Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Information framing'

This thesis illustrates the potential of Kenneth Burke’s theory for interrogating visual design trend dynamics and rhetorics. The investigation originated in response to the perceived unsustainability of accelerated design trend dynamics, as amplified by rhetorically-driven aesthetic obsolescence. The hermeneutic framework developed in this study, referred to as a Burkean meta-rhetorical approach, is thus used towards re-framing attitudes towards and engagements with design trends. The framework is illustrated throughout the study by referring to visual design examples as well as verbal discourse surrounding prominent historical and contemporary design movements or trends. Various theoretical facets form part of the meta-rhetorical framework, namely Burke’s dialectics, dramatism, rhetoric, criticism and ethics. A Burkean dialectical perspective on design trends offers foundational insights on how symbolic language creates ‘design dialectics’, which translate into dynamic design change over time. Burke’s ‘dramatism’ sheds light on the human-relational ‘design drama’ that impacts design trend engagements. Burke’s rhetoric offers insights on rhetorical strategies or persuasive tactics found in ‘the rhetorical design situation’, where designers are both producers and consumers of design trend rhetorics. Burke’s critical theory is useful for interrogating perceived ‘design (dis)orders’ or design attitudes and behaviours that become imbalanced, potentially contributing to and exacerbating problematic trend dynamics. Lastly, Burke’s symbolic re-framing strategies are considered towards developing more ethical, honest and responsible (less polemical or melodramatic) trend rhetorics. Burke’s meta-rhetorical theory is thus presented as a valuable theoretical approach in design, for nurturing greater rhetorical awareness and promoting more responsible rhetorical design citizenship.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018.
Visual Arts
PhD
Unrestricted

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.
"DEcember 1998." Thesis advisor(s): Gordon McCormick, Erik Jansen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49). Also available online.

In this dissertation, I explore questions relating to estimating and framing college net pricing. In the first study, I measure variation in actual grant aid awards for students predicted by the federal template Net Price Calculator (NPC) to receive identical aid awards. Estimated aid derived from the federal template NPC accounts for 85 percent of the variation in actual grant aid received by students. I then consider simple modifications to the federal template NPC that explain more than half of the initially unexplained variation in actual grant aid awards across all institutional sectors. The second study explores perceptions of college net pricing and the resources families use to learn about college expenses. Students and parents show substantial variation in their perceptions of college price and ability to accurately estimate likely college expenses, even when prompted to seek pricing information online. While most participants were able to estimate net price within 25 percent of NPC estimates, others were inaccurate by as much as 250 percent, or nearly $30,000. I then propose possible explanations for more or less accurate estimates that consider parent education, student grade level, previous NPC use, and online college pricing search strategies. In the third study, I explore the potential for shifts in college spending preferences when equivalent college cost scenarios are framed in different ways. I exploit disparities between net price and total price to randomly present participants with one of three framing conditions: gain, loss, and full information. Participants are between five and six percentage points more likely to choose a college beyond their stated price preference when cost information is framed in such a way that emphasizes financial grant aid received as opposed to remaining costs to be paid or full cost information. The results of these studies suggest that clearly structured, simple to use informational resources can accurately and effectively communicate important college information. However, simply making resources available without consideration of accessibility or relevance may be insufficient. Policymakers and other hosts of college information resources should also carefully consider the ways that the presentation of college information might influence students’ decisions.

Thesis (M.S. in Information Systems) Naval Postgraduate School, March 1994.
Thesis advisor(s): Myung W. Suh, James C. Emery. "March 1994." Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Humankind is becoming increasingly dependent on algorithms in their everyday life. Algorithmic decision support has existed since the entrance of computers but are becoming more sophisticated with elements of Articial Intelligence (AI). Though many decision support systems outperform humans in many areas, e.g. in forecasting task, the willingness to trust and use algorithmic decision support is lower than in a corresponding human. Many factors have been investigated to why this algorithm aversion exists but there is a gap in research about the eects of scenario characteristics. Results provided by this study showed that people prefer recommendations from a human expert over algorithmic decision support. This was also re ected in the self-perceived likelihood of keeping a choice when the decision support recommended the other option, where the likelihood was lower for the group with human expert as the decision support. The results also showed that the decision supports, regardless of type, are more trusted by the user in an acquisition framed scenario than in a forfeiture framed. However, very limited support was found for the hypothesized interaction between decision support and scenario type, where it was expected that algorithm aversion would be stronger for forfeiture than acquisition scenarios. Moreover, the results showed that, independent of the experimental manipulations, participants with a positive general attitude towards AI had higher trust in algorithmic decision support. Together, these new results may be valuable for future research into algorithm aversion but must also to be extended and replicated using dierent scenarios and situations.

Size information is vital in many consumer contexts, but currently, no central framework or conceptual model exists for a thorough understanding of the underlying process of how consumers interpret size information and form size judgments. Thus, the purpose of this three-paper dissertation is to introduce such a framework, discuss future research directions based on that framework, and pursue a few of these directions in the second and third papers, both of which focus on a vanity sizing context. The resulting work and findings illustrate the process through which consumers go in forming size judgments and collectively present both scholars and practitioners with a common basis for future study and implementation of findings in contexts in which size information is salient.

This thesis explores changes in experimental reporting during the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. In particular, I examine and compare some of the works of Count Lorenzo Magalotti, namely the Saggi di Naturali Esperienza or Essays on Natural Experiments and the Relazione d'Inghilterra. In 1667, as secretary of the Accademia del Cimento – the Tuscan experimental academy founded in 1657 – Magalotti (1637-1712) authored the Saggi, a collection of experimental reports. These reports included extensive written descriptions of experiments along with dozens of engravings depicting the instruments custom-made for the experiments. Magalotti also served as ambassador and agent of the Tuscan court and in the same year he traveled to England to offer a copy of the Saggi to King Charles II. While in England, Magalotti corresponded extensively with Prince Leopold and with the future grand duke, Cosimo III, reporting his observations of the English court: descriptions of political, military, and intellectual life at the court of Charles II. Magalotti’s account of his experience was compiled as Relazione d'Inghilterra in 1669. My work shows that the Saggi and the Relazione, although different in their content, emerged from the same historical context. I argue that the way information was conceived and organized, whether it originated from experimental practices (Saggi) or diplomatic actions (Relazione), changed over the course of the seventeenth century. Experimental reporting, like political reporting, became parceled into small, discrete units suited for high rates of information exchange.

We report on the design of a tangible device for encouraging the acceptance of unproductive time. We first conducted interviews for a better understanding of the subjective experience of productivity. We found that while the idea of being productive can evoke positive feelings of satisfaction, dealing with unproductive time can be a struggle, negatively affecting people’s moods and self-esteem. These findings guided the design and implementation of RU, a tangible device for reflecting on self-care time. Our prototype offers a physical representation of the mainstream productivity mindset and plays with the idea of connecting and charging energy to encourage the user to experience the time considered unproductive as self-care. In a second study, participants used the device for 5 days and our results suggest that the device motivates reflection on activities beyond work and increases awareness of the importance of taking time for self-care.
I rapporten redogör vi utformningen av ett fysiskt verktyg vars syfte är att öka acceptansen för icke-produktiv tid. Först användes intervjuer för att skapa en bättre förståelse och insikt i vad en “produktiv upplevelse” är. Intervjuerna visade att, samtidigt som idéen av att vara produktiv kan ge positiva känslor i form av “uppfyllnad”, så kan hanteringen av icke-produktiv tid vara jobbig och därmed negativt påverka människors humör och självkänsla. Insikterna från intervjuerna användes som stöd för designen och implementationen av RU, ett fysiskt verktyg vars användning är menad att härleda till reflektion samt tid för självvård. Prototypen är en fysisk representation av vad som anses var den stereotypiska bilden av ett produktivt sinne. Prototypen spelar på idéen av att koppla samman och ge energi i syfte om att motivera användaren att uppleva oproduktiv tid som självvård. I en ytterligare exekverad studie använde deltagarna RU under 5 dagar där resultatet indikerade på att verktyget motiverar till reflektion i aktiviteter bortom jobb och en ökad medvetenhet om vikten i att ta sig tiden för självvård.

