The purpose of the study has been to identify the motivational factors prompting the South African MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan to attend events and how these factors are influencing their spending patterns and media consumption. With the growing popularity of Africa’s biggest MMA promoter and the production values and size of events, EFC (Extreme Fighting Championship) is taking the African market to a global level. To understand the South African MMA fan, marketers should differentiate strategies to meet these various customers’ satisfaction needs and demands. Media plays a big role in the growing of the sport, and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and television broadcasts all contribute to fans gaining access to the MMA sport. The following motivational factors were used to measure the MMA fan: Aesthetic quality, Sports interest, Drama/Eustress, Socialising, Vicarious achievement, Fighter interest, Adoration/Hero, Violence, Escape, National Pride and Economic Factors. Participants who attended the local amateur MMA fights in the south of Johannesburg were requested to complete the online web questionnaire to establish the motivational factors of South African MMA fans. Aesthetic quality, Sports interest and Drama/Eustress were ranked as the highest motivators. There were some gender differences where females indicated that they were more interested in the Drama factor and the males in the Sports interest factor. It was clear from the results that most male fans were drawn to MMA by word-ofmouth, clubs or events. The female fans used the internet and television as their media consumption of MMA. Although the study was limited to a local MMA event, insights into the motivation of the South African MMA fan were discovered as well as how media is consumed differently by different genders. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of the study has been to identify the motivational factors prompting the South African MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan to attend events and how these factors are influencing their spending patterns and media consumption. With the growing popularity of Africa’s biggest MMA promoter and the production values and size of events, EFC (Extreme Fighting Championship) is taking the African market to a global level. To understand the South African MMA fan, marketers should differentiate strategies to meet these various customers’ satisfaction needs and demands. Media plays a big role in the growing of the sport, and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and television broadcasts all contribute to fans gaining access to the MMA sport. The following motivational factors were used to measure the MMA fan: Aesthetic quality, Sports interest, Drama/Eustress, Socialising, Vicarious achievement, Fighter interest, Adoration/Hero, Violence, Escape, National Pride and Economic Factors. Participants who attended the local amateur MMA fights in the south of Johannesburg were requested to complete the online web questionnaire to establish the motivational factors of South African MMA fans. Aesthetic quality, Sports interest and Drama/Eustress were ranked as the highest motivators. There were some gender differences where females indicated that they were more interested in the Drama factor and the males in the Sports interest factor. It was clear from the results that most male fans were drawn to MMA by word-ofmouth, clubs or events. The female fans used the internet and television as their media consumption of MMA. Although the study was limited to a local MMA event, insights into the motivation of the South African MMA fan were discovered as well as how media is consumed differently by different genders. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Student Number : 9201317D - MA research report - School of Journalism and Media Studies - Faculty of Humanities / Johannesburg has seen a significant increase in its Ethiopian born population since the end of apartheid, which mirrors global patterns of cities being the primary destinations of international migrants. In addition the city is considered instrumental in shaping South Africa’s media landscape. It is this juncture between media and migration which forms the theoretical basis of this study, as they both recognise the work of the imagination. This study explores the local particularities and stylistic features of media consumption patterns of Ethiopian migrants in Johannesburg and the relationship this has with articulating their self-understanding. It argues that South African media informs the bulk of the Ethiopian migrant media experience and as a result it contributes in assisting their integration into Johannesburg society. On the other hand, South African media also plays an active part in enforcing the respondents’ sense of social exclusion, as the media highlights South African behaviours which they find offensive (such as xenophobia). In this way, Ethiopian migrant narratives and the ways in which they consume media serves both to rationalise their choice of leaving ‘home’ and the state of permanent transit in which they live.

