Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/01/11). Includes bibliographical references.

Dans notre société dite de ' l'information ' depuis le discours prononcé par Lionel jospin en 1997, le numérique prend une place de plus en plus importante dans les activités personnelles et professionnelles des individus. habitué jusqu'alors aux pratiques organisationnelles liées au support papier, l'individu doit adapter ses pratiques au support numérique et se trouve confronté à de nombreuses difficultés ; il semble que ce changement de matérialité modifie en profondeur le rapport de l'individu aux documents qui sont les supports de sa pratique professionnelle.le terrain choisi pour mener cette étude est celui des organisations muséales. le document, y est en effet un élément essentiel de la circulation de l'information entre les différents acteurs associés autour d'un même processus organisationnel. l'inventaire du patrimoine, traditionnellement basé sur des pratiques à forte composante documentaire, reposant essentiellement sur le papier sera l'objet central autour duquel sera menée cette étude. a l'heure où le numérique envahit les organisations, les musées sont de plus en plus présents sur le web et les documentations scientifiques, outil essentiel du fonctionnement interne et vecteur de connaissance pour le public externe, se posent la question de la numérisation. cette étude vise à mieux comprendre en quoi la numérisation des documents modifie les pratiques documentaires, et plus largement comment l'organisation est impactée par ces changements de pratiques. il s'agira donc de s'interroger sur la manière dont le document participait à structurer les pratiques professionnelles dans le cas d'une activité traditionnellement basée sur le papier puis d'observer de la même manière, une activité de même ordre, mais qui reposerait sur des documents numériques. / In our society known as 'information' since the speech delivered by Lionel Jospin in 1997, digital is becoming increasingly important in the personal and professional activities of individuals. previously accustomed to paper-based organizational practices, individuals must adapt their practices to digital media and face many difficulties; it seems that this change in materiality profoundly modifies the relation of the individual to the documents which are the supports of his professional practice. The field chosen for this study is that of the museum organizations. the document is indeed an essential element of the flow of information between the different actors involved around the same organizational process. the inventory of heritage, traditionally based on practices with a strong documentary component, based essentially on paper, will be the central object around which this study will be conducted. At a time when digital is invading organizations, museums are increasingly present on the web and scientific documentation, an essential tool for internal functioning and a vector of knowledge for the external public, raises the question of digitization. this study aims to better understand how the digitization of documents modifies documentary practices, and more broadly how the organization is impacted by these changes in practices. it will be a question of how the document helped to structure professional practices in the case of an activity traditionally based on paper and then to observe in the same way, an activity of the same kind, but which would rely on digital documents.

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-107).

No description available.

In Iowa, the state with the largest percent of its land used for agriculture (90 percent) in the nation, compromised water quality is a chief concern among experts. The primary problem is related to the negative environmental impacts caused by nutrient runoff from fields. Although several innovative land-management practices have demonstrated nutrient reduction potential and other soil health related benefits, the practices are not widely utilized on Iowa farm fields. Thus, water quality is at the center of a contentious debate in the state and many farmers are receiving contradictory advice depending on the source of the information. Media and interpersonal communication channels play a primary role in disseminating environmental risk information to the public and farmers (Katz & Lazarfeld, 1955; Rogers, 2010). However, little is known about the way contradictory risk information may shape farmer’s conceptualizations of the water problems in Iowa. Correspondingly, little is known regarding the individuals who are most influential to farmer’s behaviors related to these water issues. To address the potential communication process problems resulting from the clashing ideologies related to the environment and agriculture, this study seeks to investigate the flow of information and networks of influence within the agricultural community in Eastern Iowa. Three studies are conducted to address media, interpersonal, and risk communication components at play in this context. Because mass media are a key source of risk information for the public (McCallum, Hammond, & Covello, 1991; Morton & Duck, 2001; Ho et al., 2013) the first study consists of a thematic textual analysis of online news articles about Iowa’s water quality. A total of 305 articles, published by the Des Moines Register (DMR), Iowa Farmer Today (IFT), and the Farm Bureau Spokesman (FBS), are examined. Themes related to key narratives about Iowa’s water quality problems and the way risks and uncertainty are conveyed in the articles is also investigated. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was collected to document the types of organizations and key spokespeople used as informational sources in the articles. Findings demonstrate that some messages simultaneously place the blame for causing and the responsibility for solving the problem on the farmers; while others suggest that nutrient excesses are not anthropogenic, are natural, expected, weather dependent, and uncontrollable. Based on the media sources themselves, and the organizations and individuals cited in the articles, this distinction reflects a preeminent pro-agriculture versus pro-environment ideological divide in Iowa. The second study examines farmers’ perspectives on the nutrient issues in Iowa, including their risk perceptions, and preferred sources of information on water quality, both mediated and interpersonal. The study utilizes intercept interviews conducted over a two-month period between July and September 2016 in Middle and Easter Iowa. Analysis of risk perceptions, uncertainty levels, and current mitigation practices revealed a pattern of lower environmental risk perceptions associated with adoption of fewer nutrient reducing practices, and greater uncertainty regarding current nutrient levels. The third and final study built upon data from the previous study and involved in-depth interviews with the individuals who were identified as influential to farmer’s water related land management practices. Definitions of influencers from the level of the individual (i.e., self-identification as an influential), community (i.e., identification of an influential by other farmers), and media narratives (i.e., identification of an influential in an article or media source), in addition to definitions of influentials from previous literature were compared. Findings revealed that influence is highly related to employment position and opportunity to communicate with multiple, various farmers. Personal motivation for engaging in persuasive communication efforts with farmers was revealed as an important factor which may help strengthen theoretical conceptualizations of influential individuals within social networks. This project is a study of environmental communication products, processes, and effects and sought to disentangle the relationships between the risk representation and perception, and influence within agricultural network information flow—an area of research currently lacking. Results help extend scholarship in these areas and illuminate the differing conceptualizations of these variables by mainstream media, agricultural industry media, influential individuals, and agricultural producers themselves. This improved understanding paves the way for subsequent research and intervention efforts to communicate more productively with farmers. The effects of such efforts could help redirect negativity and blame away from farmers, and towards a more productive and holistic approach to solving Iowa’s water quality problems.

