As redes sociais se apoiam em conceitos como colaboração, cooperação, replicação, fluxo, agilidade, interação, engajamento, e têm por objetivo o contínuo compartilhamento e recompartilhamento de informações em prol da permanente interação social. O Facebook, a maior rede social do mundo, atingia, em maio de 2016, a marca de 1,09 bilhões de usuários ativos diariamente, drenando 161,7 milhões de horas por dia de atenção dos seus usuários para o website. São compartilhadas por esses usuários 4,75 bilhões de unidades de conteúdo diariamente. A pesquisa apresentada nesta dissertação tem por objetivo investigar a gestão de conhecimento e a inteligência coletiva, a partir da introdução de mecanismos que visam a possibilite aos usuários gerenciar e organizar as informações correntes em feeds de grupos dos quais participam, transformando o Facebook em um dispositivo de gestão de informação e conhecimento coletivos, além da mera interação e comunicação entre os usuários. Adotando a metodologia design science research pretendeu-se incutir no artefato computacional desenvolvido os "genes" da inteligência coletiva, conforme apresentados na literatura, para que tal inteligência pudesse ser gerenciada e utilizada para criar ainda mais conhecimento e inteligência para e a partir da interação do grupo. A principal contribuição teórica da pesquisa está em se discutir gestão do conhecimento e inteligência coletiva de maneira complementar e integrada, evidenciando a forma como esforços para a obtenção de uma contribuem para também alavancar a outra. / Social networks rely on concepts such as collaboration, cooperation, replication, flow, speed, interaction, engagement, and aim the continuous sharing and resharing of information in support of the permanent social interaction. Facebook, the largest social network in the world, reached, in May 2016, the mark of 1.09 billion active users daily, draining 161.7 million hours of users’ attention to the website every day. These users share 4.75 billion units of content daily. The research presented in this dissertation aims to investigate the management of knowledge and collective intelligence, from the introduction of mechanisms that aim to enable users to manage and organize current information in the feeds from Facebook groups in which they participate, turning Facebook into a collective knowledge and information management device that goes far beyond mere interaction and communication among people. The adoption of Design Science Research methodology is intended to instill the "genes" of collective intelligence, as presented in the literature, in the computational artifact being developed, so that intelligence can be managed and used to create even more knowledge and intelligence to and by the group. The main theoretical contribution of this dissertation is to discuss knowledge management and collective intelligence in a complementary and integrated manner, showing how efforts to obtain one also contribute to leveraging the other.

A geolocalização, os dispositivos móveis cada vez mais sofisticados e eficientes e a disponibilidade instantânea de mapas de todos os lugares do mundo, permitiram o desenvolvimento de novos aplicativos, os chamados serviços baseados em geolocalização; além disso, as redes sociais online têm se consagrado como ferramentas de relações entre pessoas. A combinação destas tecnologias levou ao surgimento de programas como o Foursquare, que alcançou a marca dos 30 milhões de usuários em 2013, quatro anos depois de seu lançamento, o que mostra a importância deste tipo de aplicativo; através do estudo destes aplicativos, observa-se a valorização da vizinhança como fator de afinidade social. Da análise dos elementos de wayfinding, depreende-se que a cidade incorpora marcos com valor emocional. Ao final, é proposto um sistema gráfico que torne visíveis estas referências emocionais. / Geolocation, mobile devices increasingly sophisticated and efficient and instantaneous availability of maps from all over the world, allowed the development of new applications, the so-called geolocation based services, in addition, online social networks have been established as tools for relation between people. The combination of these technologies has led to the emergence of programs like Foursquare, which reached 30 million users in 2013, four years after its release, which shows the importance of this type of application; through the research of those applications, there is the appreciation of the neighborhood as a factor of social affinity. From the analysis of the wayfinding is implicit that the city incorporates marks with emotional value. A graphical system is proposed to turn visible these emotional references.

