DMO 2.0: Exploring residents’ national identification relationship to destination advocacy through social media

The present research seeks to understand the determinants of advocacy in a travel context, and explore advocacy behaviours using Facebook, a popular SNS platform for travel-based groups. Given national identification’s focus on creating a sense of pride and belongingness to one’s nation, it is proposed that the stronger one’s identification, the more that person will advocate for their home nation. Further, the link between identification and advocacy is hypothesized to be positively influenced by an individual’s destination image and tourism ethnocentrism. Findings demonstrate the importance of residents’ perceptions of various national values such as pride, closeness, and love of their country on their desire to advocate for it to others. Similarly, a favourable image of their country can strengthen this relationship. This mixed-method research combines an online survey with the emergent methodology of netnography to build upon social identity and place image theories. Implications for destination marketers are discussed

Keep Exploring, Sharing, and Tweeting: Connecting Millennials, Social Media and Destination Canada’s Brand

Social media has become a powerful influencer in its ability to sway customer intentions and behaviors in an online setting. Given the importance of social media and its users in acting as information spreaders and disseminators, particularly in the context of global tourism, the goal of this research is to profile and/or understand youth travellers within the context of their social media behaviour. Using latent class analysis which helps to identify unobserved subgroups within a population, this study utilizes the rich dataset offered by Destination Canada which gives valuable traveler-focused information across the globe, including Brazil, China, Australia, Germany, South Korea, United Kingdom, and more. The results of this quantitative analysis reveal important differences based on age, explorer types and lifestyles, and geographic location as it relates to Canadian travel behaviors. By understanding what motivates these millennial-aged travelers particularly, destinations can create an environment where their actions are better anticipated and encouraged. The contribution of this original research is an empirically-informed view of how travelers share their experiences via social media

Residents as Destination Advocates: A Netnographic Exploration of Resident-Generated Advocacy through a Facebook Travel Group

Like many destinations, Canada began this year with an increase in international visitors (Destination Canada, 2019). An attributing factor to this growth is the phenomenon of social media and, more specifically, social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, which emphasize a user’s relationships, as supported by their conversations, identity, reputation, and presence (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Kim & Fesenmaier, 2017). SNS are now deeply ingrained in our social and economic lives (Usui, Wei, & Funck, 2018; Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014), even surpassing traditional marketing channels in terms of importance and effectiveness (Burgess, Sellitto, Cox, & Buultjens, 2009; O’Connor, 2008; Soboleva, Burton, Mallik, & Khan, 2017). Of the most popular forms of SNS, Facebook stands out with 1.47 billion daily active users (Facebook, 2019), more than any other type of SNS. Within Facebook are a number of themed groups for users to connect and disseminate on a variety of shared-interest topics, including tourism. Residents are an important representation of the destination within these groups, by offering a more organic image as compared to information provided by destination marketers (Uchinaka, Yoganathan, & Osburg, 2019). Since tourism can be a high-risk purchase in the sense that it cannot be returned if a tourist is unhappy with it, there is a value to better understanding the determinants of SNS-based advocacy within a tourism lens. To date, few studies have explored the nuances of resident-generated advocacy through Facebook specifically. The aim is to better understand SNS user\u27s motivations to advocate for their place of residence as a tourist destination using the emergent methodology of netnography. Netnography adapts ethnographic research within an online setting to better understand online cultures through users’ content (Mkono & Tribe, 2017) – in this case, travel-related pages within the Facebook platform. For this research, I will look at the Next Departure – Canada’s Travel Community Facebook group, which is comprised of 13,500 travel-minded individuals. The membership in this group is comprised largely of Canadian residents, many of whom act as unofficial advocates for Canada to other potential travelers. Advocacy goes beyond word-of-mouth (WOM) by incorporating both intentions and behaviours, and is measured by one’s social and physical advocacy, recommending behaviours, approval of others in visiting Canada, and positive WOM (Ghosh, 2018). Postings will be evaluated to identify indicators of advocacy behaviour among these residents, which include their sharing of photos/videos/GIFs, asking for recommendations, arranging get togethers with other travelers, posting about a particular feeling or activity, tagging friends, checking in to locations, starting a group poll, and tagging local events. Prior to engaging with any online content, this qualitative approach will ensure a strict adherence to the recommended ethical guidelines as outlined by the creator of this methodology (Kozinets, 2002). The data analysis process will involve coding the online data using extensive field notes as related to a user’s advocacy behaviours until the point of data saturation (Mkono & Tribe, 2017). This research will advance knowledge by offering new insights into destination advocacy behaviour through SNS. In exploring advocacy, there is a great opportunity to build upon our current understanding of the effectiveness of resident-generated content in driving interest to a destination through digital technologies. In practice, this research will offer destination marketers with a better perspective of their shifting role from information provider to facilitator in today’s largely consumer-to-consumer-driven world

From Hashtags to Shopping Bags: Measuring the Rise of eWOM through Social Media and its Impact on Travelers’ Shopping Patterns

