This thesis investigates the grammatical constructions of be-and get-passives and their usage by Swedes writing in English. The investigation is based on findings from four different corpora, two of which were compiled for the purpose of this study. The first one, SWENC (the Swedish English Newspaper Corpus), contains texts from online newspapers and a corporate newsletter written by Swedes in English. The second, BESC (Blogs in English by Swedes Corpus), contains material collected from blogs written in English by Swedes. The results from these corpora are compared with results from the press sub-corpora of the native English Frown (American English) and F-LOB corpora (British English). The results show that Swedes writing in English use passive constructions to a similar extent as native English speakers do within the news genre. Furthermore, Swedes writing in English use significantly more be-passive constructions within the news genre than the more informal blog genre. Lastly, the study shows that Swedes writing in English use get-passives, and that they are considerably more common in the informal language used in blogs than the more formal language used in online newspapers.

This study analyses the legitimation of violence against women in Colombia, using critical discourse analysis to explore attitudes related to violence, gender, and power. Internet forums from the website of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo provide everyday examples of talk about two incidents of violence against women (VAW), a sexual assault and a wife-beating, both of which triggered a large scale reaction from the Colombian public. Colombia is a unique context to study the normalisation of VAW. This nation has been characterised by high levels of violence over the last sixty years, suffering through evolving stages of armed conflict. Militarisation has been shown to increase the occurrence of VAW (Kelly, 2000), and the normalisation of VAW may intensify as well in militarily violent contexts (Hume, 2004; McWilliams, 1998). Critical discourse analysis offers theory and methodology to examine an aspect of life in terms of social justice and power (Fairclough, 2003; Resende, 2009), denaturalising the discursive practices which help to produce and reproduce power relations between social groups (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; van Dijk, 1993). This study examines legitimation, a social action realised in discourse, which has the goal of setting and reinforcing a certain social order. The project also explores how legitimation in these forums is tied to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Drawing on the methods of van Dijk (1988, 1998, 2001) ,Wood and Kroger (2000), and grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), multiple readings of the forums elicited salient themes as well as discursive strategies used to carry out legitimation of VAW. These were analysed in terms of underlying social beliefs prevailing in Colombian society. Dominant themes emerging from analysis of the sexual assault forums include: ‘“real” violence is more important’; ‘this incident was not a big deal’; ‘it’s her fault anyway’; and ‘she should have appreciated it’. These manifest the dominant strategies and structures of contrasts, minimisation, victim blaming, and romanticisation/sexualisation, respectively. Analysis of the wife-beating forums reveals the following themes: ‘this is not related to me’; ‘wife-beating is a private issue’; ‘domestic violence is normal and even important’; ‘it is the victim’s responsibility to change’; and ‘the victim deserves this violence’. Dominant strategies included respectively: distancing explanations and solutions, discourses of privacy, normalising violence, focusing on the victim, and victim blaming. The forum analyses illustrate how legitimation relates to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Numerous elements of culture and topic are used to criticise women’s agency and suggest that women ought to be passive and silent. In one culture-related example, the Colombian reiteration of violent events works to silence women’s stories about their experiences of VAW. Another strong element of culture is found in Colombian sayings and proverbs presenting a common knowledge discourse normalising VAW as romantic, sexual and necessary. Discourses used more universally to justify VAW include the idea that women belong in the private sphere and the psychopathologisation of women as attention-seeking and slutty. These elements work together to suggest that women are strong, sexual, and dangerous, needing violence from an authority to keep them uncomplaining and submissive. This work can inform future studies about discourse concerning VAW in Hispanic contexts, sketching in a little-studied disciplinary intersection. As this research participates in the aims of feminist critical discourse analysis, it is hoped that the present study will also be used for critical campaigns aimed at media specialists and educators so that they may create greater awareness and promote change, pointing out and discouraging these discourses legitimating violence against women in Colombia.

