This research examines consumer perceptions towards the practice of mobile phone advertising in Japan. The research follows a grounded theory approach, guided by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The primary research was conducted in Tokyo. It was found that in Japan's technologically advanced society, advertisers desired to reach consumers on their 3B mobile phones. However, use of these devices differed among demographic segmentations and consumers held unfavourable views towards the overload of irrelevant incoming ads. As a result, the recommendations made for the Japanese mobile advertising industry were: (1) for advertisers to use Bayesian Networks to create highly targeted ads; (2) to improve communication between advertisers and mobile phone engineers, and (3) to discontinue lacklustre text only ads and create innovative multimedia ads. This research contributes to the literature on new media advertising by providing insight into an important component of the mobile phone advertising phenomenon: audience research.

Abstract Not Available.

Cette étude tente de répondre aux questions suivantes: Les choix de traitements de la nouvelle jouent-ils sur l'acquisition des connaissances des téléspectateurs? Si oui, quel traitement de l'information internationale facilite davantage l'acquisition de connaissances sur les enjeux internationaux pour les jeunes adultes québécois? La démarche méthodologique à deux étapes principales. D'abord, une analyse de contenu de deux nouvelles du Téléjournal et de RDI Junior permet d'identifier et les éléments du traitement utilisés pour chacun des bulletins de nouvelles. Ensuite, un devis expérimental "avant-après" permet de vérifier l'acquisition de connaissances des participants suite au visionnement de chaque nouvelle. Les résultats indiquent que les nouvelles de RDI Junior sont plus vulgarisées que celles du Téléjournal et que les participants ayant visionné les nouvelles de RDI Junior ont acquis plus de connaissances. Bref, cette étude contribue à identifier les types de traitement de l'information favorisant l'acquisition de connaissance, entre autres par la vulgarisation et la glocalisation.

In the last few years, the use of mobile telephony has become increasingly popular amongst various social and age groups around the world. Out of a need to understand this phenomenon, scholars have conducted a number of studies on the use of mobile phones and their characteristics such as mobility and accessibility. Few of these studies however, have focused their attention on this phenomenon in less developed countries. This thesis examines the key dimensions associated with the motivations and social implications of the use of mobile phones in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by high school students. I specifically address the relationship between the motivational factors that lead to the purchase and use of mobile phones as well as the implications for interpersonal relationships and the social structure. I used the Domestication model (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996) along with the notions of 'context', 'rappropriation' and 'revelation' to answer the main research questions and attain the objectives of the study. The overall research findings of this thesis are based on data collected via questionnaire, interviews, and observations held in public places during a two-month field study in Port-au-Prince. The data analysis reveals several findings; the participants' main motives for acquiring and using mobile phones are to provide a sense of security in emergency situations, as a means to communicate with friends and family members and as a symbol to display their status. Keywords. Less developed countries, mobile phone, mobility, immediacy, domestication, motivation, interpersonal relationships, culture, rappropriation.

Cette recherche consiste à cibler les facteurs en lien avec l'engagement bénévole artistique des jeunes auprès des personnes âgées. Le modèle élabore découle des concepts suivants: l'engagement effectif, le désengagement psychologique, l'estime de soi, la privation relative personnelle (PRP) et la privation relative pour autrui (PRA). Un questionnaire, construit à partir de quatre échelles validées sur la PRP, la PRA, le désengagement psychologique, l'engagement effectif et l'estime de soi a été distribué de façon volontaire et anonyme à un échantillon en fonction de l'âge (10 ans à 29 ans) et de l'activité artistique. Sur la base d'études empiriques antérieures, il a été suggéré que plus un jeune individu éprouvé de la PR à l'égard des personnes âgées, moins il se désengage au plan psychologique à leur égard; finalement, ce faible niveau de désengagement psychologique résulte en davantage d'engagement effectif, c'est-à-dire comportemental. Ce faisant, la mesure du désengagement psychologique nous a permis de mettre à l'épreuve une deuxième séquence de réactions: plus un jeune individu éprouve de la PRP, plus il se désengage psychologiquement et plus ce désengagement assombrit son estime de lui-même. Des analyses descriptives, des analyses de corrélation et des analyses de régression ont été effectuées dans le but de mettre à l'épreuve les hypothèses. Cette dernière séquence de réactions à été confirmée alors que la première n'a été que partiellement confirmée. Les implications théoriques et pratiques de cette étude sont expliquées dans la discussion.

Cette recherche s'intéresse au programme "Fonds Mémoire canadienne" du ministère du Patrimoine canadien par le biais des dossiers numériques à portée éducative mis en ligne par Les Archives de Radio-Canada/CBC Archives. Elle vise à observer (a) comment ces dossiers numériques sont employés en classe et (b) de quelle manière et dans quelle mesure l'utilisation de ce matériel a pu laisser des traces sur l'identité culturelle et la conscience historique des élèves de niveau secondaire. Les résultats de cette recherche, réalisée à Ottawa-Gatineau, à Terrebonne ainsi qu'à Montréal, démontrent que le matériel est largement méconnu en milieu scolaire. Dans les classes observées, les archives de Radio-Canada ne font pas partie des ressources pédagogiques utilisées, ce qui limite considérablement leur portée sur la conscience historique et l'identité nationale des élèves.

