A presente dissertação visa estabelecer que a Internet, enquanto técnica participa da constituição territorial, nesse sentido, colabora na regulação da vida humana. Busca-se, neste projeto, compreender as relações entre o desenvolvimento da Internet e seus impactos na organização e ordenação territorial. / This dissertation seeks to establish that the Internet, as a technique, takes part in the territorial constitution, in this sense, collaborating on the regulation of human life. This project will pursue the comprehension of the relationship between the development of the Internet and its impacts on the organization and arrangement of the territory.

What if fibres were strings of numbers, arrays of digits turned into threads, not taking a specific form but constantly evolving. An increasing online presence and virtual experiences are shifting the understanding and definition of materiality. This work starts with a focus on textile expressions in a virtual world. It is built on new ideas on material thinking, with an emphasis on the divergence of aesthetic expressions. It explores the crossing between traditional craft and complex computer-generated structures. The idea is to reimagine how textiles are designed and made. The aim is to broaden the textile design field by exploring the definition of textiles through digital materiality, focusing on computer-generated images and surfaces in 3d software.

The thesis project explores the architectural themes of time and virtuality in two parts. The first theme - time - is investigated through a photographical study of Kulturhuset in Stockholm, searching for physical traces of change. The study also reveals a faster time scale relating to the inhabitants and users of space.  The second part of the project relates to the photographs, building on the technique of the camera obscura to investigate the theme of virtuality. Through three full scale tests and different experiments, an attempt was made to manipulate the border between the physical and the virtual, demonstrated in a room obscura built up at the courtyard of the School of Architecture during the Diploma Days in June 2015.  The project moves from the observational part of the photograph into a physical exploration of what architecture is, how it works and possibly what it could be, from virtual to physical and back again. As a whole, the project is a collection of thoughts, of sights, of connections and of experiences. / Examensarbetet undersöker de arkitektoniska begreppen tid och virtualitet i två delar. Det första temat - tid - undersöks genom en fotografisk studie av Kulturhuset i Stockholm, ett sökande efter fysiska spår av förändring. Studien visar också en snabbare tidsskala som relaterar till användaren och brukaren av rummet. Den andra delen av projektet utgår från fotografierna och använder camera obscurans teknik för att undersöka temat virtualitet. Genom tre fullskaliga tester och olika experiment prövades gränsen mellan det fysiska och det virtuella, och demonstrerades slutligen i ett rum obscura som byggts upp på gården i Arkitekturskolan under Diploma Days, juni 2015. Projektet rör sig från ett observerande i fotografiet till en fysisk undersökning av vad arkitektur är, hur arkitektur fungerar och eventuellt vad det skulle kunna vara, från det virtuella till det fysiska och tillbaka igen. Som helhet är projektet en samling tankar, sevärdheter, kopplingar och erfarenheter.

Dissertation The Impact of the Internet on the Socio-cultural System focuses on a research method of shared orientation in a new (in the complexity of human existence) environment of a global context, which is provided in particular by communication systems based on new media technologies. A study of the influence of media technologies, which grow on the basis of connection via the internet, on the nature of the society represents an extension of the original mediological interest in everyday communication to the broader socio-cultural view. Study of media communication takes into account the type of social interaction - purpos 'media logic' own specific media and media change leads to the corresponding social changes. New media and internet, as a potential carrier of social change, as seen through a combination of media development - primary, secondary, and especially the mass media and cultural context at the level of specifically human way of adaptation to the external environment, in particular its social manifestation, and interaction at the individual level. Information sources and methods correspond to thematic combination, are reflected in the method itself and the selection of literature and research tools, both in conjunction qualitative research related to the interpretation of media...

