Abstract This thesis focuses on integrating multipurpose public displays with online social networking services. Modern public displays are capable of much more than the early digital billboards used for promoting brand awareness in urban areas. Currently, smaller, interactive displays are proliferating and starting to offer a variety of services for their users. A network of such displays is located in the northern City of Oulu, Finland, for example, where it is used by the general public. As such, it forms a realistic test bed for studying novel public display services in an authentic urban setting. This thesis examines how to leverage online social networking services in creating services for interactive public displays. A key difference to most related research is that the displays simultaneously offer multiple services to their users. The thesis first provides general purpose software components, which together allow creating services that take advantage of online social networking services. These include a distributed user interface framework, a login mechanism for displays that relies on the developed framework, and a social networking service API for public displays, relying on the login mechanism. Then, the thesis presents a number of prototype services that use the developed components. The services are discussed in the contexts of user generated content, public displays for enabling communication between users, and the role of smart phones in enabling these services. The key findings of this thesis illustrate how consuming and producing user generated content directly on public displays provide compelling use cases. Also, while leveraging online social networking services can be useful in supporting casual communication between users, the anonymity of public display users is likely to cause problems in official communications. Mobile phones are found as suitable for enabling the integration of social networking services and public displays by de-anonymizing the users. However, we are still far from a situation in which mobile phones are a natural part of the interface between humans and public displays, and more research and development towards this vision are needed. / Tiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja keskittyy monikäyttöisten julkisten näyttöjen ja yhteisöpalvelujen yhdistämiseen. Uudenaikaiset julkiset näytöt kykenevät paljon muuhunkin kuin ensimmäiset suuret mainostaulut joilla mainostettiin suuria tavaramerkkejä. Pienemmät, interaktiiviset näytöt yleistyvät ja alkavat tarjoamaan uudenlaisia palveluita. Yksi verkko tällaisia näyttöjä sijaitsee Oulussa, Suomessa, missä se on yhteisön käytössä. Se muodostaa aidon ja totuudenmukaisen testialustan julkisten näyttöjen palveluille aidossa kaupunkiympäristössä. Tämä väitöskirja tutkii Internetin yhteisöpalveluiden käyttämistä interaktiivisten julkisten näyttöjen palveluiden luomisessa. Yksi työn tärkeimmistä eroista olemassaolevaan kirjallisuuten on se, että käytetyt näytöt tarjoavat yhtäaikaa useita palveluita. Väitöskirja esittelee ensin yleiskäyttöisiä ohjelmistokomponentteja, joiden avulla voidaan luoda näytöille palveluita, jotka käyttävät hyväkseen Internetin yhteisöpalveluita. Nämä ovat hajautettu käyttöliittymäratkaisu, sisäänkirjautumismekanismi, mikä rakentuu kehitetyn käyttöliittymäratkaisun varaan sekä yhteisöpalvelurajapinta, mikä taas rakentuu sisäänkirjautumismekanismin varaan. Seuraavaksi väitöskirja esittelee prototyyppipalveluita, mitkä rakentuvat mainittujen komponenttien varaan. Nämä palvelut analysoidaan eri viitekehyksissä: käyttäjien luoma sisältö, julkisten näyttöjen mahdollistama kommunikaatio eri käyttäjien välillä sekä älypuhelinten rooli näiden palveluiden luomisessa. Väitöskirjan löydökset havainnollistavat, kuinka käyttäjien luoma sisältö sekä sen tuottaminen suoraan julkisella näytöllä ovat mieleisiä käyttötapoja. Lisäksi, vaikka yhteisöpalvelujen hyödyntäminen julkisilla näytöillä voikin tukea arkipäiväistä kommunikaatiota käyttäjien välillä, käytön anonymiteetti voi kuitenkin aiheuttaa ongelmia virallisemmassa kommunikaatiossa. Matkapuhelimet todetaan sopiviksi yhteisöpalvelujen ja julkisten näyttöjen yhdistämisessä etenkin käyttäjien tunnistamistuen vuoksi. Olemme kuitenkin vielä kaukana tilanteesta, missä matkapuhelimet ovat osa luonnollista käyttöliittymää ihmisten ja julkisten näyttöjen välillä, ja lisää tutkimusta on tehtävä tämän vision suuntaan.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / South African adolescents are engaging in sexual activities at an early age and with numerous sexual partners. Various factors such as adolescent physiology, identity development, peer influences and parent-child relationship, play a contributory role in this aspect. However, one of the less explored factors is the role of exposure to information and communication technologies containing sexual content, such as television, internet, music videos and cell phones. Adolescents have been shown to be heavy consumers of these devices. The study aimed at exploring the extent with which sexual content from these digital devices influences adolescents’ sexual perceptions and sexual behaviours. Participants comprised of 18 Grade 10 and Grade 11 learners, between ages 14 to 16 years, conveniently selected from one of the high schools in the Cape Peninsula. Two focus groups were conducted with an equal distribution of males and females in each group. Thematic analysis was utilized to describe participants’ experiences as reported in the text. Results indicated that participants regard ICT as influencing sexual attitudes and behaviour. More specifically, they believed ICT contributes greatly to early sexual initiation. Whilst some participants suggested that ICT encourages them to have many sexual partners with a “certain” physical image, some participants regarded this as irrelevant, viewing it as an individual’s choice. It was also found that participants viewed ICT’s unsafe sexual practices as not impacting in their use of contraceptives, hence they would not imitate such behaviour. Moreover, some participants viewed ICT as impacting on the manner in which they express themselves sexually, whilst others regarded this as untrue since they decide which sexual activities to engage in. The study addressed paucity of information regarding ICT and adolescent sexuality. To be more specific, it is recommended that future investigations should focus on a particular technology such as cell phones and the internet. Research should also focus on a specific domain regarding adolescent sexual attitudes, for example attitudes towards sexual initiation or the use of contraceptives.