This study analyses the legitimation of violence against women in Colombia, using critical discourse analysis to explore attitudes related to violence, gender, and power. Internet forums from the website of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo provide everyday examples of talk about two incidents of violence against women (VAW), a sexual assault and a wife-beating, both of which triggered a large scale reaction from the Colombian public. Colombia is a unique context to study the normalisation of VAW. This nation has been characterised by high levels of violence over the last sixty years, suffering through evolving stages of armed conflict. Militarisation has been shown to increase the occurrence of VAW (Kelly, 2000), and the normalisation of VAW may intensify as well in militarily violent contexts (Hume, 2004; McWilliams, 1998). Critical discourse analysis offers theory and methodology to examine an aspect of life in terms of social justice and power (Fairclough, 2003; Resende, 2009), denaturalising the discursive practices which help to produce and reproduce power relations between social groups (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; van Dijk, 1993). This study examines legitimation, a social action realised in discourse, which has the goal of setting and reinforcing a certain social order. The project also explores how legitimation in these forums is tied to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Drawing on the methods of van Dijk (1988, 1998, 2001) ,Wood and Kroger (2000), and grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), multiple readings of the forums elicited salient themes as well as discursive strategies used to carry out legitimation of VAW. These were analysed in terms of underlying social beliefs prevailing in Colombian society. Dominant themes emerging from analysis of the sexual assault forums include: ‘“real” violence is more important’; ‘this incident was not a big deal’; ‘it’s her fault anyway’; and ‘she should have appreciated it’. These manifest the dominant strategies and structures of contrasts, minimisation, victim blaming, and romanticisation/sexualisation, respectively. Analysis of the wife-beating forums reveals the following themes: ‘this is not related to me’; ‘wife-beating is a private issue’; ‘domestic violence is normal and even important’; ‘it is the victim’s responsibility to change’; and ‘the victim deserves this violence’. Dominant strategies included respectively: distancing explanations and solutions, discourses of privacy, normalising violence, focusing on the victim, and victim blaming. The forum analyses illustrate how legitimation relates to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Numerous elements of culture and topic are used to criticise women’s agency and suggest that women ought to be passive and silent. In one culture-related example, the Colombian reiteration of violent events works to silence women’s stories about their experiences of VAW. Another strong element of culture is found in Colombian sayings and proverbs presenting a common knowledge discourse normalising VAW as romantic, sexual and necessary. Discourses used more universally to justify VAW include the idea that women belong in the private sphere and the psychopathologisation of women as attention-seeking and slutty. These elements work together to suggest that women are strong, sexual, and dangerous, needing violence from an authority to keep them uncomplaining and submissive. This work can inform future studies about discourse concerning VAW in Hispanic contexts, sketching in a little-studied disciplinary intersection. As this research participates in the aims of feminist critical discourse analysis, it is hoped that the present study will also be used for critical campaigns aimed at media specialists and educators so that they may create greater awareness and promote change, pointing out and discouraging these discourses legitimating violence against women in Colombia.

This study analyses the legitimation of violence against women in Colombia, using critical discourse analysis to explore attitudes related to violence, gender, and power. Internet forums from the website of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo provide everyday examples of talk about two incidents of violence against women (VAW), a sexual assault and a wife-beating, both of which triggered a large scale reaction from the Colombian public. Colombia is a unique context to study the normalisation of VAW. This nation has been characterised by high levels of violence over the last sixty years, suffering through evolving stages of armed conflict. Militarisation has been shown to increase the occurrence of VAW (Kelly, 2000), and the normalisation of VAW may intensify as well in militarily violent contexts (Hume, 2004; McWilliams, 1998). Critical discourse analysis offers theory and methodology to examine an aspect of life in terms of social justice and power (Fairclough, 2003; Resende, 2009), denaturalising the discursive practices which help to produce and reproduce power relations between social groups (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997; van Dijk, 1993). This study examines legitimation, a social action realised in discourse, which has the goal of setting and reinforcing a certain social order. The project also explores how legitimation in these forums is tied to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Drawing on the methods of van Dijk (1988, 1998, 2001) ,Wood and Kroger (2000), and grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), multiple readings of the forums elicited salient themes as well as discursive strategies used to carry out legitimation of VAW. These were analysed in terms of underlying social beliefs prevailing in Colombian society. Dominant themes emerging from analysis of the sexual assault forums include: ‘“real” violence is more important’; ‘this incident was not a big deal’; ‘it’s her fault anyway’; and ‘she should have appreciated it’. These manifest the dominant strategies and structures of contrasts, minimisation, victim blaming, and romanticisation/sexualisation, respectively. Analysis of the wife-beating forums reveals the following themes: ‘this is not related to me’; ‘wife-beating is a private issue’; ‘domestic violence is normal and even important’; ‘it is the victim’s responsibility to change’; and ‘the victim deserves this violence’. Dominant strategies included respectively: distancing explanations and solutions, discourses of privacy, normalising violence, focusing on the victim, and victim blaming. The forum analyses illustrate how legitimation relates to Colombian culture and the topic of VAW. Numerous elements of culture and topic are used to criticise women’s agency and suggest that women ought to be passive and silent. In one culture-related example, the Colombian reiteration of violent events works to silence women’s stories about their experiences of VAW. Another strong element of culture is found in Colombian sayings and proverbs presenting a common knowledge discourse normalising VAW as romantic, sexual and necessary. Discourses used more universally to justify VAW include the idea that women belong in the private sphere and the psychopathologisation of women as attention-seeking and slutty. These elements work together to suggest that women are strong, sexual, and dangerous, needing violence from an authority to keep them uncomplaining and submissive. This work can inform future studies about discourse concerning VAW in Hispanic contexts, sketching in a little-studied disciplinary intersection. As this research participates in the aims of feminist critical discourse analysis, it is hoped that the present study will also be used for critical campaigns aimed at media specialists and educators so that they may create greater awareness and promote change, pointing out and discouraging these discourses legitimating violence against women in Colombia.

