Krystyna Doktorowicz

Google for education. Benefits and threats to the official system

In 2017, the Google company was recognized as the most valuable brand in the world. It is primarily a technologycorporationthat aims toearnprofits and become a leader in the global market of Internet products and services. In its strategy, Google also refers to the idea of a public mission, whichis to consolidate the image of a company that serves the  users by fulfilling their needs. As part of the mission, Google uses free educational applications designed to modernize and improve the education process. Google offers students and teachers tools to bridge the social differences and democratize the school. The educational practice in many countries points to the advantages and serious threats associated with the implementation of Google’s educational applications. Violation of students’ privacy, treating them as potential customers of the advertised products, or using student profiles to collect data—all this castsdoubt on Google’s intentions. It is also a challenge for traditional educational systems.

Developing a coherent and comprehensive brand of a country is of vital importance for a destination in the contemporary global world. There seems to be a recognizable gap in the literature regarding the application of visual signs practiced in country branding. The subject of the study: The research identifies the logos of the European Union countries used in place branding. The purpose of the study is the exploration of the logo content from the senders’ perspective, i.e., the structures and organizations responsible for the country branding. There are many reasons why logos are used in place branding practice. The authors decided to focus on the logo as a form of controlled and projected message communicated via media and ICT. Cognitive gap: The research conducted so far has focused on the reception of logos by the recipients. The presented research attempts to examine the visual message contained in logos from the senders’ perspective. Research methods and data collection techniques: The content analysis method was used to study the visual identity of the countries. The authors collected logos and scrutinised them using Beyrow and Vogt as well as Mollerup’s taxonomy. The results of the study illustrate how governmental institutions, which are responsible for country branding, portray countries using visual identity on the Internet, social media, and their own media.

JEL: M370

* The presented paper is an extended, revised and updated version of the paper presented during the CEECOM 2018 in Sheged.

New media users and their strategies towards global media companies

Technological change in the form of convergence and digitization of media has fundamentally affected the relationships between all communication participants, leading to the design and implementation of new strategies in global media markets. The change applies to broadcasters, network operators, content producers, media products and service distributors, global and local actors in the audiovisual market. However, the key players of the change are the media users. From passive recipients of the mass media, they have become active consumers of media products and services, creators of network messages, and architects of new forms of communication. Media users gained influence over the decisions about the content, technology and distribution platforms. Thus, users have been converted into an important entity of the media market which strong corporate players have to deal with, and its potential and needs have to be taken into account in their business strategies. Thanks to networks, users produce and spread their own content and increasingly determine the shape of mass media content; they have their own strategies, and become significant players in the market. Their market strategies are variable and diverse, conditioned culturally, socially and economically. The change of the position of mass and network media receivers/users has an impact on the functioning of global and national media industries, corporate strategies and government policies. Corporate media have largely lost control over the dominant stream of audiovisual content and quotes, as well as other subjects. Along the development of a global information society there will evolve a strategic game between the media users aiming at the decentralization of media communication processes, freedom of choice, and creativity, and corporations seeking to dominate the market.