The goal of the dissertation is by disclosing the key institutional powers of the external environment affecting academic libraries in Lithuania, identify the peculiarities of the framing of Lithuanian academic libraries’ roles and the influence of the process on the stability and variation of academic libraries. The object of the study – roles of academic libraries in Lithuania – is analysed from the perspective of new institutionalism, which affords the researcher’s ground for the identification and explanation of certain pressures of the institutional environment on organizations and their modes of activity. The discourse analysis of official documents of Lithuanian universities (long- and short-term strategic activity plans and annual reports) highlights the factors and agents which have the most impact on the stability and change of roles of libraries. It is stated that the entrenchment and stability of the framed roles of academic libraries is subject to the support and aid rendered by the institutional powers. The stability of the roles of Lithuanian academic libraries is to the greatest extent influenced by the support from various professional networks and authoritative financial agents, and the culturally established typical image of the activity of a certain library. Roles of academic libraries framed within the framework of the prevalent discourses of modernity, market and quality, reflect the institutional logics of the academic library which is based on the... [to full text]
Disertacijoje keliamas tikslas – atskleidus pagrindines išorinės aplinkos institucines jėgas, veikiančias Lietuvos akademines bibliotekas, nustatyti Lietuvos akademinių bibliotekų vaidmenų konstravimo ypatumus ir šio proceso įtaką akademinių bibliotekų stabilumui bei kaitai. Disertacijos objektas – Lietuvos akademinių bibliotekų vaidmenys – tiriamas iš teorinės naujojo institucionalizmo perspektyvos, leidžiančios nustatyti ir paaiškinti tam tikrą institucinės aplinkos spaudimą organizacijoms ar jų veiklos būdams. Atliekama Lietuvos valstybinių universitetų strateginių dokumentų diskurso analizė išryškina akademinių bibliotekų išorinės aplinkos veiksnius ir veikėjus, darančius didžiausią įtaką bibliotekų vaidmenų stabilumui ir kaitai. Disertacijoje nustatyta, kad konstruojamų akademinių bibliotekų vaidmenų įsitvirtinimas ir stabilumas priklauso nuo to, kiek jis yra remiamas ir palaikomas institucinių jėgų. Lietuvos akademinių bibliotekų vaidmenų tvirtumui didžiausią įtaką daro įvairių profesinių tinklų ir autoritetingų finansinių veikėjų palaikymas, kultūriškai susiformavęs tipizuotas tam tikros bibliotekų veiklos vaizdinys. Vyraujančių modernumo, rinkos ir kokybės diskursų ribose konstruojami akademinių bibliotekų vaidmenys atspindi akademinių bibliotekų institucinę logiką, kuri grindžiama naudingumo ir efektyvumo kriterijais, o tų pačių veikėjų dominavimas rodo egzistuojančią bendrą institucinę aplinką, ribojančią naujų vaidmenų įsitvirtinimo galimybes.

Following the 2004 U.S. presidential election, articles from the Associated Press and major news organizations came to very different conclusions regarding the impact of young voters on the election outcome. While some media outlets framed the youth turnout as a success, others framed it as a failure. This experimental study (N=237) utilized a pre-test/post-test design to build upon research on framing theory and political information efficacy theory. Articles about youth voter turnout in the 2004 election served as the stimuli to test the effects of news frame valence and frame substance on college student respondents' levels of trust, cynicism, and political information efficacy. Results indicated that while valence and level of substance of a news article may affect political attitudes, changes between experimental groups were not significant. Cynicism was negatively correlated with political information efficacy and trust. Attitudinal measures accounted for a significant amount of variance in respondents' interest in the 2006 campaign as well as perceived importance of both political engagement and youth voter turnout in past and future campaigns.
Master of Arts

The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the susceptibility of capital budgeting decisions to bias. Based on the political nature of many of these decisions, attribute framing effects were analyzed in a capital budgeting decision context. Specifically, two independent variables were analyzed: accounting data and attribute frames. This research proposed that attribute framing effects would be conditional on the nature of the accounting data being considered. When the accounting data elicited a positive or negative evaluative reaction, attribute frames were expected to be unobtrusive to capital budgeting decisions. However, when the accounting data was neutral, eliciting an ambiguous evaluative reaction, attribute frames were predicted to bias these decisions. An experiment was conducted that considered the issue across two types of capital budgeting decisions: accept/reject decisions (dichotomous decision) and strategic alliance judgments (monetary allocations). Experimental findings strongly support the predicted relationships. These results suggest that persuasive descriptions are not effective in capital budgeting contexts when accounting data provides a clear picture as to the investmentâ s future success; however, these tactics may be vitally important when accounting information is unclear about the investmentâ s future success.
Ph. D.

xv, 183 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
Entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize science-based technologies face considerable challenges including uncertain environments, policy makers and investors' ignorance, and public opposition and ethical concerns. Most research exploring the emergence of technologies assumes the existence of accepted uses or products, despite the fact that efforts to commercialize science-based technologies often begin before specific applications exist. We have little empirical evidence of how individuals and organizations influence the earliest development of technologies. To address this gap, I conduct a real-time, seven-year, qualitative study of the nanotechnology venture investing community. The study draws on extensive archival data, participant observation of a complete series of annual nanotechnology investing conferences, and case studies of the three venture capital (VC) firms specializing in nanotechnology through the period of the study. The cases are based on semi-structured and website archives. I document the emergence of competing nanotechnology frames in the period prior to the identification of product applications. I identify three sequential activities of nanotechnology business proponents: constructing a socio-semiotic space, positioning as experts within the space, and translating scientific, opposition and futuristic discourse for a target audience. I introduce the concept of a socio-semiotic space and develop a model reflecting the three activities to explain the process through which technology proponents project a business frame to support the commercialization of science-based technologies. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge of technology evolution by focusing on the understudied period of early emergence and the sociopolitical process of technology framing. I contribute to our knowledge of how science discoveries become the basis for fields of commercial activity. The findings of this dissertation provide knowledge that can assist business people and policy makers seeking to develop science- based technologies and the fields that emerge around them.
Committee in charge: Alan Meyer, Chairperson, Management; Richard Steers, Member, Management; Richard Mowday, Member, Management; John Orbell, Outside Member, Political Science

