Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Questionnaire in English and Korean. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-253). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Questionnaire in English and Korean. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-253). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-239). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 5, 2009). Thesis advisor: Professor Byron Scott. Includes bibliographical references.

Le but de cette thèse était d'étudier les différences entre la France et les Etats-Unis (E.U.) dans l'usage de Facebook et notamment la manière par laquelle les étudiants dans chaque pays adaptent leurs usages aux valeurs culturelles. Les recherches sont organisées en deux axes composés de deux études. Le premier axe cherche à mettre en évidence les différences dans l'usage de Facebook entre la France et les E.U. concernant la composition du réseau, les styles de communication (public vs. privé) et le capital social (CS). Les résultats ont montré que, comparativement aux français, les américains ont des réseaux plus étendus et hétérogènes, utilisent la communication davantage publique et accumulent du CS à partir de liens distants autant que des liens proches. Le deuxième axe vise à examiner l'usage spécifique à chaque pays. Premièrement, la prévalence des « liens dormants », les personnes avec lesquelles on ne communique jamais, et leur influence sur le CS a été examinée aux E.U. Il apparaît que les réseaux des américains se composent de 40% de « liens dormants » et sont associés à moins de CS. Deuxièmement, une étude a examiné si la tendance des français à utiliser Facebook, surtout avec leurs proches, pouvait aider les étudiants à s'adapter socialement à l'université. Il a été trouvé que la communication à partir de Facebook avec un nouvel ami au début du semestre était associée positivement à l'adaptation sociale quelques mois plus tard. Les résultats ont été discutés à partir des styles d'usage de Facebook qui sont adaptés à différents contextes culturels pour, finalement, souligner des limites des études réalisées et délimiter quelques perspectives de recherches. / The aim of this dissertation was to study différences between France and the United States in Facebook use and the way students in each country may adapt their usage to their cultural values. We then present two lines of research each containing two studies. The first line of research examines différences in Facebook use between France and the U.S. concerning network size, network composition, communication styles (public v. private), and the collection of social capital. Results show that Americans have larger, more heterogeneous networks, use more public forms of communication, and garner social capital from distant as well as close ties. French students have smaller, more homogeneous networks, use more private forms of communication, and garner social capital primarily from close ties. The second line of research aims to deepen our understanding of the différent styles of use in each country. First, the prevalence of latent ties, ties with whom one never communicates, was examined and their effect on social capital in the U.S. Results showed that Americans' networks were composed of 40% latent ties and these ties were associated with decreased social capital. Second, French students' tendency to communicate primarily with close ties was examined to see if it could help them adapt socially to university. Results showed that Facebook communication with a new close friend at the beginning of the semester was positively associated with social adaptation mid-semester. Results are discussed in terms of which types of Facebook use are adaptive in différent cultural contexts along with limits and future research perspectives

This dissertation examines Concerned Women for America (CWA), an anti-feminist Christian conservative organization, as a way to study how religion intertwines with media and culture within the larger contexts of globalization and transnational politics. Over the last twenty-five years, CWA has formulated a specific US American religious nationalism, in which women play an important role. Starting in the 1970s, CWA established itself as a "Christian women's alternative to feminism" in order to defend US culture and national sovereignty and to protect women, children and the "natural" family. Since the 1990s, CWA has expanded its interests to the international arena, especially within the United Nations, and now focuses on sex trafficking as a global concern. To better understand what discourses reveal about culturally and religiously-based attitudes in the United States, I use transnational feminist cultural studies as a theoretical and methodological tool. This approach offers ways to historicize, critique, and de-essentialize discourses and examine how both religious nationalisms and feminisms function as systems of representation and as transnational movements. The signifying practices of CWA take shape in multiple locales. The first part of the dissertation critiques the historical narrative created by CWA about its formation and the culture war with US feminism in the 1970s and 80s, focusing specifically on the importance of the Equal Rights Amendment. In the next section, I scrutinize CWA's media coverage of UN conferences and proceedings pertaining to women and children, arguing that CWA situates itself as an expert on family and national sovereignty issues by generating truth claims about the purpose, function, and outcome of the United Nations. In the final analysis chapter, sex trafficking is analyzed as a transnational economic and political practice providing an entrance point for groups, such as CWA, to engage in contemporary Christian missionary discourses. I demonstrate how CWA's conceptualization of women, nation, and itself as a Christian public policy organization is interconnected with and mutually constituted by feminism.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-160). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

