This qualitative study examined and describes the development and first year of implementation of the Blacksburg Electronic Village. This project, which came to national attention February 10, 1994 on the NBC Nightly News, was a collaborative effort by Bell Atlantic of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia. This study looks at the origins of this project as it relates to the development of technological innovations, examines the formation of the partnership, and describes critical events that occurred over time which contributed to the success of the project. Data sources included published documents, key participant interviews, and participant observations. These data sources were then coded and analyzed using HyperQual 2 version 1.0, a qualitative data analysis program, to establish the development and first year of implementation of the Blacksburg Electronic Village. The information gleaned from this analysis was then used to present the Blacksburg Electronic Village story through the first year of official operation. Included in the story are the critical events for the village, a timeline of these critical events, and the successes and challenges that have shaped the electronic village and contributed to what it has become today. / Ph. D.

Written, edited and published in a networked environment, the networked book makes the process of collaboration between its authors and readers visible. This collaboration is recorded in the peripheries of the text through a record of interactions, shared ideas, conversations and annotations and becomes part of the book. The presence of this documentation of the collaborative process challenges the traditionally held positions of author and reader and produces a new form of collaborative work. The divisions between the author, reader and the text become blurred as the book in the networked environment moves from being a physical product and the process of its creation becomes a collaborative experience. Authorship becomes an activity of exchange as the networked book champions the idea that multiple authors can take part in textual production. This thesis uses Gerard Genette’s theory of paratextual analysis to examine in depth the peripheries of three networked books; A Million Penguins, The Golden Notebook Project and Paddlesworth Press. It argues that the paratexts of the networked book are where the dialogues between authors and readers are located and an in depth examination of these is crucial for an understanding of how the process of their collaboration is made visible. Using this approach, the thesis examines and identifies the thresholds between author, reader and text. The text of each of the three case studies is examined as a space where authors and readers communicate through an analysis of behaviour, an identification of roles and a consideration of hierarchies in the collaborative process. The thresholds, boundaries, freedoms and restrictions of both the author and reader positions are explored. The collaborative experience of textual production is one of multiplicity; there is no one author, reader or text and the thesis concludes that a networked book is a book about the dialogue between author and reader and that these dialogues become part of the book.

The research uses Burgert (1998) and Brody Neuenschwander’s (2000) ideas of the ‘Linear Graphic’ to explore the creative and expressive qualities of the line. In addition, the characteristics of Ch’i are also analysed and identified. This is achieved by exploring and interpreting classic Chinese principles such as ‘Ch’i Yuen Shen Tung’ (Rhythmic Vitality), ‘Harmony of the Mind and Hand’ and ‘Stilling the Heart’. As a result, new approaches of ‘Simplicity’ and ‘Spontaneity’ have been developed for Western calligraphy. These approaches demonstrate the requirement of the control and integrity of the calligrapher. The research also places emphasis on the development of one’s ‘self-being’ to cultivate the internal and external aspects of calligraphy. This is achieved through the creation of calligraphy pieces as part of this developmental process. Digital media are also explored by using these same principles and approaches. New characteristics and processes such as ‘Layering’, ‘Reusability’ and ‘Simplicity and Complexity’ in print based calligraphy, as well as ‘Dynamism’, ‘Customisability’, ‘Impermanence’ and ‘Interactivity’, in computational calligraphy have emerged as a result.

<p>The potential for electronic media in the newspaper business is interesting. </p><p>The research about electronic media will bring demands on new thinking in </p><p>developing new value, income generating services and related business models. An </p><p>example of electronic media is electronic paper. This paper explores the added value </p><p>and payment methods for the e-paper. We have conducted future workshops with our </p><p>target group the reader. On the basis of future workshops this paper shows that </p><p>interaction, individualization, improved selection and content, environment friendly </p><p>and saving capabilities are necessities for the e-paper to be successful. We suggest </p><p>that the e-paper must be more than just an online newspaper for people to buy it.</p>

This research aims to study the effects of organization downsizing programs on the staff in the field of electronic media. There used to be only three television networks in Taiwan, which were TTV, CTV, and CTS. Followed by the approval of the Cable Television Law in 1993, cable TV providers began to enter the market and sprout like mushrooms. A point worth noting is that Taiwan's fourth terrestrial TV station, FTV, officially founded and joined the market in 1997. Significant changes were then brought to Taiwan¡¦s media landscape. The advantages of the three original TV networks were disappearing and taken by the newly emerged cable TV stations. Thanks to the free market mechanism, the competition among news media has become even more and more intense over the last three or four years. A medium which has strong constitution appears to have better performance and is able to maintain certain market share; while those have weak constitutions would often suffer losses in business, in which the most serious are the three original terrestrial TV stations. It makes no exception for cable TV networks, either. Deficit occurs in many cable TV stations, such as CTI, ERA, USTV, STV and Global TV, whereas SET, TVBS, ETTV, and GTV could still obtain profits. The above factors show that downsizing in the field of electronic media must be carried out. The subjects of this research were a group of TV news reporters who have gone through organization downsizing. Interviews were designed to discover the reporters¡¦ perception, involvement, organizational identity and intention to continue in office in search of the best downsizing model. The results are as follows: (1) Downsizing programs have certain impact on staff. Organizations which encourage voluntary demission or retirement might hardly achieve its goal of downsizing in a short while, but survivors would relatively tend to be less likely to resign from office. On the contrary, when compulsory or semi-compulsory methods are used, survivors would be devastated or even muddle along. Such situation might even cause lots of survivors to quit. (2) Thetrimming of personal in electronic media, areusually due to unbalance of information, causing current employee¡¦s varies in working behavior and attitude, cause by age, experience and rank difference. It means that because of freer flow of information, employees that are higher age, more experience, and higher rank, are less affected in behavior and attitude, and more stable. On the other hand, employees that are lower age, less experience and work in the basic level, because of the lack of information, when personal trimming begins, they become more anxious and start quitting. (3)Having a comprehensive scheme, informing and making the employees involved in the whole decision making process, as well as engaging in appropriate dialogue would all increase the willingness of survivors to continue in office and weaken their tendency to resign. (4)Employees who agree with their organization's values and feel a strong sense of connection with their organization tend to be less likely to quit; while others would have stronger inclination to resign.

