The use of blogging and its potential effects on society and politics have been widely debated but the meanings and understandings that bloggers themselves hold about the activity have not been sufficiently explored; indeed in Lebanon and Syria they have barely been investigated at all. Through interviews with bloggers, ISPs, Internet café owners and others, as well as informal online participant observation and an online questionnaire, this thesis explores the structural and cultural variables that have allowed Lebanese and Syrian bloggers to understand and use blogs in their own specific ways. The study not only recounts what bloggers say about themselves but investigates the structural variables that surround them, including government and institutional policy, censorship, impediments to Internet access, historical conditions under which blogging emerged, attitudes to the Internet, changing events and new entrants to blogging. By its comparative nature, the project reveals how the meanings that bloggers attach to their blogging activities and to their socialization with other bloggers are situated in the social and historical conditions under which blogging is practiced. The changing meanings blogging acquired for bloggers during the course of this research illustrated its shifting and relational attributes. Thus an unexpectedly complex array of interrelated factors is shown to contribute to the tool acquiring certain meanings and being used in specific ways. The research uncovers differing reasons between Lebanese and Syrian bloggers as to why they blog, what socialisation with other bloggers means to them, and what marks of differentiation such as anonymity and choice of language they use to distinguish the activity of one blogger from another. Both the Lebanese and Syrian bloggers at this point belong to a collective effort of other bloggers in their own countries, but the thesis also shows the meanings of socialisation online and how it is regarded change over time.

This thesis is a study of serial viewing among women in middle-families in two Indian cities carried out in 2007. It explores women’s engagement with a new brand of serial narratives that centralizes the traditional Hindu joint family and places women at the centre of the family as nurturer and custodian of traditional values. This return to the traditional, the thesis proposes, marks a new conjunctural moment in the evolution of Indian television. This new conjunctural moment, characterized by competitive attempts among private and transnational cable and satellite television to Indianize content, the unprecedented growth of vernacular television and consequently the national circulation of traditionally inflected serials, has come to represent the feminisation of television in India. The manner in which differentially located women engage with these narratives of idealized family and womanhood suggests certain specific gendered ways in which television mediates women’s discursive access to and performance within both family and civic space. This thesis argues that the feminisation of television in India helps extend the ideal of a familial womanhood on to the civic space, limiting women’s access to alternative, oppositional forms of civic belonging and citizenship.

This thesis comprises a cross-national comparison of readership responses to the British tabloid The Sun and the German red-top Bild. The study is of qualitative nature: it draws on extensive material derived from a total of 18 focus groups conducted in both countries, in which 104 diverse adults participated. The first study to compare tabloid reading experience cross-nationally, the research sets out to explore how readers of The Sun and readers of Bild make sense of the papers, and how they evaluate them. The results are analysed with regards to emerging similarities and differences, which are pointed out and discussed in relation to the specific social and cultural contexts in the UK and Germany. While many academic approaches to genre consider popular newspapers hazardous to the workings of democratic society; this study takes a different approach. Drawing on a range of academic ideas that can largely be associated to the intellectual tradition of ‘cultural studies’, the research foregrounds the social and cultural functions of the popular press from the readers’ point of view; focussing in particular on notions of belonging and community as expressed in the construction of citizenship, social participation and collective identity formations. Among the key results of the study, cross-nationally shared modes of engagement with tabloids are highlighted, which contribute to an often tension-filled character of the reading experience. Moreover, the papers’ highly stimulating potential is stressed. I develop my idea of the ‘negotiative space’ generated by tabloids; arguing that this greatly contributes to readers’ development of their ‘vision of the good and bad’. Moreover, the thesis emphasises the significance of the popular press to various kinds of readers’ social and cultural identity formations; particularly with regards to notions of nationhood and national identity.

This dissertation examines the widespread phenomenon of online film and DVD viewing that is now prevalent among university students in China. In doing so, it analyses how the social organisation of enjoyment among aspirational urban and educated youth relates to the Chinese political order as the country integrates into the global market economy. Using observation, interviews and written responses, supplemented by journalistic and online material collected „in the field‟ during 2006-2007 and 2010, the research centres on two comparatively neglected areas of Chinese studies: audience reception and foreign entertainment via largely non-regulated downloading and pirate DVDs. The dissertation shows how higher educated Chinese youth use their new semi-illicit media freedom to structure their own social and political attitudes and how in doing this they reassess certain established values of responsibility and morality and make them compatible with the adoption of new middle class aspirations learned and negotiated through their viewing of Chinese, and mainly foreign entertainment media. The research therefore aims to make a broader point about the character of China‟s ongoing modernisation, and the role of the „foreign‟ within this, thereby breaking out of the impasse in which China is seen largely through the perspective of antagonism between the forces of control and those of freedom – a view that has tended to overshadow and oversimplify the field of Chinese studies, particularly since the 1989 political crisis.

