PurposeThe dropout rates of open e-learning platforms are often cited as high as 97%, with many u... more PurposeThe dropout rates of open e-learning platforms are often cited as high as 97%, with many users discontinuing their use after initial acceptance. This study aims to explore this anomaly through the lens of affordances theory, revealing design–reality gaps between users' diverse goals and the possibilities for action provided by an open IT artefact.Design/methodology/approachA six-month case study was undertaken to investigate the design implications of user-perceived affordances in an EU sustainability project which developed an open e-learning platform for citizens to improve their household energy efficiency. Thematic analysis was used to reveal the challenges of user continuance behaviour based on how an open IT artefact supports users in achieving individual goals (e.g. reducing energy consumption in the home) and collective goals (lessening the carbon footprint of society).FindingsBased on the findings, the authors inductively reveal seven affordances related to open ...
Dietary fat has long been a target of several Finnish policy sectors with conflicting interests. ... more Dietary fat has long been a target of several Finnish policy sectors with conflicting interests. Changes in fat use from animal to vegetable fats have often been characterized as “a public policy success story”, in which policy interventions have led to healthier diets. The aim of this paper is to elaborate the picture of the developments in the consumption of different fat products, and to explore whether and what kind of other developments there may have been besides the general change from animal to vegetable fats. Based on population statistics between 1978 and 2014, the study shows that instead of a uniform transformation from animal to vegetable fats, there have been multiple developments simultaneously, and not all of them unambiguously agree with the "success story" discourse. The changes were related to novel fat products, health policy interventions, cultural trends, public debates on dietary fats, and fad diets.
Background: Low-carbohydrate (LC) diets have gained substantial media coverage in many Western co... more Background: Low-carbohydrate (LC) diets have gained substantial media coverage in many Western countries. Little is, however, known about the characteristics of their followers. Objective: The article analyses how those who report following an LC diet differ from the rest of the population in their background, food choices, weight reduction status, as well as food-related perceptions and motives. The data are a part of the Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population survey collected in spring 2012 (n2,601), covering 15- to 64-year-old Finns. Results: Seven per cent of the respondents identified themselves as followers of the LC diet. Gender and education were not associated with following an LC diet. The youngest respondents were the least likely to follow such a diet. The LC diet group preferred butter but also vegetables more commonly than the other respondents and were less likely to use vegetable bread spreads. The followers of the LC diet and the other respon...
The study investigates the views of employers and employees on flexible retirement, the decision ... more The study investigates the views of employers and employees on flexible retirement, the decision to retire on an oldage pension, and factors affecting retirement and continuing at work. Employers and employees share a fairly similar view of the age limits for flexible retirement. The lower age limit is generally accepted. A majority of employers would like to limit upwards flexibility and lower the upper age limit. A significant share of wage earners is also in favour of limiting the degree of flexibility. According to both employers and employees, transition into oldage retirement has, in a majority of cases, taken place so that the individual in question has freely been able to decide when to retire. The employer, on the other hand, is most often involved in the decision to continue working when the individual in question has turned 63 years and wishes to continue at work. The assessment of labour need is an underlying factor in the involvement of the employer. Approximately one fifth of everyone retired on an oldage pension would have wished to continue at work for longer. Of these, approximately every second has had to retire earlier for the reason that continuing was not an option offered by the employer. However, a majority of those retired on an oldage pension belong to the group who did not wish to remain at work any longer, but who were given the option to do so by the employer. Employer views of the possibilities for employees to remain at work were similar. For those aged 65 to 68, there were more options to continue than there were takers of those options. Push factors relating to work and working conditions have had the greatest effect on the decision to retire on an oldage pension, with more free time and hobbies also constituting fairly significant factors, especially among the highly educated. Factors relating to work have greater significance for those retiring at the age of 63 and younger, and also for those with less education. According to the research, more years could be added to the end of careers by adopting more flexible working hours, decreasing the pace and pressure of work and by offering more employer support to continue working until retirement age. Results from the employer survey relating to the goal of extending careers and the willingness of employers to employ the ageing to a greater extent than nowadays do not support the view that careers would be quickly extending. The employer data was collected in connection with a research project by Statistics Finland titled "Avoimet työpaikat ja rekrytointi toimipaikoissa" (Job vacancies and recruitment in the workplace) and acquired by interviewing personnel responsible for recruitment in the workplaces. A survey of employees was carried out as a mail survey, directed at wage earners retiring in 2010 directly from work into oldage pension. Both sets of data represent the target groups very well. The rate of response was high in both surveys. 3.5.3 Avovastaukset työssä jatkamiseen vaikuttavista tekijöistä. ..