Standard practice dictates that mobile telephone service providers remain accurately aligned with the dynamic expectations structure of the target mobile telephone service users they serve. To comply with this requirement, literature sources assert that service providers need to adopt a candid marketing research orientation to understand what the users expect and in-build it in their service designs. Theory further contends that if such a business stance is diligently applied, any service provider is bound to gain a competitive edge in the market place. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, service providers continue design services without sufficient understanding of what users expect. This mindset has led to disparities in both the designed and the recieved service. Despite the pioneering works of earlier reserachers on the Gaps model, evidence shows that no research had been carried out to measure users' and providers' service quality perceptions in the mobile telephone branch of industry in Uganda. Much remains unknown as regards users' perceptions of expected and actual service quality and any potential disparity thereof. In the same spirit, much remains unknown as regards providers' perceptions of users' expectations and users' real expectations and potential disparity thereof. In order to measure the aforementioned disparities, the Gaps model was used in which Gaps 1 and 5 were measured for providers and users of mobile telephone services in the branch industry in Uganda.

The goal of the master's thesis is to analyse the buying decision process in the market of mobile phones and determine the phases of the buying decision process focusing on individuals in the Czech and Slovak markets. In the theoretical part the thesis focuses on different views on the buying decision process and presenting the factors that affect the process of decision making. In the practical part the greatest attention is dedicated to the research of the consumer buying decision process in the market of mobile phones based on data from MML - TGI and a questionnaire survey. The analysis realized on the basis of Microsoft Excel tables and charts. In the conclusion of the thesis the obtained results are summarized with focus on the phases of the buying decision process and its factors in the market of mobile phones and marketing suggestions.

The thesis focuses on bubble tea market in the Czech republic in relation to Bubbleology company. The objective of the thesis is to analyze the marketing mix of this company and suggest additions that would increase the awareness for the brand and subsequently increase the profits. First the target group is identified with the help of on-line questionnaire. Then leading bubble tea brands are described and the main competition for Bubbleology is identified. Follows analysis of the marketing mix. Proposed is increase in digital engagement with the help of social networks and mobile app. Improvements to promotions in the shopping malls are also suggested. The concepts are then verified with the help of focus groups.

The thesis focuses on consumer contests within the field of modern technologies. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the role consumer contests take as a part of the marketing communications mix, the current legislation governing the issue of consumer contests in the Czech Republic, and especially on how to use the Internet and mobile devices to create a successful contest campaign. Special attention is paid to describing a variety of contest concepts as well as to the most current platforms that can be used in a contest execution. The work also includes an online survey, providing unique data on involvement and preferences of the respondents about consumer contests.