This thesis examines feminist and queer actors emerging in highly mediated environments and the forms of political organisation and critical knowledge production they engage in. It indicates that older debates around gender and sexuality are being reformulated in digital networks and identifies alternative understandings which are being developed. The study foregrounds a performative conceptualisation and argues that political realities are produced in dynamic configurations of communication media, discourses and bodies. It suggests that network technologies constitute sources of vulnerability and anxiety for feminists and stresses the significance of registering how embodied subjectivities emerge from these experiences. To achieve its aims and to map activity happening across different spaces and scales, the project attended to context-specific processes of mediation at the intersections of online and offline settings. It employed ethnographic methods, internet visualisation, in-depth interviewing and textual analysis to produce the following key outcomes: it registered changing understandings of the political in relation to new media amongst a network of women's organisations in London; it investigated the centrality of social media and global connections in the shaping of local queer political communities in Brighton; it complicated ideas of control, labour and affect to analyse emerging sexual identities in online spaces like nofauxx.com, and offline postporn events; finally, it traced feminist actors gathering around new reproductive technologies, at the crossing fields of grassroots activism and the academy. Today, women's groups and queer activists increasingly use networked communication for mobilisation and information-sharing. In a climate of widespread scepticism towards both representational politics and traditional media, questions about the role of digital networks in enabling or limiting political engagement are being raised. This thesis aims to contribute to these debates by accounting for the ways in which feminist and queer activists in digital networks reformulate the relationship between communication media and politics.

This thesis explores the ‘credibility' of news in Saudi Arabia, comparing online media with official newspapers. The latter are heavily regulated offering limited viewpoints. But the Saudi government has been less able to regulate online. Against a historical background of news development in Saudi Arabia, the thesis explores the rise of online from discussion forums established in the 1990s to online newspapers and social media. Largely qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups) plus a quantitative survey, were adopted to collect two sets of data: from educated readers, and from journalists working for online publications. Additionally, material from two news case studies was gathered. Questions concerned: how online news was evaluated by users compared to more traditional reporting; how producers perceived the distinctiveness of online titles and the issues they faced. The data from the case studies – an ‘internal' news story, Corona virus and an ‘external' event, Egyptian elections – was subjected to ‘frame' analysis, addressing the different news coverage of official print titles, online news and independent Twitter accounts. Focus was on whether online reporting offered more varied viewpoints and greater reader participation, and whether there was evidence for more management of news by the Saudi authorities in relation to the internal as compared to the external news event. The thesis argues that compared to official newspapers, online titles have largely gained greater credibility amongst educated Saudi users. They are regarded as offering different views, more ‘objective' reporting and actively encourage reader comment. Findings indicate that online is less censored than official newspapers, but editors/journalists have learnt the skills of self-censorship to avoid blocking. Exchange of views on Twitter also demonstrate the possibility of distinctive voices and viewpoints being aired and argued over. In these ways, the relation between online news and readers/users begins to enable the formation of independent ‘public opinion'.

This thesis explores the recent phenomenon of music concert goers filming these concerts and uploading the footage to YouTube. This contemporary practice poses several questions of the nature of contemporary music culture. The status of the concert as live event is problematised by this mediation of the experience. The videos create producers of fans and allow these fans to make a substantive contribution to music culture as authors of music texts consumed through a major distribution network. The fact that these fans are not paid for their efforts begs the question as to what they gain from this enterprise; particularly as it serves as a distraction for filmers from the immersive concert experience. This thesis will use the work of Walter Benjamin on the ‘aura' as a yardstick against which to judge current attitudes amongst music fans as to the status of live music alongside other ways of experiencing music. The thesis will also offer a contemporary reappraisal of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of ‘cultural capital' that accounts for the recognition that filmers receive from other music fans for their efforts in filming concerts. Concerts are restricted spaces in which music is simultaneously produced and consumed. Broadcasting videos of these events on YouTube provides recognition for filmers both for having attended and managed to capture footage to be shared with those unable to attend for various reasons. Filmers are not paid for their efforts and so this recognition serves as a form of cultural capital in lieu of financial reward. The thesis is based upon interviews with a global sample of music fans who either film concerts or watch these films on YouTube.