This thesis critically reviews the pragma-dialectical approach to the study of argumentation advanced by van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1984, 1988, 1992, 2003, 2004) and puts forward a modified version of this framework to provide a better analysis of the special features of political argumentation. This study develops a more applicable model for the analysis and evaluation of actual argumentative discussions, which are often typical of political discourse. The revised framework proposes a number of amendments to the rules of the critical discussion model. Some new types of fallacies arising as a result of violations to these rules are also discussed. One of the main arguments put forward in this thesis is that the aim of political argumentation is not restricted to resolving differences of opinion, and that the role of the audience is critical to understanding political argumentative discourse. The thesis also explores the ways in which violations of the rules of the critical discussion can affect the process of argumentation, and whether such violations always lead to fallacies being committed. The thesis considers the true aims of political argumentation and develops a modified version of the pragma-dialectal framework consisting of a general principle and just seven discussion rules, which takes into account a new conception of the notions of argumentation and fallacy.

An e-commerce video is an online video which offers one or more items for the viewer to directly buy. It is a new type of media content, resulting from the fusion of the retail, content creation and digital marketing industries, and it is enjoying rapid, global growth. But what kind of video works best in e-commerce? How is such video best produced and distributed? What are the optimal strategies for content in e-commerce video? Through his critical analysis of a set of works published from 2013-18, the author has sought to break new ground through answering these questions. He sets three specific objectives, around which the narrative of this thesis is built, in looking to provide a better understanding of the route to optimization of video content for e-commerce. First, he evaluates what literature already exists, in both the parent category of branded content, and in the new, fast-growth sub-category of e-commerce video itself - around the drivers of success in shoppable video content creation. He finds that coverage is quite substantial around e-commerce and social media, and in the technical routes to successful e-commerce sales through video distribution. But it is sparse with respect to the content itself, which allows him the space to make a meaningful contribution. Second, he considers and contextualises his own original research into the existence of a ‘cliff-edge’ in branded content including e-commerce video. In a piece of video content, there is a point beyond which greater brand integration has a negative effect on customer engagement and sales. Knowing that point is vital to the advertiser. Here the author’s original, new research provides useful insight into the gradations of in-content branding that are effective, and this cut-off moment where the audience begins to respond negatively. Third, the author considers and contextualises his own additional new, original research into which specific styles of e-commerce video are most likely to deliver results. Here he provides multiple new findings - such as the fact that multi-product videos are more likely to sell goods than ones featuring single products alone; or that mute videos are better sales tools than videos with presenters, or using user-generated content. By answering the three research questions, the author provides focus and nuance to an academic topic which is barely a decade old, and in a developing media content genre which is commercially powerful, global and evolving fast. As a reflection on that rapid change, the author adds a postscript chapter where he reviews all the technologies that are driving the growth of e-commerce video into the future, including Artificial Intelligence.

The ‘Arab Spring’ refers to the protests and revolutions that spread across a number of Middle Eastern and North African Muslim countries during late 2010/early 2011. Grounded on the main theoretical framework of the public sphere (along with the complementary theories of technological determinism and technical and cultural appropriation) the aim of this research was to investigate the role of Facebook and Twitter in generating social and political change during the Arab ‘spring’ uprisings of Tunisia and Egypt. Findings from a series of semi-structured interviews with key individuals in both countries offer some support for the validity of these three theories by suggesting that social media worked as an effective public sphere for activism, as well as being a communicative/organisational tool that generated some social/political changes. Nonetheless, this research suggests that the effectiveness of social media began to wane very early into the uprisings. Although this weakening was relatively slow in the more secular Tunisia where the highly westernised youth continued to use social media as a public sphere to discuss political issues, the speed of its demise was far more rapid in the more Islamic Egypt where the traditional public sphere (especially the mosques) and face-to-face communication became more important in driving on the uprising. This implies that although social media played an important role in helping to generate the uprisings in 2010/2011 and in helping to bring some social and political changes, it is not particularly effective in the long-run following regime repression, violence, and media censorship.

