H&M has been in China for three years. The consumers in China are still enthusiastic with this brand when the first store in the capital city, Beijing. In this paper, we use the concept of brand identity and brand image and outline a conceptual model for understanding and studying the customer experience of H&M in China. Case study illustrates how this model works in the design and management of the branding in H&M.

This dissertation examines: (a) the discourses of femininity circulating on a female skateboarding blog produced by the Skirtboarders (a group of women skateboarders based in Montréal, Canada); (b) the ways in which the Skirtboarders use Internet blogging (which I label “community media”) to contest (sexist) dominant discursive constructions of sportswomen deployed in mainstream and alternative media; and (c) the ways in which users read and make sense of the Skirtboarders’ blog. For this project, I collected 262 blog posts, including 1128 associated comments, conducted semi-structured interviews with eight Skirtboarders and four users of the blog and incorporated some observational notes. This information was then subjected to discourse analysis informed by the theoretical perspectives of Michel Foucault. This research makes a significant contribution to a growing body of literature in the sociology of sport exploring media (re)presentations of bodies, especially women’s bodies, and lifestyle sports because it is one of the rare studies that goes beyond doing an analysis of media texts – it also uncovers the intentions of the producers of the texts and, in addition, examines the effects of the media discourses for audiences (herein referred to as users). My findings reveal that the Skirtboarders offer something different than mainstream and alternative skateboarding media (re)presentations (i.e., I examined what narratives the Skirtboarders produce about themselves to understand how they appropriate, accommodate or resist gender discourses). The women who produced the blog consciously and purposely challenged dominant discursive fragments. Although users considered the blog inspirational for promoting female skateboarding, they had diverse readings of the Skirtboarders’ attempts to reflexively start a “movement” and, in doing so, construct and circulate a collective identity. I therefore suggest that the Skirtboarders’ blog is one of many political tools and strategies required to change the landscape of the global female skateboarding world. Ultimately, I argue that the Internet is a space where women can have access to predominantly masculine sport and create more fluid definitions of sporting femininity. It provides women with opportunities to control their own (re)presentations, which will challenge male dominated institutions such as mainstream and alternative media organizations. / Cette dissertation étudie : a) les discours sur la féminité qui circulent sur le blogue des Skirtboarders (un groupe de femmes planchistes de Montréal, Canada); b) comment les Skirtboarders utilisent le blogue (que je nomme « média communautaire ») pour contester les discours dominants (sexistes) sur le corps sportif féminin déployées dans le mass média et les média alternatifs; et c) comment les utilisatrices interprètent et accordent un sens au blogue des Skirtboarders. Pour ce projet : j’ai recueillis 262 articles de forum sur le blogue, incluant les 1128 commentaires; effectué des entrevues semi-dirigées avec huit Skirtboarders et quatre utilisatrices du blogue; incorporé des notes d’observation. Ces informations ont ensuite été soumises à une analyse du discours inspirée de la perspective théorique de Michel Foucault. Cette recherche apporte une contribution importante à une littérature croissante en sociologie du sport explorant les (re)présentations du corps, spécialement les corps féminins, et les sports alternatifs; car il s’agit d’une des rares études qui s’aventure au-delà de l’analyse des textes médiatiques. Elle porte aussi sur les intentions des productrices des textes et examine en plus les effets des discours médiatiques sur l’auditoire (c’est-à-dire les utilisatrices). Mes résultats révèlent que les Skirtboarders offrent un contenu qui diffère des (re)présentations du skateboarding dans le mass média et les média alternatifs (par ex., j’ai examiné quels récits les Skirtboarders produisent à propos d’elles-mêmes pour comprendre comment elles s’approprient, s’accommodent ou résistent aux discours sur le genre). Les femmes qui produisent le blogue contestent consciemment et délibérément les fragments discursifs dominants. Quoique les utilisatrices considèrent le blogue inspirant pour la promotion du skateboarding auprès des femmes, elles offrent diverses lectures de la tentative réflexive des Skirtboarders d’initier un «mouvement » et, en ce faisant, de construire et de propager une identité collective. Je suggère donc que le blogue des Skirtboarders est un parmi plusieurs outils politiques et stratégiques requis pour changer le paysage de la scène mondiale des femmes planchistes. Ultimement, j’avance que l’Internet est un espace où les femmes peuvent avoir accès au sport dominé par les hommes et créer des définitions fluides de la féminité sportive. L’Internet offre des occasions aux femmes de contrôler leurs propres (re)présentations, lesquelles contesteront les institutions majoritairement masculines telles que les organisations de mass média et de média alternatifs.

