The present study aims to investigate whether online social support could function in the same way as the offline social support to protect our well-being from stress, and to examine how different Internet activities affected Hong Kong adolescents’ online and offline social support, and their subsequent well-being.305 Hong Kong students from grade 10 and 11 participated in the present study. Descriptive statistics found that female adolescents had a higher level of perceived offline social support than male adolescents. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the buffering effect of both perceived offline and online social support on the relationship between stress and anxiety. Results found that perceived online social support could not buffer stress for Hong Kong adolescents. The buffering effect of perceived offline social support was only found in female adolescents. On the other hand, present results suggested that the actual impact of Internet depended on the types of Internet activities and their corresponding impact on offline and online social support. Implications on the importance of offline social support, gender difference on reactions towards social support and education on Internet usage were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This dissertation analyzes the geography of information in the 21st century where BigData, social networks, user generated production of content and geography combine to create new and complex patterns of space, context and sociability. Both online and offline, social networks are creating a space that simultaneously unifies individuals and identifies distinct differences in their patterns and their relationships to space. Using methodologies derived from spatial analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and Social Network Analysis (SNA), this dissertation identifies how Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) both mimic and bolster existing social structures and allow individuals to extend their activities into flows between non-contiguous spaces. Simultaneously it demonstrates how the adoption of user-generated geographic information has not been uniform. Instead it has resulted in an uneven distribution of content and more nuanced digital divides. Although geographically uneven, social structures developed through online networks of user-generated content are most effective at transmitting information at a local level. This dissertation provides a comprehensive examination of online networks and representations of the GeoWeb. It repudiates previous assumptions that online content provides liberation and collaboration among users without regard to geographic constraints and demonstrates the locally constrained nature social networks and the demographically constrained nature of geographic information.

Since households and businesses alike obtained the high-speed Internet service of broadband, the Internet has become integral to daily life in the 21st century. Advancements in information and Internet technology has led to the conception of novel internet- enabled applications such as, Online Social Networks (OSNs). Since the turn of the twenty first century fast-developing OSNs such as, Twitter and Facebook have become essential communication channels that people are using to develop their online personal and professional networks online. A recent phenomenon that is worrying countries around the globe is an ageing population. Due to recent improvements in the quality of life and advances in medicine, individuals are achieving longer life spans. Given the fact that older adults are also experiencing loneliness and depression, a recent solution to reduce this problem is the use of OSNs. Using these reasons as motivation, the aim of this research is to identify and understand the factors driving or inhibiting the adoption, use and diffusion of OSNs within the older population (50+) in UK households. In order to achieve this aim the Model of Online Social Networking (MOSN) was conceptually developed. Drawing upon the attitudinal, normative and control constructs from the leading Information Systems (IS) theories of the Diffusion of Innovations theory (DOI), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Model of Adoption of Technology in Households (MATH) and the E-Services Adoption Model selected constructs were identified and formed. To achieve the aim, the conceptual framework (MOSN – Model of Online Social Networking) was initially empirically validated using primary data. A quantitative approach involving a small-scale online pilot survey (n-252) and a wide-scale online survey (n-1080) were used for this purpose. Findings revealed that that older individuals will adopt Internet technologies if technology-facilitating conditions such as ‘anytime access’ to Internet capable devices and a fast reliable Internet connection had significant positive effects on OSN intention. In terms of influences of peers, it was revealed that older individuals do consider and act upon the views of members in one’s social circle. Most significantly, the consequences of older adults efforts to preserve their own privacy enforces a vast majority of non-adopters from not taking part in the OSN uptake. In terms of diffusion it was found that messages about OSNs conveyed through media channels: TV, newspapers and magazines are having a negative impact on older adults intention to adopt OSNs. As little is known of the underlying factors effecting older individuals adoption or non-adoption and diffusion of OSNs this research contributes to an emerging body of knowledge through the identification of empirically supported factors found to be significantly influencing UK older adults decision making regarding OSN technology adoption. For those participants currently using OSNs an in-depth understanding of usage behavior is presented. Importantly this research addresses a gap in research relating to the household adoption of OSNs in older adults in the UK. Due to the limitations of time, finance and manpower research findings could not be nationally representative of the UK are only representative of a single group of society residing in an affluent area of the UK.