There is a growing body of research on the ways in which people process and organize political information. However, these studies have focused almost exclusively on textual analysis at a time when people are turning to more visually oriented media in increasing numbers. While researchers have failed to account for this trend, political organizations have quickly adapted and begun to use visual media to their advantage for political messaging. This study examines people’s ability to perceive bias in visual representations of political information. Through a series of surveys and one-on-one interviews, I found that participants exhibited significant confirmation bias in their assessments of visual information. This effect was particularly strong in participants’ initial assessment of each example. The results reveal two potential paths to increasing awareness of bias in visual information. First, basic training in visual design could encourage more thorough examination of new information and result in increased awareness of bias. Second, illustrating the effects of confirmation bias could encourage viewers to pause and reassess their initial reaction to information, again resulting in increased awareness of bias. With these two hypotheses in mind, I have created an interactive guide that teaches basic elements of visual design, such as size and color, and then illustrates the effects of cognitive biases on assessment of information.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 14, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (July 11, 2006) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-119).
The conventional environmental impact statement (EIS) decision-making process, governed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), represents the prevailing practice with regard to public involvement in science-intensive policy disputes. The efficacy of the current system, however, has been widely criticized in terms its methods of public involvement. One shortfall is that, although agencies solicit public input at various points, they do not involve stakeholders in a meaningful way in the scientific work associated with environmental decision-making. In particular, agencies give the public only a small role in framing scientific studies and no role in research interpretation or incorporation of science into decision-making. Further, agencies' attempts to involve stakeholders in technical questions, while well intentioned, are seldom designed in such a way as to maximize legitimacy of the process or credibility of the science used to craft the plan or policy. Joint fact finding is a process by which stakeholders work with scientists and decision-makers to frame, review, and incorporate scientific information into policy decisions. Through literature review and case studies of three approaches to public involvement, joint fact finding is explored as a process with the potential to improve the legitimacy and credibility of environmental assessments. While a broad range of stakeholder views were found, joint fact finding was particularly distinguished from conventional processes by its transparency and the explicit connection of science with policy. Resource management decisions involve not only scientific information but nonobjective judgments and values-based interests.
(cont.) Thus, the involvement of stakeholders in a range of scientific processes, and the linking of scientific information to policy-making, is key to public perceptions of credibility and legitimacy. Based on the literature and cases, a number of minimum conditions for successful public involvement in resource management decisions were identified. Convening a stakeholder group of diverse, self-selected representatives must occur early enough for stakeholders to participate in framing the scientific inquiry. Agencies should recognize, manage, and involve stakeholders in nonobjective judgments inherent in scientific inquiry, and help prepare stakeholders for technical discussions through capacity building activities. Finally, it was found that the use a neutral facilitator can benefit the process, and that stakeholders should be involved in selecting and contracting with a facilitator to ease concerns about agency influence.
by Jennifer Leigh Peyser.
M.C.P.

Public budgeting has become a central artifact of American government – the principal means for establishing and implementing policy. Modern public budgeting was introduced in the early Twentieth Century as an adaptation of objects of revenue and expenditure budgeting used in commercial businesses. Since then - over a hundred years - a series of budget reform movements have sought to overcome a major drawback to this model: the lack of a direct link between revenues and expenditures and any measure of the quality or quantity of public benefits derived from budget allocations. While a number of major budget reforms have come and gone (or came and stayed), that provided additional information on government activities linked to allocations, little research has been done to assess whether this new information has actually been used in the legislative budget decision making process, and if so, whether it influenced final budget decisions. Framing theory holds that information about a problem presented in different ways will be perceived as a different problem by decision-makers. Using framing theory as a theoretical basis, a laboratory experiment was conducted, where groups using budgets differently framed budget documents deliberated over an identical budget scenario. It was found that the nature of the debate did vary based on type of framed budget, but that the final allocations were not significantly different.This document was prepared using Microsoft WORD 2003

Information is power in the 21st century and strategic narratives through framing are nowadays regarded as part of the modern armoury of war. States constantly compete to create credible narratives in support of their actions on the international policy arena. After the Crimean crisis in 2014 the world was forced to open its eyes to medias new usage in modern warfare. State funded news agencies play an important role in this recent development and one of the most prominent actors is Russia. This thesis seeks to contribute to the discussion of strategic narratives and framing in the news media through a case study of the Russian news site Sputnik News. The thesis focuses on the news agency’s depiction of five empirical events in which the Swedish and Russian armed forces were involved during 2014 and 2015. A qualitative analysis of 25 news articles discussing the five events has detected proof of pro-Russian framing processes. The aim of Sputnik News seems to be a transformation of the general Swedish frame regarding Russia itself and perhaps more specifically Russia’s recent change in foreign policy.

The aim of this research is to discuss how to effectively increase survey response and retention rates in online panels, a burning issue which can be viewed as a marketing problem in the social sciences. The author firstly considers the theory behind the methods for motivating people to participate in a survey, to respond and to remain for the full duration of a study. Then three hypotheses are formulated and tested in order to investigate the effects of combined strategies on participation and attrition. By means of a web-based panel experiment the research draws the attention to empirical evidence of phenomena that could be exploited in order to increase survey response and panel retention rates, namely the respondent tendency to lie and the trend of his trust in the inquirers. In order to enhance the construct validity a quantitative experiment and a qualitative research are integrated in a mixed approach design. The findings suggest that the trend of dropout is weaker when the relationship with the inquirers is framed as based on something like reciprocity than when it isn’t. Furthermore increasing tendency to lie in completing the questionnaire and diminishing declared trust in survey authors and sponsors seem to work as effective predictors of dropouts and non-responses in following experiment waves. And so two indices are proposed that can help panel managers to monitor the willingness to respond: the Pinocchio Ratio and the Candide Ratio. In short the research implies that stressing the reciprocity features of relationship can’t increase survey response but can reduce panel attrition in web-based studies. Moreover it points out that the more respondents tend to lie, the less they are willing to participate in following panel waves. Furthermore the less inquirers enjoy the trust of people under investigations, the more panelists are likely to drop out and to non-respond. Nevertheless this study with the reported online experiment is not without limitations: on the one hand having recourse to all the members of a sub-population and not to a probability sample of the overall population may weaken the chance of generalize the findings. On the other hand using different amount of questionnaires and diverse intervals between waves and reminders could affect the results. The main practical implication for marketing research and social sciences investigations at-large lies in the remark that reciprocity framework used as incentive doesn’t seem to be very effective in increasing response rate of one-time survey: therefore spending on implementation could be deemed unnecessary to do. On the contrary, in panels where the relationship with the inquirers is framed as based on reciprocity something happens. So it’s worthwhile considering the possibility of inserting in online questionnaires some items that can provide answers which work as predictors of future dropouts or non-responses. These items enable inquirers to monitor willingness to respond through the proposed indices and allow panel managers to intervene promptly in order to limit attrition. The originality and the value of the study come from the choice made by the author of collecting and processing a large e-mails data bank that represents an overall sub-population with some descriptive characteristics well known. In fact the previous knowledge of some respondent’s socio-demographic aspects enabled an easier analysis of lies which was added to the estimate of declared trust: that allowed the construction of the two indices working as predictors, namely the Pinocchio Ratio and the Candide Ratio.