The amount of violent media that is consumed on a daily basis by the average American and the empirically proven effects associated with such regular consumption have led scholars to consider violent media a public health threat, the risks of which, the public may not even fully appreciate (Huesmann, Dubow, & Yang, 2013). Previous research in the field of public health communication has found that different forms of evidence in public health risk messages are more or less effective in changing behavior depending on individual recipient characteristics (de Wit, Das & Vet, 2008; Reinard, 1988; Slater & Rouner, 1996). The present research investigated the effectiveness of different forms of evidence (narrative or statistical) in decreasing violent media consumption by increasing an individual's risk perceptions and negative attitude associated with violent media. In accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), it was hypothesized that these risk perceptions and attitudes would predict intentions toward violent media consumption, as well as subsequent consumption. The study was conducted via MTurk with a sample of one hundred and fifty participants (53% Male). Results showed that an individuals' violent media consumption predicted their attitude toward violent media (p = .035), and that their risk perception and attitude toward violent media significantly predicted their intentions to decrease violent media consumption (ps < .05). Though no significant difference was found between the effect of narrative and statistical evidence on general violent media consumption, exploratory analyses of effects on specific forms of media showed that narrative evidence resulted in a significant decrease in violent video game consumption (p = .042). Additionally, age predicted risk perception, the older the participant the less risk they perceived in violent media consumption (p = .010). Future research should investigate the effect of including all elements of the Theory of Planned Behavior on the ability of different evidence types to change behavior, and perhaps extend the time frame within which change is measured in order to maximize the ability to observe any true change in behavior.

Abstract Communication technology is emerging while researches on the observations of farmers are very few, especially the research on supply and demand of farmers. It is an issue needed to be stressed for the industry of agriculture. If the farmer's reading behavior which is very important to the agricultural development during the process of cultivating the young freshman of agriculture, the farmers facing minority situation have no longer kept abreast with the pace of change in the informational age and cannot respond to these challenges. Therefore, there is the necessity of enhancing the farmers¡¦ reading behavior. After a comprehensive review of the reading behavior theories, it is found that most studies are centered on the compulsory education. Studies concerning for the farmers¡¦ reading behavior are rare. However, the New Agriculture Movement pushed forward by the Taiwanese government aims to stress that first of all underlying con-cepts shall be reformed since the farmers¡¦ reading habit dominates the development of the agricultural science journals. As a result, it is essential for this study to regard new farmers¡¦ reading behavior as the subject of the study. The major purpose of this study is to explore the intention of new farmers¡¦ reading behavior as the mode of this study from the perspective of decomposed the-ory of planned behavior in terms of the media consumption theory. How to gain the relevant information of the agriculture from the farmers¡¦ reading behavior and how to improve the farmers¡¦ reading habit from the viewpoint of agricultural knowledge communications management are analyzed. The major contribution of this research is that I try new angles to reexamine atti-tude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control for the academy situation, es-pecially the findings on the media consumption. A complete verification and predic-tion of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is proposed that differs from the past studies from the comprehensive perspective. In the past, it is less likely to deeply ex-plore the above issue. In the meantime, for the practices, the questionnaire is conducted among new farmers and the collection obtained material is carried on the SEM statistical analysis. This study which combines ¡§Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior¡¨ with ¡§Media Consumption Theory¡¨ expect that practice is directing by academy so as to a better development for the agricultural publications. The research results provide some useful suggestions to agricultural science publishers and those who want to engage in the publication work.

