Avui en dia, la música està esbiaixada cap al consum d'alguns artistes molt populars. Per exemple, el 2007 només l'1% de totes les cançons en format digital va representar el 80% de les vendes. De la mateixa manera, només 1.000 àlbums varen representar el 50% de totes les vendes, i el 80% de tots els àlbums venuts es varen comprar menys de 100 vegades. Es clar que hi ha una necessitat per tal d'ajudar a les persones a filtrar, descobrir, personalitzar i recomanar música, a partir de l'enorme quantitat de contingut musical disponible. Els algorismes de recomanació de música actuals intenten predir amb precisió el que els usuaris demanen escoltar. Tanmateix, molt sovint aquests algoritmes tendeixen a recomanar artistes famosos, o coneguts d'avantmà per l'usuari. Això fa que disminueixi l'eficàcia i utilitat de les recomanacions, ja que aquests algorismes es centren bàsicament en millorar la precisió de les recomanacions. És a dir, tracten de fer prediccions exactes sobre el que un usuari pugui escoltar o comprar, independentment de quant útils siguin les recomanacions generades. En aquesta tesi destaquem la importància que l'usuari valori les recomanacions rebudes. Per aquesta raó modelem la corba de popularitat dels artistes, per tal de poder recomanar música interessant i desconeguda per l'usuari. Les principals contribucions d'aquesta tesi són: (i) un nou enfocament basat en l'anàlisi de xarxes complexes i la popularitat dels productes, aplicada als sistemes de recomanació, (ii) una avaluació centrada en l'usuari, que mesura la importància i la desconeixença de les recomanacions, i (iii) dos prototips que implementen la idees derivades de la tasca teòrica. Els resultats obtinguts tenen una clara implicació per aquells sistemes de recomanació que ajuden a l'usuari a explorar i descobrir continguts que els pugui agradar. / Actualmente, el consumo de música está sesgada hacia algunos artistas muy populares. Por ejemplo, en el año 2007 sólo el 1% de todas las canciones en formato digital representaron el 80% de las ventas. De igual modo, únicamente 1.000 álbumes representaron el 50% de todas las ventas, y el 80% de todos los álbumes vendidos se compraron menos de 100 veces. Existe, pues, una necesidad de ayudar a los usuarios a filtrar, descubrir, personalizar y recomendar música a partir de la enorme cantidad de contenido musical existente. Los algoritmos de recomendación musical existentes intentan predecir con precisión lo que la gente quiere escuchar. Sin embargo, muy a menudo estos algoritmos tienden a recomendar o bien artistas famosos, o bien artistas ya conocidos de antemano por el usuario.Esto disminuye la eficacia y la utilidad de las recomendaciones, ya que estos algoritmos se centran en mejorar la precisión de las recomendaciones. Con lo cuál, tratan de predecir lo que un usuario pudiera escuchar o comprar, independientemente de lo útiles que sean las recomendaciones generadas. En este sentido, la tesis destaca la importancia de que el usuario valore las recomendaciones propuestas. Para ello, modelamos la curva de popularidad de los artistas con el fin de recomendar música interesante y, a la vez, desconocida para el usuario.Las principales contribuciones de esta tesis son: (i) un nuevo enfoque basado en el análisis de redes complejas y la popularidad de los productos, aplicada a los sistemas de recomendación,(ii) una evaluación centrada en el usuario que mide la calidad y la novedad de las recomendaciones, y (iii) dos prototipos que implementan las ideas derivadas de la labor teórica. Los resultados obtenidos tienen importantes implicaciones para los sistemas de recomendación que ayudan al usuario a explorar y descubrir contenidos que le puedan gustar. / Music consumption is biased towards a few popular artists. For instance, in 2007 only 1% of all digital tracks accounted for 80% of all sales. Similarly, 1,000 albums accounted for 50% of all album sales, and 80% of all albums sold were purchased less than 100 times. There is a need to assist people to filter, discover, personalise and recommend from the huge amount of music content available along the Long Tail.Current music recommendation algorithms try to accurately predict what people demand to listen to. However, quite often these algorithms tend to recommend popular -or well-known to the user- music, decreasing the effectiveness of the recommendations. These approaches focus on improving the accuracy of the recommendations. That is, try to make accurate predictions about what a user could listen to, or buy next, independently of how useful to the user could be the provided recommendations. In this Thesis we stress the importance of the user's perceived quality of the recommendations. We model the Long Tail curve of artist popularity to predict -potentially- interesting and unknown music, hidden in the tail of the popularity curve. Effective recommendation systems should promote novel and relevant material (non-obvious recommendations), taken primarily from the tail of a popularity distribution. The main contributions of this Thesis are: (i) a novel network-based approach for recommender systems, based on the analysis of the item (or user) similarity graph, and the popularity of the items, (ii) a user-centric evaluation that measures the user's relevance and novelty of the recommendations, and (iii) two prototype systems that implement the ideas derived from the theoretical work. Our findings have significant implications for recommender systems that assist users to explore the Long Tail, digging for content they might like.

