Research group for Media, Innovation and Communication Technologies

FLEET - An interdisciplinary research project on Flemish e-publishing trends

About

FLEET is financed by the IWT within the framework of the programme to support Strategic Basic Research (SBO). The research consortium consists of junior or senior researchers from the social sciences, law and economic departments of the VUB, KULeuven, Ghent University and the Dutch research bureau Infonomics/ECDC.

The main objective of the project consists of identifying and understanding the changing role of publishers, journalists and users in the digital media environment. Working from this perspective will allow the mapping of the most important ‘drivers of change’ in the field of electronic publishing. More specifically, the project has five inter-related general aims:

  1. To map the developments and most important actors in the field of electronic publishing in Flanders and the analysis of the strategies and business models employed.
  2. To examine the changes in employment opportunities in the e-publishing sector and the changing role, function and working conditions of journalists, with special attention to the new competence requirements and skills for the digital journalist.
  3. To understand user behaviour with regard to new online products and services, with special attention to the blurring of the boundary between producers and consumers of content (the user as producer).
  4. To research the most important legal problems in the field of electronic publishing, particularly with regard to copyrights and liability.
  5. To translate the interdisciplinary research results into concrete policy recommendations, legal manuals, suggestions for business modelling, workshops and an e-journalism course, etc.

Duration of the project

The project runs from 01/03/2006 - 01/03/2010.

Clusters

  • Media Production & Distribution

Financed by

IWT