This project is a transnational case study on the binge-watching and media habits of sixty interviewees from Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Israel, Kenya, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. First, it zooms in and asks what habits interviewees had at the time of the interview. How did interviewees habitually stop watching for the day? What cues in their environment were most likely to successfully trigger the end of a watch session, and which were most likely to fail? Second, it zooms out, and investigates how robust interviewees’ media habits were when faced with major habit discontinuities. When interviewees moved across borders, found partners or lost them, found employment or left it, had children or had children move out, did it affect their video watching habits? Which life events were most strongly associated with habit changes? It uses interviews grounded in trace data (platform logs of user behavior) from several major video platforms in order to study what habits people have around watching video, and if those habits are rigid or elastic when confronted with major life events. Using trace data as a prompt during interviews made it possible to elicit details of repetitive behavior, and also to observe how that behavior changed over time. This research finds that binge-watching, and video habits more generally, are a state, not a trait. They can be altered by changing cues in viewers’ environments. Some cues are more successful than others at ending individual viewing sessions. The end of an episode or the sense of time having passed are the least successful, and the loss of a given kind of content or being interrupted by a concrete, immediate obligation to pay attention elsewhere are the most successful. For major life events, different life events have different effects. A high degree of cognitive migration is associated with changes in what people watch after a move. Sharing a household with other people is associated with alternating between episodes of different shows, as well as with exposure to different watching practices and content which are adapted as people move through time and across borders.

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Abstract This paper studies the audience¡¦s motivation in watching ¡§shopping channels¡¨ in cable television (TV) program, the relationship between watching and shopping behaviors, and investigate factors influence motivation and behaviors. The subjects are cable TV audience. The method is by telephone to find audiences¡¦ response to the questionnaire. Through data collection and statistic analysis the results show that the major motivations for audiences to watch ¡§shopping channels¡¨ are ¡§needs to information¡¨, ¡§entertainments¡¨ and ¡§social activity¡¨. Among these three, ¡§ needs to information¡¨ has the most correspondent. For watching behavior¡¦s aspect, the frequency of receiving ¡§shopping channels¡¨ is low. There are only 4.1% of responding rate in ¡§often watch¡¨ and ¡§daily watch¡¨. The most frequent watching hour is between 19~23 o¡¦clock as the rest of the local people in receiving other programs. However, the watching time is within 30 minutes every time (89.8%). In respect of shopping behavior, there are 57.6% shares of respondent express they will ¡§compare with other stores¡¨ or ¡§to listen to other¡¦s opinion¡¨ before decisions of shopping. This category belongs to reasonable type of shoppers. For shopping frequency, there are about 70% respondents express ¡§never buy¡¨, and around 30% expresses having shopping experiences in cable TV ¡§shopping channel¡¨. Concerning the shopping products, there are mainly 6 categories in sequential. The kitchen utensils share the most (32.4%), followed by ¡§cleaning products¡¨, ¡§fitness products¡¨, ¡§weight lost, weight control or on diet products¡¨, ¡§cosmetics¡¦, and ¡§electronic products¡¨. The study also finds personal traits will influence the audiences¡¦ ¡§watching motivation¡¨ ¡§watching behavior¡¨ and ¡§shopping behavior¡¨. For educational background consideration, the study shows respondents with higher educational level have less watching time and shopping frequencies in ¡§shopping channel¡¨. Hence, this is not the major consuming group for ¡§shopping channel¡¨, in stead they tends to be looking for ¡§entertainments¡¨ purposes. For junior high school level of education have highest shopping frequency (47.5%). Hence ¡§needs to information¡¨ has most of the watching motivation (63.9%). In behaviors wise, students have the least watching frequency and time, belongs to the group of ¡§ listen to other¡¦s opinion, then make decisions¡¨ category. Housewives are the major consuming group for ¡§shopping channel¡¨. The research also finds the ¡§watch time¡¨ will influence the ¡§shopping motivation¡¨. The longer the watching hour is, the stronger the shopping motivation. Shoppers being ¡¨reasonable¡¦ has less watching hour. This means the ¡§watching frequency¡¨ and ¡§watching time¡¨ have positive relationship to shopping behaviors. ¡§Shopping channel¡¨ is one the most popular channels in USA. It is also developing in promising direction with market potential in Mainland China. In Taiwan, as individual system develops, there are many more ¡§shopping channels¡¨ available. This reflects the competing situation. However, while the writer looks for broad casting, or management institutions, there has no study at all focusing on this type of channel yet. This research takes initials of ¡§quantitize¡¨ consideration to provide some contributions in mediating behavior for audiences, system operators, and channel operators.

