The Master's thesis Iranian opposition and blogging - the phenomenon of Citizen journalism in a non-free society is focused on analysis of blogging as an opposition's communication tool within the nondemocratic regimes, contemporary Iran in particular. The research question is How can be the opposition's communication performed by blogging and what are the limitations and possibilities of such communication. The primary hypothesis is that the blogs are not used for direct manangement of opposition's actions, but rather as an alternative space for free expression. Four opposition's blogs written in english are analysed by means of qualitative analysis. The main criteria for selection of blogs were that the blog should be actualised on regular basis, based in Iran or at least written by a native Iranian, and clearly be in favour of the opposition's ideology. Content published between march 2009 and march 2010 was selected for analysis, for it was the period of disputed presidential election and following citizen's unrest in Iran. The issues of media's effects are not discussed in the thesis. Aside of the analysis, certain theoretical models of communication and their potential use within Iran's blogosphere are discussed. The analysis finally confirms that the bloggers have a potential to become...

Der Beitrag untersucht Besonderheiten der Nutzung von Weblogs in unterschiedlichen Anwendungszusammenhängen. Nach einer theoretischen Einführung in den Bereich des informellen Lernens und der technischen Unterstützung mit Hilfe von Social Software werden in drei Fallstudien die Implikationen, Potenziale, aber auch Probleme der Verwendung von Weblogs in Arbeits- und Lehrzusammenhängen sowie zu privaten Zwecken aufgezeigt.

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This paper investigates the role of Swedish blogs as a channel for introduction and establishment of English loans. The direct loans, covering both single-word loans and phrasal loans, were collected from nine blogs at three points in time: 2000, 2004 and 2008. The dimensions of frequency, distribution, formal integration and establishment in Swedish normative dictionaries were used to analyze the samples as unintegrated, interim or established loans in accordance with Chrystal (1988). A newspaper corpus was used to compare the borrowings’ time of appearance to see whether the blogs have a more active role in introducing borrowings than newspapers have.      Of the single-word loans accounted for, 24 were unintegrated, 19 interim and 5 established. The phrasal loans showed 27 unintegrated, 30 interim and 1 established borrowing. When compared to the newspaper corpus, 10 single-word loans and 32 phrasal loans occurred only in blogs or in blogs before they occurred in the corpus, while 38 single-word loans and 26 phrases occurred in the corpus before or at the same time as in the blogs. Nine of the unintegrated or interim loans in the blogs were subsequently established in a Swedish dictionary. The results indicate that blogs do have a role in introducing and establishing borrowings in Swedish, but from this qualitative investigation it is not possible to determine the magnitude of their influence.

El propósito de esta investigación fue identificar el rol que cumple la comunicación en la formación, mantenimiento y progreso de una comunidad de blogueros peruanos. Para ello, se ha utilizado la perspectiva teórica de los grupos de buena fe, de las investigadoras estadounidenses Putnam y Stohl en 1990, que permitieron estudiar a grupos que se crean naturalmente y que están compuestos por miembros voluntarios, para así comprender sus procesos comunicativos teniendo en cuenta los límites del grupo y el contexto donde se desenvuelven. El enfoque de investigación fue cualitativo y la técnica de recolección de datos ha sido la entrevista semiestructurada. Los participantes del estudio fueron tanto los miembros fundadores como los nuevos miembros. En total, se realizaron dieciséis entrevistas virtuales. El estudio encontró que la comunicación cumple un papel articulador dentro de la comunidad a través de todas sus etapas de desarrollo junto al dinamismo de su contexto interno y externo. La comunicación grupal de la comunidad de blogueros se caracteriza por ser fundamentalmente horizontal y estar basada en la amistad y la confianza, lo cual permitió no solo la creación de la comunidad, sino también el establecimiento de objetivos consensuados, las normas de convivencia, así como los límites y la identidad de grupo. / The purpose of this research was to identify the role that communication plays in the formation, maintenance and progress of a community of Peruvian bloggers. For this, the theoretical perspective of the groups in good faith has been used, of the American researchers Putnam and Stohl in 1990, which allowed the study of groups that are created naturally and that are composed of voluntary members, in order to understand their communication processes having take into account the limits of the group and the context in which they operate. The research approach was qualitative and the data collection technique has been the semi-structured interview. The study participants were both the founding members and the new members. In total, sixteen virtual interviews were conducted. The study found that communication plays an articulating role within the community throughout all its stages of development together with the dynamism of its internal and external context. The group communication of the blogging community is characterized by being fundamentally horizontal and based on friendship and trust, which allowed not only the creation of the community, but also the establishment of consensual objectives, the norms of coexistence, as well as limits and group identity. / Tesis

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An internal district audit identified that a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged Southwestern school district has a lack of congruent and consistent implementation of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics. Innovative and cost-saving avenues for professional development (PD), such as reflective blogging, foster teacher learning to reconcile the enacted curriculum with the intended curriculum. This correlational study investigated the predictive power of technology acceptance and motivation constructs on reflective mathematics teachers' social media use intention and participation in informal, virtual Communities of Practice (vCoP). The framework that guided this study is the unified acceptance and use of technology and self-determination theory. English-speaking mathematics teachers who read, comment, and write reflective blogs within informal vCoP participated in the study (n = 104), with a response rate of 26.4%. The study employed 2 data collection methods: an automated tool that measured the intensity of participation in vCoP and an online survey measuring predictive constructs. Multiple linear regression analysis identified performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and intrinsic motivation as significant predictive constructs of social media use intention. The regression identified no significant predictor constructs of social media use behavior. Study results form the basis of a blended PD module created for rural mathematics teachers on the benefits of participation in informal vCoP. This study and resulting project contribute to positive social change for rural mathematics teachers by creating an environment to encourage personal reflection and collaboration with virtual colleagues and ultimately improve mathematical instructional practices.

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