Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

<p>This study discussed the effect of new information and communication technologies use on adolescents. The research also assessed whether gender and frequency of use of new information and communication technologies would interact to influence self-esteem and social support from family and friends.</p>

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This body of work is a post modern analysis of how the shift from mass to me media influences the role and structure of the media. Was McLuhan right, is the medium increasingly the message? Or is the post-modern media a totally different animal, a manifestation of popular culture and marketing rather than the socially responsible institution responsible for safeguarding democracy that it was envisioned to be by the American founding fathers? The underlying theme is the convergence of media and marketing and the resulting conglomeration and technological dependency forced on the reader and the writer. Who are the new mediators and how do they manage the media? In the mediatrix, the readers become media managers and the writers become surfers. The analysis begins with an examination of the contrast between real and virtual communities and how the media bridges this information gap. How does reporting in virtuality reflect reality? The body of the study has three parts, the shift from mass to me media, the alternative media spheres it has engendered and the controlling forces behind this transition. Throughout the study, mass media and me media are contrasted. The study ends with a look at the impact of technology .andpopular culture on the South African media and how the media will click through the future. Will the deeply entrenched communal values of ubuntu stave off the individualisation cocooning brings? That is, will the I before we focus of personalised media nurture the South African democracy or will itfoster mediocracy? / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die volgende tesis is n omskrywing van hoe die beweging van die massa-media na die ek-media die rol en die struktuur van die media beinvloed. Was McLuhan korrek, is die medium dikwels doe boodskap? Of is die post-moderne media n totale ander gedierte? n Manifestasie van die populere kultuur en bemarking, eerder as die sosiale verantwoordelike instituut verantwoordelik vir die behoud van demokrasie soos dit gevisualiseer is deur die Amerikaanse voorvaders? Die onderliggende tema is die bymekaarvoeging van media en bemarking en die konglomerasie en tegnologiese verantwoordelikheid geplaas op die leser en skrywer. Wie is die nuwe tussengangers en hoe bestuur hulle die media? In die "mediatrix" word die leser die media bestuurder en die skrywer word die net-sweefer. Die analise begin met die ondersoek na die kontras ussen egte en virtuele gemeenskappe en hoe die media hierdie informasie gaping oorbrug. Hoe word realiteit beinvloed deur rapportering in virtualiteit? Die liggam van die studie bestaan uit drie dele - die skuifvan massa-media na ek-media, die alternatiewe media sfere wat dit vorm, en, die beheerende invloede agter die transformasie. Reg deur die studie word die massa -media en die ek-media gekontrasteer. Die studie eindig met n opsomming van die impak wat tegnologie en populere kultuur op die SA mark het en hoe die media sal saamstem in die toekoms. Sal die diepere gelee gemeenskapswaardes van ubuntu die individualisme wat "cocooning" meebring afskiet. Sal die ek voor die ons van verpersoonlikte media die SA demokrasie aanhelp of medioker maak. / rs201512

This study analyses Uganda’s 2004 Broadcast Policy in light of the WSIS principles in order to establish whether the policy enables radio to build an inclusive and people-centred Information Society, and if so, in what ways it does this. The study specifically focuses on radio, which it views as the dominant medium in Uganda, and therefore the medium with the greatest potential to build a sustainable Information Society in the country. The study is informed by media policy theories as well as Information Society theories. It is argued that although most definitions of the Information Society consider the newer ICTs, especially the Internet, as the key drivers in the Information Society, most developing countries like Uganda are far from reaching the desired level of computer and Internet access as proposed by some Information Society theorists. Instead, most people in Uganda rely heavily on older ICTs, especially radio, for information about key issues in their daily lives. Inevitably, radio ends up being a key player in building the Information Society in these countries. The study, therefore, finds most of the common Information Society theories lacking and adopts the WSIS definition, which is more relevant to Uganda’s situation. This study also maintains that if radio is to be a key player in building an inclusive and people-centred Information Society in Uganda, the 2004 Broadcast Policy has to create that enabling environment, by, for example, promoting public service radio through local content programming, and diversifying radio ownership. The data for this study was obtained using the qualitative research approach, and specifically the research tools of document analysis and individual in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that the policy’s emphasis is on building a broadcast sector that addresses the public’s interests through local content programming and provision of diversified media services. However, the study also found that the policy is vague on some very crucial aspects, which would benefit the public, namely, local content quotas and the independence of the public service broadcaster.

