Our modern society posts high demands for transparency, not least regarding organisational communication. The perception that the power of defining transparency lies with the audience aimed to perceive it has reached great academic anchoring, but research on the field is thin. The Swedish lifestyle company Oatly describes itself as transparent, but with a number of hypotheses the authors of this thesis essay examine whether their audience agrees. The study also investigates which key factors are contributing to the audience’s perception of the company’s communication. The study is both theoretically and empirically based on a model created by Rawlins (2009), in which four main categories determine an organisation’s transparency; Participation, Substantial Information, Accountability and Secretive. The empirical studies (an internet survey with 346 respondents and 4 conversational interviews) offered evidence which manifests trends among the audience. Oatly’s clear and accessible communication, trustworthiness and humor turned out to be key factors contributing to the audience perceiving Oatly as very transparent. The perception of Oatly’s transparency seemed to be created when the audience interacted with the company, their friends or product packagings, rather than when they were given information through a one-way channel. This thesis essay consequently concludes with an appeal for further research on the notion of transparency to - in order to achieve validity - be put in a modern context where mobility and social interaction are central concepts. / Vårt moderna samhälle ställer höga krav på transparens, inte minst när det gäller organisationskommunikation. Uppfattningen om att makten att definiera transparens ligger hos den publik tänkt att åtnjuta den har nått stark akademisk förankring, men forskningsfältet är tunnt. Det svenska livsstilsföretaget Oatly beskriver ​sig själva som transparenta, men med en rad hypoteser undersöker författarna av denna uppsats istället huruvida företagets ​publik uppfattar det som sådant , samt vilka faktorer som påverkar deras uppfattning. Studien finner både sin teoretiska och empiriska utgångspunkt i en av Rawlins (2009) sammanställd modell där fyra huvudsakliga faktorer avgör organisationers transparens: Deltagande, konkret information, pålitlighet och hemligheter. Studiens empiri (en internetenkät med 346 respondenter samt 4 djupintervjuer) erbjöd bevis som manifesterar uppenbara trender bland publiken. Oatly’s tydliga och lätttillgängliga kommunikation, produktförpackningar och humor visade sig vara centrala faktorer, och författarna når i uppsatsen slutsatsen att Oatly definieras som mycket transparenta av sin publik. Uppfattningen av Oatly’s transparens tycktes uppstå vid de tillfällen då publiken interagerade med företaget, sina vänner eller produktförpackningar, snarare än när de enbart levererades information. Uppsatsen avslutas därför med en notering om att forskning på ämnet transparens måste - för att uppnå validitet - sättas in i ett samtida kontext där mobilitet och social interaktion är centrala koncept.

In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.

Transmedia Storytelling is an often-discussed buzz word in entertainment circles, but currently there are very few cases of it in Taiwan’s television market. Furthermore, there is very little literature or research done addressing this field in a way that would enable would-be producers to design a transmedia production to meet their targets successfully. The aim of this study was to gather empirical data on how likely consumers of television programs in Taiwan are to interact with transmedia content for their preferred TV programs. This information should prove useful to producers to have a reference of what types of transmedia extensions to put time and money into and which platforms to target for maximum audience engagement. Additionally, any researchers that are interested in audience-side information on transmedia consumption and engagement in Taiwan should find this study of interest. This study employed the use of survey data and to generate some meaningful data about this topic. Now that the data has been gathered and analyzed, a clearer picture of audience engagement with possible transmedia productions in Taiwan has been shown.

Problem statement and purpose of the study Journalism is having economic issues, and the journalists knowledge of this together with tools for web analysis has increased the influence of the audience. The development of internet and the new media landscape has made several scholars call for changes in media ethics, but still not much has happend. The larger influence of the audience makes it interesting to examine how it views media ethics. Recently there has also been signs of an age segregation in media consumption where younger people are using new technology and platforms, which do not have an adjusted ethic system, and the older people are using the more traditional technology, which the media ethics originally was made for. Therefore this study also examines how the view differs in a younger and an older part of the audience. Method and material This study relies on three focus groups with participants from the swedish news audience. To be able to examine a possible age segregation in the view on media ethics, two of the groups consisted of younger participants and the third group consisted of older participants. Results The results of this study can be viewed as a sign of that the younger part of the audience is prepared to take a more individual responsibility for media ethics than the older part. This could for example be done by practicing source criticism. The results also indicates that the existing ethics system in Sweden is still supported by the audience

