Dissertations / Theses on the topic '4701 Communication and media studies'

Media & Communication
Ph.D.
Communicating Legacy: Media, Memory, and Harvey Milk examines publicly available media, artifacts and events in service of remembering Harvey Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. Although he addressed issues of a diverse constituency, Milk is often remembered for demanding gay rights, his co-authorship of the San Francisco’s Human Rights Ordinance, and a successful campaign against the passage of Proposition 6 in 1978, a state proposition to prohibit gay men and lesbian women from working in public schools. His political career ended weeks later, when Milk was assassinated, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, by former city supervisor and colleague Dan White. Forms of public and popular media addressing the remembrance of Milk and communicating his legacy include: journalism, books, documentary and fiction film, public art, theatrical and musical performances, memorials, commemorations, public history exhibitions, as well as types of legacy-naming. I term this media material media memoria – material in service of remembering. Through a mix of textual methods (visual/narrative/discourse), fieldwork (participant observation, interviewing) and archival/historical research methods, I examine how Milk media memoria create representations and narratives of Harvey Milk. I focus on how these representations narratives are used over time in the construction, negotiation and maintenance of local, LGBTQIA+ and eventually a larger public memory of Harvey Milk. This project is a mix of history, memory, and media analysis. It is written as an overlapping chronology, so the reader can experience the mediated communication of Milk’s legacy as it moves forward through time. It is situated within the study of media and communication but is interdisciplinary in that it finds inspiration from memory studies, film and media studies, museum and exhibition studies, and public history – all areas in which communication with a public, and mediated communication, play integral parts of collective memory narrative building. Communicating Legacy: Media, Memory and Harvey Milk aspires to be a contribution toward a more comprehensive history of the memory of Milk. The project concludes with a summary of the core and layered Milk memory narratives, a look at the key memory keepers and institutional players in Milk memory maintenance, and a discussion of the future of Milk memory. Through a discussion of how media memoria communicate the legacy of Harvey Milk, the dissertation adds to scholarly knowledge about how collective memory of public figures is constructed in American culture. Additionally, the dissertation works toward resolving deficiencies in research addressing LGBTQIA+ collective memory studies.
Temple University--Theses

This research used a series of qualitative measurements of media coverage to investigate how differences in characteristics of a terrorist related event correlate with qualitative differences in media coverage. The first part of this study determined that there were tools to measure differences in the quality of coverage. Three variables showed significant differences in coverage. Coverage differed in the structure of the news account- in whose shoes the reader enters the story. The differences between entering through the perspective of the victim, the perpetrator or the context have been correlated by Cerulo (1998) with different messages of the legitimacy of the actors. Victim sequences signal deviant (illegitimate) violence, perpetrator sequences signal legitimate violence and contextual sequences signal ambiguous violence. Coverage also differed in the extent to which an article provided contextual information or focused strictly on the details of the event. Providing contextual information is important for terrorist groups because it includes information on the grievances of the group as well as the history of the conflict. This variable was measured as an episodic or thematic frame. Explanations of motivation for participation in terrorism also differed based on characteristics of an event. As with contextual coverage, presenting themes of causation or motivation for the account is a way for terrorist groups to present grievances and history of the conflict. Combining these three variables into a favorable coverage variable helped makes sense of competing trends in the data. This first section set up a system for evaluating the qualitative impact on media coverage of choices that terrorist groups and governments make. What stands out is a paradox for a terrorist group around the use of violence. Both here and in other studies, violence has been shown to be an effective means of getting through the media gatekeeping and achieving coverage, but it is also associated with a decrease in favorable coverage. Number of casualties is also negatively associated with favorable coverage. Hence the paradox that, in order to achieve coverage, based on criteria of newsworthiness, violence may often be necessary, but violent action actually decreases the number of articles presenting the kind of information terrorist groups want to get across. Looking at the paired cases, what was most significant was the lack of change in the favorability of coverage before and after events. The implication is that while terrorist groups may have some control over whether or not their actions get covered, media organizations develop fairly resilient patterns for covering those actions, irrespective of the nature of the action. Terrorist groups essentially have less capacity to actually manipulate the type of coverage they receive than is commonly believed. While there were some very small effects, the favorability of coverage immediately following an event is essentially the same as before it. The difference lies in the actual amount of coverage. While short-term impacts were slight, there are substantial differences both in quantity and quality over the life of the conflict, a longer term view may allow for better understanding of changes in media coverage.

This study aims to examine current reception analysis and meida theories to determine if extant literature in the field is relevant to the experience of the Arab audience focusing on the Jordanian audiences as an illustrative case study, using quantitative and qualitative tools including questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings show that the Jordanian audiences seem to favour television over print press as a source of information, and they favoured channels such as Al Jazeera. Getting information about international (political) affairs gives this sample of audiences a sense of empowerment which is argued, could compensate for the lack of genuine opportunities for political participation in Jordan. It is also argued that, unlike western studies which claim the prevalence of entertainment programmes and the decline of news, this study shows the opposite trend in the Arab region where viewers are more interested in politics as a topic for social conversation. The findings show that the Jordanian audiences are aware of the role of ownership on the news content but tend to use their awareness of this issue to distinguish between information and propaganda. In general, audiences seem mistrustful of pan-Arab channels and their ideologies and yet they are avid consumers of such channels. One reason, in my view, is the low quality of what they see as censored news in Jordan. Audiences' sceptism of what they watch on news channels is not necassarily damaging their engagement in the political life. Jordanian audiences also understand that the diversity of views offered by satellite news channels is based on the selectivity of each channel (and its editorial team as well as its owner).

This study examines how conflict between public assumptions and media framing of a political candidate’s gender performance impacts public trust in the candidate, building upon prior research concluding that the Republican and the Democratic Parties are linked cognitively with ideas about gender, with people often associating the Republican Party with masculine characteristics and the Democratic Party with feminine characteristics. This study operates under the theory that conflict between media representation and participant assumptions will lead to lower levels of trust in a candidate whose gender is framed as conflicting with the underlying gendered assumptions of their party. In an experiment, subjects read one of six news articles describing a hypothetical presidential candidate and answered a questionnaire to measure their trust in the candidate. The results indicate that participants have a higher level of trust in the feminine-framed candidate and a lower level of trust in the masculine-framed candidate – in comparison to the baseline of a gender-neutral framed candidate – in both the Democrat and the Republican condition. Further analysis of the results suggest that while participants assume all candidates possess certain masculine traits often associated with leadership, the presence of feminine traits may increase a candidate’s perceived likeability, which in turn leads to the perception that the candidate has a higher degree of integrity, is more responsive to public concerns, and is ultimately more trustworthy. Additionally, the presence of masculine traits may threaten the candidate’s perceived trustworthiness without the presence of feminine traits to increase the candidate’s likeability. This study expands the current conversation about media and gender to look beyond a candidate’s sex and consider the media’s role in constructing and reinforcing a candidate’s gender performance. It also provides a foundation for future research about the media’s power to shape public perception of candidates and, by extension, the electoral process.

This thesis contains ten chapters that together put forward a case for a renewed sociological approach to the study of media and communication. I argue that the increasing complexity of contemporary media and communication processes demands not only that sociology remains at the centre of research in this field but also that a particular sociological approach is needed that aims to uncover the way individuals take and make meaning from the social situations in which they find themselves. In seven of the chapters the research described is concerned with the work of journalists. The remaining three are concerned with the study of media audiences. Each chapter is self-contained but the thesis as a whole demonstrates an overarching interest in the nature of socially-situated human action, how this can be conceived theoretically and studied empirically, and how research conducted from within this perspective can help to build a fully-rounded understanding of media production and media use. The introduction outlines this approach and describes the contribution that each chapter makes to the case I wish to make.

Media framing analysis has developed in theory and application as a subset of political communication theory for the past several decades. Recent efforts among its scholars have sought to identify and create generalizable frames that can be applied across numerous social and political issues for the purposes of further examining the impact media coverage has on public opinion and policy development. This study utilizes previously established frames to examine media coverage of military spouse employment over the past twenty years, in order to better identify what role media coverage has played in the development of employment policy and support programs for military spouses.

Fear has found its latest instrument in the news media. The discourse of fear in news presentations produces gasping meanings, which we can compellingly indulge in. Fear not just being entertaining, but one of the ways in which we relate to reality, is used as a protection mechanism of our status quo. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the extent to which Fox News tends to use, and further reproduce, the fear discourse to form identities and meaning. The method utilized in this thesis is frame analysis, which is a form of discourse analysis. The primary results indicate that Fox News undeniably uses the fear discourse, for entertainment and the proliferation of the status quo - meaning system. In addition, Fox News applies fear blatantly in the news presentations, as acts of courage and virtuous loyalty to reporting.