Cette thèse se veut une étude comparative des médias dans trois différents pays (les États-Unis, la France et la Corée du Sud). Partant des rapports industriels et des recherches universitaires réalisés dans les différents pays, ce travail compare à la fois la presse traditionnelle et sa version internet. Notre questionnement porte sur le dispositif de publication internet/papier. Nous illustrons ainsi l’écosystème actuel de la presse et ce, dans le cadre du développement des versions internet des sites des titres de presse. Il s’agit d’examiner le potentiel des versions web de la presse à garantir une meilleure contextualisation de l’actualité à l’aide de technologies de l’internet. La recherche se déroule en quatre étapes. Nous avons en effet mené successivement une analyse des marchés des médias, un examen morphologique de la presse, enfin nous avons réalisé une analyse de contenu et étudié les facteurs de contextualisation. Malgré les différences remarquées dans les marchés des médias des trois pays de notre corpus, la tendance vers le déclin de la presse traditionnelle est partagée. L’observation portée sur les morphologies des journaux nous a permis de comparer les ressemblances nationales et de distinguer les différences dans les offres journalistiques. Notre analyse de contenu présente les principales formes d’écriture utilisées par les éditeurs sur internet, notamment la pratique de l’hypertexte et du multimédia. L’analyse qualitative sur l’arborescence des liens et sur la nature de la contextualisation nous a autorisé à identifier de nombreuses carences dans la manière dont les éditeurs de presse exploitent leurs sites web. Ceci nous permet donc de penser que la mobilisation de la technologie par la presse sera optimale lorsque le travail journalistique assurera le traitement essentiel de l’information. / This study compares the morphology and content formats of the traditional newspapers and their web sites in three different countries (United States, France and South Korea). It explores how the online environment changes content format from the traditional newspaper format. By focusing on the diversity of market environments within a common framework, this research proposes different types of analysis to illustrate today’s newspaper in a continually changing environment. Chapter 2 focuses on the observation of the environments of the three countries, which influence the traditional and online newspaper sectors. The thesis highlights that, despite the difference in the newspaper industry in the three countries, the traditional model of journalism suffers continued decline of revenue and audience in all three. Chapter 3 studies the morphology of the newspapers and their web sites and notes national similarities, centering on daily newspapers. The research design is completed by content analysis. Chapter 4 analyzes the content forms between the newspapers and their web sites, especially the hyperlink practice and the presence of multimedia content. Chapter 5 is devoted to contextualization capacity of Internet news by analyzing hyperlinks’ trajectory, as proposed by selected newspapers and news-sites. However, the study also showed that the traditional newspapers’ web sites still fall short in using this potential. The utility of the technology for newspapers will only be fulfilled if the journalism resources ensure the essential treatment of information.