Decision making is pervasive in our daily life. Sometimes we face decisions that are very important, such as the decision about what medical treatment to undergo. But how can we be sure that we are making the right decision? Or even more subtly, how can we be sure that our decision would be the same, no matter what the circumstances? The answer from the research that has been conducted in the field of medical judgment and decision making is “you can’t be sure.” Indeed, the context has a great impact on what patients decide. In this dissertation, I show some examples of the effects of contextual information on decision making. Specifically, three studies address the effect of different variables that influence judgments and decisions without the decision maker being aware of them. In the first study, I examine the role played by three factors on the decision between a risky and a safe alternative: the decision domain (the medical vs. financial domain); the decision maker’s purpose (utilitarian vs. hedonic); and the type of information provided (generic vs. detailed). The results suggest that when the information is generic and the purpose is hedonic (i.e., not essential), the risk attitude is opposite in the two domains, thus suggesting that when people’s life or health is at stake, they are more cautious, whereas they are more willing to play with their money for hedonic purposes. The second study investigates several potential explanations for an unusual finding. Indeed, while people generally prefer harms of omission to harms of commission (i.e., omission bias), for cancer they prefer active treatments over undergoing regular check-ups without treatment. On one hand, the results highlight that this finding depends on how the inactive option is conceived and described. On the other hand, they also point out that the instance of a malignant tumor which has already been diagnosed is a peculiar case relative to other kinds of illnesses. Finally, the third study is a demonstration that physicians are also affected by context factors that should not affect their choices. Specifically, they are influenced both by how many options are available and by information about patients that is irrelevant to the decision. Thus, when we as patients or physicians are making decisions which impact either our own health or someone else’s health, we are subject to biases and we are affected by contextual information. But what if we were health communicators? How would we use this knowledge? Knowing that patients may make differing choices depending on the way information is presented is certainly important, but how health communicators and policy decision makers apply this knowledge is just as central to medical decision making. Possible approaches that can be taken can be visualized along a continuum. At one extreme, the paternalist approach sees the doctor as an apprehensive father, and, thus, it is the doctor who makes the decision with little or no input from the patient. At the other extreme, with the informed decision making approach, it is the patient who, after being fully informed about all the options available and their consequences, makes the decision with little or no input from the doctor. Depending on the approach that is chosen, health messages also can take different forms. When they are aimed at persuading people to engage in a given behavior, such as dieting or undergoing a screening test. When informing a patient about the options available (in the informed or shared approach), the message should not be designed to influence the patient’s decision other than providing information, i.e., it should be neutral relative to the decision. The other three studies presented in the dissertation investigate cancer screening decision making within these two approaches. The first two of these studies investigate the effect of the way in which information is presented on participants’ prostate cancer screening decisions. The first study takes an informed approach, while the second one considers the same topic from the paternalistic approach, by using prospect theory as reference. The last study, also using a paternalistic approach, but applied to the decision whether or not to undergo colon cancer screening, assesses the real screening behavior of patients. Our findings allow us to discuss in a critical manner the results of a recent meta-analysis that disconfirmed the effect of framing, as proposed and interpreted in prospect theory. Indeed, we have tested and confirmed one possible reason for this result, not considered in the meta-analysis and which could have, therefore, biased its conclusion. Specifically, the lexical valence of the terms used to describe the consequences seems to be a relevant factor in the effectiveness of the message. To our knowledge, this factor was considered neither in previous studies nor in the more recent meta-analysis. To summarize, I first investigated some of the contextual factors that affect medical judgments and decisions from an experimental perspective. Then, I studied more specifically context effects in messages promoting cancer screening behaviors, highlighting some practical implications and theoretical consequences.
Le decisioni sono molto comuni nella nostra vita quotidiana. Spesso si tratta di decisioni banali, altre volte ci confrontiamo con scelte molto importanti, come ad esempio quelle che coinvolgono la nostra salute. Potremmo, ad esempio, essere chiamati a decidere se sottoporci o meno ad un certo trattamento medico, oppure potremmo trovarci a dover scegliere tra due o più alternative di trattamento. Ma come potremmo essere sicuri che la nostra scelta sia davvero la scelta giusta, o comunque la migliore per noi? E, ancora, come potremmo essere sicuri che quella sarebbe in qualsiasi caso la nostra decisione? La risposta della ricerca condotta nell’ambito delle decisioni mediche è “non possiamo esserne sicuri”. Numerosi effetti di contesto influenzano, infatti, le decisioni dei pazienti. In questa tesi illustro alcuni esempi che mostrano come le informazioni contestuali possano avere un effetto sulla presa di decisione. Nello specifico, tre studi indagano l’effetto di diverse variabili che influenzano i giudizi e le decisioni senza che i decisori stessi ne siano consapevoli. Nel primo studio mostro come la scelta tra un’alternativa rischiosa e un’alternativa sicura possa essere influenzata da tre fattori: l’ambito della decisione (medico vs. finanziario); l’obiettivo del decisore (necessario vs. futile); e l’informazione fornita (generica vs. dettagliata). I risultati suggeriscono che quando l’informazione è generica e l’obiettivo è futile, l’atteggiamento nei confronti del rischio è l’opposto nei due ambiti, suggerendo quindi che quando è la vita delle persone ad essere in gioco, esse si mostrano più caute, mentre risultano maggiormente disposte ad azzardare con il denaro, quando l’obiettivo è futile. Il secondo studio indaga numerose potenziali spiegazioni per un risultato riportato recentemente in letteratura che sembra andare in direzione opposta a quelli riportati negli studi che lo hanno preceduto. Infatti, sebbene generalmente le persone preferiscano opzioni i cui danni derivanti dalla mancata azione sono maggiori rispetto ai danni provocati dalla commissione di un’azione (“omission bias”), nel caso di una diagnosi di cancro sembra preferiscano trattamenti attivi rispetto alla possibilità di effettuare controlli regolari, senza trattamenti. Da una parte, i risultati del mio studio evidenziano che questo risultato dipende da come è concepita e descritta l’opzione di omissione dell’azione. Dall’altra, evidenziano anche che una diagnosi di tumore maligno è un caso particolare, rispetto ad altri tipi di diagnosi. ll terzo studio, infine, è una dimostrazione del fatto che anche gli studenti di medicina sono influenzati da fattori di contesto che, auspicabilmente, non dovrebbero invece influire sulle loro scelte. In particolare, sono influenzati sia dal numero di alternative a disposizione, sia da informazioni che, pur essendo relative alla storia clinica del paziente, dovrebbero essere irrilevanti per la decisione. Quindi, l’essere pazienti o medici che decidono per la propria o l’altrui salute non ci esime dall’essere soggetti a distorsioni e, tutti, siamo vittime di trappole cognitve e siamo influenzati da informazioni contestuali. Ma cosa succederebbe se fossimo esperti in comunicazione sulla salute? Come useremmo questa conoscenza? Sapere che i pazienti possono prendere decisioni diverse a seconda del modo in cui le informazioni sono presentate loro è certamente importante, ma anche l’uso che gli esperti in comunicazione sulla salute e coloro che attuano le decisioni a livello comunitario fanno di questa conoscenza è centrale nella presa di decisione in ambito medico. I diversi approcci possono essere collocati lungo un continuum. Ad un estremo, l’approccio paternalistico vede il medico come un padre apprensivo: in questo caso, è il medico a prendere la decisione, con poche o nessuna indicazione da parte del paziente. All’altro estremo, secondo l’approccio informato alle decisioni mediche, è il paziente che, dopo essere completamente informato su tutte le opzioni disponibili e sulle loro conseguenze, prende la decisione, con poche o nessuna indicazione da parte del medico. A seconda dell’approccio adottato, gli stessi messaggi per la salute possono avere forme diverse. Quando si promuove un comportamento salutista usando un approccio paternalistico, il messaggio dovrebbe cercare di convincere le persone ad attuare il comportamento desiderato, come ad esempio mettersi a dieta o effettuare un test di screening. Quando invece si informa il paziente sulle opzioni disponibili (approccio informato o condiviso), il messaggio non dovrebbe essere formulato in modo da influenzare la decisione del paziente, dovrebbe cioè essere neutro rispetto alla decisione. Gli altri tre studi presentati nella tesi indagano la decisione di sottoporsi a screening oncologici nell’ottica di questi due approcci. I primi due di questi studi indagano l’effetto del modo in cui sono presentate le informazioni relativamente allo screening per il cancro alla prostata. Il primo studio assume un approccio informato, mentre il secondo considera lo stesso argomento con un approccio paternalistico, prendendo la teoria del prospetto come riferimento. L’ultimo studio, anch’esso in una prospettiva paternalista, ma applicata allo screening per il cancro del colon, confronta diversi tipi di messaggio e valuta, anziché le intenzioni dei pazienti, il comportamento effettivo di adesione dei pazienti all’esame proposto. I dati ottenuti ci consentono di discutere in modo critico i risultati di una recente meta-analisi che ha confutato l’effetto framing, così come proposto dalla teoria del prospetto. Abbiamo preso in considerazione e testato un possibile aspetto, non valutato nella meta-analisi, che potrebbe aver contribuito a distorcere i risultati e la conclusione. In particolare, la nostra ipotesi è che la valenza lessicale dei termini usati per descrivere le conseguenze del comportamento sia un fattore rilevante nel determinare l’efficacia del messaggio. Per quanto ne sappiamo, questo fattore non è stato considerato né negli studi precedenti, né nella più recente meta-analisi. Per riassumere, i primi studi presentati in questa tesi hanno indagato alcuni dei fattori di contesto che influenzano i giudizi e le decisioni da una prospettiva sperimentale. Nelle ricerche successive, ho studiato più specificamente gli effetti del contesto nei messaggi che promuovono comportamenti di screening per tumori, mettendo in luce possibili approfondimenti teorici e alcune implicazioni pratiche.