Key words: Fear, Frame analysis, Meaning, News media, Infotainment.

This guide was created to serve as a tool for crisis communications to assist in crafting ethical responses to crises using social media as the primary communications channel. The guide combines Stakeholder Theory (Freeman, 1984)—a management theory that focuses on the importance of different groups of people, not just shareholders—with Situational Crisis Communication (Coombs, 2007). The guide also adheres to two of Kant’s Categorical Imperatives as the ethical basis and marker. To create the guide, the author relied on archival, or documentary, research to provide the background information and theory to inform the creation of the guide. The guide is broken up into four parts—an overview of crisis communication, pre-crisis planning, active crisis communication, and post-crisis communication/reputation rebuilding. The guide is meant to be used as a tool, and is not an exhaustive how-to for handling a crisis.

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to determine how Simple Rules emerged on the Social Media sites Twitter and YouTube in the context of the 2014 South Napa, California earthquake. The conceptual theory underpinning the study was the Eoyang CDE (containers, differences, and exchanges) model. The overarching research question was How did Simple Rules emerge on the Social Media sites Twitter and YouTube in the context of the 2014 South Napa Valley, California earthquake? The sample consisted of 138,177 microblogging Tweets from Twitter and 10 videos from YouTube. Each data set was investigated using research questions designed after the Eoyang CDE model. The study method was qualitative, and the design descriptive, since the approach was the most appropriate for creating a full description of the phenomenon. A previously collected, big, Social Media data set was used to perform qualitative data analysis. The analysis included descriptive statistics, qualitative content analysis, as well as a thematic analysis based on the conceptual model. A significant finding of this study reveals Simple Rules did emerge on Social Media resulting from multi-agent communication. Practical implications from the findings indicate leaders of disaster recovery efforts should focus Social Media efforts on the platform users, and use short statements shaped like Simple Rules to communicate messages of adaptive change and adaptive support. Finally, recommendations for further research applying complex adaptive systems theory to Social Media data sets may lead to better insights into how network-based systems self-organize in the context of disaster events.

Media & Communication
Ph.D.
The media impact how people perform their gender, and play an important role in the reproduction of gender binary. Media representations of gender can be described as hegemonic in the sense that, because of their complexity, they contribute to the reproduction of gender norms by otherwise agentic audiences. Media literacy education offers useful strategies for helping audiences question media representations of gender, allowing them to trouble the hegemonic system that keeps inequalities in place. This dissertation answers the question: How do high school students respond to the instruction in a media literacy program informed by gender studies and scholarship on media representations? To answer this question, I used ethnographic methods and the case study approach. My main findings are: (1) Classes that involve analysis of media representations of gender have an agenda-setting effect on students, helping them notice problematic media messages and connect them to social problems and inequalities. (2) Media and gender classes can encourage students to engage in social action, even without the teacher’s prompting. (3) Media and gender classes are not part of a standard curriculum, and teachers choose to include them because they are passionate about gender inequalities. This is why these teachers might lean towards the protectionist approach. (4) Students might embrace teachers’ message about the value of gender equality and diversity, but keep their implicit biases unchecked. Teachers should think of ways to address these biases in the classroom. (5) In order to help students acquire a balanced set of media literacy skills, it is important to work on all competencies of the AACRA model of media literacy education: Access, Analyze, Create, Reflect, and Act.
Temple University--Theses

As a research focused organization the problem with making the information easily read and interesting to the extent that the reader wants to share this information with its friends is a crucial one. To create the perfect communication, reaching and affecting the majority of society is an impossible task. If the focus instead lies on the thought that by building a serious and dependable reputation, using the ease of social media and trying to create a ripple effect to make change by networking communication, there is a possibility to influence. The art of persuasion starts by building trust in a person or in this case in an organization. But if the communication is made by social media, how can one tell if the communication has built trust or created any positive response by the readers? By using Python, a search algorithm has been set up for mining Twitter and analyzing all data covering the area of biofuel and its participants. This data is then used to start an information feedback loop, where the analytical conclusions made from the retrieved information and activities can affect the communication forwarded from the sender. In an agile manner the user is to choose “sprint”-time as well as a time for retrospect, all to refine the analytical method and improve the process.

The Swedish Armed Forces as a big public actor own different media channels and promote life as a soldier from different angles. They create marketing campaigns, which are available widely on YouTube or Facebook. The increased activity on social media platforms, especially Facebook, have created a field for research. There are multiple Facebook pages, from which one can acquire information regarding life at a given regiment. They can be divided into official and unofficial Facebook pages. The fascinating aspect of this division is how differently each of the Facebook pages approaches the audience and how differently they are shaping their strategic communication and reputation, despite owning officially issued guidelines on how the Swedish Armed Forces ought to be presented in the online world. Through multimodal analysis with a shift towards the systematic linguistic in the framework of Machin and Halliday, official Facebook page of Livgardet and unofficial Facebook page of 12:e motoriserade skyttebataljonen have been analyzed to see whether the messages that the Swedish Armed Forces are conveying are aligned. Adding netnography in the frame of Kozinets, the audience has been studied to inquire whether there is a different purpose of using the official and unofficial Facebook page.  The results of this study shows, that the unofficial Facebook page is coherent in a different way, they might not be following the strategic communication guidelines strictly, but they are coherent in their actions and posts, whereas the official Facebook page, which is strictly following the strategic communication guidelines and does not appear as coherent with their actions. At the same time, the audience is using the unofficial Facebook page reconnect with the memories they have from when they did their duty. On the other hand, the official Facebook page is used by the audience as a place to show their appreciation and pride in the Swedish Armed Forces.

An outgrowth of the recent “infrastructural turn” in the humanities, this dissertation explores ways in which emerging flushing infrastructures of the nineteenth century—specifically toilets, sewers, and wastewater treatment systems—rearranged the coordinates of human experience in the modern, developed world. The idea that flushing technologies and techniques contribute to a process of technogenesis—a process of technical exteriorization that is beyond human control but which nevertheless contributes to the evolution of human consciousness— offers a foundational perspective for this study. While flushing technologies and techniques have powerfully enhanced certain human capabilities, they have also affected humanity in a number of problematic ways. This project examines how an expansive flushing media complex emerged in the United States, and traces some of the cultural, environmental and psychical consequences of these developments. Central to this dissertation’s argument is the idea that specific technical circumstances have had the effect of diminishing people’s comfort with, and understanding of, waste processes. In the end, it argues that the ubiquitous flushing technologies that permeate the developed world have perpetuated a culture of forgetting. In the broadest sense, this dissertation is a media-theoretical exploration of the concept of flushing, and it adopts a theoretical lens that has been developed through cultural techniques scholarship of the past few decades. This body of research works to break down and rebuild conventional understandings of media and culture, and seeks to better understand the ways in which medial technologies shape social and cognitive orders. At the theoretical level, this dissertation works to extend the reach of media studies. In addition to conventional media like books, newspapers, TV, radio, film, and the internet, this view of media encompasses any substance or process that effectively mediates—that is, functions as a medium. At the stylistic level, this project answers the call for alternative and experimental modes of dissertorial expression. Blending academic, essayistic, and journalistic strategies, this work walks a precarious line between creative writing and scholarly discourse. Such boundary pushing aims to encourage future stylistic innovation within the academy.

One of the most significant economic developments over the past decades has been the rise in income and wealth inequality. After decades of benign neglect, the issues of economic and social inequalities have reentered the stage of mainstream political attention in the Western heartland over the past couple of years. This is due, in part, to the high public profile of publications by Thomas Piketty and Tony Atkinson. In line with the growing significance of deepening economic inequalities, this Special Section engages with two broad, if overlapping, questions: (1) How do new forms of economic inequality, power, and privilege relate to relevant theories and conceptualizations of the media and institutions of public communication, whether in the fields of communication studies or political economy? (2) What role do the new forms of economic inequality play today in the typical narratives of mediated communication, and how is such inequality framed and discussed?