Due to the rise of social networking, people spend more time on the Internet. They not only make friends and express their emotion in the real life, but also in the virtual world. In the stage of the Internet, which without limit in time and space, we can even perform so that other people can spectacle and join us. Hence, through the IT design functions which social network websites offer, how users can perform or spectacle easily on the social network websites, and what the meaning is about the action-dramas which users have performed. A private blog-Plurk, which we also called micro blog, is using as a field of study. In this thesis, we use Ethnography survey to observe and interview the users. We use Coffman¡¦s Dramaturgical approach as the study framework, and divide it into five parts- Front Stage Style, Team Management, Role Play, Impressions Control and Intimate Relationship to analyze. In the data analysis, we compare IT function design and performing dramas. We will find out what the affordance the IT function can offer, and what the drama will perform. Finally, we will sort out the implications of the management and social capital. From this thesis we can learn: 1. What kind of IT functions offer to users on Plurk? 2. Through these IT functions, what kind of action-dramas will perform? 3. What are the implications and meanings of all these action-dramas? This thesis focus on the performing dramas and IT affordance because of the difference between IT function offer and design, the action-dramas will perform quite different, and the IT affordance will facilitate different key point. Therefore, from this thesis we hope that we can figure out some important functions and reasons that people is willing to stay longer on our website and some instructions for the website designers.

Networking Communication has been so popular in recent years and Blog has become one of the newest tools in network media. Diverse users are from all kinds of industries. In general, networking communication researches are often focused on the application in enterprise and industry, but the application in Non-Profit Organization (NPO) should also be considered. There are nearly 26000 institutes from all types of industries that belong to the NPO and the study aims to understand how the Blog application influences the communication. The conclusion can be taken as reference for the NPO to establish a low cost and strong functional network. Method of quality research was carried out in six NPOs and the recording of interview was transferred to manuscripts. After analyzing the manuscripts, the conclusion shows that there¡¦s possibility for Blog designed in low technology and low cost can help the NPO to be seen and heard. The successful operational factors must include rich concept that can be updated promptly at any time and the data of professional knowledge can be easily saved and accumulated. After long term endeavor, competitiveness will be increased and the best efficiency of networking communication for the NPO can then be achieved.

The internet marketing is a common tool for performing arts administrators to use today. However, there are still many things to improve since the environment, technologies and internet resources are changing quickly. To comprehend the variations and problems of internet marketing that performing arts companies may face in the future, the researcher studies the network environment, communication and its applications. The purposes of this study include understanding how performance companies utilize internet marketing, blog marketing and their influences. The primary cases of this thesis were selected from the lists of 2002-2006 ¡§The Support Plan for the Development of Performing Arts Groups¡¨ of The Council for Cultural Affairs. The data was collected through observations and in-depth interviews. This study shows that the most beneficial outcomes of internet marketing are ¡§brand management¡¨ and ¡§market expansion.¡¨ In the present circumstance, shortage of manpower and budget, search for external resources, and development of customers are still the major problems in performing arts marketing. On the other hand, by using blog marketing can greatly improve the performance companies¡¦ ¡§brand image,¡¨ ¡§media exposure,¡¨ and ¡§customer communication.¡¨ Most of study cases consider that the benefits of blog marketing are accumulated from many internet marketing tools. It is impossible to evaluate single factor of blog. Furthermore, the investment on blog marketing are limited, thus only a few cases can develop special promotion plans through blog marketing. Without certain statistic approval, most of performance companies can only adjust their blog marketing strategies by doing. This study suggests that performing arts companies should take advantage of the cyber communities. They can let audience share the internet space by offering them chances to participation openly. Secondly, they can combine with virtual or physical events to create viral and word-of-mouth marketing effects, and to expand the segmental community promotion through internet opinion leaders. Thirdly, the companies can use ¡§keyword search engine¡¨ and ¡§differential marketing¡¨ to create diversities among performing arts blogs. The study also makes four suggestions for blog service providers: customization threshold, cluster effect, performing arts blog portal, and sponsorship, and hope to encourage the cooperation between them and the performing arts groups.

