Design and analysis of Discrete Cosine Transform-based watermarking algorithms for digital images. Development and evaluation of blind Discrete Cosine Transform-based watermarking algorithms for copyright protection of digital images using handwritten signatures and mobile phone numbers.

This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of blind discrete cosine transform-based watermarking algorithms for copyright protection of digital still images using handwritten signatures and mobile phone numbers. The new algorithms take into account the perceptual capacity of each low frequency coefficients inside the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) blocks before embedding the watermark information. They are suitable for grey-scale and colour images. Handwritten signatures are used instead of pseudo random numbers. The watermark is inserted in the green channel of the RGB colour images and the luminance channel of the YCrCb images. Mobile phone numbers are used as watermarks for images captured by mobile phone cameras. The information is embedded multiple-times and a shuffling scheme is applied to ensure that no spatial correlation exists between the original host image and the multiple watermark copies. Multiple embedding will increase the robustness of the watermark against attacks since each watermark will be individually reconstructed and verified before applying an averaging process. The averaging process has managed to reduce the amount of errors of the extracted information. The developed watermarking methods are shown to be robust against JPEG compression, removal attack, additive noise, cropping, scaling, small degrees of rotation, affine, contrast enhancements, low-pass, median filtering and Stirmark attacks. The algorithms have been examined using a library of approximately 40 colour images of size 512 512 with 24 bits per pixel and their grey-scale versions. Several evaluation techniques were used in the experiment with different watermarking strengths and different signature sizes. These include the peak signal to noise ratio, normalized correlation and structural similarity index measurements. The performance of the proposed algorithms has been compared to other algorithms and better invisibility qualities with stronger robustness have been achieved

The Arhuacos, film, and the politics of representing the 'other' in Colombia

This thesis focusses on the contemporary politics of visual representations among the indigenous communities of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. It discusses various methods used to represent the ‘Other’ and reflects on the processes of practicebased research. Centering on the figure of the Arhuaco filmmaker Amado Villafaña and the Zhigoneshi and Yokosovi Collectives which he leads, the thesis argues that his initiatives push indigenous filmmaking towards a more widespread inclusion in mainstream cinema, transcending beyond the indigenous context. The Zhigoneshi’s work focusses on the potentiality of intercultural communication, including its challenges and practicalities. In addition, it provides an alternative to non-indigenous representations of the ‘Other’, fighting for the right of self-representation. This thesis is concerned with the wider context of representing the ‘Other’ in Colombia and beyond, forming part of a practice-based research project which includes a collaborative video documenting the work of Villafaña and his team. The practical part of the research is thoroughly analysed, focusing on its successes, challenges and contributions. The theoretical part of this work considers the rationale behind the projects of indigenous self-representation. Selected film case studies illustrate the contemporary context of practices of representation, while the methodology chapter reflects on the possibilities and limitations of these approaches. This thesis discusses the implications of using audiovisual media to represent and communicate inter-culturally, suggesting that such efforts are often prone to suffer from oversimplifications and stereotyping, especially when the context where they get displayed bears the ‘ethnographic’ label. This thesis concludes by examining the extent to which the struggle demonstrated in Arhuaco filmmaking can result in a positive and constructive outcome, offering a promising change in indigenous representation practices. In addition, the potential for reaching intercultural audiences suggests the emergence of a platform for genuine intercultural dialogue

Taiwanese girls’ self-portraiture on a social networking site

An increasing number of young girls produce contents in social media on a everyday basis for the opportunities to express, explore and connect. Public misunderstanding and concern are about whether girls are being narcissistic and vain. Academic works address how girls exercise agency while negotiating structure in the construction of their gendered adolescent identities. This thesis is situated in relation to our hopes and fears about girls’ self-representation through digital media production, and examines the role that photographic self-portraiture plays in girls’ social relations, personal and gender identity work. The theoretical framework combines the perspectives of gender performativity and symbolic interactionism, supplemented by analyses of personal photography. This thesis chose as its case study the popular Taiwanese social networking site Wretch, and employed a mixed method of quantitative content analysis of 2000 self-portraits of teenagers to understand how they represent themselves, and qualitative online interviews with 42 girls aged 13-20 to learn about their relationships with self-portraiture. The content analysis shows that most teenagers represent themselves in a gender stereotypical manner, while some adopt non gender-specific styles to represent themselves as friendly, suggesting that teenagers may use ideals about femininity, masculinity and sociality as shortcuts to present themselves in a positive light. Interview findings reveal how girls use camera technologies and the affordance of SNS for visual self-disclosure, which isimportant for the development of theirinterpersonal relationships. The findings also suggest that self-portraiture is not simply an act of photographing a ‘reality’ of the self, but of formulating self-image(s) and identity in the process of making self-portraits. In self-portraiture, girls are constantly confronted with the ‘who am I’ question, and construct and revise their biographies as they manage an array of audiences from different contexts all collapsing in one space. Furthermore, selfportraiture creates a distance between the ‘I’ and the ‘me’, allowing one to ‘play’ with self-image(s) and identity. It creates a space for the negotiation of ideals and anxieties, for experiments with different subject positions that may be socially or individually rewarding, and it is through these seemingly casual endeavoursthat one gradually works out their position in the social world. The thesis contributes to the scholarship on girls’ media culture, and suggests current theoretical perspective be expanded in order to better understand different ways of ‘doing girlhood’

