There has been slow growth among traditional residential real estate organization managers to communicate among the real estate industry successful e-commerce strategies. Grounded in diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore strategies traditional residential real estate managers use to compete with e-commerce real estate managers. The study population comprised traditional real estate office managers in western Nebraska who had at least 5 years' experience in developing successful e-commerce strategies and had sold a home in the past 5 years. I conducted a thematic analysis on the data collected via semistructured interviews and company documents. Four themes emerged from the analysis, including establishing and maintaining multiple e-commerce websites, regularly monitoring websites, establishing a visible presence on multiple e-commerce websites, and preparation to evolve as technology evolves. The study's implications for positive social change include the potential for traditional residential real estate organization managers' to develop and use new and useful strategies for overcoming barriers and effectively competing with e-commerce real estate organizations to remain competitive in the local economy through job creation, innovation, and competitiveness to sustain their businesses.

The purpose of this study is to understand how colleges and universities use language to represent themselves on their institutional websites (official websites of higher education institutions). Organizations, like colleges and universities, seek to create and maintain a distinctive identity in an effort to build legitimacy (i.e., status) and attract students (i.e., tuition dollars). Institutional websites are increasingly important to the admissions and marketing practices of colleges and universities due to their ability to rapidly communicate a significant amount of content to a vast audience. Colleges and universities use language, whether textual (i.e., written) or visual (i.e., images), to position and differentiate themselves from other institutions and promote their efforts. This study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the language on the institutional websites of 12 colleges and universities across a number of characteristics (e.g., control, type, geographic region, admissions selectivity) in the United States. Theoretically, CDA provides the means to examine everyday language in an effort to raise awareness about issues of inequality, such as access to education. Methodologically, Fairclough's approach to CDA has three dimensions of analysis. The first dimension is descriptive analysis where the intent is to describe the properties of the textual and visual elements. The second dimension involves interpretive analysis where the goal is to examine the contents of language and its functional parts to understand and interpret the connections between the role of language and the greater social structures it reflects and supports. Societal analysis, the third dimension, focuses on explanations of larger cultural, historical, and social discourses surrounding interpretations of the data. The analyses from this study suggest that colleges and universities utilize a common promotional discourse en masse to market rather systematic representations of "higher education" despite the fact that they vary widely by a number of institutional characteristics. Specifically, analyses reveal that institutions use language to repeatedly establish prestige and relevancy by touting the accomplishments of their institutional actors. The institutions attempt to engage the viewer with relational language, present numerous co-curricular experiences along with numerous images related to generic institutional characteristics (e.g., architecture, campus scenery), and multiple layers of navigation. The scholarly commitment associated with higher education plays a reduced role while the intangibles available to the prospective student are at the forefront of representations in the sample. Institutions also poorly represent other social goods (e.g., class, sexual orientation). Of the 453 images in the study, 98 feature a non-white actor (21%) and 146 feature a female actor (32%). Representations of diverse actors often appear in the form of caricatures (e.g., Native American in tribal dress). Given the mission and rhetoric stemming from many postsecondary institutions, including the institutions in this sample, to increase access to education for underrepresented individuals and enhance diversity in all its forms, the language utilized on the websites does not align with such statements. By deploying similar promotional discourse, the institutions choose what to present, emphasize, and exclude. Hence, institutions retain a great amount of control over information the viewer has access to on the institutional website. The language in use reveals that the institutions retain significant control over its actors with strategic placement of obligational discourse and, in most cases, complete silence on issues. Such discourse constructs an unrealistic portrayal of higher education while simultaneously reducing the role higher education has as a social institution committed to teaching, research, and service.

Both tourism destination marketing and the characteristics of holiday travellers have recently undergone radical changes driven by the rapid progress of computer technology. In particular, the advent of the Internet has had a great impact on holiday travellers as well as on the development of tourism promotion and distribution channel strategies. While holiday travellers benefit from the characteristics of Internet use, for example, unlimited information retrieval, flexible accessibility, and direct interactivity with destination marketing organizations (DMOs), the Internet provides DMOs with the critical factor of an increase in operational costs incurred by running all possible online promotional activities and online distribution channels. This paper attempted to discover which Internet functions are popularly used by existing/potential online travellers or which ones are not by testing the Canberra Tourism & Event Corporation (CTEC) web site. As a result, this research intends to provide CTEC with a way to operate its website cost-effectively, which can also lead to increasing the usage satisfaction of CTEC web visitors. Online travellers visiting the CTEC website were surveyed through non-probability self-selected web survey by using segmentation procedure; two key online travel groups: direct and indirect online access groups. Based on the research methodology, this study has discovered several findings. Firstly, CTEC web visitors preferred to use the CTEC website for the purpose of gathering travel information rather than that of online booking or reservations for travel products on the CTEC website. Secondly, comprehensive travel information tailor-made to online individuals was found to be desirable through interactive online activities, while the multimedia, booking, and comparability function were not significant in helping the CTEC online visitors choose the travel destination. Based on their preferences for particular Internet functions, it is evident that web visitors wish to have comprehensive and tailormade online travel information and interaction with the CTEC. Finally, it was revealed that the demographics of the CTEC web visitors were very similar to Internet users identified by previous researchers. Therefore, this study provides insights into website development strategies.

