Special Issue announcement Television in a digital era - Usage and policy issues Jo Pierson, Joke Bauwens and David Geerts (eds.) Telematics and Informatics - An interdisciplinary journal on the social impacts of new technologies November 2011 ISSN 0736-5853 Elsevier published the Special Issue 'Television in a digital era - Usage and policy issues ' (Guest Editors Jo Pierson, Joke Bauwens and David Geerts) Volume 28 Issue 4 of 'Telematics and Informatics' Journal (Editor-in-Chief Jan Servaes) Synopsis: In drawing and examining the social-cultural, industry and policy processes that accompany the digitization of television, this special issue aims to contribute to a multi-faceted understanding of the conditions and forces that cause the changes and orient the evolution of digital broadcasting. From the empirical evidence and observation presented in the articles we learn that change is never instant, but nevertheless from time to time rapid; that structures sometimes impede change, sometimes speed it up; that television still is television to many people, and at the same time breaks free from its traditional meaning. In dealing with all these juxtapositions this special issue aims to give an informed account of how social institutions, i.e. citizens, consumers, policymakers, industrialists and engineers, are dealing with television’s changes. Within a few decades this will be history, or at best, relevant source material for a historiography of digital television. Contents: Introduction: Ready for use? An old medium in new times (J. Bauwens, J. Pierson and D. Geerts) The promises of iDTV: Between push marketing and consumer needs (W. Van den Broeck, J. Bauwens and J. Pierson) Acceptance and rejection of mobile TV among young adults: A case of college students in South Korea (H. Lee, D. Kim, J. Ryu and S. Lee) Video mediated social interaction between groups: System requirements and technology challenges (D. Williams, M.F. Ursu, J. Meenowa, P. Cesar, I. Kegel and K. Bergström) A Living Lab research approach for mobile TV (D. Schuurman, K. De Moor, L. De Marez and T. Evens) From high hopes to high deficit and back: A historic overview of Europe's HDTV policy and reflections towards the future of HDTV (N. Walravens and C. Pauwels) The digital switchover as an information society initiative: The role of public policy in promoting access to digital ICTs (M. Sourbati) For more information on the book, follow the link below: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%235675%232011%23999719995%233202758%23FLA%23&_cdi=5675&_pubType=J&_auth=y&_acct=C000047720&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=7218584&md5=e50dc68f0de7b1c64b3e9481e0d3b1f6&zone=raall> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jo Pierson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT) Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication (SMIT) Pleinlaan 2 / B-1050 Brussels / Belgium T: + 32 (0)2 629 2412 F: +32 (0)2 629 1700 E: Jo.Pierson@vub.ac.be @imuses Office: 0C.005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------