No description available.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is playing an important role in modern society, contributing to economic growth and affecting society and people’s lifestyles. There are high expectations on ICT to contribute to sustainable development, e.g. through greenhouse gas emissions reductions. ICT solutions (ICT products and services) are often perceived as having low or no environmental impacts compared with conventional alternatives. In order to determine the potential of ICT to reduce environmental impacts, environmental assessments of ICT solutions compared with other alternatives are needed. A number of studies have already assessed the environmental impacts of individual ICT solutions and the ICT sector. However, more research is needed, covering different types of impacts (primary, secondary, rebound, etc.) in a variety of impact categories (e.g. climate change, ozone depletion, eutrophication, human and ecotoxicity, etc.). The findings then need to be systematised in order to identify hot-spots and draw generic conclusions. As the area is rather new and fast-developing, assessment methods need to be critically appraised in order to identify challenges and developments necessary for high quality assessments. This thesis aims to contribute to the knowledge on the direct life cycle environmental impacts of ICT solutions and to investigate and analyse the challenges of applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool for environmental assessment of ICT solutions. Two research questions: “What life cycle environmental impacts and their causes can be identified for ICT solutions?” and “What are the methodological challenges of assessing the ICT solutions using LCA?” were analysed by reviewing published LCAs on ICT solutions and conducting a case study of online and printed newspapers. The literature review helped identify hotspots in the life cycle of ICT solutions, draw generic conclusions concerning environmental impacts and their causes, and identify major challenges to LCA application. The case study assessed the environmental impacts of traditional and new media solutions and provided information on methodological challenges. The results show that impacts other than climate change potential and energy use are not well-studied in the ICT sector, creating a risk of possible sub-optimisation and problem shifting. Manufacturing and the use phase are concluded to be the most environmentally intense life cycle stages of ICT products in many studies. However, transportation and end-of-life treatment should not be omitted in the assessments, although their impacts appear lower, as uncertainty and lack of data might be a reason for underestimations. As ICT is under constant and rapid development, environmental assessment of ICT solutions faces challenges regarding e.g. data quality and availability; choice of data type; methodological choices (e.g. choice of functional unit, scope definition and allocation); and assumptions on user behaviour. These affect the final results and thus need to be carefully considered by LCA practitioners. The outcomes of this thesis can benefit practitioners and decision-makers, improving knowledge on the environmental impacts of ICT solutions and challenges in applying LCA for assessment of ICT solutions, and providing improved grounds for more informed decision-making. Areas for further research regarding methodology development and filling knowledge gaps are also identified. / Informations-och kommunikationsteknik (IKT) spelar en viktig roll i dagens samhälle genom att bidra till ekonomisk tillväxt, påverka samhällstrukturer och människors livsstil. Det finns höga förväntningar på att IKT skulle kunna bidra till hållbar utveckling, bland annat genom minskade utsläpp av växthusgaser. Miljöpåverkan från IKT-lösningar (produkter och tjänster) anses ofta vara obefintlig eller mycket lägre än konventionella alternativ. Men för att uppskatta vilken potential IKT har för att minska miljöpåverkan, behöver miljöbedömningar göras. Ett flertal studier har också genomförts för att bedöma miljöpåverkan av specifika IKT-lösningar och av branschen i sin helhet. Fortfarande behövs mer forskning som ger ökad kunskap om olika typer av påverkan (direkt, indirekt, rebound, etc.) och om olika slags miljöeffekter (t.ex. övergödning, toxiska effekter, markanvändning och biodiversitet. De resultat som redan finns kan också sammanställas för att identifiera de betydande aspekterna och för att dra generella slutsatser. Eftersom miljöbedömning av IKT-lösningar är relativt nytt och eftersom sektorn och dess produkter och tjänster utvecklas snabbt behöver metodiken analyseras, diskuteras och vidareutvecklas. Avhandlingens syfte är att bidra med ökad kunskap om IKT-lösningars direkta miljöpåverkan sett ur ett livscykelperspektiv, samt att identifiera och diskutera olika utmaningar med att använda livscykelanalys (LCA) som verktyg för miljöbedömning av IKT-lösningar. Två forskningsfrågor besvaras: ”Vilken miljöpåverkan har IKT-lösningar, sett ur ett livscykelperspektiv, och vad orsakar denna påverkan?” samt ”Vilka är de metodmässiga utmaningarna vid bedömningar av IKT -lösningar med hjälp av LCA?”