When discussing games and the experience of gamers those with disabilities are often overlooked. This has left a gap in our understanding of the experience of players with disabilities in virtual game worlds. However there are examples of players with disabilities being very successful in the virtual world video game World of Warcraft, suggesting that there is an opportunity to study the game for usability insight in creating other virtual world environments. This study surveyed World of Warcraft players with disabilities online for insight into how they used interface addons to manage their experience and identity performance in the game. A rubric was also created to study a selection of addons for evidence of the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The study found that World of Warcraft players with disabilities do not use addons more than able-bodied players, but some of the most popular addons do exhibit many or most of the principles of UDL. UDL principles appear to have emerged organically from addon iterations over time. The study concludes by suggesting that the same approach to user-generated content for the game interface taken by the creators of World of Warcraft, as well as high user investment in the environment, can lead to more accessible virtual world learning environments in the future.

The shift of media from traditional forms to new digital ones has raised the possibility of new kinds of media services, including mobile television. In today¿s communications market, mobile phones are of increasing importance to users and, since mobile devices are connected most of the time, they have a high degree of location independence. The availability of 3G technology and the mobile devices needed to implement mobile television are now established and available. Mobile television is expected to be an important new service that could penetrate the market place and provide new applications, as well as create a market for new players and new investments, if the appropriate price, content and philosophy for content design are found. This research explores the many potential application areas for mobile TV, with a particular focus on advertising. Various organisations that seek success in this market can utilise the potential for advertising on mobile TV. Ultimately, mobile device users are able to use mobile TV for entertainment and information sourcing. However, a number of challenging issues remain to be addressed. The features that appealed to the consumers were studied in this research. Surveys were conducted to obtain an understanding of consumers¿ opinions and needs regarding the mobile TV experience. Many users clearly do like to interact with video content on mobile devices. Interactive mobile TV advertising can benefit users who will be able to use an essentially ¿free¿ mobile TV service, funded by an advertising model. This research proposes an environment for interactive advertising on mobile TV and discussion of an implementation of the proposed designs.

With the rise of social media platforms and the increasing popularity of short-form video content, TikTok has emerged as one of the dominant platforms for entertainment, information sharing, and commerce. This thesis aims to examine the influence of community commerce TikTok content on adult users, exploring the impact it has on their purchasing behaviors, perceptions, and overall engagement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods in an online survey. The quantitative analysis of results involves assessing demographic data in addition to establishing a clear, unambiguous understanding of the participants including their exposure to community commerce content, motivations for engagement, and existing purchase behavior. In the analysis of qualitative data, open-ended and narrative responses are analyzed. These responses speak to personal realities and provide insight on distinctive opinions. The theories deployed in the design of the study are Social Influence theory, the Stimulus-Organism-Response Model (SOR), and Word of Mouth (WOM). The findings of this research contribute to existing literature on social media marketing, digital commerce, and consumer behavior. The outcome of the study revealed that users feel more inclined to make a purchase in response to TikTok content (compared to traditional marketing) when the content feels catered to their interests and multiple users on the platform attest to a product's value. This category of content is referred to as community commerce, which intersects community, shopping, and entertainment. The elements that make this content unique were revealed to have the power to influence someone who has never made a purchase from TikTok before to be more inclined to do so if the content is relevant enough.  As such, the conclusions of this thesis also imply several implications for society at large. These include a more authentic approach to future influencer marketing, the democratization of trend-setting, and leveling the opportunities for small businesses that are up against larger brands.

Digitaliseringen har förändrat samhället och idag använder en stor del av Sveriges befolkning sociala medier. Tiktok är idag en av världens största sociala medieplattform och det blir alltmer attraktivt för företag att marknadsföra sig på plattformen. I takt med digitaliseringen har konsumenter börjat lita mindre på företagens marknadsföring och istället ökat förtroendet för andra konsumenter. User generated content (UGC) blir alltmer populärt, och konsumenter litar till större del på obetalda åsikter på sociala medier jämfört med marknadsföring från företagen. För att ta reda på om företag bör använda sig av UGC som en marknadsföringsstrategi på TikTok, är studiens syfte att undersöka om UGC på sociala medieplattformen TikTok har en positiv påverkan på konsumenters köpintention. Detta undersöks genom att studera hur variablerna viralitet, medvetenhet, expertis och trovärdighet påverkar konsumenters köpintention. Studiens resultat tyder på att viralitet, expertis och trovärdighet har en positiv påverkan på köpintention medan medvetenhet inte kan påvisa någon påverkan.

No description available.

No description available.

As a technical writer I have come to see that the collaborative media landscape has started to change the way many B2C companies work with support information. It is companies producing software based consumer products that has taken the lead in this new way of approaching the customers. More and more companies in other product segments are starting to go in the same direction. But what happens to the technical writer when more and more customers are creating their own support information? The death of the technical writer has been proclaimed for several years. It is no wonder that one asks: What is the future role of the technical writer facing the challenges with collaborative media? That is also the research question for this thesis.To investigate this I have experimented with a method called scenario planning and scenario writing. In order to get a well-grounded base of trends to create the scenarios from I’ve concluded a rigorous empirical base. The following methods where used: In-depth interviews with practitioners in the technical writer field Content analysis of a support forum Email interviews with frequent forum users.It was clear that when implementing new media structures it also involves new challenges. These challenges could potentially also lead to new roles for the technical writer. The challenges I consider to be most important were; trust, transparency, motivation and information overload. To facilitate those needs and challenges roles like community manager, content curator and content strategist are needed.With those roles in mind I created four scenarios. Each with a different take on collaborative media (and one that actually ignored this emerge). The names of the scenarios are: The outcasts The insider matter Sharing is caring The third player

