Denna uppsats syfte har varit att undersöka vilken roll mobilen spelar i en grupp ungdomars liv och då framförallt i skolan. Vi har intervjuat åtta elever på en högstadieskola samt utfört observationer för att få en så klar bild som möjligt av deras förhållande till mobilanvändning. Tidigare forskning har visat att mobilens roll har kommit att bli större och viktigare och den sociala interaktionen som tidigare i större utsträckning skett ansikte mot ansikte är nu mer benägen att ske genom mobilen. Mobilens inverkan på individ och samhället har både positiva och negativa effekter, vilket undersöks i uppsatsen. De frågeställningar som behandlas rör hur eleverna upplever dagens mobilanvändning, hur de använder sina mobiler och hur detta påverkar den sociala interaktionen. Även huruvida eleverna har ett behov av att vara anträffbara samt hur de känner av mobilens påverkan? Uppsatsens sociologiska analys görs med hjälp av teman som behandlar konsumtion, modernitet, tid och rum, social interaktion genom mobilen och nätverkssamhället. Resultatet visar att mobilen spelar en stor roll i ungdomarnas liv och att den sociala interaktionen till viss del begränsas av mobilen. Eleverna upplever att de ständigt måste kunna vara anträffbara och uppdaterade och kan känna sig illa till mods när mobilen inte finns tillgänglig. / This paper has aimed to explore the role that mobile phone plays in a group of young people's lives in school. We interviewed eight students at a secondary school and performed observations to get as clear a picture as possible of their mobile phone use. Previous research has shown that mobile's role has become more and more important and the social interaction that were previously more widely been face to face is now more likely to be through mobile phone. The mobile's impact on the individual and society has both positive and negative effects. The issues addressed concerns how students experience today's smartphone use, how they use their phones and how this affects social interaction. Even whether students have a need to be reachable and how they feel of the phone's impact? The sociological analysis of this paper is done using themes that deal with consumption, modernity, time and space, social interaction through the smartphone and the network society. The result shows that mobile phone plays a big role in young people's lives and social interactions to some extent limited by the mobile phone. Students feel that they must constantly be reachable and updated and may feel uneasy when the phone is not available.

<p><p><strong>Authors: Edina Hrustic & Maria Iverbo Title: Facebook – a virtual meetingplace and a gossipcave Level: BA Thesis in Journalism Location: Linnaeus University Language: Swedish Number of pages: 72 </strong></p><p><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p><strong>The aim of our study was to examine the meaning of the social media Facebook for young people who are in the age of 16 to 25 years. We wanted to gain an understanding in the youths´ thoughts and beliefs of how Facebook exists and plays a role in their lives. As a result from this research, we discussed how social media might affect the future of journalism.</strong></p><p><strong>We formed our thesis based on research of the digital network society, social networks, the youth culture, and how the target group; the young people use and experience social media. We made a questionnaire for 36 high school students, and three of these participated in a focusgroup-discussion. We combined and analyzed the response from the questionnaire and the focus group in our final result, and discussed patterns and relations between the youngsters´ answers.</strong></p><p><strong>Our result shows that Facebook mostly is regarded to be a virtual meetingplace, where these young people can interact and communicate with each other. They mostly communicate with their friends from the real-life, and youths´ use Facebook as a tool when they want to find out what people in their surrounding do. The questionnaire result also shows that Facebook can be seen as an information channel, where the young people can get gossip and offer each other invitations to common events.</strong></p><p><strong>From this study, we can point out that the social network is practically of great importance in young peoples’ lives. The questionnaire of Facebook and how young people´s habits are affected implies that it is important to use the social network discussion while analysing the convergence between so called; "old" and "new media". Young people steer and direct the use of media, and that is the reason why the understanding about their thoughts of social media is significantly important. One could practically say that youngsters can affect the future of journalism, and the design and development of media.</strong></p><strong>Key words: young people, Facebook, social media, virtual communication, the convergence of media, digital network society, journalism</strong><p> </p></p>

