The study of blogs up to this point has primarily, though not exclusively, covered "A-list" and political or campaign blogs. Large filter blogs have not yet been the focus of communication research and offer an exciting new area of scholarship in online communication. This study examined if and how the environmental blog, TreeHugger, works to engage and maintain the online environmental community by potentially acting an online environmental public sphere and interacting with users who make up the community. Through a content analysis of two constructed weeks of blog posts (N=336) and their comments (N=1342) from the first half of 2008, this study examined the discussion of issues, use of interactive feature, and presence of the metacommunication frame in both groups. Results showed significant influence of topic and tone in the blog posts on the subsequent user comments. They also showed how commenters' discussion can operate quite independently as well. In particular, comments were found to have a negative valence significantly more than the posts. Also, the focus of external metacommunication frames in each differed significantly, with posts referencing other mass media more often. Overall, this thesis concludes that writers for blogs like TreeHugger have limited influence on the discussion in the comments. Greater understanding of that influence could help bloggers engage readers better and promote active dialogue. / Master of Arts

本篇論文主要在探討漢語幼兒同儕的假裝遊戲中的後設溝通，研究問題如下：1. 孩童在社會性的假裝遊戲(social pretend play)中，會使用哪些後設溝通策略？ 2.當幼兒在建構共享意義(shared meaning)時，哪一個後設溝通策略會是最成功的？參與本研究的兩位女孩同分別為四歲及五歲，總共在她們的托兒所進行兩次錄影。本研究採用Giffin在1984年發表的後設溝通策略架構，總共包含七個分類：(1)直接演出 (enactment), (2) 另有動機的話語 (ulterior conversation), (3) 強調(underscoring), (4) 說故事(storytelling), (5) 提示(prompting), (6) 不言明的建構(implicit pretend structuring), and (7) 直接言明 (overt proposals to pretend)。另外，本研究再加入第八個分類：直接接受 (simple acceptance)。研究發現孩童在他們的社會性假裝遊戲中，最常使用的策略是提示(prompting)，接下來為另有動機的話語 (ulterior conversation)、直接演出 (enactment)、不言明的建構(implicit pretend structuring)。而使用時最可以成功建構分享意義的後設溝通策略已成功率高到低分別為直接接受(Simple acceptance)、強調(underscoring)、另有動機的話語(ulterior conversation)、提示(prompting)以及不言明的建構(implicit pretending structuring)。 / The purpose of the present study was to examine how young children metacommunicate to construct shared meaning in social pretend play. The two research questions were: a) what are the metacommunication strategies used in children’s social pretend play with peers? and b) when children work to construct shared meaning, which metacommunication strategy leads to a higher success rate for shared meaning construction? The study included two female participants, Dora and Sally, who were four and five years old respectively. Two recording sessions were conducted during break times at their day care center. The resulting natural speech data was transcribed for further analysis using the CHILDES format. Analysis was conducted using Giffin’s framework of metacommunication strategies, which defines seven categories: (1) enactment, (2) ulterior conversation, (3) underscoring, (4) storytelling, (5) prompting, (6) implicit pretend structuring, and (7) overt proposals to pretend. An eighth category, simple acceptance, was added for the present study. The results showed that the two participants engaged in a large amount of social pretend play, and metacommunication was found to be an on-going process, with one shared meaning developing gradually into the next. Prompting was the most frequently used metacommunication strategy during the play, followed by ulterior conversation, enactment, and implicit pretend structuring. In respect to the second research question, it was found that the metacommunication strategy with the highest rate of success in constructing shared meaning was simple acceptance (the newly added category), followed by underscoring, ulterior conversation, prompting, and implicit pretend structuring. It could be seen from the children’s social pretend play that the participants were developing their cognitive competence (e.g. symbolic thinking), linguistic competence (e.g. attending to others’ speech, producing logical and coherent responses), and social competence (e.g. taking turns, taking perspectives, trying to understand others’ emotions). Studying peer interactions is crucial for understanding what factors are universal in children’s thinking and development, and future studies with larger samples and with participants from more divergent backgrounds are needed in order to advance systematic research on the issues concerned.