Previous studies targeting youth participation in physical activity have argued that self-motivation is the main key to increasing participation. However, few studies have focused specifically on the role of structural factors in prompting youth participation in physical activity. The structure may include people, and institutions that are introducing, providing and facilitating physical activity to youth. Therefore, this study focuses on the role of the structure surrounding youth. The study takes youth in Saudi Arabia aged 15-24 as its subjects in order to examine the use of three online social networks (OSNs), i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, for communication and exchange of resources and the influence on participation of key decision makers such as home (parents and siblings), school (Ministry of Education and PE teachers), physical activity and sports clubs (General Authority of Sports [GAS]), and friends. The study uses mixed methods and follows the social network structural theory to examine how the exchange of resources (e.g., information, emotional support, financial support, and facilities and services) takes place between agent and structure. The main findings are that the structure plays a role in influencing participation among Saudi youth. Friends are of great influence, as they occupy the longest hours of youth time both at school, where friends interact in person, and outside of school, where friends communicate through OSNs. An Islamic and conservative society prevails in Saudi Arabia, where 99 per cent of the population is Muslim. Therefore, in addition to the structural factors noted above, religion is also investigated. Indeed, Islam drives motivation in this large conservative group as individuals learn to obey and implement the religious advice and Islamic teachings of the prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), including those messages with relation to becoming a healthy and strong Muslim. Finally, the study also focuses on the participation of Saudi female youth in physical activity. Due to cultural reasons preventing women from participating in physical activity as freely and equally as their male peers in the country, Saudi Arabia has seen an increasing percentage of obese women. The main aim of this research is to understand the relationship between agency and structure and thereby to identify the role of structure in increasing the participation of youth in physical activity. The research question (How do OSNs facilitate Saudi youth participation in physical activity?) investigates the relationship between agency and structure to delineate the pattern of information exchange regarding resources for involvement in physical activity. Through the use of mixed methods including face-to-face interviews, online survey and digital ethnography, the researcher investigates how youth social networks function both offline and online. The study concludes that decision makers in the field of physical activity participation in Saudi Arabia vary in their level of encouragement, influence and communication. Family members do not seem to communicate with youth via online platforms, but they do play a crucial role in offline social networks. Private institutions are becoming very active in OSNs, and public institutions are following the trend, albeit at a slower pace. The study shows that physical activity facilitators in Saudi Arabia are still failing to effectively reach youth and encourage them to participate in physical activity. Various policies need to be reviewed and enhanced if the public institutions do indeed want to reach more youth and benefit youth and the community, including the female youth, who make up more than half of the population. The study shows that the way to develop these policies is to communicate with youth via OSNs and to provide youth with more facilities, venues and services in the country that are suitable for both genders.

Submitted by Priscilla Araujo (priscilla@ibict.br) on 2016-10-13T18:49:56Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação_Patrick_Dourado_Ribeiro_2013.pdf: 1290916 bytes, checksum: b2521ff01d178b6aaac3384be1d1af08 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T18:49:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação_Patrick_Dourado_Ribeiro_2013.pdf: 1290916 bytes, checksum: b2521ff01d178b6aaac3384be1d1af08 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-26 / Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a aplicação das Tecnologias de Comunicação e Informação (TICs) na área da saúde, dando ênfase às esferas da Vigilância em Saúde e da Promoção da Saúde. No desenvolvimento da pesquisa foram levantadas algumas ferramentas online, como Redes sociais online e blogs voltados para a saúde, internacionais e nacionais; Também foram verificados dispositivos portáteis como smartphones, tablets e também sensores remotos na área da saúde, analisando aplicativos voltados para a área. O método de Revisão Sistemática também foi utilizado, procurando mostrar a produção de artigos na área sobre o tema, além de verificar a questão da integração de sistemas de informação, como bibliotecas virtuais, com as redes sociais online. Uma pesquisa de campo foi realizada, na Secretária Municipal de Saúde do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, verificando a realidade dos profissionais de saúde no que diz respeito sobre a utilização das TICs na área da saúde no Estado. / This study aimed to verify the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in health, emphasizing the areas of Health Surveillance and Health Promotion. In the development of the research have been raised online tools such as blogs and online social networks directed to health, both national and international; portable devices like smartphones, tablets and also remote sensing in healthcare were also verified, analyzing possible applications for such devices in the area. The method was also used Systematic Review, to show the production of articles on the topic in the area, besides checking the issue of integration of information systems, such as virtual libraries with online social networks. A field survey was conducted in the Municipal Secretary of Health of the State of Rio de Janeiro, verifying the reality of health professionals with regard to the use of ICTs in health care in the state.