Research and innovation funding agencies are increasingly investing in different types of challen... more Research and innovation funding agencies are increasingly investing in different types of challenge competitions. Such competitions introduce researchers a chance to develop science-based products or scientific processes addressing complex societal challenges within the public sphere. In this paper we explored 45 challenge competitions to explore their characteristics and impacts. This paper will contribute to the distinction between product-and process-oriented challenge competitions and provide preliminary findings about the impacts of such activities. Based on our analysis, productand process-oriented challenge competitions have different implications and "additionality" in terms of funding and research support actions. Examples of the benefits include shortened time span between research and its publication, funders' access to notable research resources with small investments, meriting and branding of both researchers and organizers as well as new capacities and skills developed.
Euroopan unionin tiede-ja innovaatiostrategia Horizon 2020 lähtee siitä, että tutkimus-ja innovaa... more Euroopan unionin tiede-ja innovaatiostrategia Horizon 2020 lähtee siitä, että tutkimus-ja innovaatiotoimintaan (T & I) panostaminen on keskeistä yhteiskunnan kehitykselle ja kasvulle. Strategiassa otetaan huomioon ihmiskunnan suurien haasteiden edellyttämä tarve panostaa tieteeseen ja innovaatioihin. EU:n tutkimuspolitiikassa onkin alettu edellyttää yhteiskunnallisen vastuullisuuden tarkempaa määrittelyä, ja sitä on ohjeistettu niin sanotun RRI-mallin (Responsible Research and Innovation) avulla. Toistaiseksi RRI-käsitteelle ei ole vakiintunutta suomenkielistä käännöstä, mutta tässä artikkelissa siihen viitataan nimellä vastuullinen tutkimus-ja innovaatiotoiminta. ARTIKKELI CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Mikko Rask on dosentti ja vastuullinen tutkija Helsingin yliopistossa. Nina Kahma on yliopistotutkija ja vastuullinen tutkija Helsingin yliopistossa. Markku Mattila on professori ja Suomen Akatemian pääjohtaja emeritus. Susanna Vase on maisteriopiskelija Helsingin yliopistossa. Kaikki kirjoittajat ovat työskennelleet EU-rahoitteisessa FIT4RRI-hankkeessa (GA741477).
Tuloerojen kasvu ja politiikan populistiset äänenpainot ovat tuoneet eliitin käsitteen uudella ta... more Tuloerojen kasvu ja politiikan populistiset äänenpainot ovat tuoneet eliitin käsitteen uudella tavalla suomalaiseen julkiseen keskusteluun 2000-luvulla. Artikkelissa kuvataan, miten eliitin käsitettä on käytetty kahden sanomalehden, Helsingin Sanomien ja Maaseudun Tulevaisuuden, pääkirjoitussivuilla vuosina 2000–2014. Eliittiä koskevat kirjoitukset lisääntyivät jatkuvasti tänä aikana ja eliitin määrittelyssä siirryttiin politiikan ja talouden kehyksistä kulttuuriseen kehykseen. ARTIKKELIT
Everyday Eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 2019
In this book we have developed a conceptual framework of an eating system with the three dimensio... more In this book we have developed a conceptual framework of an eating system with the three dimensions of eating pattern, meal format and the social organisation of eating (see the following section and Mäkelä et al. (1999, see also Kjaernes 2001). This framework is useful when trying to see eating as a whole where the various dimensions operate together and are also dependent of each other.
Finns are said to be homogenous when it comes to cultural taste. However, the division between th... more Finns are said to be homogenous when it comes to cultural taste. However, the division between the Finnish-speaking majority and the Swedish-speaking minority is often considered significant. Previous study shows that the Swedish-speakers are statistically better-off when it comes to issues such as income and health. The stereotype of the Swedish-speakers is that in cultural consumption they represent upper-class taste. Most contemporary theory claims that the notion of legitimacy itself is changing. The paper examines ideas of legitimate taste brought up in twenty focus groups. We shall compare the linguistic groups and form a picture of what type of culture is considered legitimate by which group. In the end we aim to answer the question of what legitimate taste in the Finnish context means. The paper is based on a focus group study that serves as a pilot research for the project Cultural Capital and Social Differentiation in Contemporary Finland.