. Genom en litteraturstudie över livscykelanalyser av IKT-lösningar identifieras betydande aspekter och generella slutsatser gällande miljöpåverkan och dess orsaker dras. Dessutom identifieras och diskuteras metodik-utmaningar. En fallstudie av online- och tryckta tidningar exemplifierar miljöpåverkan från traditionella och nya medielösningar med IKT, och ger dessutom underlag för diskussion om metodmässiga utmaningar. Avhandlingen visar att annan miljöpåverkan än klimatpåverkan och energianvändning inte är särskilt väl studerade inom IKT-sektorn. Detta kan leda till suboptimering och att problem överförs från en typ av miljöpåverkan till en annan. Generellt gäller att det är i tillverknings- och användningsfaserna som den största miljöpåverkan uppkommer. Transporter och avfallshantering visar inte särskilt hög miljöpåverkan i de studier som utförts och sammanställts. Transporter och avfallshantering bör ändå fortsatt inkluderas vid miljöbedömning av IKT-lösningar, eftersom osäkerhet och brist på data kan vara en orsak till resultaten. Eftersom IKT är under ständig och snabb utveckling kommer det fortsatt att vara en utmaning att göra miljöbedömningar av IKT-lösningar. Datakvalitet och -tillgänglighet, typ av data, olika metodval såsom val av funktionell enhet, systemgränser och allokering samt antaganden om användarnas beteende påverkar de slutliga resultaten och måste övervägas noga under en livscykelanalys. Resultaten från avhandlingen kan vara till nytta både för praktiker och för beslutsfattare. De kan bidra till ökad kunskap om miljöpåverkan från IKT-lösningar och utmaningar när det gäller att använda LCA på detta område och ger därmed en bättre grund för mer välunderbyggda beslut kopplade till IKT lösningar. Avhandlingen identifierar även områden för vidare forskning om metodutveckling. / Информационно-коммуникационные технологии (ИКТ) играют важную роль в современном обществе, внося свой вклад в экономический рост и оказывая влияние на общество и стиль жизни людей. Большие надежды возлагаются на вклад ИКТ в устойчивое развитие, например,  посредством уменьшения выбросов парниковых газов. Часто предполагается, что ИКТ решения имеют меньшее негативное воздействие на окружающую среду (ВОС) по сравнению с традиционными решениями, или не имеют его вообще. Для того, чтобы определить потенциал ИКТ в уменьшении ВОС, необходима оценка воздействия на окружающую среду ИКТ по сравнению с другими альтернативами. Уже опубликовано довольно большое количество работ, оценивающих ВОС отдельных ИКТ и ИКТ сектора в целом.  Не смотря на это, необходимо больше исследований, охватывающих различные виды воздействий (первичные, вторичные, т.д.) в различных категориях (например, изменение климата, разрушение озонового слоя, токсичность и т.д.). Затем результаты необходимо систематизировать для того, чтобы определить так называемые «проблемные  точки» и сделать общие выводы. Поскольку эта сфера довольно нова и развивается быстро, методы анализа также необходимо подвергнуть критической оценке для того, чтобы определить возможные трудности, а также усовершенствования, необходимые для проведения последующих анализов высокого качества. Цель этой работы - пополнить базу знаний о воздействии на окружающую среду жизненного цикла ИКТ, а также изучить и проанализировать трудности, возникающие при применении Оценки Жизненного Цикла (ОЖЦ) как метода анализа ИКТ решений относительно их экологического воздействия.  Два вопроса были изучены в этой работе: «Каково воздействие на окружающую среду жизненного цикла ИКТ решений и каковы его причины?» и «Каковы методологические трудности в оценке ИКТ решений с использованием ОЖЦ?».  Для того, чтобы ответить на эти вопросы был сделан обзор опубликованых работ по ОЖЦ ИКТ решений, а также проведена ОЖЦ  интернет газет и их печатных аналогов.  Обзор опубликованных работ помог определить  «проблемные  точки» в жизненном цикле ИКТ решений, сделать общие выводы касательно ВОС и его причин, а также определить главные трудности в применении ОЖЦ. При проведении ОЖЦ  интернет газет и их печатных аналогов было оценено ВОС традиционных и новых видов медиа решений и собрана информация о методологических трудностях. Результаты показали что различные виды экологического воздействия ИКТ сектора (кроме влияния на изменение климата или энергопотребления) мало изучены, что создает риск возможной суб-оптимизации и переноса проблем из одной сферы в другую. Производство и фаза использования во многих исследованиях были выявлены как стадии жизненного цикла, имеющие наибольшее экологическое воздействие. Однако, нельзя пренебрегать такими стадиями жизненного цикла, как транспортировка и утилизация отходов, даже если их ВОС кажется небольшим, т.к. это может быть обусловлено недостатком данных для оценки. Поскольку ИКТ быстро развивается, при оценке экологического воздействия ИКТ решений легко столкнуться с трудностями касающимися, например, качества данных и их доступности; выбора типа данных; методологических решений (выбор функциональной единицы, определение границ исследования, т.д.); предположений по поводу поведения пользователя. Все это влияет на окончательные результаты и поэтому должно быть учтено ОЖЦ специалистами. Результаты этой работы вносят вклад в усовершенствование знаний об экологическом воздействии ИКТ решений и трудностях применения ОЖЦ для анализа ИКТ решений, а также предоставляют улучшенную базу для более информированного принятия решений, а следовально могут быть полезны практикующим исследователям и лицам, ответственным за принятие решений. В работе так же обозначены направления дальнейших исследований: изучение методологии, пополнение недостающих знаний.