Background: In recent years, the amount of textile waste increased rapidly due to the fast-fashion phenomena with an increasing clothing production and a declining customer usage. Not only that one truck of clothing getting landfilled or burned every second, but also the textile production impacts the environment due to the vast amount of water, material, chemical, and energy usage. This so-called linear “take-make-waste” approach contributes significantly to the current climate crisis. One possible solution represents the circular economy to encounter the linear approach by providing concepts for recovering materials. However, to our state of knowledge, the implementation of such Circular Economy (CE) approaches is far away from their urgent necessity. Literature papers from the last years conclude with a collaboration call between all industry actors for enhancing the waste recovery stream (WRS). Since digital platforms tackled the collaboration challenge of Circular Economy in other industries, we contemplated it as an adequate digital technology tool for overcoming Textile, Apparel and Clothing (TAC) industry collaboration challenge to further strengthening the WRS. Purpose: The study aims to investigate if and how digital platforms strengthen the TAC industry's WRS. For this purpose, we shed light on different challenges within the industry-wide network, analyzed current platform functionalities, and matched challenges and functionalities to answer the research question.  Method: The study adopts an inductive qualitative approach to explore the phenomenon of digital platforms and their potential as an enabler for the textile WRS. Thereby, we took a relativism view regarding our ontological position and followed a social constructionist's epistemology. For the data collection, we used semi-structured interviews and identified potential participants with criterion and snowball sampling. In total, we conducted 14-semistructured interviews with industry actors, platform providers, and experts. For our data analysis, we oriented ourselves on the Gioia Method, an articulated grounded theory approach. Conclusion: Resulting from our findings, we identified (1) four major challenge groups that go beyond the collaboration challenge and encompass the challenge of lack of knowledge, organization of WRS, and value chain structure. Further, we outlined (2) five platform functionalities, i.e., connecting, informing, visualizing, monitoring, and consulting. By matching challenges and functionalities, we analyzed (3) the extent to which DP can strengthen WR. We concluded that many industry challenges are tackled or partly tackled by the DP functionalities. However, within some of the sub-challenges as well as the overall challenge of the value chain structure, DPs reach their limitation in strengthening the WRS. In addition, we offer (4) an overall framework of DP for the WR stream, summarized how the DP tackles the industry-wide challenges by displaying the functionalities and associated value drivers. Lastly, we provide (5) the baseline for future platform functionalities by outlining actors’ expectations and platform providers’ planned functionalities arisen by our finding.

Since the development of modern technology, we are faced with more choices than ever. Our choices are based on the visual impression of a product or a service (Watzman, 1992). But what is it that makes us choose a specific product or service? This essay sheds light on the problems surrounding the development of technology that have led to a digitalized society where products are replaced by digital services. It also highlights a new professional role that has emerged from the digitalisation of society. Furthermore, the essay also enlightens on how a digital service's design might affect its users by examining how the music streaming services Spotify and Apple Music affect user's first impression of the service through a semiotic analysis. The results show that the design of a service is decisive for which target group the company is aimed at. And that the choice of functions maintains the interest of the users. In addition, the graphic design profession takes place through a development, where you may need to broaden your knowledge towards a digital competence. The essay opened up the question of whether there are more aspects that are based on the choice of service, such as the cost of the service and class differences.

Renting, as one of the most common and long-existed collaborative consumption methods, recently gained attention in the fashion industry as a perfect candidate to minimize overconsumption in the fashion industry. However, the business perspective of clothing rental gained less focus in academic literature. This research aims to present, analyze and discuss the key components of clothing rental business models and the influence of digital platforms on clothing rental to gain a deeper understanding of the rental business in fashion. Qualitative research was conducted based on the case studies of five clothing rental companies. The analysis of the collected data was based on the 360° business model framework and the literature. The study results showed the key components of fashion rental business models in value creation, value proposition, value delivery, value capture, value communication, and the influence of digital platforms on the rental business. Findings show the potential to extend towards a mainstream mode of consumption that provides entrepreneurial initiative.