Videogames have in recent times become an extremely large entertainment business, where specific games can have millions of players and spectators. Usually when people are consuming entertainment, our critical thinking is ignored and we’re just enjoying the show, which leaves us more susceptible. With a fourth of all adolescents in USA consuming as much e-sports as traditional sport, a major part of the spectators is of young age. DICE is a Swedish game-development studio who has created major successes in their line of business. This combined with the political setting that exists in the world at the moment is what made this analysis interesting. We wanted to analyze how the ideologies capitalism and socialism is expressed in DICE’s game Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, and if there is something that indicates an attempt of persuasion. To get a suitable result of the game we chose to do a semiotic analysis created by Roland Barthes, where we interpret and analyzed dialogues, signs and narrative elements. We selected a few scenes, missions and signs along the game that with the help of our denotations and connotations gave us the opportunity to break down the events and analyze it. The fact that we, the authors have the same cultural background as the developers from DICE, gives us a slightly better chance to interpret the events and understand the codes. The study´s result was unexpected. As we started this essay with a prior knowledge about the conglomerate and Faith as the protagonist, we had some thoughts that capitalism would be expressed negatively and socialism positively. The result shows us that capitalism is in fact expressed negatively, while socialism doesn’t have distinct expressions. The result shows a possible attempt at persuasion, however our theory is that the persuasion has no effect. The persuasion never reaches a level which influence the player to become political active or change their original election vote.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of social media on crisis communication. To evaluate this impact, a case study method was utilized examining the crisis communication response of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on April 20, 2010. This study focused on the response of the responsible party, British Petroleum, and the general public over three social media: Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Through extensive analysis of both the company's and public response to the Gulf spill, nine implications were identified regarding social media's influence on crisis communication. These implications highlighted the potential for organizations to build interpersonal relationships with its publics. These relationships were found to be crucial in times of crises. The implications of this study also pointed to interactivity, using a "human voice," trust, and credibility as crucial factors in building these relationships and leading an effective crisis response across social media. This study also noted the new stress for organization's to respond quickly to crises as a result of instant news brought by social media. Implications of this study also highlighted social media's influence on individuals becoming contributing members of a crisis response. While social media has influenced the practice of crisis communication in many ways, this study found that the principles and ethics of the field have remained the same. In conclusion, analysis suggests that BP neglected using social media in its crisis response, a channel which has entered the mainstream of crisis communication. As a result, this study recommends the use of social media before, during, and after a crisis to ensure the welfare of a company and its relationship with its publics.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75).
Much of the developed world operates under what is referred to as liberal democratic capitalism. This implies government by the people, operating in a free and profit driven market, which in theory suggests an equality of voice and access to markets for personal profit. However the 'powerful movements of acceleration and excess' which Auge refers to above are less to do with the intentions of a liberal democratic capita list system and more accidental effects of it. This dissertation explores the constant push of commerce and the digital communication revolution as contributory factors to this hypermodern or globalised state.

This thesis focusses on variability in audience interpretation of a television programme, and aims to problematise and investigate the reception of broadcast communication by applying the pragmatic theory of relevance (Sperber and Wilson 1966) to an empirical study of audience response. This aim is achieved using the following method: In Chapter Two I consider the scope of pragmatic theories of inferencing and conclude that relevance theory offers the only account which can both accommodate and provide the basis for an explanation of variation in interpretation. I also assert that for relevance theory to be able to show why an audience interprets a text in a specific way the cultural background of that audience has to be considered. In Chapter Three I show how existing studies of audience response which adopt a critical cultural studies approach require a more sophisticated model of communication than they currently assume if they are to realise their aim of relating audience respo nse to socio-political structures. My contention is that the inferential model proposed by Sperber and Wilson can provide such an account. Chapters Four and Five describe, and report the results of, an empirical study I carry out based on a methodology premised on relevance theory. The study consists of two separate interviews with audiences who have distinct cultural backgrounds in each of which I show a video recording of a television programme and then question the interviewees on their understanding of the text of the programme. In Chapters Six and Seven I discuss the results of the study in relation to relevance theory and media studies. The results of my study indicate that a methodology based on relevance theory can make explicit, and show the significance of, processes involved in audience interpretation of a media text which have not previously been open to analysis. Building on Sperber and Wilson's claim (1986: 15) that the context of an utterance is a psychological construct, and is a sub-set of the set of assumptions available to the hearer of a given utterance, the results make explicit (a) relevant aspects of the encyclopaedic knowledge of two distinct audiences; (b) the contexts these audiences produce in response to a television text; (c) how these contexts are related to the audience's encyclopaedic knowledge; (d) how these contexts affect the disambiguation and enrichment of information linguistically encoded in the text (e) 'The contextual implications, or interpretations, -the audience draw from a synthesis of the information encoded in text and the contexts the audiences apply. My findings are particularly pertinent for the critical cultural approach to audience studies as they indicate how it is possible to make explicit the relationship between response and cultural background by showing how the existing knowledge of an audience affects interpretation and indicating moreover how this knowledge can be related to social determinants. The results of my study also contribute to pragmatic theory in that they show how relevance theory can be used to explain why interpretation may vary.

This study focuses on “critical insiders” of Korean Protestantism in the twenty first century, namely those who are committed to their Protestant faiths yet are highly critical of the ways in which Protestant Christianity is taught, believed, and practiced in South Korea. Particular emphasis is given to the question of how they resist/challenge dominant institutions and popular beliefs – especially on religious authority and various moral and monetary implications of such beliefs – as well as alternative visions they offer, through media. Scholars today acknowledge the centrality of media in various religious practices. I show that the role of media is no less important for religious critical insiders, albeit in somewhat different ways; in the South Korean case, I argue that they resist dominant voices by multi-mediatizing theology. Simply put, multi-mediatizing theology is making religiously normative (i.e. theological) discourses available through multiple outlets and voices and rendering informed theological judgments dependent upon such plurality and diversity of mediated sources. I analyze Korean Protestant critical insiders’ various media movements to illustrate this point and also to explore some ramifications of this kind of resistance taking place in the South Korean context. I also incorporate into my analyses the interviews I conducted with key individuals involved in the production of two Protestant TV shows that attempted at consolidating critical insider voices. I conclude with a theoretical and theological reflection upon the media/communication aspect of the entire phenomenon of Korean Protestantism and critical insiders.

It may come as no surprise that Twitter is the most popular social media platform where student athletes, particularly men, post inappropriate content. Male student athletes’ inappropriate tweets have become such a problem for universities, athletic departments, and the NCAA that coaches are forced to place a ban on their players’ social media usage or hire third party monitoring systems. Unfortunately, these reactive responses have not alleviated the problem of athletes differentiating what content is appropriate or inappropriate to tweet on their Twitter accounts. Analysis of the data collected from scholarly journal articles, textbooks, and popular press articles revealed that social media education would be the most effective prevention method to lessen student athletes’ inappropriate tweets. This project uses Dr. Mark Robinson’s approach to Personal Player Development in constructing its two resources—multimedia workshops and an interactive Canvas site. The purpose of this project is for student athletes to be more aware of their social media content by knowing how to post appropriate tweet messages on their personal Twitter accounts in order to enable athletes, especially men, to comprehend why certain tweet messages are classified as inappropriate and, therefore, should never be made public. This project is significant because it proposes a preventative method based on increased social media awareness, as opposed to typical reactionary measures.

Formative research cite nearly 20% of women and 6% of men will experience attempted or completed sexual assault while enrolled in college (Ali, 2011; Koss, 1988/1989; Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2007). Largely, narratives of college sexual violence are hidden, as reports to college administrators and law enforcement agencies are low and stigma surrounding such crimes often place fault upon survivors (Carrington Wooten & Mitchell, 2016; Fisher, Diagle, & Cullen, 2010). However, stories of college sexual violence have become trending topics via social media outlets (Gringberg, 2014; Kingkade, 2013; Rennison & Addington, 2014). This research study investigates the use of social media by sexual violence survivors. Through rhetorical analysis, public tweets associated with #CarryThatWeight, #IStandWithJackie, and #SurvivingCostMe are analyzed. Data reveal that Millennial college students, referred to as digital natives, use social media to raise awareness and promote hashtivism, shorthand for “online activism” (Blay, 2016; Burkhalter, n.d.; Dookhoo, 2015). However, while seeking to challenge rape culture, these narratives are also open to public speculation and criticism, by lay persons, media outlets, and internet trolls (Phillips, 2015). Hashtivism through computer-mediated communication (CMC) allows survivors to forge communities, provide support, and share strategies as to how to file federal formal complaints while also navigating public shaming, online harassment, and doxxing (Blay, 2016; Boux & Daum, 2015; Boyd, 2008; Dookhoo, 2015; Java, Song, Finin, Tseng, 2009; Parkin, 2016; Ziering & Dick, 2015; Walther, 2011).

