What are analog bulletin boards used for today? Analysing media uses, intermediality and technology affordances in Swedish bulletin board messages using a citizen science approach

Abstract

Analog bulletin boards are omnipresent in Swedish urban areas, yet little systematic knowledge about this communication medium exists. In the shadow of the rapid emergence of digital media the analog bulletin board has received less attention than its digital successors, many of them having incorporated similar functionality with novel technical solutions. In this study we used a citizen science method to collect 1167 messages from bulletin boards around Sweden aided by school children and teachers, with the purpose of shedding new light on what is communicated on the boards, by whom, using what types of technologies and in what way the messages refer to other media. Results show that the most common messages are invitations to events, such as concerts, lectures and sports events, followed by buy-and-sell ads for goods and services. The most frequent sender is an association, for example NGOs, sports associations or religious communities. Almost half of the sampled messages were professionally printed, about forty per cent were made by home printers. Only six per cent of the messages were handwritten, almost exclusively by private persons as senders. Moreover, we show how the analog bulletin board has adapted to recent changes in media technology—a media landscape which is saturated with electronic- and mobile media. Further, the bulletin board still holds a firm place in a media ecology where local communication is in demand, and exists in parallel with electronic media. Close to forty percent of the messages contained hyperlinks to web pages and we found (and removed for anonymization purposes) more than six hundred phone numbers from the dataset.

Linguistic Landscapes in the Stockholm Archipelago—Producing and Reflecting a Sense of Place

“…The bulletin boards are used both by local businesses, local community associations, and private persons, but they also include a smaller number of official notices and messages from advertisers elsewhere offering services to the islands. Thus, they are comparable to the results presented by Kullenberg et al (2018) who have analysed Swedish bulletin boards through a citizen science approach. Their results showed the most common messages to be invitations to events, followed by buy-and-sell ads, and most often posted by different kinds of associations.…”

“…Their results showed the most common messages to be invitations to events, followed by buy-and-sell ads, and most often posted by different kinds of associations. Furthermore, they could conclude that almost half of the messages were professionally printed, followed by home-printed ones, with only a small number of handwritten notices by private individuals (Kullenberg et al 2018). Although I have not performed an exact quantitative analysis of the bullet boards, this also resembles the signs on the islands, where a combination of more or less professional and home-made messages can be found.…”

Interactive Digital Notice Boards for Universities in Ghana

“…Among the listed communication channels on the University campus, the notice board has been a common, easy, convenient, and effective channel through which communication is transmitted. This is because electronic media are proving to be more effective at attracting the attention of intended audiences as Kullenberg, Rohden, Björkvall, Brounéus, Avellan-Hultman, Järlehed, ... and Westberg, (2018) add that with the continuous growth and popularity of the internet, analogue bulletin boards might seem like an increasingly obsolete medium, one which is about to disappear and be replaced by digital solutions. While Interactive Digital Notice Boards (IDNBs) have the potential to revoluti onize communication in higher education institutions, there are gaps in the literature on their effectiveness.…”