Vilma Luoma-aho

Dept of History & Ethnology, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

July 2008 – July 2009, Visiting Researcher, Innovation Journalism Program. Hosted by Stig Hagstrom, SCILM

My research project “mediated reputation” approaches reputation formation of innovations through thematic interviews of key people (journalists, VCs, Analysts and PR-practitioners) in the innovation industry in Silicon Valley and aims at constructing a model for the formation of media reputation of innovations. The project focuses on media reputation, as it is the journalists’ impressions that most shape how the innovation is presented in the media and how the stakeholders in the end perceive the innovation. The project asks (1) What sources and clues do journalists combine to form their impression of an innovation? and (2) What role, if any, does media reputation have in the overall reputation of the innovation?