This research presents a comparative case study between the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the United State’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. It specifically examines how the two interventions were framed by the political executives. Frame theory and a qualitative content analysis served as theoretical­ and methodological benchmarks to assess selected speeches and public statements delivered by president George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in order to detect similar motives and justification patterns for the armed occupations. Four distinct war frames emerged from the text material: prevention, common good, state liability and imposed war. The results demonstrate that state leaders are prone to strategically communicate their military ambitions and legitimize their policy agendas through corresponding framing processes.

This health communication research examines the identity levels of the heart patient on a therapeutic website HeartNET through an empirical investigation of site interactions as manifestations of a gift economy. The thesis also explores the media’s representation of heart health in both television and print. This research utilised a longitudinal qualitative ethnographic and netnographic approach involving twenty-six participants who completed two in-depth interviews. The first one-on-one interview occurred during the early stages of the participants’ heart journey, explored their heart story and use of interactive technology for heart health support. The second interview occurred six to twelve months later, and investigated changes in the participants’ heart health status and their media awareness. Data obtained through onsite postings, in-depth interviews, and asynchronous and synchronous interactions on HeartNET, resulted in an analysis of the rich insights into the lived experiences of people affected by heart disease. The heart patient has to cope with an unknown and disrupted future which may be complicated by a lack of understanding by their significant other and extended network. Interactions on HeartNET indicated a change in participants’ attitudes toward their heart disease. The gift of time, information and support were commodities that were shared freely. Over time however, a change in focus was evident. As members became more independent their posts would shift to a focus on independence and healing (or wellbeing) rather than focusing on the disease. Another key finding among the non-HeartNET members was the importance of volunteering and how it became an integral aspect of many recovering heart patients’ lives. As peer supporters this volunteering role appears to support the extension of social networks and complements professional health services. Findings from this research have shown that the media often portrays heart disease as a lifestyle issue and the participants of this research felt the media considered they were ‘to blame’, even though the majority of them had a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle prior to their heart event. An analysis of newspaper articles indicates that the use of the Heart Foundation brand name, or a passing mention of heart disease, was often used to raise the salience of the newspaper article, particularly in terms of its title. This research provides valuable insights into the heart patient’s journey as each individual recreates and re-identifies as a heart patient. Most importantly, this research allows participants’ voices to be heard.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on how brands can build relationships with social media influencers (SMIs). By replicating Pang et al. (2016) research in different cultural settings, the present study identified internal and external influences that are important for SMIs routines in Brazil, generating additional enlightenment into the Mediating the Media model for SMIs and evaluating to what extent cultural differences may impact the proposed theoretical framework. The research was conducted in two major parts. The first replicated the method used previously by Pang et al. (2016), performing in-depth interviews with eight SMIs. In the second part of the research, a qualitative content analysis was pulled of a sampling of the participants' Instagram feeds and assessed whether the strategies exposed by the SMIs during the interviews match what each interviewee revealed. The personal aspects came up as more prevalent in the set of internal influences among SMIs in Brazil. The set of internal and external influences ultimately implied that public relations practitioners should acknowledge that SMIs seek long-term collaborative relationships with organizations. While payments ensure the sustainability of digital influencer activity as a job, interaction with brands without monetary agreements ensures relevant content to followers, creating win-win situations for both brands and SMIs and stating the importance of dialogue between both parties. Therefore, this research provides useful insights for public relations practitioners to approach social media influencers around the world in a holistic and systematic manner and re-evaluate their current media strategies to communicate via social media the brands they represent.

The current research investigates how and why consumers' construal levels and the appeals framed either by gains or losses jointly influence persuasion. The findings across four experiments indicate that matching high-level construals with gain frames and low-level construals with loss frames leads to a) higher intentions to engage in cholesterol lowering behavior (experiment 1), b) more favorable brand attitudes (experiment 2), c) greater willingness to donate to an environmental organization (experiment 3), and d) higher buying intentions for a brand (experiment 4). It seems that these outcomes occur because matches between construal level and message frames encourage people to pay attention to the information they evaluate (experiments 1 ˜4), and this enhanced attention induces greater perceptions of processing fluency, which in turn leads to positive attitudes (experiments 2˜4). Further, this research demonstrates that an adequate amount of cognitive resources is required for this matching effect to occur (experiment 4). The current research contributes to the construal level, message framing, and matching literatures by unveiling the specific mechanism underlying the matching relationship between construal level and gain versus loss frames on persuasion and by identifying a boundary condition for it. This research also has managerial implications for marketing managers and policymakers in that it suggests a strategic way to use construal level and message frames to enhance marketing communication and advertising effectiveness.

