Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T16:25:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo2257_1.pdf: 8081752 bytes, checksum: 7b0ad2c3455a91604cd185362d7eae50 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / O objeto desta tese são as representações sociais na Web das cidades brasileiras tombadas pela UNESCO (Ouro Preto, Olinda, Salvador, Brasília, São Luís, Diamantina, Goiás Velho). Entendendo a Web como um ambiente de mídias e o site como o mais novo suporte narrativo das cidades, a questão que move o trabalho é a de como são representadas essas cidades nos sites. O objetivo é desvendar as representações sociais das cidades brasileiras tombadas pela UNESCO nos websites. Os seus principais fundamentos teóricos são: os suportes narrativos de cidades, atentando para aqueles que precederam os sites; o patrimônio mundial, enfocando sua reprodutibilidade na cibercultura; a diversidade cultural, focalizando sua difusão na cibercultura; a teoria das representações sociais, demonstrando seus aportes para a pesquisa de cidades em mídias. Para o recorte dos sites, e para a detecção e análise das suas representações, foram aliados a tais fundamentos: os passos metodológicos sugeridos pela teoria das representações sociais e os métodos analítico-descritivos e de análise do discurso. Formado em um percurso metodológico que compreendeu a visita a 700 sites e o estudo de 215 para escolher os de mais completo conteúdo, este recorte compreende 28 sites. As representações são desvendadas, são relativizadas quanto aos critérios de tombamento da UNESCO, e a tese sugere a realização ainda outras pesquisas sobre representações sociais de cidades tombadas em mídias

Internet is a source of live data that is constantly updating with data of almost anyfield we can imagine. Having tools that can automatically detect these updates andcan select that information that we are interested in are becoming of utmost importancenowadays. That is the reason why through this thesis we will focus on someeconomic websites, studying their structures and identifying a common type of websitein this field: Dynamic Websites. Even when there are many tools that allow toextract information from the internet, not many tackle these kind of websites. Forthis reason we will study and implement some tools that allow the developers to addressthese pages from a different perspective.

Research has confirmed the benefits of incorporating technology, such as course websites, within public school classrooms to enhance student learning. However, many teachers do not incorporate technology or class websites. The purpose of this case study was to investigate technology integration within classroom websites to enhance student learning. Guided by the theory of constructivism, the concerns-based adoption model, and the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the research questions focused on teachers' perceptions of how a classroom website influences teaching practices and the key benefits of technology integration. Data were collected from 12 certified teachers in 2 middle schools who were identified as utilizing well-developed websites in their instruction. Interviews and websites were used to collect data, which were coded using inductive analysis of categories recorded on a matrix and reviewed for common themes. The participants indicated that technology integration within a classroom website benefited teaching practices and enhanced student learning through communication, personalized learning, and the development of 21st-century skills. The findings from this study were used to create a 3-day professional development for the local district to provide technology integration support for middle school teachers. Implications for social change include helping educators integrate technology through the development and use of classroom websites to enhance student learning.

In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

Clearly, the wide range of health information sources on the World Wide Web has the potential to lead to distribution of inaccurate medical information from unqualified sources bringing a great risk. Given the growing number of Internet users that access health-related information, the need for a more standard means to validate web site content is apparent. This paper examines how source, information, timeliness, accessibility, and design factors impact web document credibility on a narrower health topic - Alternative Medicine. It also examines the contrasts of different levels of credibility with metadata usage as well as the relationships between metadata usage measures. These preliminary results and examinations give an overview of how metadata is currently being used in this subject area.

Αναβάθμιση ενός ήδη υπάρχοντος διαδικτυακού τόπου διαγνωστικού κέντρου, ώστε να περιλαμβάνει εργαλεία και επιλογές για τον επισκέπτη, που θα καταστήσουν την ιστοσελίδα, όχι απλά ενημερωτική - στατική σελίδα, αλλά έναν διαδικτυακό τόπο που θα προσεγγίζει τον τομέα της υγείας και της λειτουργίας ενός ιατρικού διαγνωστικού κέντρου από πολλές σκοπιές. / It describes the update of an existing website of a diagnostic center, in a what that it can provide interactive tools for the patient who visits it, such as artificial intelligence software

In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T16:28:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo2198_1.pdf: 2269714 bytes, checksum: c5b1eacf6679bb03879a4f62cc0e14ac (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / As estatísticas de acesso de um website chegaram a uma complexidade e possibilidades de detalhamento muito avançadas em função do surgimento da web analítica. Segundo a WAA1, web analítica é a medição, coleta, análise e comunicação de dados da Internet para os fins de compreensão e de otimização de uso da web. Através de uma ferramenta, que funciona na internet, é possível identificar o que funciona e o que não funciona em um website, do ponto de vista do usuário. O objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar as técnicas e ferramentas de web analítica e desenvolver um modelo para avaliação e melhoria contínua do design de websites. O modelo possibilitará, a partir de dados de uso do site, avaliar e implementar melhorias de design e medir seus resultados comprovando a eficiência da solução adotada. O modelo proposto também servirá de orientação para a equipe de criação, tomar a melhor decisão de design para um projeto de website. Desta forma, esperamos evidenciar e comprovar a importância de um acompanhamento analítico de website

This study investigates how key figures in new religious movements (NRMs) with roots in Western esotericism establish their authority on movements' websites. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of ten key figures than previous research that focused on single key figures within esoteric movements. A qualitative content analysis of the websites of ten such movements has shown how a wide range of claims ultimately represent variations on a small number of themes. These are: claiming to draw upon knowledge and experiences from established traditions; having produced the key texts of the movement; possessing unique personality traits; having had important religious insights, including having received revelations; having previous success as leaders; and integrating scientific findings with their religious message. The present study on the one hand shows the utility of James R. Lewis’ typology of legitimacy strategies, together with Weber's classic tripartite classification of authority. On the other hand, it also demonstrates that a quite restricted number of themes recur on these websites, and that leaders from a diverse set of esoteric movements are primarily depicted as legitimate authorities by being presented as charismatic figures