The Festival Impact Monitor

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

The Festival Impact Monitor is a Fusion supported project that is intended to develop the following:

1)      An approach to evaluating the impact of events using data from social media.

2)      Reusable Learning Objects that can guide future researchers seeking to apply social media data.

3)      Individuals with experience in conducting research with social media data

Overall, the project intends to develop approaches to evaluating festivals using online narratives of event stakeholders. FestIM can deliver significant benefits for funders of events and event organizers as understanding the characteristics of online audiences can help them create new types of sponsorship products to fund event activity . Further, it enables the evaluation of social impacts, an area that is difficult to assess using conventional qualitative and quantitative approaches.  Finally, for events located over a large geographical area, the costs of evaluation can be prohibitive. FestIM can provide a cost effective alternative to traditional evaluation approaches. To achieve the second and third objectives, the project is working with a group of Level H dissertation students. At this stage in their research, these students have completed their literature review and secondary data analysis of online engagement at festivals. FestIM provided the opportunity for these students to deliver their research at the International Festival & Events Association of Europe conference in Nice, France to an audience of academics and industry professionals.  The team is shown below along with Dr Phil Long, Associate Dean and IFEA Member and Dr Debbie Sadd and Dr Nigel L. Williams of the project.

The entire team

The team

The students listed below presented their research to festival organisers from across Europe and the USA and by all accounts delivered a fantastic performance:

Sarah Ardin: community conversations which examines the impact of small rural and urban festivals using social media.

Emma Craig: evaluating the impact of Notting Hill Carnival using social media.

Ryan Kulikowski: the use of Social media as an engagement tool by Festival support organizations

Courtney Lee: the core FestIM process itself and its application to the Love Luton Festival

Doreen Mbagwu: the engagement of the Nigerian and Ghanaian community with Notting Hill Carnival

Rogan Sage: Glastonbury as a platform for engagement with social issues

Jasmine Waddell: post purchase evaluation of Festivals using Glastonbury as a case study.

Courtney, Rogan and Ryan presenting at the main conference.

Courtney, Rogan and Ryan presenting at the main conference.

In addition to presenting their academic research, the students had the opportunity to get an exclusive look behind the scenes of the Nice Carnival which was celebrating its 130th birthday. They participated in workshops with the leading carnival historian Annie Sidro and met the Deputy Mayor of Nice. They then attended the major events of the weekend including a Battle of the Flowers, Main carnival procession and Rock and Roll 10 mile road race. It wasn’t all work as the students were able to take a quick hop down the coast to see Monte Carlo and Monaco.  The students will continue to develop their research and will present their completed dissertation findings in our workshop in July at the School of Tourism.

launch photo1

By: Dr Nigel L. Williams and Dr Debbie Sadd

“Life in front of and behind the camera; a Paralympian’s perspective on disability”

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News.

Welcome to a talk where Kate Grey will share her experiences of training, studying and competing as a Paralympian for Beijing in 2008 and preparing for London 2012.

Although Kate was not able to qualify for London 2012 due to illness she was able to take an active role on reporting the games for the BBC. As part of this talk Kate will also consider whether or not attitudes towards disability have changed as a result of the increased media focus on the Paralympics and what this might mean for Rio 2016.

To attend please book via these links: BU Students/public and BU Staff

Kate GreyKate Grey

Dr. Phillip Alford meets with industry to discuss the Google Online marketing challenge

Posted . Filed under Featured, News.

Digital media students at the School of Tourism have been assigned the challenge of using Google Adwords and Google+ to create online marketing campaigns for 11 different businesses, as part of a global project, with over 100 countries participating!

The session gave the businesses a clearer understanding of the challenge and its advantages, as Dr. Philip Alford discussed the basis of the project and encouraged ongoing communication between the clients and student groups during the process. He emphasised the importance of allowing the students’ access to Google Analytics to aid their development, and the significance of keeping a learning journal as a tool for tracking their progress using #BUBlogosphere

The businesses found the session positive and encouraging as we got some feedback of their thoughts. Kirsty Barttelot from ‘Olives Et Al’ was excited for the project as there was lots of information to understand and get to grips with.

