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This dissertation constitutes an interdisciplinary approach to electronic narratives, which explores the impact of recent technological developments in the literary field. The work of theorists and scholars such as Henry Jenkins, Jean Baudrillard, Lev Manovich, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Erving Goffman, Sherry Turkle, George Landow, Marie-Laure Ryan and Espen Aarseth, among many others, are applied to the study of how key sociological and narratological concepts acquire new meanings when implemented in an electronic environment. More specifically, this research provides evidence of how emerging media culture challenges the traditional concepts of authorship, textuality, fictionality, sequential structure, and readership, with tendencies toward anonimity, pseudonymity, collaborative authorship, hypertextual narrative structures, and the reader's involvement in the creative process. Chapter One lays out the methodology used for the study of blog-fictions. This chapter proposes an interdisciplinary approach to blogging which combines the contributions made in several fields of study within digital humanities: computer-mediated communication theory, hypertext theory, Internet ethnography, social network theory, narratology of hypertext, research on blogging and Web 2.0, ludology and performance studies. The purpose of this chapter is to conceptualize the study of blog-fictions both as an expression of information society in its current state, and as a new fictional genre that challenges traditional narrative concepts. In Chapter Two ("Blogosphere: a network of social convergences"), the center of analysis concerns the study of the blogger as a social type who reproduces its social life on the Internet. This chapter studies the peculiar and new ways in which bloggers communicate with each other and create social networks through the production and distribution of texts, hyperlinks, and multimedia artifacts. Chapter Three presents a theory of the blog-text focussing on its structure and defining features. Finally, Chapter Four analyzes how the socio-aesthetic and narrative concepts studied in previous chapters are reflected in blog-novels written in Spanish by Argentinean author Hernan Casciari. This research contributes to literary studies in general by acknowledging that electronic fictions and blog-fictions constitute an emerging literary genre with its own identifiable features, and are molded by the culture of the information society.

In recent years, Blog has been rising and inspired by its brand-new presentation on the Internet. All of its characteristics enable the computer users to use and browse on the Internet fascinatedly, therefore, the population of Blog user keeps growing rapidly. Doubtless, Blog has already become a conspicuous new star after other network media, for instance, BBS, electronic newspapers, individual news station and so on. Can enterprices make profit by using a new network medium as Blog? What is the possible model it will be? These issues are crucial to the future development of enterprises, also worth for us to pay attention to. Through observe Business Blog using now on the spot, this study has revealed that most of using models of Business Blog are still in the model of Blog Service Provider, and only focus on the commercial selling, ignore to deeper observation on exploring other business models. There are eight possible business models are proposed by this study by means of the literature studies and the interviewing with the experts. Hoped this study is being a pioneer to research, meanwhile benefits to future development of Blog commerce application.

