Recognizing the importance of civic engagement to the health of local communities and the overall success of a democracy, this research sought to better understand the relationship between online media use and civic engagement. Specifically, the constructive potential of the social networking site Facebook was explored using the theoretical framework of communication infrastructure theory (CIT; Ball-Rokeach, Kim, & Matei, 2001). Results of a cross-sectional survey with a national sample of 375 participants indicated that Facebook does hold potential for civic engagement. The two most important findings of the research were that Facebook facilitated connection to neighborhood storytelling and that connection to storytelling was positively associated with civic engagement. As such, results indicated that Facebook holds potential for civic engagement insofar as the site facilitates connection to neighborhood storytelling. Additionally, Facebook was a regular part of participants’ daily routines, a means to maintain social capital, and a forum for occasional civic participation. Cumulatively, these results highlight a number of strengths that citizens and communities can build upon to improve social capital and increase civic engagement.

Facebook is among the top used websites in the world, and research has shown that Facebook use is related to individual personality characteristics such as well-being and self-esteem. This study builds on previous research, expanding to investigate attachment-related anxiety and avoidance and relational certainty. The current study examined relationships between Facebook use (both general and for surveillance) and relational certainty, attachment-related anxiety and avoidance, and self-esteem in undergraduate students (N = 261). Online methods were used for data collection, and individuals with their relationship displayed on Facebook reported more relational certainty; however, the more time they spent on the site, the less certain they were with their relationship. Individuals with high attachment-related anxiety were more likely to use Facebook for surveillance, and both attachment anxiety and Facebook use for surveillance were linked to lower self-esteem. These findings indicate that individuals with their relationship status displayed on Facebook have more relational certainty and exhibit less attachment-related anxiety and avoidance. Individuals with high attachment anxiety use Facebook for surveillance. These results add to the expanding literature on Facebook and social networking sites, showing that different people use Facebook in varying ways. As social networking continues to be a staple in the lives of nearly one billion users, it is important to keep researching how people use it and what the potential implications of this use are.

Thesis (M. A. (Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Social networking became a common international trend which has spreads and reached almost every corner of the world. The use of social media platform has developed and exploded into an online platform where individuals can generate content, share it, bookmark it and network at an enormous rate. Amongst the users of social media, students and youth are the main users of social media sites. The research explored Facebook as a tool for improving marketing services at University of Limpopo. Institution of higher learning utilise Facebook for various reasons such getting more followers, maintain existing relationship between the university and its audience and also to communicate with the university audience. Social media can have a great impact on the university and its audience depending on the usage as a two-way communication platform. The main objectives of the study are to identify the manner in which institutions of higher learning use Facebook for marking purposes; examine the performance of Facebook for marketing; and establish the challenges and opportunities of using Facebook as a marking tool. The study employed Nick Couldry’s practice theory and Marketing communication mix theory which are highlighting the relationship between the media, people and organisations. The study also analysed other literature that supports the aim and objectives of the study. A qualitative method was used in the study and results obtained through the use of online observation and semi-structured interview. Content and thematic analysis was applied to analyse the data collected. The population used as a sample were marketing and communication department employees at