The principal aim of this thesis is to examine motivations for running a personal blog among the Czech adult blogger population. The theoretical part covers the charakteristics of blog as a form of virtual interpersonal communication and explores the historical development and the current status of the Czech blogosphere, with regard to potential motives that it reflects. Furthermore, it introduces motivational theories associated with the production of blog content and specific motivational factors based on previous research both in the Czech and foreign countries. In addition, it examines motivation for blogging in terms of characteristics of bloggers such as age, gender and personality. The empirical part of the thesis consists of a combined research design of a questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis has discovered seven key motivational factors: Harmony and introspection, Self-actualization, Socialisation, Profit, Information spreading, Broadening one's horizons and Documentation. The first four factors show a negative correlation with age. Women are more motivated by Harmony and introspection, Socialisation and Profit than men. The motive of Broadening one's horizons increases during the bloggers' career. The results are accompanied by qualitative insight.

This report is a preliminary exploration of the issues concerning traditional media and weblogs at two points in time. It examines the difference between the American mainstream media’s utilisation of weblogs during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and the utilisation of weblogs in the hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. The mainstream media’s response to the weblog form during the attacks in September 2001 and the hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005 are examined, together with an exploration of the traditional coverage. It reveals how weblogs have become a more significant part of disaster coverage by mainstream media in the United States. These processes and the implications of these changes are explored for an understanding of how the weblog is altering our understanding of the construction and dissemination of news for the traditional media institution in the United States.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:23:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edileusa Regina Pena da Silva.pdf: 5208771 bytes, checksum: 25d7cd918f05fba4e13f26d44cf19b9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / First of all, this Thesis follows a well-defined direction: to explain some structures, organizations and gears of the modern on line Social Communication, while addressing the components of love and affection that should never be absent from such processes, as essential requirements for the cognitive-evolutionary process of humans, especially in a postmodern society also emotionally affected by Information Technology. As result of the analysis of Brazilian blogosphere, it was revealed that the affective connections between people not only allows the exchange of information, knowledge, and experience, but above all emotions, affections, daily concerns, and a difuse human feeling beyond the barriers of space, time and format. Guided by the pillars of sociability and connective affection, our work starts from the premise that knowledge, combined with affection, can generate new visions of the world. It will also contribute to open minds and reformate thoughts, making us learn how to learn and interact with the New Communication and Information Technologies (NCIT's), always taking into account a real possibility of formation of subjects and proactive, inter-active participants on their own personal development, with priority issues that affect their community, their region, their nation. Thus, after analyzing the contents of six blogs in Brazilian blogosphere, we concluded, among other things, that man is capable of improving cognitive-intellectual abilities in favor of human, emotional, and educational growth. For reach these goals, however, we must find the means and the right conditions, in addition to learning how to share all this in a way humanly beneficial to all. One of the resolutions of one of the great enigmas of the Information Society by itself difficult to conceptualize adequately, even from its own denomination, which for some is post-modernity, and for other ones hypermodernity we might learn again to live together in social groups, developing feelings of connection with other people, a connection long ago lost in individualism (that now seems never to have existed!). This is, of course, the biggest challenge: (re)build the knowledge, and the wisdom, based on the taste for affection and brotherly love, in the midst of multiple social networks / Esta tese segue, antes de tudo, direção bem definida: explicar algumas estruturas, organizações e engrenagens da moderna Comunicação Social on line, sem deixar de abordar os componentes de amor e de afetividade que nunca devem estar ausentes de tais processos, como lubrificantes essenciais para o processo cognitivoevolutivo do ser humano, especialmente numa sociedade pós-moderna também emocionalmente afetada pela Tecnologia da Informação. Isto porque, no decorrer da análise da blogosfera brasileira, foi possível perceber que a afetividade nas conexões entre as pessoas permite não apenas a troca de informações, conhecimentos e experiências, mas, sobretudo, de emoções, de afetos, de inquietações e de um sentimento difusamente humano que ultrapassa as barreiras de espaço, do tempo e da materialização. Pautada nos pilares da sociabilidade e da afetividade conectiva, nosso trabalho parte da premissa de que o conhecimento, aliado à afetividade, pode gerar novas visões de mundo. Produzirá também a abertura de mentalidades e a reformatação de pensamentos, fazendo-nos aprender a aprender e interagir com as Novas Tecnologias da Comunicação e da Informação (NTCI´s) levando sempre em conta uma real possibilidade de formação de sujeitos proativos interrelacionados e ativos participantes de seu próprio desenvolvimento pessoal e das questões prioritárias que afetam sua comunidade, sua região, sua nação. Assim, depois de se analisar o conteúdo de seis blogs da blogosfera brasileira, conclui-se, entre outras coisas, que o ser humano é capaz de aperfeiçoar habilidades cognitivo-intelectuais favoráveis ao seu crescimento humano, emocional e educacional. Para que isto ocorra, no entanto, é necessário encontrar os meios e as condições adequadas, além do aprendizado de como compartilhar tudo isto de uma maneira humanamente vantajosa para todos. Uma das resoluções de um dos grandes enigmas desta Sociedade da Informação difícil de conceituar adequadamente até mesmo a partir de sua própria denominação, que para uns é a pós-modernidade e, para outros, a hipermodernidade talvez seja reaprender a convivência em grupos sociais, desenvolvendo sentimentos de ligação com o(s) outro(s), perdido(s) num individualismo que hoje aparenta nunca haver existido. Será este, certamente, o maior desafio: (re)construir o Saber ao sabor do afeto e do amor fraterno, em meio às múltiplas redes sociais