This thesis establishes parallel claims about how women’s autobiography as a genreintersects with fiction as a means to share an author’s opinions on issues of race, gender,class, and topics that the publishing industry deems ‘controversial’, using Zora Neale Hurston’s works Their Eyes Were Watching God and Dust Tracks on a Road as points of comparison. Throughout this thesis, I will show that Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel that by virtue of its content is a political novel because of how it represents an overlooked demographic of people and the novel’s ripple effect on later black female writers as one of the first novels that celebrates black female joy. TEWWG does the work of literary representation that publishers did not allow DToaR to do because of the fear that the book would not sell as well if it included more of Hurston’s own political perspective. The second claim that I make is that TEWWG is first dismissed because of its lack of ‘seriousness’ in subject matter by Hurston’s peers, but its use of nature metaphors like the horizon and the tree and motifs like desire and dreams allow for issues of gender, race, class, and love to be discussed because they are shrouded in a literary image disguise.

A descriptive case study approach and 34 indicators was used to examine the socio-economic impacts of whale watching tourism in the Laguna San Ignacio (LSI) World Heritage Site - located within the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The framework measured both the socio-economic changes, and the economic viability of the local and regional operators. This approach led to a detailed understanding of the underlying, and often complex, inter-related factors that shaped the ecotourism development in LSI between 1994 and 2002. It identified strengths and weaknesses of current ecotourism development making it a valid tool for evaluating and improving these activities in any biosphere reserve. More specifically the objectives were to examine: 1. How existing ecotourism operations and their activities in the LSI have changed since 1994; 2. Whether these changes have made ecotourism a more viable socio-economic development alternative for the local communities; and 3. Which strategies may be useful in overcoming identified barriers to further socio-economic benefits both from existing and future ecotourism activities. The results strongly suggested that the benefits from ecotourism improved significantly between 1994 and 2002. Economically this was reflected in growth of visitor numbers (50%), employment (100%) and local and regional revenue approximately 70% (or 55% in real terms adjusting for inflation). Social benefits were seen in more cooperation among previous antagonistic stakeholders; a wider distribution of ecotourism benefits; some improvement in living standards and increasing local support for the Reserve. Politically, local stakeholders became more empowered through involvement in tourism related management activities. The viability of the local and regional operators also improved significantly as they became more sophisticated in their product offerings, enhanced their facilities and gained a market share of ecotourism relative to the foreign operators. These improvements were particular true for the operators that sold package tours. However, the analyses also revealed a number of barriers with the most important ones being: • Unresolved historic land use conflicts over rights to land with ecotourism possibilities; • Lack of activities diversification possibilities outside the tourism season; • Stagnating visitor numbers; • Uneven business skills among operators; • Poor marketing and promotional efforts; • Insufficient ecotourism infrastructure; • A proposed ecotourism tax; • Low profit margin of the ecotourism operators; and • Lack of funding for further investments To alleviate these threats and barriers 13 general strategies were identified. An elaboration of these resulted in 39 concrete operational strategies on how potentially to implement them.

ABSTRACT Title: A Study on the Principles for the Operation and Management of the Dolphin and Whale Watching Industry along the Eastern Coast of Taiwan Author: Yen-Ruey Kuo The dolphin and whale watching industry has become one of the most thriving tourism industries in Taiwan in recent years, and as such, a comprehensive system of operation and management is required to help secure its sustainable development. This thesis focuses on the eastern coast of Taiwan where dolphin and whale watching first developed earliest in Taiwan and where the largest portion of operators in the business is located. Based on personal interviews following carefully-designed questionnaires with local experienced operators, skippers and narrators, this thesis studies and analyzes the present conditions of local operations and management within four aspects of the development of the industry, namely marketing strategies, environmental and ecological protection, social justice and general institutional issues. It also presents suggestions concerning sustainable development in the dolphin and whale watching industry along the eastern coast of Taiwan. Finally, according to the suggestions provided by operators and managers, domestic and foreign references and/or personal observation, the thesis proposes fifteen principles for the sustainable development for the dolphin and whale watching industry. The first ever for Taiwan, these principles are believed to be invaluable in further developing the required indicators and/or guidelines for the sustainable development of the dolphin and whale watching industry in Taiwan.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of British Columbia, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-61). Also available in electronic format via Internet.