The Sharing Economy is an innovative social, economic and technological paradigm which is shaping worldwide production and consumption patterns of many industries. Its strength relies on factors of competitiveness such as the use of idle capacity, temporary access to resources without transfer of ownership, the flexibility and adaptability of its models, and the participation of a growing number of players allowed by peer-to-peer digital platforms. From the management perspective, the conditions for lasting competitiveness lies on sustainability, the paradigm integrating the supply, demand, and technological dimensions in a holistic, or ecosystem, perspective. Tourism is among the industries making extensive use of sharing digital platforms and experiencing changes that foster the sustainability debate. The PhD Thesis aims to investigate the relationships between competitiveness and sustainability in the tourism and hospitality accommodation industry in the Sharing Economy Era. Its investigation is multifaced and is addressed through three studies adopting a post-modernist perspective that builds on qualitative approaches and strategies for data collection and analysis. The Part I of the Thesis explores the Sharing Economy concept’s evolution and the sustainability issues through an in-depth review of the literature. Results reveal the leading economic-technological evolution of the paradigm over the social one, and its dual links with sustainability in relation to the extensive use of peer-to-peer digital platforms. Therefore, the evolution of the Sharing Economy activities have shown that today competitiveness is built on the interactions of an ever-increasing number of actors and factors, both off-line and on-line, within a complex ecosystem for the creation of – shared – value. The tourism industry strongly challenges this relationship between extended competition and sustainability. The Part II evaluates the competitiveness model and its evolution during the Sharing eTourism Era in the tourism and hospitality accommodation sector introducing an ecosystem perspective for the creation and distribution of shared value. Specifically, it investigates how the non-traditional and informal tourist services have affected the structure of the industry and have altered the competition among the actors, through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Results show that competitiveness is given by the balance among the complex interactions of internal and external ecosystem’s actors and factors. On a micro level this imply that businesses must adopts an ecosystem vision compensating for negative externalities which translate into the adoption of Business Models promoting sustainability for the creation of sustainable shared value. Therefore, the Part III investigates through the use of an illustrative case study how peer-to-peer digital platforms in the tourist accommodation service can boost profitability while strengthening economic, social and environmental sustainability by applying the innovative Business Model for Sustainability. The research sheds light on the complex Sharing Economy literature and lays the theoretical foundations for the implementation of managerial strategies aimed at promoting extended sustainable competition-cooperation.

This paper examines how streaming services, with a particular focus on Spotify, have influenced music consumption through the implementation of algorithmically and humanly curated playlists and recommendation features. By placing the role of streaming services in a historical context, this paper explores streaming services as an extension of previous gatekeeping functions in the music industry. The paper examines how curated playlists and recommendations affect music consumption and the individual listener’s ability to discover new music. The result suggest that streaming services’ use of algorithmically and humanly curated playlists and recommendation functions constitute gatekeeping mechanisms. Due to the monopoly status of streaming services in society, this has an impact on what music is listened to and disseminated in society. Streaming services have also contributed to an increasingly more personalised music curation that differs from the governing mechanisms that previously controlled popular music. This partly contradicts the stated ambitions of streaming services to provide listeners with a means of discovering new music. The controlling functions of streaming services have in turn affected music creators who distribute their music on the platform. In what follows, it is explained how music creators have become increasingly aware of algorithmic features, leading to an adaptation of both the musical content and the music packaging to benefit from algorithmic advantages.

The diploma thesis focuses on the relations between digital intermediaries and media organizations on the Czech market. Its goal is to describe a new, ever-evolving environment, which has been affected by the swift rise of digital platforms and by the change in business models of publishers. The thesis puts this phenomenon in the context of media studies and critical political economy and defines the terms "digital platforms" and "digital intermediaries". It also looks more closely at the current challenges related with the content consumption in the digital environment - which includes a discussion of copyright, changes in user behavior and content monetization. The research part is based on individual in-depth interviews with members of digital intermediaries, media organizations and third parties. The analysis takes place in a general, ethical/normative point of view and aims for understanding how the parties interact and work together, how they perceive this environment, how they see its changes and future development.