I denna uppsats undersöker vi hur principer för spelmekanik påverkar användares benägenhet att bidra med innehåll på interaktiva webbplatser. Genom en empirisk studie av kvalitativ art jämför vi två versioner av en testsajt, med spelmekanik implementerat i den ena versionen.Vi kommer fram till att spelmekanik för att motivera användare att skapa innehåll kan designas utefter tre huvudsakliga delar; regler/struktur, mål och delmål samt vinster. Regler och struktur är vad som är möjligt eller tillåtet att producera samt kvalitetskrav på innehållet. Mål och delmål handlar om att hitta en balansgång mellan lätta och svåra mål för att upprätthålla intresset för det huvudsakliga målet; innehållsproduktionen. Vinster är vad användare kan tjäna eller vinna på att producera innehåll. Vi diskuterar även hur spelmekaniken bör utformas i linje med webbplatsens syfte och anpassas därefter. / In this thesis, we investigate how the principles of game mechanics affect users' tendency to contribute content to interactive websites. Through an empirical study of qualitative nature, we compare two versions of a test site, with game mechanics implemented in one version.We conclude that the game mechanics to motivate users to create content can be designed along three main parts; rules/structure, goals and milestones and incentives. Rules and structure regulate the conditions for content generation, as well as quality control. Goals and milestones control the difficulty level of goals, with particular regard to maintained user interest in producing content. Incentives determine what users can gain from producing content. We also discuss how the game mechanics are to be designed in line with the site's purpose and adjusted thereafter.

隨著網路時代的來臨，人際互動與溝通模式產生新的轉變，世界各地的網友可以藉由網路平台，表達自己的想法並且結交志同道合的朋友。喜歡特定品牌的網友們也會自行集結成立品牌社群，社群中的成員會以各種型式的創作與眾人分享其對於該品牌之愛好。有鑑於台灣寬頻網路普及率在世界名列前茅，品牌社群如雨後春筍般相繼成立，網友們也紛紛透過發表與瀏覽使用者創作與品牌社群成員互動，因此本研究目的在於找出影響網友加入品牌社群動機，及影響社群成員創作與消費使用者創作的因素，最後探討參與使用者創作對於品牌認同和社群認同的影響。 本研究以結構方程式來驗證Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Copeland, Stukas, Haugen, and Miene (1998) 功能性動機架構應用於品牌社群使用者創作之動機與態度，Eccles and Wigfield (1995) 的期望─價值理論對於使用者創作認知價值與態度間關係，以及Bagozzi and Dholakia (2005) 的品牌社群成員對於使用者創作態度及其使用者創作參與意圖的關聯，參與意圖對品牌與社群產生認同感之差異。 本研究有以下重要發現： 1. 社群導向加入動機會正面影響社群成員創作與消費使用者創作之態度，品牌導向加入動機則無顯著影響。 2. 品牌社群成員認為在社群中發表或瀏覽使用者創作越有價值，會更願意參與使用者創作的活動。 3. 對於創作使用者創作具有正面態度的社群成員，其參與使用者創作的意願越強，消費使用者創作態度較無顯著影響。 4. 社群成員參與使用者創作意願會強化品牌認同與社群認同，亦即越有意願參與使用者創作的成員對於品牌與社群之認同感越高。 / With the coming of the Internet age, people begin to change the way they communicate. People around the world can share their opinions on the Internet platform. Brand fanatics gather together and establish brand communities, and create different kinds of user-generated content to express their affections on the particular brand. In Taiwan, the assessiblity rate of Internet is occupied the leading position in the world. Moreover, brand community members interact with other members via publishing and consuming user-generated content. Thus, the purpose of the research is to find out the factors that influence brand community participation motivation, creating and consuming user-generated content, and the relation between user-generated content participation intention and brand identification and community identification. The Research is based on the conceptual framework of Functional Motivation proposed by Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Copeland, Stukas, Haugen, and Miene (1998) to investigate the relation between motivation and attitude toward user-generated content. With the Expectation – Value Theory proposed by Eccles and Wigfield (1995) to find out the influence of perceived value on attitude. Finally, the research will follow Bagozzi and Dholakia (2005) conceptual framework to discuss difference between the brand identification and community identification from the user-generated content participation intention. The research induces the following findings: 1. Community Oriented Participation Motivations will positively influence the brand community members’ user-generated contetent creation and consumpation attitude. Brand Oriented Participation Motivation will have no influence on the user-generated contetent creation and consumpation attitude. 2. The brand community members will base on the perceived value of creating and consuming user-generated content to engage user-generated content activity. 3. The attitude toward creating user-generated content will positively influence on the user-generated content participation intention. There is no significant influence from the attitude toward consuming user-generated content. 4. The user-generated content participation intention will reinforce the brand identification and community identification.

The present study draws on recent sociological literature that argues that the study of cognition and culture can benefit from theories of embodied cognition. The concept of semantic internalization is introduced, which is conceptualized as the ability to perceive and articulate the topics that are of most concern to a community as they are manifested in social discourse. Semantic internalization is partly an application of emotional intelligence in the context of community-level discourse. Semantic internalization is measured through the application of Latent Semantic Analysis. Furthermore, it is investigated whether this ability is related to an individual’s social capital and habitus. The analysis is based on data collected from the online review platform yelp.com.