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Multinational web uses and gratifications: Measuring the Social Impact of Online Participation Across National Boundaries

This paper will describe the rationale and findings from a multinational study of online uses and gratifications conducted in the United States, Korea, and the Netherlands in spring 2003. A survey research method of study was conducted using a questionnaire developed in three languages and was presented to approximately 400 respondents in each country via the Web. Web uses and gratifications were analyzed cross-nationally in a comparative fashion and focused on the perceived involvement in different types of on-line communities. Findings indicate that demographic characteristics, cultural values, and Internet connection type emerged as critical factors that explain why the same technology is adopted differently. The analyses identified seven major gratifications sought by users in each country: social support, surveillance & advice, learning, entertainment, escape, fame & aesthetic, and respect. Although the Internet is a global medium, in general, web use is more local and regional. Evidence of media use and cultural values reported by country and online community supports the hypothesis of a technological convergence between societies, not a cultural convergence.

Theme parks and happiness

Planned knowledge locations in cities

This paper puts forward a conceptual framework to analyse emergence and the development of planned knowledge locations in cities (science and technology parks, creative factories, knowledge hubs, etc.). It argues that the study and the practice of developing these precincts can benefit from explicitly considering the broader territorial context, the time dynamics and the co-evolutionary processes through which they unfold. The advantages of such as framework are illustrated with the support of two European knowledge locations: Arabianranta (Helsinki, Finland) and Biocant (Cantanhede, Portugal).

Co-creation at Amsterdam Science Park

Amsterdam Science Park (ASP) is a pearl in the crown of the Amsterdam knowledge economy, with its high-level research institutes (the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam, several institutes of the NWO, the Dutch national science organisation) and a growing number of knowledge-based companies that reside in the multi-tenant Matrix buildings at the park. At ASP, the number of examples of co-creation is steadily growing. Larger tech firms (including Bosch and ASML) have located there and engage in deep collaboration with university institutes. Many more companies have expressed interest in collaborating with researchers located at ASP, not only in order to gain access to promising talent, but also to more extensively involve university researchers in their R&D processes. Another trend is the growth of science-based start-ups, now hosted at ASP’s Start-up Village: an appealing hotspot, made of sea containers. Players from business and university signal a rising need for new and more integrated concepts that facilitate collaborations between larger firms, start-ups and research groups. And also, the ASP management would like to see more co-creation. From its spatial and organisational design, the park is however characterised by a separation of activities: each faculty and institute operates its own building and facilities, with the firms hosted in the multitenant Matrix buildings. ASP is being developed along the lines of a masterplan based on strict zoning (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2013). This study explores how, and under what conditions further co-creation could be facilitated at ASP.

Urban Vitality: Re-Evaluating the Availability of Urban Parks

Parks are necessary for sustainable urban vitality. We studied the optimal availability of parks by combining open data sets with polygons and classification frameworks from urban planning literature. Both distance and population density should be considered as measures of availability when planning urban parks.

CyberParks - the interface between people, places and technology