As a new information technology, blog just becomes another space where users present themselves. It plays a role that extends individual¡¦s real life experiences. The personalized medium of individual style is not only the concrete product of user¡¦s own faith and value, but also the self-presentation stage of users. And blog has close correlation with user's self-approval construction. On the other hand, as a result of digital camera¡¦s prevailing, it accomplishes the blog¡¦s high popularizations. There¡¦re more and more photographic skilled people like using blogs to try their skills greatly or to accumulate their creations. Blogs have become the best platforms for them to cut a fine figure. A blog comprising photos is called photoblog. For them, photoblogs are their fervent personal stylish image dairies. This research takes spectacle/performance paradigm and dramaturgy as the main theories to dive into the behaviors of bloggers¡¦ self-presentations on the blogs, incising from blogger, audience, blog, articles and so on as breakthrough points. This research takes in-depth interview and text analysis as research methods to explore how bloggers present, read, and react with readers while they use blogs on the internet. According to the research findings, blog has transformed from personal media to personal performance stage, and photography has become one consumption tool which makes bloggers express themselves beyond writing. As a result, blogs have become new media-spectacle made by users¡¦ self-performances. Involving that, the ambit between culture-producer and culture-consumer has vanished. People who watch other¡¦s performances also become the performers who are watched by others at the same time. Blogs have been viewed as an exhibition where bloggers can promote ideas, reflect inner moods, realize and remind themselves by photography. People still can choose photography as new lifestyle which has stronger personal uniqueness. Then, people can express this kind of new lifestyle on the personalized blog platform and accomplish the circuit of spectacle/performance.

Since Jorn Barger advanced the new noun, weblog, in 1997, until now blog has become one of necessary web services for almost everyone besides email. Friendly interface increases personal channel. And also, blog readers¡¦ trust information in blogs. They believe content in blogs is more useful than traditional mass media. Such trust has important impact not only on traditional mass media, but also on individuals, politics, business, society and so on. However, the appearance of fake blogs has challenged readers¡¦ trust toward blogs, thus shows the importance of trust in this wave and becomes one of the issues which can not be ignored. This study attempts to realize the relation between readers¡¦ trust and their trust related behaviors, trust constructors, and observe the moderating role of blog categories in this relationship. According to the result of literature review, this study takes ¡§competence¡¨, ¡§integrity¡¨, ¡§benevolence¡¨, and ¡§familiarity¡¨ as for major constructors of trust, and develops questionnaire from readers¡¦ angle. Quantity research method was used by distributing online questionnaire to observe whether readers have such personal behaviors as ¡§information dependence¡¨, ¡§follow advice¡¨, and ¡§recommendation¡¨. This study discovered that trust does have obvious impact on readers¡¦ trust related behaviors. Nevertheless, exclude integrity doesn¡¦t have significant impact on readers¡¦ recommendation behavior, the other constructors all have different importance in different blog categories. Competence is the most important constructor, but its influence is smaller than the negative impact of benevolence in master blog type. Benevolence has significant negative impact, especially in blogs which evaluate personal style. The impact of familiarity on readers to recommend others is greater than on readers¡¦ personal behaviors, but its impact on readers¡¦ personal behavior does not reach significant standard in information sharing blog type.