Against the political backdrop of the Palestinian conflict and Israeli occupation, this thesis focuses on the most important media in the Palestinian context, television, which has the widest reach and influence among Palestinians. The main aim of the thesis is to investigate the question of how far, in the perceptions of Palestinians, the two television channels – Palestine TV and Al-Aqsa TV – are contributing to the development of a new democratic political state through participative communication processes. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the Gaza Strip between December 2009 and July 2010 through a survey questionnaire of 500 Gazans, semi-structured and unstructured interviews and focus groups with a range of participants, from university students and human rights activists, to journalists and non-governmental organization (NGO) employees. The thesis investigates the perceptions of different sectors of Palestinian society and media workers about their access to the television channels, their views on media reliability, freedom of expression, the watchdog role of television, their opinions on the status of democracy and human rights, and other issues related to media functions and democracy in Palestine. Three functions of the media - as a forum for discussion and debate; as provider of information and as a watchdog, critiquing the powers that be – are explored. The thesis examines how the media perform in providing the functions of democratic communication through exploring the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas governments and the two television channels Palestine Television and Al-Aqsa. The key findings of the research were, in the view of many respondents, that the two television channels, Palestine TV and Al-Aqsa TV, were controlled by the two political parties - Fatah and Hamas respectively and that this has compromised the media’s function to promote democratic communication and the democratic process. The thesis argues that the two political factions are trying to manipulate the public and conceal information that affects their power. As a result, the political parties have polarized the emerging public sphere. The lack of freedom of expression and access to information has prevented the establishment of a democratic space essential to create a coherent political system and on which to base a democratic society that respects human rights. The thesis concludes by suggesting, however, in the transition to democracy, the existence of partisan media may be able to fulfil a role in contributing to the democratization of Palestine. The two television channels do provide limited functions of democratic communication to their own factions, so between them they may benefit Palestinian society in the progress towards the development of independent media.

In this thesis I explore media geocoding (i.e., geotagging or georeferencing), the process of inscribing the media with geographic information. A process that enables distinct forms of producing, storing, and distributing information based on location. Historically, geographic information technologies have served a biopolitical function producing knowledge of populations. In their current guise as locative media platforms, these systems build rich databases of places facilitated by user-generated geocoded media. These geoindexes render places, and users of these services, this thesis argues, subject to novel forms of computational modelling and economic capture. Thus, the possibility of tying information, people and objects to location sets the conditions to the emergence of new communicative practices as well as new forms of governmentality (management of populations). This project is an attempt to develop an understanding of the socio-economic forces and media regimes structuring contemporary forms of location-aware communication, by carrying out a comparative analysis of two of the main current location-enabled platforms: Google and Flickr. Drawing from the medium-specific approach to media analysis characteristic of the subfield of Software Studies, together with the methodological apparatus of Cultural Analytics (data mining and visualization methods), the thesis focuses on examining how social space is coded and computed in these systems. In particular, it looks at the databases’ underlying ontologies supporting the platforms' geocoding capabilities and their respective algorithmic logics. In the final analysis the thesis argues that the way social space is translated in the form of POIs (Points of Interest) and business-biased categorizations, as well as the geodemographical ordering underpinning the way it is computed, are pivotal if we were to understand what kind of socio-spatial relations are actualized in these systems, and what modalities of governing urban mobility are enabled.

The present research is about relations between Iran and the West from the communication point of view and the role of the media in creating anti-American and anti-Western sentiments amongst the Iranians. It studies how Occidentalism has evolved in Iran and how, as an ideological representation, it has influenced the press portrayal of the West in the country. It also identifies dominant frames in newspaper reporting of the West and indicates how the perception of reality and meaning construction work in mainstream Iranian newspapers. The present thesis seeks to investigate, through content analysis of news items and critical discourse analysis of news editorials, the impact of political affiliation of newspapers (as the first independent variable) and the political period in which they are published (as the second independent variable) on the representation of the West (as the dependent variable) in Iran. The results and findings of the present study are yet another contribution to the study of the West, particularly in the Iranian context. In fact, the representation of the West in mainstream Iranian newspapers in the way discussed throughout this thesis signifies the creation of a new type of Occidentalism in the Orient, which I here brand as “Iranoccidentalism”. Iranoccidentalism is an ideological concept, which is under the influence of the prevailing discourse; It projects the West, through media, as “arrogant/imperial and interventionist”; It is coupled with anti-Americanism and opposition to the West, and is linked to the history of colonialism and imperialism in Iran as well as the Iranian encounter with modernity; Moreover, it is a reaction to Orientalism and seeks to spread the Islamic ideology of governance and awakening within the framework of the Shiite ideology; Furthermore, Iranoccidentalism pursues a “nativistic” and “nationalistic” approach which manifests itself in the Iranians’ national resolve to develop indigenous technologies such as the nuclear, aerospace and missile technologies as well as biotechnology and nanotechnology. I argue in the course of this thesis that Occidentalism is evolving and turning into a structured discourse in Asia and especially in the Muslim countries of the Middle East, including in Iran where it is under the great influence of the history of relations with the West and in particular the Iranian response to Western-driven modernity.

