Following the early days of the Internet and the World Wide Web, news media in Canada have gone on to develop their own news web sites with the intentions of meeting the on-line needs of media audiences, expanding their audience reach, and adding to revenue production and profitability on- and off-line. Web strategies have varied somewhat across the different media, but anecdotal evidence suggests that sports contents have been important for both print and television. This thesis focused on the latter, sports contents on television network websites, and was undertaken to evaluate how Canadian television stations are utilizing the Internet and web technologies to feature sports news and information. Only a few studies specific to sports television web sites have been done, and these have mainly focused on American news stations. The research objective of the thesis was to systematically examine the web presence of sports contents on Canadian television web sites by conducting a content analysis of identifiably unique sites in the Canadian context. A site analysis protocol was developed through an iterative process. An initial instrument was constructed drawing on past research in this area. In particular, prior work by Bates et al. (1996 & 1997), Pines (1999), Bucy, Lang, Potter & Grabe (1999), Sparks (2001) provided systematic measures for examiriirig the Web presence of television stations. Ha & James's definition of interactivity (1998) was also useful as was the work of Cho (1999), Rogers & Thorson (2000) on Internet advertising. The initial instrument was evaluated and modified during a series of trial scans. The final instrument focused on five areas: body of the home page, types of content, presentation mechanisms, interactivity and advertising. A systematic site analysis was conducted from August to October, 2003, and a total of twenty-one sports home pages were analyzed. Three web sites (TSN, Leafs TV and The Score) were found to have a good balance in the five areas evaluated in the study. The results of independent-samples t-tests showed that general television networks had more sports top news and hyperlinks to other news items than sport specialty networks. By comparison, sports specialty networks tended to have more sport-related search engines and greater efficiency of space. CBC's "Sports Forums" that were configured on its sports home page gave the public broadcaster the highest quotient for interactivity in comparison with the twenty private networks and stations in the study. Advertising was present in all of the sites, and the findings point to an increasing interest in the televisual and sport web site media in producing revenue through web-based advertising.

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Thesis (M. Tech.: Information Technology)-Dept. of Information Technology, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xiv, 170, [20] leaves / This study examines the efficiency, ease of use and ease of understanding of user interface designs implemented in current e-commerce websites. Four South African based e-commerce websites formed the test cases of this study. Selection of the test cases was based on the results and conclusions of previous surveys conducted by an independent research institution. The outcome of that survey identified the most popular e-commerce websites among South African internet users.

Presently in South Africa, a large number of companies are developing an online presence. For established companies whose brands are already well entrenched in the minds of their consumers, the challenge lies in developing an online site that matches the expectations that consumers have come to rely on from that brand. It is interesting to analyse whether or not top companies employ similar web site design criteria as compared to the runner-up companies. This investigative study researches the application of web site design criteria by 102 leading consumer brand manufacturers in South Africa. Thirty-four objective, marketing-related site design sub-criteria were chosen and subsequently organised into 9 broad categories. These 102 leading manufacturers' sites were separated into leader sites (n=53) and runner-up sites (n=49), with the aim of identifying criteria (if any) that are specifically applied by leader sites as compared to runner-up sites. A quantitative approach was applied in this study. These web sites were checked for the application of each criterion and sub-criterion using content analysis, the results of which were recorded on a data sheet. The generated data was analysed using statistical software and specifically the statistical techniques of t-testing, cluster and discriminant analysis. The cluster analysis showed no difference in the application of web design criteria by leader and runner-up sites. However, the t-test revealed that the navigation and customer support criteria showed the most significant difference in its application between leader and runner-up sites. Discriminant analysis confirmed that navigation and customer support criteria were the most discriminating criteria, and also identified a third criterion of advertising/promotion/publicity. Additional research was undertaken to determine to what extent these three discriminating criteria were actually applied. This involved analysing the mean differences between the 'top 10 vs bottom 10' sites and 'top 30 vs bottom 30' sites. This additional effort further confirmed what was previously determined, that navigation, customer support and advertising/promotion/publicity are the three criteria which demonstrate a significant difference between leader and runner-up sites. This implies that most of the web sites of the top consumer brand manufacturers in South Africa clearly demonstrate application of these three criteria in the web design strategy. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