Energy markets are in a state of considerable transformation. As a result of new smart energy tec... more Energy markets are in a state of considerable transformation. As a result of new smart energy technologies, novel services can now be offered to customers. The adoption of innovations is often conceptualized in terms of technology diffusion, the success or failure of the new technology depending on how it is able to move across a market. It is taken as given that novel technologies diffuse from innovators to the mass marketa transfer in which non-use is thought to disappear over time. The article challenges the received approach to non-use, building on a typology by Satchell and Dourish, who suggest that non-use is more than lagging adoption: it can also manifest as active resistance, disenchantment, disenfranchisement, disinterest and displacement. The article draws on a survey carried out in Finland in 2013. We proceed from examining the non-adoption of smart energy services to analysing the attitudes linked to the many types of non-use. Thereafter, we will consider forms of nonuse that are closely linked to assets and housing. We find that in the case of smart energy services the most important dimensions of non-use are disinterest and disenchantment, alongside lagging adoption. Moreover, disenfranchisement also has a role in explaining non-use.
Building on the theoretical framework provided by sociological research on eating practices, fami... more Building on the theoretical framework provided by sociological research on eating practices, family meals, self-cooked meals and time use, this study examines national differences and similarities in the use of convenience food in Northern Europe. The study draws on two quantitative sets of data, the primary data set (N 5 8248) collected in 2012 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the complementary data set (N 5 800) collected in St. Petersburg area in 2013. In general, consumers' attitudes towards convenience food were negative. Time saving was an important motivator for convenience consumption in all countries. The effects of other attitudes were diffuse and factors such as low cost, health effects, and taste of convenience food, affected convenience consumption differently in different countries. In the four Nordic countries women used less convenience food than men. In Finland and in Norway older respondents used convenience food less often than the young. Generally, the use of convenience food was most frequent among those living alone. The effects of education and occupation were small, implying that the phase of life is more important than social stratification in explaining convenience food consumption. In the St. Petersburg data, there were no differences related to social background.
PurposeThe dropout rates of open e-learning platforms are often cited as high as 97%, with many u... more PurposeThe dropout rates of open e-learning platforms are often cited as high as 97%, with many users discontinuing their use after initial acceptance. This study aims to explore this anomaly through the lens of affordances theory, revealing design–reality gaps between users' diverse goals and the possibilities for action provided by an open IT artefact.Design/methodology/approachA six-month case study was undertaken to investigate the design implications of user-perceived affordances in an EU sustainability project which developed an open e-learning platform for citizens to improve their household energy efficiency. Thematic analysis was used to reveal the challenges of user continuance behaviour based on how an open IT artefact supports users in achieving individual goals (e.g. reducing energy consumption in the home) and collective goals (lessening the carbon footprint of society).FindingsBased on the findings, the authors inductively reveal seven affordances related to open ...
Dietary fat has long been a target of several Finnish policy sectors with conflicting interests. ... more Dietary fat has long been a target of several Finnish policy sectors with conflicting interests. Changes in fat use from animal to vegetable fats have often been characterized as “a public policy success story”, in which policy interventions have led to healthier diets. The aim of this paper is to elaborate the picture of the developments in the consumption of different fat products, and to explore whether and what kind of other developments there may have been besides the general change from animal to vegetable fats. Based on population statistics between 1978 and 2014, the study shows that instead of a uniform transformation from animal to vegetable fats, there have been multiple developments simultaneously, and not all of them unambiguously agree with the "success story" discourse. The changes were related to novel fat products, health policy interventions, cultural trends, public debates on dietary fats, and fad diets.
Background: Low-carbohydrate (LC) diets have gained substantial media coverage in many Western co... more Background: Low-carbohydrate (LC) diets have gained substantial media coverage in many Western countries. Little is, however, known about the characteristics of their followers. Objective: The article analyses how those who report following an LC diet differ from the rest of the population in their background, food choices, weight reduction status, as well as food-related perceptions and motives. The data are a part of the Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population survey collected in spring 2012 (n2,601), covering 15- to 64-year-old Finns. Results: Seven per cent of the respondents identified themselves as followers of the LC diet. Gender and education were not associated with following an LC diet. The youngest respondents were the least likely to follow such a diet. The LC diet group preferred butter but also vegetables more commonly than the other respondents and were less likely to use vegetable bread spreads. The followers of the LC diet and the other respon...
