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Travel bragging, referring to the act of showing off or boasting about travel experiences, is ubiquitous on social media; travel bragging rights (e.g., Instagrammability) have become an important factor in travel decision-making in the social media era. Despite these developments, research on travel bragging remains scarce. This dissertation presents two studies. The first aimed to explore travel bragging via qualitative approaches (i.e., in-depth interviews, means-end analysis, and photo elicitation) to determine how consumers (both braggers and the audience) defined and perceived travel bragging and travel bragging rights. This study provided a systematic conceptualization of travel bragging, including a definition of the term, how to distinguish travel bragging from travel experience sharing, motivations behind travel bragging, the influence of travel bragging on travel braggers and their audience, and coping strategies consumers used to mitigate the negative impacts of travel bragging. This conceptualization of travel bragging highlighted perception gaps between travel braggers and the audience in identifying travel bragging, motivations behind this behavior, and the audience’s emotional reactions to it. The first study also provided a conceptual framework of travel bragging rights, which includes seven dimensions related to destination attributes: difference, similarity, scarcity, functionality, symbolism, hedonism, and consequentiality. Results show that, as a travel motivation, seeking travel bragging rights exerts a stronger influence on young generations and active social media content generators. The second study sought to investigate travel bragging in an online travel review context using an experimental design. Drawing on attribution theory and the emotional contagion effect, this study attempted to identify whether two visual cues in user-generated photos (pictorial self-prominence and selfies) could affect the persuasion effect of online reviews through perceived dubious motivations and positive emotions. Pictorial self-prominence (i.e., the degree to which the image of oneself is noticeable from user-generated photos) is a new concept introduced in this study. It was manipulated in two ways: the ratio of the area of one’s image to a whole self-portrait, and the ratio of the number of photos including the reviewer’s image to the total number of photos uploaded per online review. Results show that pictorial self-prominence has a negative impact on review helpfulness through perceived dubious motivations; however, this effect did not extend to visit intention to the tourist attraction mentioned in the online review. The findings also show that pictorial self-prominence (manipulated by number ratio) and selfie had a significant interaction effect on review helpfulness, such that when more photos contained the reviewer’s image, online reviews with selfies were perceived as more helpful than those with non-selfies. Follow-up analysis revealed that this interaction effect was mediated by perceived authenticity and perceived source expertise. Theoretically, this dissertation presents a systematic and comprehensive conceptualization of travel bragging, including travel bragging behavior and travel bragging rights. This conceptualization provides an update to consumers’ opinions about travel bragging and travel bragging rights in the social media era. This work also contributes to the word-of-mouth literature by uncovering the influences of travel bragging and underlying mechanisms. In addition, this dissertation reveals the influences of pictorial self-prominence and selfies on review helpfulness, highlighting the importance of visual cues in online word of mouth. Managerially, findings regarding travel bragging and travel bragging rights offer important implications for destination marketing organizations and associated social media marketers. The dissertation also outlines a series of tactful self-presentation strategies for individuals who enjoy bragging about or sharing travel experiences on social media while avoiding being perceived negatively. In addition, findings from the first study call for attention from policy makers to the negative psychological effects of travel bragging on travel braggers and the audience. The study on pictorial self-prominence and selfies provides important implications for destination marketers’ visual marketing strategies. / Tourism and Sport

This human factors research demonstrated the importance of instruction design on assembly performance and self-efficacy in young children. The mixed-method usability study evaluated the effect of gender, age, toy, and experience on assembly performance, frequency and duration of instruction looks, subjective evaluations, and usability problems. A total of twenty-four boys and girls, six- and nine-year-olds, assembled K'NEX, LEGO, BIONICLE, and Lincoln Log toys using the accompanying pictorial assembly instructions. Other research objectives included recommending key usability measures for instruction designers, developing a model of assembly self-efficacy, and evaluating traditional usability methods for use with children. Not surprisingly, quantitative results revealed that the older children assembled the toys more quickly and accurately with fewer usability problems. Six-year-old girls had the highest rate of mistakes. The nine-year-olds required fewer instruction looks of shorter duration than the six-year-olds. With few exceptions, toy comparisons were similar across subjective and objective measures. Thirty-two instruction design usability problems were described and illustrated and resulted in twenty-seven design recommendations. For example, more than half of the children omitted components added to the main assembly in the presence of a subassembly construction suggesting that the subassembly should be in a separate frame. Principal components analysis of all quantitative measures revealed four key components for the usability testing of pictorial assembly instructions: performance, satisfaction, difficulty, and previous experience. A qualitative analysis of the think-aloud data and observations, using Grounded Theory, produced a model of assembly self-efficacy from child users’ psychosocial and cognitive perspectives that affirmed the importance of user-centered instruction design. Girls exhibited lower self-efficacy and a greater tendency toward internal attributions, which was exacerbated by assembly of a boy-oriented toy. Six-year-old children were more affected by excess extraneous cognitive load and inaccurate information, such as color mismatches between the instructions and object. Adaptations of traditional usability methods and instruments were effective with children. They included video training for thinking aloud, visual-analog rating scales, and pictorial ranking instruments. A small head-mounted camera provided an economic means for gathering gross instruction encoding times and for better understanding the user's perspective. / Ph. D.

