The purpose of this study was to examine in which extent the comments about news in the comment fields, on Swedish news sites Facebook pages were deliberative. To fulfill this purpose we used a quantitative content analysis as a method to interpret the data that we collected about 2203 reader comments from three news sites Facebook pages. Jürgen Habermas theory about deliberative democracy together with theories about public space and Web 2.0 were the theories we based our study on. To determine that a comment was deliberative it had to contain an argument and be written with tolerance and respect. Our result showed that most comments lacked either one or both of these criteria’s and therefore weren’t deliberative. This study helps to show in which extent the comments about news on Facebook are deliberative.

In this thesis, I present a framework for bridging the concepts of Social Networks and eLearning Learning Management Systems (LMSs) by finding elements and entities common to both systems, and eliminating these common elements to form an LMS Gadget which can hypothetically be used to extend any Social Network with an API that exposes User and User-Group information so that it also has the functionality of an LMS. I will also include a history of these systems, and a concrete example of such a unification. Finally, I will explore the application of the LMS Gadget to any Web Portal System that exposes User and Group management through an Application Programming Interface (API). This is an application that I conceived of, designed, and did the large majority of the programming for (with assistance on some data access routines to help meet an April 2008 conference deadline). Graphic design was provided by Amos Rowsell of Udutu Learning Systems (a private company for which I have held the role of Lead Developer since November 2005).

Social networking sites are the contemporary agora: where individuals share their lives, understand the world, exchange cultural artefacts and tend to relationships. Yet, these sites are paradoxically lauded for their ability to connect lives and disparaged for the effect they have on the quality of language and relationships. Covered extensively across disciplines, including inquiries into identity and gender politics, social networking sites remain under investigated in linguistics. Here, the interplay of identity, gender, and language in a group of adolescent girls on Facebook is explored in the sociolinguistic tradition. This research demonstrates how a discourse analytic framework can determine some aspect of identity from an individual’s online interactions, including gender as constrained by historical and cultural discourses. A collaborative methodology navigates the difficulties of collecting data online, the complexities of gender and identity, as well as provides a commentary on the need for reform in ethical protocol for online research. / Graduate

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近年來隨著Facebook的盛行，Facebook已成許多人紀錄生活或關注朋友近況不可或缺的管道。許多人文社會學者意圖透過其用戶在Facebook上活動行為的紀錄(如打卡、轉貼分享連結等)，進行學術研究分析；而Facebook公司相對也提供應用程式介面並以特定資料格式提供，但考量用戶之個人隱私及平台的可用度，制訂了相關的使用規則；因此本研究以協助學者達成研究分析Facebook用戶動態消息資料為目的，設計與實作一個「臉書使用者行為資料蒐集系統(Facebook User Activities Data Collector) 」。可相容Facebook應用程式介面使用規則及穩定收取其動態消息資料，讓學者們可針對其研究項目分別設定相關「蒐集專案」，並可使特定用戶(即蒐集專案之參與者)於本系統進行同意及授權提供特定資料，系統則每日定時依蒐集專案設定進行蒐集作業，待作業完成，再將資料以圖形化介面呈現。 因考量本系統可同時運行多個蒐集專案，為優化其效能，本研究在整合「蒐集專案」、「參與者」後提出一套有效的歸戶機制(Account Aggregation Mechanism)，透過重整參與者的機制，可顯著降低重複蒐集的次數，以提升資料蒐集的效率；並為因應Facebook所制訂使用規則，設計一套臉書蒐集相容機制(Facebook Collector Compatible Mechanisms)，在蒐集過程中對於可能產生錯誤情況加以防範，以及錯誤產生時能以對應之處理程序進行自動化處理，以確保資料蒐集過程的穩定及結果的完整。最後，在系統開發完成後，設計一套驗證計畫，以驗證本研究之蒐集成果以及相關機制成效。 / Recently Facebook has become an indispensable platform for many people to record their lives and to concern their friends. Many Humanities and Social Sciences scholars are interested in conducting research on the activity records of the Facebook users, such as check-ins and shared story. Therefore, there is a large demand in collecting these user activity records while respecting user privacy. Based on the open API (Application Programming Interface) by Facebook, we design and implement a “Facebook User Activities Data Collector” to help scholars collect the activity records with the permission from Facebook users. Using the collector, researchers can create projects for Facebook data retrieval and solicit volunteers to participate those projects by giving their permissions to enable the collector to retrieve their activity records following the Facebook privacy rules. Our tool offers a friendly user interface for researchers and participating users. Besides, as a user may participate in multiple data retrieval projects in the same period of time, our collector is equipped with an “account aggregation” mechanism that will retrieve all the records of a user for the projects he participated at once without repetitive collection work that will degrade the performance of the tool. Another feature of the collector is a robust exception handling mechanism that will handle frequent occurring exceptions in data retrieval and reports unknown exceptions to system administrators to improve the system’s reliability. To verify our collector, we have also recruited several volunteers and conducted some experiments to retrieve their activity records. The preliminary results show that our collector performs well and collects the records correctly.