<p><em>Consumers today leave a fragment of information when they pay with their debit and credit cards. The aim of our work is to investigate ways to design a concept of a system in which digitally stored information that today is fragmented among several different holders, can be assembled into a system and made available to consumers. In our study of how a system for financial flow of information should be designed, we intend to study the present situation and the attempts made to alter it into a more informative reality. We intend to investigate the flow of information when a consumer pays by card, and the possible solutions regarding the design and transportation of digital receipts. A majority of the information of our digital consumption is today handled digitally. We pay bills and make purchases online with debit- and credit cards. Some of this information is available digitally for the parties involved. However, there is an essential element of information that is not being made available digitally to consumers. The digital receipt is a natural part of the whole that is our idea. The digital nature of the information creates opportunities for new services and markets, but the digital receipt also replaces the unwanted physical receipt. We found that there is an interest among consumers for the introduction of the digital receipt and the information that it enables.</em> <em>We have for this purpose created a conceptual design, and initiated a discussion on the future systems of private financial information.</em></p> / <p><em>Consumers today leave a fragment of information when they pay with their debit and credit cards. The aim of our work is to investigate ways to design a concept of a system in which digitally stored information that today is fragmented among several different holders, can be assembled into a system and made available to consumers. In our study of how a system for financial flow of information should be designed, we intend to study the present situation and the attempts made to alter it into a more informative reality. We intend to investigate the flow of information when a consumer pays by card, and the possible solutions regarding the design and transportation of digital receipts. A majority of the information of our digital consumption is today handled digitally. We pay bills and make purchases online with debit- and credit cards. Some of this information is available digitally for the parties involved. However, there is an essential element of information that is not being made available digitally to consumers. The digital receipt is a natural part of the whole that is our idea. The digital nature of the information creates opportunities for new services and markets, but the digital receipt also replaces the unwanted physical receipt. We found that there is an interest among consumers for the introduction of the digital receipt and the information that it enables.</em> <em>We have for this purpose created a conceptual design, and initiated a discussion on the future systems of private financial information.</em></p>

Online public fora based on social media facilitate social interaction and synchronous online discussion. Social-media-based public fora resemble real-life political talks, and induce a larger number of and a wider variety of participants than blogs or Usenet newsgroups. By investigating two online groups centered on political discussions on Twitter, this study explores how information and influence flow, how diverse the actual discourse is, and to what extent the online groups communicate with the government. Using network analysis and content analysis/co-word analysis, this study has the findings as follows: In terms of the structural qualities, online public fora are relatively inclusive, but are centralized on a few participants and do not have a statistically significant indication of being equitable in discussion. The two-step flow of communication operates along with the presence of opinion leaders who turn out to be influentials but not content creators. Interestingly, the flow of influence is likely to be less centralized than the flow of information, which implies the importance of the reliability of a given message rather than that of the author. In terms of the actual discourse, participants turn to like-minded fellow citizens’ remarks. Discourses are more emotional than cognitive and exhibits more anger than anxiety. Influential discourses are those with negative emotion more so than with positive emotion and those that are cognitive rather than emotional. Among cognitive components, assertive and strong discourses have greater social influence than analytical discourses. In terms of the interaction with the e-government outlet, the distance between public authorities and private citizens is continuously present despite the decline of temporal and physical distance via the Internet. Based on the results, this study suggests a reconsideration of the Habermasian public sphere in online public fora. It contributes to the literature by empirically confirming the presence of the two-step flow of communication in online public fora and testing the difference between the flow of information and the flow of influence. In addition, it broadens the realm of research on political communication by exploring not only sources/ideological perspectives but also emotional/cognitive aspects in discussions. Methodologically, structure/context, multi-level, and quantitative/qualitative analyses allow this study to have a comprehensive account of online public fora. Practically, this study proposes to improve the interactivity with citizens as the next stage of e-government development. / text