The focus of this thesis is the representation of football, as sport and culture, within the medium of the digital game. Analysing its three sub-genres - the televisual, the extreme and the management genre. This dissertation outlines how each configures, incorporates, rejects or ignores certain conventions, values and practices connected to the socio-cultural system of the sport, and the wider sport-media complex in its representational and ludic system. Though the marketing literature surrounding these games often makes claims to their simulational quality, these products will be shown to present very particular, dissimilar and above all ideologically loaded versions of the sport they claim to impartially represent. In an evolution of Baudrillard's (1983) concept of the simulacrum, these digital games will be revealed as euphemisms for sport, as inoffensive representations of something that may in reality be considered to offensive, or too harsh for inclusion into a marketable product. Also central to this thesis is the increasingly trans-medial nature of sport consumption, as the post-modern consumer does not simply distinguish between the various media he or she consumes and the 'reality' of the mediated object; indeed it is the mediation of the sport that now constitutes the dominant interpretation of its conventions and values. To quote John Fiske, the media no longer supply 'secondary representations of reality; they affect and produce the reality they mediate' (1994, p.xv).

The potential for electronic media in the newspaper business is interesting. The research about electronic media will bring demands on new thinking in developing new value, income generating services and related business models. An example of electronic media is electronic paper. This paper explores the added value and payment methods for the e-paper. We have conducted future workshops with our target group the reader. On the basis of future workshops this paper shows that interaction, individualization, improved selection and content, environment friendly and saving capabilities are necessities for the e-paper to be successful. We suggest that the e-paper must be more than just an online newspaper for people to buy it.

This research analyses the impact of transformation and hybridization processes at the intersection of art, science and technology. These forms of transformation and hybridization are the result of contemporary interactions between classic and digital media. It discusses the concept of 'remediation' presented by Bolter and proposes the concept of 'digital ekphrasis,' which is based on Manovich' s analyses of the interactions between classic and digital media. This is a model which, borrowed from semiotic structures, encompasses the technical as well as aesthetic and philosophical transformations of contemporary media. The thesis rejects Baudrillard's and Virilio's proposed concepts of 'digital black hole' as the only possible form of evolution of contemporary digital media. It proposes a different concept for the evolutionary model of contemporary hybridization processes based on contemporary forms of hybridizations that are rooted in aesthetic, philosophical and technological developments. This concept is argued as emancipated from the 'religious' idea of a 'divine originated' perfect image that Baudrillard and Virilio consider to be deteriorated from contemporary hybridization experimentation. The thesis proposes, through historical examples in the fine arts, the importance of transmedia migrations and experimentations as the framework for a philosophical, aesthetic and technological evolutionary concept of humanity freed from the restrictions of religious imperatives.

The video game as a medium is young compared to film or literature. As such there is less research available on the subject, particularly in the area of video game criticism related to sexualization and gender issues that underscore stereotypical portrayals of women, ethnicity, and overall gender roles. What research there is regarding video games primarily uses still images or short gameplay segments as data sources. Given the long form narrative that many video games employ to engage players, such data sources do not give a full picture of the video game's content. The purpose of this project is to create a tool that can be used by academics and industry professionals to collect data on various aspects of video game content easily and reliably. Inspired by the objectivity and unambiguous construction of the Bechdel-Wallace test, the Prototype Stark Gaming Metric (pSGM) has been constructed following the same principles. The pSGM is an instrument of various categories informed by previous media research. These categories are then coded to reflect a video game's content that is "typical" and "atypical" (as defined by previous research). Once coded, the metric produces a single numeric value representing what amount of a video game's content is "typical" or "atypical." The metric was applied to two contemporary video games to both assess the usefulness of the metric's coding itself and reveal any major issues with the method, coding system, and coding categories.

The study looks at how the library users at Zamukulungisa Campus of the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in the Eastern Cape in South Africa perceive the print media versus electronic media as sources of information for their requirements. The study is aimed at investigating the extent of use of these media by the users of the institution under study and their reaction to print versus electronic media. It is understood that the Zamukulungisa Campus of the WSU users come from different backgrounds. Some come from underdeveloped rural areas where there are no basic amenities available such as running water, toilets, telephones or even electricity and libraries. These types of users depended on information from text books and from their teachers only. The rationale for the study is to examine the students‟ use of print and electronic materials available in the library of the institution under study with the view to identifying the gaps that need to be addressed in order to make recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the service provision of information to the users by the librarians. With this purpose in mind, the study looks at: the frequency of library use; the nature of the media available in the library; the tools utilized by the users to access the media in the library; the preference of the library users for media usage; the users‟ perceptions and reactions to print and electronic media; the effects on users and; the background to the use of print and electronic media. A questionnaire was used to collect data for this research study from sampled students at Zamukulungisa Campus of the WSU. The findings may lead to potential solutions based on the users‟ reactions to the recommendations of their use of the print and electronic media. The references used are shown in the bibliography. Keywords: print media, electronic media, library users, different backgrounds, underdeveloped rural areas, basic needs, recommendation of the use of print and electronic media, service provision, provision of information, media usage, users‟ perceptions, users‟ reactions, study operations, presentation of findings, analysis of data, discussion of results, levels of study.