the University of Limpopo who are working with the university social media pages. With online observation of the University of Limpopo’s Facebook page the findings show that the university’s social media portray specifically Facebook as a one-way communication which they convey messages on the platform without taking into consideration the comments, criticism and queries of the students or audience at large. The empirical findings of the study indicate that Facebook is the most used social media platform at the University of Limpopo. Moreover, participants have highlighted that the purpose of all social media platforms are used to market the institution and as platforms to convey messages to their followers, staff members and university community. v The findings expose the various opportunities and challenges in using social media. However, it is proved that the opportunities outweigh the threats. Some institutions of higher learning use more than one social media platform. However, Facebook was proven to be the most widely used social media followed by YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

El presente proyecto de fin de carrera tiene como fin el llevar a cabo la evaluación de usabilidad de dos aplicaciones de realidad aumentada llamadas Layar y Wikitude, que funcionan sobre dispositivos móviles con el sistema operativo Android. A partir de los resultados, se determina si estas aplicaciones son lo suficientemente intuitivas tanto para usuarios familiarizados con el uso de móviles, como para personas ajenas a estos. En el primer capítulo se describe detalladamente el problema a solucionar, así como la solución planteada; es decir, la ejecución de evaluaciones heurísticas a las aplicaciones seleccionadas. Del mismo modo, se detallan los conceptos relacionados a las evaluaciones a realizar, entre los que se encuentran la usabilidad y la realidad aumentada. A continuación, en el segundo capítulo, se realiza el diseño de las evaluaciones, describiendo la selección de las aplicaciones, las condiciones necesarias para las pruebas y los usuarios que la realizarán. De la misma manera, se establecen las fases que componen cada evaluación, así como los formatos a utilizar durante la ejecución de cada una. Luego de diseñar las evaluaciones, se procede a realizar la ejecución de las mismas, por lo que en el tercer capítulo se describe de qué manera se llevaron a cabo las fases de las evaluaciones, resaltando los acontecimientos que pudiesen afectar la confiablidad de los resultados. Los resultados de las evaluaciones se obtuvieron a partir de la recopilación y análisis de la información plasmada por los usuarios en los formatos utilizados. Por esta razón, en el cuarto capítulo se presentan algunos de estos formatos, y se describen los resultados obtenidos a partir del análisis de estas. Finalmente, en el quinto capítulo se presentan las conclusiones del proyecto.

En la presente tesis se realiza el diseño y la implementación de un aplicativo móvil en Android cuyo propósito es el de motivar a los alumnos en la etapa escolar, edad en la que los jóvenes pierden fácilmente el interés por los temas académicos. Para lograr esto, la aplicación utiliza temáticas del curso de física para ser aplicadas en un innovador juego educativo, de esta forma el estudiante podrá complementar lo visto en clase con las dinámicas propias del juego. El entorno de trabajo a utilizar es Unity3D, equipado con un potente motor de física para la simulación de comportamientos reales en un entorno virtual. Adicionalmente, se emplean distintos programas y librerías para reforzar la aplicación móvil y resulte en un producto llamativo para el público. El trabajo realizado se encuentra estructurado de la siguiente manera: En el capítulo 1 se introduce el tema, la problemática que afronta nuestra sociedad en la actualidad y las tendencias en torno a la tecnología. Adicionalmente, se plantean los objetivos del proyecto. En el capítulo 2 se enfoca el marco teórico de las tecnologías involucradas en la culminación del juego: información sobre los distintos sistemas operativos, generalidades de la variedad de entornos de desarrollo para juegos y aplicaciones orientadas al diseño. En el capítulo 3 se realiza el análisis y la comparación de las alternativas presentadas, justificando la selección. Además, se incluye el diseño de la aplicación; temáticas y mecánicas a usar. En el capítulo 4 se detalla el proceso de implementación del juego, se trata de explicar la aventura de crear un juego desde el punto de vista del desarrollador.