In this study 18 sediment samples were collected from the upper continental slope across the coast of the state of Sergipe in January 2007. The composition and distribution pattern of recent foraminifera were studied. For each sample, 300 foraminifera shells were identified, reaching 5400 different specimens. The samples were treated initially with the division by quartering, washed with water, weighed to 1 g and finally screened. The study shows 4504 specimens from benthic and 896 planktonic foraminifera. A total of 167 taxa were identified, with 84 genera and 157 benthic taxa. The benthic species most frequent were Amphistegina sp, Cassidulina laevigata, Siphonina pulchra and Peneroplis carinatus. Benthic and planktonic foraminifera appeared in all samples. For seven genera of planktonic foraminifera, an amount of 10 species could be identified. Planktonic species most frequent were Globigerinoides conglobatus, G. ruber, G. trilobus, Globorotalia menardii e Globigerina bulloides. The 18 sampling sites in the study area are predominantly located in bioclastic environments, except for two points that are located near of the São Francisco canyon, which is a siliciclastic environment. These results are completely new and they will allow extending the composition of foraminifera that occur along the studied area. The data are consistent with those found by other authors in different regions of the northeastern Brazilian coast. Taxonomic changes observed on this study at the generic and specific level of the studied foraminifera agree with literature data. / A presente dissertação aborda a sociedade contemporânea e como as sociabilidades em rede reforçam o consumo simbólico e o narcisismo. Para tanto, a abordagem epistemológica propõe um panorama das práticas sociais no ambiente da cibercultura. Mais do que um lugar de encontro no ciberespaço, essas novas formas de interações têm sido locais profícuos para se perceber a mudança de comportamentos em um possível quadro adverso à vida pública no que diz respeito à falta de uma dimensão perceptível entre o que é publico e privado. Exibicionismos do consumo e o narcisismo no software social Facebook foram utilizados como objetos de análise porque são características que se apresentam com muita frequência na cultura urbana que reforçam o caráter superficial de inserção nas sociabilidades em rede

Esta dissertação tem como objeto as relações entre a internet e a cultura local. Nesse contexto, estuda-se a relação existente entre o portal São Marcos na Web e a comunidade são-marquense, observando o papel cultural desempenhado por esse veículo comunicacional, na localidade, respondendo à seguinte questão-problema: Qual o papel do portal São Marcos na Web no resgate e na maior abrangência de aspectos da cultura local? Na tentativa de responder a essa questão, o objetivo geral deste trabalho é o de compreender o lugar ocupado pelo portal São Marcos na Web na instituição/manutenção da cultura local. No decorrer da pesquisa, são analisados os processos de formação de uma cultura regional, da cibercultura e da comunicação no ciberespaço, bem como a linguagem nos meios digitais e a revolução que a internet e os aparatos tecnológicos causaram nos processos comunicacionais. Finalmente, é desenvolvido um esquema de pesquisa com base na netnografia, proposto por Kozinets (2014). Seguindo esse esquema são analisadas as interações que os seguidores da fanpage do São Marcos na Web na rede social Facebook fizeram com a equipe do portal e outros leitores da seção Memória do periódico. Com base nos resultados alcançados, percebe-se que o portal tem um papel importante na formação cultural dos leitores locais e que a internet pode colaborar de múltiplas formas nesse processo. / This dissertation intends to correlate internet and the local culture. In this context, it is studied the relation between São Marcos na Web’s portal and São Marcos citizens, perceiving the culture function that this means of communication have in the local community, answering the following question: What is the role of São Marcos na Web’s portal in the recovery and in the breadth of local culture aspects? Attempting to answer this question, the general objective of this paper work is to comprehend the spot that São Marcos na Web have in the institution/maintenance of the local culture. Throughout the study, it is analyzed the building of a regional culture, of a cyberculture and in the communication in a cyberspace, as well as the language in the digital environment and the revolution that the internet and others technological gadgets provoked in the communication process. Finally, it is developed a search procedure based on the netnography proposed by Kozinets (2014). Following that, it is analyzed the interactions made by the followers of São Marcos na Web page on Facebook. Based on the results achieved, it is noticed that the portal have an important role in the culture development of the local readers and internet might help with in different ways in this process.