Orientador: Maximiliano Martin Vicente / Banca: Daniel dos Santos / Banca: Murilo Cesar Soares / Resumo: Conforme o mercado de luxo foi crescendo, inúmeros desafios surgiram diante dele, sendo a Internet um dos principais. Apesar de representar uma excelente oportunidade na construção de uma marca, a Internet é uma mídia de acesso global, cuja ampla disseminação colocaria em risco conceitos substanciais de luxo, como sua tradição, raridade e exclusividade. Nesse sentido, desde a popularização da Internet, tornou-se muito recorrente a dúvida se a mídia seria uma oportunidade ou uma ameaça para os negócios de luxo. É por isso que essa pesquisa visa compreender as mudanças estabelecidas pela Web no universo premium, identificando e avaliando os conceitos, significados e valores envolvidos na comunicação de marcas de luxo na Internet. O objetivo é compreender se esta comunicação consegue manter os valores do luxo, como exclusividade e status, e ainda, agregar novos valores. Para isso, realizou-se uma minuciosa Análise de Conteúdo dos websites de três das mais importantes grifes globais - Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy e Dior - em parceria com as teorias da 'Sociedade de Hiperconsumo' de Lipovetsky, 'Cauda Longa' de Chris Anderson e 'Interação Mediada por Computador' de Alex Primo, cujos pensamentos, contemporâneos possibilitaram a interpretação dos dados coletados. Como o objetivo é também identificar as mudanças trazidas pela Web, a técnica encontrada foi uma análise comparativa do conteúdo dos sites com a comunicação tradicional, aqui representada por anúncios publicitários da revista Vogue América. Como resultado, a pesquisa observou que a Internet é uma excelente oportunidade para as marcas de luxo construírem relações mais próximas e personalizadas com seus consumidores e que o luxo é um setor capaz de se reinventar e assumir facetas diferentes ao longo do tempo, associando-se a determinadas posturas e práticas conforme as tendências sócio-culturais... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: As the luxury market has grown, many challenges have appeared, and the Internet is one of the biggest. Althrough it represent an excellent opportunity to build a brand, the Internet is a global media access, which wide dissemination could endanger substantial concepts of luxury, as its tradition, rarity and exclusivity. Therafore, since the popularization of the Web, has become common the doubt whether the online media would be an apportunity or a threat to the business of luxury. This research seeks to understand the changes established by the Internet on the luxury universe, identifying and evaluating the concepts, meanings and values envolved in the communication of the luxury brands on the Internet. The purpose is to understand whether this communication can keep the values of luxury, as exclusivity and status, and also add new values. Thereby, was perfomed a detailed content analysis of the Website of three global brands - Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Dior - in partnership with the theories of the "Hyper-consumption Society" by Lipovetsky, 'Long Tail' by Chris Anderson and 'Interaction Mediated by Computer' by Alex Primo, whose contemporary thoughts enabled an interpretation of collected data. Since the intend is to identify the changes brought by the Web, the appropriate technique was a comparative analysis of the content of sites with traditional communication, here represent by advertising in Vogue America magazine. As result, the research observes that the Internet in an excellent opportunity for luxury brands to build closer and personalized relations with its consumers and that luxury sector is able to reinvent itself and take on different facets over time, associating with certain attitudes and practices according to the socio-cultural tendencies. Always retains some characteristics of which the distinctive character is the most obvious... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

In the subject of search engine optimization, many methods exist and many aspects are important to keep in mind. This thesis studies the relation between keywords and website ranking in Google Search, and how one can create the biggest positive impact. Keywords with smaller search volume are called "long tail" keywords, and they bear the potential to expand visibility of the website to a larger crowd by increasing the rank of the website for the large fraction of keywords that might not be as common on their own, but together make up for a large amount of the total web searches. This thesis will analyze where on the web page these keywords should be placed, and a case study will be performed in which the goal is to increase the rank of a website with knowledge from previous tests in mind.