O estudo discorre sobre a virtualização do conhecimento potencializadas durante as práticas no ciberespaço das alunas/professoras do curso de Licenciatura em Pedagogia na modalidade a distância da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. As alunas/professoras construíram seus conhecimentos no ciberespaço, no qual, teoria e prática convergiram, potencializando o conhecimento virtualizado durante o curso. As aprendizagens discentes foram (re)significadas nas ações das alunas como professoras ao multiplicarem seus conhecimentos com seus próprios alunos. A abordagem próxima a netnografia sustenta a pesquisa com 72 postagens levantadas nos Blogs das alunas/professoras dos cinco polos atendidos pelo curso. Os mesmos são utilizados como portfólio de aprendizagem pelas alunas/professoras durante toda formação do curso. A escolha pelo curso é resultado da sua proposta diferenciada em ser desenvolvida inteiramente na web, fazendo uso de ferramentas abertas e disponíveis aos exploradores da rede. O objetivo do estudo é: verificar o que promove a virtualização do conhecimento, tal promoção está diretamente relacionada ao desenho didático metodológico do curso envolvendo a proposta do Seminário Integrador e o conceito de Arquitetura Pedagógica. O objetivo aponta para resposta da questão central: como ocorre a virtualização do conhecimento para alunas/professoras do curso PEAD. O uso do ciberespaço é mais uma possibilidade no desenho didático metodológico dos cursos de formação de professores a distância, essa exploração envolve os alunos em atividades cotidianas na Internet, trabalhando com teoria e prática da lógica da rede. Esse movimento entre teoria e prática na rede serve de desafio e convite aos alunos, o que contribui para virtualização do conhecimento. Conhecimento que é potenciliazado em novas práticas docentes na sala de aula. A virtualização do conhecimento só se efetiva se os cursos de formação docente trabalharem contemplando a lógica da rede em sua proposta pedagógica e não apenas em disciplinas isoladas. / The study discusses the virtualization of knowledge empowered during practices in cyberspace of the students / teachers in the course of graduate degree in pedagogy, in the programmer of distance learning (PEAD) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State. The students / teachers constructed their knowledge immersed in cyberspace, in which theory and practice converge, increasing the knowledge virtualized during the course. The learning opportunities for students were (re)builded in the actions of the students as well the teachers to multiply their knowledge with their own students. Netnography's approach supports the research with 72 posts of the students raised in Blogs / teachers of the five poles attended the course. The posts used as a portfolio of learning by the students / teachers throughout the training course. The choice of course is a result of their different proposal to be developed entirely on the web, using free tools available to the network users. The study objectives are: a) Verify that promotes knowledge of virtualization, such promotion is directly related to the design of teaching methodology course, involving the proposal of the Seminary Integrator and the concept of Pedagogical Architecture. b) To identify the process of virtualization of the knowledge in teaching actions of the students/teachers, what they disclose to the marks of the pedagogical intentions when exploring the digital technologies in the teachers practical. c) Measure the current state of the virtualization of knowledge in the pedagogical practices of the students from PEAD, which reveals that the perceptions about the possibilities of technology and self-assessment as the course began and how recognize themselves in the end. All objectives link to answer the central question of how does the virtualization of knowledge to students / teachers of the course PEAD. The virtualization of knowledge is only effective if the teacher training courses covering the work including the logic network in its pedagogical proposal and not just in isolated disciplines.