Understanding the process of transformational change currently taking place in the media industry is an urgent challenge for people working in the industry as well as for media consumers and other stakeholders. There is a great need to deepen our general knowledge when it comes to what the future media landscape will look like. Which of the major consumption trends that exist today will continue and possibly lead to disruptive change? Which of today’s existing trends could give us a hint of tomorrow’s media landscape? Furthermore, we need to explore the environmental impact of the future media landscape. What parameters are important when it comes to environmental aspects of media consumption, as well as in the production and distribution of media content? These are examples of the questions explored in this thesis. I have used a number of methods, such as qualitative interviews, workshops, scenarios, case studies, process studies and life cycle assessment, in order to explore the research questions. The characteristics of the media consumption trends are presented in four scenarios. I have assumed that the strength of influence from the government in combination with the strength of commercial powers will strongly affect the future of media. The development of media is framed by the economy, the political system, and by culture. The future of media is closely connected with its relationship to the power structures in society. I have also defined eleven parameters, as central when discussing the environmental aspects of media consumption. These parameters are related to electronic devices, travel, transportation, energy use and waste. In the future, we may see the realisation of some of all four scenarios described in this thesis. The environmental aspects of these different future directions depend on each person’s life situation and a number of choices that each consumer makes concerning environmental issues, in combination with the overall societal structure. In relation to the global challenge of climate change/global warming, I conclude that traditional media, public service media in particular, together with social media channels play an important role in the process of increasing knowledge and awareness among consumers, politicians and other stakeholders in society. However, in current media development, media companies are rapidly becoming more commercialized and more focused on entertainment instead of on producing serious journalism concerned with social, political and cultural matters. To conclude, I believe that it is possible to create a sustainable media system, but it will require some conscious effort of people working in the media industry, of consumers, and ultimately at the level of regulatory authorities. / <p>QC 20150416</p>

The aim of this research is to examine the identities of youth from different cultural background in Malaysia that has been formed through consumption of media. The forces of globalisation reportedly have de-centred the self from the core, leading to multiple, fluid and contradictory identities. Individuals have been displaced from their backgrounds, and have emerged as individuals, in contrast to past collective identities. People are self-reflexive in constructing their sense of self, with the media playing a role in nurturing one s quest for self-identity (Thompson, 1995). This issue is of particular relevance to young Malaysians. Within this locality, young people s lives are deeply embedded in the collectivities of ethnicity, religion and national identity. At the same time, Malaysia has adopted an open economic market. The de-regulation of Malaysia s broadcasting services enables a mass penetration of the global media to influence young Malaysians. This study is interested in examining how these conditions have affected young Malaysians identities through media consumption. While other studies have explored identity through the consumption of the global media by local audiences, such studies have focused on hybridised cultural practices. This study takes into account de-centred identities by examining shifts in values among different ethnicities, as reflected in consumption of global and local television programmes, differentiating this from previous research works. This study draws on Giddens (1990) concept of reflexivity in examining this issue. This study found that the global media plays a significant role in young Malaysians questioning tradition against modernity. They admire life outside Malaysia, and view it as more modern and liberating, compared to the perceived closed life of Malaysian culture. Yet, this does not conclusively show that young Malaysians have completely abandoned local cultures and values. Rather, it shows they can fully adopt values they admire into their lives while continuing to live within the bounds of their parents and community. Young Malaysians have appropriated the various forms of global cultures derived from media consumption as a means of forging their sense of self, which articulates a need to project an individual self rather than emerging from their collectivity. Although religion and ethnicity remain important in their lives, these young people do not see themselves solely restricted by these identity markers alone. Their cultural identity contains characteristics of other global cultures as well. It is an intersection of various forms of identities, negotiated between religion and ethnicity within global youth cultures, diaspora, gender, lifestyles and taste. Young Malaysians can best be described as having in-between identities - global - local subjects borne out of the hybridisation of values from both sources. Ethnic minority Malaysians display two identities, due to their consumption of international programmes. First, overseas Chinese and Tamil television programmes enable youth to hybridise their youth identity into Western-Asian popular youth cultures instead of drawing solely from one or the other. Second, this type of exposure leads young Malaysian-Chinese to have feelings of cultural superiority over the local Malay films and drama.