Background: Nearly 45 million adults in the United States live with a mental health disorder and only 43% of them seek treatment. One of the major barriers to seeking treatment is accessibility and can be addressed through telepsychology, or providing services with technology. With technological improvements in written communication, using computer-mediated communication (CMC; e.g. text messaging) has become more regularly used and examined in healthcare. To date, little research has focused on the use of practitioner language in telepsychology. Method: Two samples (university sample and national sample) totaling 396 participants were asked to rate a therapist on attractiveness (i.e. likability and sociability), expertness, and trustworthiness after reading one of four text-message introductions. The messages varied in the language used: Jargon, jargon with layman explanations, layman only, and text speak. Analysis: The participants’ ratings of the therapist were analyzed using analysis of variance to examine differences between the rating means. Results: University participants rated a therapist higher in attractiveness when the text-message used layman language only compared to jargon, jargon with layman, and text speak. Both samples rated the therapist lower in attractiveness, expertness, and likelihood to use services of therapist when the text-message contained text speak.

Master of Visual Arts / This thesis is an exploration into the ether of the digital aesthetic. It attempts to capture a segment of the continually morphing space then deconstruct and analyse it through electronic and new media art. Herein you will find a questioning of technology and control within electronic and new media art as an investigation into better understanding the current media image and visual culture that so powerfully influences the modern social construct. By nature this argument has existed for some years but only now with advancements in technology and more affordable realisation of ideas by media artists, the topic of the digital aesethetic, technology and control has become relevant for popular debate. As war lingers in our minds, terrorism hits headlines, and experiements in cloning human DNA take place, the technology that society demands can only necessarily be seen as a major contributing factor to today's strange times. However, strange or not, the questions I wish to discuss; Does technology determine contemporary society or do we determine technology? Where does the control exist?

The library profession is now heavily involved in providing access to information through library web sites and it is a challenge to design a web site that has reliable content and a user interface that is intuitive to those who use it. As web accessibility and usability are major issues in the design of library Web sites, this paper suggests that the design will be most successful when a usability analysis tool is used throughout the design and redesign of academic library web sites. The research drew on the literature of Human-computer Interaction and usability engineering examining best practice usability and accessibility design guidelines. It identified those guidelines that were relevant to academic library web sites. In order to establish the extent to which Australian academic library web sites met usability guidelines a usability analysis tool was developed and used to evaluate a randomly selected sample of web sites. The web sites were categorised under higher education institutional archetypes as suggested by DETYA (1998) and the results were discussed in light of these groups. The research found that there was no correlation of the usability of the web sites between the archetypes. In fact the pattern of usability was randomly distributed across all institutions, with the best and worst results appearing in each archetypical category. The study concluded that the web has provided a whole new start for all institutions and after examining the results, it suggested that the design of early web sites was not based on the size or the past history of the institution that it belonged to, but rather reflected those factors, already established in the literature, that faced library web managers at that time, when designing the library web page.

若以中國傳統「春耕、夏耘、秋收、冬藏」比喻人生的四階段，那中年時期應屬秋收時期，而原本生命架構最趨穩定的中年期，受到社會快速變遷、科技日益月新的影響之下，導致職業生涯轉變，仍可藉由職業生涯轉換的過渡期，重新檢討與修正個體的價值觀與生活態度，再經由實際的轉換行為，選擇適應變遷或者重新建立生命目標尋找出路，建立新的生命架構。 本研究探究一群民國40~55年間出生的《民生報》資深記者，從報業輝煌時期到進入新聞界，至民國97年離開《民生報》之後的適應過程。過往文獻指出由於外在媒體環境的改變，導致記者可能被迫非自願性的離職，產生中年生涯的職業轉換，在這個轉換的過程當中，內在的新聞專業性認知亦隨著時間演變，在個體的職業生涯轉換歷程，是否也會對「新聞專業性」產生不同的價值觀與自我角色認知差異，再者，本研究個體的特殊性在於，其職業為新聞工作者，當面臨中年生涯的職業轉變之時，整體社會脈絡的壓力，使其必須正視網路的力量，無論是選擇接受或者是抗拒，皆不可避免的瞭解，網路確實是不可忽視的媒體，是以，當網際網路提供了資深記者再起的機會之時，資深記者應當如何適應。 研究發現，資深記者面臨職涯選擇時，對所處社會的媒體環境感到失望，他們認為最好的時代已經過去了，目前媒體的商業行為以及不完善的職訓制度，令他們失望，普遍認為媒體惡質是整體環境因素，但並不認為是記者角色本身的錯誤或者技術不足，而是相信是由於當前商人辦報與他們所處文人辦報的出發點已不相同，但都還是認為記者角色具有專業性以及在社會上仍然具有特殊性。 本研究亦發現資深記者在面臨新科技的適應過程中，會改變自己的態度，從傳統的演講式權威傳播，改為與讀者互動的對話式參與傳播，形成新的價值觀，認為記者需彎下腰聆聽讀者的聲音，也將網路當作助力。即使改由網路上寫作，依然認為網路新聞需具備專業，他們認為，雖然網路迫使傳統新聞產業面臨改變，每個人都可以蒐集、發佈資訊時，資深記者們反而認為在此種大量未經篩選的雜亂資訊的網路時代更襯托出新聞的必要性以及專業性， 研究對象提出在資訊過量的網路時代，記者所需具備的專業與能力，首先，科技扮演的只是輔助的功能；對於資深記者來說，網路時代的記者仍需具備基本的新聞產製技巧，新聞教育有存在的必要性；同時記者須更謹慎小心對文章負責，少了編輯台的守門把關，記者本身應注重查證以及錯字，最後認為組織有存在的必要性，越有信譽的新聞組織能提供越公正客觀的新聞，因此，記者雖看似自由，卻要選擇有信譽的組織發布新聞，才能提升新聞的點閱率。

