Nowadays, people around the world are connected through social networks. This hyperconnectivity implies that companies need to think about the perceptions and opinions of consumers who were not directly targeted by a campaign. As a result, brand activism, an emerging phenomenon that describes companies taking a stand on polarizing sociopolitical issues, must be explored more thoroughly in relation to non-targeted markets. Therefore, this thesis examined perceptions of brand activism in non-targeted markets and the role of perceived authenticity in shaping consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these campaigns. Furthermore, due to an ethnocentric view of previous research conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon and European markets, this study focused on a non-Western market, specifically Singapore. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with Singaporean exchange students to examine their perceptions of two brand activist campaigns launched in the US and Australia. It was also examined whether their purchase intentions and brand perceptions changed as a result of the campaigns. The results showed that a missing cultural context, poor communication by the companies, the politically and socially safe options taken by the brands in launching their campaigns, and the general belief that for-profit companies use activism as a calculated move to generate more sales, led to a lack of perceived authenticity in Singapore. It was also found that authenticity and brand attitude are perceived differently depending on geographic location and age group. Brand activism was perceived as more acceptable in Western countries and younger generations than in more conservative countries such as Singapore, and older generations. In addition, Western research on authenticity must be re-evaluated for non-Western markets and cannot be assumed to be universally applicable. Finally, the perception of brand activism led to neutral or slightly positive brand attitudes, suggesting that in Singapore, authenticity does not need to be assumed for activist campaigns to be successful.

Partindo do cenário da hiperconectividade, condição de conexão contínua e generalizada na qual o sujeito está imerso através de dispositivos móveis conectados à internet, problematizo, nesta pesquisa, que processos de subjetivação estão implicados no compartilhamento de atualizações nas redes sociais na internet através de escritas instantâneas. Realizo tal problematização através de uma cartografia que se traça na deriva pelas redes digitais e “fora delas”, registrada sob a forma de diários de bordo móveis e desterritorializados. Neste percurso, analiso primeiramente que novos agenciamentos estão se engendrando entre os humanos e suas máquinas tecnológicas, atentando para a imaterialidade das conexões e para as possibilidades de interação à distância que criam novas concepções sobre estar próximo ou distante, só ou acompanhado. Voltando-me a pensar na temporalidade imediatista que permeia várias esferas da vida contemporânea, problematizo que marcas a urgência e a intolerância à espera imprimem nessas formas de nos subjetivarmos através do compartilhamento de escritas móveis. Tal questão é explorada a partir do desdobramento de quatro pontos: a mobilidade dos dispositivos e as possibilidades da escrita desterritorializada; as escritas fragmentadas e instantâneas que se configuram como novas formas de relatar uma vida enquanto ela acontece; a experimentação de novas modalidades de conversas a partir dos aplicativos de chats móveis que nos permitem “falar pelos dedos”; e os jogos de visibilidade e invisibilidade nos quais o sujeito se insere ao expor sua vida na rede, porém atentando não para uma “espetacularização” da subjetividade, mas para as possibilidades de habitar o ciberespaço e produzir processos de singularização. Por fim, questiono-me que possibilidades ainda restam de sentir, afetar-se e expressar-se através do corpo superestimulado do sujeito esgotado pelos excessos da hiperconectividade. A necessidade de reapropriação e ressingularização da mídia, como proposto por Guattari, é tomada para pensar nas linhas de fuga da onde emergem as possibilidades de multiplicar os modos de existir na singular experiência de navegar pelo ciberespaço. / Starting with the scenario of hyperconnectivity, condition of continuing and widespread connection in which the subject is immersed through mobile devices connected to the internet, I analyze, in this research, the processes of subjectivation involved on sharing updates on social networking sites via instant written. This research is made through a cartography performed by drifting in the digital networks and “out of them”, recorded in the form of mobile and deterritorialized logbooks. In this course, I first analyze which new assemblages are being engineered between humans and their technological machines, paying attention to the immateriality of the connections and the possibilities of interaction in distance that create new conceptions about being near or far, alone or together. Thinking about the temporality of immediacy that permeates various spheres of contemporary life, I analyze which marks the urgency and waiting intolerance print on these forms of subjectivation through the mobile sharing of writing. This question is explored through the unfolding of four points: the mobility of the devices and the possibilities of deterritorialized writing; fragmented and instant writings that constitute new ways to report a life while it happens; experimentation with new modalities of conversation in the mobile chat applications that allow us to “speak with our fingers”; and games of visibility and invisibility in which the subject takes place by exposing his life on the network, not paying attention for a “spectacularization” of the subjectivity, but instead of that, for the possibilities for inhabiting the cyberspace and producing processes of singularization. Finally I wonder what possibilities are left to feel, to affect and to express through the subject’s overstimulated body, exhausted by the excesses of hyperconnectivity. The need for reappropriation and resingularization of the media, as proposed by Guattari, is taken to think on the escape lines from which emerge the possibilities of multiplying the forms of existence in the singular experience of surfing through the cyberspace.