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / This work inquires about the subjectivity construction individuals perform in our contemporary media culture. It examines the structure of believing that can be inferred from the narrative elaboration of beliefs exerted in social conversations when pop-media related to spirituality or transcendency are used as inputs for conversation. For this purpose, I investigate the consumption of three films that triggered for their audiences intense controversies that included topics belonging to the blurry crossroad where spirituality, science, and religion intersect: What The Bleep do We (k)now!? (USA 2004), The Da Vinci Code (USA 2006), and The Passion of the Christ (USA 2004). My approach departs from the sociology of spirituality perspective, and draws on some insights developed by ritual studies, sociology of religion, social psychoanalysis, consumer studies, and visual studies. Based on a multi-method strategy of inquiry, formal film analysis, focus and discussion groups, and interview data collected from the audience, this dissertation finds that the burgeoning of a media driven popular culture spirituality in Mexico is creating a wave of Pop-Esotericism. As a rational narrative with consumption and conversational drives, Pop-Esotericism is not only a resonant media-reference, but also constitutes a pre-text in the construction of ephemeral and collective conversational spaces wherein the belief system is engaged and refurnished. To give a full account on the pop-esoteric phenomenon and on overall contemporary belief systems, I propose a theoretical model aimed to uncover the dynamics and strategies we engage to articulate spirituality, identity, and reality in our current global media context. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral: investigar as racionalidades do consumo que atravessam as práticas juvenis de escuta e produção do rap na cena porto-alegrense entre as (novas) formas de circulação midiática da música. O problema de pesquisa se materializa na seguinte pergunta: diante do atual cenário de produção musical e formas emergentes de circulação midiática da música, quais são as práticas de produção e escuta do rap entre jovens porto-alegrenses? A investigação explora empiricamente uma cena musical e compreende as práticas juvenis para o consumo de rap em uma subcultura, o hip-hop. O campo de estudo é a Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre (RMPA). Ela se organiza como um importante espaço de desenvolvimento cultural. A pesquisa identifica e descreve o público da cena, cujos interlocutores são majoritariamente jovens. Ela está vinculada aos Estudos Culturais, com base nos estudos latino-americanos de recepção e consumo cultural. A partir desse arcabouço, a abordagem teórica é desenvolvida a partir do viés sociocultural do consumo. Portanto, identificamos como as racionalidades do consumo cultural (GARCÍA CANCLINI, 1991a) estão imbricadas e se relacionam em uma proposta de análise das práticas culturais de escuta do rap. Como estratégias, realizamos um estudo de consumo cultural e midiático de rap com uso da etnografia e da cartografia, como métodos. O método cartográfico nos mostrou características culturais da cidade e nos ajudou a revelar a cena musical. A etnografia na internet complementou as ações na urbe, com observações diretas nas redes sociais, coletas de informações e levantamento de perfis dos colaboradores. Como resultado, oferecemos uma análise horizontal sobre o processo de consumo musical de rap na cultura hip-hop da região. Descrevemos e analisamos a cena musical, bem como a relação de pertencimento social e geográfico entre a juventude e a cidade. O trabalho, de natureza qualitativa, aponta como a lógica DIY (Do it yourself) está presente nas práticas juvenis para escuta e produção de rap na região. As expressões “cena rap metropolitana”, “cena rap porto-alegrense”, ou, simplesmente, “cena” são usadas como sinônimos para o âmbito das práticas estudadas na região. A partir da discussão sobre os conceitos de cultura, cultura urbana, cenas e estilos, destacamos as premissas para o estudo do consumo de música. Em resposta à fragmentação do construto, sistematizamos o conceito de consumo musical. O consumo midiático é uma especificidade do consumo cultural. A partir desse entendimento, propomos o consumo expandido como um processo que integra a produção cultural, um avanço na relação sistêmica entre a produção e o consumo e para as práticas que envolvem estes dois âmbitos para o consumo de música. / The main objective of this