During the last decade, the rapidly growing prestige of so-called Creative Cities has inspired many other cities to enhance their attractiveness, creativity and success. However, the concept of a creative city is an elusive one because it reflects a set of distinct ideologies which apply ideas of creativity to the physical and economic urban development. The main aim of this study is to discover the extent to which the concept of the Creative City can be usefully and practically employed in the development of urban services and global identity, specifically in the case of Makkah in Saudi Arabia. The city of Makkah is famous as the focus of religious devotion for one and half billion Muslims globally because of its holy sites, with millions visiting annually on pilgrimage. This thesis builds understanding of the concept of a Creative City and its relation with the urban environment based on the main prior academic contributions on Creative City theory that have addressed key aspects of this concept. An analysis was also performed of the most influential theory and practice of Creative City models and of the development strategies of five case studies: Vancouver, Yokohama, Glasgow, Barcelona and Sydney. A new model, referred to by the acronym CREATIVE, was developed with the following key elements: Concept, Resources, Events, Attractiveness, Technology, Involvement, Vision and Enthusiasm. Expert opinion was sought on the model after presentations at five international conferences. This case study-based qualitative research uses semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, academics and experts responsible for developing the holy city of Makkah as the primary source for data collection. In addition, a substantial number of documents about Makkah were reviewed. The CREATIVE model guided the process of data collection via interviews, documentation and field notes, and analysis of the data. The findings indicate that Makkah has great potential to become a Creative City, with some unique resources. Hajj and Umrah are global religious events, and huge construction projects are seeking to improve its attractiveness along with a Smart City plan, and comprehensive 30-year plan. However, a low level of citizen involvement in decision-making was also identified. The value of this study is tripartite. It contributes as the first to explore the Creative City concept in a Middle Eastern context. Second, it proposes a revised model of the Creative City that could function as a check list guide for decision makers and experts charged with implementing urban development. Third, using the CREATIVE model will increase awareness of the economic benefits of Hajj and Umrah to Saudi Arabia.

This study responds to the call for more empirical work to understand the journalism profession in non-Western countries. It critiques the current state of journalism practice in Nigeria to determine how journalists are responding to the numerous professional challenges they face. Journalists in Nigeria appear caught between global phenomena in journalism, such as the impact of new technologies, and those of the environment in which they work, which, some evidence from current literature suggests, is impacting the profession negatively. The literature also shows that factors such as diversity of access to information made possible by technological development, declining audience for news, increasing market pressures impacting news decisions, the declining reputation of the profession, and loss of identity by the journalism profession, though not necessarily peculiar to Nigeria, constitute serious challenges to the news media. With an absence of media conglomerates and a well-defined media system along the lines of those recognised in the developed world, journalism practice in Nigeria presents a case ripe for research. Some evidence in the literature suggests that the standard of journalism practice in Nigeria is deficient in a number of respects. However, little is known about how journalists in Nigeria do their work and the challenges they face, as well as their responses to those challenges. This thesis addresses this particular gap in knowledge. Using the Field Theory and the Social Theory of Journalism, as framework to interrogate the research problem, the research employs convergent parallel mixed methods allowing the use of quantitative and qualitative methods, side-by-side, to gather data in respect of attaining its objectives. Quantitative data were generated through a questionnaire-based survey, while qualitative data were gathered through a series of semi-structured interviews. The research finds that, and illustrates how, the operating environment they face, impacts journalists in their work. Challenges, such as poor or irregular salary, ownership influence, market and social forces were found to influence the way in which journalists perform. However, a key finding is that that although journalists encounter similar challenges in the course of their duties, their response to them varies. Based on these findings, and drawing on explanatory insights from Field Theory and the Social Theory of Journalism, the thesis develops its own explanatory framework coined, The Survival Struggle in Journalism Practice in Nigeria. This leads to the presentation of a series of recommendations, prominent among which is argument that the institutional and regulatory framework of journalism needs immediate strengthening in order to secure an appropriate standard of professional journalism practice in Nigeria.