Partindo do cenário da hiperconectividade, condição de conexão contínua e generalizada na qual o sujeito está imerso através de dispositivos móveis conectados à internet, problematizo, nesta pesquisa, que processos de subjetivação estão implicados no compartilhamento de atualizações nas redes sociais na internet através de escritas instantâneas. Realizo tal problematização através de uma cartografia que se traça na deriva pelas redes digitais e “fora delas”, registrada sob a forma de diários de bordo móveis e desterritorializados. Neste percurso, analiso primeiramente que novos agenciamentos estão se engendrando entre os humanos e suas máquinas tecnológicas, atentando para a imaterialidade das conexões e para as possibilidades de interação à distância que criam novas concepções sobre estar próximo ou distante, só ou acompanhado. Voltando-me a pensar na temporalidade imediatista que permeia várias esferas da vida contemporânea, problematizo que marcas a urgência e a intolerância à espera imprimem nessas formas de nos subjetivarmos através do compartilhamento de escritas móveis. Tal questão é explorada a partir do desdobramento de quatro pontos: a mobilidade dos dispositivos e as possibilidades da escrita desterritorializada; as escritas fragmentadas e instantâneas que se configuram como novas formas de relatar uma vida enquanto ela acontece; a experimentação de novas modalidades de conversas a partir dos aplicativos de chats móveis que nos permitem “falar pelos dedos”; e os jogos de visibilidade e invisibilidade nos quais o sujeito se insere ao expor sua vida na rede, porém atentando não para uma “espetacularização” da subjetividade, mas para as possibilidades de habitar o ciberespaço e produzir processos de singularização. Por fim, questiono-me que possibilidades ainda restam de sentir, afetar-se e expressar-se através do corpo superestimulado do sujeito esgotado pelos excessos da hiperconectividade. A necessidade de reapropriação e ressingularização da mídia, como proposto por Guattari, é tomada para pensar nas linhas de fuga da onde emergem as possibilidades de multiplicar os modos de existir na singular experiência de navegar pelo ciberespaço. / Starting with the scenario of hyperconnectivity, condition of continuing and widespread connection in which the subject is immersed through mobile devices connected to the internet, I analyze, in this research, the processes of subjectivation involved on sharing updates on social networking sites via instant written. This research is made through a cartography performed by drifting in the digital networks and “out of them”, recorded in the form of mobile and deterritorialized logbooks. In this course, I first analyze which new assemblages are being engineered between humans and their technological machines, paying attention to the immateriality of the connections and the possibilities of interaction in distance that create new conceptions about being near or far, alone or together. Thinking about the temporality of immediacy that permeates various spheres of contemporary life, I analyze which marks the urgency and waiting intolerance print on these forms of subjectivation through the mobile sharing of writing. This question is explored through the unfolding of four points: the mobility of the devices and the possibilities of deterritorialized writing; fragmented and instant writings that constitute new ways to report a life while it happens; experimentation with new modalities of conversation in the mobile chat applications that allow us to “speak with our fingers”; and games of visibility and invisibility in which the subject takes place by exposing his life on the network, not paying attention for a “spectacularization” of the subjectivity, but instead of that, for the possibilities for inhabiting the cyberspace and producing processes of singularization. Finally I wonder what possibilities are left to feel, to affect and to express through the subject’s overstimulated body, exhausted by the excesses of hyperconnectivity. The need for reappropriation and resingularization of the media, as proposed by Guattari, is taken to think on the escape lines from which emerge the possibilities of multiplying the forms of existence in the singular experience of surfing through the cyberspace.