research is to investigate the rationalities of consumption crossing the juvenile practices of listening and producing RAP music scene in Porto Alegre, Brazil, among the (new) forms of music circulation. The research problem is materialized in the following question: in face of the current scenario of musical production and emerging forms of media circulation of music, what are the juvenile practices of RAP production and listening in Porto Alegre? The research explores empirically a music scene to understand juvenile practices for the consumption of rap in a subculture, the hip-hop. The field of study is the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (RMPA), which is organized as an important space for cultural development. The research identifies and describes the audience of the scene, wich interlocutors are mostly youth. It is linked to Cultural Studies, based on Latin American studies of cultural reception and consumption. From this framework, the theoretical approach is developed from the sociocultural bias of consumption. Therefore, we identify how the rationalities of cultural consumption (GARCÍA CANCLINI, 1991a) are intertwined and are related as a proposal of analysis of the cultural practices of listening to RAP. As strategies, we carried out a study of cultural and media consumption of RAP using ethnography and cartography as methods. The cartographic method showed us the city's cultural characteristics and helped us to reveal the music scene. Ethnography on the internet complemented the actions in the city, with direct observations in the social networks, collection of information and survey of the profiles of the collaborators. As a result, we offer a horizontal analysis of the RAP music consumption. We describe and analyze the music scene, as well its social and geographic belonging relation between youth and the city. The work, of a qualitative nature, points out how DIY logic (Do it yourself) is present in youth practices for listening and producing RAP in the area. The expressions "metropolitan rap scene", " porto-alegrense rap scene ", or, simply, "scene" are used as synonyms of the practices studied here. From the discussion about the concepts of culture, urban culture, scenes and styles, we highlight the premises for the study of music consumption. In response to the fragmentation of the construct, we systematize the concept of musical consumption. The media consumption is an specificity of cultural consumption. From this understanding, we propose the concept of expanded consumption as a process that integrates cultural production, an advance in the systemic relation between production and consumption and for the practices that involve these two scopes for the consumption of music.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender o consumo midiático da televisão e a recepção do fluxo publicitário televisivo pelo idoso. No âmbito teórico aborda-se a comunicação e a cultura via Estudos Culturais, valendo-se, especialmente, do Novo Mapa das Mediações (MARTÍN-BARBERO, 2003), das práticas de consumo midiático da televisão e da recepção do fluxo publicitário. Trata-se, também, das especificidades do público idoso e da narrativa da memória. Na fase empírica, a pesquisa é qualitativa e realizada através da técnica de entrevista semiaberta, com uma unidade de pesquisa composta por seis idosos (três homens e três mulheres, com níveis de escolaridade que variam entre ensino médio e superior completo, residentes na cidade de Porto Alegre/RS e entorno). Os resultados apontam como ocorrem as práticas de consumo midiático da televisão, a recepção do fluxo publicitário televisivo e a relação entre o fluxo publicitário televisivo ofertado e o apropriado pelos informantes da pesquisa. Concluiu-se que o tempo simbólico dedicado a essas práticas está relacionado ao descanso e ao lazer, sendo que o que pauta o consumo midiático é o interesse na informação e no entretenimento. O idoso assiste a maioria dos anúncios ofertados no fluxo publicitário televisivo e o rejeita quando não corresponde às suas competências culturais. / This research aims to understand the media consumption of television and the reception of television advertising by the elderly. The theory approaches culture through Cultural Studies, using the New Mediation Map (MARTÍN-BARBERO, 2003), the practices of television consumption and the reception of the advertising flow. It also approaches the specificities of the elderly public and the narrative of memory. In the empirical phase, the research is qualitative and carried out through the semi-open interview technique, with a research unit consisting of six elderly people (three men and three women, with levels of schooling varying between high school and university education, residing in the city of Porto Alegre / RS and surroundings). The results point out how occur the media consumption of television, the reception of the television advertising flow and the relationship between the television advertising flow and the elderly. It was concluded that the symbolic time devoted to these practices is related to rest and leisure, and the media consumption is lined by the interest in information and entertainment. The participants watch of the ads offered in the television advertising flow and reject them when they don't match to their cultural skills.