The ever-increasing use of the internet by terrorist groups as a platform for the dissemination of radical, violent ideologies is well documented. The internet has, in this way, become a breeding ground for potential lone-wolf terrorists; that is, individuals who commit acts of terror inspired by the ideological rhetoric emitted by terrorist organizations. These individuals are characterized by their lack of formal affiliation with terror organizations, making them difficult to intercept with traditional intelligence techniques. The radicalization of individuals on the internet poses a considerable threat to law enforcement and national security officials. This new medium of radicalization, however, also presents new opportunities for the interdiction of lone wolf terrorism. This dissertation is an account of the development and evaluation of an information technology (IT) framework for detecting potentially radicalized individuals on social media sites and Web fora. Unifying Collective Action Framing Theory (CAFT) and a radicalization model of lone wolf terrorism, this dissertation analyzes a corpus of propaganda documents produced by several, radically different, terror organizations. This analysis provides the building blocks to define a knowledge model of terrorist ideological framing that is implemented as a Semantic Web Ontology. Using several techniques for ontology guided information extraction, the resultant ontology can be accurately processed from textual data sources. This dissertation subsequently defines several techniques that leverage the populated ontological representation for automatically identifying individuals who are potentially radicalized to one or more terrorist ideologies based on their postings on social media and other Web fora. The dissertation also discusses how the ontology can be queried using intuitive structured query languages to infer triggering events in the news. The prototype system is evaluated in the context of classification and is shown to provide state of the art results. The main outputs of this research are (1) an ontological model of terrorist ideologies (2) an information extraction framework capable of identifying and extracting terrorist ideologies from text, (3) a classification methodology for classifying Web content as resonating the ideology of one or more terrorist groups and (4) a methodology for rapidly identifying news content of relevance to one or more terrorist groups.

During the last decades, the presence of visual media has increased dramatically. However, very little empirical research has been carried out to determine the implication of the medium photograph as a visual information transmitter. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the characteristics of professional press photos that relate to war and armed conflicts and to examine the framing of victimhood. A thorough literature review as well as an iconographic interpretation of World Press Photos serves to ascertain data in order to permit answering the research questions.   The World Press Photo Foundation is the subject of research as it represents the most prestigious international competition for press photography at present and thus acts as an agenda-setter. That highlights the implication of its decisions about professional photographs since its coverage of certain issues biases the international media coverage of the same. It also affects the development of professional photojournalism. In this context the meaning of photographs in today’s visual media societies can be discussed.

Journalists and communication managers are becoming more professional and to reach out to its stakeholders in society today, organizations must work strategically with communication, to enter the news. Many make use of press releases to provide journalists with information, hoping to influence what is published on the news. With a background in the medial change that occurs is the purpose of this study to elucidate and problematize which role press releases has for newsrooms and for organizations today and in the future. A qualitative interview study has been used, and communication managers from three organizations and journalists from three newsrooms has been interviewed. The study has been combined with a quantitative pilot study of selected press releases and articles from the selected organizations. The interviews has been transcribed and analyzed to identify and question their thoughts about press releases as a part of the daily work for communication managers and journalists. The interviews were analyzed from selected theories and previous research work on press releases as a tool to set the media agenda. Three consistently concepts in the study is Goffmans (1974) theory of framing, Gandys (1982) theory of information subsidies and Zoch and Molledas (2009) theory of agenda building, and their model of how organizations build good media relations. It was seen in the pilot study, that a lot of the content is based on press releases, which indicates that the editors make it appear that they are the initiator of the news. Journalists claims that press releases are not the most influential source of information but significant for their work, especially as it fills a function for web editors. Personal relationships with the journalists and a dedicated work on the social media network is valued higher than press releases, which is seen as an obsolete tool. The communication managers argued otherwise, saying that press releases have a central role in their strategic work with the media, claiming that they are an important source of information. The study indicates therefore that the communication managers, in relation to journalists’ reasoning, have too much confidence to the tool. However, it is difficult to determine whether press releases as a strategic communication tools will be eliminated. But the results of the study to judge, it is still important for both journalists and communicators, although not as strongly as before.

Gamer mode är ett vinstfokuserat-beteende där Frank menar att det finns 3 faktorer till varför ”gamer mode” uppkommer, där en av faktorerna handlar om hur spelet framställs. I det här arbetet har fokus varit på den andra faktorn om framställning och hur den påverkar spelarens beteende gällande poängsamlande. Deltagarna i undersökningen delades upp i två grupper och som skulle spela ett spel som var identiskt förutom dess framställning i form utav en introduktionsskärm. Denna introduktionsskärm uppmanade till att utföra egocentriska eller altruistiska uppgifter där de egocentriska uppgifterna lede till poäng. Resultatet visade på att den gruppen som fick en egocentrisk framställning var mer benägna till poäng medan de som fick en altruistisk framställning inte var lika benägna till poängsamlande. Möjligheter till vidare forskning finns genom att pröva olika grader av framställning för spelaren för att undersöka hur dess beteende påverkas, samt liknande undersökning fast i ett 3D-spel.

Existant depuis une vingtaine d’années, l’avènement de la presse gabonaise en ligne se présente aujourd’hui comme une source d’information alternative aux médias traditionnels. Dans un système médiatique où la liberté de la presse rencontre encore plusieurs obstacles du fait d’une démocratie balbutiante, les médias numériques gabonais posent à nouveau frais la question du pluralisme de l’information. En période électorale, le rôle de la presse en tant qu’élément de la démocratie mettant en exergue le principe de la contradiction des opinions et de la représentativité médiatique des différences politiques est encore plus souhaité. Et c’est à ce niveau que nous interrogeons la pertinence des médias natifs du web gabonais sur la plus-value de leurs informations en temps d’élection et comparativement à l’existant avec la presse traditionnelle. Analyser les conditions de production des informations de la presse gabonaise en ligne dans une période sensible comme celle des législatives de 2018 au Gabon, et déterminer le niveau de pluralisme informationnel qui en découle est l’objectif principal de notre travail de recherche
For about two decades now, the emergence of online Gabonese press stands nowadays as an alternative source of information to traditional media. In a media system where press freedom still faces numerous obstacles due to a fledgling democracy, Gabonese digital media once again raises the question of information pluralism. During electoral periods, the role of the press as an element of democracy highlighting the principle of conflicting opinions and the media representation of political differences is even more desired. And it is at this level that we question the relevance of native Gabonese web media in terms of the added value of their information during elections compared to what exists with the traditional press. Analyzing the conditions of information production by the Gabonese online press during a period as sensitive as the 2018 legislative elections in Gabon and determining the level of informational pluralism resulting from it is the main objective of our research work