The blogs was used in this work as a teaching tool in high school knowledge of chemistry. A brief historical of Brazilian education and new technologies was realized and then a case study in a public school on the Fortaleza -CE. Initially built up a blog for each class with private access to the actors involved following up with the enrollment of students. Developed with the same actions in the computer lab within a project "The biographies and teaching chemistry" during the first two marking periods of the year 2010. At the end of the project applied a questionnaire to all high school students the morning and afternoon shifts present in a given school day, attached, and we performed a quantitative analysis of these data for the calculation and construction of their graphs allowing draw a profile of students with regard to access to computers and internet foci covered by the survey. The observation times in the computer lab as well as posts in the blog is possible to detect students with more affinity with this tool which served as the criterion for choosing to attend classes in chemistry, specifically about Acids and Bases, in another step of this research. In the course have been worked knowledge that could be developed without prejudice on teaching students of any of the middle schools. To assess learning the same questionnaire was applied on three different occasions: at the beginning and end one week after the end of the course generating data that were analyzed by tables and graphs. Control groups were subjected to the same systematic evaluation. The implementation of the blog as a pedagogical tool in teaching Chemistry in the regular education classroom courses enables you to develop basic skills and competencies differentiated and useful in today's world. Students who have developed their activities with the use of instruction a blog have been also in the process of appropriation of knowledge constantly and permanently even after the closure of classes. / O blog foi utilizado neste trabalho como ferramenta didÃtica no ensino mÃdio na modalidade regular presencial notadamente nos conhecimentos de QuÃmica. Para tanto fez-se uma breve contextualizaÃÃo legal e histÃrica da educaÃÃo brasileira e das novas tecnologias no intuito de perceber a morosidade da efetivaÃÃo das mudanÃas das prÃticas educativas e em seguida um estudo de caso numa escola pÃblica da periferia de Fortaleza, capital do estado do CearÃ, que pertence à rede estadual de ensino, funcionando com ensino mÃdio. Inicialmente construiu-se um blog para cada turma com acesso privativo aos atores envolvidos seguindo-se com o cadastramento dos alunos. Desenvolveu-se aÃÃes com os mesmos no laboratÃrio de informÃtica dentro de um projeto âAs biografias e o ensino de QuÃmicaâ durante os dois primeiros bimestres do ano letivo de 2010. Ao final do projeto aplicou-se um questionÃrio a todos os alunos do ensino mÃdio dos turnos manhà e tarde presentes em determinado dia letivo, em anexo, e efetuou-se um anÃlise quantitativa destes dados para a tabulaÃÃo e construÃÃo dos grÃficos respectivos o que permitiu traÃar um perfil dos alunos com relaÃÃo ao acesso a computadores e internet nos focos contemplados pelo questionÃrio. A observaÃÃo nos momentos do laboratÃrio de informÃtica bem como as postagens nos blog permitiu detectar-se os alunos com mais afinidade com esta ferramenta o qual serviu de critÃrio de escolha para participaÃÃo de aulas de QuÃmica, especificamente sobre Ãcidos e Bases, em outra etapa desta pesquisa. No curso foram trabalhados conhecimentos que pudessem ser desenvolvidos, sem prejuÃzo na aprendizagem, por alunos de qualquer um das sÃries do ensino mÃdio. Para avaliar a aprendizagem foi aplicado um mesmo questionÃrio em trÃs momentos diferentes: no inÃcio, ao final e uma semana apÃs o tÃrmino do curso gerando dados que foram tambÃm analisados por tabelas e grÃficos. Turmas controle foram submetidas à mesma sistemÃtica avaliativa. A implementaÃÃo do blog como ferramenta pedagÃgica no ensino de QuÃmica nos cursos presenciais regulares da educaÃÃo bÃsica possibilita desenvolver habilidades e competÃncias diferenciadas e Ãteis no mundo atual. Os alunos que desenvolveram suas atividades letivas com o uso de blog tiveram progresso no processo de apropriaÃÃo do conhecimento de modo constante e permanente mesmo posterior ao encerramento das aulas.

This is a complicated story. Since I involved the management of SCTNet, I have observed lots of phenomena of teachers¡¦cyber communities. It also extends my social-network, and getting acquainted with many teachers makes me to think about the meanings of teacher cyber community. The views of school-organisation, teachers¡¦ cultures, teacher professional development, educational technology and knowledge management from the literatures construct my comprehensions of teachers¡¦cyber community. But when blog arising, I try to understand: 1. How do teachers use blogs? 2. What do teachers write about in the blogs? And what¡¦s the connection between their daily lives and teaching works? 3. Rethinking how teachers¡¦ cyber community exercises and how it influences teachers. I chose one teachers¡¦blog site as my observation. Interviewing with the site manager Mr. Yu, his story represents the difficulty of advancing teachers¡¦cyber community. Secondly, I observed one of the site users, Ms. Ann, how she used the blog in a whole year. By way of interviewing, five main points were generalized from her teaching journal: blog as the source of teaching creation; the reflection of school routine activities; the assessment shadowed by the basic competence test; writing the student¡¦s anecdote and beginning to concern the life education; from the feedbacks of other internet friends, describing the interactions between Ms. Ann and her friends in order to represent the characteristics of online support group. Finally, according to Ms. Ann¡¦s story, I reflect my participating experiences of teachers¡¦cyber community and give the suggestions of the advancement of teachers¡¦cyber community in the future.