O estudo discorre sobre a virtualização do conhecimento potencializadas durante as práticas no ciberespaço das alunas/professoras do curso de Licenciatura em Pedagogia na modalidade a distância da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. As alunas/professoras construíram seus conhecimentos no ciberespaço, no qual, teoria e prática convergiram, potencializando o conhecimento virtualizado durante o curso. As aprendizagens discentes foram (re)significadas nas ações das alunas como professoras ao multiplicarem seus conhecimentos com seus próprios alunos. A abordagem próxima a netnografia sustenta a pesquisa com 72 postagens levantadas nos Blogs das alunas/professoras dos cinco polos atendidos pelo curso. Os mesmos são utilizados como portfólio de aprendizagem pelas alunas/professoras durante toda formação do curso. A escolha pelo curso é resultado da sua proposta diferenciada em ser desenvolvida inteiramente na web, fazendo uso de ferramentas abertas e disponíveis aos exploradores da rede. O objetivo do estudo é: verificar o que promove a virtualização do conhecimento, tal promoção está diretamente relacionada ao desenho didático metodológico do curso envolvendo a proposta do Seminário Integrador e o conceito de Arquitetura Pedagógica. O objetivo aponta para resposta da questão central: como ocorre a virtualização do conhecimento para alunas/professoras do curso PEAD. O uso do ciberespaço é mais uma possibilidade no desenho didático metodológico dos cursos de formação de professores a distância, essa exploração envolve os alunos em atividades cotidianas na Internet, trabalhando com teoria e prática da lógica da rede. Esse movimento entre teoria e prática na rede serve de desafio e convite aos alunos, o que contribui para virtualização do conhecimento. Conhecimento que é potenciliazado em novas práticas docentes na sala de aula. A virtualização do conhecimento só se efetiva se os cursos de formação docente trabalharem contemplando a lógica da rede em sua proposta pedagógica e não apenas em disciplinas isoladas. / The study discusses the virtualization of knowledge empowered during practices in cyberspace of the students / teachers in the course of graduate degree in pedagogy, in the programmer of distance learning (PEAD) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State. The students / teachers constructed their knowledge immersed in cyberspace, in which theory and practice converge, increasing the knowledge virtualized during the course. The learning opportunities for students were (re)builded in the actions of the students as well the teachers to multiply their knowledge with their own students. Netnography's approach supports the research with 72 posts of the students raised in Blogs / teachers of the five poles attended the course. The posts used as a portfolio of learning by the students / teachers throughout the training course. The choice of course is a result of their different proposal to be developed entirely on the web, using free tools available to the network users. The study objectives are: a) Verify that promotes knowledge of virtualization, such promotion is directly related to the design of teaching methodology course, involving the proposal of the Seminary Integrator and the concept of Pedagogical Architecture. b) To identify the process of virtualization of the knowledge in teaching actions of the students/teachers, what they disclose to the marks of the pedagogical intentions when exploring the digital technologies in the teachers practical. c) Measure the current state of the virtualization of knowledge in the pedagogical practices of the students from PEAD, which reveals that the perceptions about the possibilities of technology and self-assessment as the course began and how recognize themselves in the end. All objectives link to answer the central question of how does the virtualization of knowledge to students / teachers of the course PEAD. The virtualization of knowledge is only effective if the teacher training courses covering the work including the logic network in its pedagogical proposal and not just in isolated disciplines.

O estudo discorre sobre a virtualização do conhecimento potencializadas durante as práticas no ciberespaço das alunas/professoras do curso de Licenciatura em Pedagogia na modalidade a distância da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. As alunas/professoras construíram seus conhecimentos no ciberespaço, no qual, teoria e prática convergiram, potencializando o conhecimento virtualizado durante o curso. As aprendizagens discentes foram (re)significadas nas ações das alunas como professoras ao multiplicarem seus conhecimentos com seus próprios alunos. A abordagem próxima a netnografia sustenta a pesquisa com 72 postagens levantadas nos Blogs das alunas/professoras dos cinco polos atendidos pelo curso. Os mesmos são utilizados como portfólio de aprendizagem pelas alunas/professoras durante toda formação do curso. A escolha pelo curso é resultado da sua proposta diferenciada em ser desenvolvida inteiramente na web, fazendo uso de ferramentas abertas e disponíveis aos exploradores da rede. O objetivo do estudo é: verificar o que promove a virtualização do conhecimento, tal promoção está diretamente relacionada ao desenho didático metodológico do curso envolvendo a proposta do Seminário Integrador e o conceito de Arquitetura Pedagógica. O objetivo aponta para resposta da questão central: como ocorre a virtualização do conhecimento para alunas/professoras do curso PEAD. O uso do ciberespaço é mais uma possibilidade no desenho didático metodológico dos cursos de formação de professores a distância, essa exploração envolve os alunos em atividades cotidianas na Internet, trabalhando com teoria e prática da lógica da rede. Esse movimento entre teoria e prática na rede serve de desafio e convite aos alunos, o que contribui para virtualização do conhecimento. Conhecimento que é potenciliazado em novas práticas docentes na sala de aula. A virtualização do conhecimento só se efetiva se os cursos de formação docente trabalharem contemplando a lógica da rede em sua proposta pedagógica e não apenas em disciplinas isoladas. / The study discusses the virtualization of knowledge empowered during practices in cyberspace of the students / teachers in the course of graduate degree in pedagogy, in the programmer of distance learning (PEAD) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State. The students / teachers constructed their knowledge immersed in cyberspace, in which theory and practice converge, increasing the knowledge virtualized during the course. The learning opportunities for students were (re)builded in the actions of the students as well the teachers to multiply their knowledge with their own students. Netnography's approach supports the research with 72 posts of the students raised in Blogs / teachers of the five poles attended the course. The posts used as a portfolio of learning by the students / teachers throughout the training course. The choice of course is a result of their different proposal to be developed entirely on the web, using free tools available to the network users. The study objectives are: a) Verify that promotes knowledge of virtualization, such promotion is directly related to the design of teaching methodology course, involving the proposal of the Seminary Integrator and the concept of Pedagogical Architecture. b) To identify the process of virtualization of the knowledge in teaching actions of the students/teachers, what they disclose to the marks of the pedagogical intentions when exploring the digital technologies in the teachers practical. c) Measure the current state of the virtualization of knowledge in the pedagogical practices of the students from PEAD, which reveals that the perceptions about the possibilities of technology and self-assessment as the course began and how recognize themselves in the end. All objectives link to answer the central question of how does the virtualization of knowledge to students / teachers of the course PEAD. The virtualization of knowledge is only effective if the teacher training courses covering the work including the logic network in its pedagogical proposal and not just in isolated disciplines.