East Asian cinema is receiving increasing global attention. This attention is not focused merely on the fiction and feature films produced in the region, but also on the documentaries produced there; films such as Petition (2009) by Chinese director Zhao Liang which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2009. This attention to East Asian documentary can be traced to the documentary film festivals organised in the region, particularly those that devote their programming to independent documentary productions from the region. These festivals open a window that enables such works to be exhibited for the rest of the world. But these festivals do not aim merely to exhibit and screen these works. They also pay attention to the filmmakers. The attendance of filmmakers at festivals has previously been assessed to be of low importance. By encouraging filmmakers to visit and participate the festivals examined here can be seen to represent shared concerns regarding the cultivation of documentary filmmaking in the Asian region. The four film festivals that serve to exemplify this are the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) in Yamagata, Japan; the Documentary Film Festival China (DOChina) in Beijing, China; the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) in Taichung, Taiwan; and the Hong Kong’s Chinese Documentary Festival (CDF). Each festival forms the basis of a case study in the hope that the context of documentary film festivals in the East Asia can be delineated. Particular aspects of the festivals are discussed in relation to a significant underlying dimension that is identified in each of the festivals in question: the emphasis on communication in YIDFF that enhances the sense of connectedness in the participating festival community; the independent and underground status of DOChina that is embedded in the festival as a form of resistance to the state government; the relocation of TIDF to a government-supported museum contextualises the festival and draws on the general functions and purposes of a museum: exhibition, education and collection. The fourth case study examines the multi-faceted nature of CDF through the previously examined concepts to demonstrate the generalisability of the concepts to, and the inherent complexity of film festivals. A common theme underlies all of these concepts: a sense of the local, of ‘local-ness’. The ‘local’ here is a relative term that depends largely on where it is that these events regard as home. So, it is not merely the immediate locale of the festival that can be regarded as ‘local’; the ‘local’ can be extended to encompass the nation or the entire region if that is where ‘home’ has been identified. Such an extensive and fluid understanding of ‘local-ness’ not only defines those areas to which the festivals pay specific attention, it also furthers understanding of the festivals’ shared ambitions; ambitions rooted in the cultivation of a ‘local’ documentary filmmaking milieu.

Ett livligt debatterat ämne är huruvida det var på grund av media som USA förlorade Vietnamkriget. Denna diskussion har skapat ett förhållningssätt mellan försvarsmakter och media världen över. Ett förhållande där journalisterna hävdar att medborgarna har rätt att veta och militären hävdar att soldaten har rätt att leva. Vidare tar de stora världsledarna stora mått och steg i syfte att säkerställa att hemmaopinionen är positivt inställd till deras gärningar. När Saddam Hussein planerade att anfalla Kuwait och i dennes bedömning av omvärldens reaktion, lägger han stor vikt vid hur eventuella intervenerande nationers hemmaopinion skulle inverka på deras deltagande. Mitt syfte med detta arbete är att studera mediarapporteringen i två konflikter, Vietnamkriget och Gulkriget, diskutera kring frågeställningen om vilken påverkan medias rapporteringskaraktär hade på den amerikanska hemmaopinionen i samband med dessa två konflikter. Under arbetets gång kommer jag att använda mig Westley och MacLeans kommunikationsteori samt Daniel C Hallin teori avseende rapporteringssfärer för att studera tre variabler: Presidentpåverkan, TV-påverkan och slutligen Journalistpåverkan.

I de båda fallstudierna hittar man likheter och olikheter. Tillvägagångssätten har varit olika men inte sällan har liknande resultat uppnåtts. Skillnaden är egentligen graden av beredskap inför hanteringen av medieuppgiften. I Vietnamkriget är den något trevande hanteringen i del framgångsrik men kan inte mäta sig med den grad av framgång som koalitionens mediehantering uppvisade. Två fundamentalt grundläggande beteenden kan identifieras. Mediehanteringen under Vietnamkriget är att anse som reaktiv i sin hantering samtidigt som densamma under Gulfkriget var att anse som proaktiv. Denna skillnad resulterar i att opinionen på den egna arenan under Gulfkriget blir långt mer hanterbar och generellt mycket mer positiv inställd. Rapporteringskaraktären har en stor inverkan på opinionsbildningen. Där den militärpolitiska intressenten har absolut mest att förlora på en ofördelaktig rapporteringskaraktär. Analysen om journalistpåverkan under Vietnamkriget styrker otvivelaktigt detta. Av de två fallstudierna är resultatet av en förändrad rapporteringskaraktär tydligast här.

One of the most important issues debated in retrospect of the Vietnam war is whether media is to be blamed for the defeat. However, the debate has created a form of antagonistic fellowship between armed forces and media around the world. A fellowship where the media claims the people’s right to know and the military claims the soldiers’ right to live. The arguments importance increases further in view of the steps taken by world leaders in order to keep the home front opinions in favour of their actions. When Saddam Hussein planned to invade Kuwait he took into account how the home opinions of possible nations, who would be likely to intervene, would hamper its leader’s actions on Kuwait’s behalf. The purpose of this work is to study two conflicts, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, in order to discuss the possible impact media might have had on the home opinion in the USA. During the work I will study the conflict by using the communication theory developed by Westley and McLean and Daniel C Hallin theory of spheres of reporting. These to theories will be used to study the three conceptual factors. These factors have been constructed in order to be able to study conflict by analysing the impact three variables; the President, TV and journalists.

In both case studies you find both differences and similarities. The methods of approach have been different, but results not seldom coherent. There is difference is the degree of preparation in handling the media assignment. In the Vietnam War the methods of approach were occasionally successful but nowhere near the degree of success presented in the coalitions way of approach. Two rudimentary methods can be identified. The method of approach in handling media in the Vietnam War is to be labeled as reactive whilst the same during the Gulf War is to be labeled as progressive. This fundamental difference result in the opinion being far more positive and far easier handled during the Gulf War. The character of reporting has an impact on opinion. The military political part is the one with absolutely most at stake in losing favorable public opinion. The analysis on impact of journalism, during the Vietnam War, undoubtedly supports this. Of the two case studies, the result on opinion because of change in reporting character is most easily supported here. 

Like any good public relations campaign, this dissertation aims to offer a persuasive interpretation of certain key facts. The facts, as I see them, are as follows: first, a great number of contemporary novels and poems explore the personal and social consequences of diasporic migration. Second, these texts, along with their print and electronic paratexts, share a pervasive interest in media. And third, these works are rarely read in conversation with one another, despite their mutual concern for migration and media. Owing to this last point in particular, scholarship has failed to fully address the broader media theories developed in and across these works, and failed to fully pursue how these media theories respond to, and critically comment on, the prospects for deliberative democracy in an age of globalization. In response, my project argues that diasporic media practices advance a transnational critique of public sphere theories. And yet, I claim this critique seeks to recover the resources of such theories and redeploy them in a global context. The four chapters of this dissertation are arranged in a communications circuit that treats (in order) media production, circulation, reception, and survival. Together, these chapters observe how diasporic populations shift from invisible anomalies to visible publics through their highly stylized and politicized use of media technologies. Ultimately, I emphasize that contemporary American literature cannot be understood without engaging reading and writing publics from the Dominican Republic, Canada, Nigeria, Korea, and more.

How do social media contribute to groups engaged in contentious politics within a domestic environment? While many have examined the influence of social media on the Arab revolutions of 2010-2011 from an international perspective, there are fewer studies examining the impact of social media within a national environment after these events. Through interviews with a group of 40 Tunisians, many of them active in contentious politics from 2010-2013, this research identifies what sources initially informed the group members of a movement as well as the sources that ultimately pushed them to become active. While information gleaned via social media certainly played a role in the decisions of many interviewees to join the movements examined in this research - unsurprising, given the high rates of internet use within the group - social media were often cited as less trustworthy than other sources and were more likely to inform the respondents of a movement's existence than to push them to act. While these findings are not unexpected, they do require that future efforts examining the role of social media in contentious politics within a country's borders differentiate how different types of sources are viewed by potential supporters and how they might contribute to mobilization in different ways.

An increased number of widespread disasters ranging from storm surge flooding to sprawling wildfires, has increased the pressure on emergency communication. Social Media, through mobile technology combined with volunteer geographic information (VGI), has the potential to enable disaster impacted populations to send and receive crucial information thereby reducing the impact and loss associated with widespread disasters. This study examines how social media impacts emergency and disaster communication by analyzing the results of thirty-three case studies where social media had an impact on communication. Thematic synthesis conducted through the identification of themes derived from study findings indicates that while there are many challenges to implementing a social media enhanced emergency communication strategy, when authorities adopt such a strategy, stakeholders affected by the emergency have more actionable information and situational awareness. Additionally, awareness of the emergency by non-affected stakeholders, such as disaster relief agencies and fundraisers increases exponentially when social media is included in the communication strategy. Findings also suggest that challenges such as information overload, and the dissemination of false information can be overcome when authorities cooperate with affected stakeholders to moderate social media posts.