In this work, we study the time evolution of systems containing a large number of particles interacting via a $1/r$ binary interaction potential, such as Coulombian and self-gravitating systems. In particular, we study the effect on the dynamics of the Holtsmark-Chandrasekhar theory, which describes the static fluctuations of the total force field around the Vlasov mean-field. We derive these effects by developing a new perturbative theory using the fundamental representation of Statistical Mechanics :The BBGKY hierarchy. This leads to a modification of the Vlasov equation by an additional term involving a fractional Laplacian to the power $3/4$ in velocity space, and a fractional iterated time integral of order $1/2$. We show that one of the consequences of this new term for spatially homogeneous systems is the appearance in the velocity distribution of long tails in $v^{-5/2}$. By extension, similar behaviors can be expected for weakly inhomogeneous systems. These long tails correspond to a universal mechanism related to the divergence of the interaction potential in $1/r$. More specifically, they are induced by the long tails of the total force field distribution as described by the Holtsmark-Chandrasekhar theory. Such a result cannot be obtained from theories based on the weak-coupling between particles, which lead to the Vlasov term, and, the Landau collision operator at the next order. We verify numerically these results by means of molecular dynamics simulations. We study the evolution of the velocity distributions for times very short compared to the violent relaxation time. In this particular time regime, we find, as expected, power laws in $v^{alpha}$ for the velocity distribution tail. In particular, when the regularization parameter of the interaction potential tends to $0$, the exponent in the power law indeed tends from below toward the theoretically predicted value $alpha=-5/2$. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis examines impact of online user reviews, expressed in 5-star rating system, on demand for PC and video games. Used weekly data are collected from www.amazon.co.uk for period 2000 - 2012. The thesis contributes to discussion which takes place between supporters of superstar theory and supporters of long tail theory. Panel structure of the dataset referred to application of fixed effects model for estimation of basic and extended model. Both estimates proved negative influence of assigned number of stars on sales rank. Basic model estimated influence of one unit change of stars on rank by 9 positions, extended model estimated this change to be 10 positions. Quantile estimate also proved negative influence of stars on sales rank. The influence is strongest for the lowest quantile of dependent variable (tau = 0,05) representing 5 % best-selling titles, where one unit change of stars causes change of 35 positions in opposite direction. With increasing quantiles this influence decreases to zero. It proves that within the market for PC and video games online user reviews contribute to superstar effect.

<p>Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the “critical theory” of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic “cultural studies” approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic “cultural studies” field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the “completed” convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture. Using the contemporary british drama serial Doctor Who I examine the processes of meaning making among members of the television series fan culture on the popular video content page youtube.com as expressions of cultural convergence.</p><p>This study argues how the skills and talents developed in the interaction with popular culture and in a process of interaction between fans and participants (collective intelligence and participatory culture), will have an impact on the institutionalized knowledge “from above” and in a collective process will seep over to other fields of expertise. The study also argues, as a consequence of convergence culture, that in the contemporary state of online practices, social networking and in our interactions with digital media content, a mandatory “presence” has been created where we today are defined more through our online selves and these practices, than the ones that used to define us in our “physical” lives: “The medium is no longer just the message, we are living in a state where there is only messages”.</p>

Drawing from the theoretical foundations of the “critical theory” of the Frankfurt School and the media ethnographic “cultural studies” approach of the british Birmingham School, this study attempts to sketch out a media theoretical overview of the contemporary state of media culture. Using the term convergence culture as the foundation, this study offers a theoretical background to the two contemporary streams that are the significant and distinct tendencies of convergence culture: intermedial convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies that can be traced back using the past media theoretical approach of the Frankfurt School, and cultural convergence, its contemporary state and historical tendencies, which lineage in a media theoretical context can be traced back to the british ethographic “cultural studies” field. Using contemporary drama serials to identify and pinpoint these two stream, this study shows how intermedial convergence expresses itself today through media conglomeration in terms of branding, product placement and marketing as the result of the “completed” convergence between screen culture and popular music as the current defining state of commodity culture. Using the contemporary british drama serial Doctor Who I examine the processes of meaning making among members of the television series fan culture on the popular video content page youtube.com as expressions of cultural convergence. This study argues how the skills and talents developed in the interaction with popular culture and in a process of interaction between fans and participants (collective intelligence and participatory culture), will have an impact on the institutionalized knowledge “from above” and in a collective process will seep over to other fields of expertise. The study also argues, as a consequence of convergence culture, that in the contemporary state of online practices, social networking and in our interactions with digital media content, a mandatory “presence” has been created where we today are defined more through our online selves and these practices, than the ones that used to define us in our “physical” lives: “The medium is no longer just the message, we are living in a state where there is only messages”.