This dissertation examines the predictability of user engagement on online social platforms by integrating theoretical perspectives from the literature on media and technology habits with principles of context-aware computing. It presents three studies, each targeting a different facet of technology-mediated communication, from social media use in general to more granular behaviors like active and passive use and instant messaging. The first chapter proposes a novel approach to the study of social media habits through predictive modeling of sequential smartphone user behaviors. Using longitudinal smartphone app log data, it examines the predictability of app engagement as a way to capture a critical yet previously neglected aspect of media and technology habits: their embeddedness in repetitive behavioral sequences. The study employs Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and transformer neural networks to demonstrate that social media use follows predictable patterns over time and that its predictability varies substantially across individuals. T he second chapter shifts focus to the potential of context-aware modeling as a holistic yet parsimonious and privacy-preserving approach to predicting user engagement on online social platforms. Analyzing over 100 million Snapchat sessions from nearly 80,000 users via deep LSTM neural networks, the study demonstrates the predictability of active and passive use based on past behavior and a notable improvement in predictive performance upon integrating momentary context information. Features related to connectivity status, location, temporal context, and weather were found to capture non-redundant variance in user engagement relative to features derived from histories of in-app behaviors. The findings are consistent with the idea of context-contingent, habit-driven patterns of active and passive use, highlighting the utility of contextualized representations of user behavior for predicting user engagement on online social platforms. The third chapter investigates the predictability of attentiveness and responsiveness in instant messaging on a large online social platform. Utilizing metadata from over 19 million messages, the study examines the predictive power of a wide range of predictor groups, including message attributes, user attributes, and momentary context, as well as historical communication patterns within ego networks and dyadic relationships. The findings echo the overarching theme that habitual behaviors and contextual factors shape user engagement. However, in this case, dyad-specific messaging histories account for the overwhelming share of explained variance, underlining the socially interdependent nature of user engagement in instant messaging. Collectively, the three studies presented in this dissertation make a theoretical contribution by establishing media and technology habits as a suitable framework for the study of user engagement and by introducing a novel perspective that emphasizes the repetitive, predictable, and context-dependent nature of media and technology habits. The research makes an important empirical contribution through the use of novel, large-scale, objective behavioral data, enhancing the ecological validity and real-world applicability of its findings. Methodologically, it pioneers the use of context-aware sequential machine learning techniques for the study of media and technology habits. The insights garnered from this research have the potential to inform the design of engaging and ethical online social platforms and mobile technologies, highlighting its practical implications for the billions of users navigating these digital environments on a daily basis.

The following dissertation is a series of three essays in behavioral/experimental and labor economics: (1) Information Asymmetry in Job Search, (2) Minority Turnout and Representation under Cumulative Voting. An Experiment, and (3) Networks and Labor Mobility: A Study of LinkedIn Profiles in the Biotechnology Sector. Standard models of rational job search assume agents know the distribution of offered wages when deciding which jobs to accept. In Chapter 1, coauthored with Kai Zen, I test if incorrect beliefs about wages affect real-world job search behavior in a field experiment with 1100 senior-year undergraduate students in the graduating Class of 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley. Partnering with the Career Center, we present personalized information graphics on school-and-major-specific salary distributions to students in the treatment group. We first document novel evidence that even prior to labor market entry, errors exist in wage beliefs – some students overestimate the available distribution, while others underestimate the available distribution. Post-treatment, we find that students treated with correct information update their beliefs towards the truth, and this is reflected in changes in reservation wages. At the end of the school year, we find that in comparison to the control group, students who increased their reservation wage after treatment had higher total and base salaries conditional on employment, a result significant at the 5% level. However, these same students had a lower, but imprecisely estimated likelihood of being employed by June post-graduation. An opposite but symmetric effect occurred for students who decreased their reservation wage. Our results are consistent with job search models where workers with more optimistic expectations wait longer to accept a job, but accept higher wages. We compare our experimental estimates to simulated moments from the model and find that the mean experimental effect is close to the model in magnitude under reasonable parameters. Our paper suggests an economically important role for errors in beliefs about labor market conditions and shows the effectiveness of a light-touch information intervention on employment and earnings for first-time job seekers. Chapter 2, coauthored with Alessandra Casella and Jeffrey Guo, asks how an alternative voting system can increase the voter turnout and representation of minorities. Under majoritarian election systems, securing the participation and representation of minorities remains an open problem, made salient in the US by its history of voter suppression. One remedy recommended by the courts is the adoption of Cumulative Voting (CV) in multi-member districts: each voter has as many votes as open positions but can cumulate votes on as few candidates as desired. Historical experiences are promising but also reflect episodes of minority activism. We present the results of a controlled lab experiment that isolates the role of the voting rule from other confounds. Although each voter is treated equally, theory predicts that CV should increase the minority's turnout relative to the majority and the minority's share of seats won. Our experimental results strongly support both theoretical predictions. In Chapter 3, using LinkedIn profiles data on the biotechnology sector, it is possible to construct a measure of individuals' networks based on coworkers within the same firm and location. Exploiting such a measure, I intend to test the impact of network size on future employment in the biotechnology sector, which has frequent employee turnover due to unanticipated clinical trial failures. In doing so, I seek to answer the following question: Do larger or higher-quality networks cushion against negative employment shocks? According to preliminary evidence, connections help workers find jobs more quickly. Currently, the network measure is imperfect, the data set on which the preliminary results are based is small, and the assumptions underlying the statistical analysis can be questioned. However, all three limitations can be overcome. I highlight in this chapter the steps to be taken to do so.