Syfte och frågeställningar

Syftet med uppsatsen är att göra en komparativ studie av två svenska nyhetstidningars förmedling av de inledande skeendena i Jacksonrättegången. Jag analyserar om rättegången är en medieskandal enligt James Lull och Stephen Hinermans kriterier. Följande frågeställningar besvaras: Är Jacksonrättegången en medieskandal enligt James Lull och Stephen Hinermans kriterier? Om det är en skandal, hur förhåller sig den till Tomlinsons teori om den

globaliserande skandalen? Hur har media konstruerat berättelsen kring Jacksonrättegången och hur förbereds publiken inför rättegången? Hur förhåller sig förmedlingen av Jacksonrättegången till det offentliga och det privata? Vad finns det för nyhetsvärderingar i förmedlingen av Jacksonrättegången? Vad finns det för likheter och skillnader mellan de utvalda nyhetstidningarnas sätt att förmedla Jacksonrättegången?

Teori

I teoridelen används Lull och Hinermans kriterier på vad en medieskandal är samt teorier om medieskandaler enligt Thompson och Tomlinson. I narratologiavsnittet ligger fokus på berättarteknik med språk, dramaturgi och vinkling samt ett avsnitt om nyheter som berättelser där Bird och Dardennes beskrivning används. Ett avsnitt handlar om teorin offentligt/privat enligt Habermas och Thompson. Kriterier på nyhetsvärdering är även en del av teoriavsnittet.

Material och metod

Materialet utgörs av artiklar hämtade från Dagens Nyheter och Aftonbladet under perioden 1 december 2004 till 1 mars 2005. Metoden är en kvalitativ analys av utvalda artiklar rörande Jacksonrättegången. Metoden har sin utgångspunkt i de teoretiska analysverktygen som presenteras i teorikapitlet. I material- och metodkapitlet finns ett avsnitt om prestigepress kontra tabloidpress samt ett avsnitt om källkritik.

Sammanfattande konklusioner

Enligt Lull och Hinermans kriterier har jag kommit fram till att Dagens Nyheter inte är med och skapar en medieskandal. De befinner sig istället på metanivå och rapporterar om rättegången som en medieskandal till skillnad från Aftonbladet som deltar i medieskandalen. Jacksonrättegången är en lokal händelse som förflyttats till de svenska nyhetstidningarna. Resultatet av analysen visar även att förmedlingen av Jacksonrättegången skiljer sig åt i de båda nyhetstidningarna då Aftonbladet lägger större fokus vid händelsen och den får en följetongskaraktär. Aftonbladet bygger upp förmedlingen av Jacksonrättegången som ett narrativ med en början och en mitt. Eftersom rättegången pågår går det inte att uttala sig om slutet. De förbereder därmed läsarna på att rättegången ska äga rum genom att publicera artiklar innan rättegången vilket Dagens Nyheter inte gör. Dagens Nyheters förmedling sker oftast i form av korta rapporter. Dramaturgi används i båda nyhetstidningarna även om

Aftonbladet lägger större fokus på det. Aftonbladet använder sig i större utsträckning av vinkling i form av personifiering. Förmedlingen av Jacksonrättegången rör sig främst inom den privata sfären eftersom det Jackson anklagas för begåtts i intimsfären. Dagens Nyheter uttrycker sig mer försiktigt medan Aftonbladet gräver sig djupt ner i intimsfären. Jacksonrättegången uppfyller kraven för nyhetsvärdering bl.a. genom att vara en färsk nyhet som handlar om ett eventuellt brott begått av en känd person, men Aftonbladet cirkulerar nyheten i större omfattning än Dagens Nyheter.

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This paper explores the mobile social networking patterns of a sample of Black, White and Coloured adolescents attending three different schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The researcher utilises the Uses and Gratifications theory and qualitative research methodology in the form of focus groups and one-on-one semi-structured interviews to explore what gratifications this sample of students, aged 14-7 years, derive from three mobile social networking brands - MXit, Facebook and Twitter.

The Adventures ofMetaMan: The Superhero as a Representation ofModem Western Masculinity (1940-2010) is a practice-based research project. The aim of this research project is to develop interactive works of art that interrogate superhero narratives and representations of male identity, with the potential to relate to the experiences of relevant users in educational environments. At the current stage of the project, young men aged 11-14 in the English school system are a possible target audience. The work of art takes the form of interactive software written in Adobe Flash, with additional visuals created by myself in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe lllustrator and through traditional pen-and-ink drawings. The conceptualisation, development and execution of both software and content took place over a three-year period. While numerous literary and artistic references were employed in order to actualise this work, the software's visuals and words were entirely self-created. The work's original contribution to knowledge is found in the project's form. In combining the platform of digital media with the artistic styles and narrative themes of the superhero genre of comic books, the project explores the subjects of heroes and masculinity and has the potential to help its target audience to understand that the definition of masculinity is always in a state of flux. As evidenced by the historical texts, studies of visual culture, gender, and media representations of heroes and men that were referenced to develop the software, different types of men, ranging from the civil rights activist of the 1960s to the macho action movie star of the 1990s and significant representations of masculinity between these decades have been regarded as hero figures at different points in time. The conc~pt of masculinity is fluid and reliant upon a variety of factors such as current events, cultural trends, politics, economics and popular culture and this is reflected in the evolution of the superhero in Western mass media. The MetaMan project showcases the impact that heroes and role models have and the way that art can echo culture and society. It can provide a fully interactive experience that places modern masculinity into the context of the user's life and circumstances, adapting to each user. The software is accompanied by a written component detailing the reasons for its form and potential audience, the artistic process necessary to create it, an account of a pilot scheme conducted with 120 male students aged 11-14 in the English school system and the further applications and plans for the future stages of the MetaMan project.

Pursuing threads of my own activity that are discussed or enacted in texts and their related curatorial and publication projects, I put forward a practice that performs curating in the act of doing it. The thesis lays out a context for this approach to curating against a backdrop of how curatorial theory has been moving the practice towards disciplinarity. Through proposing the adoption of the persona of a curator, facilitating a means to play with the conventions of art, I explore how exhibitions and the institutions in which they are staged my be convened as a different form of public space. This stands as a countermove against the formation of curating as a discipline. In this, curating is displayed as a fundamental aspect of the contemporary aesthetic where narratives, both real and fictive, suffused with the a sense of self in a broader cultural landscape. I touch on a shift where veracity in saying and acting out roles has supplanted concrete truths. As a fundamental player in a globalised culture, the curator, and doing curating, is claimed as potentially emancipatory, albeit fraught with tensions. My own work proves illustrative of how these tensions might be generative by adopting rules or conventions as game-like structures. This offers a unique consideration of what lies between critical and practice-based acts – exhibition-making, critical writing and an element of strategically deployed tom-foolery - in an attempt to avoid simple definition and lay out alternative, speculative positions. I illustrate and narrate these moves in the outcomes of a selected number of projects over the past decade, and lay out how my approach may be transferred into a formal museum setting.

This thesis responds to a question: if the Western mainstream superhero genre is so radical then why does it feel so reactionary in practice? The framing of this distinctive question points to the genre's ideologically unstable and contradictory meaningscape. Genre meaning is polysemous and shaped by official and unofficial meaning-makers, and yet, it routinely falls into duality. The genre tells, and facilitates, an astonishingly seamless tale of opposing ideologies. But, how? This thesis, innovatively maps this untheorised ideological divergence through three fronts: transformation, representation, and worldmaking. It is sited outside the conventional parameters of genre discourse and knowledge production. It makes several contributions to knowledge, as indicated below, and introduces some new terms and tools. It demonstrates, for instance, the value in reconceoptialising the concept of escape as 'e-scape' and worldmaking as 'world-un/making'. It asserts that genre meaning (and our perception of transformation) is shaped by a nexus of divergent forces: concept (how we think about it), representation (how we show/see it), and practice (how we do it). It draws the idea of 'promise' from Haraway (1992) and Cohen (2012) and institutes the idea that superheroes, as well as monsters, possess 'promise' (radical or otherwise). It reveals superheroic transformation as an omnipresent source of radicalism. It goes on to identify and theorise a disconnect between the (radical) concept of a superhero and its mainstream representation (conservative). It asserts that even though portraying transforming figures, superhero representation stays firmly within hegemonic lines, and it concludes that the radicalism of transformation, and superheroes, is lost in the telling. But it does not stop there; to do so would be to mark an area of the genre's meaning-map, 'Here Be Monsters'. Fans and audiences, particularly minority fans, are the final, critical, worldmaking element of this thesis. Whilst the genre talks about fantastic transformations, transgressive minority superhero fans perform them. This thesis illuminates continuing minority engagement with a beloved, but exclusionary and often hostile, genre. It reconceptualises this transgressive mode of textual engagement as a form of textual escapology, or 'texcapology'; a practice that not only keeps the genre 'alive' for excluded audiences and fans, but aids the recovery of the genre's lost radical promise. Theorising the genre's multivocal meaningscape allows the assertion that genre meaning is promissory rather than binary. This thesis asserts that genre meaning is a case of 'both/and' (radical and conservative) rather than 'either/or'. It concludes that the genre's unstable and contradictory meaningscape is itself a site of radical promise.