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:58:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edileusa Regina Pena da Silva.pdf: 5208771 bytes, checksum: 25d7cd918f05fba4e13f26d44cf19b9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / First of all, this Thesis follows a well-defined direction: to explain some structures, organizations and gears of the modern on line Social Communication, while addressing the components of love and affection that should never be absent from such processes, as essential requirements for the cognitive-evolutionary process of humans, especially in a postmodern society also emotionally affected by Information Technology. As result of the analysis of Brazilian blogosphere, it was revealed that the affective connections between people not only allows the exchange of information, knowledge, and experience, but above all emotions, affections, daily concerns, and a difuse human feeling beyond the barriers of space, time and format. Guided by the pillars of sociability and connective affection, our work starts from the premise that knowledge, combined with affection, can generate new visions of the world. It will also contribute to open minds and reformate thoughts, making us learn how to learn and interact with the New Communication and Information Technologies (NCIT's), always taking into account a real possibility of formation of subjects and proactive, inter-active participants on their own personal development, with priority issues that affect their community, their region, their nation. Thus, after analyzing the contents of six blogs in Brazilian blogosphere, we concluded, among other things, that man is capable of improving cognitive-intellectual abilities in favor of human, emotional, and educational growth. For reach these goals, however, we must find the means and the right conditions, in addition to learning how to share all this in a way humanly beneficial to all. One of the resolutions of one of the great enigmas of the Information Society by itself difficult to conceptualize adequately, even from its own denomination, which for some is post-modernity, and for other ones hypermodernity we might learn again to live together in social groups, developing feelings of connection with other people, a connection long ago lost in individualism (that now seems never to have existed!). This is, of course, the biggest challenge: (re)build the knowledge, and the wisdom, based on the taste for affection and brotherly love, in the midst of multiple social networks / Esta tese segue, antes de tudo, direção bem definida: explicar algumas estruturas, organizações e engrenagens da moderna Comunicação Social on line, sem deixar de abordar os componentes de amor e de afetividade que nunca devem estar ausentes de tais processos, como lubrificantes essenciais para o processo cognitivoevolutivo do ser humano, especialmente numa sociedade pós-moderna também emocionalmente afetada pela Tecnologia da Informação. Isto porque, no decorrer da análise da blogosfera brasileira, foi possível perceber que a afetividade nas conexões entre as pessoas permite não apenas a troca de informações, conhecimentos e experiências, mas, sobretudo, de emoções, de afetos, de inquietações e de um sentimento difusamente humano que ultrapassa as barreiras de espaço, do tempo e da materialização. Pautada nos pilares da sociabilidade e da afetividade conectiva, nosso trabalho parte da premissa de que o conhecimento, aliado à afetividade, pode gerar novas visões de mundo. Produzirá também a abertura de mentalidades e a reformatação de pensamentos, fazendo-nos aprender a aprender e interagir com as Novas Tecnologias da Comunicação e da Informação (NTCI´s) levando sempre em conta uma real possibilidade de formação de sujeitos proativos interrelacionados e ativos participantes de seu próprio desenvolvimento pessoal e das questões prioritárias que afetam sua comunidade, sua região, sua nação. Assim, depois de se analisar o conteúdo de seis blogs da blogosfera brasileira, conclui-se, entre outras coisas, que o ser humano é capaz de aperfeiçoar habilidades cognitivo-intelectuais favoráveis ao seu crescimento humano, emocional e educacional. Para que isto ocorra, no entanto, é necessário encontrar os meios e as condições adequadas, além do aprendizado de como compartilhar tudo isto de uma maneira humanamente vantajosa para todos. Uma das resoluções de um dos grandes enigmas desta Sociedade da Informação difícil de conceituar adequadamente até mesmo a partir de sua própria denominação, que para uns é a pós-modernidade e, para outros, a hipermodernidade talvez seja reaprender a convivência em grupos sociais, desenvolvendo sentimentos de ligação com o(s) outro(s), perdido(s) num individualismo que hoje aparenta nunca haver existido. Será este, certamente, o maior desafio: (re)construir o Saber ao sabor do afeto e do amor fraterno, em meio às múltiplas redes sociais