This Ph.D. by Published Work examines projects that have taken place over a period of ten years and that address new media practice. The projects include new media arts exhibitions and publications. The argument of the Exegesis is that taken together these works demonstrate how curatorial practice operates in an integrated way between practice and theory and that it is possible to trace how insights about new media are generated, evolve and contribute to discourse in different parts of the arts sector. The Exegesis argues that curatorial practice can be understood as demonstrating reflection­‐in-­action and reflection-­on-­action. It presents a framework for understanding how knowledge is developed through curatorial projects, and thus constitutes practice-­based research. In particular the research addresses the role of the curator in new media arts: how the audience for new media is understood, how practitioners’ knowledge, skills and expertise can be articulated and how cultural concepts around digital technology such as ‘newness’ and ‘innovation’ affect the way that new media practice is understood and experienced. The study examines the curated three exhibitions: Lyndal Jones, Demonstrations and Details from the Facts of Life (2001); Timeless: Time, Landscape and New Media (2006) and David Rokeby: Silicon Remembers Carbon(2007)/ David Rokeby: Plotting Against Time (2008); a co-authored book The New Media Handbook (2006); and three articles and chapters, ‘Enter the Gallery’ (2011) & ‘The Narrative of Technology’ (2012) and ‘Shiny and New’ (2010).

This study analyses how media initiatives have sought to improve the coverage on private pan-Arab television channels, of poverty, illiteracy, and violence against disadvantaged Arab women. This was achieved by studying how women‘s status has been critiqued on MBC1, an entertainment channel, and on Al Arabiya, a news channel. Programmes on MBC1 that related to poverty, illiteracy and violence were examined through the eyes of young disadvantaged women in a Saudi Arabian village. How Al Arabiya and MBC1 applied media initiatives in their programming to improve women‘s status was also examined through interviews with key players in Queen Rania‘s Media Office and in the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Group. A textual analysis of programmes on MBC1 and Al Arabiya was also undertaken. The study not only contributed to knowledge by covering areas not generally explored in existing research, such as development related programmes about women‘s status on privately-owned pan-Arab satellite television, but it also explores the tug of war between two opposing powers in Saudi society: the reformists and the conservatives. The study used different methods, including ethnographic research, focus groups, and interviews with disadvantaged Saudi women, interviews with key players and decision makers involved in media output and, finally, a textual analysis of programmes dealing with the issues of poverty, illiteracy and violence. It discovers that the ontradictory forces in Saudi society are reflected in the way women‘s status and female empowerment are handled in television programmes. This study underlines the dominant ideology that forms the essence of initiatives aimed at developing women‘s status through media, especially those launched by 'first ladies‘, and the policies made by MBC Group officials in broadcasting development programmes for women. This dominant ideology was also examined in the light of the preconceptions and responses of disadvantaged women.

Since first winning elections in 1998, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez became one of the most vocal leaders in the international arena to oppose the U.S. and western neo-liberal policies. His administration arguably represents the most radical socio-political shift in the western hemisphere during the twenty-first century. Its political model has led to a political polarisation previously unknown in Venezuela and Latin America. In such a highly-polarised environment and ongoing clashes between pro-Chávez forces and the opposition, the news media have played a central role as active political entities. Venezuelan journalists have become agents of specific ideological advocacy and political militancy. Such a scenario in the media collides with most normative liberal notions of balanced, accurate, transparent, and ethical journalistic practice, as well as with certain ideals of the media’s democratic role. Based on a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Venezuelan journalists, media-related professionals and commentators – designed to represent adequately both sides of the ideological divide – this thesis critically explores how journalistic practices have been carried out in Venezuela under the Chávez administration. As its central and original contribution to knowledge it analyses how news media professionals in Venezuela evaluate the ways they have reflected an acute political and social confrontation in news outlets, and their varying roles as agents that shape a highly-polarised social sphere. Very importantly, it offers answers to the question of politicisation among journalists, and the ways they understand the boundaries of professional and normative practice. The research draws conclusions in relation to the ways reporters, editors, scholars and commentators perceive journalistic practice as a means to promote democratic values, and whether or not Venezuelan news media have enhanced democratic debate during the 2000s.