Technology is enjoying an increasingly important role in many collegiate pedagogical designs. Contemporary research has become more focused on the ways that technology can contribute to learning outcomes. These studies provide a critical foundation for educational researchers who seek to incorporate and reap the benefits of new technologies in classroom environments. The aim of the present study is to empirically assess how combining an active, collaborative learning environment with a classroom response system (colloquially called “clickers”) in a postsecondary setting can influence and improve learning outcomes. To this end, the study proposes an instructional design utilizing two feedback response-formats (clickers and flashcards) and two response methods for answering in-class questions (collaborative peer instruction and individual). The theoretical bases that provide the academic structure for the five instructional conditions (control, clicker-response individual, clicker-response peer instruction, flashcard-response individual, and flashcard-response peer instruction) are the generative learning theory and social constructivism. Participants were 171 undergraduate students from an Educational Psychology subject pool from a large Southwest university. The researcher used a two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with two treatments (response format and collaboration level) as the between-subjects factors; students’ posttest scores as the dependent variable; and pretest scores as the covariate. Results showed no significant main effects; however, the study produced statistically significant findings that there was an interaction effect between the use of clickers and a peer instruction design. To follow up the interaction, the researcher conducted tests of the simple effects of response format within each collaboration condition, with the pretest as the covariate. Results showed that for students who collaborated, clickers were better than flashcards, whereas when students worked individually, there was no difference. This study builds upon existing studies by using a stronger empirical approach with more robust controls to evaluate the effects of a variety of instructional interventions, clicker and flashcard response systems and peer instruction on learning outcomes. It shows that clicker technology might be most effective when combined with collaborative methods. The discussion includes implications, limitations, and directions for future research. / text

New media technology is altering many aspects of mass communication processes. One of the most profound changes, especially in the newspaper industry, lies in the rise of speed-driven journalism, with growing emphasis on what is new or happening now. With more newspapers adopting this speed-driven news practice, the nature of its impact on journalists and audiences necessitates empirical examination, and this dissertation seeks to contribute to the professional and academic literature from a two-part, mixed method approach. Through interviews with journalists, study 1 sought to understand journalists' view of how speed-driven journalism affects their professional norms, routines and output, and how social media factors into the speed-driven online media landscape. The interviewees were also asked to discuss their view on how speed-driven journalism affects news audiences in terms of news credibility, news use, and paying intent. Based on findings from study 1, an experiment on news audiences was conducted in study 2 to assess the impact of speed-driven journalism on news credibility, future use, paying intent, readability and selective scanning. Key findings from both studies include: (1) Whereas most interviewees in study 1 believed that speed harms news credibility but boosts news use, the experiment in study 2 revealed that speed neither harms news credibility nor promotes future use. (2) Speed-driven journalism has no effect on selective scanning or audiences' paying intent. (3) In terms of readability, news stories presented in the live blog-like format are deemed harder to follow when compared to those presented in the traditional format. This dissertation advances the hierarchy of influence model by uncovering the effect of perceptual disconnect on speed-driven news practices at the social institutions level. That is, journalists are wrong at times in their assessment of how audiences engage with and are affected by new media technology, but nonetheless proceed to produce news and content based upon their mistaken judgment. / text