The advancement of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), necessitate optimisation of their algorithms and their performance. More specifically, network coverage and preservation of nodes energy to increase the network's lifetime are among the core objectives of routing and clustering methods. This thesis constitutes of a literature review of WSNs' routing protocols in a categorised manner followed by proposing an energy efficient and QoS aware paradigm (PUSH) for flat network that outperform other similar paradigms in terms of collective delay and energy dissipation within the network. We have proposed a new clustering model, known as Energy Aware and Address Free Clustering (EAAFC) in which, no global addressing is required. In other words, nodes are assigned with an ID, based on local information. EAAFC clusters nodes with minimum number of cluster heads which in turn results in less in network energy consumption. Cluster heads are then re-elected frequently based on nodes' energy and distribution. EAAFC does not require geographical location of nodes nor time synchronisation. We compare performance results of our proposed clustering model, against two of well received algorithms, namely LEACH and EECF to demonstrate the advantages of EAAFC. In chapters 1 and 2, the major routing protocols have been studied over the years of research and strength and weaknesses of each protocol has been scrutinised. Further, objectives, motivation and methodology of the research are discussed. In chapter 3 and 4 the proposed routing paradigm for flat networks (PUSH) as well as the clustering protocol, EAAFC, and its advantages over other protocols is discussed in depth. Several scenarios based on similar well-known routing protocols have been implemented and tested to use as comparison and to evaluate the performance of paradigm and protocol presented in this thesis. These scenarios have been implemented in the simulator environment. The simulation results confirm the theoretic evaluation and support that PUSH and EAAFC outperforms the other protocols in compared criteria as they can achieve less latency, better coverage, preserve more energy and achieve more equally distributed energy dissipation across the network which result in longer network life time and full functionality.

Convergence implies that previously unalike areas come together, approaching a common goal. A subordinate concept of convergence, i.e., media convergence, is a concept that has become common when denoting a range of processes within the production of media content, its distribution and consumption. The concept of media convergence has achieved buzzword status in many contexts due to its widespread use.

The concept is not new and has been discussed by researchers in many academic fields and from several different points of views. This thesis will discuss media convergence as an ongoing process and not an end state.

Newspapers are one of many so-called publishing channels that provide information and entertainment. They have traditionally been printed on paper, but today’s digital technology makes it possible to provide newspapers through a number of different channels. The current strategy used by newspaper companies involves a process of convergence mainly regarding multiple publishing. A newspaper company interested in publishing content through multiple channels has to adapt its production workflow to produce content not only for the traditional printed edition, but also for the other channels.

In this thesis, a generalized value chain involving four main stages illustrates the production workflow at a newspaper company in relation to the convergence processes. The four stages are creation, packaging, distribution and consumption of content.

The findings of the thesis are based on studies of the newspaper industry in Sweden and reflect specific newspaper companies, their strategies, production workflow and ventures from 2002 to 2005. The methods used have been case studies, literature studies and scenarios.

Some of the conclusions of the thesis indicate that convergence processes have steered the newspaper companies’ development towards multiple channel publishing. Advancing technology and mergers between companies have contributed to the processes of convergence. However, the new publishing channels have been described as threatening to the traditional printed editions since they compete for consumers’ time and advertising revenues. Convergence of technology has made it possible to store, edit and publish material over many different networks using the same tools and the same database system. If the content is stored in a neutral format, it can be packaged and used in many different types of publishing channels. However, according to the studied newspapers, a fully automated workflow for all publishing channels is undesirable and impossible to achieve with the existing technology, standards and organizational structure.

This licentiate thesis will discuss some of the strategies behind multiple channel publishing, production workflows and market conditions to detect how the newspaper industry is coping with media convergence.

In the ancient Homeric mother-daughter myth ‘Hymn to Demeter’ the goddess mother mourns the loss of her daughter Persephone. The bond between mother and daughter in the myth is presented so close that its forced separation endangers continuity of the human race. This thesis suggests that in our modern world the stories of mothers and the mother-daughter dyads are reversed. I argue that in contemporary Western cinema the patriarchal institution of motherhood still prevails with mothers lacking subjectivity and foregrounded voice, and daughters being deprived of positive role models, and regarding ‘idealised motherhood’ as the norm. Highlighting that the topic of this thesis is under-researched and in need of scholarly attention I aim to provide a pioneering critical examination of the representation of the mother-daughter relationship, motherhood, mothering, youthful femininities and daughterhood in contemporary cinema. All texts examined in this thesis are products of popular culture: they are topical, relatively commercially successful and influential Hollywood films. The dissertation consists of three interlocking parts according to the application of the generic approach and close textual analyses. Although each part is unified by the focus on a specific genre, such as the fairy-tale film, the horror film and the comedy, this thesis employs diverse methodologies in order to examine the genre texts. Moreover, recognising a new resurgence of interest in feminism in the media and among young women this thesis explores how feminism have informed the contemporary representations of youthful femininities, motherhood and generational relationships. Drawing upon recent studies of the fairy tale, genre studies, feminism, femininity and popular culture, I seek to advance the field of the representation of motherhood and daughterhood, aiming to make a scholarly contribution to the study of the representation of the mother-daughter dyad.

ABSTRACT

Purpose/aim: Are there any differences between how “old” and “young” groups within social movements in Sweden view (value) and use alternative and mainstream media?

Material/method: The answer to the research problem is sought by conducting qualitative research interviews with representatives of four different groups: Alternativ Stad, Folkkampanjen mot Kärnkraft-Kärnvapen, Attac Sverige and Ingen Människa är Illegal. The theoretical framework consists of research on social movements, especially on their relation to media, and on alternative media.

Main results: There exist some, but not great, differences between how “old” and “young” groups view and use mainstream and alternative media. The differences are relatively small when it comes to views on media and somewhat larger concerning media use. These differences in media use stem mostly from the differences in organizational structure.

Keywords: Social movements, alternative media, mainstream media, media views, media usage.