Senaste åren har det skett en markant ökning inom e-handelsbranschen. I och med denna ökning spelar logistiken en allt större roll för företagen i att skapa sig konkurrensfördelar. Detta betonas i tidigare forskning, där logistiken har identifierats som en stor faktor för att lyckas inom e-handelsbranschen.   Syftet med rapporten är att bidra till att fylla den kunskapslucka som finns när det gäller logistiken kring e-handel.   Vi har tillsammans med vårt fallföretag identifierat fem stycken fokusområden som vi valt att studera närmre. Dessa områden är leverantörsrelation, lager, prognoser, informationshantering och kundrelation.   Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie med intervjuer på ett fallföretag för att få fram nyanserad data. Tillförlitlighet uppstod genom ett flertal intervjuer med personer som alla innehar stora kunskaper om värdekedjan och där vi har kunnat jämföra vissa svar.     Resultatet i denna rapport utgörs av analyserad data från den undersökning som gjorts på fallföretaget. Det kretsar kring de fem fokusområden som tidigare beskrivits.   I diskussionen framkom att det finns stora förbättringsmöjligheter för en effektivare logistik i alla fokusområdena. Det framkom även, att genom att lägga mer fokus på verksamhetens logistik kan företag nå konkurrensfördelar i en snabbt växande och konkurrenskraftig marknad.   I slutsatsen kunde vi ge svar på de frågeställningar vi hade och har därmed uppfyllt syftet med rapporten. E-handelns framgång beror till stor del på hur logistiken hanteras. I detta arbete kan man inte bara fokusera på själva leveransen av produkten/tjänsten. Det är lika viktigt att hantera de processer som ingår i början och i mitten av kedjan för att kunna erbjuda en bra slutprodukt. Att ha en strategi för hur kommunikationen med kund och leverantör ska upprätthållas är en fördel för att kunna fatta snabba beslut och bygga hållbara relationer. Att verksamheternas information är integrerad erbjuder dessutom hjälp för att effektivisera processerna och beslutsfattandet.
Recent years have seen a marked increase in the e-commerce industry. With this increase, logistics plays an important role for companies to create competitive advantages. This is emphasized in previous research, where logistics has been identified as a major factor for success in the e-commerce industry.   The report aims to help fill the knowledge gap that exists when it comes to the logistics of e-commerce.   We have, together with our case-company identified five focus areas to study closer. These areas are vendor relationship, inventory, forecasting, information management and customer relationship.   We have made a qualitative study with interviews in a case-company to produce nuanced data. Reliability arose through numerous interviews with people who all hold extensive knowledge of the value-chain and where we have been able to compare some answers.   The result in this report consists of the analyzed data from the survey done at the case-company. It revolves around the five focus areas as previously described.   The discussion revealed that there are significant opportunities for improvement for more efficient logistics in all focus areas. It was also, by putting more focus on operational logistics, companies can gain a competitive edge in a rapidly growing and competitive market.   In conclusion, we were able to provide answers to the questions we had and have therefore fulfilled the purpose of the report. E-commerce success depends largely on how the logistics are handled. In this work, one can´t just focus on the delivery of the product/service. It is equally important to manage the processes involved in the beginning and in the middle of the chain in order to offer a good final product. Having a strategy for how the communication with the customer and the supplier shall be maintained is an advantage to be able to make quick decisions and build lasting relationships. Information that is integrated also offers help to streamline processes and decision-making.

The identification and examination of cultural information strategies and censorship patterns used to propagate the controversial issue of the caricatures in two separate cultural contexts was the aim of this dissertation. It explored discourse used for the coverage of this topic by one newspaper in a restrictive information context and two newspapers in a liberal information context. Message propagation in a restrictive information environment was analyzed using the English daily Kuwait Times from the Middle East; the liberal information environment of the US was analyzed using two major dailies, the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The study also concurrently identifies and elaborates on the themes and frames through which discourse was presented exposing the cultural ideologies and premises they represent. The topic was approached with an interdisciplinary position with the support and applicability testing of Chatman's insider-outsider theory within information science and Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory and Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model based in the area of mass communication. The study has also presented a new model of information censorship - circle of information censorship, emphasizing conceptual issues that influence the selection and censorship of information.

Communities är ett hett ämne som idag ständigt diskuteras i media. Människor blir mer och mer benägna att interagera online och mängden med online communities ökar i takt med detta. I Sverige finns en community som heter Lunarstorm som har blivit ett fenomen som inte har skådats någon annanstans. Med sina 1,3 miljoner användare är det absolut störst i Sverige idag. Jag har i min uppsats tagit fram ett antal faktorer ur litteraturen som är avgörande för ett online communities framgång. Jag har även gjort en empirisk studie av företaget Lunarstorm och webbplatsen Lunarstorm. Jag har sedan i analysen använt mig av framgångsfaktorerna för att kunna dra slutsatser om hur Lunarstorm har kunnat bli ett sådant fenomen. Det som har framkommit av undersökningarna är att det framför allt är tre faktorer som har givit Lunarstorm den plats i rampljuset som det har idag, nätverkseffekter, att vara först, att de har skapat ett helt koncept och inte bara är en webbplats.

Online communities are today widely discussed in media and a very popular subject. People all around the world are more and more willing to interact online and the number of online communities are rising with this. Today we have a community in Sweden that is called Lunarstorm, this has become a phenomen not seen anywhere else. Whit its 1,3 million users, it is the absolut biggest in Sweden today. I have in my essay found a number of factors in the litteratur that are essential for an online communities succes. I have also done an empirical study on Lunarstorm as a company and Lunarstorm as a webbsite. I have then in my analys part applyed my success factors on Lunarstorm, to be able to make conclusions about why Lunarstorm have become such a success. What I can see from my researches there is especially three things that makes Lunarstorm speciell, and that is networkeffects, to be the first one and the entire koncept of Lunarstorm.

The growth of technologies and tools branded as =new media‘ or =Web 2.0‘ has sparked much discussion about the internet and its place in all facets of social life. Such debate includes the potential for blogs and citizen journalism projects to replace or alter journalism and mainstream media practices. However, while the journalism-blog dynamic has attracted the most attention, the actual work of political bloggers, the roles they play in the mediasphere and the resources they use, has been comparatively ignored. This project will look at political blogging in Australia and France - sites commenting on or promoting political events and ideas, and run by citizens, politicians, and journalists alike. In doing so, the structure of networks formed by bloggers and the nature of communication within political blogospheres will be examined. Previous studies of political blogging around the world have focussed on individual nations, finding that in some cases the networks are divided between different political ideologies. By comparing two countries with different political representation (two-party dominated system vs. a wider political spectrum), this study will determine the structure of these political blogospheres, and correlate these structures with the political environment in which they are situated. The thesis adapts concepts from communication and media theories, including framing, agenda setting, and opinion leaders, to examine the work of political bloggers and their place within the mediasphere. As well as developing a hybrid theoretical base for research into blogs and other online communication, the project outlines new methodologies for carrying out studies of online activity through the analysis of several topical networks within the wider activity collected for this project. The project draws on hyperlink and textual data collected from a sample of Australian and French blogs between January and August 2009. From this data, the thesis provides an overview of =everyday‘ political blogging, showing posting patterns over several months of activity, away from national elections and their associated campaigns. However, while other work in this field has looked solely at cumulative networks, treating collected data as a static network, this project will also look at specific cases to see how the blogospheres change with time and topics of discussion. Three case studies are used within the thesis to examine how blogs cover politics, featuring an international political event (the Obama inauguration), and local political topics (the opposition to the =Création et Internet‘, or HADOPI, law in France, the =Utegate‘ scandal in Australia). By using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods, the study analyses data collected from a population of sites from both countries, looking at their linking patterns, relationship with mainstream media, and topics of interest. This project will subsequently help to further develop methodologies in this field and provide new and detailed information on both online networks and internet-based political communication in Australia and France.

Risk is generally understood as a product of the likelihood and consequence of an event. However, the way in which estimations of consequences are formed is unclear due to the complexities of human perception. In particular, the influence of Affect, defined as positive or negative qualities subjectively assigned to stimuli, may skew risk consequence judgements. Thus a clearer understanding of the role of Affect in risk consequence estimations has significant implications for risk management, risk communication and policy formulation. In the Psychometric tradition of risk perception, Affect has become almost synonymous with the concept of Dread, despite Dread being measured in a way which excludes emotional elements. One of the most consistent findings of the Psychometric Paradigm is that the level of Dread associated with a hazard is the best predictor of perceived risk. However, there is debate over whether Dread risk is associated with Affect, or whether the factor is dominated by severe consequences. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the association of Affect with Dread risk characteristics and risk consequence judgements. The study investigated whether the predictive power of Dread should be attributed to negative Affect, or to cognitive estimations of the magnitude and severity of consequences. The study employed a three Phase between-subjects design, with respondents from 28 countries (N=1838) completing emotionally and neutrally worded research instruments based on the Psychometric Dread risk model. Results were assessed via descriptive data analysis, t-tests, Factor Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling. The study found that the association of Affect on estimations of risk consequence was largely confined to the Dread risk characteristics of personal control and voluntary choice. These were secondary to the much larger influence of the consequence severity characteristics, estimations of which were unmoved by negative Affect. The study concluded that the Dread risk factor is primarily an unemotional measure of the severity of risk consequences, and the role of emotion in Dread risk is a separate factor related to control and choice.