SAMMANFATTNING Titel: Musikbolags kommunikationsprocess via social media Författare: Sabrina Bengtsson, Angelica Wass Granquist och Cecilia Wiklund Handledare: Joachim Timlon Kurs: Kandidatuppsats 15 hp i Företagsekonomi inriktning Marknadsföring, Music & Event Management, Linnéuniversitetet, Hösttermin 2013-2014. Forskningsfråga Hur kommunicerar svenska musikbolag med sina kunder genom social media? Syfte Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva hur kommunikationsprocessen ser ut via social media, analysera hur svenska musikbolag kommunicerar via sociala medier samt ge rekommendationer till hur de på bästa sätt kan kommunicera med kunderna via de sociala medierna. Metod I uppsatsen har vi valt att göra en kvalitativ undersökning med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Detta gjorde vi då vårt mål har varit att komma så nära vårt problemområde som möjligt och gå på djupet istället för bredden. Den empiriska studien bygger på fem intervjuer med personer som har en koppling till kommunikation och musikindustrin. Slutsatser Vi har genom analysen kommit fram till att musikbolagen inte marknadsför sig själva utan sina artister. Något av det bästa ett musikbolag kan göra är att anpassa sig efter sin målgrupp. Genom att noggrant segmentera marknaden och se till livsstilsfaktorer kan musikbolagen utforma sin kommunikation på ett sätt som tilltalar valda segment. Det är viktigt att finnas på det ställe som kunderna befinner sig samt att innehållet är relevant och passar artistens image. Nyckelord: kommunikation, kommunikationsprocess, sociala medier, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, Youtube, internet, musikindustrin, musikbolag

Shawn Lennie, Ethical Complexities in the Virtual World: Teacher Perspectives of ICT Based Issues and Conflicts, Doctor of Philosophy, CTL, OISE, 2013. Using a qualitative research methodology, this study explores the perceptions that K-12 teachers have on the ethical issues they have experienced as a result of, or in relation to, ICT. Participants included 10 practicing teachers who had identified experience with ICT based issues in their teaching practice. Each participant engaged in two semi-structured interviews focused on the research topic. The first interview explored the perceptions and experiences that the participants had with ICT based issues in their practice, while the second involved an examination of eight vignettes involving ICT based issues that were ethical in nature. The use of this approach provides a descriptive account of the experiences and perceptions of the participants in the study. Results from the study highlight the impact that ethical issues involving technology have on the moral work of teachers and the challenges that emerge as teachers attempt to identify morally responsible ways to respond to the complex and dynamic challenges that they face. Participants demonstrate a heightened sensitivity to ethical issues involving technology that compromise the safety and well-being of children, such as cyber-bullying, as well as those that compromise professional and academic integrity, such as plagiarism. Results also reveal the predominant use of subjective moral judgment when evaluating the moral significance of ICT based issues and reluctance on the part of teachers to challenge the inappropriate use of technology by their colleagues. This contrasts with a strong belief that teachers play an important role as moral models for students who are developing an understanding of what constitutes responsible digital behaviour. These results are significant to scholarship on teacher professionalism, digital ethics and citizenship, and policy development relating to ICT based issues.

