.

This abstract draws upon an ongoing pilot study, empirically based on ethnographic interviews and observations and constructive grounded theory. My presentation will focus on didactic choices and strategies concerning understanding of non-specific concepts and chosen by the teachers to create a god learning situation for their students. I will also give a brief overview of concept development within the subject area of work practice and technology and discuss the research connection of several central concepts within this research area which is of relevance for the vocational teacher program activities. The questions I would like to explore further in my study, are ongoing work, based on a few empirical examples, therefore the over-arching research question still is highly tentative and open for re-configuration.  

• What conversation strategies, models, examples and or other forms of representation does the vocational teacher generally use in his teaching around elastic, practical concepts of knowledge, and how is a learning interaction stimulated and created in situ?

• In which didactic contexts do vocational teachers talk about terms like “judgment “and 

“tacit knowledge” and how these links to a specific profession and a developed professional knowledge?

• What different semiotic, multimodal resources such as writing, speech, gestures, or other illustrative instructions are used to introduce the concept of judgment in these contexts?

• How are conceptual discussions like these handled within, for example, adult education, which has an increasingly large element of foreign-born students?

• In what way can these activities be supported and developed?

References:

Bornemark, J (2019) Tal inför riksdagens öppnande, URL: https://volante.se/texter/jonna-bornemarks-tal-infor-riksmotets-oppnande-2/

Bornemark, J(2020)Horisonten finns alltid kvar: Om det bortglömda omdömet. Stockholm: Volante Förlag

Jahnke, A: (2019) Utveckla utbildning: vetenskaplig grund, beprövad erfarenhet, tyst kunskap. Stockholm: Liber 

Haregreaves, A & Fullan, (2013) Professionellt kapital: att utveckla undervisning i alla skolor. Lund:Studentlitteratur

Polanyi, M (1966) The Tacit Dimension, Garden City, New York: Doubleday

My contribution to the proposed panel is focusing on the potential of using participatory action research to contribute to the development of local journalism both locally but also in various policy contexts. By making visible and adress what agenda, all involved parties is driving fo their own purpose, is it then possible to define a common ground to develop, in order to achieve substantial changes. Does this make it possible to achieve more  sustainable interventions on several levels i.e in a local working group, a community, an organization or at a public policy agency level? These different “power levels” are normally regarded as separated but can they also be regarded as a collaborative system?  I propose that this issue need to be discussed and problematized in relation to the question on sustainability of action research. Does intervention always have to be located in a clearly delineated action research project or are there also possibilities to discuss "systemic change”  and how different levels of interferences interact with one another? Based on a distinction between a pragmatic and a critical orientation in action research, which is presented in an article by Johansson & Lindhult (2008) is my aim also to initiate a discussion on whether a development- and action-oriented project design contribute to development and change of local journalism on more than one level - but also what ethical implications this normative stance may bring. This will be discussed in relation to findings within a Swedish research and development project, the Regpress Project II, addressing local journalism innovation.  Local journalism in general is facing economic difficulties such as rapid declines in revenues. However in some areas of Sweden local journalism in traditional sense is still strong and forming a dynamic local news ecosystem, where local media seem to have found a way to balance their role as trust-anchor during rapid societal changes. 

Introduktion till medieteknik är boken för dig som vill få en introduktion till ämnet medieteknik. Vi vänder oss till dig som är intresserad av hur teknologier och dess användning möts − från ett fokus på mediekonsumtion, till hur medier formar vårt moderna samhälle. Boken ger en introduktion till medieteknikens olika former, ­kanaler, och uttryckssätt, och vi ger även en inblick i hur medieteknik skapas. Med en utgångspunkt i design, programmering och medieteknikens visuella och audiella uttryck ges en vidare introduktion till medieteknikens tillämpnings­om­­­råd­en − från speldesign till interaktiva medier. Boken berör också angreppssätt för att arbeta användarcentrerat med digital medieutveckling och design, samt berör projektledning för utveckling av digital medieteknik. Med denna intro­duktion till medieteknik som ämne visar boken på ett antal framväxande områden för vidare forskning inom medieteknik. Introduktion till medieteknik är sammansatt så att den med fördel kan ­användas som kurslitteratur i utbildning inom områden som medieteknik, ­medie­­- produktion, design för digitala medier eller motsvarande. Boken kan läsas som en helhet, alternativt som fristående kapitel.

Written general information, and communication through e-services from municipalities and other authorities can be difficult to understand and use for people with a foreign mother tongue. Recieving municipal information is not simply an issue of being "informed" for newly arrived individuals, it is  also an essential part of conquering a new identity and finding out how to relate to a new cultural framework of a new society. Being informed and welcomed as a citizen of a new country is also the first step in deepening a process of belonging and an offer of opportunities for increased personal freedom of action.

The easy-to-read format has become the standard means to adapt and simplify official texts for the groups which are regarded difficult to reach. However, this format is originally designed for people with intellectual disabilities and does not take into account the varying needs of other target groups including for example immigrants. A citizen survey especially targeting people with a foreign first language, showed that 50-60% of the population were not able to fully understand the municipal information. Experiences from a collaborative project between a big municipality, an accessibility company and a university, shows the challenges when it comes to developing a norm creative model  in order to repair what turned out to be a highly complex societal problem, rather than finding a universal communication style.

While today’s press is undergoing change, intersecting regions, it is important not to overlook the readers – who is the local “us”? This paper investigates how readers generate the relational sense of an “us” in a locality by engaging with the press. The study offers a framework built around three key dynamic concepts: proximity, feelings of closeness, and shared interests – which readers form clusters around, thereby reinforcing the notion of an “us.” Furthermore, local journalists strengthen the notion of an “us” by addressing the readers as a single collective with common features.