Diese Studie vergleicht die politische Kommunikation in Deutschland und Polen. Der Forschungsüberblick macht deutlich, dass international vergleichende Analysen, die etablierte Demokratien und Transformationsländer umfassen, relativ selten durchgeführt werden. Dabei gibt es keine Untersuchungen, die sich mit dem Vergleich der politischen Kommunikation zwischen Deutschland und Polen befassen. Mit der Untersuchung der beiden Länder wird die Dissertation die bestehende Forschungslücke schließen. Die politische Kommunikation wird in dieser Studie aus der Sicht von zwei unterschiedlichen Akteuren – Parteien und Journalisten – gezeigt. --- Kapitel 1: Es ist nicht mehr möglich, die moderne politische Kommunikation als Phänomen zu begreifen, das man auf singuläre nationale Räume beschränken könnte. Vielmehr lässt sich über nationalübergreifende Kommunikationsprozesse sprechen, die sich in den Metathemen Amerikanisierung, Globalisierung und Modernisierung wiederspiegeln. In diesem Zusammenhang ergibt sich die Frage, ob es sich um eine generalisierbare Entwicklung der politischen Kommunikation handelt. Ein Schwerpunkt des Interesses dieser Forschungsarbeit liegt deswegen bei der Frage nach den Gemeinsamkeiten und den Unterschieden in der politischen Kommunikation in beiden Ländern, die durch die Mediatisierungsprozesse beinflusst werden. Vor diesem Hindergrund stellt Kapitel 1 die wichtigsten Trends in der politischen Kommunikation dar. Im nächsten Schritt werden ausgewählte Indikatoren der Mediatisierung (u.a. Professionalisierung, Personalisierung, Negativität, Emotionalisierung), die dann im empirischen Teil getestet werden, erläutert. Gleichzeitig stellt Kapitel 1 eine Übersicht über international vergleichende Analysen, die sich der Untersuchung der politischen Kommunikation widmen, vor. Der Focus wird dann schließlich auf die Studien in Polen und Deutschland gelegt und die Relevanz der vorliegenden Analyse diskutiert. --- Kapitel 2: Die Dissertation zeigt in welchen politischen Rahmen die politische Kommunikation in Deutschland und Polen eingebettet ist. Deswegen wird im Kapitel 2 das politische System der analysierten Länder diskutiert. In diesem Zusammenhang werden drei Elemente des politischen Systems angesprochen: das Parteiensystem, das Wahlsystem und die politische Partizipation. Dadurch wird gezeigt, dass die politische Einbettung spürbare Auswirkungen hat, die den gesellschaftlichen, sozio-ökonomischen und historischen Kontext mitdefinieren. Dies lässt gleichzeitig Unterschiede zwischen einem Transformationsland (Polen) und einer etablierten Demokratie (Deutschland) aufzeigen und Gründe der wichtigsten politischen Tendenzen erklären. --- Kapitel 3: Ebenso wie die Strukturbedingungen des politischen Systems das Handeln politischer Akteure beeinflussen, so wirken die Rahmenbedingungen des Mediensystems auf das Handeln von Journalisten. Aus diesem Grunde wird im Kapitel 3 das Mediensystem in Deutschland und Polen thematisiert. Die Analyse basiert auf der Klassifikation von Hallin & Mancini (2004a). Dabei werden die von den Autoren vorgeschlagenen Indikatoren benutzt, um das Mediensystem in beiden Ländern einzuordnen. Dies ist besonders wichtig, weil die politische Kommunikation immer häufiger von medialer Umgebung abhängig ist. --- Kapitel 4: Die im Kapitel 1, 2 und 3 dargestellten Phänomene und Entwicklungen formen Kapitel 4, das Forschungshypothesen vorstellt. Die formultierten Hypothesen münden in zwei inhaltsanalytischen Untersuchungen, die die politische Kommunikation aus der Perspektive der politischen Parteien und Journalisten präsentieren. Es handelt sich dabei um zwei Fallstudien, die dann im Kapitel 6 und 7 getrennt examiniert werden. --- Kapitel 5: Im nächsten Schritt wird das Forschungsdesign und die Operationalisierung der Hypothesen erläutert. Da die Mediatisierungsprozesse besonders deutlich während der Wahlkampagnen zu ermitteln sind, wird die politische Kommunikation in Deutschland und Polen im Kontext von politischen Kampagnen dargestellt. Dies verspricht auch inhaltlich fokussiertes Material für die Untersuchung. Die erste Fallstudie untersucht die Wahlspots der Parteien und zeigt, inwiefern sich die Wahlwerbung in beiden Ländern unterscheidet. Die zweite Fallstudie bietet die Analyse der Medienberichterstattung, um festzustellen, wie die Journalisten in Deutschland und Polen die Wahlkampagnen darstellen. Die Kompläxität des Geflechtes der auf die politische Kommunikation Einfluss nehmenden Variablen macht den Einsatz komplexer Analyseverfahren erforderlich. Die Wahlspots und die Wahlkampfberichterstattung werden in der Dissertation mit der sozialwissenschaftlichen Methode der Inhaltsanalyse untersucht. Als Methode zur Erhebung sozialer Wirklichkeit ist die Inhaltsanalyse für die Untersuchung besonders geeignet. Ihre Vorteile werden in diesem Kapitel angesprochen. Darüber hinaus werden hier die Codebücher, die für die Analyse der Wahlwerbung und Medienberichterstattung vorbereitet wurden, dargestellt und die Codierungsvorgehensweise präsentiert. Schließlich werden die einzelnen Variablen besprochen und die Ergebnisse der durchgeführten Pretests geliefert. --- Kapitel 6: Im nächsten Schritt werden die Ergebnisse der empirischen Analyse der Wahlspots dargestellt. Die Studie zeigt, wie die politischen Parteien ihre Wahlspots gestalten und inwiefern die Wahlwerbung die Mediatisierungsprozesse wiederspiegelt. Im Kapitel 6 werden die Hypothesen, die im Kapitel 4 formuliert wurden, getestet. Dabei werden die Befunde im Kontext von solchen Aspekten wie u.a. Professionalisierung, Personalisierung, Negativität und Emotionalisierung dargestellt. --- Kapitel 7: Im Kapitel 7 wird die politische Kommunikation aus der Sicht der Journalisten examiniert. Die empirische Auswertung dient dazu, die im Kapitel 4 formulierten Hypothesen zu prüfen. Die Analyse vergleicht, inwiefern sich die Medien in beiden Ländern auf den Wahlkampf konzentieren und ob sie sich immer häufiger diesem Thema widmen. Darüber hinaus wird die Medienberichterstattung in den Prozessen der Mediatisierung dargestellt. Dabei wird u.a. Personalisierung und Negativität der Berichterstattung präsentiert. Es wird auch gezeigt, inwiefern die Medien ihre politische Präferenzen zeigen. --- Kapitel 8: Im letzten Kapitel werden die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung im Licht der Theorie und formulierten Hypothesen diskutiert. Dabei werden auch die Defizite der Studie und potenzielle Barrieren der vergleichenden Studien präsentiert. Kapitel 8 lenkt dann den Blick in die Zukunft und zeigt, welche Aspekte der politischen Kommunikation untersucht werden sollten. Solche internationalen Vergleiche, besonders wenn sie Transformationsländer und etablierte Demokratien umfassen, können dazu dienen, Gemeinsamkeiten in der Dreiecksbeziehung zwischen politischem System, Medien und Wählerschaft zu ermitteln, um so übergreifenden Entwicklungen auf die Spur zu kommen.

The purpose of this study is to specifically look into one businesses website and online efforts to engage potential new hires in providing them with valuable company information. The research questions focused on how effective the company's online advertisements were, as well as the interaction and involvement of the online advertisements. The researcher of this study utilized communication theories based on Todd Gitlin's media torrent theory of oversaturation and Joseph Walther's social information processing theory to conduct research. To conduct the research a survey was given to 20 prospective job seekers and five face-to-face interviews were conducted. The participation in the survey was anonymous and no tracking information was kept. The interviewees that participated in the interview were current employees that were only asked about their application process and the role that social media played in their online job search. The study concludes that most of the prospective job seekers and current employees find social media platforms to be an easy way to find open positions because these online advertisements direct the applicant to the company website for further information. However, many employees also preferred to learn about the company face-to-face, rather than online.

Digital mobile media have a major influence on organizations today. The technology has enabled a flexible work environment where employees can get work done without the limits of time and space. The boundary-less working conditions have come with possibilities but also resulted in new expectations of extended work availability. Previous research has shown that a blurry line between work and time off can cause stress and make it difficult to recover from the job (Dettmers, Bamberg and Seffzek 2016, 291; Mellner 2016, 156).   The purpose of this study is to continue exploring the boundary-less working environment in relation to digital mobile media. This is an exploratory study aiming to understand how and why employees use work-related smartphones and emails after working hours. The aim is also to investigate employees’ reasons to be connected to the job during spare time.   This study is qualitative and based on interviews with Swedish employees working for a multinational company. As a theoretical framework, the study highlights boundary theory, social influence model, social learning theory, digital mobile media and globalization.   The findings showed that employees with international job contacts experienced that they should be occasionally available after working hours but not because of peer-pressure from co-workers. The participants had different reasons for being available during time off, such as wanting to help colleagues in another time zone, being curious about a project or planning for upcoming working days. None of the participants experienced negativity of sometimes being available to work during the spare time and they believed that it is important to disconnect after working hours, to have time to relax.

This study seeks to undertake an analysis of the topic of 'science and the media' as it has been constituted in academic discourse since the end of the Second World War. It finds that concern has polarized in two distinct camps: The larger, participant in the traditional project of North American media studies, blames the press for what it perceives as a widespread and deleterious "scientific illiteracy" on the part of the laity. The more recent, indebted to critical developments in social theory, philosophy of science, and the study of mass communication, works to expose the assumptions on which press coverage of science has been based and the interests which have benefited.
The thesis argues that the adequacy of the dominant concern to its object of analysis is at best suspect, but that nevertheless its agitations have been chiefly responsible for the form which popular science has predominantly assumed.