En av turismnäringens största byggstenar är event. Det är en bransch som ständigt utvecklas och växer. Detta gör att event är känsliga för trender och ständigt måste arbeta för att förnya sig och skapa attraktion till sina besökare. Det är av stor vikt för eventmangagers att skapa attraktionsstrategier för att bibehålla ett events attraktionskraft samt definiera vilken kategori av event som ska planeras. Det finns många olika kategorier av event och i den här studien kommer ett publikt och ett icke-publikt event att studeras. Studiens syfte är att bidra med förståelse för vilka attraktionsstrategier som används för att attrahera besökare för eventen Melodifestivalen och Årets Kock. Genom att få ökad förståelse för eventens strategier kunna urskilja likheter och skillnader mellan ett publikt och ett icke-publikt events attraktionsstrategier. I studien har en kvalitativ metod med en kombination av induktiv och deduktiv forskningsansats använts då författarna eftersökt en djupare förståelse och jämfört den insamlade datan mot tidigare forskning och teorier. Datainsamlingen har skett genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och textanalys för att också undersöka om beskrivna strategier går att identifiera på sociala medier och internet. Studiens slutsats är att det är viktigt för eventmanagers att definiera vilken kategori eventet tillhör samt syfte och målgrupp. Relevanta strategier är att skapa en dramaturgi som tilltalar målgruppen och skapar spänning och intresse samt att det finns en interaktion mellan eventet och publiken. / One of the most essential parts of the tourism industry's are events. It is an industry that is constantly evolving and growing. This means that the event is susceptible to trends and continually need to work to develop and create attraction to its visitors. It is of great importance to create attraction strategies to maintain the attractiveness of events and define what category of events to be planned. There are many different types of events, and in this study a public and non-public event will be studied. The study's aim is to contribute to the understanding of the attraction strategies used to attract visitors for Melodifestivalen and Årets Kock. By gaining greater understanding of the event's strategies accordingly to contribute to determine the similarities and differences between a public and non-public events attraction strategies. The study has a qualitative approach with a combination of inductive and deductive research approach, used in which the authors sought a deeper understanding and compared the data collected from previous research and theories. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and text analysis to also examine whether described strategies can be identified on social media and the Internet. The study concludes that it is important for event managers to define the category of the event, purpose and audience. Key strategies are to create an event dramaturgy that appeals to the target audience and create excitement and interest, and that there is an interaction between the event and the audience.

The Richmond Outreach Center “The ROC” is an independent soulwinning megachurch in Richmond, Virginia. This thesis explores how rhetoric plays a role in the rapid growth of this urban church and considers the church’s response—rhetorically and politically—to the city’s social issues. Through a rhetorical analysis of sermons and written texts by Geronimo Aguilar, the ROC’s founder and pastor, it is concluded that Aguilar has generated a rhetoric of change that says social change must come to Richmond and that everyone, both rich and poor, are responsible for change. Aguilar galvanizes an audience to seek social change because he articulates roles for individuals within his vision and links the ideological and material concerns of his congregants and the city’s poor. Aguilar’s rhetorical strategies and rhetorical performances indicate that he follows logics of articulation rather than logics of influence. These findings may be useful to social movement and church leaders concerned with growth.

This thesis deals with the manipulating practices in the political media coverage in the period before the elections to the House of Parliament of the Czech Republic in May 2010. It describes the types of communication in terms of its ability to influence and focuses on the effects of the media and its impact on the audience. It also deals with the theoretical framework of the issues of manipulating methods and techniques and their causes. It defines the function of media in terms of intentions and evaluates the current situation in the Czech Republic, including the existing control mechanisms. A part of this thesis is a comparative analysis that focuses on a detailed qualitative analysis of texts published in the dailies Mladá fronta Dnes and Právo and their comparison during the period under consideration.

This thesis attempts to contribute to the general recognition of the phenomenon known as active audience that is generated by technical possibilities of contemporary digitalized media world collectively known as the era of Web 2.0. In this respect, the thesis follows the specific aspects, which accompany the transition from traditional ways of communication and methods of spreading information in the new and constantly evolving world of cyberspace. The thesis is based on the current general principles and theories, which are applied and compared in a relevant form at the Fan community site Slavistickenoviny.cz. The thesis follows two main directions. The first one focuses on the Web site as a product of citizen journalism. It deals with a comparison of the efforts of its authors with professional media outcomes. It also observes the rules, that are taken from the media and on the contrary evaluates differences. At the same time, the thesis deals with professional media taking over the amateur content. The second main aim focuses on a virtual community formed around the web itself. With application of qualitative research and discourse analyses, the thesis focuses on the search of internal mechanisms and the principles of the virtual community functioning. It reveals its overt and covert manifestations and...