iTrak is a combined mobile and web application that takes advantage of the GPS to allow travelers to share their experience while travelling. The application gathers GPS data and broadcasts it via a web interface or social networks such as Facebook to update user’s status during a trip. iTrak is also equipped with other features such as writing notes or recording video journals to offer a rich experience and provide an interactive diary, along with a real-time tracking ability, for travelers. / text

An increasing number of people are turning to online blogging communities devoted to self-change for smoking, shopping, and other behaviors. To understand processes underlying effective self-change, the current project tracked the language and social dynamics of a dieting blog community using computerized text analysis. Three research questions were asked: What predicts weight loss in blogs? What changes in blogging predict weight loss? Can we predict dropping out or successful weight loss based on the first two entries? A community of blogs devoted to weight loss was examined (n = 2530). Most bloggers were female, and on average, around 30 years old, approximately 200 pounds, with a goal weight of about 140 pounds. A sample of blogs by females that had blogged at least 15 entries within the first 15 weeks of blogging resulted in a total of 186 blogs, representing over 9,200 entries for analysis. Computerized text analysis was used to examine language for rates of self-focus, emotionality, cognitive processing, keeping food diaries, and social support. Rates of blogging were assessed by word counts, number of active weeks, and mean entries per week. Social support was assessed through the use of social words, the size of the social network, along with the positivity and negativity of the comments. The discrepancy between start and goal weight was also assessed. The results suggested that having larger weight loss goals and blogging about personal events was a more effective weight loss strategy than keeping an online food intake diary. The degree to which bloggers were socially integrated with the blog community was found to be a potent predictor of weight loss. Online components of behavioral treatment programs could encourage dieters to browse and comment on other dieters’ progress, and to share personal narratives rather than simply focusing on the benefits of food intake diaries, nutrition, and exercise. The current project points to the power of computerized text analytic tools to address important theoretical and practical social psychological issues that are evolving on the internet. Specifically, language analysis methods can identify which dimensions of blogging communities can help or hinder self-change processes. / text

This thesis is an investigation of campus/community radio in Canada and an exploration of its motivations and methods of using social media as a tool to interact with listeners. It develops and applies a methodology referred to as S.M.I.L.E.S., a methodology to create triangulation and validate results when researching in areas involving social media and minimal previous literature available. Radio station staff and volunteer programmers use social media, traditional digital and non-digital methods to gather feedback about the show and/or station, promote the show and/or station, provide additional content to the listener off-air, communicate about the station itself, and achieve personal, station, and community growth. Results suggest that campus/community radio members use social media very differently than commercial or public radio station. As a whole, the campus/community radio sector is generally slow in providing support and policy when facilitating technological change, which has resulted in tentative use and lack of support for social media. Geographical location is also irrelevant as regards the utilization of social media. Also, programmers must be careful in identity management when engaging in online communication, as well as using social media as a fundraising tool and forum for information dissemination. Finally, stations need to consider implementing policy surrounding social media in order to facilitate growth within the industry. / Generously funded in part by the Snowden Program, at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph.

There is no standard format for posting blog entries, which results in many different web feed formats and APIs being used. This thesis work addresses the problem by determining the feasibility of the development of a plug-in based architecture, used in a mobile blogging application compatible with multiple service providers. During the study, a definition of what a feasible architecture would be was made based on requirements set by the stakeholders. Six models that complied with this definition were designed and compared. One of them was selected for prototyping. The prototyping phase was intended to test if the architecture could be implemented in a mobile environment. The study revealed that it is feasible to develop a plug-in based architecture to solve the problem, although with some limitations due to the dependency of libraries for streaming XML transformations not yet implemented in J2ME. / Det finns inget standardformat för att posta ett blogginlägg, vilket resulterar i att många olika web feed-format och APIer används. Det här examensarbetet angriper problemet genom att undersöka om det är genomförbart att utveckla en plug-inbaserad arkitektur för en applikation till mobiltelefoner, som är kompatibel med flera olika bloggtjänster. Under studiens gång definierade vi vad termen genomförbart skulle innebära, baserat på krav från olika intressenter. Sex modeller som uppfyllde definitionen utvecklades och jämfördes. En av dessa valdes ut för att användas som grund för en prototyp. Prototypfasen avsåg att bevisa om arkitekturen kunde implementeras i en mobil miljö. Studien visade att det är genomförbart att utveckla en plug-inbaserad arkitektur för att lösa problemet, dock med några begränsningar på grund av beroende av bibliotek för strömmande XMLtransformationer som ännu inte implementerats i J2ME.

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school English language learners as they created personal weblogs and responded to queries on a class weblog. The data from the project demonstrates that blogging as a classroom writing activity is effective in helping students to obtain, process and construct the English language.

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