This thesis examines the political public relations campaign of the Democratic Alliance in the 2009 elections in order to explain the party’s performance in these elections. The research is premised on John Petrocik’s (1996) issue ownership theory. A number of quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted to provide answers to the main research questions. These involved: the party’s 286 media releases; party leader Helen Zille’s 2009 campaign speeches; and Zille’s Facebook platform. Results revealed that although the DA demonstrated extreme political resilience amidst fierce challenges in the 2009 elections, the party primarily campaigned on an anti-ANC ticket and a fair amount of negative advertising against the governing party to win itself votes. Not only did the party fail to “associate” itself with real issues affecting South African voters—especially the poor Black African majority which constitutes the largest voting bloc—it failed to pronounce itself clearly on other issues. Instead, the party attached itself to a multitude of shared issues, often “trespassing” on issues of common concern not necessarily “owned” by any one political party. This study also deduced that while Facebook facilitated public opinion on the DA in the 2009 elections, it still could not be regarded as a genuine public sphere in the South African context. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF COMMERCE IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS TO THE FACULTY OF COMMERCE, LAW AND MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG FEBRUARY 2015 / Social Network Sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Piniterest and Google+ have made it easy for youth to communicate, produce and share information. Using SNS has become a daily activity for many youth and young adults around the world, including South Africa. The use of SNS by youth may be motivated by needs for safety, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization, and others such as enjoyment. Yet, the use of SNS by youth may also carry a number of risks. They include risks to violations of privacy, social and psychological risks that may harm the user’s self-image, as well as time and financial risks resulting from excessive SNS usage. The purpose of this study is to understand the tension between risks and motivation in the use of SNS by university students. To do so, this study developed an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Multi-dimensional risk and motivation constructs were examined for their interactions with TAM constructs of perceived ease of use and perceive usefulness and their effects on SNS usage intentions and actual usage were examined. To test the model, a non-probability convenience sampling method was adopted using students from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Five hundred and fifteen students participated in the study. The ages ranged between 18 and 34 years, 26% males and 74% females took part in the study, and included students from 1st year through to 4th year undergraduate or Honours level. Facebook was found to be the most used SNS. Approximately 80% of respondents reported accessing SNS on their mobile phones and 66% reported being always connected. More than 25% of respondents were actively using SNS for more than 3 hours a day, with 35% using less than one hour per day. Interestingly, only 35% reported having public profiles although 10% did not know whether their profiles were public or private, and nearly 40% of respondents knew less than half the “friends” they were connected to on SNS Partial least squares approach to structured equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised research model. Results showed that motivation influences perceived usefulness (β=0.239, p<0.001) and perceived ease of use (β=0.319, p<0.001) positively. The results suggest that when motivations such as enjoyment and need to belong are high, SNS will be perceived as useful and easy to use. Risk was found to have a negative influence on perceived usefulness (β=-0.0764, p<0.05) and perceived ease of use (β=-0.3265, p<0.001). The results show that when risks are considered high, users are likely to increase their vigilance and consequently will report SNS as less easy to use. Moreover, as a result of risk users may find the SNS less useful. Perceived usefulness (β=0.295, p<0.001) influences intention to use SNS positively. This suggests that when SNS is useful to users, they will have intentions to use it. Intention to use SNS is also influenced by perceived ease of use (β=0.0396, p<0.01). An easy to use SNS will make users want to use it, as opposed to one considered more complex and requiring more effort. Motivation (β=0.281, p<0.001) was found to have more of an effect than risk (β=-0.071, p<0.05) on intentions to use. Respondents thus appear to recognize some risks associated with SNS use, but they appear to be driven more by motivations and less by risk avoidance when deciding on SNS usage. The study will have implications for researchers, SNS providers and users. The results of the