The study investigates the views of employers and employees on flexible retirement, the decision ... more The study investigates the views of employers and employees on flexible retirement, the decision to retire on an oldage pension, and factors affecting retirement and continuing at work. Employers and employees share a fairly similar view of the age limits for flexible retirement. The lower age limit is generally accepted. A majority of employers would like to limit upwards flexibility and lower the upper age limit. A significant share of wage earners is also in favour of limiting the degree of flexibility. According to both employers and employees, transition into oldage retirement has, in a majority of cases, taken place so that the individual in question has freely been able to decide when to retire. The employer, on the other hand, is most often involved in the decision to continue working when the individual in question has turned 63 years and wishes to continue at work. The assessment of labour need is an underlying factor in the involvement of the employer. Approximately one fifth of everyone retired on an oldage pension would have wished to continue at work for longer. Of these, approximately every second has had to retire earlier for the reason that continuing was not an option offered by the employer. However, a majority of those retired on an oldage pension belong to the group who did not wish to remain at work any longer, but who were given the option to do so by the employer. Employer views of the possibilities for employees to remain at work were similar. For those aged 65 to 68, there were more options to continue than there were takers of those options. Push factors relating to work and working conditions have had the greatest effect on the decision to retire on an oldage pension, with more free time and hobbies also constituting fairly significant factors, especially among the highly educated. Factors relating to work have greater significance for those retiring at the age of 63 and younger, and also for those with less education. According to the research, more years could be added to the end of careers by adopting more flexible working hours, decreasing the pace and pressure of work and by offering more employer support to continue working until retirement age. Results from the employer survey relating to the goal of extending careers and the willingness of employers to employ the ageing to a greater extent than nowadays do not support the view that careers would be quickly extending. The employer data was collected in connection with a research project by Statistics Finland titled "Avoimet työpaikat ja rekrytointi toimipaikoissa" (Job vacancies and recruitment in the workplace) and acquired by interviewing personnel responsible for recruitment in the workplaces. A survey of employees was carried out as a mail survey, directed at wage earners retiring in 2010 directly from work into oldage pension. Both sets of data represent the target groups very well. The rate of response was high in both surveys. 3.5.3 Avovastaukset työssä jatkamiseen vaikuttavista tekijöistä. ..
Research and innovation funding agencies are increasingly investing in different types of challen... more Research and innovation funding agencies are increasingly investing in different types of challenge competitions. Such competitions introduce researchers a chance to develop science-based products or scientific processes addressing complex societal challenges within the public sphere. In this paper we explored 45 challenge competitions to explore their characteristics and impacts. This paper will contribute to the distinction between product-and process-oriented challenge competitions and provide preliminary findings about the impacts of such activities. Based on our analysis, productand process-oriented challenge competitions have different implications and "additionality" in terms of funding and research support actions. Examples of the benefits include shortened time span between research and its publication, funders' access to notable research resources with small investments, meriting and branding of both researchers and organizers as well as new capacities and skills developed.
Euroopan unionin tiede-ja innovaatiostrategia Horizon 2020 lähtee siitä, että tutkimus-ja innovaa... more Euroopan unionin tiede-ja innovaatiostrategia Horizon 2020 lähtee siitä, että tutkimus-ja innovaatiotoimintaan (T & I) panostaminen on keskeistä yhteiskunnan kehitykselle ja kasvulle. Strategiassa otetaan huomioon ihmiskunnan suurien haasteiden edellyttämä tarve panostaa tieteeseen ja innovaatioihin. EU:n tutkimuspolitiikassa onkin alettu edellyttää yhteiskunnallisen vastuullisuuden tarkempaa määrittelyä, ja sitä on ohjeistettu niin sanotun RRI-mallin (Responsible Research and Innovation) avulla. Toistaiseksi RRI-käsitteelle ei ole vakiintunutta suomenkielistä käännöstä, mutta tässä artikkelissa siihen viitataan nimellä vastuullinen tutkimus-ja innovaatiotoiminta. ARTIKKELI CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Mikko Rask on dosentti ja vastuullinen tutkija Helsingin yliopistossa. Nina Kahma on yliopistotutkija ja vastuullinen tutkija Helsingin yliopistossa. Markku Mattila on professori ja Suomen Akatemian pääjohtaja emeritus. Susanna Vase on maisteriopiskelija Helsingin yliopistossa. Kaikki kirjoittajat ovat työskennelleet EU-rahoitteisessa FIT4RRI-hankkeessa (GA741477).