The rise of the Internet and the proliferation of social media has amplified the importance of understanding the consumer decision-making process. Not surprisingly, travel industry marketers are devoting greater portions of their marketing budgets towards harnessing the power of social media and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) as a tool to influence consumer preferences. Yet, to accomplish this goal, marketers need to understand that people differ in their motivation to spread eWOM through social media, and there exists a crucial distinction between organic (consumer-initiated) versus incentivized (company-promoted) eWOM. Therefore, the objective of this study is to draw insights from the nascent eWOM literature and interviews with cross-border travelers to investigate heterogeneity in social media use and the differential impact on travel-related intentions and behaviours. Using a conceptual mapping methodology, our preliminary findings demonstrate patterns of social, opinion forming, and trip planning aspects. Implications for marketers are discussed

Archaeologists as Artefacts. Towards a Biographical Understanding of Formation Processes in the History of Australian Archaeology

Archaeologists traditionally think of the past through things; through a base unit of analysis that is the artefact. In this thesis I argue that the basic unit in the study of the history of archaeology can also be archaeologists themselves, functioning as artefacts of the discipline. Further, that many of the analytical tools applied to the study of artefacts apply well metaphorically, to the study of the discipline as a whole. I argue for the need to evaluate the individual archaeological practitioner with reference to a collective assemblage - their community of practice, and also to observe and critique the interplay between individual practitioners. In this thesis I examine three liminal individuals in the history of Australian archaeology; Dermot Casey, Elsie Bramell and Alexander Gallus and I highlight the nature of their relationship to the discipline as a whole. The level of in-depth study I have applied to each of my case studies is necessary to tease out sufficient contextual understanding of individual circumstances. My findings from these three case studies is sufficient to robustly challenge the existing paradigm of the development and growth of Australian archaeology. To date, histories of Australian archaeology have portrayed the discipline as shifting abruptly from an amateur to professional state with the excavation of Fromms Landing by John Mulvaney in 1956. This chronology is grounded on Mulvaney’s own history of the discipline, and several subsequent works that largely accept Mulvaney’s proposition. My work indicates that this amateur-professional divide is untenable, as persons fitting either category of amateur or professional were active in Australian archaeology throughout the 20th century. I contend that the primary factors that have shaped Australian archaeology through the 20th century were biographical and social forces, enmeshed in and reifying archaeological disciplinary culture. While writing these biographies, I have been cognisant of the need for reflexivity. I have reflected on my own biographical influences in approaching my topic as much as I do in evaluating the effects of biographical factors on the archaeological careers of the three case study individuals. This is an intimately personal thesis – from my lived experience, to my analysis of other lives, for evaluation by you

Rethinking Resident Perceptions of Tourism in British Columbia, Canada

This joint academic/practitioner report segments British Columbia, Canada residents to provide destination managers with new ways to better understand resident perceptions of tourism. The data collection was conducted in April and May of 2022 and had a total of 2,265 valid responses. It was also a practical objective to conduct this research in a manner that is repeatable in jurisdictions beyond British Columbia. This report has confirmed five distinct categories of residents’ perceptions toward tourism, including socio-cultural, economic, environmental, job/career, and Indigenous impacts. In addition to the categories of impacts, a cluster analysis has revealed six clusters of residents based on the five categories: Tourism Ambassadors, Tourism Supporters, Socio-cultural and Tourism Economic Supporters, Neutrals, Concerns about Careers and Environment, and Tourism Adversaries. Managerial implications and opportunities for future destination management and governance are discussed

The synthesis of peptide-PNA conjugates

Abstract only availableIn two long term studies of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), the only clinical feature associated with a high relapse rate and treatment resistance is the presence of the B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2(bcl-2) proto-oncogene in an over-active state. Regulation of this gene has shown promise as a means for better treatment in patients with relapsed NHL. At MU, in the past, many antisense and nonsense peptide-peptide nucleic acid (PNA) conjugates that target the bcl-2 proto-oncogene were synthesized and radiolabeled for mRNA binding evaluations. This summer, we synthesized two new peptide-peptide nucleic acid conjugates. The first of these was a nonsense sequence of PNA monomers attached to the peptide Tyrosine-3-Octreotate (1), and the second was the anti-bcl-2 sequence attached to Alanine-box Octreotate (2). The PNA sequences attached to the peptides correspond to the first fourteen bases of the bcl-2 proto-oncogene (ccagcgtgcgccat) in the case of the anti-bcl-2 compound (2) and correspond to no matching sequence in the human genome in the case of the nonsense sequence (1). They are both for later use as a negative control in mRNA binding evaluations (the previously synthesized positive agent being anti-bcl-2 attached to Tyrosine-3-Octreotate). The peptides were synthesized using standard Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis on a resin using a very low substitution level. The peptides were synthesized in an automatic peptide synthesizer, and then elongated with the addition of the PNA monomers manually in a reaction vessel. Each peptide-PNA construct was then coupled to DOTA (1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-N, N', N'', N'''-tetraacetic acid), a ligand to provide a site for subsequent radiometal chelation. The correct molecular weight with a high purity was observed in the LC-MS results for the peptide-PNA compound 1 after two attempts, and compound 2 was successful after the first attempt. The amount of each construct synthesized should be enough for the later mRNA binding study.Molecular Imaging Progra