Minority Language, Cross-border and the Web

CROSS-BORDER AND THE WEB

NPLD -meetingCardiff 8.12.2011

MESami Kallinen

Head of OnlineSwedish Yle

YLE - FACTS• National broadcaster of Finland

• About 3200 employees

• TV - 4 channels

• Radio - 6 channels

• Web - Leading Finnish website in news, web radio & TV and other services

• 25 regional offices for radio, web and TV

YLE - ORG

YLE - ORG

YLE - ORG

SWEDISH YLE ORG

SWEDISH YLE - FACTS

• Swedish-language division of the national broadcaster of Finland

• About 380 employees

• TV - 1 channel

• Radio - 2 channels

• Web - Leading Finnish website in news, web radio & TV and other services

• 5 regional offices for radio, web and TV

• Sometimes used as a testbed within Yle

svenska.yle.fi

• Started daily production on the web in 1997

• 12 people working on design and platforms. Approximately 20 reporters producing online content. Changing January 2012

• Largest web service in Swedish Finland

• News, web radio & TV, children's web, blogs, food, plus more

SWEDISH SPEAKING FINNS

SWEDEN RUSSIAFINLAND

SWEDEN RUSSIAFINLAND

Swedish-speaking Finns

MEDIA USAGE

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choices.

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

CROSS-BORDERTRANSMISSION

Not an acute issue for Svenska Yle as a broadcaster.But a core issue for the minority language project.

MEDIA USAGELaszlo Vincze proposes two remedies for revitalising the

Swedish language in Finland:

1. The media output in Swedish needs to be strengthened and targeted more towards bilingual users.

2. The Swedish-speaking Finns cannot compete with the majority culture in content creation and therefore we need to guarantee Swedish language media sources from Sweden in bilingual municipalities.

Source:www.magma.fi (Laszlo Vincze, 2010)

97% 3German-speakers

Bilingual

Hungarian-speakers

Bilingual

Swedish-speakers

Bilingual

Swedish-speakers

Bilingual

84%

49%

32%

72%

41%

31%

7%

51%

4 64%

2 25%

28% 31%

23% 46%

49% 45%

10% 6%So

uth

Tyro

lTr

an

sylv

an

iaO

stro

bo

thn

iaS

ou

the

rn F

inl.

Minority-language Majority-language English

Source: www.magma.fi (Laszlo Vincze, 2010)

WEB USAGE

SWEDEN RUSSIAFINLAND

Swedish-speaking Finns

Ostrobotnia

Nyland

CROSS-BORDERON THE WEB

Everything is cross border on the web.

svenska.yle.fi

• 11,528,222 visits 2011 = weekly avarage: 221,696(Google Analytics 04/12/10 - 04/12/11)

• Search Engines 40.24%

• Top-3 countries:Finland 78%

Sweden 17%

Norway 0.6%

• 5,428,045 visits 2011 = weekly avarage: 104,385(Google Analytics 04/12/10 - 04/12/11)

• Search Engines 38.37%

• Top-3 countries:Finland 77%

Sweden 17%

Norway 0.6%

svenska.yle.fi/nyheter

• 615,575 visits 2011 = weekly avarage 11,837(Google Analytics 04/12/10 - 04/12/11)

• Search Engines 67.95%

• Top-3 countries:Sweden 64%

Finland 30%

Norway 2%

svenska.yle.fi/matofritid

IDENTITIES ORHOW MUCH OF A

SWEDISH SPEAKING FINN AM I?

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

1970ies

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Swedish speaking school

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Late rebelling againstminority project

Swedish speaking school

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Late rebelling againstminority project

Stockholm

Swedish speaking school

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Late rebelling againstminority project

Stockholm

Amsterdam

Swedish speaking school

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Late rebelling againstminority project

Stockholm

Amsterdam

Amserdamwith kids

Swedish speaking school

Monolingual Swedish speakers

Monolingual Finnish speakers

The Swedish-speaking cultural

identity and project is important.

It is important that Swedish is

spoken in Finland

Bilingual (Swedish dominant)

Bilingual (Finnish dominant)

The cultural identity and

project is not important.

Language or cultural heritage does not affect

choises.

Monolingual Swedish speakersMonolingual Swedish speakers

Born

Late rebelling againstminority project

Stockholm

Amsterdam

Amserdamwith kids

Finland Swedish Yle Swedish speaking school

ECOLOGY OF C-B TRANSMISSION

Media from Sweden Swedish language media from Finland

Finnish language

media

International media

Swedish-speaking Finns [MP] [SwYle/MP] X X

Swedes X [SwYle] X X

Finnish speaking Swedes X X X X

Expat Swedish-speaking Finns [MP] [SwYle/MP] X X

Expat Finns [MP] [SwYle/MP] X X

MediaUser

C Cross-border transmission

[MP] Important from minority languageproject perspective

[SwYle] Important from Swedish Yle perspective

POSSIBILITIES

OPPORTUNITIES

Through the net you can technically watch Swedish-speaking Finnish children’s programming no matter

where you are.

CHALLENGES

The fact that the web is always cross-border transmission is both a challenge and an opportunity. Possibilities are limitless,

but competition for attentions is huge.

OPPORTUNITIES

We are not competing with national and localmedia but with Google, Apple, Facebook and such. The fact that

we are local and a minority is our unique selling point.

CHALLENGES

What complicates matters is that the users need change very muchdepending on the context. But this is where the web is

so strong, because we can change and customise according to needs.

THE RIGHTS PROBLEM

Lawrence Lessig: The "present" always triesto protect itself against the "future".

THANK YOU

@sakalli / sami.kallinen@yle.fi