ABSTRACT This study mainly sets to explore how English second language students grade 12 learners at Randfontein Secondary School develop critical literacy awareness (CLA) by reading ‘bumper’ stickers found in mini-bus taxis commonly known as taxis. Data used in this project was mainly collected through interviews with research participants namely; students, taxi drivers, bumper sticker manufacturers and taxi commuters. The teacher/researcher required students to collect literary texts from their environment for use in their critical literacy class. This research project mainly employs Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis model as an analytical model, which holds that CDA should include the socio-cultural contexts in which texts are produced and read. Data was analysed by all the students in class, especially the six students who were selected for the focus group. The researcher (myself) analysed the students’ reading of texts so as to establish the extent to which they were developing critical literacy awareness. The research found that my students resisted bumper stickers as a discourse that differed from their own ideological positions. Data in this study reveals that the students approached the bumper stickers from a position of estrangement because they were reading from an urban social context that differs from the taxi drivers’ rural social context. This study showed that getting students to be researcher themselves can be a very fruitful and developmental learning experience.

Triathlon status symbols allow community members to gain prestige. The accrual of paraphernalia, such as race apparel and bumper stickers, provide individuals with a means to display their accomplishments for non-participants, too. Ethnographic fieldwork, questionnaires and interviews provided insight into a variety of experiences. The individual nature of the sport is reflected by a participant's decision to display status markers. Car signs (e.g., bumper stickers and license plate frames) are displayed by a quarter of race participants. They come in a variety of forms allowing the car's driver to communicate with triathletes and non-triathletes while driving on the road. The most prestigious triathlon is the Ironman. The M Dot Ironman logo appears as a decal on vehicles and as a mark of permanence on the body. Tattoos act as a formal communication system in a similar manner to car signs. Triathletes display status symbols to garner respect from their peers and separate themselves from the larger society. / by Adam Slotnick. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This master’s thesis focuses on selecting an information system for the e-commerce site Lepime.cz. This e-shop sells home decorations – customized wall stickers. In the first part I am introducing the company, product, creating an analysis of the current information system and putting together the requirements and specifications. The second part is focusing on comparing considerable information systems, which were pre-selected to a shortlist. The key part compares the information systems economically, based on the required initial investments and monthly service fees.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-18T21:31:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 Thiago Hara Dias1.pdf: 2374330 bytes, checksum: 832553b4ffea9c59bdb303ac1e2b6557 (MD5) Thiago Hara Dias2.pdf: 2522134 bytes, checksum: fd9967246509125b918e3ee320aa46d6 (MD5) Thiago Hara Dias3.pdf: 418686 bytes, checksum: 89d68fa6f1c0fb36f3a3009ef22e6e35 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-08-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The sticker is a form of visual expression in the urban environment that takes advantage of productive an conceptive teniques widely used in the mass media with the goal of creating a dialog with the inhabitants of the city of São Paulo. In addition to this dialog, its representatives also search for an interaction with the urban environment, also creating works with aesthetic value. This dissertation has the purpose to entrer the sticker universe, and to open a debate about its role in the São Paulo street art, using as a research field, the Augusta Street, the Paulista Avenue and its surroundings. / O sticker é uma forma de expressão visual no meio urbano que tira proveito de conceitos e técnicas produtivas amplamente utilizadas nos meios de comunicação de massa a fim de criar um diálogo com os habitantes da cidade de São Paulo. Além desse diálogo, seus representantes buscam uma interação com o ambiente urbano, criando também trabalhos de valor estético. Essa dissertação tem por objetivo adentrar o universo do sticker e procurar abrir um debate sobre seu real papel da na arte de rua em São Paulo, usando como campo de pesquisa, a Rua Augusta, a Avenida Paulista e suas cercanias.

