This thesis investigates the potential for radio on the Internet to enhance processes of communication and media practice in the form of new a public sphere. Drawing on the work of Marshall McLuhan, the early stages of this thesis present an enquiry into the unique positive qualities of both radio and the Internet. The argument that follows contends that radio presented on the Internet can draw from the perceived technological benefits of each individual medium, combining as a potential site for public spheres. Both Habermas’s liberal public sphere and contemporary critiques of the concept are examined to define a range of principles that could be tested against relevant examples. The increasing commercialisation of the Internet is presented as a challenge to the normative ideals of a public sphere and counter-balances the optimism of a technologically determinist approach. A series of thematic codes are developed from the relevant theory and combined with qualitative interviews. This forms the framework for a thematic analysis of three individual case studies: Unwelcome Guests, an anti-corporate radio programme, SW Radio Africa, “the independent voice of Zimbabwe,” and NH Making Waves, the radio arm of a community peace activist group. The study investigates opportunities for these three individual case studies to act as public spheres, by examining the interplay that occurs between both Internet and radio practices. As the thematic analysis will demonstrate, placing radio content on the Internet presents new opportunities to diversify content and audiences through collaborative production and improved distribution. Recommendations for further research emphasise the need to pursue the Internet’s role in the public sphere potential of radio.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-108).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Mathematics)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc (Applied Mathematics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The surface of a 3D model may be digitally represented as a collection of flat polygons in R3. The collection is known as a polygonal mesh. This representation method has become standard in computer graphics.

Invention révolutionnaire, le musée d'art ouvert au public est une institution qui offre un espace contradictoire, cela à plusieurs niveaux : dans les origines conflictuelles du musée, dans la validation de ses relations avec un pouvoir institutionnalisé, dans la conceptualisation de sa dimension publique. Une approche croisée de l'histoire de l'institution et de l'évolution de la question politique nous fera relever précisément ces contradictions et mettra en évidence une tension entre deux pôles antagonistes, en dialogue constant, le principe républicain et la question démocratique. Cette tension s'avère pertinente pour évoquer les musées nationaux et les politiques culturelles de la Cinquième République. On voit alors en quoi le musée national est une institution républicaine et dans quelle mesure la « démocratisation culturelle » s'articule avec la question démocratique. C'est à partir de ces réflexions que l'on peut questionner l'évolution des musées nationaux à partir des années 2000 et leur vaste mouvement de réforme. La réforme des musées nationaux se présente comme la modernisation de leur mode de gestion. Nous en analysons les effets dans deux cas significatifs que sont les musées du Louvre et d'Orsay, à partir de la dimension législative de ces mutations, de déclarations publiques des directions des établissements et d'entretiens réalisés avec des personnels de ces musées. Après avoir contextualisé/caractérisé ce mouvement de réforme, celui-ci est interrogé à partir de la tension définie plus haut entre principe républicain et question démocratique. On verra comment cette tension se reconfigure et se déplace dans un nouveau type de musée, le musée-entreprise. / As a revolutionary invention, art museum opened to the public in France is an institution that offers a contradictory space, in different levels: in the conflicts of the origins of the museum, in the validation of its relation of an institutionalized power, in the conceptualization of its public dimension. Mixing the particular history of this institution with an evolution of political issue, is a way to name these contradictions. This highlights a tension between two antagonistic poles, but in a constant dialogue, republican principle and democratic question. This conflictual dialogue has to be understood as an identification process and its crisis. This tension appears relevant to analyze national museums and cultural Policy during the french Fifth Republic. Therefore, national museum seems to be a republican institution and how “cultural democratization” enunciate itself with democratic question. From these reflexions, evolution of national museums and cultural Policy since 2000, and, the large amendments they know, are analyzable. Amendment of national museums presents itself as a modernization of their management and administration, by alleviating their ministerial tutelage. We analyze these amendments effects from two examples, Louvre and Orsay museums, by studying legislative dispositions, public statements of their directorate and interviews with employees in the museums. After this amendment movement has been contextualized and defined, it is analyzed from the tension between republican principle and democratic question. It is reconfigured and shifted in a new kind of museum appearing: company-museum.