Shawn Lennie, Ethical Complexities in the Virtual World: Teacher Perspectives of ICT Based Issues and Conflicts, Doctor of Philosophy, CTL, OISE, 2013. Using a qualitative research methodology, this study explores the perceptions that K-12 teachers have on the ethical issues they have experienced as a result of, or in relation to, ICT. Participants included 10 practicing teachers who had identified experience with ICT based issues in their teaching practice. Each participant engaged in two semi-structured interviews focused on the research topic. The first interview explored the perceptions and experiences that the participants had with ICT based issues in their practice, while the second involved an examination of eight vignettes involving ICT based issues that were ethical in nature. The use of this approach provides a descriptive account of the experiences and perceptions of the participants in the study. Results from the study highlight the impact that ethical issues involving technology have on the moral work of teachers and the challenges that emerge as teachers attempt to identify morally responsible ways to respond to the complex and dynamic challenges that they face. Participants demonstrate a heightened sensitivity to ethical issues involving technology that compromise the safety and well-being of children, such as cyber-bullying, as well as those that compromise professional and academic integrity, such as plagiarism. Results also reveal the predominant use of subjective moral judgment when evaluating the moral significance of ICT based issues and reluctance on the part of teachers to challenge the inappropriate use of technology by their colleagues. This contrasts with a strong belief that teachers play an important role as moral models for students who are developing an understanding of what constitutes responsible digital behaviour. These results are significant to scholarship on teacher professionalism, digital ethics and citizenship, and policy development relating to ICT based issues.

The Arab spring has been called a social media revolution and social media have been given large importance and significant space in both academic discussions and analysis in the media. The main focus of this study was to examine whether social media have impacted the news reporting of the conflicts. A sample of articles from four different newspapers was examined, taken randomly from all relevant articles published on the newspapers websites between December 2010 and December 2013. A part of that sample was checked for news agency cable reliance and the entire sample were checked for material from social media. Three newspapers were found to rely heavily on news agency material. The New York Times was the exception, having only 4 percent of articles being based on news agency material. Social media material and quotes were found and were used in the report-ing in different ways, but only in 4 percent of articles. It was mainly used as a way to get protester commentary. Two of the included newspapers were China Daily and the New York Times. The differences between the respective reporting in these newspapers were also examined in yet an-other subsample consisting of 100 articles from each newspaper. Several differences be-tween the reporting were found, with China Daily for example presenting a framing more in favour of the government of Syria than the New York Times.

This dissertation was a mixed methods triangulation design combining quantitative and qualitative components. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it examined the association between the frequency and quality of students’ online interactions with instructors and the quality of student-instructor relationship. Second, this study explored the meanings of student-instructor interactions mediated by online tools. Quantitative data were collected via an online survey from 320 undergraduate students enrolled at a public research university. Qualitative data sources were in-depth interviews with six undergraduate students and six professors, observations of student-instructor interactions on Facebook, and artifacts of student-instructor interaction via email. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that approximately one third of the variance in student-instructor connectedness was explained by the frequency of and satisfaction with face-to-face, email, Blackboard, and Facebook; the grade obtained in the class; and demographic variables. Significant predictors of connectedness were grade, frequency of face-to-face student interest-driven communication, satisfaction with the face-to-face interactions, and satisfaction with the email communication. The qualitative findings revealed that instructors held expectations of formal communication for email interactions, while students had expectations for response from instructors within one-two business days. The email practices identified for instructors included responding to student email within two days; compensating for limited face-to-face time; engaging students in communication about the class content; and dealing with student disengagement. Students adopted two main practices related to email: avoiding “emergency” emails to contact instructors, and using email to avoid face-to-face contact in some situations. For Facebook interactions, instructors expected that students initiate connections, while students expected that instructors signal their availability for connection with students. Instructors’ Facebook practices pointed out different approaches for accepting student friend requests; and performing interactions. Students’ practices on Facebook highlighted two patterns: initiating connections with instructors during the semester versus at the beginning of the semester. In addition, preserving connections beyond the boundaries of a class was a practice common to students and instructors.