This study was based in the idea that digital participative systems lead to changes in the institutionalized territory of journalism. The search for evidences of this process begins in the first chapter, with the analysis of journalism as an institutionalized territory and the processes of deterritorialization, reterritorialization and unterritorialization. Next, the technological changes that facilitated the origins of the information long tail are highlighted, which comprehends since the database up to the locative media and the mobile technologies. Then, it is identified the Pro-Am movement, characterized by the relation between professionals and laypeople. The second chapter focuses on the collaborative journalism in the networks as a communication strategy. At this point, the collaborative sections are defined. It is considered the four generations of digital journalism, influenced by the strategic adaptation of traditional media to the long tail of information. Consequently, the open collaborative pages were originated and became wide used. The information in the literature review is discussed taking into account the data from the case study. Thus, it was possible to identify some communication strategies from Zero Hora. com, based in the collaborative products. One concluded that works in partnership between professionals and fans in the digital periodical occur. The Pro-Am if only establishes, that in shy way. If it cannot affirm that it occurs, in Zero Hora.com, the unterritorialization, however strong marks of the process had been identified. / O presente trabalho foi desenvolvido partindo da idéia de que os sistemas participativos digitais provocam mudanças no território institucionalizado do jornalismo. A busca de marcas do processo destacado começa, no primeiro capítulo, com a análise do jornalismo como território institucionalizado e os processos de desterritorialização, reterritorialização e des-re-territorialização. Em seguida, são destacadas as transformações tecnológicas que facilitaram a formação do que denominamos de cauda longa da informação, que vão desde as bases de dados até as mídias locativas e as tecnologias móveis. É identificado, então, o movimento Pro-Am, marcado pela parceria entre profissionais e amadores. O segundo capítulo é dedicado à reflexão sobre o jornalismo colaborativo nas redes como estratégica comunicacional. Neste ponto, são definidas as seções colaborativas. A identificação leva em consideração as quatro gerações do jornalismo digital, marcadas pela adaptação estratégica dos meios tradicionais à demanda da cauda longa da informação. Nela, surgiram e se fortaleceram as páginas colaborativas abertas. As reflexões realizadas na fundamentação teórica são verificadas a partir dos dados obtidos por meio da metodologia do estudo de caso. A partir dela, foi possível chegar às considerações finais desta pesquisa, que permitiram a identificação de algumas estratégias comunicacionais de Zero Hora.com a partir dos produtos colaborativos. Concluiu-se que ocorrem trabalhos em parceria entre profissionais e amadores no jornal digital. O Pro-Am se estabelece, só que de maneira tímida. Não se pode afirmar que ocorre, em Zero Hora.com, a des-re-territorialização, porém foram identificadas fortes marcas do processo.

Submitted by Rodrigo Menezes (costa.menezes@gmail.com) on 2013-08-16T21:54:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 O FORTE DO MERCADO.pdf: 15240954 bytes, checksum: d62f5920df8faee6bdd9f5a4f00ac4cf (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2013-08-16T21:58:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 O FORTE DO MERCADO.pdf: 15240954 bytes, checksum: d62f5920df8faee6bdd9f5a4f00ac4cf (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2013-08-22T12:40:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 O FORTE DO MERCADO.pdf: 15240954 bytes, checksum: d62f5920df8faee6bdd9f5a4f00ac4cf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-22T12:41:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 O FORTE DO MERCADO.pdf: 15240954 bytes, checksum: d62f5920df8faee6bdd9f5a4f00ac4cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-11 / This research is contextualized in the current domestic scenario: Brazil is going through a unique moment that will culminate in two athletic events of worldwide repercussions: the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. These events impact several areas, including the fitness industry, which in its expansion takes advantage of the visibility generated by such events. With that in mind, the objective of this research was to analyze alternative business models in the fitness industry so as to contribute to its expansion. The alternative model selected was CrossFit, which international growth positions it as the unconventional fitness option of greatest expression, although it is not well known in Brazil. / Esta pesquisa está contextualizada no cenário nacional atual: o Brasil passa por um momento singular que culminará em dois eventos esportivos de repercussão mundial: a Copa do Mundo de Futebol em 2014 e as Olimpíadas em 2016. Estes eventos geram impactos nas mais diversas áreas, inclusive na indústria de fitness que, em sua expansão, aproveita a visibilidade gerada por tais acontecimentos. Tendo isto em vista, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar modelos alternativos de atuação no setor de fitness de maneira a contribuir para sua expansão. O modelo alternativo selecionado foi o CrossFit, cujo crescimento internacional o posiciona como a opção de fitness não convencional de maior expressão, ainda que pouco conhecido no Brasil.

The goal of this paper is to explore corporate and information strategies, focus is put on new and modern business models. I accentuate alignment between corporate and information strategy. Theoretical overview of corporate and information strategies is followed by description of modern trends that were discovered by author. All new trends are analyzed from IT and business point of view. Some trends are demonstrated on real companies in the paper. The analysis consists of corporate strategy and searching for the way how IT can support business and how to be in alignment. Two types of companies are included. First type is company that built up business model based on IT/ICT strategy. The other type includes companies that are running business for longer time and new IT/ICT strategy deployment or better alignment between strategies brought improvement and better market position. The paper includes basic model representing strategic management that is presented at the end. This gives an overview to all readers how the process goes from corporate and information strategy to application portfolio. The paper is destined for professionals and nonprofessionals who are interested in modern strategies. It is also useful for IT/ICT managers when working on own strategies.