Information and communication technology is rapidly transforming the world of business. It in particular has played a significant role in globalisation, the ramifications of which South Africa can ill afford to ignore. A key facet of emerging innovative technologies and globalisation is the environmental uncertainty, complexity and turbulence it has engendered. Traditional strategic management paradigms and practice are largely founded on the assumption of environmental predictability, a reality that is rapidly being eroded. This thesis attempts to determine to what degree strategic management theory still correlates with contemporary strategic management practice. Various levels of environmental uncertainty are defined in order to gain clarity as to strategic management processes that are best suited for dealing therewith. Three key determinants are identified as having a significant impact on the strategic realignment of business institutions within a global business environment, namely information and communication technology, business systems, and change management. A central tenet that emerges from the study is the need for a framework to integrate the first two mentioned determinants at strategic and operational levels, while taking due cognisance of the human resources implications involved. Human emotions, feelings, relationships, fears, values, beliefs and aspirations collectively assume relevance as dimensions that can either inhibit or facilitate the strategic realignment process. These dimensions are analysed with reference to the concepts “emotional intelligence” and “organisational culture” in order to gain a greater understanding of the role they play in strategy formulation and implementation. Leadership is also identified as being business critical in managing strategic realignment. The findings of this study serve as a source of reference for researchers and practitioners who are attempting to formulate and implement strategy within contexts that are best described as being uncertain, complex and subject to discontinuous change. / Prof. N. Lessing