Songs Everything passes yet all remains but we only pass by, pass by leaving paths, paths over the sea. I never sought glory, nor to leave my song in the memory of men; I love subtle worlds, weightless and graceful like bubbles of soap. Wanderer, your footprints are the only path; wanderer, there is no path, path is made as you walk. By wandering the path is made, and as you look back you will see the trail that you will never step on agam. Wanderer, there is no path only ripples in the sea . . from the poem "Cantares" by Antonio Machado Cantares Todo pasa y todo queda pero lo nuestro es pasar, pasar haciendo caminos, caminos sobre la mar. Nunca perseguí la gloria, ni dejar en la memoria de los hombres mi canción; yo amo los mundos sutiles, ingrávidos y gentiles como pompas de jabón. Caminante son tus huellas el camino y nada más; caminante, no hay camino se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar. Caminante no hay camino sino estelas en el mar. .. del poema "Cantares" de Antonio Machado / Master of Architecture

Thesis (M. A. (English Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study explored the challenges of pictorial illustrations in texts faced by Students: The case of the University of Limpopo in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study seeks to contribute to the process of understanding pictorial illustrations in a teaching and learning environment, where there are VI (visually impaired) students. This study employed a qualitative research approach, and interviews were used to collect data from the respondents. The respondents were ten VI students, five lecturers in the English discipline and two braillists from Reakgona Disability Centre. The selection was based on the roles they play in the learning and preparing of learning materials for VI students. The overall findings from the VI students were that pictorial illustrations are challenging when students are learning English language courses. It was established that pictorials materials exclude and confuse VI students when they are learning. Those pictorials also discourage participation of VI students, as they cannot see the pictorials. On the other hand, lecturers have challenges in explaining and describing pictorials during lessons. Again, it was discovered that when developing pictorial illustrations VI students are not taken into consideration because most content always includes pictorials. The overall findings from the braillists were that English language learning materials with pictorial illustrations are not easy to convert to braille and to enlarge for VI students. The study recommended ways to deal with pictorials in lessons and materials. For example, workshops to help lecturers to accommodate VI students in the learning environment. The study encouraged a good working relationship to assist VI students to overcome pictorial challenges in English courses. This study was intended to offer assistance in terms of the challenges experienced by V1 students with regard to pictorials illustrations in English language learning materials and courses.

This thesis examines similarities in photographs made by the contemporary photographer Keith Carter and photographers active with the Farm Security Administration during the 1930s. Stylistically and in function, works by Carter and these photographers comment on social and cultural values of a region. This thesis demonstrates that many of Carter's black and white photographs continue, contribute to, and expand traditions in American documentary photography established in the 1930s. These traditions include the representation of a specific geographic place that evokes the spirit of a time and place, and the ability to communicate to a viewer certain social conditions and values related to such a place.

Na perspectiva da construção do conhecimento, como uma aquisição do domínio das diversas linguagens da ciência, e suas relações, foi elaborado uma atividade de ensino aprendizagem, na introdução de Física Moderna, no módulo Física de Partículas, no Ensino Médio, em que os alunos, em sala de aula, construíram representações pictóricas para os fenômenos físicos, relatados na história da ciência, que permitiram a distinção entre as radiações alfa, beta e gama. Para que fossem consideradas as características envolvidas no processo de construção das representações pictóricas, buscaram-se trabalhos de pesquisa que abrangiam a utilização das diversas palavras que envolviam sinonímia com desenhos e foram encontrados também em trabalhos de pesquisadores sobre semiótica respaldos para o foco de análise. A questão proposta foi contemplada e com base nos resultados e sintonia com a revisão bibliográfica, destacou-se a construção dos alunos, de representações pictóricas, no ensino de Ciências, como um processo que favorece a construção do conhecimento. / In preparation for the construction of knowledge, as an acquisition of the domain of the various languages of science, and their relationships, was prepared an activity of teaching and learning, the introduction of modern physics, module in Particle Physics, in high school, where students in the classroom, built pictorial representations for the physical phenomena, reported in the history of science, which allowed the distinction between alpha, beta and gamma. To consider the characteristics involved in the construction of pictorial representation, we seek research papers covering the use of different words that involved synonymy with drawings and found too in research on semiotics backrests for our focus of analysis. The question proposed was contemplated and results-based and consistent with the literature review highlight the construction of the students, pictorial, in teaching science as a process that favors the construction of knowledge.