This diploma thesis concerns the use of fashion blogs as a mean of promotion for companies in fashion industry. With cooperation with GANT Czech republic, s.r.o. I will give an overview how a practical cooperation of a company and fashion bloggers might look like. Based on which criteria company chooses a blogger to interact with, how the work is done and what are the posibilities for the future. Thesis consists of two parts. First one is theoretical and touches topics as brands, fashion industry and new phenomenon of blogs in this indrustry that companies started to use heavily as a promotional tool for brand awareness. Second part is practical giving the characterisctics of a blogger and a reader or follower of a blog a exact steps how to cooperate with a blogger.

Nos últimos anos, pesquisadores em diferentes países e em áreas distintas têm se dedicado à investigação das potencialidades dos blogs nos processos educativos em todos os níveis de ensino. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de estudos exploratórios sobre a elaboração, aplicação e uso de blogs como ferramentas de apoio a uma disciplina de comunicação científica oferecida em um curso superior de química. A elaboração dos blogs seguiu as recomendações presentes no trabalho de Browntein e Klein. O processo de implementação e adaptação foi realizado em duas etapas, de acordo com as estratégias de ensino aplicadas na disciplina, que envolveram atividades com artigos científicos e atividades de resolução de casos investigativos. Durante o semestre letivo, os alunos publicaram nos blogs as suas atividades extraclasse, reflexões e comentários. A professora e o estagiário também publicaram seus comentários. Ao final do semestre, os alunos responderam a um questionário elaborado com base no Modelo de Aceitação de Tecnologia, proposto por Davis, para análise da aceitação em relação ao uso dos blogs. A utilização dos blogs foi avaliada a partir da análise quantitativa e qualitativa das mensagens publicadas. A análise quantitativa foi realizada por contagem e classificação das mensagens em relação à autoria, ao tipo de mensagem, e ao horário, dia e mês em que foram publicadas. A análise qualitativa baseou-se no conteúdo das reflexões e dos comentários. A análise das reflexões foi realizada com base nos estudos sobre a aprendizagem reflexiva e a dos comentários foi realizada com base no Modelo de Henri. A aplicação dos blogs mostrou-se um caminho enriquecedor, pois facilitou a aplicação das estratégias de ensino adotadas na disciplina. A análise dos dados coletados no estudo aponta para a postura favorável dos estudantes frente à utilização dos blogs. / Recently some researchers in different countries and areas of education have been interested in investigating the potential of blogs in educational processes at all levels of education. This work aims to conduct exploratory studies about the development, implementing and using blogs as tools to blended learning in a scientific communication course offered in an undergraduate chemistry course. The development of the blogs was based on the work of Klein and Browntein. The process of implementing and adapting the blogs was conducted in two stages according to the strategies applied in the course, which involved activities with scientific articles and case studies. Along the semester, students posted their activities, thoughts, and comments. The professor and the teacher assistant also posted their comments. At the end of the semester, students answered a questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model, proposed by Davis, for the analysis of acceptance regarding the use of the blogs. The evaluation of the use of the blogs was based on the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the posts. The quantitative analysis was performed by counting and classifying the posts regarding the authorship, type of message, and the time, day and month they were posted on the blogs. The qualitative analysis was based on the content of reflections and comments. The reflection analysis was based on studies on reflective learning, and the analysis of comments was based on the Henri\'s Model. The use of the blogs proved promising because it makes easier the application of the teaching strategies adopted in the course. The analysis of the data collected in the study shows the students to be highly in favor of the use of the blogs as an effective tool to teaching and learning.