本論文旨在探討YouTube上的博客怎樣演繹他們線上的身份。本文重點探討三個在視頻上用語言表達的方法，分別是說話、字幕和註解。YouTube是一個網上流行的視頻分享網站，但也可以視為進行社交的一個平台。是次研究採用三個語言學的層面探討問題，分別是言語行為、觀點和反諷。在多媒體研究的層面下，言語行為在研究中被重新定義為溝通行為。本研究旨在了解博客如何用多媒體的溝通表達方法表達言語行為、觀點和反諷，以至如何演繹他們線上的身份。 / 是次研究探討六個常博客，結合了定量和質量的分析方法。視頻在語言表達方法的框架下被輯錄，然後用兩個層面去分析。本研究首先詳細探討每一個表達方法有什麼不同的用處，然後在探討這些方法結合後怎樣表達語言。 / 本研究採用社會學的方法，目的在探討先前題過的方法怎樣表達出博客的身份，重點在博客如何以反諷表達。是次研究結果亦指出博客如何學會在YouTube上講和寫，以達到他們想有更多影片觀看者的動力。 / 本論文表現出一個傳統的言語行為理論怎樣在線上多媒體的研究上發揮作用。言語行為能被重新定義為多個小事件的結合。研究亦發現了新的言語行為種類，而這些種類是多媒體溝通才能遇見得到的。本研究解釋了反諷如何在線上多媒體進行表現和內涵的語言是並存的。本研究亦討論了博客線上和線下的身份如何取得平衡。 / 本論文提出了本研究採用的方法與傳統研究的方法有什麼抵觸，尤其是在資料收集方法和研究倫理的層面上。本論文提出機密度和匿名度如何在線上研究收到對待。 / This thesis is an investigation into the identity performance of YouTube vloggers (videobloggers), with emphasis on how that is achieved linguistically by three modes of communication available in a video: speech, subtitle, and annotation. YouTube is a popular video-sharing site that is also seen as a platform for social networking. The study looks into three aspects of linguistic analysis: speech act analysis, stancetaking, and verbal irony. Speech acts in this study are redefined as communicative acts to suit the multimodal nature of YouTube vlogs. This study aims to understand vloggers’ identity performance by investigating the use of communicative modes to perform communicative acts, stances, and irony. / Six vloggers participated in the study, which adopted a mixed method approach to data collection and analysis, alchemizing quantitative counting analysis with qualitative interview methods. Vlogs from the informants were transcribed with respect to the three modes of communication of interest, and analyzed in two ways. First, the modes were analyzed separately, revealing how vloggers use these modes differently. Next, the modes were investigated as a whole, looking into the essence of multimodal communication: how cross-modal interactions (mode-mixing and mode-switching) are performed. / A socialistic approach to discourse was adopted to investigate how the aforementioned performance of communicative acts informs vloggers’ identity performance. More specifically, this study looked at how irony is realized by communicative acts and alternations of stances, and how the performance of irony is related to the vloggers’ online identity performance. Findings also revealed vloggers’ learning of how to speak and write in order to become popular and attract more viewers, which is one of their motivations of vlogging. / This thesis demonstrates that the traditional linguistic model of speech acts can be adapted to the context of online multimodal communication with adjustments in definition: by seeing acts as a combination of microevents which interact to make meaning. The study also reports on newly identified categories of communicative acts made possible by multimodal discourse. The investigation reveals how irony is realized in multimodal communication, in which the surface and intended meaning are both present. The study discusses how these practices inform the performance of vloggers’ online identity, and how online and offline identities are maintained in balance. / The methods adopted in the study raise questions of how traditional conducts of research should be understood in the context of online research, particularly in the realm of data collection methods and research ethics. This thesis includes a thorough discussion of how confidentiality and anonymity are treated in this context. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Lien, Feng Pierre. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-146). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract (English) --- p.ii / Abstract (Chinese) --- p.iv / Acknowledgements --- p.vi / Table of Contents --- p.viii / List of Figures and Tables --- p.xii / Transcription Conventions --- p.xv / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2. --- The Advent of Web 2.0, YouTube, and Social Networking: An Auto-ethnographic Account --- p.1 / Chapter 1.3. --- YouTube: An Overview --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3.1. --- The Mechanics of YouTube --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.2. --- From an Epistemic to an Affective Site: Social Networking on YouTube --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3.3. --- Identity Construction on YouTube --- p.12 / Chapter 1.4. --- From Experience to Theory: Perspectives Taken in this Study --- p.14 / Chapter 1.5. --- Research Aims and Research Questions --- p.16 / Chapter 1.6. --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1. --- Introduction --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2. --- Orality and Literacy --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3. --- Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.1. --- Past Studies of CMC and Computer-Mediated Discourse (CMD) --- p.23 / Chapter 2.3.2. --- Cyberdiscursivity: When Orality and Literacy are not enough --- p.26 / Chapter 2.3.3. --- YouTube as a CMCMD --- p.28 / Chapter 2.4. --- Linguistic Discourse and Multimodality --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4.1. --- Cross-modal interaction: Mode-switching and Mode-mixing --- p.32 / Chapter 2.5. --- Language and Identity in CMC --- p.34 / Chapter 2.5.1. --- Identity Performance in CMC --- p.35 / Chapter 2.5.2. --- Multimodal Identities in CMC --- p.39 / Chapter 2.5.3. --- Identity and Stancetaking in CMD --- p.40 / Chapter 2.6. --- Language as Performatives: Speech Acts and Communicative Acts --- p.42 / Chapter 2.6.1. --- Speech Acts in CMC: Expanding the Framework --- p.45 / Chapter 2.6.2. --- Identity and Playfulness in CMC --- p.46 / Chapter 2.6.2.1. --- Humor and Irony in CMC --- p.47 / Chapter 2.6.2.2. --- Irony and Communicative Acts --- p.50 / Chapter 2.7. --- Summary --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1. --- Introduction --- p.53 / Chapter 3.2. --- Reprise of Research Aims and Research Questions --- p.53 / Chapter 3.3. --- Multiple-Case Study --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3.1. --- Informants --- p.55 / Chapter 3.4. --- Data Collection --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.1. --- Vlog linguistic transcriptions --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.2. --- Interview Data --- p.61 / Chapter 3.5. --- Procedure --- p.63 / Chapter 3.6. --- Pilot Study with Lindsey --- p.65 / Chapter 3.7. --- Challenges and Insights in Online Methodological Design --- p.68 / Chapter 3.7.1. --- Online Interviews --- p.68 / Chapter 3.7.2. --- Ethics of Online Research --- p.70 / Chapter 3.8. --- Summary --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Communicative Acts and Irony on Vlogs --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1. --- Introduction --- p.75 / Chapter 4.2. --- Overview of Vloggers and Their Vlogs --- p.75 / Chapter 4.3. --- Communicative Act Analyses --- p.76 / Chapter 4.3.1. --- Intra-semiotic Analysis --- p.77 / Chapter 4.3.2. --- Inter-semiotic Analysis --- p.82 / Chapter 4.5. --- Summary --- p.91 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- The Case of Lindsey --- p.93 / Chapter 5.1. --- Introduction --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2. --- Profile of Lindsey --- p.93 / Chapter 5.3. --- Learning to Write on Vlogs: Establishing Identity through Idioms of Practice . --- p.95 / Chapter 5.4. --- Subtitling a Vlog: Stancetaking, Contradiction, and Irony --- p.101 / Chapter 5.5. --- Identity on and off YouTube --- p.110 / Chapter 5.6. --- Summary --- p.113 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- The Case of Ron --- p.114 / Chapter 6.1. --- Introduction --- p.114 / Chapter 6.2. --- Profiling Ron --- p.114 / Chapter 6.3. --- Blending in: Becoming a Part of the YouTube Community --- p.115 / Chapter 6.4. --- Question of the Week: Expansion of Idioms of Practice and Playfulness --- p.117 / Chapter 6.5. --- Ron’s Identity Performance --- p.122 / Chapter 6.5.1. --- Ron’s Writer and Speaker Identities --- p.122 / Chapter 6.5.2. --- ‘I don’t need to be real’: Online and Offline Identities --- p.126 / Chapter 6.6. --- Summary --- p.128 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.130 / Chapter 7.1. --- Introduction --- p.130 / Chapter 7.2. --- Findings to Research Questions --- p.130 / Chapter 7.2.1. --- Findings to Research Question Set 1 --- p.131 / Chapter 7.2.2. --- Findings to Research Question Set 2 --- p.132 / Chapter 7.2.3. --- Other findings --- p.134 / Chapter 7.3. --- Implications of the Study --- p.135 / Chapter 7.4. --- Limitations and Directions for Future Research --- p.138

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-159). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR45943

Thesis (Ph. D.)(Information Technology)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Title from opening screen (viewed Apr. 19, 2004).

Thesis (Ph. D.)(Informatics)--University of Pretoira, 2002. / Appendices mostly in Portuguese. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Essen, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2003. / Typescript. Includes appendices. Bibliographical references: leaf [254]-272.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 306-341). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2006. / Adviser: Siu Cheung Sandy Li. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 10, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-71).