Tuloerojen kasvu ja politiikan populistiset äänenpainot ovat tuoneet eliitin käsitteen uudella ta... more Tuloerojen kasvu ja politiikan populistiset äänenpainot ovat tuoneet eliitin käsitteen uudella tavalla suomalaiseen julkiseen keskusteluun 2000-luvulla. Artikkelissa kuvataan, miten eliitin käsitettä on käytetty kahden sanomalehden, Helsingin Sanomien ja Maaseudun Tulevaisuuden, pääkirjoitussivuilla vuosina 2000–2014. Eliittiä koskevat kirjoitukset lisääntyivät jatkuvasti tänä aikana ja eliitin määrittelyssä siirryttiin politiikan ja talouden kehyksistä kulttuuriseen kehykseen. ARTIKKELIT
Everyday Eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 2019
In this book we have developed a conceptual framework of an eating system with the three dimensio... more In this book we have developed a conceptual framework of an eating system with the three dimensions of eating pattern, meal format and the social organisation of eating (see the following section and Mäkelä et al. (1999, see also Kjaernes 2001). This framework is useful when trying to see eating as a whole where the various dimensions operate together and are also dependent of each other.
Finns are said to be homogenous when it comes to cultural taste. However, the division between th... more Finns are said to be homogenous when it comes to cultural taste. However, the division between the Finnish-speaking majority and the Swedish-speaking minority is often considered significant. Previous study shows that the Swedish-speakers are statistically better-off when it comes to issues such as income and health. The stereotype of the Swedish-speakers is that in cultural consumption they represent upper-class taste. Most contemporary theory claims that the notion of legitimacy itself is changing. The paper examines ideas of legitimate taste brought up in twenty focus groups. We shall compare the linguistic groups and form a picture of what type of culture is considered legitimate by which group. In the end we aim to answer the question of what legitimate taste in the Finnish context means. The paper is based on a focus group study that serves as a pilot research for the project Cultural Capital and Social Differentiation in Contemporary Finland.
Energy markets are in a state of considerable transformation. As a result of new smart energy tec... more Energy markets are in a state of considerable transformation. As a result of new smart energy technologies, novel services can now be offered to customers. The adoption of innovations is often conceptualized in terms of technology diffusion, the success or failure of the new technology depending on how it is able to move across a market. It is taken as given that novel technologies diffuse from innovators to the mass marketa transfer in which non-use is thought to disappear over time. The article challenges the received approach to non-use, building on a typology by Satchell and Dourish, who suggest that non-use is more than lagging adoption: it can also manifest as active resistance, disenchantment, disenfranchisement, disinterest and displacement. The article draws on a survey carried out in Finland in 2013. We proceed from examining the non-adoption of smart energy services to analysing the attitudes linked to the many types of non-use. Thereafter, we will consider forms of nonuse that are closely linked to assets and housing. We find that in the case of smart energy services the most important dimensions of non-use are disinterest and disenchantment, alongside lagging adoption. Moreover, disenfranchisement also has a role in explaining non-use.
Building on the theoretical framework provided by sociological research on eating practices, fami... more Building on the theoretical framework provided by sociological research on eating practices, family meals, self-cooked meals and time use, this study examines national differences and similarities in the use of convenience food in Northern Europe. The study draws on two quantitative sets of data, the primary data set (N 5 8248) collected in 2012 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the complementary data set (N 5 800) collected in St. Petersburg area in 2013. In general, consumers' attitudes towards convenience food were negative. Time saving was an important motivator for convenience consumption in all countries. The effects of other attitudes were diffuse and factors such as low cost, health effects, and taste of convenience food, affected convenience consumption differently in different countries. In the four Nordic countries women used less convenience food than men. In Finland and in Norway older respondents used convenience food less often than the young. Generally, the use of convenience food was most frequent among those living alone. The effects of education and occupation were small, implying that the phase of life is more important than social stratification in explaining convenience food consumption. In the St. Petersburg data, there were no differences related to social background.
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