Dans cette thèse, nous traitons de l’apport des théories du courant de pensée de Palo Alto pour aborder la transformation des situations de doubles contraintes au sein des organisations de travail, afin de faciliter le développement de l’apprentissage organisationnel. Après une présentation des concepts d’apprentissage organisationnel et de double contrainte, notre démarche de recherche prend place dans une épistémologie interprétativiste procédant par recherche-action. Nous nous appuyons sur trois études de cas d’accompagnement, individuel et collectif, de responsables confrontés à des difficultés de management. Nous mettons en évidence de quelle manière la théorie de la double contrainte constitue une grille d’intelligibilité des conduites d’évitement. Les envisageant comme seules possibilités de se comporter dans une situation où toutes les autres possibilités d’agir sont bloquées, nous expliquons l’intérêt d’un changement de paradigme de compréhension de leur formation pour renouveler les perspectives d’intervention. L’acceptation des conduites d’évitement comme émergeant d’une situation de double contrainte permet de les aborder en tant que dysfonctionnement organisationnel plutôt que comme la conséquence d’une carence individuelle. Les perceptions de doubles contraintes apparaissent lorsqu’une impossibilité de métacommuniquer est ressentie, au sujet d’un paradoxe exigeant un choix impossible, dans un contexte professionnel dont il n’est pas envisageable de s’échapper.Notre principal apport est de montrer, au travers d’une revue de littérature et des trois études de cas, les forces et les limites de l’approche interactionnelle issue du courant de Palo Alto, qui, même si elle est connue dans le monde de la gestion, reste largement inappliquée dans les organisations. Nous positionnons le processus de métacommunication par un tiers intervenant en le mettant au service de changements. Nous précisons le rôle qu’il peut avoir pour aider à passer d’un cercle vicieux à un cercle vertueux, dans une situation managériale, et l’effet de levier qu’il joue dans la transformation d’une dynamique d’apprentissage organisationnel défensif en une dynamique menant au progrès. / In this thesis, we discuss the contribution of current theories of thought in Palo Alto to tackle the transformation of situations of double bind within working organizations in order to improve the organizational learning development. After a presentation of the concepts of organizational learning and double bind our research process takes place in an interpretivist epistemology conducting by action research. We rely on three case studies accompanying individual and group leaders facing with difficulties in management.We underline how the theory of the double bind is a grid of intelligibility avoidance behavior. Considering them only as possibilities to behave in a situation where all other possibilities to act are blocked, we explain the interest of a paradigm shift in understanding of their training opportunities in order to renew intervention prospect.Acceptance of avoidance behavior as emerging from a double bind situation can address them as organizational dysfunction rather than as a consequence of individual failure. Perceptions of double bind appear when unable metacommunication is felt, about a paradox requiring an impossible choice, in a professional context inconceivable to escape from.Our main contribution is to show, through a literature review and three case studies, the strengths and limitations of the interactional approach of Palo Alto, which, although it is known in the world management remains largely unimplemented in organizations. We position the metacommunication process by a third party involved in the service changes. We point out the role he may have to help them move from a vicious to a virtuous circle, in a managerial situation, and leverage in the transformation of a dynamic organizational learning defensive into a dynamic leading to progress.