The local press enjoyed remarkable levels of public trust throughout the 20th century, but no longer. The Regpress 2 - Project presented in this session deepens knowledge about the environment in which the regional press operates. It also provides applied research for the regional press, which faces the challenge of becoming leaner and more competitive while maintaining its presupposed role as a reliable “trust anchor.“ What is the relationship between regional media and local citizens? What are the expectations of the press to be part of community life? How to remain relevant and make it happen with limited resources? Find out what answers the Regpress 2 -project has to these questions and more.

The approach taken within the Regpress 2 Project, is one where research adds to and deepens knowledge about the environment in which the regional press operates, as well as providing applied research for practical purposes in order to support the regional press facing its challenge of becoming leaner and more competitive whilst maintaining its presupposed role as a reliable ‘trust anchor’. The research had three objectives:

Understanding readers’ priorities when they select, evaluate and establish what counts as qualitative local journalism, and why they regard it as valid and reliable. How to design for sustaining quality and trust in online news provision? How to design “trust” into digital interfaces and flexible assemblages of interactions? To achieve this, participatory design workshops with readers, journalists and digital developers were conducted.Positioning incremental change and local innovation for how the  local press can sustain the role as a 'trust anchor” was an important goal and also finding out in what way local innovation clusters affects the relationships between the regional press, readers and their communities.

Samverkansprojekt med Botkyrka kommun, Linnéuniversitetet och Funka Nu AB har gemensamt undersökt hur samhällsinformation bäst ska utformas för att personer med annat modersmål än svenska ska kunna ta till sig den. Resultatet är en metodik som alla kan ha nytta av – och intressant nog inte alls det vi trodde från början.

https://www.funka.com/vi-erbjuder/funkas-tillganglighetsdagar/program-2020/

There is a range of fundamental question which has to be clarified when starting up an action research project. Such as:

• How to establish validity and reliability of action research, i.e. distinguish between incremental and/or bolt-on change?
• If the starting point is collaboration, who is then responsible for the intervention and does it have to be mutually beneficiary? Does action processes change both practices and research? 
• Who has the final mandate to confirm the actual outcome, the researchers or the representatives for practices? 
• How to make the action process mutually agreed, established and legitimized as both research and change of practices in collaborative interactive projects?

The starting point for this contribution is to discuss the distinction between a pragmatic and a critical orientation within Action Research ( AR), which has been highlighted and problematized by in an article by Johansson & Lindhult (2008). Coupling this approach with Lucy Suchman’s (2000) early writings on discourses of innovation, makes it fruitful to focus upon how ethical and methodological issues of action quickly becomes synonymous with innovation in action-oriented project design. This will be discussed in relation to various action-oriented projects addressing local journalism innovation as well as projects within public sector.

Regional press has a role in the functioning of democracy as well as being a core part of community life.  However, there are challenges in delivering that with limited resources. The Regpress Project 2 was aiming at gaining a deeper understanding of how local press must work to become more innovative while facing current challenges such as increased efficiency while at the same time satisfy traditional values such as trustworthiness. The AR-project combined action-oriented research including design workshops with the public in order to shed light on the overarching question;  How does the local papers handle the process of becoming leaner and more competitive whilst striving to maintaining its ‘trust anchor’ role in times when change becomes more or less mandatory?

The RegPress project found that in Southern Sweden, the regional press maintains high and stable levels of sales, fulfills a “watchdog” role, and takes part in community building. The RegPress project used mixed methods to study media audiences, conducting 67 qualitative interviews, nine focus groups, and a survey of 9,000 people. It found that readers draw on a range of media sources, and they see the regional press as a “trust anchor” in a global digital world. As a trust anchor, the regional press acts as a point of reference for readers to access news and debate. They develop media practices based on this understanding as they engage with civic, political, and cultural issues. Trust anchors also help readers interpret information from social media and other sources. The voices of journalism in regional press are therefore located dynamically amongst local people, issues, and interests as well as other media sources.

Syftet med forskningsprojeketet REGPRESS var att förstå vilken roll medier spelar i södra Sverige.

Den regionala pressen har haft en stark närvaro lokalt och har varit en del av det regionala livet sedan 1841. Tryckta medier har generellt haft betydande inflytande i samhället som tredje statsmakt. Dagspressen har länge bedrivit kritisk granskning av samhällsföreteelser och myndighetsutövning samt agerat för att bidra till ökat samhällsengagemang i regionen.

I dag står dagspressen inför en rad utmaningar, så som ökad konvergens, att bevara och utöka sina upplagesiffror, sälja annonsutrymme samt bevara sina spridningsområden likaväl som att fortsätta bidra till den loakla demokratiska utvecklingen.

REGPRESS undersökte den regionala pressens roll och värde för läsarna i regioner relaterat  till vårt nutida mediesamhälle. Hur anknyter medierna till lokalbefolkningen? Hur garanterar och gynnar journalistiken en mångfald i medierepresenationen och motverkar diskontinuitet i den globala medieåldern? Var några  exempel på övergripande forskningsfrågor.

The purpose of the project was to understand the role of regional media in southeast Sweden. The regional press have had a strong presence and has been part of the regional life since 1841.

The print media has for long had a significant influence in society as a fourth estate. The daily press has long been engaged in critical analysis of social phenomena and authority and acted to help increase community involvement. Even on the basis of this strong position the regional press face a number of challenges such as increased convergence and maintain storage numbers, selling advertising space and maintain their distribution areas.

The project  addressed the emerging issue of what role and value regional media has in our modern media society. How do the media connect with the local population? How does journalism ensure and promote diversity in the media presentation and prevents discontinuity in the global media age?REGPRESS is funded through a partnership between the Barometern Foundation, Linnaeus University and Fojo Media Institute (FOJO).

The project started in 2015 and completed in october 2017.