<div>Circulation studies, as the theory of ecological spread of information, impacts public perception of knowledge-making, and digital circulation (i.e. online information sharing) impacts what people expect online knowledge-making and online education is or should be. Online education is becoming a new norm for students and universities at a time when economic pressure is pushing both to be more austere and expedient; at the same time, circulation collapses together the complex ways we communicate, making them harder to differentiate. This dissertation responds to these conditions by focusing on the labor behind circulation and Online Writing Instruction (OWI) in order to study knowledge-making online. Through focus groups with instructors, case studies, and surveys of students in online classes, this dissertation identifies strategies that benefit both teachers and students and improve Online Writing Classes. This work intersects with recent considerations of how mis- and dis-information spread online, the impact of Data Science and Information Theory on communication and knowledge-making, and how to make universities accessible to more people.</div><div><br></div><div>Chapter 1 overviews the history of Distance Education (DE) and Online Education (OE) as well as the relevant disciplinary distinctions OWI makes for itself. Chapter 1 also identifies theoretical and practical challenges OE finds for itself and overviews recent shifts in OE student populations. Chapter 2 contextualizes the challenges OE and OWI face in a larger ecology of Information Theory, Rhetoric and Composition theory and practice, Technical Communication theory and practice, and Neoliberal economics, positing ecological links between modern data science, digital circulation, and economics. In doing so, Chapter 2 offers a rhetorical interpretation of the DIKW pyramid and definitions of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom (D, I, W, and W respectively) for rhetorical practitioners. Chapter 3 follows up on Chapter 2’s arguments to respond with research on teacher and student labor in online classes with methods for such inquiry, through focus groups, case studies, and surveys. Chapter 4 presents data from all stages of that inquiry, and Chapter 5 connects together observations from the data with theory from Chapters 1 and 2 to draw more concrete conclusions.</div><div><br></div>

The emergence of mobile technologies and social media applications has led to a shift in the emergency/disaster related communication environment. Citizens are playing an increasingly important role in providing real time information to emergency organizations. This shift has resulted in an expectation by the public that emergency management (EM) organizations monitor and respond to calls for help disseminated via these applications. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which Florida EM agencies have incorporated the monitoring of social media into their organizational processes. The state of social media use in Florida is under researched. In this explanatory sequential design study, Florida EM personnel was surveyed using the CNA Analyst/National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) survey (Su et. al, 2012) on the use of social media in EM. Subsequently, a subset of respondents was interviewed to determine to what extent they have incorporated the monitoring of social media into their organizational processes. Several recommendations can be made related to the use of social media in emergency management in Florida. Each of these is discussed in detail: 1.) Reverse mentoring programs; 2.) Development of social media policies; 3.) Continue to attend trainings and conferences; 4.) Explore promising practices; and 5.) Social marketing campaigns for citizens. Overall, it appears that Florida has an immature yet evolving system for use of social media in emergency management. While Florida EM agencies are knowledgeable about social media in general, they lack policies, systems, and staff to take full advantage of social media as a tool in emergency management. As more training is offered, and promising practices are shared, systems will likely continue to evolve. The evolution of systems within agencies will depend largely on leadership attitudes, organizational policies, and staffing resources.

Les systèmes navals représentent une infrastructure stratégique pour le commerce international et les activités militaires. Ces systèmes sont de plus en plus informatisés afin de réaliser une navigation optimale et sécurisée. Pour atteindre cet objectif, une grande variété de systèmes embarqués génèrent différentes informations sur la navigation et l'état des composants, ce qui permet le contrôle et le monitoring à distance. Du fait de leur importance et de leur informatisation, les systèmes navals sont devenus une cible privilégiée des pirates informatiques. Par ailleurs, la mer est un environnement rude et incertain qui peut produire des dysfonctionnements. En conséquence, la prise de décisions basée sur des fausses informations à cause des anomalies, peut être à l'origine de répercussions potentiellement catastrophiques.Du fait des caractéristiques particulières de ces systèmes, les méthodologies classiques de détection d'anomalies ne peuvent pas être appliquées tel que conçues originalement. Dans cette thèse nous proposons les mesures de qualité comme une potentielle alternative. Une méthodologie adaptée aux systèmes cyber-physiques a été définie pour évaluer la qualité des flux de données générés par les composants de ces systèmes. À partir de ces mesures, une nouvelle approche pour l'analyse de scénarios fonctionnels a été développée. Des niveaux d'acceptation bornent les états de normalité et détectent des mesures aberrantes. Les anomalies examinées par composant permettent de catégoriser les détections et de les associer aux catégories définies par le modèle proposé. L'application des travaux à 13 scénarios créés pour une plate-forme composée par deux cuves et à 11 scénarios pour deux drones aériens a servi à démontrer la pertinence et l'intérêt de ces travaux. / Naval systems represent a strategic infrastructure for international commerce and military activity. Their protection is thus an issue of major importance. Naval systems are increasingly computerized in order to perform an optimal and secure navigation. To attain this objective, on board vessel sensor systems provide navigation information to be monitored and controlled from distant computers. Because of their importance and computerization, naval systems have become a target for hackers. Maritime vessels also work in a harsh and uncertain operational environments that produce failures. Navigation decision-making based on wrongly understood anomalies can be potentially catastrophic.Due to the particular characteristics of naval systems, the existing detection methodologies can't be applied. We propose quality evaluation and analysis as an alternative. The novelty of quality applications on cyber-physical systems shows the need for a general methodology, which is conceived and examined in this dissertation, to evaluate the quality of generated data streams. Identified quality elements allow introducing an original approach to detect malicious acts and failures. It consists of two processing stages: first an evaluation of quality; followed by the determination of agreement limits, compliant with normal states to identify and categorize anomalies. The study cases of 13 scenarios for a simulator training platform of fuel tanks and 11 scenarios for two aerial drones illustrate the interest and relevance of the obtained results.