In recent years, network's spreading has already been more valued by everyone. The blog is one of the newly arisen network media tool. The personal user are fast growing and popular to every social field. The Non-profit organization is so called the third section, signing with the government and enterprise together. There are more than 26,000 houses already in the domestic various Non-profit Organization , according to the Ministry of Interior statistics. The research aims at making use of network's dissemination study of influence to carry on a research to the Non-profit Organization to blog. Expect that it can offer some advice to the majority with less of Non-profit Organization, then build up a low cost and a powerful functional blog interaction piping. This research uses a case study method. The research interviewee is the financial group of ¡§Children are us Foundation¡¨. We are currently use it to go on the observation and research. And aim at executive of the result and processing of carry out the statistics and analysis. From the result, the Blog is a low technique part, low cost, and also combining the media, such as network and non- network...etc. to carry on the promotion. In addition to the Blog can become the piping of the Non-profit Organization and get a chance to be famous. It can also collect the money effectively by dissemination behavior. However, the successful component is lying in the blog usage which is familiar with a net friend habit. In order to provide the interaction with net friends and cohere with net friends to become clubs; furthermore; it will create contribution through blog dissemination. To be successful, it needs to take some time. The Blog must be put more effort over a long period of time. Then, it will have opportunity to make good use of blog connection. In the end, it creates the extreme influence of network dissemination for the Non-profit Organization.

With the popularity and growth of blog users, blog is well-known in the world. Many domestic or international enterprises started to be aware of the influence power and have put in more resources and investments. To explore the motivation of blog users¡¦ attitudes as well as the behavioral intentions in blogging is an important issue of research. This research used technology acceptance model, also called TAM, sharing motivation and social influence to examine the relationships of user¡¦s attitudes and behavioral intentions. This study used questionnaires to collect data and implemented statistical analysis by SPSS. The result found blog female user is more than male, the main user is young groups under 25-age student. Most respondents spend less than one hour for every time using blog; 90% of the respondents to participate in the blog 1 ~ 3 days per week. 55% of the respondents have blog using experience less than 2 years. "Online Diary", "Expression of emotion" and "Information sharing" is the main purpose of the respondents participating in the blog. Wretch, blog-hosting service provider, has the most members of blog users, Yahoo is followed by the second, and MSN Space is third. The research results indicated that perceived of usefulness, perceived of enjoyment, reciprocity and reputation were positively related to attitude toward blogging. On the other hand, subjective norm and attitude toward blogging significantly influenced a blog participant¡¦s intention to continue to use. However trust and relationship can not predict the attitude toward blogging, primarily the Internet users in general do not believe the information quality. The factor of feedback in social influence also can not predict the user¡¦s intention in blogging mainly was because the current blog functions and services can not attract or satisfy users in blogging. Therefore, blog-hosting service providers should continue to improve the evaluation mechanisms to strengthen the information content and quality. In addition, they also need to create more entertaining interactive features to attract more users or encourage users¡¦ intention to continue in blogging.

Background: In Sweden the primary reason for heart transplants is severe heart failure. Heart transplants are performed both at Sahlgrenska University hospital and at Skånes University hospital. Patient undergoing several extensive investigations before he or she will be considered for the waiting list. Primary factor for receiving a heart is first of all the patient who is in the greatest need of a new heart and the patient most suited to receive the donated heart. Previous studies show that patients feel the waiting time to be unpredictable. Aim: To describe patients’ experiences of the time before a heart transplant. Method: Qualitative content analysis was used as the analysis method and seven blogs were applied. Results: Life is seen from a new and different perspective. A common factor for patients with heart failure was the physical limitation they felt. Life stopped for a while, and a waiting to regain “life” grew strong. Family and nursing staff was thought to play an important role. To maintain a positive attitude was thought to be a criterion to manage the anticipations. Conclusion: A patient waiting for a heart transplant experiences a change in their life world. To allow proper care it is important that the nurse recognizes this change and acknowledge it.