Thesis (MTech(Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / To design from a human perspective rather than from existing technological opportunities, and involving multiple stakeholders with their different perspectives, is an important aspect of participatory design and user-centered design. This thesis project was an explorative study done on a wine estate, in the Western Cape, South Africa, to find novel ICT solutions, for supporting co-operation and planning between multiple and individual work tasks in the work practice. This research explored potentials to manage multiple stakeholders and use their different perspectives to inform design research. The thesis project shows the ethnographic research gathered through video shadowing, workshop results involving the users to contribute to the development of the design by acting with a projection, leading up to a design opening and further focused on the concept development with the stakeholders.The thesis proposes a simulated concept namely the Visual Calculator (VC). This system is designed to involve several participators within a work practice. It supports calculation activities for spraying and buying chemicals. It saves the user time by incorporating standard calculations to output needed information faster. It supports planning, management and record keeping aspects of the farm manager’s work practice in the vineyard spraying process. Although the concept was more fully developed for the farm manager, the VC involves two other work roles including the owner and foreman. The concept focuses on a human centered perspective, instead of making the system fully automated, giving users control and not controlling the users. For this to be successful work should be divided and have equal responsibilities, each stakeholder can contribute and value their part of the work, knowing where it fits in, why it is important and how it influences other aspects of the work practice. The research outcome involves, envisioning the future potentials of the design (VC), design for participation, a way to identify design openings, problem solving and conceptualizing by utilizing user’s strengths.

Orientador: Maria Conceição da Costa / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T02:49:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Spiess_MaikoRafael_M.pdf: 1612116 bytes, checksum: dafd3889b9bef336e11fccac86775f7b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: As Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs) estão cada vez mais presentes no cotidiano de uma grande parcela da população, influenciando em diversas áreas da vida social. Estas tecnologias são constantemente aprimoradas, recebendo novos usos e funcionalidades, tornando-se cada vez mais flexíveis e interativas. Com isso, se alteram também a relação entre o usuário e o produto, e a delimitação de papéis entre produtores e consumidores. Um dos maiores exemplos deste fenômeno é a produção de software livre/aberto: desde meados dos anos 1980, sua cultura colaborativa de elaboração de sistemas operacionais e programas aplicativos possibilitou o surgimento de novos modelos de distribuição e novas tecnologias de software, de certo modo antecipando a produção colaborativa dos tempos atuais, das plataformas wiki e da web 2.0. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar uma parcela deste fenômeno, através do estudo de caso do BrOffice.org e do emprego de referenciais teóricos dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia (ESCT). Em um sentido estrito, o termo BrOffice.org refere-se a um pacote de programas para a automação de escritório, derivado de uma iniciativa de software livre/aberto internacional (o OpenOffice.org). No entanto, o termo é também empregado para identificar uma comunidade de desenvolvedores, usuários e ativistas, e uma Organização Não-Governamental, associados ao produto. Para analisar estas duas dimensões do objeto, o trabalho está dividido em quatro capítulos. O primeiro capítulo procura familiarizar o leitor com o tema do software livre/aberto, apresentando uma contextualização geral sobre este movimento, procurando evidenciar alguns elementos históricos, seu estado e importância atuais. O capítulo dois é destinado aos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia, destacando a emergência e estabelecimento deste campo multidisciplinar e algumas de suas principais vertentes teóricas e metodológicas, como a Teoria Ator-Rede. Sobretudo, procura apresentar os elementos conceituais que possibilitaram a realização do estudo de caso do BrOffice.org, descrito no terceiro capítulo. Neste sentido, o terceiro capítulo apresenta os procedimentos metodológicos empregados no estudo de caso, uma revisão histórica sobre o produto e sobre o coletivo e, finalmente, a aplicação do referencial da Teoria Ator-Rede. Mais especificamente, descreve o objeto e o coletivo BrOffice.org como sendo componentes de uma rede tecnoeconômica, composta por diversos elementos heterogêneos. Por um lado, descreve o processo de constituição do artefato técnico, através do arranjo simultâneo de elementos técnicos e sociais, e sua importância na definição do relacionamento entre os diversos atores envolvidos na rede, através de um processo de tradução de interesses. Por outro lado, o estudo de caso procura descrever a dinâmica desta rede, através da análise de alguns de seus processos de convergência e irreversibilidade. Por fim, o quarto capítulo procura sistematizar algumas das conclusões do estudo de caso, apontando algumas de suas especificidades e indicações para estudos futuros / Abstract: The Information and Communication Technologies are constantly becoming more present in the everyday lives of a great part of the population, influencing many different aspects of social life. These Technologies are being constantly modified, receiving new usages and functionalities, becoming more and more flexible and interactive. As a result, the user and artifact relation and also the roles imputed to producers and consumers are changed as well. One of the most expressive examples of this phenomenon is the production of free/open source softwares: since mid 1980's, its collaborative culture of operational systems and application softwares development made possible the outspring of new models of distribution and new software technologies, in a certain way foretelling the collaborative production currently know from wiki platforms and web 2.0. The objective of this work is to analyze one aspect of this phenomenon throughout the case study of the BrOffice.org and the application of frameworks from the Social Studies of Science and Technology. In a strict sense, the BrOffice.org is a software package for office automation, derived from a international free/open source software initiative. However, this term is also used to identify a community of developers, users and activists, and a Non Governmental Organization associated to the software. In order to analyze these two dimensions of the object the work is divided in four chapters. The first chapter searches to familiarize the reader with the free/open source software subject. It shows a general contextualization of this movement trying to highlight some historical elements, its state of art and current importance. Chapter two is devoted to the Social Studies of Science and Technology (SSST), highlighting the emergence and establishment of this multidisciplinary field as well as its main theoretical and methodological approaches, like the Actor Network Theory. Above all, it tries to present the conceptual elements which guided the case study of BrOffice.org, described in the third chapter. The third chapter presents the methodological procedures used in the case study, a historical revision of the product and the collective and, finally, the application of the Actor Network Theory. It describes the object and the BrOffice's collective as components of a Techno-Economic Network, constituted from heterogeneous elements. On the one hand, it describes the process of constitution of the technical artifact from the simultaneous assemblage of technical and social elements, its importance for the definition of the relation among the many actors involved in the network by a translation of interests process. On the other hand, the case study tries to describe the dynamics of the network throughout the analysis of its convergence and irreversibility processes. In the end, the fourth chapter tries to summarize a few conclusions from the case study, pointing some of its specificities and indicating some possibilities of future studies / Mestrado / Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