Orientador: Jefferson Nascimento de Oliveira / Resumo: Os direitos da natureza são indispensáveis para a harmonia nos espaços de atuação e desenvolvimento da vida, onde o uso e a ocupação do solo impactam diretamente na disponibilidade e qualidade de recursos fundamentais como a água e outros bens comuns. Com a observação de iniciativas transnacionais, governamentais, laboratórios de ciência aberta, empresas e ONGs, esta pesquisa exploratória consolida cenários sobre intensos fluxos de multidões à deriva de projeções e sobre a capacidade adaptativa de aglomerados no Antropoceno. São elementos onde a Internet e os paradigmas do serviço total incitam plataformas digitais para novos produtos e serviços, adequadas à realidade dos jogos sociais contemporâneos. Com bases e referenciais em governança eletrônica para as águas, os resultados das explorações resultam na descoberta das organizações associativas cibernéticas (cyorgs) e as características fundamentais dos Escritórios da Resiliência Hídrica. Amparados por espaços antropológicos, de interação e implementações estratégicas de inovação em sustentabilidade, os produtos constroém a plataforma ÁguasML - Bem Comum em Mídia Livre, implementada digitalmente com código aberto via portais de notícias, ambientes de aprendizagem, automatizações e aplicativos para coleta e distribuição de dados. Apontam também alguns dos componentes das plataformas hidrotecnológicas nos Escritórios da Resiliência Hídrica, assim como os conteúdos, as experiências e as características de tecnologias resilient... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The rights of nature are indispensable for harmony in the spaces of participation and development of life, where the use and occupation of the lands directly affect the availability and quality of water and other commons. Observing transnational initiatives, governments, open science laboratories, corporations and NGOs, this exploratory research consolidates scenarios of intense flows of crowds drifting from projections and adaptive capacity in the Anthropocene. They are elements in which the internet and the paradigms of the total service incite digital platforms for new products and services, adapted to the mechanized reality of contemporary social games. With these baselines and benchmarks in electronic governance for water, the results of explorations are the discovery of cybernetic associative organizations (cyorgs) and the fundamental characteristics of Water Resilience Office´s. Based on anthropological spaces, spaces of interaction and strategic implementations of innovation in water sustainability, the work build the ÁguasML - Commons in Open Media platform, digitally implemented with open source through news portals, e-learning environments, automations and applications for collection and data distribution. They also show some of the components of hydrotechnology platforms at the offices for water resilience, as well as the contents, experiences and characteristics of resilient technologies in situations of water scarcity and vulnerability of rights. This office gen... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-26T16:39:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandra Dezotti Saldanha.pdf: 3756101 bytes, checksum: 67c251aec7c68c527f0087f000aa8629 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-26T16:39:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandra Dezotti Saldanha.pdf: 3756101 bytes, checksum: 67c251aec7c68c527f0087f000aa8629 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-31 / Nenhuma / O tema de pesquisa deste projeto de mestrado trata da forma como as cidades contemporâneas estão se desenvolvendo em relação às novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação e como se utilizam das plataformas digitais para valorização da sua imagem, ao inserirem-se no contexto das cibercidades. A investigação desenvolvida é um estudo de caso múltiplo, com foco nas capitais brasileiras e nas plataformas digitais que as representam, sejam estas governamentais, turísticas, sociais ou colaborativas. Essa análise leva em conta os modelos de referência mundiais existentes e os estudos teóricos já desenvolvidos sobre cibercidades, principalmente no que se refere aos modelos de cibercidades, de Lemos (2002) e a arquitetura de plataforma da cibercidade, desenvolvido por Ishida (2002) para Kyoto, de forma a obter subsídios de análise e poder tecer um panorama geral de como as cibercidades se estruturam no Brasil, buscando, através, desses resultados, formatar comparativos e contextualizar os problemas existentes, através da visão do design estratégico, gerando dados para novos estudos de como o design pode atuar na construção estratégica das cidades, no universo digital. / The research topic of this master's project addresses how contemporary cities are developing in relation to new technologies of information and communication and how to use digital platforms for promoting its image, to be inserted in the context of cybercities. The research undertaken is a multiple case study, focusing on the Brazilian capitals and on digital platforms that represent them, whether governmental, tourist, social or collaborative. This analysis takes into account the existing global reference models and theoretical studies already undertaken on cybercities, especially with regard to models cybercities, de Lemos (2002) and platform architecture of the cybercity, developed by Ishida (2002) to Kyoto in order to obtain data and analysis can weave an overview of how cybercities are structured in Brazil, searching through these results, comparative format and contextualize existing problems through the design of strategic vision, generating data for new studies how design can work on building strategic towns in the digital universe.