This study investigates the accessibility of web sites for blind and visually impaired individuals. The researcher’s aim in this study is to highlight the different problems these individuals experience when interacting with websites. A case study approach was adopted in order to investigate accessibility problems amongst blind and visually impaired people. This was investigated by conducting a user test, observation with the think aloud technique and interviews. The user test was made up of tasks where the participants had to visit four different types of websites and complete predefined tasks for each of these websites. The researcher also analysed the data by the use of automated web evaluations. This was used to compare the automated web evaluation results with the researcher’s results. Content analysis was used to identify frequencies and intensities with which themes and concepts appear in interviewee responses. In addition, correspondence analysis was used to help corroborate the findings of the content analysis and interpret the data. Results revealed that blind and visually impaired individuals do experience many difficulties when interacting with websites. The findings identified certain technical and conceptual accessibility problems that were experienced by blind and visually impaired individuals. The results also indicate that there is a relationship between website design and accessibility problems experienced. Further, the results indicate that the use of an assistive technology has a positive effect on the performance of web based tasks. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

The central contention of this thesis is that an increase in image-focused or pseudo-event-focused hyperlinked-headlines is occurring on online news sites. This central contention contains at least three implications. First, holding that the newspaper is the epitome of traditional journalism, a crisis in the news industry is underway. The crisis began as a result of newspapers’ financial challenges posed by electronic media, but the growth of online news sites has accelerated and worsened conditions. Second, as a result of this dire financial situation, news outlets, collectively, are shifting focus from traditional journalism’s concept of news to a 1830s-era Penny Press sensationalism style, marked by human-interest pieces, entertainment fluff and celebrity gossip. Third, news is shifting away from the ironic reporting method and theory of detached observer to a more personally connected style of narrative storytelling, which, together with the aforementioned implications, signifies a cyclical cycle and consequential return to the colonial roots of the American press and its definition of news. / The evolving crisis in the American news system -- Literature review of related topics -- Methodology -- Results : the news shift from event to image-based -- Discussion, limitations and recommendations for further study. / Department of Telecommunications

This study presents an overview of how community managers, a title encompassing all moderators of online discussion, handle their position in the discussion areas of a news website, whether that is embedded comments connected to stories or on message boards. The primary evidence, gathered through a structured interview, suggests that community managers are spending the majority of their time dealing with spam, off-topic comments, and harmful comments, typically either inappropriate language or personal attacks on other users. The prevalence of community managers as a position was found through the use of a survey to high-ranking members of newspapers across the United States. The survey showed that while most news organizations have sections that allow users to have their voice be heard, many of the sections are not being moderated for content. Many times, comments sections can turn inappropriate if left unchecked. The thesis contains some suggestions that community moderators should consider as they look to develop the most effective, open, and welcoming forum for user-generated content. / Department of Journalism

This study describes the arrangement of four English department web sites. Arrangement is developed as an originally rhetorical, but now interdisciplinary, concept that is particularly relevant to web sites. For the purposes of the descriptions, this concept is broken into three aspects: how the home page of a site labels and lists links to other pages within the site, how the pages of the site are linked in respect to one another, and how visual elements indicate the structure of a site. Screen captures facilitate the descriptions. The sites are critiqued, and the findings are used to make suggestions for Ball State's English department web site and for English department sites generally. / Department of English

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine how the public library communicates with young users through the library web sites. Four Swedish public library web pages for children are analysed. In the analysis the web pages are treated as a combination of semiotic resources that, communicating as a whole, hold a meaning potential. In order to identify the underlying meaning of the whole I have applied the tools of Kress' & van Leeuwen's visual social semiotics to the chosen web pages. The information value, the framing and the salience of each composition is examined and analysed, as is the size of frame, the perspective and the vertical angle of a selection of images from each web page. The results of the semiotic analysis are then discussed and related to Jochumsen et al:s four space-model and the notion of ”child perspective” and ”empowerment”. The results show that the child perspective is strongest on the web pages that represent the performative space as dominating and that empowerment is mainly represented as ”doing”, ”participating” and the ”free choice”. The representation of adult presence often contradicts the child perspective that the overall layout communicates. Another finding is that part and whole tend to convey the same message. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Design patterns have the potential to provide the reuse of the same solution over and over again in different instances of the same problem, to improve the quality of an application and to reduce the cost of design and development. Design patterns are becoming popular for both software and hypermedia applications. The number of hypermedia design patterns is increasing and different authors are writing them in different notations. To be effective, these patterns should be collected into a repository writing them in a uniform notation and the relationships among the patterns should be identified which will increase the understandability and usability of those patterns. In this thesis, design patterns are collected by tracing different publications; and a system of patterns for Web navigation is created by forming a catalog in a uniform notation, identifying the relationships among the patterns, describing their evolution and refinements and providing guidelines for implementation of the patterns. The patterns included in this system are implemented into a framework that is intended to be used to navigate an information space on the Web.