A organização social em que estamos inseridos é denominada por Castells (1999) como Sociedade em Rede que é caracterizada por um processo de miniaturização das tecnologias e equipada pela internet sem fio. Esses dois fatores se articulam continuamente, ocasionando o que vemos hoje nas cidades, nômades tecnológicos - usuários das tecnologias móveis que produzem, consomem e compartilham informação sem sair do fluxo vertiginoso da cidade. Dentro dessa realidade, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo central o estudo da relação entre a produção imagética e a espacialidade. Com base nisso, realiza-se uma análise sobre a produção de vídeos gerados na cidade de Fortaleza-CE e compartilhados no site YouTube® junto a uma metodologia criada a partir pelo filme de Dziga Vertov - Um Homem com uma câmera (Rússia, 1929) - para um leitura urbana, discutindo as práticas desse usuários sob a ótica da arquitetura e urbanismo. / The social organization in which we are inserted is called Castells (1999) as Network Society which is characterized by a process of miniaturization of the Technologies and equipped with wireless internet. These two factors Continuously, causing what we see today in the cities, technological nomads - Users of mobile technologies that produce, consume and share information Without leaving the dizzying stream of the city. Within this reality, this research has as Central objective is the study of the relation between imagery and spatiality. With Based on this, an analysis is made on the production of videos generated in the city of Fortaleza-CE and shared on the YouTube® site together with a methodology created Dziga Vertov - A Man with a Camera (Russia, 1929) - for one Urban discourse, discussing the practices of these users from the perspective of architecture and urbanism.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / This study discussed the effect of new information and communication technologies use on adolescents. The research also assessed whether gender and frequency of use of new information and communication technologies would interact to influence self-esteem and social support from family and friends. / South Africa

Developing countries like Tanzania experience challenges towards utilization and acceptance of ICT; calling for a need to further research on the concept. Open Source (OS) usage is a potential strategy for addressing such challenges. However, the success of this strategy strongly relies on the strength of the promotional efforts. The study, therefore aims at assessing the OS promotional efforts in relation to ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. This study entailed a descriptive, mixed-methods research. A literature analysis, document analysis and observations of OS community activities were conducted in order to list the ICT acceptance challenges. The results formed a basis for survey and interview questions. The findings obtained were triangulated to determine the existing OS promotional activities and assess the effectiveness of the promotional efforts in addressing ICT acceptance challenges in Tanzania. The study also makes recommendations on how OS promotional efforts should be changed to improve their effectiveness. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

This study describes how information spread on the internet by examining diffusion, framing and source use surrounding coverage of the 2010 best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book presented a rare opportunity to view how a story about science, discovery and race became a best-seller within weeks after its publication. Through a mixed-methods and case study approach, the author examines patterns of coverage using Google Alerts that traced the book's online coverage in the first six months of its release. The author found that online information clustered around several themes with the most prominent describing aspects of science and scientific discovery, followed by the book's characterization as a "best seller" or "good read." Another recurring theme centered on issues surrounding exploitation in human research. In addition, the study reveals that sources who "set the frame" for coverage were most likely to be media figures, including Oprah Winfrey, Alan Ball and HBO films, in addition to newspapers and individual journalists and science writers. By examining the relationship of online frames with sources, the author found that a diversity of frames is paired with key sources: that is, multiple themes co-occur with source mentions, although the themes may not have been generated by the sources themselves. Rather, sources are linked to narrative frames by others who generate online coverage. The author concludes that, while key sources initially set a message's frame, once diffused, the message may take on other qualities.