Professional perceptions of the link between social media and reputation management

Objective of the Study The objective of this study was to investigate the link between social media and reputation management from the point of view of professionals from four Finnish organisations involved in the social media and from that of other professionals knowledgeable of social media. The study explored the use of social media in the target organisations and the lessons learned by the researched professionals in order to answer the main research question: “What is the link between social media and reputation management, as perceived by the interviewed and surveyed professionals?” Methodology and the Theoretical Framework The source of data in this qualitative study consisted of four semi-structured interviews with communication, marketing and social media professionals from four international Finnish organisations and of an online survey of sixteen young professionals. The interviews were conducted in person, by telephone and by email, and the online survey was administered through Facebook. The theoretical framework of the study included social media activities in four fields of corporate communication: PR, marketing, crisis and HRM communication. The reputation of an organisation can be managed when organisations engage in these activities in the social media. Findings and Conclusions Four uses of social media in the target organisations were identified in the data analysis: engaging in dialogue with external stakeholders, maintaining relationships with internal stakeholders, creating news whilst responding to the needs of the public and generating ideas through consumer participation. In addition, six lessons from social media were learned by the interviewed professionals, including the fact that social media is not hype, that social media should be taught to the employees, that social media should not only be used for marketing purposes and that social media require active organisational engagement. As a result of these findings, it was determined that the link between social media and reputation management is threefold: first, how social media and reputation interact depends on each organisation; then, organisational reputation can benefit from social media as these tools allow organisations to open up; last, organisations should participate in the social media with a genuine interest in building relationships. Key words: social media, organisational reputation, reputation management, corporate communication, professional perception

ICT USE AND IDENTITY FORMATION AMONG BEIJING'S RURAL-TO-URBAN GRADUATE WORKERS

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Studies and a model of appropriation of information and communication technologies in university students’ everyday life

This thesis investigated the appropriation of information and communication technologies in everyday life among university students and mature people. To that end, pertinent literature was reviewed resulting in the identification of three issues in need of a more careful appraisal by the HCI field. These issues were used as the research questions propelling this work; they include the identification of elements favouring the process of appropriation; the effect of a changing context on this process; and the co-existence of seemingly overlapping ICTs in people’s lives. A qualitative methodology was utilised in the studies reported in this thesis. Ethnographic work was conducted over a period of three months with fifteen masters students at the University of Glasgow in the UK. Further ethnographic work over a shorter time frame was conducted abroad among university students at Hokkaido University in Japan, Ajou University in South Korea and Nankai University in China. Additional ethnographic work was conducted among mature people in a religious community in Mexico. Qualitative data gathered was analysed using Grounded Theory and Structuration Theory. Two are the main contributions of this work. First, a number of insights providing some answers to the research questions posited in this thesis. These answers were advanced as a complement and expansion to issues previously identified in the literature as relevant in the process of appropriation. Because of the ecological perspective underlying this thesis, these answers were presented as technology-neutral and yet useful to understand how the appropriation of technology is induced and sustained, what the impact of a changing environment in the process of appropriation is, and how similar technologies with overlapping features can thrive in the same environment. The second contribution of this work was a three-layered model of appropriation of ICTs built from the identification of common patterns across the studies conducted. This model sought to detail the role of several intersecting large-scale social processes or structures (i.e., governments, various-sized private and state-owned organisations, the media, families and peers, as well as marketing practices, technical infrastructures and architectural spaces) that provide the resources and restrictions upon which the process of appropiation of digital technology rests. This framework was advanced as a simple tool to aid HCI researchers in the collection, analysis and reporting of qualitative data around the process of appropriation as shaped by the pervasive social structures of contemporary society. The limitations of the ethnographic work here reported, as well as those of the ensuing conclusions, are identified and used to suggest some avenues of future exploration around the appropriation of ICTs in daily life

Narrative motion on the two-dimensional plane: the “video-ization” of photography and characterization of reality

"Art is not truth. Art is a lie that enables us to recognize truth" Pablo Picasso Time, as known to many, is an indispensable component of photography. Period(s) included in “single” photographs are usually and naturally much shorter than periods documented in video works. Yet, when it comes to combining photos taken at different times on one photographical surface, it becomes possible to see remnants of longer periods of time. Whatever method you use, the many traces left by different moments, lead to the positive notion of timelessness (lack of time dependence) due to the plural presences of time at once. This concept of timelessness sometimes carries the content of the photo to anonymity, the substance becomes multi-layered and hierarchy disappears. This paper focuses on creating photographical narratives within the two-dimensional world. The possibility of working in layers with transparency within the computer environment enables us to overlay succession of moments seized from time on top of each other, in order to create a storyline spread in time that is otherwise not possible to express in a single photograph, unless properly staged. Truth with the capital T is not taken as the departure point in this article; on the contrary, personal delineations of temporary yet experienced smaller realities is suggested