The Arhuacos, film, and the politics of representing the 'other' in Colombia

This thesis focusses on the contemporary politics of visual representations among the indigenous communities of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. It discusses various methods used to represent the ‘Other’ and reflects on the processes of practicebased research. Centering on the figure of the Arhuaco filmmaker Amado Villafaña and the Zhigoneshi and Yokosovi Collectives which he leads, the thesis argues that his initiatives push indigenous filmmaking towards a more widespread inclusion in mainstream cinema, transcending beyond the indigenous context. The Zhigoneshi’s work focusses on the potentiality of intercultural communication, including its challenges and practicalities. In addition, it provides an alternative to non-indigenous representations of the ‘Other’, fighting for the right of self-representation. This thesis is concerned with the wider context of representing the ‘Other’ in Colombia and beyond, forming part of a practice-based research project which includes a collaborative video documenting the work of Villafaña and his team. The practical part of the research is thoroughly analysed, focusing on its successes, challenges and contributions. The theoretical part of this work considers the rationale behind the projects of indigenous self-representation. Selected film case studies illustrate the contemporary context of practices of representation, while the methodology chapter reflects on the possibilities and limitations of these approaches. This thesis discusses the implications of using audiovisual media to represent and communicate inter-culturally, suggesting that such efforts are often prone to suffer from oversimplifications and stereotyping, especially when the context where they get displayed bears the ‘ethnographic’ label. This thesis concludes by examining the extent to which the struggle demonstrated in Arhuaco filmmaking can result in a positive and constructive outcome, offering a promising change in indigenous representation practices. In addition, the potential for reaching intercultural audiences suggests the emergence of a platform for genuine intercultural dialogue

Towards A Radical Body Positive: Reading The Online Body Positive Movement

Under the auspices of the “body positive movement,” there has recently been an explosion of web-based content dedicated to confronting narrow Western beauty ideals that privilege the white, thin, cis-gendered and able-bodied. Body positivity challenges this exclusionary culture by encouraging the circulation of empowering body-images and advocating for the visibility of bodies that do not fit mainstream beauty norms. This dissertation is a visual and textual analysis of five English-language body positive web spaces, Herself, Stop Hating Your Body, The Body is Not An Apology, My Body Gallery and Body Revolution. Exploring site mission statements, submission guidelines, “seed images” of site creators, and participant images and stories, it maps the representational tropes that frame digital body positive practices and the ideological formations that undergird them. It reads body positivity through an interdisciplinary lens, grounding it within a history of discourses on the relationship between subjectivity, the body and its representation to address how narratives of authenticity, visibility, and embodiment are negotiated when the body is digitally performed and disseminated. This dissertation argues that ultimately, the way the body and the image operate within digital body positivity does not significantly distance the practice from the cultural formations it attempts to combat; Instead, it proposes a radical body positive to open up productive possibilities for representing embodiment in the digital age

Communicative semiotics in everyday life (Cultural criticism – the image in the 21st century)

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.What am I seeing? What does it mean? This thesis addresses the transformations in cultural life in the 21st century due to the cultural dominance of the image, which resulted from the radical change and enormous progress in the media, communication and the development of information systems in the world. All this has led to changes in the intellectual structure, and an increased tendency to drift in all areas, and the emergence of a society and a culture governed by the culture of shock. The fundamental issue concerning the image is an epistemological issue, as we cannot distinguish between the visual image and the semantic product. We live in a world surrounded with stunning and spectacular visual images. We are overloaded with images from all types in our everyday life. We probably see images more than we read words. This thesis provides an analytical framework for understanding how images produce meanings using the semiotic approach. Semiotics is the most important approach that can be used to analyze all types of images. Semiotic analysis addresses images as signs which communicate meaning. The symbols used in signs are often culturally specific. This thesis indicates the focus of the receiver to adapt to this visual cultural situation, to be able to grasp the content of the new cultural discourse as it is present in all the details of the receiver’s daily life. There have been a number of questions that pushed me to accomplish this research, including: what are the elements of the culture of the image? What is its impact on the mental perception and production of semantic meaning? What is its reflection on the nature of social networking in general? The thesis discussed all of these issues

