This thesis concerns itself with the notion of a networked or cooperating library and the discursive means by which it is constructed in documents related to the formation of a national strategy of libraries in Sweden. I study the draft as presented by the national library, Kungliga Biblioteket (KB), in early 2018, the comments and advice submitted by different parts of the library sector during the fall of 2018 as well as the final proposition handed over to the Minister of Culture in March 2019. The study focuses on what defines or constitutes a networked library, on the significance of a networked library for the perceived identity of libraries and library professionals and finally, on what grounds a networked library is ascribed legitimacy or is subject to criticism. This is worth investigating because of the calls for increased collaboration and coordination of different parts of the library sector and its implications for the professional identity as well as the wider understanding of what a library is and what a library does. The method of approach is a thematic document analysis informed by discourse studies. Discursive strategies are used as the main analytic tool. Strategies are adopted from the critical vein of discourse analysis (CDA) but are applied here in a way consistent with poststructuralist discourse theory and its ontological assumptions. The results show that the library sector is going through a dilemma of redefining, adjusting, modernizing, and broadening the meaning of libraries or keeping with a long-standing tradition that not always corresponds with the library practices of today. This tradition is subject to changing conditions – not least due to the digital transformation – as much as it remains a firm ground for legitimizing the professional field. A networked library requires a stale image to be left behind in favor of a collaborative library infrastructure, extending its meaning towards a library identity which adheres to the conditions of a networked world. In conclusion, a networked library is found in the middle-ground between a traditional identity and creating a new story about libraries.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Identity is a concept that has received a multiplicity of very diverse approaches and references throughout the history of ideas. Cultural studies have approached with special interest the discussion around the contemporary meanings of this term. This study proposes the concept of gastronomic identity and examines its definition based on Stuart Hall's research on discursive identity. The explanatory capacities of this concept will become evident when it is applied to the case of Peruvian gastronomy through the analysis of texts located at the beginning of the so-called Peruvian gastronomic boom between 1980 and 1995. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Cette thèse s’intéresse au Résumé Automatique de texte et plus particulièrement au résumémis-à-jour. Cette problématique de recherche vise à produire un résumé différentiel d'un ensemble denouveaux documents par rapport à un ensemble de documents supposés connus. Elle intègre ainsidans la problématique du résumé à la fois la question de la dimension temporelle de l'information etcelle de l’historique de l’utilisateur. Dans ce contexte, le travail présenté s'inscrit dans les approchespar extraction fondées sur une optimisation linéaire en nombres entiers (ILP) et s’articule autour dedeux axes principaux : la détection de la redondance des informations sélectionnées et la maximisationde leur saillance. Pour le premier axe, nous nous sommes plus particulièrement intéressés àl'exploitation des similarités inter-phrastiques pour détecter, par la définition d'une méthode deregroupement sémantique de phrases, les redondances entre les informations des nouveaux documentset celles présentes dans les documents déjà connus. Concernant notre second axe, nous avons étudiél’impact de la prise en compte de la structure discursive des documents, dans le cadre de la Théorie dela Structure Rhétorique (RS), pour favoriser la sélection des informations considérées comme les plusimportantes. L'intérêt des méthodes ainsi définies a été démontré dans le cadre d'évaluations menéessur les données des campagnes TAC et DUC. Enfin, l'intégration de ces critères sémantique etdiscursif au travers d'un mécanisme de fusion tardive a permis de montrer dans le même cadre lacomplémentarité de ces deux axes et le bénéfice de leur combinaison. / This thesis focuses on text Automatic Summarization and particularly on UpdateSummarization. This research problem aims to produce a differential summary of a set of newdocuments with regard to a set of old documents assumed to be known. It thus adds two issues to thetask of generic automatic summarization: the temporal dimension of the information and the history ofthe user. In this context, the work presented here is based on an extractive approach using integerlinear programming (ILP) and is organized around two main axes: the redundancy detection betweenthe selected information and the user history and the maximization of their saliency . For the first axis,we were particularly interested in the exploitation of inter-sentence similarities to detect theredundancies between the information of the new documents and those present in the already knownones, by defining a method of semantic clustering of sentences. Concerning our second axis, westudied the impact of taking into account the discursive structure of documents, in the context of theRhetorical Structure Theory (RST), to favor the selection of information considered as the mostimportant. The benefit of the methods thus defined has been demonstrated in the context ofevaluations carried out on the data of TAC and DUC campaigns. Finally, the integration of thesesemantic and discursive criteria through a delayed fusion mechanism has proved the complementarityof these two axes and the benefit of their combination.