Data dissemination problem is a challenging issue in social networks, especially in mobile social networks, which grows rapidly in recent years worldwide with a significant increasing number of hand-on mobile devices such as smart phones and pads. Short-range radio communications equipped in mobile devices enable mobile users to access their interested contents not only from access points of Internet but also from other mobile users. Through proper data dissemination among mobile users, the bandwidth of the short-range communications can be better utilized and alleviate the stress on the bandwidth of the cellular networks. In this dissertation proposal, data dissemination problem in mobile social networks is studied. Before data dissemination emerges in the research of mobile social networks, routing protocol of finding efficient routing path in mobile social networks was the focus, which later became the pavement for the study of the efficient data dissemination. Data dissemination priorities on packet dissemination from multiple sources to multiple destinations while routing protocol simply focus on finding routing path between two ends in the networks. The first works in the literature of data dissemination problem were based on the modification and improvement of routing protocols in mobile social networks. Therefore, we first studied and proposed a prediction-based routing protocol in delay tolerant networks. Delay tolerant network appears earlier than mobile social networks. With respect to delay tolerant networks, mobile social networks also consider social patterns as well as mobility patterns. In our work, we simply come up with the prediction-based routing protocol through analysis of user mobility patterns. We can also apply our proposed protocol in mobile social networks. Secondly, in literature, efficient data dissemination schemes are proposed to improve the data dissemination ratio and with reasonable overhead in the networks. However, the overhead may be not well controlled in the existing works. A social-aware data dissemination scheme is proposed in this dissertation proposal to study efficient data dissemination problem with controlled overhead in mobile social networks. The data dissemination scheme is based on the study on both mobility patterns and social patterns of mobile social networks. Thirdly, in real world cases, an efficient data dissemination in mobile social networks can never be realized if mobile users are selfish, which is true unfortunately in fact. Therefore, how to strengthen nodal cooperation for data dissemination is studied and a credit-based incentive data dissemination protocol is also proposed in this dissertation. Data dissemination problem was primarily researched on mobile social networks. When consider large social networks like online social networks, another similar problem was researched, namely, information diffusion problem. One specific problem is influence maximization problem in online social networks, which maximize the result of information diffusion process. In this dissertation proposal, we proposed a new information diffusion model, namely, sustaining cascading (SC) model to study the influence maximization problem and based on the SC model, we further plan our research work on the information diffusion problem aiming at minimizing the influence diffusion time with subject to an estimated influence coverage.

The increasing popularity of the Online Social Networks (OSNs)\nomenclature{$OSNs$}{Online Social Networks} has made the OSNs major targets of spammers. They aim to illegally gather private information from users and spread spam to them. In this paper, we propose a new spam campaign that includes following key steps: creating fake accounts, picking legitimate accounts, forming friendships, earning trust, and spreading spam. The unique part in our spam campaign is the process of earning trust. By using social bots, we significantly lower the cost of earning trust and make it feasible in the real world. By spreading spam at a relatively low speed, we make the life span of our fake accounts much longer than in traditional spam campaigns. This means the trust we have earned can be used multiple times instead of only one time in traditional spam campaigns. We evaluate our spam campaign by comparing it with the traditional campaign, and the comparison shows that our spam campaign is less detectable and more efficient than the traditional campaign.

TITLE: Primary and Secondary School trainee teachers' approaches to and experience of computer- based social networks AUTHOR: Bc. Michaela Tomková DEPARTMENT: Department of information technology and technical education SUPERVISOR: doc. RNDr. Miroslava Černochová, CSc. ABSTRACT: The diploma thesis is dealing with online social networks, its functions and possible usage in education. The purpose of diploma thesis is to analyze these particular functions and their possibilities of usage in education process and also map the situation around experience and ideas of Primary and Secondary School trainee teachers in their personal lives and also for their next profession as teachers. The objectives of the thesis were fulfilled using theoretical and empirical research methods. The theoretical methods contained study and analysis of scientific literature, articles and study of results of theme related foreign experiments. The empirical research methods subsumed questionnaire and interview. In the end there is the conclusion of the thesis evaluation and summary of the explorative research results and formulated research findings. KEYWORDS: School trainee teachers, education, online social network

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing Johannesburg, 2016 / Worldwide, visual content, such as photos and videos, have increased dramatically on social network sites (SNS), with South Africa being no exception. Due to these developments, marketers are increasingly interested in the factors that impact the usage of these sites, in order to develop branded content that will attract and engage users. However, there is a lack of academic research revealing how individual consumer factors, such as personality, influence SNS users’ preferences for different types of content on SNS, particularly within an emerging market such as South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two personality traits – need for cognition (NFC) and need for affect (NFA) – and visual and verbal content preference on SNS in South Africa. The study also briefly examined whether demographic variables (gender and age) and SNS usage factors had an impact on the relationships between these variables. An online survey and pen-and-paper questionnaire were conducted. 307 social network site users were obtained primarily from two South African universities through convenience sampling. Data was analysed using correlation analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and standard multiple linear regression on SPSS. The main findings showed that personality does have an influence (albeit small) on SNS users’ preference for visual or verbal content, and warrants consideration by marketing organisations in the design of SNS content. Visual content preference on SNS was found to have a positive relationship with NFA and a negative relationship with NFC. Verbal content preference had a positive relationship with NFC but no significant relationship with NFA. Demographic and SNS usage variables showed mixed results in their impact on SNS content preference. It was recommended that future studies include other variables that could affect SNS content preference, as well as use more objective measures (rather than self-reporting) to determine SNS users’ actual behaviour. Key words: Social network sites, personality traits, need for cognition, need for affect, visual content, verbal content, South Africa, emerging market / GR2018