This thesis presents an analysis of how the Canadian commercial radio sector operates under the concurrent pressures of regulation, economics, innovation, and cultural development, in the context of emerging technologies. Specifically, it examines the most significant changes taking place in the commercial radio sector, those brought about by both tech aficionados and the dynamic nature of the technological environment. Two main theoretical postures buttress this paper: (a) The social shaping of technology helps make better sense of how individuals can affect the development and the impact of a technology; (b) Long-tail economics provides an opportunity to analyze the positioning of radio in the cultural market as well as how the explosion of cultural products and distribution platforms are combining to reconfigure the dominance of radio as a source of audio content, given the increased accessibility of digital technology and ensuing plethora of specialized audio content. Both of these models allow us to capture better the essence of the transformations currently affecting the Canadian radio industry. The methodology used to organize the presented data and analysis is that of qualitative research. Existing academic literature pertaining to radio and the digital society is reviewed, while an array of congruent and more mainstream sources are presented to provide accounts of recent and pertinent industry changes. This qualitative research is further complemented by a series of face-to-face interviews conducted with various commercial radio executives. Overall, this thesis highlights the importance for private radio broadcasters of developing more exclusive and innovative content through programming that offers various levels of audience interactivity, effective risk management, and content migration across technological platforms. Furthermore, it suggests that commercial radio broadcasters not look strictly to public policy for securing a relevant future as a medium. This thesis proposes a redefinition of the term emerging artist, and argues that Canadian content development contributions are merely symbolic unless they are accompanied by an increase in airplay for emerging Canadian artists. Finally, this thesis recommends that private radio differentiate itself as much as possible from other emerging audio technologies, such as MP3 players and Internet radio, by focusing on terrestrial radio's unique offerings: local programming, the development of host personalities, more exclusive non-musical content, product placement and exposing listeners towards new music and emerging artists. As a final observation, while the radio and technology industries appear to be concerned with identifying the next "killer" application that will upset the domination of one technology over others, we are missing an opportunity to reflect on deeper questions of identity. Technology, in how we use it and shape it, points to revealing movements in our cultural and social growth. Keywords: terrestrial commercial radio, policy, music exhibition, emerging technologies, emerging artists, content portability, long-tail economics, mobility, social shaping of technology, advertising.

The growing popularity of massively populated online virtual environments raises questions about the nature of the human experience within these environments and offers new opportunities to explore existing concepts such as presence and place. The central research question addressed by this thesis is whether sense of place is a potential influence on the sense of presence in Second Life. In tackling this issue two sub-questions are posed: (1) Do users of Second Life experience a sense of place when engaging with this medium and if so how is it manifest? and (2) What is the nature of the relationship between sense of place and sense of presence? The findings of an empirical analysis of the contents of naturally occurring conversations between users in Second Life suggests that sense of place is primarily manifest through conversations relating to social interactions. In turn, these social interaction-based conversations appear to contribute to inducing an experience of presence in this virtual environment by contributing to the medium's social richness. This supports the view that that sense of place is a potential influence on the sense of presence.

The nature of citizenship has evolved considerably since ancient times. No longer content to leave participation to the few, new modes of political discourse are taking place through the use of Internet forums. Using a combination of critical discourse analysis and content analysis to examine the postings to the "Issues and Causes" forum on the Phayul.com Tibetan news site during the two-week period leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this thesis investigates how global citizen identity manifests itself online when the cause is state-building. Three key findings emerge from the study. First, the themes and values of global citizenship are present only to a very limited degree. Second, the users employed pronouns to discursively connect themselves to the Tibetan community, and disconnect themselves from outsiders. Third, the forum displayed a significant amount of "flaming" or disruptive discourse. Taken together these results suggest that in this case much of global citizenship theory does not appear to stand up to empirical scrutiny.

Cette recherche porte sur une analyse du role des applications mobiles audio de l'iPhone dans le remodelage de la radio traditionnelle. Notre demarche investigue sur les recents progres en matiere de technologies mobiles de meme que les nouvelles pratiques vers lesquelles les usagers de telephones intelligents s'orientent. Ces facteurs nous ont amene a reevaluer la structure de la radio traditionnelle et a analyser le brouillage des frontieres entre la radio et les applications mobiles audio. Notre question de recherche s'interesse a la valeur ajoutee que degagent les "applis " sur l'ensemble du systeme de radiodiffusion canadien. Cette these s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une recherche qualitative a partir de laquelle nous cherchons a degager le sens des discours exprimes par des usagers d'applications mobiles. La conclusion tiree de cette recherche confirme les plus-values qu'apportent les " applis " a la radio traditionnelle, notamment, une experience plus enrichissante a la decouverte et a l'ecoute de contenus audio.