The thesis focuses on understanding the relationship between remotely collaborative team members and the community userbase. This is done through a series of experiments where both workshops and interviews led to the development of a framework. The methodology developed melded workshops and interviews together with evaluation and iteration periods in what is called ‘workshop rounds’. Prototypes transitioned into ‘living prototypes’ as they involved an actual set of live users which furthermore required high-fidelity implementation. The framework created established team-to-team communication with considerations for eventual users in an open dialog. Suggestions in different directions towards collaborative contributions completed the efforts of a scaffolding approach. The project is relevant to collaborative media methodology where the case studies constructed understandings in design research on the topic of remote collaboration in community engagement and development.

This thesis is an exploration of how the communication of technical information can be facilitated by practices of collaborative media. While focusing on the domain of bicycles and more specifically on hobbyists working on their bikes, the aim of this study has been to show possible directions for the design of collaborative media for hands-on kind of work environments in general. Two design experiments were carried out in the process. While the first one attempts to connect local work with global resources, the second experiment is more deeply connected to an existing local community of bike enthusiasts and their practices of learning and knowing. Through carrying out the two design experiments, an argument was made that involving existing social structures into collaborative media design solutions is crucial due to the fact that these existing resources are deeply connected to practices of learning and knowing. However, more work needs to be done to generate more detailed solutions for different domains.

This paper explores the use of the social networking site, Facebook, by the GenerationX cohort (those born 1966-1980 inclusive) currently living in the United Kingdom(identified as a somewhat under-studied group to date). Utilising a ‘Uses &Gratifications Theory’ and ‘(Media) Dependency Theory’ approach and the quantitativeempirical data collection method of an extensive online ‘self-fill’ questionnaire, a totalof 233 individuals from this cohort voluntarily provided the sought-after information,with data collected during early September 2018. An expanded version of Denis McQuail, Jay G. Blumler and J.R. Brown’s 1972 mediagratifications groups/descriptors is proposed and used for this paper’s analysis of results(see section 6.2.4) while a new single media term,‘online collaborative network’, isrecommended by the author as an alternative to current myriad of ‘social media’,‘social networking [site]’ and ‘collaborative media’ all used for the likes of Facebook(see section 9.2.2). Key project results suggest that the UK Generation X cohort spend an average of 75minutes per day using Facebook; that the most-utilised access method is via a mobilephone (89.7%); that the top two ‘uses’ of the social network are both passive ones(‘Scrolling through the homepage News Feed’ and ‘Spending time viewingPhotos/Videos uploaded by others’) and that the top three gratifications obtained fromFacebook use are ‘Contact with Friends’, ‘Contact with Family’ and (to) ‘Pass Time’. Additionally, results provide an interesting and potentially shocking overview ofexclusive dependency upon Facebook for the satisfaction of particular media needs,including the maintenance of contact with certain friends (87.6%) and certain familymembers (61.4%) and, worryingly, as an only source of news (15%).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:16:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Bicudo Veras.pdf: 3216505 bytes, checksum: 5ff2ecaa2e293d337ffcfb8253444b75 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-14 / The present Thesis investigates of that it forms the advances in the information technologies and communication requalificaram the production of knowledge in planetary scale. It was observed, in the research process, that the purely technical development is of a humanistic perspective comes determining an increasing picture of predatory exploration, pollution, global heating, social inequality, at last, of a gamma of destructive processes unchained by a fragmented vision of the existence human being. We look for to mark out with buoys the research inserting the slight knowledge of sustainability of Fritjof Capra and ecology of Guattari, problematizing inside of an applied ecological perspective to new media environments . The main specificities of the digital ways had been systemize e, from the references of expanded media , Arlindo Machado is observed that the media languages if reverse speed-mean by means of the process of digital convergence, constituting a new matrix of forms and functionalities. In the dialogue with the estimated ones of emergency , of Steven Johnson and collective intelligence , of Pierre Levy, deep alterations in the cultural scene are observed. In this new macro environment, we could contextualizes the knowledge production, evaluating themselves systems of management of collective intelligence and verifying it application of the concepts observed in the scope of the social use for the social nets. The definition is clear of that the new hybrid formats, as the Digital Television, the Web and Mobile Devices, combine visual, sonorous and verbal languages, assuming new roles with the substantive increment of the programming resources, social data processing and nets. The media, therefore, start to be, beyond element of symbolic representation, a new space of experience human being, integrated to physical world e, as such, devoid of a sustainable model / A presente Tese investiga de que forma os avanços nas tecnologias de informação e comunicação requalificaram a produção de conhecimento em escala planetária. Observou-se, no processo de pesquisa, que o desenvolvimento puramente tecnicista fora de uma perspectiva humanística vem determinando um quadro crescente de exploração predatória, poluição, aquecimento global, desigualdade social, enfim, de uma gama de processos destrutivos desencadeados por uma visão fragmentada da existência humana. Procuramos balizar a pesquisa inserindo as noções de sustentabilidade de Fritjof Capra e ecologias de Guattari, problematizadas dentro de uma perspectiva ecológica aplicada aos novos ambientes midiáticos . As principais especificidades dos meios digitais foram sistematizadas e, a partir das referências de mídia expandida , de Arlindo Machado, observa-se que as linguagens midiáticas se re-significam mediante o processo de convergência digital, constituindo uma nova matriz de formas e funcionalidades. No diálogo com os pressupostos de emergência , de Steven Johnson e inteligência coletiva , de Pierre Levy, são observadas profundas alterações no cenário cultural. Nesse novo macroambiente, pudemos contextualizar a produção de conhecimento, avaliando-se sistemas de gestão de inteligência coletiva e verificando-se a aplicação dos conceitos observados no âmbito do uso social para as redes sociais. É clara a definição de que os novos formatos híbridos, como a Televisão Digital, a Web e os Dispositivos Móveis, combinam linguagens visuais, sonoras e verbais, assumindo novos papéis com o incremento substantivo dos recursos de programação, processamento de dados e redes sociais. As mídias, portanto, passam a ser, além de elemento de representação simbólica, um novo espaço de vivência humana, integrado ao mundo físico e, como tal, carente de um modelo sustentável

The aim of this study is to explore and understand the motivations for belonging to the Facebook community ‘Living Off-Grid in Spain’ and how collaborative media is used for facilitating off-grid living and societal change. Two main theoretical frameworks are used for analyzing the empirical material of this study. The Uses & Gratifications (U&G) theory is applied to identify the uses and motivations for belonging to the community. And the concept of Community of Practice (CoP) is applied for understanding in what ways the community members use collaborative media to support each other in the practice of planning and executing sustainable off-grid living. The methodological approach contains a voluntary sampling of the population and a mixed-strategy survey for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data about the members and their engagement in the community. The study shows that a new U&G typology is needed for defining the motivations for participating in online communities where collaborative learning is a centerpiece. Additional uses such as Learning, Problem-solving, Inspiration, and Mentoring are proposed for further media studies in this field. And the characteristics of CoP serve to identify the importance that shared practices and mutual engagement have for the success of continuous knowledge exchange in online communities, a field that also would gain value from further media studies.