Les points de vente de la presse écrite, encore appelés kiosques à journaux, sont le théâtre d’activités humaines au quotidien. Le passant qui traverse les grands carrefours de Yaoundé ou de Douala est attiré par les nombreuses personnes attroupées devant les kiosques à journaux où elles tiennent des discussions « interminables ». Pour les populations urbaines, il s’agit d’un passe-temps pour ceux qui s’y adonnent. Pourtant, la pratique est renouvelée au quotidien devant ces espaces de commerce. La présence de personnes devant les kiosques à journaux à longueur de journée traduit-elle une certaine oisiveté de leur part ou alors l’expression d’un réel intérêt pour les journaux ? Cette thèse analyse les logiques qui structurent le phénomène d’attroupement devant les kiosques à journaux et interroge la place des discussions qui y émergent. Les pratiques observées, ainsi que les entretiens menés au cours de l’enquête, montrent que la recherche des informations contenues dans la presse écrite est fondamentalement l’objet d’attraction des populations vers ces points d’approvisionnement. Les différents acteurs déploient des stratégies variées pour accéder à l’information. En effet, la vente directe des journaux comme seule source de revenus des kiosquiers relèverait d’une utopie. Face à la conjoncture qui sévit dans le secteur de la presse, les commerçants de journaux ne sont pas épargnés. La chute des ventes suscite le besoin de réajustements, dont le but est de combler le manque à gagner. Dans un contexte global dominé par la précarité, le consommateur n’est pas en reste. Désormais, parcourir les titres de journaux suffit pour se faire une idée de l’actualité. De cette exploration approximative émergent de manière instantanée des débats sur les sujets relayés dans les médias. Pour les protagonistes de ces échanges, la possibilité d’exprimer leur point de vue représente une forme de liberté d’expression, symbole de la démocratie, laquelle apparaît comme un élément structurant majeur dans la construction de l’espace public. / The newspaper stall constitutes an environment for daily human interactions. As one passes by the Yaounde and Douala major crossroads, it’s impressive to see the crowds gathered around the newspaper stalls. For many people, it has become a daily appointment for endless debates.The question is: Why do people spend so much of their time around those newspaper stalls? Is it because they are idlers? Or is it because they are truly interested in newspapers?Our thesis dissertation is aimed at analyzing the logics that structure the phenomenon of crowds around the newspaper stalls, and questioning the nature and content of the discussions resulting from peoples’ interactions in those places.From our observations on the field, and from the interviews carried out, it appears that the main reason why people gather around the newspapers stall is their search for information. Because of the economic crisis many people can’t afford to buy a newspaper. Therefore, they are often contempted with reading the titles on the front pages and when possible, gathering supplementary information from those who may have had the privilege to read the articles. Within this framework, spontaneous discussions and debates merge, which give the protagonists the opportunity to say their mind, and thus feel as if they are expressing their right to free speech, which symbolizes democracy and as such stands as a fundamental element in the public space.

In this thesis an algebraic structure, called real calculus, is used as a way to represent noncommutative manifolds in an algebraic setting. Several classical geometric concepts are defined for real calculi, such as metrics and affine connections, and real calculus homomorphisms are introduced. These homomorphisms are then used to define embeddings of real calculi representing manifolds, anda notion of minimal embedding is introduced. The motivating example of the thesis is the noncommutative torus as embedded into a localization of the noncommutative 3-sphere, where it is shown that the noncommutative torus is a minimal embedding of the noncommutative 3-sphere for certain perturbations of the standard metric.

The aim of my work is to describe the penetration of entertainment into the news and the normative reflection of this phenomenon. In the first chapter I conceptualize the phenomenon and discuss the basic literature on the topic. In the subsection I present my concept of the relationship between infotainment and other media concepts from the most general to specific ones such as infotainment. Further, I describe the Czech normative reflection on three different levels: the theoretical debate, the professional debate within political discourse (in which I also include the activity of regulatory authorities), and the debate within journalistic discourse. In the second chapter I show methodological attempts at coping with the penetration of entertainment and I suggest a methodological approach for my own research. In the third chapter I describe historically the onset of the news paradigm in the Czech media landscape, the penetration of entertaining elements into it, and the increased interpretive power of journalists in the commercialized infotainment news. After the description of the Czech normative reflection of this phenomenon and the presentation of the research, I propose a new approach to examine the fusion of entertainment and news.

O presente estudo se propõe a investigar os trabalhos que venho realizando nos últimos anos, sempre abordando questões da cidade e do nela habitar por intermédio de intervenções e ações artísticas que utilizam os meios e códigos da publicidade. São trabalhos inseridos na esfera pública e planejados para iludir o observador por meio da simulação de imagens e elementos comerciais e que, em um primeiro momento, não se apresentam como objeto artístico. Iludem para esclarecer, na medida em que simulam eventos do cotidiano levados ao extremo, procurando explorar tensões e evidenciar os conflitos por trás dos fatos. Da mesma forma, são intervenções que não existem como um objeto isolado, mas se constituem de um conjunto de situações que ocorrem dentro de um espaço-tempo específico: uma vez realizados, o que fica é seu documento. Na dissertação, busco referências de autores que pensam a cidade contemporânea e os “espaços de aparição” do indivíduo, nas palavras de Hannah Arendt, bem como de artistas que refletem sobre os mesmos temas em suas próprias produções, como Antoni Muntadas, Cildo Meireles, os coletivos 3NÓS3 e Contrafilé, entre outros criadores que atuam nos limites da arte como veículo. Por fim, divago se o dissenso proporcionado pela arte possui potência para criar espaços de visibilidade e afirmação sociais, ao estimular a reflexão crítica. / The present study proposes to investigate the work I have been developing over recent years, always addressing issues of the city and of inhabiting it in the form of art interventions using the means and codes of advertising. These are works inserted in the public sphere and planned to deceive the observer by simulating images and commercial elements and, at first sight, do not appear like an art object. They deceive to clarify, insofar as they simulate events of daily life driven to the limit, trying to explore tensions and to show the conflicts behind the facts. In the same way, they are interventions that do not exist as an isolated object, but constitute a set of situations that occur within a specific space-time: once performed, they left only their imprinted records. In this dissertation, I search references from authors who think of the contemporary city and the “spaces of appearance” of the individual, in the words of Hannah Arendt, as well as of artists who reflect on the same themes in their own productions, such as Antoni Muntadas, Cildo Meireles, the collectives 3NÓS3 and Contrafilé, among other creators who act in the limits of art like vehicle. Finally, I speculate if the dissent provided by art has the power to create spaces of social visibility and affirmation by stimulating critical reflection.

[pt] Nas últimas três décadas, acontecimentos como o fim dos regimes ditatoriais e o fim das experiências comunistas do leste Europeu colocaram em evidência em termo que se tornou de fundamental importância para a Teoria Política contemporânea. O conceito de sociedade civil tem revelado toda sua vitalidade no entendimento do cenário político atual, permeando as discussões sobre a construção de novos parâmetros da atuação do Estado e dos padrões de relacionamento entre este e a sociedade. Desse modo tal conceito vem sendo integrado ao mais diversos discursos atuais, ocupando um papel de destaque nas formulações de setores da esquerda e dos conservadores, explicitando sua natureza polissêmica e a disputa política por seu significado. Assim, a partir de uma investigação sobre as diversas nuanças que o conceito adquire ao longo de sua história, a presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar como essa disputa política em torno do conceito de sociedade civil se manifesta no panorama político brasileiro pós-1988, escolhendo como exemplo prático a experiência da instalação do Conselho de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, em 2003, com o objetivo de se tornar o espaço por excelência para a participação da sociedade civil e para a realização do que foi chamado de novo contrato social, um projeto de realização de decisões conjuntas entre Estado e sociedade civil. Tratamos assim de analisar quais os caminhos seguidos pelos primeiros resultados dessa experiência que se auto-intitulou inovadora devido à formulação conjunta de decisões políticas e de representação do universo plural e conflituoso da sociedade civil. / [en] In the last three decades, occurrences as the end of the dictatorial power in Latin America and the end of the communist experience in the European East, had placed in evidence a term that became extremely important for contemporary Political Theory. The concept of civil society has disclosed to all its vitality in the agreement of current political scene, interposing the quarrels about the constructions of new parameters of State performance and of its standards of relationship with society. In this way, that concept has been integrated into the most diverse current speeches, occupying a position of prominence in the formulation of the Left and the Conservatives, evidencing its polissemic nature and the political dispute for its meaning. This dissertation aims to present the contours of the concept of civil society in the Brazilian political context after 1988, beginning with a historical investigation about the varied nuances presented in its concept, pointing the political dispute of its meaning, between a radical democratic project and the neoliberal agenda, and choosing as a practical example for analysis the experience of the Conselho de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, evaluating its effectiveness as a public space for participation of civil society.