由於許多企業對於LINE在號召年輕族群的能力寄與厚望，為了釐清目前企業對於評估LINE與操作LINE的策略是否合乎年輕族群的需求，本研究將聚焦於討論最早採用LINE的企業期待透過LINE進行品牌年輕化的歷程，以企業的實戰經驗切入，剖析早期採用LINE的企業進行品牌年輕化歷程與操作策略，同時透過釐清年輕族群對於使用LINE的經驗與需求兩相對照，試圖釐清目前企業使用LINE進行品牌年輕化的做法是否正確？是否有迷思存在的可能性？若因迷思存在而造成經營策略上的偏差，企業未來該如何修正與優化？ 由於意會本質上是人們對事務的主觀認知，並且是一個持續性的流程，是一種複雜且動態的觀念，因此將採用深度訪談法針對企業的相關部門成員進行歷程的研究。為呈現企業內部與外在社會環境相關的完整脈絡，本研究也會輔以消費者訪談、文獻資料法與二手資料法作為資訊搜集與驗證成效的方式。研究結果發現，個案對於透過LINE推動品牌年輕化的歷程上，確實存有許多囿於過往經驗或組織文化所形成的主觀認知，導致其對於新科技的理解與其目標族群的需求有所落差。研究結果也顯示，LINE確實能為企業接觸到年輕族群，但需要提供他們所需要的服務和資訊，才能爭取他們對品牌的認同和好感，同時與年輕族群的互動形式，相較於過往的單向式傳播，也必須因應LINE的科技特質有所調整。 / As many enterprises place great expectations in LINE’s ability to call out the youth, in order to find out whether the enterprises’ strategies in assessment and operation on LINE meeting the demand of the youth, this research looks into the experience of the first runner enterprises that promote brand rejuvenation with LINE. By introducing the real-world experience of the enterprise, this research analyzes the journey and operation strategies of rejuvenating brands by using LINE in early years. Meanwhile, by comparing the experiences and demand of using LINE among the youth, this research aims at whether the methods of rejuvenating brands by using LINE are satisfying. Does the myth really exist? If the myth does exist and bring diversified business strategies, how can the enterprises revise and improve their strategies in the future? Since sense making is people’s subjective perception of affairs by nature and it is both a persistent process and a complicated and dynamic concept, this research focuses on the experience from members of relevant departments of the enterprise by in-depth interview. To present the context of the internal and external environment of the enterprise, this research also utilizes consumer interview, documents, and literature as the main data sourses and effectiveness verification. The research results show that cases do have many subject perceptions generated from previous confined experience or organizational culture in the course of LINE’s promotion of brand rejuvenation, which gives rise to difference between the understanding of new technology and the demand of target groups. The research results also show that LINE really enables the enterprise to access to the young people, but provision of their necessary service and information is required to get their recognition and good impression of the brand. Meanwhile, the means of interaction with the youth must be adjusted according to LINE’s technological nature comparing with previous single-direction dissemination.

Den tekniska utvecklingen bidrar till nya möjligheteter och sätt att kommunicera på nätet. Grafikoner introduceras successivt i Facebook och andra sociala medier och erbjuder nya funktioner för användare. I denna studie görs en jämförande analys av grafikoners användning och pragmatiska funktioner i en Facebookgrupp mellan 2012 och 2022. Syftet är att undersöka och diskutera grafikoners utveckling i en svensk kontext. Analysen är avgränsad till följande grafikontyper: emotikoner, emojier och dekaler. Grafikoner i inlägg och kommentarer analyseras med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning om grafikoners funktioner. Funktionerna som identifieras i denna studie är: dekoration, benämning, handling/gest, reaktion och modifikation av ton. Studiens resultat visar att emotikoner endast förekommer i enstaka fall i materialet från 2012 och inte alls i materialet från 2022. Användningen av emojier har däremot ökat avsevärt mellan 2012 och 2022. I materialet från 2012 fyller emotikoner och emojier liknande funktioner, vilka främst är som modifikation av ton och som reaktion. Den vanligaste emojifunktionen i materialet från 2022 är som handling/gest. Resultatet visar en mer varierad användning av emojier i form av typ, placering och funktion 2022 jämfört med 2012. Den breddade användningen indikerar att emojin fortfarande är aktuell och användbar för svenska sociala media-användare 2022. Dekaler finns endast representerade i materialet från 2022 och den vanligaste funktionen är som reaktion på tidigare innehåll. Dekaler används fortfarande i mindre utsträckning än emojier 2022, men det finns indikationer som tyder på att dekalen kommer att följa samma utvecklingskurva som dess föregångare och öka i popularitet över tid.