Esta tese acompanha a construção do Feed de Notícias do Facebook ao longo dos seus primeiros 10 anos (2006-2016) com o objetivo de descrever as formas como o mecanismo e a noção de algoritmo são definidos ao longo do período estudado. São analisados os conteúdos digitais, chamados de dispositivos textuais, que compõem publicamente o que o Feed de Notícias é e faz, descrevendo os atores implicados na composição dessa narrativa, mapeando seus objetivos e seus efeitos. A amostra analisada toma como ponto de partida os dispositivos textuais alocados em dois espaços digitais institucionais do Facebook: Facebook Blog e Facebook Newsroom. A partir da leitura de mais de mil publicações digitais do Facebook e de outros agentes (usuários, produtores de conteúdo, imprensa, ativistas etc.), foram selecionadas as publicações mais relevantes ao estudo, escolhidas com ênfase em eventos e circunstâncias de negociação ou mudança. A abordagem aqui construída representa uma composição de perspectivas dos estudos de ciência e tecnologia (STS) e da Teoria Ator-Rede (TAR). Trata-se do conjunto de procedimentos utilizados na descrição do caráter performativo dos textos. Na análise realizada na tese, são identificados três momentos distintos da construção da noção de algoritmo ao longo da trajetória do Feed de Notícias, chamados de Algoritmo Edgerank, Algoritmo Certo e Algoritmo Centrado no Usuário. Ao mesmo tempo, é apresentada a formulação do Feed de Notícias como um fluxo constante. É argumentado que as transformações no mecanismo são orientadas para gerar engajamento e manter usuários conectados ao Facebook. Engajamento é, na racionalidade emergente da construção do Feed de Notícias, uma mercadoria resultante de sua ação. Outra noção relevante decorrente da análise é a ideia de norma algorítmica como lógica normativa de visibilidade que busca regular o relacionamento entre produtores de conteúdo e o mecanismo, punindo os que não seguem as chamadas boas práticas. / This study follows the Facebook News Feed construction throughout its first ten years (2006– 2016). The objective of this research is to describe the way this mechanism and the notion of algorithm were compounded, enacted and transformed during that period. This is achieved through an analysis of the digital content (referred to here as ‘textual devices’) that publicly constructs what the News Feed is and how it functions. This analysis describes the actors involved within this narrative, mapping their objectives and effects. The sample is constructed beginning with the textual devices published on Facebook’s institutional websites: Facebook Blog and Facebook Newsroom. Following the reading of more than 1,000 texts of Facebook and other agents (users, content producers, media, activists, etc.), the most relevant publications were selected, emphasizing situations of change, conflict and controversy. The research approach, which was based on science and technology studies (STS) and actornetwork theory (ANT), involved constructing a body of procedures used to describe the performative character of texts. The current study found that during the development of the News Feed, Facebook’s notion of algorithm has gone through three different phases, referred to here respectively as the Edgerank Algorithm, Right Algorithm and User-centered Algorithm. One of the most interesting findings was that the changes in the News Feed are primarily oriented towards the objective of creating engagement by keeping users connected to Facebook. Engagement is an important commodity within the rationality that emerged from this scenario. It is argued that the News Feed development may be seen as a continuous flow. Another important finding was the notion called algorithmic norm, as a normative logic of visibility that rules the relationship between content producers and the News Feed. The algorithmic norm tends to enact specific judgements and to punish content producers who do not follow what Facebook calls good practices.

Submitted by Alisson Mota (alisson.davidbeckam@gmail.com) on 2015-06-17T19:41:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Maria Ione Feitosa Dolzane.pdf: 3020459 bytes, checksum: 3d03c826ee61134d0699b7c6e4d69ad3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-18T18:04:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Maria Ione Feitosa Dolzane.pdf: 3020459 bytes, checksum: 3d03c826ee61134d0699b7c6e4d69ad3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-06-18T18:24:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Maria Ione Feitosa Dolzane.pdf: 3020459 bytes, checksum: 3d03c826ee61134d0699b7c6e4d69ad3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-18T18:24:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Maria Ione Feitosa Dolzane.pdf: 3020459 bytes, checksum: 3d03c826ee61134d0699b7c6e4d69ad3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The current work presente the cartographic study‟s result developed during the period between 2012 and 2014, at Education College of Amazonas Federal University, in order to map and discuss the pedagogical practices performed in a open environment with the aid of technological mediators. More accurately, the research presents the cartographic letter of the performed way by a training teachers program, known as PNAIC, developed in this open management format with the aid of technological mediators and points to new practices that reconfigure the educational institute function with regard of the training programs management through the use of Digital Communication Technologies, allowing a transparent e participative work of the actions through the digital platforms open management. / O presente trabalho apresenta o resultado de um estudo cartográfico desenvolvido no período entre 2012 a 2014, na Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal do Amazonas, com o objetivo de mapear e discutir as práticas pedagógicas realizadas em ambiente aberto com auxílios de mediadores tecnológicos. Mais precisamente a pesquisa apresenta a carta cartografada do caminho realizado por um Programa de Formação de Professores, o PNAIC, desenvolvido nesse formato de gestão aberta com o auxilio de mediadores tecnológicos e aponta para novas práticas que reconfiguram o papel das instituições de ensino no que se refere à gestão de programas de formação a partir do uso de Tecnologias de Comunicação Digital, as TCD‟s, permitindo um trabalho transparente e participativo das ações a partir da gestão aberta em plataformas digitais.