This research contributes to the debate about the impacts of ICTs on the business of local government. It conceptualises the city as a site of local governance where ICTs have an impact on the social, political and economic complexities. Indeed, the starting point of this research is the widely held view that technology holds promise to alleviate both economic and democratic challenges faced by local government today. The conceptual framework combines Manuel Castells' Network Society with theories of democracy, governance and citizenship, as well as the so-called 'new economy'. Furthermore, the role and purpose of e-government is explored from the citizen/user perspective. Technology implementation in local government is contrasted combining the 'top-down' perspective of policy-makers with 'bottom-up' experiences of frontline officers and citizens. The research design is a case study of the City of Manchester with European benchmarking perspectives. The research found that whilst technology offers promise in theory, its implementation in a real context rarely fulfils that potential from an economic efficiency or democratic engagement perspective. It is concluded that ICTs are often used to trigger a desired behaviour related to the local government modernisation policy agenda. However, a lack of clarity and shared understanding between managers, users and citizens about the purpose of that technology lead to patchy implementation and poor take-up. Furthermore, the justification for new technology is often based on managerial and narrow values steeped in assumptions about rationality, economic efficiency or competitiveness. These managerial priorities are often camouflaged with a broader discourse of empowerment or inclusion, or sold as 'must haves' for which there is no alternative. Overall, in Manchester it is found that ICTs tend to increase the distance between the local government service provider and the user (citizen) as access channels are made 'corporate'. Moreover, the fragmented and atomised nature of communites is highlighted through the use of modern ICTs when the primary motives are to do with the interests of the private consumer-citizen. However, the benchmarking case study discovered that there can be alternatives and that citizens are more likely to adopt online access channels if they have higher levels of trust towards local government. The research concludes that local government should take their democratic governance role equally seriously as its economic governance role in designing and implementing technology. Incorporating broader democratic values into ICT policy and programmes is likely to broaden the appeal among the citizens, as well as steer the unknown 'spin-offs' and consequences of new technology in the direction of collective, public interest rather than individual, private interest. Democratic governance and socially inclusive policy-making serve as an insurance policy against the risks (e.g. in the field of privacy, economic viability, accountability) in the future electronically networked city.