This study is based on the Strategic Experiential Modules (sense / feel / think / act / relate). The main purpose of this study is to understand the relationships between blog experiential strategies and blog users¡¦ loyalty. Furthermore, this study classifies which experiential strategies are best for various categories of blogs. Four findings are revealed. First, sense, feel- and think-experience-strategies have significant positive effects on blog users¡¦ loyalty, except relate-experience-strategies. Second, the professional blogs are best for sense- and feel-experience-strategies; the personal space blogs and the public relation blogs are best for relate-experience-strategies. Third, the unit of blog has no significant effect on experiential strategies. Fourth, the commercial blogs are best for sense- and feel-experience-strategies. This study can help bloggers to formulate their blogs in ¡§experience¡¨ way which leads to the enhancement of blog users¡¦ loyalty.

The concept of bridge blogs and their function to foster awareness and public discourse across the world was examined by content analysis and network analysis of 426 blog posts and 1026 links in 11 bridge blogs about China from 2009 to 2010. This study proposes a theoretical framework to examine how bridge blogs’ network characteristics are related to their communicative practices. Three variables were examined with respect to the network characteristics of bridge blogs. First, this study identifies different types of bridge blogs according to the distinctive sites with which they choose to link. Second, bridge blogs’ role as bridges is directly tested by the extent to which they connect between online information sources that are otherwise separated from one another. Third, this study examines bridge blogs’ level of centrality, which is based on the number links they receive from others in the network. For communicative practices, this study measures the type of links bridge blogs use as sources in their posts and the communicative frames used to structure the blog posts. Bridge blogs exhibit internal diversity in terms of what distinctive sites they linked to, level of betweenness and centrality. The finding supports the theoretical framework proposed in the study that bridge blogs’ three network characteristics are associated with their practices of communication as reflected in their use of links and content structure. Bridge blogs that play a crucial interconnecting role and are central points of reference in the network are more likely to bring Chinese content (as oppose to Western media coverage) and citizen voice (as oppose to professional media content) to English speaking readers. In addition, the translation of Chinese content, which contributes more to the flow of information and views from China to the outside world, is valued more by bridge blogs (than others?) that are important interconnecting actors in the network and positioned as central points of attention in the network. Further, a textual analysis further enriches the understanding of how the communicative frames are practiced by the bridge blogs, as illustrated in their references to four high profile news stories about China. / text

Bakgrund: I Sverige lever ca 20 000 personer med stomi. En stomi medför en kroppslig förändring som individen måste förhålla sig till. Både kroppen och dess funktioner som tidigare tagits för givna medvetandegörs. Det finns en oro för vad andra ska tycka och att stomin ska hindra i det dagliga livet. Empowerment sågs som en röd tråd i bloggarna och växte fram som referensram under arbetets gång. Syfte: Att belysa vad som skrevs om stomi i sjukdomsbloggar där stomiopererade skriver om sin vardag. Metod: Studien var en empirisk studie av sjukdomsbloggar. Fem sjukdomsbloggar om stomi valdes ut för manifest innehållsanalys med induktiv ansats. Resultat: I resultatet framgick vad personerna som skrev bloggarna upplevde som viktigt för att kunna hantera livet med stomi. I resultatet framkom de tre kategorierna stöd, självkännedom och egenvård. Slutsats: Empowerment kan hjälpa de stomiopererade att få tillbaka kontrollen över sitt liv efter stomioperationen. / Background: Around 20 000 people are currently living with ostomy in Sweden today. An ostomy involves a physical change that the individual has to relate to. It raises awareness of the body and its functions which were previously taken for granted. There is a concern for what others will think and also a concern that the ostomy will prevent them from living a normal life. Empowerment could be seen as a common theme in the blogs that were studied and emerged as the framework during the working process. Aim: To study what was written about ostomy in illness blogs where ostomates writes about their daily life. Method: The study was an empirical study of illness blogs. Five illness blogs about ostomy was selected for a manifest content analysis with an inductive approach. Results: The results showed what the people who wrote the blogs perceived as important in order to be able to handle a life with ostomy. The results of the study revealed the three main categories - support, self-knowledge and self-care. Conclusion: Empowerment can help the ostomates to regain control of their life after the ostomy surgery.