And a special and warm welcome to the guest who are in Volda and\npossibly in Norway for the very first time. We hope You will enjoy the stay,\nand we will be happy to see You again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As rector of the Volda University College I’m very proud of this\nsymposium happening i Volda and Loen. And speaking for all of the University\nCollege we all wish You the best and hope that the days on the symposium will\nlive up to the expectations of all of the Volda University College: In\nNorwegian we say: L\u00e6re, leve, oppleve. In English: Learning, living,\nexperiencing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Regarding experiencing, I’m happy to see that the organizers have included a trip to the Geiranger-Fjord<\/a>. As a location on the UNESCO World heritage sites<\/a> I am sure that this will be an exceptional experience. It would too bad travelling to this region without seeing Geiranger.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with many locations being attractive worldwide, also Geiranger is\nstruggling to find the right balance between tourists and environment, and\nresearchers by the University College are performing a joint project in this\nrespect. Hopefully in a little bit more then peripheral role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The topics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The topics being discussed at this conference deals not so much with\nhow to perform journalism and produce media content, as often is the focus of\nthe daily chores of media workers as well as being basic and necessary skills\nwhich media students in Volda are expected to learn. But you will discuss\ntopics more in the direction of relations and blurred boundaries as well as the\nreversal of the roles of media and audience, and you have chosen the term\nperipheral actors as the most important concept to focus upon in this\ncontext. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why are these topics so important? Why are they important now? And why\nis Volda a good place to meet to discuss these issues? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Starting first with why Volda, why here? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Arriving in Volda, doing slalom twists between fjords and tunnels if\nYou arrive by road, or slalom twists between mountains and skies if you arrive\nby air, one might be a little surprised that this small community by a deep\nfjord has earned such importance in professional training of journalists and\nother media professions in Norway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to understand this one needs to know just a little bit of Norwegian as well as local history. In 2017 four people with strong attachment to this region were appointed honorary doctors by the University of Bergen<\/a>. Two were famous: The Noble price laureates May-Britt and Edvard Moser within the field of brain research; the world class industrial designer Peter Opsvik,\u00a0whose designs have been produced in this region; and thirdly a former professor by the Volda University College, dosent Jostein Fet. So, the region of Sunnm\u00f8re has world-class scholars, as well as world class industry, which in itself is quite remarkable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe some explanation for this tradition has been uncovered by dosent em. Jostein Fet<\/a>. His field of study has been the early reading and writing culture in this region. The last 50 years he has gathered unique historical material. Instead of old texts being lost or burnt, Fet\u2019s research has given evidence of this region being saturated with and enlightened by a diverse written discourse, across genres, spanning centuries and starting earlier and being more widespread than previously conceived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This in contrast to the dominant paradigm who claimed that reading,\nwriting and thereby knowledge was confined only to the elite – to the priest\nand maybe the few others with academic training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This long-running tradition of writing culture also has connections to\nmedia. More than 200 years ago one of the first printshops as well as\nnewspapers in Norway was establish in this local community. It is still\nrunning, with the same family in charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About 150 years ago the scholar Ivar Aasen<\/a> introduced nynorsk language, based upon dialects, again in contrast to the elite paradigm who claimed that knowledge only could be achieved by speaking Danish.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n About the same time a teacher\u2019s training academy was established in\nVolda – and this later become the Volda University College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 50 years ago, media studies were introduced in Volda, with Jostein Fet\nbeing one of the strategical actors linking academic teaching, nynorsk language\nand the media tradition in this region by suggesting that journalists and\neditors in the local press would be in want for professional training at a\nuniversity college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But in the 1970-ies and 1980-ies the focus changed from press to a\nwider scope of media, in particular broadcasting: In Norway the first\nprofessional training of radio, TV, film, especially documentary, as well as\nanimation would happen here in Volda. Being far from the big cities, Volda\nexcelled in other ways: Students were allowed access to expensive equipment, 24\/7,\nas in this peaceful place nobody steals or kills. Students becomes closely\nlinked to teachers and each other and run all kinds of projects together. In\nbigger cities media students tend to be atomized and eager to enter\nprofessional media companies as early as possible – while in Volda they\nactually focus upon studying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the students loved Volda. From all over Norway students learnt\nabout the media studies in Volda, and the number of applicants was at times\nextreme. Thus, we received top quality students. Strictly in numerical terms,\nit was much harder to become a student than to become a teacher by the department\nof media and journalism. Not least because media studies were a new field in\nthe Norwegian University system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But clearly the focus was shifting from print and press to pictures and\nelectronic media, so Volda was a multimedia school well before the multimedia\nor competing concepts such as convergence, transmedia or multiplatform was\nknown by the general public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another important aspect of the proto-multimedia learning environment\nin Volda was the mix of people, of different professions – different fish in\nthe same little pond of Volda. Journalists and Communication professionals were\nmixed, everybody got a dose of film and animation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Being in a close-knit local society, there were short distances between\nthe media school and sources as well as the general audience. The very same\npeople you write and talk about in the morning will meet you at the groceries\nor the movie theatre in the evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This has brought closeness and free lessons in media training to a\nlarge proportion of students by the university college and the people in Volda.