<p>The aim of the study was to investigate the degree of usage of 15 English loanwords atthe Swedish broadsheets Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet’s websites, during2002-2008. Three different aspects were investigated; total usage during 2002-2008,what kind of articles the loanwords occurred in and lastly, the gender of the journalistswho had written the articles containing any of these 15 loanwords. The result did notindicate any major usage of the 15 English loanwords; the highest usage was found insections like Sport and Culture & Entertainment and in the Economy section the usagewas very low. Some indications were found pointing at the idea that gender also plays apart in the frequency of usage of English loanwords with a greater use for men thanwomen.</p>

<p>To find an appropriate balance between centralization and localization is a key factor for a successful international company. From a company perspective, this thesis tries to figure out if the different aspects such as organizational culture, national culture and industry sector determine the standardization or adaptation of companies' websites and which website features are affected. The internationalization typology of Barlett and Ghoshal has been used to classify 12 companies from 3 industry sector according to their international strategy. Then their websites in United States, Germany and Taiwan will be analysed to compare if the internationalization types among their websites correspond to the expected. The results show that the three aspects impact the appearence of their websites.</p>

This paper aims to explore the current status of Internet Resources on Chinese studies among East Asian Libraries in the US. The author examined Internet Resources on Chinese Studies at the websites of 35 libraries by collecting data on the number of unique links, the kinds of websites included, the arrangement and classification of resources, the content and commonalities of the most frequently cited websites. Lists of link popularity are also complied to illustrate the current status of Internet Resources on Chinese Studies. Finally, a number of recommendations are proposed for further research.

This study focuses on the effects of Mild Cognitive Impairment and other minor memory impairments on a person’s ability to successfully use the Internet. Participants over sixty-five years of age were recruited from retirement communities and were selected based on self-reports of Mild Cognitive Impairment or other cognitive difficulties when using the Internet. Interviews with the participants focused on their abilities to use Email, Chat/Instant Messenger and the World Wide Web. Participants were then asked to step through several Internet-related tasks in order to further identify problem areas. Seven participants were interviewed, and six of them completed the optional observation session. The data collected from the interviews and observation sessions were then broken down into different categories, based on the type of difficulties experienced during Internet use. Finally, recommendations were made for good Web design practices intended to overcome the difficulties identified during the study.

To find an appropriate balance between centralization and localization is a key factor for a successful international company. From a company perspective, this thesis tries to figure out if the different aspects such as organizational culture, national culture and industry sector determine the standardization or adaptation of companies' websites and which website features are affected. The internationalization typology of Barlett and Ghoshal has been used to classify 12 companies from 3 industry sector according to their international strategy. Then their websites in United States, Germany and Taiwan will be analysed to compare if the internationalization types among their websites correspond to the expected. The results show that the three aspects impact the appearence of their websites.

Increasingly, technology impacts how we communicate and behave following the death of a loved one. However, little is known about technology use by the bereaved. This thesis contributes to understanding this phenomenon through three linked studies. These studies establish an appreciation of how technology engages with human mortality, and proposes "thanatosensitive design" (TSD) as an approach for developing such systems. An exploratory study fi rst examines technology use by the bereaved through a survey with follow-up interviews. Findings show that systems for inheriting data and devices are lacking, despite widespread use of technology for remembrance and communication. Using digital assets in social support is selected as a domain for further inquiry. The second study consists of focus groups with bereaved parents at two community organizations complemented by the perspectives of professional bereavement workers. Based on this fieldwork, 6 considerations concerning interpersonal communication, new ways of being, and materiality are presented. These considerations suggest that systems should permit connections with peers, support storytelling activities, and avoid tendencies to "fix" grief, among others. In the final study, I present Besupp - a website that permits bereaved users to engage in online peer-support groups. Besupp applied these design considerations and was deployed in a 10-week study. Nineteen bereaved individuals met in 3 support groups for bereaved parents, partners/spouses, and young adults. Based on system logs/data, questionnaires, and interviews, the study identified barriers to using digital mementos, preferences for online support systems, and issues concerning timing of use. In the discussion, I reflect on the three studies through four thematic lenses: temporality, materiality, identity, and research ethics/methods. I remark on how systems should consider the varying emotional needs of the bereaved over time. In the conclusion, I summarize and reflect on the status of TSD and identify areas for future work concerning social support for the bereaved, and computing's role at the end of life more broadly.

Increasingly, technology impacts how we communicate and behave following the death of a loved one. However, little is known about technology use by the bereaved. This thesis contributes to understanding this phenomenon through three linked studies. These studies establish an appreciation of how technology engages with human mortality, and proposes "thanatosensitive design" (TSD) as an approach for developing such systems. An exploratory study fi rst examines technology use by the bereaved through a survey with follow-up interviews. Findings show that systems for inheriting data and devices are lacking, despite widespread use of technology for remembrance and communication. Using digital assets in social support is selected as a domain for further inquiry. The second study consists of focus groups with bereaved parents at two community organizations complemented by the perspectives of professional bereavement workers. Based on this fieldwork, 6 considerations concerning interpersonal communication, new ways of being, and materiality are presented. These considerations suggest that systems should permit connections with peers, support storytelling activities, and avoid tendencies to "fix" grief, among others. In the final study, I present Besupp - a website that permits bereaved users to engage in online peer-support groups. Besupp applied these design considerations and was deployed in a 10-week study. Nineteen bereaved individuals met in 3 support groups for bereaved parents, partners/spouses, and young adults. Based on system logs/data, questionnaires, and interviews, the study identified barriers to using digital mementos, preferences for online support systems, and issues concerning timing of use. In the discussion, I reflect on the three studies through four thematic lenses: temporality, materiality, identity, and research ethics/methods. I remark on how systems should consider the varying emotional needs of the bereaved over time. In the conclusion, I summarize and reflect on the status of TSD and identify areas for future work concerning social support for the bereaved, and computing's role at the end of life more broadly.