study have implications for how researchers conceptualize risk and motivation. The study shows how different dimensions of risk and dimensions of motivation affect the overall risk and overall motivation construct respectively. Currently SNS providers may not have deep understanding of the risks which hinder the use of SNS and motivations which drive the use of SNS. Providers will be better informed to design SNS that are less risky and where possible mitigate the risks. Results also show that SNS providers should not only mitigate risks but also provide online social networks that better fulfil motivational needs of youth. Users will be aware of different risks they are exposing themselves to by using SNS. Since users will be aware of the different types of risks, they can be vigilante when using SNS. / MT2017

Submitted by Marlucy Farias Medeiros (marlucy.farias@unipampa.edu.br) on 2018-02-06T14:26:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Karine Nóra Dias -2017.pdf: 36282930 bytes, checksum: b79cef0f584bf51a947e30c4a30ee7d1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marlucy Farias Medeiros (marlucy.farias@unipampa.edu.br) on 2018-02-06T15:37:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Karine Nóra Dias -2017.pdf: 36282930 bytes, checksum: b79cef0f584bf51a947e30c4a30ee7d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-06T15:37:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Karine Nóra Dias -2017.pdf: 36282930 bytes, checksum: b79cef0f584bf51a947e30c4a30ee7d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-28 / O desenvolvimento de software requer conhecimentos técnicos para projetar, estruturar e implementar sistemas. Todo este processo envolve custos e demanda suporte das tecnologias. Atualmente, com a popularização de smartphones, profissionais da saúde podem contar com aplicativos de auxílio ao atendimento clínico. No entanto, as características de cunho técnico impedem que tais profissionais desenvolvam suas próprias aplicações, principalmente quando há maior complexidade lógica. Os documentos médicos usados como referência no atendimento específico de enfermidades são chamados de protocolos clínicos. Esses documentos possuem estrutura lógica geralmente padronizada, podendo ser expressa em fluxogramas. Baseado nisso, este trabalho propõe através de uma ferramenta web, uma maneira facilitadora para a construção aplicativos móveis. A ferramenta desenvolvida nesse trabalho tem como propósito a geração automática de aplicativos móveis para o dia-a-dia dos profissionais da saúde através da descrição em fluxogramas. Dessa forma, leigos no desenvolvimento de aplicativo podem tomar iniciativa de criar aplicativos que sejam úteis no cotidiano. Desta maneira, em um primeiro momento verificou-se na literatura trabalhos relacionados com geração de aplicativos automáticos e a área de saúde. Após, foi estudado os protocolos clínicos e então foi desenvolvido a arquitetura e lógica de uma ferramenta de geração automática de aplicativos móveis Android a partir da descrição gráfica de protocolos clínicos. Como resultados e validação do trabalho, foram reproduzidos aplicativos publicados em lojas digitais. Através das reproduções pode-se verificar que a proposta conseguiu descrever o conteúdo das aplicações em fluxogramas, mesmo não sendo originalmente utilizado protocolos clínicos como fonte de referência. / Software development requires technical knowledge to design, structure and implemente systems. This whole process involves costs and demand support of the technologies. Nowadays, with the popularization of smartphones, health professionals can count on clinical assistance applications. However, due technical characteristics, it prevents such professionals from developing their own applications, especially when there is bigger logical complexity. The medical documents used as reference in the specific care of diseases are called clinical protocols. These documents have a generally standardized logical structure and can be expressed in flowcharts. Based on that, this work proposes through a web tool, a facilitating way to generate mobile applications. The tool developed in this work has the purpose of automatic generation of mobile applications for the daily life of health professionals through the description in flowcharts. In this way, people without knowledge in application development can take the initiative to create applications that are useful in everyday life. In order to do this, it was first verified in the literature works related to automatic application generation and the health area. Afterwards, the clinical protocols were studied and then the architecture and logic of an automatic mobile application generation tool Android was developed from the graphical description of protocols clinical. As results and validation of the work, applications published in digital stores were reproduced. Through the reproductions, it can be verified that the proposal was able to describe the content of the applications in flowcharts, even though it was not originally used clinical protocols as reference a source.