\nOn the other hand, sometimes the hard-hitting journalistic tools has been felt\nlike overkill. Still, the important thing again is that all of Volda and the\nsurrounding region has been used to meet students with their cameras and other\nequipment – the people of Volda are used to this. Accepts it. And are sometimes\nproud of it. Not least because all over Norway Volda is well know because of\nthe University College, and probably even more because of the Media\nschool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today the University College has 500 media students<\/a> in 7 programs: 6 bachelor programs as well as an Master in Media Practices<\/a>, which is a multi-disciplinary English program, the first English program by the Volda University College<\/a>. The bachelor degrees are within journalism: Broadcasting and Online\/press, Communication and Media production, Animation and Design. The degree in broadcast journalism the last decades has been the jewel of the crown, and also in the future will be of the highest strategic importance of the Volda university college to maintain this position. Almost at all costs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This fall a new board, a new h\u00f8gskulestyre, will start its work. I will continue as rector, and together with the staff and students by the department we will discuss the future strategy of the school as well as the media department. Quality will be a crucial issue in this work, both regarding research and teaching. The Department of Media and Journalism<\/a> will have a crucial role in this respect, as we have high ambitions, and also have applied for status as a national Centre of Excellence in teaching (SFU). Any day now we will receive message of the outcome of the process, competing with 22 other candidates, and all the other departments of the University College are really hoping for a positive result.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n 25 years ago, in 1994, this institution was formed by the merger of the former teachers training academy and the Regional college which the media department was part of. At the same time a new regulatory regime was established, stating that regardless of the name, both universities and university colleges should be considered equal in regulatory terms, and regarding quality. This also meant that research became far more important for the Volda University College, and we were allotted research grants and funding for doctoral students, which we expect to be integrated in the ongoing research by the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are actually celebrating 25 years as a merged institution as well as 50 years of regional college in Volda on Thursday 20th 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research has over time become more important for the university college, and research means to connect to the international community of media researchers. Previously we have done so also by other conferences in Volda, most notably an international conference on Media and the Cold war<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now I do hope that we can all see: Volda is an excellent location\nfor looking into news work, multiplatform content and peripheral actors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why are the topics important, and why are they important now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The traditional professional perspective of journalist and media\ninstitutions considering themselves to be gatekeepers, points of access between\nsources and the general audience. This media-centric model probably never was\nquite accurate and of course was challenged by media research. Mr Gate was\nnowhere to be found. The audience tended to trust other people rather than\nomnipotent media. And journalists have never been in high esteem in the general\npublic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still the old paradigm prevails, as we hardly know what comes next? We\nneed someone to call out fake news. We need independent media to reveal\ncorruption. And the political discourse and democracy itself needs a middle\nground, room for thought and deliberation. The polarising forces of today seem\nto thrive and maybe grow stronger by use of peripheral actors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, Your symposium is concerned with crucial issues facing both media\nin today\u2019s media ecology in which disruption is the buzz-word of the day, or\nmaybe decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In my view, the issues to be discussed at this symposium touches the\ncore of the problems media as industries and institutions are facing, thus also\nbeing at the core of media studies and the training of media professions, being\nit journalist, communication work or <\/p>\n\n\n\n From my little story of how Volda became an important media school in\nNorway you might remember that distribution of and access to media technology,\nbeing it the printing press 200 years ago or the students accessing expensing\nTV-equipment some 25 years ago: Technology, distribution channels and even\nknowledge of media, journalism and communication in Volda always have been med\navailable locally, giving students and the general public easier access to the\nmedia tools and maybe empowering students and the actors and people of Volda in\nrespect to media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And from my perspective this must also be considered a good thing – in\ntheory making media as a general term more democratic. But as we know – the\ndownsides and obstacles are to say the least – considerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So when supporting strongly your over-arching research issues, I would\nalso say that it’s wonderful that you are focussing upon ongoing research and\npromoting discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And … <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to You most interesting programme I am also happy to see that\nYou are also having sessions branded «Eco-friendly video-conference».\nI do hope that the participants also are eco-friendly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As You probably know, close to 100 percent of electricity produced in Norway is generated by hydropower. Including your trip to the mountain Hoven by gondola.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also have seen that You have the option of a voluntary hike with to different levels of ambitions. Here I must say that outdoor-life, including outdoor guiding<\/a> is an extremely popular course by the Volda University College, and of course this makes great sense because of our location and surrounding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I mentioned earlier: We would be happy to see You again in Volda. If\nYou would like to come to Volda in order to cooperate with our staff we will\nmake the necessary arrangements for Your stay to be a pleasant and interesting.\nJust like we experience when our own professors and staff travel abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So again: I hope You enjoy Your stay in Volda, and please enjoy both\nnature and the scholarly community. And I’m sure You will find when leaving\nVolda that the motto of our college really is quite accurate: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Volda – the place you’ll never forget.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear guests, dean, distinguished professors, staff and students. Scientific chair. Symposium panel. Local organizing committee. \u00a0 And research-group: Media, professions and society.\u00a0 Welcome to the symposium: «Professional and Peripheral News Workers and the Shifting Importance of Platforms».\u00a0 And a special and warm welcome to the guest who are in Volda and possibly in Norway for … Fortsett \u00e5 lese Opening speech, Volda-symposium 2019: «Professional and Peripheral News Workers and the Shifting Importance of Platforms»<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2191,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions\/2191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogg.hivolda.no\/jr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2019\/06\/Volda_Symposium19_JK-10-1024x684.jpg\")
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