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rural communities depend on the use of natural resources surrounding them for their daily livelihoods. These communities have in the past lived off these resources amid the day-to-day natural threats that pose a threat to their environmental resources. These communities depend on tending the land and rearing livestock to provide for their day-to-day needs. The only period when these communities decide to sell what they have produced is when they have unexpected surpluses that were neither planned for and these are normally sold to derive extra income. Given the total dependence on the use of their natural resources as a means of their survival one would expect this group to be provided with relevant information and be kept abreast of developments in the sector to enable them to produce better and derive surpluses that will generate extra income. This is unfortunately not the prevailing arrangement, very often these communities are left on their own to fend for themselves using knowledge and practical experience that has been gained over the years. In other instances the nature of the information provided is in most cases such that it does not lend itself for easy use by a person who is either semi-literate or illiterate. For those who can read the information it is not always forthcoming or does not deal with the relevant local issues, and lack of supportive infrastructure also adds to the farmers ailing conditions. The kind of agricultural research as well as extension services provided to these farming communities is still lagging behind due to a number of factors, these include: poor interaction with the farmers in an effort to identify and prioritize their needs, high level of illiteracy, insufficient resources, low levels of income and a host of other related problems. Adomi et.al. (2003), in their study on crop farmers’ access to agricultural information in rural areas of Delta State Nigeria, also stress the importance of farmers having access to agricultural information if their agricultural efforts are to succeed. They further emphasize that farmers need to share knowledge and experience with farmers who operate under similar conditions, this will enable them to adapt and replicate experiences learnt from other farmers. Most importantly farmers need to be provided with information on access to credit and information from research institutions. The paper intends to look at challenges facing small-scale farmers in as far as information dissemination is concerned, appropriate techniques that can be applied to overcome these challenges and use lessons that have proved to work for countries operating under similar conditions. It is important to remember that farmers irrespective of their scale of operation, are managers in their own right, they are constantly facing challenges, are forced to make choices and decisions that will determine the future of their farming enterprise in the cut-throat competitive environment. The livelihoods of their families depend on these very decisions. Therefore providing timely, accurate, reliable and user-friendly information at affordable prices is their only hope for survival in the present free- market economy.

Consumers today leave a fragment of information when they pay with their debit and credit cards. The aim of our work is to investigate ways to design a concept of a system in which digitally stored information that today is fragmented among several different holders, can be assembled into a system and made available to consumers. In our study of how a system for financial flow of information should be designed, we intend to study the present situation and the attempts made to alter it into a more informative reality. We intend to investigate the flow of information when a consumer pays by card, and the possible solutions regarding the design and transportation of digital receipts. A majority of the information of our digital consumption is today handled digitally. We pay bills and make purchases online with debit- and credit cards. Some of this information is available digitally for the parties involved. However, there is an essential element of information that is not being made available digitally to consumers. The digital receipt is a natural part of the whole that is our idea. The digital nature of the information creates opportunities for new services and markets, but the digital receipt also replaces the unwanted physical receipt. We found that there is an interest among consumers for the introduction of the digital receipt and the information that it enables. We have for this purpose created a conceptual design, and initiated a discussion on the future systems of private financial information. / Consumers today leave a fragment of information when they pay with their debit and credit cards. The aim of our work is to investigate ways to design a concept of a system in which digitally stored information that today is fragmented among several different holders, can be assembled into a system and made available to consumers. In our study of how a system for financial flow of information should be designed, we intend to study the present situation and the attempts made to alter it into a more informative reality. We intend to investigate the flow of information when a consumer pays by card, and the possible solutions regarding the design and transportation of digital receipts. A majority of the information of our digital consumption is today handled digitally. We pay bills and make purchases online with debit- and credit cards. Some of this information is available digitally for the parties involved. However, there is an essential element of information that is not being made available digitally to consumers. The digital receipt is a natural part of the whole that is our idea. The digital nature of the information creates opportunities for new services and markets, but the digital receipt also replaces the unwanted physical receipt. We found that there is an interest among consumers for the introduction of the digital receipt and the information that it enables. We have for this purpose created a conceptual design, and initiated a discussion on the future systems of private financial information.