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The Information Society is the result of developments in information and communication technologies (lCTs) and their ability to gather, collate and disseminate vast amounts of personal data. Privacy has therefore become an important social and ethical issue. The threats to privacy include not only the collection of personal details but also the increased use of surveillance technologies, from closed circuit television (CCTV) to email and Internet use monitoring. Individuals have been largely ignored by privacy researchers in the past. This has meant that whilst surveys have revealed some trends in attitude, they did not go far enough to discover how individuals perceive privacy and how far surveillance was seen by individuals as an invasion of their privacy. This research investigated individuals within a public sector organisation and a private sector organisation. By using a hermeneutic approach combined with the interpretive interactionism tools of Denzin (1989) the research was able to undertake a qualitative investigation of the privacy perceptions of the individual. Furthermore, differences between the approaches to privacy of a public organisation and a private organisation were analysed. This thesis explores new horizons within the field of computer ethics, and utilises qualitative research techniques not previously applied to this area of enquiry. The research techniques utilised have enabled an exploration of the lived experiences of the individuals within an organisational context. The adaptation of interpretive interactionism within the hermeneutic approach has produced findings that discovered the importance of privacy and the awareness of the participants to the issues of legislation, protection and future expectations. The research found that although the individuals studied were happy to allow certain personal information to be available, privacy within the home and within personal relationships was of critical importance. Privacy was seen as a right that all should have, and yet the scope and extent of privacy was subject to individual interpretation. Further more, the nature of privacy was seen to have changed with the use of ICTs so that there has been a paradigm shift in the focus of personal information. The perceived loss of community has led to less local knowledge about an individual's affairs, but the increases in technology have created vast databases containing huge amounts of personal information, which are accessible to many individuals and organisations but to whom the information remains impersonal.

This study focuses on how the country embraces the new technology of the Internet and its attendant effects while at the same time protecting the values and traditions which define the Saudi identity. This study also examines a range of theoretical and contextual debates that are relevant to the issues addressed in this research. Among the debates examined are: globalisation, Internet influence, censorship and regulation, sovereignty as well as the tensions emanating from interactions between political spaces and cultural flows. Materials for the study were collected through the use of in-depth interviews with top policy makers in Saudi Arabia as well as through the use of questionnaires to collect data on the views of the citizens of Saudi Arabia about their use of the Internet and views on Internet regulation in Saudi Arabia. The findings in the study indicate that while there is widespread adoption of the Internet in Saudi Arabia, there is still a wide range of debates on the extent to which it should be allowed a free reign in the society. While the arguments continue, the introduction of the Internet in Saudi Arabia has opened up a number of social and political spaces that might not be available without the Internet.

The idea of the iconic turn relates to a perceived increase in the use of images and icons for communication purposes during the 19th and particularly the 20th century. More recently, various theorists have further argued that digital media and specifically hypertext media are a catalyst for this development. The multi-linear approach of hypertext, the increasing integration of pictures, moving image and animation in the Internet as well as the dominance of the graphic user interface (GUI) are seen as major indicators for a paradigm shift towards a dominancy of the image for the purpose of information exchange. The argument culminates in the idea that the envisioned change will come at the expense of alphabetic text and will amount to the end of the use of prose for communication purposes. This thesis questions such notions concerning the iconic turn with respect to digital writing. It compares them to the status quo of design practice particularly in digital media networks such as the Web and reveals fundamental discrepancies between theory and this practice. It will be demonstrated that hypertext and specifically the Web to the contrary are still very much text-based environments, strongly built on both the diachronic and synchronic qualities of language and the two-dimensional expression that is possible through alphabetic writing. This work also explains how proponents of a pictorial approach towards digital communication have been misled by early day phenomena and wishful thinking. This thesis draws from cognitive science, cultural history, information theory and linguistics as well as from current design practice. Design practice plays an important role in the discussion regarding digital writing and the iconic turn as it is held partly responsible for the shift from alphabetic text to the image by some of the theorists arguing in favour of image writing.