Studies and a model of appropriation of information and communication technologies in university students’ everyday life

This thesis investigated the appropriation of information and communication technologies in everyday life among university students and mature people. To that end, pertinent literature was reviewed resulting in the identification of three issues in need of a more careful appraisal by the HCI field. These issues were used as the research questions propelling this work; they include the identification of elements favouring the process of appropriation; the effect of a changing context on this process; and the co-existence of seemingly overlapping ICTs in people’s lives. A qualitative methodology was utilised in the studies reported in this thesis. Ethnographic work was conducted over a period of three months with fifteen masters students at the University of Glasgow in the UK. Further ethnographic work over a shorter time frame was conducted abroad among university students at Hokkaido University in Japan, Ajou University in South Korea and Nankai University in China. Additional ethnographic work was conducted among mature people in a religious community in Mexico. Qualitative data gathered was analysed using Grounded Theory and Structuration Theory. Two are the main contributions of this work. First, a number of insights providing some answers to the research questions posited in this thesis. These answers were advanced as a complement and expansion to issues previously identified in the literature as relevant in the process of appropriation. Because of the ecological perspective underlying this thesis, these answers were presented as technology-neutral and yet useful to understand how the appropriation of technology is induced and sustained, what the impact of a changing environment in the process of appropriation is, and how similar technologies with overlapping features can thrive in the same environment. The second contribution of this work was a three-layered model of appropriation of ICTs built from the identification of common patterns across the studies conducted. This model sought to detail the role of several intersecting large-scale social processes or structures (i.e., governments, various-sized private and state-owned organisations, the media, families and peers, as well as marketing practices, technical infrastructures and architectural spaces) that provide the resources and restrictions upon which the process of appropiation of digital technology rests. This framework was advanced as a simple tool to aid HCI researchers in the collection, analysis and reporting of qualitative data around the process of appropriation as shaped by the pervasive social structures of contemporary society. The limitations of the ethnographic work here reported, as well as those of the ensuing conclusions, are identified and used to suggest some avenues of future exploration around the appropriation of ICTs in daily life.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A Network of One’s Own: Struggles to Domesticate the Internet

This thesis is a design research practice-led inquiry into the domesticated Internet. It first seeks to complicate simplistic corporate and academic visions by naming some of the struggles it encounters – not least to assert a private home and network of one's own. It is argued that a century of domestic technologies has emphasised invisibility, ubiquity, and automation in ways that obscure a network of exploited people and finite resources. Furthermore, these technological ambitions are met through machine surveillance, in ways newly enabled by the domesticated Internet, that threaten the privacy of the home. In response, this thesis seeks some practical ways to design alternatives that assert a network of one's own and makes the work it implicates visible. The methodological approach is broadly Research Through Design supplemented by a practice described as designerly hacking through which hidden technical potential is revealed and given meaning. Two empirical studies are described that together make an account of the technical possibility and social reality of the networked home: an autobiographical technical exploration of the author's home and network with the making of hacks and Research Products privately and in public; and a cultural probe engagement with six rented households surfacing contemporary accounts of the domesticated Internet and in particular the challenges and opportunities of wireless networking. Together this yields a series of technical and social insights for design and two forms are offered to communicate these: a framework for understanding change in the networked home (The Stuff of Home) and a set of 30 design patterns for a network of one's own; each invites different analyses. The conclusion then draws together the multiple threads developed through this thesis and offers some reflection on the complexity of doing contemporary technical design work

Charting cyberspace : self-identity, community, and nationalism in the virtual realm

"This thesis takes a broad look at recent developments in cyberspace with a particular focus on the key concept areas of self-identity, community and nationalism. The field of cyber research is very much a nascent one, but already a seminal core of literature abounds that privleges cyberspace as a world that is somehow removed from the everday one in which we reside. This study argues against this assertion, suggesting instead that cyberspace, for most users, is merely another commonly accessed part of daily life."Doctor of Philosoph