<p>”Multimedia and museums - A thesis about expectations, problems and new target audiences” is a thesis about what it means for museums to work with multimedia in it´s public activities today. This paper also focuses on how this development is received by museum employees. Amongst other issues questions concerning new target audiences, application areas and economy is discussed. References are made to both the current discussion about new media and more traditional issues concerning museums, like authenticity for example.</p> / <p>Uppsatsen ”Multimedia och museer - en uppsats om förväntningar, problem och nya målgrupper” handlar om vad det innebär för museerna att arbeta med multimedia som ett verktyg för att möta sin publik. Uppsatsen fokuserar även på hur denna utveckling uppfattas av museernas anställda. Bland annat tas frågor kring nya målgrupper, användningsområden och ekonomi upp. Uppsatsen har ett diskursivt upplägg och sätter det empiriska materialet i fokus. Kopplingar görs till både till samtida teorier kring new media och mer traditionella museala frågor, såsom exempelvis autenticitet.</p>

<p><strong>Purpose –</strong> Target of this study is to develop a social media framework, the essential “ingredient” for a social media concept for the destination Usedom. The following question is in the centre of this investigations attention:  How to create awareness and dialogue by using Social Media for the destination Usedom taking into account the new Usedom Welcome Visitor Centre that will be open 2011?</p><p><strong>Methodology/approach</strong> – Mainly, an observational approach as research method is used to answer the research question, collecting empirical data not by questioning respondents, but by observing different forms of activity. Writing about social media, to use the Internet for observational research is natural and can be further enhanced due to the accessibility and retrieval of information and cross-validation of the information available from several sources.</p><p><strong>Findings</strong> – Social media marketing eliminates the middlemen and provides destinations with the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers. In today’s knowledge-society where</p><ul><li>people want to engage – want to be active – want to create content on their own </li><li>people talk: online and offline - positive or negative – with or without the destination</li></ul><p>NOT participating is NO option. In case of the isle of Usedom, the Social media concept should be of listening and outreach character. As a holistic marketing approach where “everything matters” is needed for destinations, online and offline activities need each other. In addition to social media marketing even search engine optimisation, ad words and target mails are important tools for a successful online strategy.</p><p><strong>Research limitations/implications – </strong>Most important is the time limitation. The validity period is limited. A Social Media framework of today is not the social media framework of the future. Social media is changing rapidly. New channels appear - others disappear. Moreover, another limitation is the subjectivity: the author of this study observes the Internet in accordance to the research question and allocates a sample pursuant to her knowledge and experience.</p><p><strong>Practical implications</strong> – Aside from the destinations’ website being adapted by social media elements, Facebook serves as ideal tool to nurture relationships between the customer and the destination by being creative, honest and assessing competitors as partners. As one of the easiest and most versatile social networks for professionals today, Facebook is a profile and presence aggregator, channelling all online activity through one main hub and combining almost every online social tool that can be used.</p><p><strong>Originality/value –</strong> Targeting the destination Usedom, but also being applicable for other German tourist destinations, this study provides both: a theoretical and with ideas filled framework to create awareness and dialogue by using social media as complement to traditional marketing activities. Being the first investigation that has been done for the destination Usedom in the field of social media, this study aims to inspire other tourist destinations as well as students to learn about social media and to further investigate in this field.<strong> </strong></p><p> </p>

