This study is undertaken in response to the issue of incorporating traditional arts management effectively in online arts management via the websites of arts organizations. The aim is to investigate the introduction and implementation of websites in order to suggest effective and efficient approaches of management. This thesis contributes to online management and will enhance its perspective and enlarge its practice. The study presents the design and development of content analysis to analyse the content of websites in order to create both quantitative and qualitative measuring tools that are unlike currently available commercial evaluation tools, which use purely quantitative and automatic measures. The sample consists of 102 arts organization websites from six countries: Australia, Canada, France, South Korea, UK, and USA. In total seventeen arts organization websites from each country from the Yahoo regional directory have been examined. In this study, the website content analysis applied describes preliminary data that will shed some light on the current state of arts management, combining both on and offline application. The thesis articulates the three key functions that online and offline integrated arts management must incorporate in order to increase the value of utility and quality of their services delivered to audiences via the website. The framework of this study provides: 1. interactive communication dimensions between arts organizations and audiences via the website, 2. e-commerce features applicable to the website of arts organizations, and 3. other important and relevant features relating to arts management in websites in order to enforce the appropriate selection and allocation of different services, and to dynamically adapt to changes within those organizations. One of the most important contributions of this study may be that it has value for both academic and practical purposes in the implementation of arts management. As a result of this study, low levels of interactivity were identified in arts websites. This result suggests that online arts marketing is not as interactive as it could be, but undergoes a technological innovation phase towards more developed exploitation. In terms of e-commerce, successful introduction and adoption of websites has been identified. Other traditional arts management features that were not included in interactivity and e-commerce were well represented in the content of websites. The outcome confirms the potential of the website in arts management as an indispensable venue for interactive communication, e-commerce, and other important arts management tasks, such as arts education. By using content analysis, this study provides an evaluative measure for arts organizations that wish to use their websites more effectively, and it also affords a perspective on the current state of online and offline integrated arts management. The result of this study shows that arts management in the virtual venue is the same, or at least similar, to the real venue, and that websites allow arts organizations to coordinate online and offline integrated marketing management. This exploration of little known areas shows what visitors to the website actually communicate and contribute, which indicates that there is ample room for development and research in this area.

The implementation of electronic business (e-business) in organisations has led to a major improvement in business performance in both developed and developing countries. This improvement as well as market forces have put pressure on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt e-business. However, the e-business models adopted by SMEs are often abstruse and poorly represented, which leads to time consumption and miscommunication between the stakeholders involved, the business operations and Information Technology (IT) functions. These unclear e-business models make it difficult to evaluate its value. This research examines the elements necessary for this e-business value creation and draws from different disciplines and theories to create a comprehensive model for e-business evaluation in Southern African SMEs. Most studies done on e-business in Southern Africa have been found to be on challenges of technology, a lack of resources such as financial and user capabilities and challenges in business processes. Some gaps in the e-business literature have been found to exist on issues of alignment of business mission and strategy, entrepreneurial drive and management capabilities. The study adopted Gerbner’s theory of communication exchange for the data collection strategy and process, which posits that by studying the events of the communication exchange, one can infer about the state of the systems engaged in the exchange and their relationships. Consequently quantitative website content analysis of 100 Southern African SMEs was conducted to determine their e-business value. The results revealed that an SME that comprises of a properly aligned business mission and strategy, business processes that are enabled by e-business, an entrepreneurship orientation, management capabilities and employees as well as technology integration will achieve ebusiness value. This was seen by a positive influence of 68% on e-business value from these elements. Conversely 32% of this influence is from external elements, and future studies could explore more elements that influence e-business value. Also, a small employee size was found to not be a hindrance of e-business value. Lastly, overall infrastructural e-readiness is the same in Botswana and South Africa, which refutes claims that e-readiness is higher in South Africa than the rest of the Southern African countries. However, SMEs in Botswana lag behind when it comes to technological aspects such as technology equipment, successfully integrating their systems within the businesses; and their IT in their entire businesses and networks, forming technology interdependencies of processes with external businesses, and using online means to transfer information to clients/customers. The developed model (EBVE model) could help (1) stakeholders investigate, communicate and make appropriate decisions and (2) aid SMEs to successfully integrate e-business in their business processes and practices.

Over the past several decades, the victimization of women on college campuses has not decreased despite an uptick in research and concern surrounding the topic. In this study, I analyzed the victimization prevention messages on the websites of 30 4-year PWIs and 30 4-year HBCUs in the Southeastern United States to investigate how they contextualized such messages. Drawing on a comparative thematic analysis of 132 documents from HBCUs and 138 documents from PWIs, I elaborate on four key themes, with several subthemes: gendered safety messages, rape culture education, racialized safety messages, and collective responsibility. I found that victimization prevention messaging was contextualized by community engagement at HBCUs, and both types of schools engage in victim-centered crime prevention. Additionally, PWIs used language on their webpages that encourages peer-to-peer racialized coveillance. This study contributes to the literature on victimization prevention on college campus, the college-prison nexus, and understandings of sexual assault prevention.

Heritage tourism is one of the fastest growing sub-categories of the tourism industry, which is arguably the largest industry in the world. When communities and regions compete for a greater share of the heritage tourism market, the authenticity and integrity of a heritage can be compromised by the way it is represented. One way to represent heritage is a “cultural route,” which has recently been added to definition of “cultural heritage” in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. The interpretation of a “cultural route,” however, continues to evolve, especially in Latin America. In anticipation of the bicentennial celebration of independence from Spain, two cultural routes were separately inaugurated in 2009: the Ruta del Libertador in Ecuador and Venezuela, and the Ruta Libertadora in Colombia. After providing an overview of the historical, political and cultural contexts that surround these routes, this paper draws upon a website content analysis to explores how national identity, cultural heritage and the legacy of Simón Bolívar are represented by the governments of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. These observations and analyses show that while both routes represent a shared heritage, the differences in their representations straddle the definitions of “authenticity” and “cultural heritage,” as the Ruta Libertadora in Colombia is a “cultural route” and the Ruta del Libertador in Ecuador and Venezuela is a “cultural tourism route.” However, when considered together, the Ruta del Libertador and Ruta Libertadora are a cultural route that more accurately represents a crucial moment in Latin American history: the liberation of South America from Spain, led by Simón Bolívar, “El Libertador.” / text