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to find ways to make the extent and constant movement in the blogosphere visible. An application has been developed using C# and OpenGL. The application is an interactive screensaver to be run on the Windows platform. It visualizes data combining 3D and 2D elements. Geographical data is rendered using a model of the Earth, where the blog posts are constantly updated. Various statistics are displayed to give information on the current state of the blogosphere.</p>

No description available.

Cyberspace has diversified and pluralized people’s daily experiences of religion in unprecedented ways. By studying several websites and weblogs that have a religious orientation, different layers of religious authority including “religious hierarchy, structures, ideology, and sources” (Campbell, 2009) can be identified. Also, using Weber’s definition of the three types of authority, “rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic” (1968), the specific type of authority that is being presented on blogosphere can be recognized. The Internet presents a level of liberty for the discussion of sensitive topics in any kind of religious cyberspace, specifically the Islamic one. In this way, the Internet is expanding the number and range of Muslim voices, which may pose problems for traditional forms of religious authority or may suggest new forms of authority in the Islamic world. The interaction between the Internet and religion is often perceived as contradictory, especially when it is religion at its most conservative practice. While the international and national applications of the Internet have increased vastly, local religious communities, especially fundamentalists, perceived this new technology as a threat to their local cultures and practices. If we look at the Internet as a central phenomenon of contemporary modernity that interacts with practiced fundamentalist religious traditions, we can ask how broad the interactions are between religious fundamentalism and the Internet and whether these relations can be reconciled. More specifically, this thesis presents a study of the junction of the Internet and religious fundamentalism reviewing the presentation of Shiite religious authority on the Persian blogosphere. As a case study, Persian weblogs are studied for content analysis for this thesis. Weblogs’ texts are analyzed to find evidences for Shiite beliefs and shared identity, usages and interpretations of the main Shiite religious texts, references to the role of recognized Shiite leaders, and descriptions of Shiite structural patterns of practices and organizations. This research will demonstrate how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the Iranian community’s needs and how the Shiite fundamentalist community of Iran has been affected by it. Based on one of the most structured research in this area, the study by Baezilai-Nahon and Barzilai (2005), in this article I identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion.