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has been since its early beginnings accompanied by the spread of the so called 'infodemic' of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus in the media. This infodemic swiftly started to present a matter of significant concern especially in the dynamic landscape of digital media which due to an ease of sharing and content contribution allowed for Covid-19 conspiracy theories to continue to gain momentum. Because of the severe implications that the potential ill-informed actions of conspiracy theory believers could have on the public health, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the conspiracy theory believers and the way that they spread Covid-19 conspiracy theories. With this in mind, this thesis through the use of qualitative interviews probed into the worldviews of Covid-19 conspiracy theory believers in the Czech Republic. The analytical scrutiny of the interviews through the lens of the theories of network society, context collapse and echo chambers provided important insights into how Czech Covid-19 conspiracy theory believers use digital media in order to learn about and disseminate Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Additionally, this thesis provides an understanding of how the way the conspiracy theory believers navigate context collapse on Facebook drives them to seek echo chambers on e-mail which strengthen their beliefs in Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Moreover, my thesis also sheds light onto how the echo chambers are instrumental in the individuals' distrust in traditional media.

The rapid spread of digital information and communication technologies since the turn of the century has led to renewed debates about globalisation and the power of new media to connect users across national, political and cultural borders. Environmental campaigns like WWF's Earth Hour, which touts itself as “the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment,” often adopt a utopian view of globalisation that celebrates what Marshall McLuhan termed the ‘global village'. While this global ethos might be useful in engaging the publics in collective action, this article argues that the way Earth Hour and similar campaigns actively construct representations of a single global village overlooks the lived inequalities between and among peoples within this imagined community. This article explores this tension using a quantitative and qualitative mixed-methods approach that combines a semiotic analysis of the Earth Hour 2019 promotional video, social media analysis of the use of #Connect2Earth hashtag among South African Twitter users, and in-depth interviews with current and former WWF-South Africa employees. This strategic approach is designed to juxtapose socially constructed representations of Earth Hour with on-the-ground user engagement in South Africa, and then triangulating these findings with qualitative interviews. The dissertation aims to explore the research question: In what ways does WWF's Earth Hour embody Marshall McLuhan's ideal ‘global village' and in what ways might it engender a form of eco-imperialism? This research question is operationalised through three subquestions: What kind of environmentalism do global environmental campaigns like Earth Hour promote? How do audiences in South Africa engage with Earth Hour on social media? How do local WWF of ices adapt global environmental campaigns to suit local audiences? This research contributes to emerging scholarship, rooted in environmental justice and decolonial studies, that is critical of mainstream environmental movements not to discourage environmental consciousness but to ultimately reformulate it.

This thesis aims to find out how Rupi Kaur became a new voice of feminism. Research has shown that “social media can be capable of advancing the feminist movement by bringing greater visibility to women’s rights issues [and] facilitating effective communication” (Kamei, 2022). Thus, the thesis investigates poems from Rupi Kaur’s Instagram profile by examining which feminist issues Rupi Kaur highlights in her poems and how Rupi Kaur’s Instapoetry gains visibility through networks.  The theoretical framework of the work is composed of feminist theories with an intersectional focus by hooks, Crenshaw and Spivak and of a feminist theory that includes the digital in addition to intersectionality, by Cochrane. It also engages with Castells paradigm of the network society. To examine relevant data, van Dijk’s (2013) approach of a critical discourse analysis is used.  The main results of the thesis are that Rupi Kaur’s Instapoetry consists of pattern, textual and presentation wise, which gives her poetry a recognition value. Moreover, it reveals that whenever Rupi Kaur highlights feminist issues within the feminist Instapoems elaborated, they share a focus either on racial issues or on the empowerment of women. Finally, the thesis makes clear that all nodes in a network society, in interaction with the communication technology, are important for the visibility of the product of a network society. As a conclusion with regard to the research focus of Rupi Kaur becoming a new voice of feminism the thesis shows that she managed to build a brand for herself. While she independently delivers feminist messages that follow similar approaches as significant scholars of feminism, Castells paradigm illustrates that she depends on her followers and the algorithm of the platform with regard to the visibility of her Instapoetry. Therefore, Rupi Kaur became a new voice of feminism with the help of the network socitey.

The dissertation analyzes current potential and possible future development of new and traditional media. The main purpose of this paper is to find and describe the possibilities of news sites development in the near future.. After theoretical analysis of traditional and new media, I propose three dominant influences for nowadays media: participatory culture, news content changes and technologies. Based on these particular influences, 2-dimensional model of nowadays media system potential is built. From this model, I derive premises and possible future risks for media, with emphasis on news sites.