<p>The purpose of this study is to examine young peoples' perception of their media criticial competence in relation to digital news. The study is based on quantitative research interviews with young people (15-17 years) and qualitative interviews with people in the same age group as well as teachers and international media professionals.This study's theoretical point of departure is McQuail´s observation that peoples' values and views to a great extent are influenced by the media. Another source of theoretical inspiration was Haberman's ideas about how a diversity of views and arguments increase the citizens' ability to reflect critically on social developments - maybe even more so than in societies with  independent media and "neutral" news.The study shows that the young generation of web based news consumers assumes that it is very important to be an aware and critical consumer but also that they do not feel sufficiently equipped with the right tools required to understand the long-term impact and effect of the media reporting online. Young people basically seemed to acquire their knowledge about media by doing and learning on their own. Surprisingly, according to the young people that were interviewed for this project, the schools seemed to play a secondary role in the development of their media critical capacity. Family and friends also played a limited role in this context.</p>

<p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to analyze and discuss how MTV is affected by the development that takes place on the world’s media market. The aim is also to see how MTV’s target group’s image of the channel can give guidelines in how MTV should act in this new media era.</p><p>Material/method: I have examined the development on the media market and then created a model consisting of relevant factors that could affect a TV-channel today. Those factors and the two factors image and profile are then applied on MTV. I have done three interviews with people who work at MTV Networks Nordic and one interview with a person who used to work there. I also arranged three focus groups with members within the target group of MTV (15-24 year). The questions for all of the interviews were based on theories relevant to this study.</p><p>Main results: The results from the interviews and the focus groups showed that the profile and the image of MTV did not agree completely. An example of that is that the staffs of MTV saw the channel as a youth channel while the target group saw it as a music channel. MTV seems to go from being a niche channel to becoming a broader channel, a move that is quite unusual on today’s media market where niche marketing is the main strategy for TV-channels. People within the target group 15-24 uses the Internet more than TV an average day, and the younger members of my focus groups used the Internet more than the older ones. None of the members of the target group watched TV on their mobile phone but they assumed that younger kids would use it a lot in the future. All agreed upon that MTV was a suitable channel for mobile-TV.</p>

This study is the exploration of the emergence of DataONE, a multidisciplinary, multinational, and multi-institutional virtual scientific collaboration to develop a cyberinfrastructure for earth sciences data, from the complex adaptive systems perspective. Data is generated through conducting 15 semi-structured interviews, observing three 3-day meetings, and 51 online surveys. The main contribution of this study is the development of a complexity framework and its application to a project such as DataONE. The findings reveal that DataONE behaves like a complex adaptive system: various individuals and institutions interacting, adapting, and coevolving to achieve their own and common goals; during the process new structures, relationships, and products emerge that harmonize with DataONE’s goals. DataONE is quite resilient to threats and adaptive to its environment, which are important strengths. The strength comes from its diversified structure and balanced management style that allows for frequent interaction among members. The study also offers insights to PI(s), managers, and funding institutions on how to treat complex systems. Additional results regarding multidisiplinarity, library and information sciences, and communication studies are presented as well.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to analyze and discuss how MTV is affected by the development that takes place on the world’s media market. The aim is also to see how MTV’s target group’s image of the channel can give guidelines in how MTV should act in this new media era. Material/method: I have examined the development on the media market and then created a model consisting of relevant factors that could affect a TV-channel today. Those factors and the two factors image and profile are then applied on MTV. I have done three interviews with people who work at MTV Networks Nordic and one interview with a person who used to work there. I also arranged three focus groups with members within the target group of MTV (15-24 year). The questions for all of the interviews were based on theories relevant to this study. Main results: The results from the interviews and the focus groups showed that the profile and the image of MTV did not agree completely. An example of that is that the staffs of MTV saw the channel as a youth channel while the target group saw it as a music channel. MTV seems to go from being a niche channel to becoming a broader channel, a move that is quite unusual on today’s media market where niche marketing is the main strategy for TV-channels. People within the target group 15-24 uses the Internet more than TV an average day, and the younger members of my focus groups used the Internet more than the older ones. None of the members of the target group watched TV on their mobile phone but they assumed that younger kids would use it a lot in the future. All agreed upon that MTV was a suitable channel for mobile-TV.