This is a postmodernist dissertation contextualised within the new epistemology. The dissertation's descriptive methodology mirrors a personal journey from intrapsychic to ecosystemic psychology which operates within the domain of language and narrative discourse. As such it is founded on the principles of ecosystemic rather than Newtonian thinking. A conversation between various participants constructs the dissertatioi1 through polyphony and academic dialogue. This is then deconstructed through the use of metalogue thereby allowing the dissertation to operate simultaneously on a number of different levels. As it is a postmodernist text, the structure is in a sense an 'anti-structure' in that it is indirect while it is still acknowledged as a construction. In this way it is constructed and deconstructed in terms of its own premises. Expectations in terms of conventional dissertation formulae are challenged without negating academic requirements. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This is a postmodernist dissertation contextualised within the new epistemology. The dissertation's descriptive methodology mirrors a personal journey from intrapsychic to ecosystemic psychology which operates within the domain of language and narrative discourse. As such it is founded on the principles of ecosystemic rather than Newtonian thinking. A conversation between various participants constructs the dissertatioi1 through polyphony and academic dialogue. This is then deconstructed through the use of metalogue thereby allowing the dissertation to operate simultaneously on a number of different levels. As it is a postmodernist text, the structure is in a sense an 'anti-structure' in that it is indirect while it is still acknowledged as a construction. In this way it is constructed and deconstructed in terms of its own premises. Expectations in terms of conventional dissertation formulae are challenged without negating academic requirements. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

[pt] O uso de modelos de aprendizado de máquina se tornou ubíquo para um leque diverso de tarefas. Contudo, ainda não há nenhuma forma estabelecida para refletir sobre questões éticas em seu processo de desenvolvimento. Neste trabalho, realizamos um estudo qualitativo para avaliar duas técnicas propostas pela literatura para auxiliar desenvolvedores a refletirem sobre questões éticas relacionadas à construção e uso de modelos de aprendizado de máquina: (i) Model Cards; e o (ii) Template Estendido de Metacomunicação. Apresentamos nossos resultados a respeito do uso do Model Card pelos participantes, com o propósito de entender como esses atores interagiram com a ferramenta, assim como a dimensão ética de sua reflexão durante nossas entrevistas. Nosso objetivo é melhorar técnicas para desenvolvedores disponibilizaram informações sobre seus modelos e que a reflexão ética sobre os sistemas que desenvolveram. Além disso, nosso trabalho tem como objetivo contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um uso mais justo e ético de sistemas de aprendizado de máquina. / [en] Machine learning algorithms have become widespread for a wide array of tasks. However, there is still no established way to deal with the ethical issues involved in their development and design. Some techniques have been proposed in the literature to support the reflection and/or documentation of the design and development of machine learning models, including ethical considerations, such as: (i) Model Cards and (ii) the Extended Metacommunication Template. We conducted a qualitative study to evaluate the use of these tools. We present our results concerning the use of the Model Card by participants, with the objective of understanding how these actors interacted with the relevant tool and the ethical dimension of their reflections during our interviews. Our goal is to improve and support techniques for developers to disclose information about their models and reflect ethically about the systems they design. Furthermore, we aim to contribute to the development of a more ethically informed and fairer use of machine learning.

This thesis is about the construction of 'satire' as an exclusive practice among the Cefalonian and hence proposes the term satiricity (satirikotita). It explores the construction of the category of the Cefalonian "madman" by means of dialogics between performance and evaluation. It is observed that the relation depends on three principles that obtain among audience members and a performer: conditioning the performance, participation in and observation of the performance and evaluation of it. Being one of the few anthropological studies on the Ionian islands of Greece, this thesis aims to contribute to the anthropology of the Ionian islands and of Cefalonia in particular. It looks at the relation between a town and a village on the ground of teasing events and refutes the argument of satire as an urban phenomenon only. It sets the elementary principles towards anthropology of satire and emphasizes the importance of studying everyday teasing events. It also contributes to understanding a 'native' researcher's presence in different ways. Satiricity is seen as a 'par excellence' feature that Cefalonians have. No matter if Cefalonia is a part of the Greek nation-state and people follow 'modern Greek culture', they still employ satiricity as a way of distancing themselves from Greeks. 'Distance' is forged on the basis of absolute exclusion of Greeks from having, practising and understanding satiricity in the way that Cefalonians do. The Conclusions leave the ground open for more investigation on teasing events and application of such viewpoints around other areas of the island, and of the Ionian islands or other Greek islands. I also point to studies looking at island and mainland teasing events and potential differences. After all, we need to examine not only how people construct the claim on the exclusivity of 'satire'. We need to examine how such a claim is applied, supported or contrasted and possibly rejected when Cefalonians engage with other Greeks away from the island.