Dans cette étude, on s’intéresse à l’étude de la mobilité urbaine à partir de traces de données de téléphonie mobile qui ont été fournies par l’opérateur Orange. Les données fournies concernent la région de la ville de Rouen, durant un événement éphémère qui est l’Armada de 2008. Dans une première étude, on gère une masse importante de données pour extraire des caractéristiques permettant de qualifier des usages de la ville lors d’évènements éphémères, en fonctions des jours d’activités ou de repos des individus. Des visualisations sont données et permettent de comprendre les mobilités engendrées de manière spécifique ou non par l’événement. Dans une seconde partie, on s’intéresse à la reconstitution de trajectoires avec des approches agrégées inspirées des techniques de physique statistique afin de dégager des comportements en fonction des périodes d’activités et d’un découpage spatial en grandes zones urbaines. On tente ainsi de dégager des lois en observant des distributions en loi de puissance caractéristiques de la complexité des systèmes étudiés. / In this study, we are interested in the study of urban mobility from traces of mobile data that were provided by the operator Orange. The data provided relate to the region of the city of Rouen, during an ephemeral event that is the Armada of 2008. In a first study, a large amount of data is managed to extract characteristics allowing to qualify the uses of the city during ephemeral events, depending on the days of activity of the individuals. Visualizations are given and make it possible to understand the mobilities generated in a specific way during the event. In the second part, we study the reconstruction of trajectories with aggregated approaches inspired by statistical physics techniques in order to reveal behaviors according to periods of activity and a spatial division in large urban areas. In order to obtain the general mobility law by observing distributions in power law characteristic for the studied complex system.

The purpose of this research is to provide companies with how they can affect customer’s trust through tools found within the three technological factors on mobile applications or websites. A research gap was discovered by the researchers due to the lack of in-depth exploration regarding this topic and took the opportunity to do research within this field. This research undertook a qualitative research approach with a deductive nature, this was done by using a theoretical sample technique with theories on what factors affect customers' trust on mobile applications and websites. When collecting information for this research, 14 unstructured in-depth interviews were conducted online. With the help of the interviews the researchers could gather rich in-depth information to explore the research question. The main theoretical findings of this research are the three personas, Branded Betty, Aesthetical Alexia and Recommended Rob. Each persona is representative of a customer and they are each stimulated by the technological tools differently to trust a mobile application or website.

Thesis (M.Com. (Business Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The aim of the study was to determine the relationships between determinants of mobile commerce adoption and the actual adoption of mobile commerce by Small and Medium Enterprises in Polokwane Municipality. The study utilised the quantitative research approach with 146 SME owner respondents from population of 261 owners using a random sampling technique. The questionnaire was developed from the empirical literature review. The determinants of m-commerce were represented by technological, organisational and environmental contextual factors. M-commerce was measured using 11 questions against all other contextual factor variables . Data was cleaned to enhance its fitness for further analysis. To attain this, normality, mean and standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were performed. The data was found to be fit for the purpose of the study. Furthermore, the data was tested for validity and reliability and it satisfied the requirements. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and regression analysis were used to analyse the data. ANOVA was used to test for sub-hypotheses and to make a decision on whether to accept or reject the stated hypotheses based on the significance level. Regression analysis was used to test main hypotheses. ANOVA results showed that all technological factors (perceived benefits, perceived costs, perceived compatibility), organisational factors (technology readiness), environ mental factors (customer pressure, supplier pressure, competitor pressure) and technology acceptance model factors (perceived usefulness) significantly predicted m commerce adoption. On the other hand, factors such as gender, age, level of education and perceived ease of use were not significant predictors of m-commerce adoption. Based on the above results, SMEs should improve on their handling of determinants of m-commerce as they effectively influence the adoption of m-commerce. The government also needs to boost the SME sector by introducing several measures which can expose small businesses to enabling business environment.

Mobile phone service is increasing among low income populations; however, with over 1 billion mobile service users worldwide, many people still lack banking services. Banks do not reach out to the poor because of the high operational costs involved. Scholars and industry practitioners have indicated that mobile phones could be an alternative channel for delivering financial services to the less advantaged and unbanked, without requiring a traditional bank with a branch network. The purpose of this bounded case study was to explore the strategies bank managers used to implement the new mobile banking service to the Ethiopian community. The new product development theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. Twenty experienced bank managers were interviewed from the leading private bank in Ethiopia. Data were segmented and categorized. After member checking and triangulation, data were sorted into 4 themes: development, testing, commercialization of new products or services, and an organizational commitment to adopt new technologies and innovative processes. The findings may contribute to the body of knowledge regarding strategies bank managers can use for implementing and introducing new products in order to contribute to the prosperity of individuals, businesses, and communities.