Andy King from ‘Intergage’ thought that giving student access to Google Analytics would definitely be beneficial for the businesses to get more out of the challenge.

And finally, Karen Venn (Norburton Hall) described the short 3 week campaign as ‘a blink in the eye of a business’. She was keen to work with the students, having worked on a successful campaign with them last year on the ‘Digital Destination’s Project’. She continued to point out that the session provided a good introduction to show the clients the potential of the campaign, providing lots of fantastic ideas – ‘and not to mention that there is always good food!’

[Show as slideshow]

By Divya Satwani

Sport PhD Student Emma Mosley To Be Trained At Top International Research Institute

Posted . Filed under News.

Congratulations to Emma Mosley, a ST PhD student in Sport, who has been successful in gaining a substantial Santander Mobility Award. Emma will be venturing to Germany for one month in spring to research at the prestigious German Sport University Cologne within the Institute of Psychology.

Emma’s thesis, supervised by Dr Ian Jones and Dr Jo Mayoh, aims to discover the psychophysiological effects of approaching athletic competition stress in a positive manner through the use of heart rate variability (HRV).

In Germany, she will be researching under the supervision of Dr Sylvain Laborde who is an expert in the area of psychophysiology and HRV and works in a large team of internationally renowned sports psychologists.

Whilst at the University Emma will gain experience in HRV data collection, data analysis and the writing of scientific papers in relation to HRV. She will have the opportunity to join on-going research projects as well as conducting her own research.

Dr Tim Breitbarth, the Coordinator for Internationalisation of Sport at BU, said, “The visit offers Emma the chance to start engaging with leading and well-connected experts in her field while receiving first-class training in the most modern equipment at the same time. Also, her visit will help to deepen our established international research, teaching and student exchange partnerships from which BU benefits in terms of reach and reputation.”

For details about her research and international endeavour contact Emma at Emma.Mosley@bournemouth.ac.uk

[Show as slideshow]

From: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/02/05/award-allows-sport-phd-student-emma-mosley-to-be-trained-at-top-international-research-institute/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

Applicant Open Days

Posted . Filed under News.

These days are designed for anyone who’s been made an offer by BU, and would like an opportunity to visit us and learn more about their specific course.

These events are an optional extra to help you make your decision and therefore you are not required to attend. If you’ve previously attended an Open Day you may find some of the content on these events is repeated. However, each event does aim to give you further information about course and the university.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit BU before, then this is a great opportunity to see if the course is right for you before confirming your first and second choices on your application.

Frequently asked questions:

1.    How do I hear about Applicant Open Days?

If you are successful in your application and offered a place with us here at BU all the details of possible Applicant Open Days for your course will be listed in your offer letter, including all the details you need to register and attend the day.

2.    Can family members/friends join me on an Applicant Open Day?

Yes, of course. We appreciate how important family members and friends’ opinions are in making such a big decision and therefore they’ll be able to join in on all talks and tours throughout the day.

3.    I can’t make any of the available dates for the Applicant Open Days, are there any more opportunities to visit BU?

We operate an open-Campus policy at both of our campuses, so you’re more than welcome to come and visit whenever it suits you.

For either Talbot or Lansdowne Campus, you can collect a self-guided tour booklet from one of our reception desks when you arrive, or download them in advance:

For information on travelling to Bournemouth University campuses please see our transport and maps pages.

4.    Is there parking available for the Applicant Open Days?

Yes, we have parking available on campus for these events. We’ll send you further information by email once you’ve registered for the event.

5.    Do I need to attend an Applicant Open Day if I’ve already been on an Open Day?

No, this is purely an optional event for you. The event is ideal if you want to ask any more questions about your course, refresh your memory, or if you didn’t get the chance to visit Bournemouth during the main Open Days, in October and November.

We do repeat some content delivered at the main Open Days. Some events offer new sessions, such as practical workshops.

6.    Do we get to see accommodation on an Applicant Open Day?

If you are attending an Applicant Open Day on Talbot Campus then we’ll be able to show you our Student Village. However there won’t be any viewings of our accommodation on our Lansdowne Campus.