By the beginning of the 1990s, Saudi Arabia began to be presented as economically important globally. On November 6, 1990, in a historic first, a group of Saudi women protested against the prohibition against women driving. Very few previous studies have examined Saudi Arabia’s image in the British press concerning the treatment of Saudi women. However, in 2005, King Abdullah began supporting efforts by women to win their rights, and the Western media started following the social movement in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study is to trace the representation of Saudi women in the British newspaper and investigate how the British press represents coverage of stories relating to Saudi women, using a conceptual framework which draws on Entman’s model of framing, and concepts from Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) and Rana Kabanni’s Imperial Fictions: Europe’s Myths of Orient (2008). Coverage from four British newspapers, The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Independent, during the period 2005-2013, was used to explore two case studies: the protests by Saudi women concerning the ban on female drivers and the representation of Saudi women at the London Olympics in 2012. A mixed method approach combining content analysis, and framing analysis was used to examine both written text and photographs with captions from the sample. More specifically, the thesis investigated how the prevalence of five news frames: conflict, human interest, morality, economy and attribution of responsibility coexist and support each other in the news media and what the differences are between newspapers in terms of frame choice. Findings of the study indicate the following: (a) That the representation of Saudi women in British news media is negative compared with the depiction of Western women in the absence of understanding in the journalism realm concerning the cultural differences between societies; (b) the analysis of the two case studies revealed two dominating frames which are conflict and human interest; (c) The analysis of the photographs used in both case studies revealed that journalists often use photographs unrelated to the actual content of the news stories; (d) the representations of Saudi women in the newspaper sample reflect the same negative portrayal that is seen of the Muslim women elsewhere in the Western media which is rooted in the Western ideology of Orientalism. Links were also found between the cultural frames of Orientalism and journalistic culture in building a news agenda. Thus, this thesis presents finding concerning the important role played by the various frames used by British newspapers and the significant difference in how news is covered by selecting the source and analysing the frames.

I am a guitarist who dedicates to the styles of jazz and classical music. After starting out by playing folk and rock styles during my childhood, I later gravitated towards blues and funk and eventually jazz in my late teens, when I decided to become a full time musician. Later, in my mid twenties, I developed a passion for the classical guitar and eventually made the decision to dedicate 50% of my practice time to this style and 50% to jazz. Inevitably, as a result of a serious commitment to both styles, I have had a personal experience of what their study involves, how their value systems work and what aspects of music and guitar performance they each prioritize. I have found this experience deeply interesting because they both have developed a very advanced understanding of the instrument, but in very different areas. The first intention of this thesis is to identify what the differences are in the ideologies, teaching and learning of the guitar between the jazz and the classical genres. I then will contemplate whether a potential for an enhanced understanding of the instrument as a whole can be achieved in the future through the process of these styles each absorbing knowledge developed by the other. The research has been undertaken in the area of literature and instructional material for the instrument, as well as through interviews with guitarists in both fields. Additionally, I have included a chapter based on a reflective analysis of my own experience as a student of both genres. In order to facilitate the understanding of why these styles have developed in the way that they have, there is also a chapter dedicated to the historical context of the genres. Based on my findings, I have included a conclusion in the form of lessons aimed at guitarists in each style, presenting to them ways in which they can advance their understanding of the instrument based on knowledge developed within each other’s schools and ideologies. Finally, I have also created a DVD to support this proposal, with relevant demonstrations and performances on the instrument. These doctoral studies have conformed one of the most significant learning periods in my life as a musician and guitarist. I am fascinated by this subject and will continue to work on it through my ongoing research, playing and teaching. I hope that this work will help to generate more interest and research in this area of guitar playing.