La presente investigación describe la experiencia subjetiva de jóvenes de 20 a 25 años que mantienen relaciones románticas a larga distancia. Se recurrió a un diseño fenomenológico hermenéutico mediante el estudio de caso múltiple haciendo uso de los sistemas conversacionales de González Rey (2007). Participaron tres jóvenes con quienes se tuvo dos conversaciones con cada uno. Se encontró que la experiencia relacional previa influye en la experiencia subjetiva de la relación romántica actual a través de la imagen subjetiva que forman los participantes de sí mismos y de la pareja. Los objetivos educacionales y profesionales son relevantes en la manera en que los participantes configuran sus relaciones románticas y en la determinación de las aspiraciones e intenciones con la pareja. El cuerpo, en sus dimensiones física y mental, juega un papel importante en el intercambio virtual y el desarrollo de la intimidad de los participantes con sus parejas. La incertidumbre es un factor central en la vivencia de desencuentros entre los participantes y sus parejas. Los resultados de la investigación permiten plantearse que la interacción virtual da lugar a nuevos esquemas para pensar al otro y a uno mismo. Las relaciones inter e intrapersonales parecen verse afectadas por el avance de las tecnologías de la comunicación. / The present research describes the subjective experience of people between the ages of 20 and 25 who maintain long-distance romantic relationships. A hermeneutical phenomenological design was applied through a multiple case study employing González Rey’s (2007) conversational systems Three young people participated in the study. The researcher had two conversations with each one. It was found that the previous relational experience influences the subjective experience of the current romantic relationship through the subjective image that the participants form of themselves and of their couple. Educational and professional goals are relevant in the way participants shape their romantic relationships and in determining their aspirations and intentions with the partner. The body, in its physical and mental dimensions, plays an important role in the virtual exchange and the development of the intimacy of the participants with their partners. Uncertainty is a central factor in the experience of disagreements between the participants and their partners. The results of the research allow us to think that virtual interaction gives rise to new schemes to think about the other and oneself. Interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships seem to be affected by the advancement of communication technologies. / Tesis

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第20738号 / 情博第652号 / 新制||情||112(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒田 知宏, 教授 大手 信人, 教授 松田 哲也 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

Classical music has a troubled history regarding the transformation into new forms of media, and the Internet is no exception. The aim of the present research project is to explore the possibilities of building a virtual, interactive opera house on the Internet, seeking answers to the following research questions:– Is the Internet an ideal platform for a composer of scenic music who, like myself, strives to control all artistic parameters? Or can it turn out the be just the opposite: a creative forum where boundaries between author and audience/users tend to dissolve?– In what way should my music develop to fit into this new arena? And conversely, how will it be possible to develop the Internet to suit my musical and artistic intentions?– Is it possible, in this new public environment, to come through with art and music intended to be an alternative to cultural commercialism and economic speculation and a voice against alienation and intolerance?– How can the increasingly neglected genre of art music find a new audience on the Internet?– How can economic needs be met without losing artistic values?In order to find answers to these questions, iOPERA AB was formed and the production of The Woman of Cain, the first opera exclusively designed for the Internet, began. The idea of a crossover platform for interactive, virtual opera on the Internet started to take shape. Some of my research questions are yet to be answered, but it has become clear that the adaption of the art of music drama to the Internet is possible. The idea of letting opera develop and adjust to the Internet is attractive, and I have not found that the genre would thereby be artistically compromised, especially since most art forms have successfully made the leap into new media and new distribution methods. In the near future, all kinds of creators will be able to develop skills and craftsmanship in various artistic fields, as software and interfaces become more accessible. The idea of a virtual opera house on the internet appears to be within reach and a logical step to take.The text of the thesis is accompanied by a DVD containing material from the opera production, including full score, libretto and media files.

This dissertation examines Asian North American rearticulations of the inorganic—a quality that has historically been assigned to Asians, rendering them counterfeit, abstract or not-quite-human—in new media, film and literature. By analyzing circulations of Asian North American disassembled body parts, “copies,” and gendered inter/faces, I argue that the excess, failures and ambivalence of Asian North American labour and performance constitute virtual modes of racialization that disrupt neoliberal, postracial temporalities in the Information Age. Asian American studies has held in tension its critiques of the West’s monopoly of liberal humanism in techno-Orientalist narratives (David S. Roh, Betsy Huang and Greta A. Niu) and the oppositional strategies of reappropriating techno-Orientalist tropes. My project does not seek to recuperate the Asian North American subject from the dehumanizing processes of fragmentation, surplus reproduction or abstraction—an impulse described by Rachel C. Lee as returning the “extracted body part” to the racialized “whole” in order to resolve anxieties about subjective “incoherence” or cultural inauthenticity. Instead, I turn to modes of inorganic life that do not produce an agential, autonomous Asian North American subject, but engender racializing disassemblages that work out survival and wellbeing within the neoliberal, abstracting pulls of the Information Age. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

With the increasing use of mobile technologies in modern organisations, managers are facing the dilemma of having to manage the performance of individuals who are removed from their direct sphere of control, while using performance management principles that have not necessarily been adapted to accommodate this. The study investigated, analysed and described the management and measurement of the performance of these virtual knowledge workers from the perspective of the manager, with the aim of proposing a new conceptual framework to assist managers in this task. In addition, the study identified the organisational context and individual contribution required to support such a framework. The study used a constructivist grounded theory framework, with the aim of building theory through an inductive approach rather than testing existing theory. An embedded, multiple-case study research design was used to execute the study, comprising five companies in the Information and Communications Technology and related sectors in South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the organisational, team and individual levels. In total, 39 interviews were qualitatively analysed using content analysis aided by ATLAS.ti. The 163 questionnaires were quantitatively analysed using descriptive statistical methods. Thereafter, within-case and cross-case analyses were performed to extract themes and to propose a conceptual framework for the enablement of the performance of virtual knowledge workers. The research uncovered four key findings. The first finding was that the concept of "virtual" in the term virtual worker is often misunderstood, and that the definition should be applied on a continuum of virtuality, leading to the concept of perceived and true virtuality. The second finding was that true virtuality influences how performance is perceived, and how deliverables and metrics contribute to perceived, actual and true performance. The third finding was that parameters affecting virtual performance include organisational, contextual, and customer factors, as well as the managerial approach itself. The manager needs to become the mediator for these parameters, thereby fulfilling the role of enabler of virtual performance. The fourth finding was that the visual or face-to-face element still remains important when managing the performance of virtual knowledge workers. The study makes a significant contribution on a theoretical level by extending existing theoretical models regarding virtual distance and the management of dispersed teams into a much more comprehensive model. This concentric performance enablement model for virtual knowledge workers shows how the manager acts as enabler for the true performance of the virtual knowledge workers. On a methodological level, the research demonstrates how an embedded, multiple-case study, executed on three levels of analysis, and based on a grounded theory approach, can be executed to develop theoretical insights into the complex phenomenon of enabling the performance of virtual knowledge workers; and lastly the study has also made a contribution on the level of practice, by giving managers a conceptual framework and practical recommendations on how to manage and enable the performance of virtual knowledge workers. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Denna studie undersöker internationaliseringsprocessen av e-handelsbolag med fokus på hur psychic distance, ett koncept som hanterar upplevda skillnader i bland annat språk, kultur och politik mellan olika marknader, spelar in i internationaliseringen. Syftet med studien är alltså att undersöka vad den befintliga litteraturen inom fältet för International Business studier säger om sambandet och vilken roll psychic distance spelar i internationaliseringen av e-handelsbolag. Detta kommer göras genom att besvara följande två forskningsfrågor: Vilken roll spelar psychic distance i e-handelsbolags internationaliseringsprocess? samt På vilket sätt har betydelsen av psychic distance förändrats i och med e-handeln? Studien baseras på teorierna kring psychic distance och nätverk från Uppsalamodellens internationaliseringsteorier, CAGE-ramverket samt e-handel och ”the virtuality trap” för att undersöka sambandet mellan dessa traditionella teorier och nya tekniska utvecklingar i form av e-handel. För att undersöka detta har en systematisk litteraturstudie baserad på 29 artiklar från fem olika journaler på fältet genomförts. Resultatet från denna analyserades sedan med hjälp av en tematisk analys för att identifiera mönster i materialet. Detta ledde fram till ett antal slutsatser och det konstaterades att psychic distance spelar en roll även i internationaliseringen av e-handelsbolag men inte riktigt samma roll som för traditionella bolag. Det konstaterades även att betydelsen av psychic distance har ändrats mycket i och med e-handeln och att även om teknik sägs minska avstånd så kan avstånden ändå inte helt elimineras. Slutligen konstateras att det finns mer att lära om psychic distance i e-handelssammanhang och att mer forskning på området är önskvärt. / This study examines the internationalization process of e-commerce companies with a focus on psychic distance, a concept that deals with perceived differences in, among other things, language, culture and politics in different markets and how this plays a role in internationalization. The purpose of the studies is to examine what the existing literature within the field of International Business studies says about the role psychic distance plays in the internationalization of e-commerce companies. This was done by answering the following two research questions: What role does psychic distance play in the internationalization process of e-commerce companies? as well as In what way has the meaning of psychic distance changed with e-commerce? The study is based on the theories around psychic distance and networks from the Uppsala model's internationalization theories, the CAGE-distance framework as well as e-commerce and the virtuality trap to examine the connection between these traditional theories and new technological developments in the form of e-commerce. To investigate this, a systematic literature review, based on 29 articles from five different scientific journals within the field of interest was conducted. The results from these were then analyzed using a thematic analysis to identify patterns in the material. This led to several conclusions, and it was established that psychic distance does plays a role in the internationalization of e-commerce companies, but not quite the same role as for traditional companies. It is also established that the meaning of psychic distance has changed a lot with e-commerce and that even though technology is said to reduces distance, the distance cannot be eliminated. Finally, it is established that there is more to learn about psychological distance in an e-commerce context and that more research in the area is desirable. This thesis is written in Swedish.