Na perspectiva da construção do conhecimento, como uma aquisição do domínio das diversas linguagens da ciência, e suas relações, foi elaborado uma atividade de ensino aprendizagem, na introdução de Física Moderna, no módulo Física de Partículas, no Ensino Médio, em que os alunos, em sala de aula, construíram representações pictóricas para os fenômenos físicos, relatados na história da ciência, que permitiram a distinção entre as radiações alfa, beta e gama. Para que fossem consideradas as características envolvidas no processo de construção das representações pictóricas, buscaram-se trabalhos de pesquisa que abrangiam a utilização das diversas palavras que envolviam sinonímia com desenhos e foram encontrados também em trabalhos de pesquisadores sobre semiótica respaldos para o foco de análise. A questão proposta foi contemplada e com base nos resultados e sintonia com a revisão bibliográfica, destacou-se a construção dos alunos, de representações pictóricas, no ensino de Ciências, como um processo que favorece a construção do conhecimento. / In preparation for the construction of knowledge, as an acquisition of the domain of the various languages of science, and their relationships, was prepared an activity of teaching and learning, the introduction of modern physics, module in Particle Physics, in high school, where students in the classroom, built pictorial representations for the physical phenomena, reported in the history of science, which allowed the distinction between alpha, beta and gamma. To consider the characteristics involved in the construction of pictorial representation, we seek research papers covering the use of different words that involved synonymy with drawings and found too in research on semiotics backrests for our focus of analysis. The question proposed was contemplated and results-based and consistent with the literature review highlight the construction of the students, pictorial, in teaching science as a process that favors the construction of knowledge.

Ciascuno di noi, posto davanti a un'opera d'arte è in grado di esprimere una preferenza, anche se non l'ha mai vista prima. Child (1965) sosteneva come in questo processo di valutazione fosse determinante il ruolo giocato dalla personalità, tuttavia l'autore aggiungeva anche che la conoscenza o l'esperienza in campo artistico potrebbero ridurre se non annullare questo effetto. Furham e Walker (2001) hanno invece sottolineato come la personalità potrebbe essere maggiormente legata allo sviluppo della familiarità artistica invece che determinare direttamente le preferenze pittoriche. Il presente lavoro si pone dunque l'obiettivo di studiare la familiarità artistica in veste di mediatore tra le variabili di personalità e le preferenze pittoriche. I risultati mettono in luce come questa mediazione avviene per la ricerca di brivido e avventura, il bisogno di chiusura cognitiva e la sensibilità estetica (fattori di bellezza classica e rapimento estatico). Sempre attraverso questi modelli di mediazione, le preferenze pittoriche sono state analizzate considerando le principali caratteristiche dello stimolo: lo stile pittorico, il soggetto rappresentato e il livello di complessità. in particolare lo stile e il soggetto hanno messo in luce interessanti differenze. Si auspicano futuri studi che tengano conto degli effetti di interazione sia tra le variabili di personalità, sia tra le caratteristiche delle opere pittoriche. / Everyone could say if he likes or not a work of art, even if he never saw it before. Child (1965) stressed the importance of the personality traits for this process of evaluation, however he also suggested that personality variables become less important as knowledge of art increases. Furham e Walker (2001) proposed that personality variables predict exposure to art (galleries visited, art purchased, art studied) which in part predicts familiarity which is the most direct predictor of art preferences. The aim of this study is testing the role of artistic familiarity as mediator between personality traits (predictors) and pictorial preferences (outcome). Results show mediation for thrill and adventure seeking, need for cognitive closure and aesthetic sensitivity. Pictorial preferences are also studied in mediation models considering the characteristics of the works of art: style, represented subject and simplicity/complexity. In particular, the style and the represented subject show significant differences. Future research is needed, particularly on the study of the interaction between both personality variables and pictorial characteristics.

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