In recent years, the use of social media tools has grown significantly in our personal lives as a preferred method of communicating and connecting with others. Consequently, organisations have begun to introduce these tools to facilitate communication, cooperation, collaboration and connections. Despite the benefits that early adapters have gained, many organisations have been slow to adopt. The reasons for slow adoption include policies and procedures that inhibit change, privacy and security issues, and organisational culture. Additionally, organisations struggle with how to use the tools, measure the effectiveness and fail to realise their potential benefits. Thus, a key issue for organisations is the lack of preparedness prior to introducing enterprise social media tools. However, it is difficult for organisations to assess their level of readiness for enterprise social media, because a method or tool to produce an assessment of their readiness was non-existent. This limitation is addressed by investigating organisational readiness within information intensive organisations. Organisational Semiotics was adopted as an approach to identify the organisational readiness factors for enterprise social media to ensure that the social and technical relationships were considered in the solution. The readiness factors identified were resources (human, financial and technical), organisational climate (culture and awareness), new processes, values, discrepancy, benefit, management support and organisational controls (security! privacy, policies and procedures, accountability, communication procedures, and fall back). Additionally, a stages of growth model has been used to investigate the organisational environment and identify the phases in which enterprise social media is introduced in an organisations. The outcome of this is a readiness assessment method for organisations to introduce ESM. The results will indicate areas of improvement and can be used by organisations to build a strategic plan to introduce enterprise social media

At a crucial stage in their biological, cognitive, social and emotional development, the internet provides adolescents with multiple opportunities for information seeking and connecting with others online. Public concern surrounding internet use highlights potential risks of contact with strangers and exposure to harmful content. With adolescent internet use increasing rapidly, concern for this age group is high. Limited research has attempted to identify risk factors for online vulnerability. The current study aims to redress this, suggesting that insecure attachment to parents may play a key role in risk experiences online, possibly mediated by offline peer relationships. In a cross-sectional, quantitative design, a sample of 915 adolescents aged 11-15 years recruited from two comprehensive secondary schools (mean age 12.6 years, 53% male, 47% female) completed four questionnaires assessing internet use, risk experience online, relationship with parents, and relationship with offline peers. Logistic regression and mediation analysis were used to explore research questions addressing risk contact and content online. 84% of adolescents reported using the internet every day or almost every day. Risk contact: Attachment-avoidance was associated with increased likelihood of contact with unknown individuals online. Attachment-anxiety was associated with increased likelihood of meeting an online contact offline, partially mediated by peer discord. Risk content: Both attachment-anxiety and attachment-avoidance were associated with high-level exposure to risk-content online, partially mediated by peer discord. Attachment-anxiety was associated with increased likelihood of being bothered by risk content online. 3 Results are discussed in relation to the use of the internet for social compensation, the impact of psychological difficulties and contact with strangers, and the role of parental mediation on on line activities, all of which require further investigation. Limitations of the study are addressed,and implications are discussed for school, home, clinical and online contexts and for children in care.

Since the emergence of social media, the BBC has sought to produce reporting more connected to its audience while retaining its authority as a public broadcaster in crisis reporting. On the one hand, news production studies theorists argue that mainstream news organisations have had difficulties adapting to social media and become closer to Its audience. On the other hand, crisis ' reporting research claim that the emergence of social media has led these news organisations to adopt a more "sensitive" and "collaborative" type of reporting. Using a comprehensive empirical analysis of crisis news production at the BBC since the London bombing attacks pf 7 July, 2005, this dissertation presents an alternative argument. It shows that the emergence of social media at the BBC and the need to manage this kind of material led to a new media logic in which tech-savvy journalists take on a new centrality in the newsroom. In this changed context, the politico-economic and socio-cultural logic have led to a more connected newsroom involving this new breed of journalists and BBC audience. This examination of news production events shows that in the midst of theses transformations in journalistic practices and norms, including news-gathering, sourcing, distribution and impartiality, the BBC has reasserted its authority as a public broadcaster.

With interactive social media rapidly evolving, any large Higher Education Institution (HEI) ought to be planning, at the highest level, for the opportunities and attendant risks presented by social media facilities that are not password protected. The work that follows reviews the emergence of social media, analyses various areas of good and bad practice, indicates possible opportunities and outlines perceived negative aspects that need careful consideration. To maintain a focused approached to the primary research objectives and to clearly scope the exercise, it was deemed appropriate to curtail the investigation to UK-based activity. It may be that following this particular work further research on a wider scale could offer additional insight to this field. A live test site has been developed to discover at firsthand possible strengths and weaknesses. The site is based within an Art and Design discipline as this encapsulates the majority of content and stimuli that would fully test HEI website parameters. The thesis is therefore in part 'practice' as the generation and on-going management of a course-specific test website and additional social media add-ons required a substantial proportion of research time to construct, develop and manage during the major part of the investigation. This aspect also required gaining Institutional approval to generate, upload and maintain a fully functioning course- specific sub-site outside of the University's general operating framework. (Ref. www.viscombelfast.com). Based on firsthand information and secondary source review, the work concludes with a proposed set of 'Opportunity/Risk/Protocol' guidelines that provide an insight into the opportunities and attendant risks associated with the integration of social media as part of an HEls web presence, as open access interactive media pervades ever deeper into cyber culture. It is envisaged that the findings may ultimately be of use to social media website development/maintenance in other domains.