Lorsque les internautes naviguent sur le Web, ils laissent de nombreuses traces que nous nous proposons d’exploiter pour améliorer les applications d'accès à l'information. Nous étudions des techniques centrées sur les utilisateurs qui tirent parti des nombreux types de rétroaction pour perfectionner les services offerts aux utilisateurs. Nous nous concentrons sur des applications telles que la recommandation et le marketing d’influence dans lesquelles les utilisateurs génèrent des signaux (clics, "j'aime", etc.) que nous intégrons dans nos algorithmes afin de fournir des services fortement contextualisés. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée à une approche interactive de la recherche d'information sur les médias sociaux. Le problème consiste à récupérer un ensemble de k résultats dans un réseau social sous la contrainte que la requête peut être incomplète (par exemple, si le dernier terme est un préfixe). Chaque fois que l'utilisateur met à jour sa requête, le système met à jour l'ensemble des résultats de recherche en conséquence. Nous adoptons une interprétation de la pertinence de l'information qui tient compte du réseau, selon laquelle l'information produite par les utilisateurs proches de l'utilisateur faisant la requête est jugée plus pertinente. Ensuite, nous étudions une version générique de la maximisation de l'influence, dans laquelle nous voulons maximiser l'influence des campagnes d'information ou de marketing en sélectionnant de manière adaptative les utilisateurs initiant la propagation de l'information parmi un petit sous-ensemble de la population. Notre approche ne fait aucune hypothèse sur le modèle de diffusion sous-jacent ni même sur la structure du réseau de diffusion. Notre méthode a d'importantes applications dans le marketing d’influence qui vise à s’appuyer sur les influenceurs de réseaux sociaux pour promouvoir des produits ou des idées. Enfin, nous abordons le problème bien connu du démarrage à froid auquel sont confrontés les systèmes de recommandation par une approche adaptative. Si aucune information n’est disponible concernant l'appréciation d’un article, le système de recommandation doit recueillir des signaux (clics, etc.) afin d'estimer la valeur de l'article. Cependant, afin de minimiser les mauvaises recommandations faites aux utilisateurs, le système ne doit pas recueillir ces signaux de façon négligente. Nous introduisons un algorithme dynamique qui vise à alterner intelligemment les recommandations visant à accumuler de l'information et celles s'appuyant sur les données déjà recueillies. / When users interact on modern Web systems, they let numerous footprints which we propose to exploit in order to develop better applications for information access. We study a family of techniques centered on users, which take advantage of the many types of feedback to adapt and improve services provided to users. We focus on applications like recommendation and influencer marketing in which users generate discrete feedback (e.g. clicks, "likes", reposts, etc.) that we incorporate in our algorithms in order to deliver strongly contextualized services. The first part of this dissertation is dedicated to an approach for as-you-type search on social media. The problem consists in retrieving a set of k search results in a social-aware environment under the constraint that the query may be incomplete (e.g., if the last term is a prefix). Every time the user updates his / her query, the system updates the set of search results accordingly. We adopt a "network-aware" interpretation of information relevance, by which information produced by users who are closer to the user issuing a request is considered more relevant. Then, we study a generic version of influence maximization, in which we want to maximize the influence of marketing or information campaigns by adaptively selecting "spread seeds" from a small subset of the population. Influencer marketing is a straightforward application of this, in which the focus of a campaign is placed on precise key individuals who are typically able to reach millions of consumers. This represents an unprecedented tool for online marketing that we propose to improve using an adaptive approach. Notably, our approach makes no assumptions on the underlying diffusion model and no diffusion network is needed. Finally, we propose to address the well-known cold start problem faced by recommender systems with an adaptive approach. If no information is available regarding the user appreciation of an item, the recommender system needs to gather feedback (e.g., clicks) so as to estimate the value of the item. However, in order to minimize "bad" recommendations, a well-designed system should not collect feedback carelessly. We introduce a dynamic algorithm that aims to intelligently achieve the balance between "bad" and "good" recommendations.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / Social networking is the use of dedicated websites and applications to interact with other users sharing interests, activities, backgrounds or real life events. The use of social media has been predominantly reported among young adults, accounting for about 93% of all users. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype are member based Internet communities that permit users to share views, perceptions and ideologies. Social media influences youth development, most especially among the millennials who invest approximately seven hours per day with media. More so, the social media shapes the millennials perception, ideology and principles. Bearing this in mind, this tool can serve as an effective tool for bringing both social awareness among youths and the society at large. Therefore, this study sought to determine how Facebook can be used as an effective social awareness tool among millennials. The current study focused on Facebook as it has the highest number of subscribers globally, and also due to its wide acceptance among South African Millennials in tertiary intuitions. Questionnaires were distributed to a total of 400 undergraduate students. These included 150 students from the Durban University of Technology, 125 from the Mangosuthu University of Technology; and 125 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study revealed that millennials are digital natives and their lives are basically lived through the internet and technology. Based on the findings the majority of millennials spend between at least two to well over six hours every day on social media. This proves that Facebook as a social network can be used to reach out and provide much needed information to millennials. / M

Social media has become one of the defining features of the technological advances known as Web 2.0. As social media has increased in popularity, so businesses are expected to participate. Social media platforms enable businesses to widely broadcast a message as well as interact directly with individual customers. Customers are also able to interact directly with one another and share information and reviews about products and services offered. This suits the tourism industry particularly well. Internationally, research has shown that individuals use social media and other online tools to research potential holiday destinations. In addition social media is used during travel to share snapshots and commentary as well as after travel, through reviews and recommendations on platforms such as TripAdvisor. However, few studies have investigated how tourism destinations use social media to attract new clients and retain existing clients. Very little research has been done on tourism and social media in South Africa despite the importance of this industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This study focused on four-star establishments within the photographic wildlife tourism industry in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. An initial survey of social media participation was carried out within the framework set out by Chan and Guillet (2011); this was then followed up with interviews with selected managers. Results showed that, in general, Private Game Reserves (PGRs) had embraced social media as a communication and marketing platform; despite concerns raised about the lack of control over content as well as poor understanding of the influence social media might have on the bottom line. TripAdvisor, Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly used platforms due to management familiarity with the platform and their ease of use. Few lodges utilised blogs or content sites such as YouTube and management cited time commitments associated with this type of platform as a reason for non-participation. However, although most PGRs or lodges had a profile on social media, this did not always mean active participation. Frequently, lodges began updating but gradually stopped after a few months. It was noted however that only one of the lodges interviewed retained an individual whose sole responsibility was social media; generally lodges did not feel that a dedicated person was necessary. This may result in a lack of time available on the part of the individual responsible or simply be a case of not understanding the platform or how to use it effectively. However, none of the PGRs with poor social media participation responded to interview requests and therefore it was not possible to determine the reasons for their poor participation. Among those lodges that actively participated, most succeed in retaining fans and followers through consistent posting of relevant and interesting content as well as customised responses that encouraged fans or followers’ interaction. However, there did not appear to be any evidence of using social media to learn about fans and followers in order to better customise the lodge offerings. This may not be necessary in this type of industry as PGRs sell a specific product and have a limited ability to customise offerings. In addition, there may be other sources of market information which lodges prefer to use. Special offers, competitions and promotions had limited success on social media. Generally, lodges used social media to promote links to a dedicated competition or promotions page. In conclusion, the managers interviewed felt strongly that social media had made a measureable impact on the tourism industry and was a channel that was here to stay. Further research around the best practice and most effective use will enable PGRs to develop and maintain effective strategies for social media participation.

Tiene como objetivo principal analizar las diversas estrategias implementadas por los usuarios al momento de producir y compartir selfies en las redes sociales y a su vez, comprender cómo los selfies contribuyen a la construcción y reconstrucción de sus identidades virtuales. Buscamos categorizar también los motivos fundamentales por las cuales los individuos incurren en estas prácticas, además de documentar la evolución de las tecnologías de la información y su repercusión en los usuarios. / Tesis