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The purpose of this thesis is to identify and quantify the information clues found in the document representations in the World Wide Web environment. This study uses three topics to find document representations: custom publishing, distance education, and tactile graphics. Four Web search engines are used: AltaVista, InfoSeek Ultra, Lycos, and Open Text Index. The findings of the random sample show that the search engines produce little duplication in their display of the results. Just over half of the cases reveal information clues about the document's authorship, origin, format or subject. The summary field shows the highest number of information clues. The title and Uniform Resource Locator fields do not contain many information clues. Few of the fields contain clues about the authorship of the documents. Topical relevance is questionable in many of the cases. The study recommends further research on the comparison of search engines, on the study of searches on the Web for commercial, academic and personal topics, and on information seeking behaviors relating to Web searching. Recommendations are made for Web training and Web page design to assist users in finding relevant information more quickly.

The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing readership of electronic news via the Internet. The status of printed news in the changing news environment was also investigated in the light of increasing electronic news readership. In order to achieve this aim, current electronic news readers were probed on their Internet news readership. The findings indicated that although traditional printed news was still very widely read, the shift amongst Internet users seemed to be towards reading more electronic news in the future. This study found that the two most significant factors that will lead to an increase in electronic news readership are the following: • This medium being accessed free of charge, i.e. where no monthly Internet subscriptions need to be paid. This has been achieved through free Internet access via ABSA since 16 February 2001; and • an improvement in the speed of access. The fact that traditional printed newspapers can be read in an informal environment seemed to be the single most important factor in maintaining its popularity. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.

The problem of the study was to establish valid criteria for evaluating health-related World Wide Web [WWW] sites. From a table of specifications, a pool of 39 items was developed into a Criteria List. A nine member jury of experts composed of professionals from the discipline of Library and Information Science was used to determine content validity of the items. The items on the Criteria List were sent to the expert panel of jurors for the first review. To determine which items would be retained, revised or eliminated, the items were subjected to both a quantitative and qualitative review. The revised Criteria List was then sent to the expert panel of jurors for the second review. Responses from the second review were also subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. However, this time the quantitative review included the use of the Content-Validity Ratio [CVR]. All items on the Criteria List that were not statistically significant at p <.05 were eliminated. The final Criteria List contained 27 items from the 39 originally proposed items. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

The Internet is rapidly becoming an important part of a presidential candidate's media strategy. Specifically, a candidate's website has distinct implications and uses in the early stages of a presidential campaign. Using an eclectic approach, this research examines the campaign websites of the candidates for the U.S. Presidency in 2008. By examining the websites using content analysis, analog criticism, media criticism, and scenario analysis emerging trends become apparent and conclusions on their further implications can be drawn. This research presents two major conclusions on the affects of campaign websites on the early stages of a presidential campaign. First, the design structure and features available on the Internet could be used to give the user a feeling of direct connection with the campaign, which in turn could motivate political involvement. Second, a candidate's new media strategy and usage must match with the overarching rhetorical style of the rest of the campaign. These two major concepts serve as starting points for further academic research and a greater understanding of our changing democratic system. / Department of Telecommunications

The main contribution of this dissertation is a system for locating and indexing audio files on the World Wide Web. The idea behind this system is that the use of both web page and audio file analysis techniques can produce more relevant information for locating audio files on the web than is used in full-text search engines. / The most important part of this system is a web crawler that finds materials by following hyperlinks between web pages. The crawler is distributed and operates using multiple computers across a network, storing results to a database. There are two main components: a set of retrievers that retrieve pages and audio files from the web, and a central crawl manager that coordinates the retrievers and handles data storage tasks. / The crawler is designed to locate three types of audio files: AIFF, WAVE, and MPEG-1 (MP3), but other types can be easily added to the system. Once audio files are located, analyses are performed of both the audio files and the associated web pages that link to these files. Information extracted by the crawler can be used to build search indexes for resolving user queries. A set of results demonstrating aspects of the performance of the crawler are presented, as well as some statistics and points of interest regarding the nature of audio files on the web.

Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Magazine publishers are under increasing pressure to extend their business strategies beyond the traditional printed products. A culture of instant gratification of media needs, pervasive social networking and the immediacy of content delivery, which are all provided by the World Wide Web, aggravate fears that readers will ultimately abandon the printed media in favour of the Internet as the primary content provider. These fears are rooted in the assumption that consumers choose the media they use based on preconceived ideas as to how these media will fulfil their needs. If the Internet succeeds in supplanting or displacing printed media, it could potentially destroy the traditional magazine model whereby publishers simultaneously generate revenue from the sale of media content to their audience and the sale of the audience’s attention to their advertisers. Therefore it is imperative that magazine publishers develop a relevant and efficient strategy to maintain their position as “intermediary” between advertisers and the media audience. To develop such a strategy, they need to understand what media uses consumers have for the Internet and what gratifications they expect to receive. Once this is understood, publishers could develop their online and offline strategies to service these uses and gratifications. This thesis contains qualitative research conducted in a phenomenological paradigm through the application of two descriptive surveys. The first survey focused on the experiences and attitudes of visitors to the website of WegSleep, an Afrikaans South African niche magazine for the caravanning and camping community, whilst the second compares similarities between the seven most visited magazine websites in South Africa during 2008. A correlation of the findings leads to the conclusion that although the Internet could potentially emulate all media, readers do not employ the Internet for exactly the same purposes as printed media. Whilst some displacement does take place, magazines are still better at serving readers’ affective and escapist needs. Conversely, the Internet is the preferred medium with regard to information gathering and cognitive media needs as well as personal integrative needs. Social integrative needs appear to be non medium specific. A complementary combination of the printed product and the online offering could therefore provide gratification of all media needs and promote brand loyalty instead of medium loyalty.

Opinion leaders are important political players who bridge the gap between the political elite and the general public. Traditionally opinion leaders use social pressure and social support via interpersonal communication to personally influence the opinions, attitudes and behaviours of their everyday associates (who make up the general public). However, in a hybrid media system opinion leaders have access to added channels which mean they can communicate with audiences beyond their everyday associates and/or engage in non-interpersonal interactions, potentially setting the stage for opinion leaders to become more influential since they can access more members of the general public. Conversely, since the ability of opinion leaders to influence others traditionally relies on strong social bonds, even if audiences are accessible for information transfer, the lack of social connection could mean influence does not flow. As such, opinion leaders' channel choice in a hybrid media system is potentially very important. To investigate the patterns of channel use as well as motivations for, and impacts of, channel choices by opinion leaders, a two phase mixed-methods study is employed. Phase one includes online social network analysis of the #CDNpoli (Canadian politics) hashtag on Twitter and an online survey. Phase two investigates the communication practices of 21 specific digitally enabled opinion leaders drawn from the #CDNpoli network. Two hour in-depth interviews are paired with visualizations of the participants trace data. Telephone interviews with associates (alters) of the primary interviewee were conducted (N=27). This design is therefore responsive to the multi-channel reality of a hybrid media system and improves upon large scale and single channel studies which are most common in this line of research. Now strategic and, at times, impersonal, a fundamental shift in how influence is derived challenges theories of social influence and information dissemination. Two types of strategic opinion leaders emerge: enthusiasts and champions. Their strategies contribute to a wider trend - a "just-in-time" informed citizenry - where those who do not opt in to receiving messages from the political elite only get information at the last possible minute, such as during a scandal or an election. Future research and communication strategy must be sensitive to the varied aims and tactics of digitally enabled opinion leaders as well as the subsequent inconsistent relationship between the uninformed and their political system.

Secondary schools under the jurisdiction of the Cape Education Department (CED) have, over the past 10 years, been acquiring computer equipment without a national policy on educational computing in South Africa, and within only broad parameters provided by their department. The aim of this study was to determine the present status of educational computing in these schools. A literature survey on educational computing was undertaken and a number of international and local 'computers-in-schools' initiatives were elucidated. A field survey, involving all CED secondary schools (239), was initiated by sending questionnaires to principals of these schools - a return rate of 89% was achieved. The results of the research revealed that most CED secondary schools have already acquired computer facilities. The role of pressure groups such as teachers, parents, business sector etc together with other factors that might have influenced schools in acquiring their computer facilities was also investigated. The investigation also revealed where and how these facilities are being utilised: most schools use their computers for administrative functions, with the computer-as-a-tool for teachers and pupils also fast gaining ground. Computer-assisted learning activities, where the computer is integrated with subject curricula, are however still limited. The extent of both teachers' formal training in educational computing and their familiarity with different software applications were also determined. Schools were also required to indicate the areas where they experience problems in getting teachers and pupils more involved in 'computers-in-education' activities. The present educational computing position in secondary schools of the CED will have to serve as a foundation for the department's CISR Project embarked upon in 1991.