Since the 17th century there has been a proliferation of discourse on sex and a host of sexual identities have been surfaced. One such sexuality that is particularly marginalised is transsexuality; central to which is the management of the transsexual self. The critical study of such practices has often been neglected in favour of ‘mainstream’ research on transsexuality’s deviance, aetiology and treatment. Furthermore, internet-based resources have been identified as a key site for the management of the transsexual self. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the constructions of transitioning in popular websites aimed at transsexuals and significant others, family, friends and allies of transgendered persons (SOFFAs). A search strategy was adapted to select the most popular websites for analysis. A discourse analysis – guided by Parker’s (1992) 20 ‘steps’ – was conducted on 12 webpages. The construction of transitioning was dominated by biomedicine and the ‘psy’ professions. Due to these hegemonic powers the transsexual identity was associated with distress and thus a number of technologies of self – particularly medical intervention – were ‘needed’ for the management of the transsexual self. This construction spoke to the rights and health of transsexuals but also appeared to limit their freedom and serve capitalist gain rather than the interests of trans persons. Uncovering these power dynamics may have important implications for the Standards of Care, the controversial status of gender identity disorder in the DSM and allowing for the creation of alternative power strategies which may permit more freedom in the care of the gendered self.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Arts (Development Studies), August 2017 / This study examines the new online phenomenon called Black Twitter and the publics that have been formed on this platform in regards to issues affecting black lives. Specifically, it not only introduces to the reader the South African Black Twitter market, but more importantly, it looks at how Black Twitter users construct and articulate their gender identities online. This is done through analyzing trending topics, particularly, through a specific hashtag (#IFApartheidDidntHappen) and accounts (@blak_terrorist and @KasiMlungu) which offer rich insight around racial identities and enables one to analyze the content and possible discourses that come into play on this Black Twitter platform. This paper also contributes to the growing literature on the growing black middle-class by exploring how Black Twitter is providing a voice to groups that were historically excluded from the mainstream media discourse. The key purpose of this paper was to explore, as has been suggested, Black Twitter as a public platform and how its young group of users are moving into spaces to challenge the status quo and change historically dominant discourses. / XL2018

Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The concept of virtual community of practice (VCoP) emanates from the need to create a new mode of learning and knowledge creation. It is found that highly structured forums are not necessarily the best way to assist people to learn and improve their knowledge. This then, requires organisations to seek alternative informal ways to share knowledge. The significance of optimising knowledge sharing results in VCoPs receiving considerable attention while searching for new ways to draw on expertise dispersed across global operations. This impacts organisations, thereby enabling them to respond more speedily to the demands of their stakeholders. The fast pace of change in their business environments is also a factor to contend with. Within this context, the use of VCoPs to optimise both, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing within stakeholders, is the central theme of this research. The findings from literature enables the researcher to explore scientific based models that may have the potential to enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise. The Life Cycle knowledge flow model is found to be the most comprehensive compared to two other models – namely, a Spiral knowledge flow model and Dynamic knowledge flow model. The outflow from the findings in literature is that the Life Cycle knowledge flow model is selected as the basis to conduct two surveys to determine if the model could be adapted to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs in particular, and in an enterprise in general. The result of the two surveys conducted (in 2011/2012 and 2016), leads to establishing an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model. The established model enhances knowledge sharing within VCoPs, and in turn, assists when optimising knowledge sharing in an enterprise. This extended model covers six phases of knowledge development to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The first phase enhances the creation of both, tacit and explicit knowledge. The second phase enables to optimise the organisation of knowledge. The third phase enables the formalisation of tacit knowledge, that is, conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge. The fourth phase improves the distribution of knowledge. The fifth phase enables to optimise the application of knowledge and the final phase enables the evolution or continuous development of knowledge. The contribution of this research proposes that a comprehensive knowledge flow model, namely the Life Cycle knowledge flow model found in literature, served as the basis for this research. However, this model was never tested or verified if it indeed optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The two surveys (Survey One 2011/12 and Survey Two 2016) were developed and distributed to respondents to verify the model’s suitability to VcoPs. As a result of responses received from the two surveys, the researcher was then able to develop an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model that particularly, optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. This research further contributes in formulating a scientific based knowledge flow model that can be adapted to social networks. Therefore, this research also creates the foundation to further study to investigate the optimisation of knowledge sharing in social networks. In recent literature, social networks are established as one of the informal mechanisms to share and enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise.