This thesis reports on a study conducted to investigate the design, development and implementation of a learning website as part of a distance education course comprising a combination of media and technology. The website functions as a tool for teaching distance education postgraduate adult learners mostly from previously disadvantaged communities whatever knowledge of nutrition they need to manage the symptoms and general health of people living with human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Before ascertaining such factors, the limitations and concerns associated with the teaching and learning of the learners in question had to be established. The research problem is narrowed down to eight sub-questions in order to establish possible solutions. These sub-questions can be categorised as follows: · Pressures on South African distance higher education institutions, and Internet and computer technology as a solution · Interface design · Web usability · Utilization of a combination of media and technology The study addresses each sub-question by means of an analysis of the published literature, by analysing how the findings of the project shed light on each research sub-question, and how each sub-question illuminated (in a wider sense) the remaining sub-questions, and the research question in general. The answers to the research sub-questions will permit the researcher to determine how the teaching of adult learners from previously disadvantaged communities in the field of nutrition and HIV and AIDS could be made more effective by utilizing a distance education course that comprises a combination of media and technologies. This will then in turn lead to the formulation of strategies and guidelines for the design, development and implementation of e-learning as part a combination of media and technology in order to offer effective postgraduate distance education courses for developing countries. The results of the study could lead to the following possible applications: · A post-graduate distance education course comprising a combination of media and technology · A flexible, self-paced distance education course · An interactive learning website · Instant access to learning content · Offering authentic and reliable information · An alternative medium of offering content / Thesis (DPhil (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted

Oil and Gas companies have the inevitable need to operate in a global environment and therefore have a global reach. This thesis seeks to understand the nature and degree of localisation of the websites in this industry. This thesis introduces two notions of ‘global’, and seeks to examine the relationship between them: the first of which is the Global reach or operations of companies and the second is where a company’s communication is localised in language and cultural terms. A company can be seen to be ‘global’ in one of these two notions and it is this relationship that this thesis seeks to explore. The contribution of this thesis firstly, is that it adds to previous studies of website localisation, which have focused primarily on consumer goods and the retail industry, by examining a different kind of industry. Secondly, it takes into account the important semiotic and symbolic dimensions of language and culture when looking at localisation practices. The thesis thus contributes to the growing literature on website localisation and practices in Multinational companies. This study was carried out on 387 corporate and country specific websites of 16 Oil and Gas Companies to understand the extent and nature of their localisation practises particularly the way that language and culture are presented. The websites were studied using a qualitative and quantitative research design which involved carrying out a linguistic/semiotic analysis and a cultural analysis to give a balanced perspective of localisation practices. The conclusions of the study were that the companies operated a ‘glocal’ strategy, a combination of both a localised and a globalised (standardised) strategy. The companies had a combination of globally standardised features such as the website layouts, images, colour schemes, logos and the use of global celebrities on their websites and a limited degree of localisation where the ‘local’ is signified by local country websites, local news stories, local languages, local celebrities, images of local sights, images of company’s local office buildings and local petrol stations.

This study examined the role of corporate websites and company Facebook profiles in shaping perceptions of organizational image in the recruitment context. A primary purpose of this research was to determine whether or not perceptions of organizational image vary across different web-based recruitment methods, specifically examining corporate websites and social networking (SNW) sites, such as company Facebook profiles. A secondary goal was to determine how these perceptions of image are shaped by the objective components of websites and Facebook profiles. Finally, this study sought to determine the most influential components of websites and Facebook profiles, in terms of impacting image, to better understand how organizations can maximize their web-based recruitment efforts. A total of 102 companies selected from Fortune Magazine’s 2011 top 500 were chosen for the study. Perceptions of organizational personality as well as objective assessments of personality were gathered for each organization in a two phase approach. Results indicate that exposure to corporate websites and company Facebook profiles do influence perceptions of image in different ways. Furthermore, individual components of the websites were identified as key drivers for influencing specific image dimensions, particularly for company Facebook pages. Findings are beneficial for advising practitioners on how to best manage their web-based recruitment sources in order to maximize efficiency. The present study serves to further our understanding of the process through which perceptions of organizational image are influenced by new recruitment sources.

An ongoing debate surrounds the question of whether digital media can promote participatory democracy. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website promotes or discourages participatory democracy. For a rich analysis, the case study drew on various relevant theoretical perspectives, including the concepts of participatory democracy and digital democracy. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study found that my.barackobama.com promoted political knowledge and non-electoral participation, but failed to promote political discussion and community. Consequently, the recommendations highlighted the importance of an online public sphere. The findings of this case study add to the research literature about the political use of digital media, and they also add new information about Barack Obama’s digital media strategies.