The constant change of the political, economic, cultural and environmental landscapes of global societies predetermined the upgrowth of the media, the journalistic writings and the blogging practices as a new way of “citizen journalism”. Political blogs are a quite new media phenomenon that gained popularity in the past few years in Bulgaria. Hence, there are limited theoretical case studies.  The lagging performance of Bulgaria in the last Reporters Without Borders Report 2011 together with the explicit recommendations of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) after the Presidential and Municipal Elections 2011 in terms of media policy, ownership and news coverage bring the question of limited freedom of speech and the emergence of the blogs as an alternative platform for expression into discussion. Two methods are used in this thesis: structured interviews with two different additional questions and Critical Discourse Analysis. The empirical material was gathered from interviews with 8 of the most influential bloggers in Bulgaria (5 of whom work as journalists) and through an analysis of the texts of their blog entries (2 articles per bloggers or 18 articles in total). The aim is to underline the possible limitations in the practice of freedom of speech in Bulgaria from the bloggers’ perspective and to show only major patterns of the social environment and the current discourse in Bulgaria. Among the main findings of this study are thаt the lack of clarity in the media ownership and the failure of the media to defend the public interest are alarming for the level of democracy. Moreover, the media dependence on power and lobbying circles, as well as the blurred boundary between politics and the media results in the media self-censhorship and thus are threatening for the democratic foundation in Bulgaria and the freedom of speech which is at its basis. This study confirms the thriving of the blogosphere as an alternative media platform. This paper aims to provide insights and policy recommendations for international media experts.

No description available.

Darbe nagrinėjami Lietuvos žiniasklaidos priemonių ir blogosferos santykiai. Jo objektas - žiniasklaidos priemonių ir žurnalistų tinklaraščiai. Darbo tikslas - atskleisti, kaip, kiek ir kokiems tikslams profesionalūs žurnalistai naudojasi nauja komunikacijos priemone - tinklaraščiu. Darbo pradžioje iškeltos hipotezės, kad Lietuvos žurnalistai tinklaraščius naudoja ne profesinės veiklos tikslams, bet kaip saviraiškos priemonę, o Lietuvos žiniasklaidos priemonių struktūroje esantys tinklaraščiai papildo žiniasklaidos turinį įvairesne informacija. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje atlikta Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių mokslo literatūros analizė, papildomai remtasi publikacijomis žiniasklaidoje, blogosferoje, Lietuvos tinklaraštininkų konferencijos medžiaga. Išanalizavus literatūrą ir šaltinius, nustatyta blogosferos situacija pasaulyje ir Lietuvoje. Antrojoje dalyje pristatoma kokybinio tyrimo – interviu su Lietuvos blogosferos dalyviais – žurnalistais ir tinklaraštininkais – eiga ir rezultatai. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje pateikiamos kokybinio interviu ir turinio analizės, kuriais buvo nagrinėti trijų Lietuvos žiniasklaidos priemonių – interneto portalų VZ.lt, Delfi.lt ir Moteris.lt - struktūroje esantys žurnalistų ir skaitytojų tinklaraščiai, išvados. Iškeltas hipotezes atlikti tyrimai patvirtino visiškai arba iš dalies. Lietuvoje tinklaraščiai nelaikomi tradicinės žiniasklaidos dalimi ar jos alternatyva, tačiau žiniasklaidos turinį veikia. Tinklaraščiuose žurnalistai randa autentiškos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In this paper the relationship between the Lithuanian mass media and blogosphere is under the scope. The object of the paper is blogs written by the media at the institutional level and published by journalists independently. The aim of this work is to reveal how, to what extent, and for what purposes professional journalists use the new means of communications, blogs. At the beginning of the work the following hypotheses have been raised: Lithuanian journalists tend to use blogs as a means of self-expression rather than for professional reasons; and that blogs that form part of the structure of Lithuania’s mass media have additional value to the media content by providing more diverse information. The first part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of scientific literature of Lithuanian and foreign authors, as well as of publications published by the media and in the blogosphere and of the material presented at the Lithuanian bloggers conference. After the analysis of the literature and other sources, the situation of the blogosphere in Lithuania and the world in general has been defined. In the second part of the work the course of the qualitative research and its results are introduced. The method chosen to carry out the research is the interview with journalists and bloggers who are the participants of the Lithuanian blogosphere. The third part of the paper is devoted to the presentation of the findings of the content analysis of blogs written by journalists and... [to full text]