Kenya's 2010 Constitution marked a significant shift towards decentralised governance and public participation as key drivers of sustainable development (Finch and Omolo, 2015). One of the primary strategies county governments employ to achieve this goal is participatory budgeting (PB), which empowers communities and devolves power to support inclusive and equitable development. Through the Communication for Development lens, this thesis investigates the discourse surrounding participatory budgeting in Makueni County, Kenya. The study examines the communication approaches the county government applies to promote public participation, explores the role of participatory communication in facilitating public engagement in PB, and assesses the inclusivity of participatory approaches. Additionally, the research delves into the opportunities and challenges of integrating digital tools into participatory communication for PB. This aspect of the study is particularly relevant in today's digital age, where digital communication tools have become an essential aspect of communication. The thesis also considers power dynamics, social context, and the appropriate use of digital tools to foster a participatory and inclusive approach for PB.The data collection methods to dissect the research topic included semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Makueni County officials and a focus group discussion with civil society and community members. The findings of this research reveal Makueni County has public participation approach that enjoys strong government backing and efforts to institutionalise PB within the county devolution governance. The county communication approach blends participatory and top-down strategies, dominated by a monologic, one-way flow of information. However, a participatory aspect is also present, facilitated by traditional community platforms and community mobilisation through media and digital tools. While digital platforms are employed, restricted internet coverage and a digital divide hinder their effectiveness. The findings also identify limited youth and civil society participation in the communication approaches further hinder inclusive participation in the PB processes. Despite these challenges, the study suggests that Makueni County's approach is promising for participatory communication. However, to achieve a truly participatory communication approach, the county government needs to refine its communication approach to enhance inclusivity and leverage digital tools to foster effective public participation. This could cultivate transparent, accountable, and participatory communication strategies, that could yield sustainable and equitable outcomes in the participatory budgeting initiative.

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This master thesis "Visual presentation of presidential candidates on Facebook" provides an image analysis of presidential candidates on social network in the period before and during the election in 2013. The theoretical part tackles the role of visual political communication, including image values and ideology, the relationship of the image and the text or media image research and seamlessly continues the formation of the political media image in modern political communication. The following quantitative content analysis analyses the context of the visual media image building within individual profiles of candidates, evaluates the work with images and text components, discusses the question, who creates the media profile of candidates and in combination with the qualitative image analysis reveals specific features of media profile building of individual candidates.

The Thesis Role of Virtual Friendship and Community Networks in the Life of Adolescents is dealing with rather new phenomena of virtual friendship on the internet social network that is connected with young generation to 20 years old. The text consists of two main parts. In the introducing section the main characteristics of comunity social networks in connection to adolescents described on the basis of teorethical analyse, interpretation of literature and description of their main functions. Especially social networking site Facebook is detailed characterized, because virtual friendship is mainly connected with it. The practical part contains research on theme of online communities in the life of adolescents. A public iquirry and a questionnaire were used as research tools. Four goals and six hypothesis were defined. Two hyphothesis were verified.

Thesis title: Social Networks as an Essential Part of the Gambrinus league's Marketing Communication Objective Main objective of this thesis is creation of marketing manual on various social networks intended for marketing communication of the Gambrinus league. It is supposed to provide flexibly applicable tool representing communication manual for clubs of primary football league in the Czech Republic. As partial objectives of this work are stipulated analysis and assessment of individual clubs' official Facebook profiles and their development. Further objectives are identification and compilation of overview representing other platforms of social networks and its evaluation considering their potential benefits for marketing communication of the Gambrinus league. Methodology Qualitative and quantitative methods of marketing research were used for the purposes of presented thesis. Qualitative methods comprehend expert dialogue, case study and observation. As qualitative research methods were applied statistical data analysis and development study. Results The communication manual for the Gambrinus league on social networks was completed and in detail described in separate chapter of this dissertation. It is for the most part based on solutions which were presented in the analytical part of this...

This diploma thesis discusses the evaluation of the extent and way of using the social network called Facebook by the municipalities of the Central Bohemia Region, participating in the local Agenda 21. The subjects of the research are official Facebook pages of the municipalities on the mentioned social network. Emphasis is placed on revealing the relationships between the characteristics of individual municipalities and their activity, or the way of using Facebook. The theoretical part of the thesis provides definitions of the basic terms and the theoretical background. The research questions are formulated in the Methodology chapter. They are answered in the research section of this thesis by using combination of research methods. Official Facebook pages were created by four municipalities (until the 1 January 2016) from total number of twelve municipalities and small municipalities, participating in the local Agenda 21 in the Central Bohemian Region. According to the results of the econometric analysis, the higher the unemployment rate in these municipalities, the more likely it is that the municipality has an official Facebook page.

This diploma thesis deals with the issue of security risks and threats of social networks. The work includes basic information about the most popular online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The work analyzes the development and use of the above mentioned networks. In addition, there are the risks and dangers of communicating on social networks and recommendations for safe use.

This thesis deals with the topic of how the members of online community of hookah smokers (hookah community) communicate. The core of the thesis lies in the quantitative content analysis of the content published in three hookah community Facebook groups. The results of the analysis are complemented with insight gained through semi-structured interviews conducted with seven members of the hookah community, using qualitative analysis. The first part of the thesis outlines the new media, describes basic terminology and concepts of social networks and marketing communication, provides an introduction into the topic of online communities, and describes hookahs, the hookah community, and the commercial entities involved in the hookah industry. The second part of the thesis describes the methodology of quantitative and qualitative research, presents the obtained findings, and provides their summary utilizing the knowledge presented in the theoretical part of the thesis. The thesis aims to describe and evaluate the current state of communication within the hookah community Facebook groups and map the presence of commercial communication in the analyzed content.

Thesis Perception of new media as a threat on an example of Black Mirror series deals with the Black Mirror series viewers' stand on new media threats. The aim is to detect if the series affected their opinions or behavior with new media in any way. This aim will be persuaded by using the method of semi-structured interviews. The topic of new media and their negative impacts on individuals and society is in sociology represented increasingly. Black Mirror series literally aiming to set up a black mirror for our lives with ever-evolving technologies adds a value that can affect the respondents' emotions and opinions on this topic. The theoretical part describes the transitions of society in modern day - concept of network society and risk society and explains the terms threat and risk. Furthermore, the thesis focuses on current new media threats. The second, practical, part describes the specific methodological procedures used in this thesis and thus the methods of thematic analysis and methods of qualitative interviews. This will be followed by a description of the research steps, a description of the results and the results interpretation.

This diploma thesis focuses on social networks and their usage in media education at a lower secondary school. The thesis exclusively deals with Facebook and Instagram and is divided into two parts, the theoretical one and the practical (empirical) one. The theoretical part studies both types of social networks and presents their development. Moreover, it focuses on the specifics of electronic communication and alludes to other topics such as media communication, media literacy, media education etc. The concluding passages of the theoretical part then focus on the relationship between media education and the curricular documents of the Czech educational system. The following practical part applies the outcomes of the theoretical part. Firstly, it takes into account works of several Czech linguists on whose findings the empirical analysis rests. Secondly, the reasons why media education should be present in education are listed. In its main part, the thesis then presents an analysis of selected material related to media education and offers possible methodological suggestions relevant to media education. The outcomes of those suggestions for the curricular documents are present, too. Finally, it also copes with research conducted on Czech language teachers and their stance towards Facebook and...