Internet users are increasingly required to sign up for online services and establish accounts before receiving service from websites. On the one hand, generation of strong usernames and passwords is a difficult task for the user. On the other hand, memorization of strong passwords is by far more problematic for the average user. Thus, the average user has a tendency to use weak passwords, and also reuse his passwords for more than one website, which makes several attacks feasible. Under the aforementioned circumstances, the use of password managers is beneficial, since they unburden the user from the task of memorizing user credentials. However, password managers have a number of weaknesses. This thesis is mainly aimed at alleviating some of the intrinsic weaknesses of password managers. We propose three cryptographic protocols which can improve the security of password managers while enhancing user convenience. We also present the design of a phishing and Man-in-the-Browser resistant password manger which best fits into our scheme. Furthermore, we present our novel virtual on-screen keyboard and keypad which are designed to provide strong protection mechanisms against threats such as keylogging and shoulder surfing.

As the impacts of climate change become more severe, coastal communities are required to prepare plans for adaptation to the invasive environmental changes. A well-prepared adaptation plan can effectively reduce the overall risks of coastal communities. However, a plan is not the final solution for the climate change on coastal communities. How to take the plan into action and implement it in the local communities and find the opportunities for the enhanced preparedness and development of coastal communities is the primary consideration of this thesis research. Many organizations are engaged in developing adaptation tools and guidebooks. For completing their adaptation plans, communities need to develop clear, operational, action plans, and discover the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of coastal communities. To make coastal communities more sustainable in the face of the changing climate, the public’s attention and community participation is critical. The purpose of this study is to develop an adaptation framework and action plan process system for coastal communities and at the same time, provide the general public with an enhanced opportunity to contribute their understanding about what is being done for their costal community around them and how to react when an event happens. The research is applied to the coastal communities of Richmond County, Cape Breton, Canada as a case study. The result of the work develops an adaptation “Action Plan” website for Richmond County. The website features the development, application, and simulation of a mobile communication “Action plan” application designed and implemented with the action website along to provide coastal community with communication options that exploit the local community network and enhance the community’s capacity for climate change adaptation. The emergency response community mobile app and the accompanying website are models for other communities especially those that from the coastal communities in Canada and the Caribbean as part of the C-Change ICURA project to which this research is affiliated.

The main purpose of this master's thesis is the application of selected methods of internet marketing, checking their effectiveness and controlling their impact to visit rate of regional website. Due to the limited budget my work is mainly focused on inexpensive ways of applications of internet marketing. In the theoretical part I firstly demonstrate the techniques that I deal with. In the practical part I introduce the initial situation of the regional website, including the specifics of its visit rate. After the describing and application of marketing changes, I analyze the same metrics one year later to detect differences and development of website. In the conclusion I offer the concrete recommendations for managers of regional website.

Search engine algorithms are constantly improved in order to provide the highest quality and most relevant results for the user. Google algorithm updates called Panda and Penguin have recently been one of the most significant and many websites that use black hat SEO techniques were hit by them. Nowadays, using this search optimization's techniques raises the risk of Google penalty, which in most of the cases cause decrease in traffic from organic search. The aim of this thesis is to describe techniques of search engine optimization (SEO) and their possible impact on website's ranking. The thesis also aims to verify whether Penguin and Panda updates have the impact on websites for which the methods of black hat SEO have been used and specify the result of this impact. In the theoretical part of this thesis it is described function of search engines Seznam.cz and Google, their algorithm change in history and possible factors on which the ranking score is based. Briefly are also described tools, which can be used to identify and analyze possible causes of penalization. After reading this thesis, the reader will have a basic orientation in search engine optimization methods and their appropriate use. Also, he will be able to recognize possible causes of Google penalty and propose an appropriate strategy for its removal.

The diploma thesis deals with the subject of project management of a web presentation in a B2B sector. Main emphasis is given on a definition of a theoretical framework - description and determination of the different stages of the project preparation. In addition to the design process, the discussed topics are - factors affecting business success and effectiveness of the proposed solution, especially usability, credibility and conviction. The theoretical part also focuses on a testing scheme of information architecture, wire-frames as well as testing the final design. The theoretical framework is subsequently used in the second part, which deals with designing a website for a company operating within the B2B market.

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