Partindo do cenário da hiperconectividade, condição de conexão contínua e generalizada na qual o sujeito está imerso através de dispositivos móveis conectados à internet, problematizo, nesta pesquisa, que processos de subjetivação estão implicados no compartilhamento de atualizações nas redes sociais na internet através de escritas instantâneas. Realizo tal problematização através de uma cartografia que se traça na deriva pelas redes digitais e “fora delas”, registrada sob a forma de diários de bordo móveis e desterritorializados. Neste percurso, analiso primeiramente que novos agenciamentos estão se engendrando entre os humanos e suas máquinas tecnológicas, atentando para a imaterialidade das conexões e para as possibilidades de interação à distância que criam novas concepções sobre estar próximo ou distante, só ou acompanhado. Voltando-me a pensar na temporalidade imediatista que permeia várias esferas da vida contemporânea, problematizo que marcas a urgência e a intolerância à espera imprimem nessas formas de nos subjetivarmos através do compartilhamento de escritas móveis. Tal questão é explorada a partir do desdobramento de quatro pontos: a mobilidade dos dispositivos e as possibilidades da escrita desterritorializada; as escritas fragmentadas e instantâneas que se configuram como novas formas de relatar uma vida enquanto ela acontece; a experimentação de novas modalidades de conversas a partir dos aplicativos de chats móveis que nos permitem “falar pelos dedos”; e os jogos de visibilidade e invisibilidade nos quais o sujeito se insere ao expor sua vida na rede, porém atentando não para uma “espetacularização” da subjetividade, mas para as possibilidades de habitar o ciberespaço e produzir processos de singularização. Por fim, questiono-me que possibilidades ainda restam de sentir, afetar-se e expressar-se através do corpo superestimulado do sujeito esgotado pelos excessos da hiperconectividade. A necessidade de reapropriação e ressingularização da mídia, como proposto por Guattari, é tomada para pensar nas linhas de fuga da onde emergem as possibilidades de multiplicar os modos de existir na singular experiência de navegar pelo ciberespaço. / Starting with the scenario of hyperconnectivity, condition of continuing and widespread connection in which the subject is immersed through mobile devices connected to the internet, I analyze, in this research, the processes of subjectivation involved on sharing updates on social networking sites via instant written. This research is made through a cartography performed by drifting in the digital networks and “out of them”, recorded in the form of mobile and deterritorialized logbooks. In this course, I first analyze which new assemblages are being engineered between humans and their technological machines, paying attention to the immateriality of the connections and the possibilities of interaction in distance that create new conceptions about being near or far, alone or together. Thinking about the temporality of immediacy that permeates various spheres of contemporary life, I analyze which marks the urgency and waiting intolerance print on these forms of subjectivation through the mobile sharing of writing. This question is explored through the unfolding of four points: the mobility of the devices and the possibilities of deterritorialized writing; fragmented and instant writings that constitute new ways to report a life while it happens; experimentation with new modalities of conversation in the mobile chat applications that allow us to “speak with our fingers”; and games of visibility and invisibility in which the subject takes place by exposing his life on the network, not paying attention for a “spectacularization” of the subjectivity, but instead of that, for the possibilities for inhabiting the cyberspace and producing processes of singularization. Finally I wonder what possibilities are left to feel, to affect and to express through the subject’s overstimulated body, exhausted by the excesses of hyperconnectivity. The need for reappropriation and resingularization of the media, as proposed by Guattari, is taken to think on the escape lines from which emerge the possibilities of multiplying the forms of existence in the singular experience of surfing through the cyberspace.

(in English): The aim of this thesis is to analyze, how exactly the constant connectivity, social media activity, and online presence influences productivity and performance of university students, presumably also their grades. The data used in the analysis and my practical part were collected from a questionnaire translated by me, the source of which was a study created in 2016 (Lau, 2016). The target group of the research were students at Czech universities, regardless of the type or level of study, who actively use social media, often for communication related to their academic preparations. The subject of the research is to find out how social media influences students in their academic activities, and whether the findings that were presented in the source study can also be applied to the dataset collected for this thesis. The final result of the thesis should be mainly new knowledge from this field within the Czech university environment and possible recommendations.

In the last decade, major developments in mobile and sensor network technologies, as well as in more secure data management solutions allowed an accelerated expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) in different markets, including the smart lighting technology. These technological developments, currently shaping the lighting industry, have the power to enhance the liveability of spaces and improve people’s lives. However, in this thesis it is highlighted how such technological evolution is often marked by an engineering character over a design approach. In particular, this thesis focuses on smart lighting technology applied in urban environments and how the integration of information technology into the physical realm can enhance space quality and empower citizens’ participation. The main body is divided into two sections: The first part provides an overview of the technological solutions that are currently being implemented in the lighting design field. The second part advances a schematic projection of future trends, starting from the analysis of what is being developed in other related disciplines, such as urban planning and visual arts. Both parts are literature-based. The final section features the opinion of noteworthy lighting professionals about possible real-life applications of smart lighting technology. Since this thesis has been written during the Covid-19 pandemic, the author decided to include speculations regarding how this event might influence the future of urban lighting.

[pt] A interação contínua entre dispositivos inteligentes, sensores e pessoas aponta para o número crescente de dados que estão sendo produzidos, armazenados e processados, alterando, sob diversos aspectos e de forma crescente, nosso cotidiano. Por um lado, o contexto de hiperconectividade pode trazer benefícios econômicos ao Estado, a empresas, bem como comodidade aos consumidores. Por outro, a crescente conectividade traz desafios significativos nas esferas de proteção da privacidade e à ética contemporânea, impactando, em última instância, a própria democracia. Este trabalho aborda, principalmente sob o ponto de vista regulatório, alguns destes desafios enfrentados pelo atual Estado de direito decorrentes do avanço do cenário denominado de Internet das Coisas. / [en] The continuous interaction between intelligent devices, sensors and people points to the increasing number of data being produced, stored and processed, changing, in various aspects and increasingly, our daily life. On one hand, the context of hyperconnectivity can bring economic benefits to the State, companies, as well as convenience to consumers. On the other hand, increasing connectivity brings significant challenges in the spheres of privacy protection and contemporary ethics, impacting, ultimately, democracy itself. This thesis addresses, from the regulatory point of view, some of these challenges faced by the current rule of law arising from the advance of the scenario called Internet of Things.