This study employs a mixed method, sequential explanatory design strategy, one in which the interpretation of the quantitative data is weighted more heavily than that of the qualitative data, to record social media usage among Assyrian Christian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were held in the Asti 2 IDP camp in Ankawa, Iraq, from 2014 to 2017. Through a quantitative survey instrument and a series of oral interviews, this study explores the social media habits of 315 respondents, paying particular attention to types of social media applications used, attitudes of the IDPs towards the useful of SMA in making the world aware of their plight and resolving their displacement.

The ubiquity of social media has enhanced consumers’ ability to stay in touch as well as save and access information about others at will. This easy access to information on social media has the potential to change the way consumers seek and remember information. This dissertation sheds light on how information accessibility on social media shapes users’ cognitions. Using a professional social network context, we examine two types of information that consumers pay attention to – content (i.e., ‘who knows what’) and connections (i.e., ‘who knows who’) and how different types of social media influencers (content generators vs. content diffusors) strategically seek information under specific contingencies - when they are vs. are not connected to others (i.e., when information accessibility is high vs. low). We also suggest that individual differences in executive attention moderate this type of content seeking. Results across five studies reveal that content generators tend to focus on others’ content when they are not linked (vs. linked) but content diffusors tend to demonstrate the opposite, i.e., increased focus on content when they are linked (vs. not linked). Alternatively, when it comes to information about connections, content diffusors tend to focus on it when they are not linked (vs. linked) while content generators demonstrate no such active information seeking behavior. Interestingly, selective content seeking manifests only in users who rank high in working memory capacity – a factor that determines strategic attention control. Overall, this research shows that strategic content seeking happens on account of attention control processes and its outcome depends upon users’ social media roles. This thesis contributes to the emerging social media literature in marketing by outlining a new phenomenon, strategic content seeking, explicating its underlying cognitive mechanism and delineating relevant social and cognitive moderators.

Includes bibliographical references.
This study aims to explore the role of social media in HIV/AIDS communication, by investigating the relationship between perceived need utilities of social media and the design utilities of the communication channel. Following the media richness theory (MRT) and channel expansion theory (CET), a model is proposed that suggests that need utilities drive social media utility. It is furthermore suggested that social media utility is positively associated with the design appropriateness of social media to create or consume HIV/AIDS content. The proposed model presents the interpersonal consumer expectations of message control, privacy, trust and endorsement as need utilities, while social media as a place to interact and a place to which to escape, are identified as social media utilities. As a high at-risk HIV- group, the research approach is outlined within the demographic segment of university students in the Western Cape, between the ages of 18 to 24 years. The constructs of social change (communication objective), social capital (product of communication) and social influence (targeted communication), are operationalised within a social media context to explore consumer motivations to interact or escape. The benefits and limitations of using social media for effective HIV/AIDS communication are also assessed, as these practically influence the perception of the role of a communication channel within a particular communication context. The research methodology firstly comprised of six qualitative focus group discussions, which assisted in the generation of the hypotheses and facilitated the formulation of the conceptual model. Secondly, data from 991 online surveys were analysed to quantitatively test the formulated hypotheses and gauge support for the proposed model. The results support the hypotheses and proposed model, by indicating that need utilities drive social media utility, which in turn drive design appropriateness. Furthermore, the results also reveal that the social media utility of being a place to interact is positively associated with the design appropriateness of social media for HIV/AIDS content creation and consumption. The perception of social media as a place to which to escape, however negatively affects the design appropriateness of social media for HIV/AIDS content creation and consumption. The study discusses the implications for health communication from an integrated marketing communications approach and puts forward recommendations for strategy development, as well as monitoring and evaluation. Lastly several recommendations are put forward for future research.

Purpose/Aim: The aim of the paper is to find out if there is a correlation between playing MMORPGs and having better skills in using multi-channel communication.

Material/Method: A media-skill test was conducted in the internet testing the participants’ ability to respond to targets in three different channels and media at the same time. The results of the study where used for statistical comparisons of the different groups of participants sorted according to their media use.

Main results: People who use the internet more and who play computer games, especially MMORPGs, have a better Multi-Media Multi-Channel Communication Literacy. There is fast learning visible for people with a use of the respective medium of up to five hours a week. Playing makes you better, not playing a lot.

This thesis develops a social semiotic analysis of pedagogic communication in a media studies course which the author taught from 1993 until 1997. The author taught the course as part of an undergraduate honours degree about science, culture and communication in a university in the UK. The analysis describes the structuring of pedagogic practice on the level of the curriculum, and within the author's own "Communicating Science" module. The analysis also describes student receptions of pedagogic practice. The research reveals the extent to which pedagogic communication served to sustain the order which the degree was designed to contest: an order based on positivist conceptions of science, science communication, and therein, media theory and practice. The thesis concludes by proposing a theory of instruction which is designed to enable students to acquire the rules of realisation for more critical forms of science communication.

Successful internal social media motivates and engages employees in the emerging digital world. It provides them sufficient tools to exchange skills and collaborate through these platforms. For instance, they are able to build relationships with their colleagues and employer (relatedness), learn and share their skills and expertise (competence). In times of remote working, internal social media can help to facilitate these values that help all parts of the organisation to stay connected with each other. These platforms are also enriched with technical functions that enable the users to interact with each other in different ways. It also provides opportunities for visual storytelling to enhance and strengthen the communication that takes place on internal social media. The platforms are challenging since it is hard to engage and motivate age generations, where they all have different technological experience and somewhat cultural differences. This thesis is a quantitative survey case study conducted for a larger cooperation, based on theories such as self determination theory, employer engagement and affordances. This research contributes to existing literature by understanding generations’ motivation and engagement on internal social media, in contrast to existing research on private social media. It also analyses how professional and private social media use is related to employer engagement. Lastly, what interactions and formats are most valuable to each generation based of affordances. The study analyzes a sample of 330 respondents collected through the company's internal social media (Workplace). The generations that will be examined are from the oldest Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and youngest Generation Z. The final result concluded low participant frequency on Generation Z, which led to them being combined with Millennials in the analysis. Findings indicated that, Generation X are most motivated to exchange skills and expertise on Workplace (Competence), Baby Boomers and Millennials and Generation Z were less motivated to use it in general. However Baby Boomers were slightly more motivated by relatedness. The result also shows that there is a strong relationship between social media usage and employer engagement. The most valuable functions for all generations were the comment function and they all agree the video is the best way to communicate on internal social media.
Framgångsrika fall av implementering av interna sociala medier motiverar och engagerar anställda i den växande digitala världen. Det ger dem tillräckliga verktyg för att utbyta färdigheter och samarbeta på dessa plattformar. Till exempel kan de bygga relationer med sina kollegor och arbetsgivare (relatedness), lära sig och dela sina färdigheter och expertis (competence). I tider med allt mer fjärrarbete kan interna sociala medier underlätta för alla delar inom organisationen att hålla kontakten och samarbeta med varandra. Dessa plattformar är också berikade med tekniska funktioner som gör det möjligt för användare att interagera med varandra på olika sätt. Det ger också möjligheter för visual storytelling att förbättra och stärka kommunikationen som sker på interna sociala medier. Plattformarna är utmanande eftersom det är svårt att engagera och motivera de olika åldersgenerationer som finns, där de alla har olika teknisk erfarenhet och det finns kulturella skillnader. Detta är en kvantitativ fallundersökning genomförd för ett större företag, baserad på teorier som self determination theory, employer engagement och affordances. Studien bidrar till med forskning  till befintlig litteratur genom att förstå generationernas motivation och engagemang på interna sociala medier, i kontrast till befintlig forskning på privata sociala medier. Den analyserar också hur professionell och privat användning är relaterad till employer engagement. Slutligen, studeras vilka interaktioner och format som är mest värdefulla för varje generation baserat på konceptet affordances. Studien analyserar ett urval av 330 respondenter som har samlats in via företagets interna sociala medier (Workplace). Generationerna som kommer att undersökas kommer från de äldsta Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials och yngsta Generation Z. Det slutliga resultatet visade låg deltagarfrekvens av Generation Z, vilket ledde till att dessa deltagare kombinerades med Millennials i analysen. Resultaten visade att Generation X är mest motiverade att utbyta färdigheter och kompetens på Workplace (Competence), Baby Boomers and Millennials och Generation Z var mindre motiverade att använda det i allmänhet. Men Baby Boomers var lite mer motiverade av relatedness. Resultatet visar också att det finns en stark koppling mellan användning av sociala medier och employer engagement. De mest värdefulla funktionerna för alla generationer var kommentarsfunktionen och de är alla överens om att videon är det bästa sättet att kommunicera på interna sociala medier.