Drag narratives : staged gender, embodiment, and competition

This thesis is the outcome of a practice-based research project into contemporary formations of gender and sexuality through the study of drag performance. It is composed of two elements, the film Dragging the Past (presented on a DVD) and this written text. The film offers a multi-layered view of the drag performances in Koukles Club, Athens, Greece. The written thesis offers sociological analysis of articulations of self, from both performers and audiences. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate productions of the self through the process of viewing, engaging, and performing in a drag show, and also to examine the ways in which subjects negotiate their gender during this process. Moreover, this study illuminates the deployment of drag narratives, by both drag performers and members of the audience, as tools to create a desired self, always in relation to the other. A visual ethnography, that uses participant observation and video elicitation as key methods to gather empirical data, provides the foundation for this study. The ethnographic ‘I’ of the researcher combines with participants in the field and ‘together’ they produce ethnographic knowledge. Video elicitation interviews capture narratives of embodiment and competition; both film and text reflect that visual methods offer new perspectives on the way subjects form their gender and sexuality. This study reveals productions of particular kinds of subjects, specifically those that perform gender in relation to the other, while engaged in the process of competition and embodiment (incarnation), while also interrupting and disrupting the other. These themes proved to be central to the narratives participants deployed to perform the self. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates that photographs and the act of mirroring are important to the forming of gender and sexuality, as they become tools for the production of the self.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Drag narratives : staged gender, embodiment, and competition

This thesis is the outcome of a practice-based research project into contemporary formations of gender and sexuality through the study of drag performance. It is composed of two elements, the film Dragging the Past (presented on a DVD) and this written text. The film offers a multi-layered view of the drag performances in Koukles Club, Athens, Greece. The written thesis offers sociological analysis of articulations of self, from both performers and audiences. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate productions of the self through the process of viewing, engaging, and performing in a drag show, and also to examine the ways in which subjects negotiate their gender during this process. Moreover, this study illuminates the deployment of drag narratives, by both drag performers and members of the audience, as tools to create a desired self, always in relation to the other. A visual ethnography, that uses participant observation and video elicitation as key methods to gather empirical data, provides the foundation for this study. The ethnographic ‘I’ of the researcher combines with participants in the field and ‘together’ they produce ethnographic knowledge. Video elicitation interviews capture narratives of embodiment and competition; both film and text reflect that visual methods offer new perspectives on the way subjects form their gender and sexuality. This study reveals productions of particular kinds of subjects, specifically those that perform gender in relation to the other, while engaged in the process of competition and embodiment (incarnation), while also interrupting and disrupting the other. These themes proved to be central to the narratives participants deployed to perform the self. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates that photographs and the act of mirroring are important to the forming of gender and sexuality, as they become tools for the production of the self.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

"I don't want to be touched all the time" - Street Harassment and the Indian Woman: Qualitative exploration of street harassment through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Dispositive Analysis

Street harassment is the gender-based sexual harassment of individuals in public spaces by strangers. Studies have shown that the majority of victims of street harassment are women and the perpetrators are men. Despite its serious implications on women’s quality of life and psychological well-being, street harassment remains an understudied area and has not been included in the wider ‘violence against women and girls’(VAWG) research and discourse. This research aimed to position street harassment as a distinct form of VAWG by exploring Indian women’s sense-making of their lived experiences of street harassment. The research was structured into two parts: Part 1 – The ‘Sociocultural Study’ implemented dispositive analysis of three recent Bollywood films of romantic genre to explore the construction of sociocultural discourses on Indian womanhood. Part 2 – The ‘Experiential Study’ explored the lived experiences of street harassment of adult Indian women by using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The participants included four single women (aged 25-35) and four mothers (aged 35-50) to teenage daughters. The Sociocultural Study provided the cultural context for the Experiential Study. The findings of the Sociocultural Study indicated that the concept of womanhood is constructed by the Indian male gaze—the virginal sanskari (traditional) Indian woman is considered the symbol of Indian womanhood, whereas the “westernised” vamp is the morally corrupt temptress of men. These patriarchal constructions were rooted in deeply ingrained sexism, sexual objectification, and rape myth acceptance, proposed as the ‘triad’ of core mediators of street harassment by this research. The ‘triad’ featured significantly in the meaning-making of the participants in the Experiential study. The participants interpreted their experiences in themes of disempowerment, emotional isolation, loss of sense of agency, identity conflicts, and stress in family relationships. The findings aligned with UN’s definition of ‘violence against women’. Recommendations for future research include better theoretical developments to explain street harassment; investigation of potential long-term effects of street harassment in women such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); designing studies with more male participants to explore an ‘insider’ view into harassment; and finally, development of new standardised quantitative instruments to measure various aspects of street harassment