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This study aims to investigate topic choices of humour as well as how humour is conjointly constructed in podcasts, with particular focus on the similarities and differences between men and women in both same- and mixed-gender groups. Six podcasts were chosen to be investigated through two different methods: 1. instances of humour were categorised based on the topic of the humour and 2. conversation analysis (CA) was used to analyse the contributions of the different groups of participants with a focus on the pragmatic force and the discursive effect of the contributions. The pragmatic force of the contributions could be supportive or contestive and the discursive effect could be maximally collaborative or minimally collaborative. This study found that the similarities were greater than the differences between same- and mixed-gender groups, regarding both topic choices and how the humour was constructed; however, there were some differences between the groups regarding both aspects. Men tended to make more self-deprecating jokes while women made more jokes about Personal Anecdotes; furthermore, contestive and minimally collaborative humour was more common in groups involving men. This study indicates that podcasts can be an important area of research for future studies regarding humour and gender.

This study is a description and interpretation of talk about hunting. The study is based on data gathered from in-depth interviews with twenty-four hunters in the United States who did not become hunters until adulthood. A single overarching research question guides the study: How do people create and use discourses of hunting? The study is situated within the ethnography of communication research program and, more specifically, within the framework of cultural discourse analysis. The study employs cultural discourse analysis methods and concepts to describe and develop interpretations of how participants render hunting symbolically meaningful, and of what beliefs and values underlie such meanings. The major descriptive findings include recurrent patterns of talk concerning: connecting with land and nature, spirit, other people, human ancestry, and human nature; taking responsibility in ecological, ethical, and health-related ways, both through hunting and through other practices such as gardening; being engaged, present, alert, excited, and challenged; killing for appropriate reasons, in appropriate ways, and with appropriate feeling; and living and acting in response to a modern world that diminishes human experience, brutalizes animals, and harms the natural world. The major interpretive findings include hunting being linked to other practices such as gardening, and being spoken of as a deeply meaningful pursuit practiced for the feelings of connection, engagement, and right relationship that it fosters, and as a physically and spiritually healthful remedy for the negative effects of modern living and of industrial food systems. This research demonstrates that hunting and talk about hunting can be underpinned by common beliefs and values shared by hunters, non-hunters, and anti-hunters. This research also suggests that adult-onset hunters and their discursive practices may be of unique value to wildlife agencies and conservation organizations, to other adult onset-hunters, and to both scholarly and public understandings of—and dialogues about—the practice of hunting.

This study explores how six teachers worked up becoming and being activists in response to education reforms in the southeastern US. The reforms, which involved increasing student testing and implementing high-stakes teacher evaluations, were enacted following the authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, federal legislation governing elementary and secondary education. Discourse analysis of interview data demonstrates how engaging in activism was constructed and positioned by teachers in response to these policy changes. We describe two interrelated patterns: (1) characterizing activism as requiring ‘professionalism’ on the part of the teacher-activist; and (2) justifying their actions by contrasting versions of activism in the media with their own activism, which they aligned with commonly accepted category-bound activities tied to ‘doing’ being a teacher. Findings shed light on the nuanced negotiation of educators’ roles as teacher-activists within the current policy context and the complicated nature of framing professionalism and activism for public audiences.

Recycling has often been overlooked in the conversation on how to combat climate change. The reasons behind recycling being pushed to the wayside point to difficulties in mobilizing the general public, the inherent design of recyclables, and confusing legislation. However, throughout history there have been notable “salvage” (recycling) processes that changed social fabrics and economic structures. This thesis compares the past salvaging revolution of Great Britain during World War II with the current recycling revolution of Sweden. The thesis uses theories of mobilization in order to contrast wartime events with contemporary peaceful democracy. Through the theories of wartime mobilization, discursive mobilization and material ecological mobilization, the thesis creates a content analysis based on the author’s own 5-point scale system, in combination with semi-structured interviews with key actors in the Swedish recycling sector and historical anecdotes from World War II. The findings of the thesis show that there is a gap in quality of mobilization done in past British salvaging efforts and present Swedish recycling efforts, which involves the extent of active state engagement, commitment to the promotion of recycling, and the under/well-establishment of end user systems.

The aim of the study is to explore three healthcare apps, Numa, Ella, and Leia Health, and their affordances in digital healthcare. By applying discourse analysis and discursive interface analysis as primary methods, the study investigates reward and motivation features within these apps, aiming to uncover the norms and assumptions embedded in their interfaces. Theoretical concepts such as motivation affordance, technology affordances, and sociomaterialism are used as frameworks to understand and analyze the results. The interface analysis provides insights into how various affordances, such as functional, cognitive, sensory, and collaborative, shape the user experience in healthcare apps. The results offer an overview and understanding of how user behaviors are influenced by the structure, design, and features of health apps through their digital interfaces, illustrating how the apps provide users with support and information.

No description available.