How can game design, in terms of its concepts, theories, technologies and notions of play, be applied to the design of live performance and engage the new game playing audience within contemporary society? To investigate this I have carried out a practice-as-research project within an ethnographic framework and informed by action research methodologies. This study has created a practical and theoretical framework (expressed as approaches) for the application of gaming methodologies for use in the devising of contemporary performance. A Theatre for Gamers has been developed upon three pillars, which are inspired from gaming culture and practice: Agency, Interactivity and Play. Jacques Rancière (2007) has suggested the concept of emancipating the spectator and my research links this argument to concepts of agency and argues that games have the potential to address part of this concern. My research develops understandings of interactivity in performance by applying game-based notions of ergodic and cyber text (Espen Aarseth, 1997) to the field of live performance. It also draws upon fundamental game design principles, such as interactive feedback loops and story-worlds, as presented by Eric Zimmerman (2003) and Chris Crawford (2012), amongst other game theorists/designers. A Theatre for Gamers acknowledges play as a cultural form (Huizinga, 1938) and introduces understandings of contemporary gaming culture, such as McGonigal’s four gamer qualities (2011), into live performance. Several shifts in the approach to live performance for gamers emerge through this research. The focus of activity now centres on the audience and offers them deep interactivity by repositioning them into the roles of players. Performance practitioners become facilitators for live experiences and no longer assume authority over linear, direct storytelling or traditional performance. The process of storytelling focuses more on creating story-worlds, as opposed to story lines (Crawford, 2012), which encourage a more systemic approach to the development of performance and aims to encourage emergent behaviours and narrative.

This study examines journalistic strategies in terms of the appropriation of media logics in the conflict frame building process. Relying on three models: objectivity, mediatisation and news framing; the research interrogates the role orientations and performance of journalists who reported the conflict involving the ‘indigenous’ Christians and Hausa Fulani Muslim ‘settlers’ of Jos - a city in North Central Nigeria inhabited by approximately one million people. It provides empirical evidence of the strategies and the representations of ethnic and religious identities in the conflict narratives focusing on the most cited and vicious conflict in Jos which occurred in 2001, 2008 and 2010. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with print and broadcast journalists resident in Jos (to understand their role orientations/conceptions), and the qualitative content analysis of two Nigerian newspapers of ‘Christian South’ and ‘Muslim North’ (to know their role performance in terms of linguistic choices), the study makes two major contributions that demonstrate the ‘strategic’ role of journalists in the conflict. First, it establishes that a number of strategies were used: their choice of words to ‘moderate’ or ‘water down’ conflict: the implanting, reinforcement, community-aided strategies, among others. Importantly, it discovers the Neutral-to-goal-focused/pyramid strategy which presents a systematic frame building process that alters the nuanced inverted pyramid news structure. This evolving strategy advances an understanding of journalists’ framing of ethnic and religious identities. Second, it establishes that journalists share membership of their ethnic and/or religious community influenced by residential segregation of the city, internal and external pressure and exposure to violence. The study demonstrates large scale participation by journalists in the conflict resulting in the escalation of violence. Thus, mediatised conflict research is revisited – placing media logics at the heart of the conflict. The research proposes a Solutions-Review Journalism (SRJ) as a framework for conflict reporting and argues that a review process is necessary to measure impact.

This DMA portfolio contains materials and a written critical commentary relating to the work I have completed towards a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance degree at the University of Salford. My doctoral programme consists of four performance-based projects and some public performances: 1. CD recording: Chinese traditional piano music (recorded in Salford); 2. Public piano recital in Peel Hall, University of Salford; 3. Lecture at the University of Salford; 4. Cross-disciplinary concert performance and recording (Wuhan); 5. Public concert performances; 6. Supporting material. The portfolio itself contains the following: • A written commentary explaining the history and significance of Chinese traditional piano music, and the background about the projects that I undertook for the doctoral programme. • Video and Audio recordings of public performances and concerts, early recordings • Concert and recital programmes of public performances • News and interviews of the public performances • The published Articles and reviews published in newspapers, journals and online • Magazines and news of interviews, documentary • Awards • Supporting material showing my professional standing and significant past and current activity as an internationally recognised concert pianist and educator with a specialist interest in bridging Eastern and Western cultures. The portfolio illustrates various roles in which I have been an ambassador for Chinese traditional piano music, which I explore and develop in the context of western society. I have been involved on a number of levels, from soloist performer, recording artist and collaborator with other artists in different fields, researcher and author, through to devising and writing concert programme notes and producing recital and concerts. It is in these ways that the work captured in this portfolio represents a significant addition to existing knowledge, commensurate with the Doctor of Musical Arts awards.