You can find out more about all of our Halls of Residence and Unilet (BU managed) accommodation on our webpages.

7.    Do I need to wear smart clothes when attending an Applicant Open Day?

As part of the day involves a Campus tour, it is important to wear sensible footwear and clothing for an outdoor tour. Smart wear is not essential.

From: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/undergraduate/2014/01/09/applicant-open-days/

It’s February.. and Cafe Scientifique is back! Sean Beer: Is eating local better?

Posted . Filed under News.

Our very own Sean Beer, from the School of Tourism will be identifying whether there is a growing trend within the food industry for locally sourced foods as this is seen as being more environmentally sustainable.

Come to Cafe Scientifique to find out whether producing everything locally is better for the environment. Can locally produced food have a higher carbon foot print than that which has been transported from the other side of the world? and do local producers benefit?

Cafe Scientifique runs every first Tuesday of the month (so 4th February this month) at the wonderful Cafe Boscanova in Boscombe from 7:30-9pm, but doors open at 6:30pm – so please do come early for a good seat!
The Cafe Scientifique team hopes you will join us for what will surely be an interesting debate!
From: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/02/03/its-february-and-cafe-scientifique-is-back-sean-beer-is-eating-local-better/#sthash.Fm7w5C8B.dpuf

Get creative and join the #BUblogosphere competition

Posted . Filed under News.

Blogs were first set up on the 1990s as a type of online journal for people to post on their thoughts and interests. It’s all about expressing yourself and your opinions and ideas.

The way blogging is today has changed dramatically. It’s become an online interaction. People blog to express themselves and to start an online conversation with people across the globe. The impact of this has been phenomenal. Businesses now follow consumers to discover market trends and consumers in turn follow businesses blogs to keep up to date with products and brands. It’s all about the “co-created convergence” that we hear Dr.Matt Frew commenting on in our video blog. Blogging in itself has become a business for some dedicated individuals. Some sources of income include; private advertising, sponsorship, amazon affiliate programs, e-books and many more. Some blog sites have become major publishing businesses such as “The Huffington Post” with sold in 2012 for over $300 million. The possibilities for bloggers is growing rapidly.

Where social media was first thought of as a threat to blogging, it has now become an integral part of the system. In the beginning, blogs were promoted through e-mail subscribers that the blogger had to build relationships with over time. When people began expressing themselves over social media sites such as Facebook, it was believed that the demand for blogging would dissipate completely. When the micro-blogging site “Twitter” emerged, it was also contemplated that all blogging would be reduced to a mere 140 character update.

As social media grew, these worries were proven futile. The sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. become “’hubs” for bloggers. As a blogger himself, Dr. Alessandro Inversini spoke to us about this. He, like other bloggers, uses social media sites to distribute content, grow followers and engage with people to bring them to the blog. This has become a great marketing tool.

There are so many choices and platforms for bloggers nowadays. There are many sites such as WordPress, Blogger.com, Posterous and Typepad to name a few. Some of these such as Blogger.com allow the ever growing trend of video blogs now. If you are short on time and want to create a quick update, write a post on Twitter, create a Vine or post an photo. It’s your chance to share what you feel with the world at the click of a button and it’s truly incredible.

Click here to watch #BUblogosphere video

Create, Contribute and Connect with the School of Tourism.

Our School of Tourism blog is a platform for all of the students and staff to share and engage. We want to hear what you have to say and this will create traffic from people and industries all over the world. As Caroline Jackson said, blogs that final year students have written before have gained interest from as far away as America and Australia.

The key is to write about what you’re passionate about and keep updated as much as you can to build followers and create conversation flow. Look at other blogs for inspiration on styles and method inspiration. Mostly though, look around you and what your current interests and activities as these are what you will write best about.

BUblogosphere

Join our competition for the best content and most creative blog. There’s no need to feel you have to have written a blog before, you are all talented people with a lot of knowledge and thoughts to share. Get creative and send entries in whichever medium you wish to enas@bournemouth.ac.uk by February 28th and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the campaign.

By: Kirsty Simms