A descriptive case study approach and 34 indicators was used to examine the socio-economic impacts of whale watching tourism in the Laguna San Ignacio (LSI) World Heritage Site - located within the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The framework measured both the socio-economic changes, and the economic viability of the local and regional operators. This approach led to a detailed understanding of the underlying, and often complex, inter-related factors that shaped the ecotourism development in LSI between 1994 and 2002. It identified strengths and weaknesses of current ecotourism development making it a valid tool for evaluating and improving these activities in any biosphere reserve. More specifically the objectives were to examine: 1. How existing ecotourism operations and their activities in the LSI have changed since 1994; 2. Whether these changes have made ecotourism a more viable socio-economic development alternative for the local communities; and 3. Which strategies may be useful in overcoming identified barriers to further socio-economic benefits both from existing and future ecotourism activities. The results strongly suggested that the benefits from ecotourism improved significantly between 1994 and 2002. Economically this was reflected in growth of visitor numbers (50%), employment (100%) and local and regional revenue approximately 70% (or 55% in real terms adjusting for inflation). Social benefits were seen in more cooperation among previous antagonistic stakeholders; a wider distribution of ecotourism benefits; some improvement in living standards and increasing local support for the Reserve. Politically, local stakeholders became more empowered through involvement in tourism related management activities. The viability of the local and regional operators also improved significantly as they became more sophisticated in their product offerings, enhanced their facilities and gained a market share of ecotourism relative to the foreign operators. These improvements were particular true for the operators that sold package tours. However, the analyses also revealed a number of barriers with the most important ones being: • Unresolved historic land use conflicts over rights to land with ecotourism possibilities; • Lack of activities diversification possibilities outside the tourism season; • Stagnating visitor numbers; • Uneven business skills among operators; • Poor marketing and promotional efforts; • Insufficient ecotourism infrastructure; • A proposed ecotourism tax; • Low profit margin of the ecotourism operators; and • Lack of funding for further investments To alleviate these threats and barriers 13 general strategies were identified. An elaboration of these resulted in 39 concrete operational strategies on how potentially to implement them.

This thesis examines the human and animal dimensions of whale-watching and develops a framework for management of the humpback whale-watching industry in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The short-term responses of humpback whales to whale-watching vessels during their southward migration on the south coast of NSW were assessed. The behaviour of pods was recorded from commercial whale-watching vessels during tours and compared to pods in the absence of vessels observed from shore in the same area. Pod sizes and composition were typical of southward migrating whales. Calf pods were more sensitive to the presence of vessels than non-calf pods. Whilst there was a longer dive time and a greater percentage of time spent submerged by whales in the presence of vessels, there were no associated changes in respiration intervals. Some surface behaviours were suppressed in the presence of vessels. Surface-active behaviours were prevalent in this study which indicates that social interactions amongst conspecifics are common during the southern migration. Feeding pods were observed on 24.5% of all whale-watching trips and during 14% of all observations made from shore. South-eastern NSW is probably a significant supplemental feeding ground for migrating whales. Feeding behaviour did not alter in the presence of vessels but the time between feeding lunges increased when vessels were closer than 100 m and when more than one vessel was present. The demographics, expectations, experience and satisfaction of land-based and boat-based whale-watchers in NSW were assessed by a questionnaire to participants. Land-based whale-watchers had high and often unrealistic expectations about their whale-watching experience and were moderately satisfied. Boat-based whale-watchers had high, but often realistic expectations of their experience and were highly satisfied. Satisfaction was a function of the degree to which expectations were met, the proximity of whales, the numbers of whales, their behavioural displays and the level of information available on whales. Whale-watchers showed limited increase in their knowledge and conservation-oriented behaviours over the long term. Current education about whales requires better structure and clearer conservation objectives. This study identifies research, education and vessel management as three fundamental components for the sustainable management of the whale-watching industry, and makes recommendations incorporating these components.

Thesis (M.N.R.M.)--University of Manitoba, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-138).