L'elaborato si propone di indagare la correlazione tra gamification e i bias cognitivi dimostrati da Daniel Kahneman. Si affronta lo studio mediante un prototipo di test, analizzando i dati ottenuti al termine di un esperimento svolto.

This study describes how information spread on the internet by examining diffusion, framing and source use surrounding coverage of the 2010 best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book presented a rare opportunity to view how a story about science, discovery and race became a best-seller within weeks after its publication. Through a mixed-methods and case study approach, the author examines patterns of coverage using Google Alerts that traced the book's online coverage in the first six months of its release. The author found that online information clustered around several themes with the most prominent describing aspects of science and scientific discovery, followed by the book's characterization as a "best seller" or "good read." Another recurring theme centered on issues surrounding exploitation in human research. In addition, the study reveals that sources who "set the frame" for coverage were most likely to be media figures, including Oprah Winfrey, Alan Ball and HBO films, in addition to newspapers and individual journalists and science writers. By examining the relationship of online frames with sources, the author found that a diversity of frames is paired with key sources: that is, multiple themes co-occur with source mentions, although the themes may not have been generated by the sources themselves. Rather, sources are linked to narrative frames by others who generate online coverage. The author concludes that, while key sources initially set a message's frame, once diffused, the message may take on other qualities.

Det finns metoder som har en fokus på användarmedverkan under utvecklingen och införande av informationssystem. Det kan vara svårt under utvecklingsprocessen att bekräfta hur en specifik systemtyp som beslutstödssystem kan anses vara framgångsrikt. Det kan, utöver de tekniska, finnas ytterligare faktorer som påverkar användningen av systemen som dessutom kan vara svåra att hantera under utvecklingen. Tar de användarcentrerade utvecklingsmetoder som används idag för att implementera och driftsätta ett beslutsstödssystem hänsyn till mjuka faktorer som kan vara specifika eller särskilt viktiga för denna typ av system? Kan effekten av faktorer som påverkar beslutsfattandet t.ex. stress, ångest och grupptänkande minimeras i högre grad då metoder som fokuserar på användarnas medverkan används? Att bekräfta existensen av dessa faktorer samt minimera den påverkan de har på beslutsfattandet under användningen kan göra stora skillnader i en verksamhets effektivitet. De systemutvecklingsmetoder som används idag lägger stor vikt på att utvecklare ska utföra en noggrann kravhantering, behovsanalys och utvärdering av det tänkta systemet, och i vissa metoder inkluderas en aktivanvändarmedverkan, men det tycks inte finnas mycket information om hur hänsyn tas till systemanvändningen under drift påverkas av mjuka faktorer och dess effekter. I detta arbete sker en litteraturstudie med syfte att analysera hur en användarcentrerad metod kan hantera mjuka faktorers påverkan på användarna under systemutvecklingsprocessen och vilka strategier som används för att undvika att dessa faktorer kan påverka användandet i ett senare skede då systemet är i satt i drift. Resultatet av studien visar att visst kan en ökad medverkan också öka insikterna runt de mjuka faktorer och effekter som är typiska för beslutsstödssystem. Men det är tveksamt om den kunskapen tas tillvara så att användarna under driften kan dra nytta av dessa erfarenheter och kunskaper.

Inom projektarbete är planeringen ett moment som till stor del påverkar hur slutresultatetblir. Ett allt större antal företag blir dessutom projektbaserade, det vill säga nästan allaoperationer är organiserade som projekt. [5] Mängden projektarbete bland dagens företag gör att planeringen är viktig för attåstadkomma bra uppskattningar av tid, kostnader och resurser. Att kunna planera projektenpå ett bra sätt är en viktig konkurrensfördel. Den frågeställning som rapporten behandlar är ”Vilken kunskap och information bör finnasför att projektplaneringen ska leda till ett så lyckat projekt som möjligt?”. Rapportensdefinition av ett lyckat projekt är att de satta målen mellan kund och leverantör gällandekostnad, tid och kvalité uppfylls. Syftet är att läsaren ska få de viktigaste kunskaperna samtkänna till de viktigaste faktorerna som gör att en projektplanering leder till ett lyckatprojekt. Informationen och fakta baseras på en litteraturstudie samt på intervjuer medprojektledare och chefer på Bosch Rexroth AB. Litteraturstudien anknyter till modellersamt tillvägagångssätt för utformningen av projektplanering. Studien täcker ävenprojektkrav och riskhantering. Empirin fokuserar på viktiga parametrar i projektplaneringenhos Bosch Rexroth såsom projektens struktur, arbetsuppgifter, arbetssätt och krav. Rapporten visar även på förberedelser såsom WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) som är engrundpelare för att kunna estimera tid, kostnad samt resursbehov. Något som belyses i teorin är svårigheterna med att planera lagom mycket. Är planeringenför detaljerad så går mycket tid åt till att hålla denna uppdaterad, vilket är slöseri med tid. Är planeringen för grov kan uppskattningarna av tid, kostnad och resurser bli för dåligtpreciserade. När projektet har som mest bråttom visar det sig att planering är som viktigast. Ett exempel kan vara en person som tar bilen till ett projektmöte i en stad denne inte harvarit i förut. Personen har bråttom och anser sig inte ha tid att köpa en vägkarta. Dettaresulterar förmodligen i att personen kör fel och blir kraftigt försenad. En planering därinköp av karta varit inkluderad skulle förmodligen ha kunnat minimera förseningen. Sammanfattningsvis bör projekt brytas ner i lagom stora delar för att en rimligapproximation av tid, kostnad och resurser ska kunna göras. Erfarenhet och kompetens hospersonalen är nyckelfaktorer för uppskattningen av projektens omfattning. Kund ochleverantör måste arbeta efter samma tidsplan och produktspecifikation för att undvikamissförstånd och därmed är kommunikationen viktig. En tydlig arbetsprocess är nödvändigför effektiviteten i projektet samt för personalens trivsel. En ordentlig riskanalys är enförutsättning för att veta hur eventuella risker kan påverka projekten. Erfaren och kunnigpersonal är grundläggande för att göra en bra riskanalys.

L’objectif général de cette thèse est d’étudier la prise de décision des individus en situation de catastrophe naturelle, en l’occurrence d’origine volcanique, et d’aboutir à des applications possibles, notamment à une amélioration de la prise de décision des populations exposées. Nous nous sommes intéressés à l’incertitude, dimension essentielle des situations de catastrophe naturelle, qui présente un impact important sur les émotions et la prise de décision des individus. D’une part, l’incertitude situationnelle est déterminante quant aux émotions prospectives comme la peur, et, d’autre part, l’incertitude des conséquences influence l’utilisation des heuristiques émotionnelles (émotions comme éléments pertinents à la décision) dans la prise de décision (système 1). Ce travail de thèse a été traité selon trois axes complémentaires. Dans le premier axe, intitulé Incertitude situationnelle, effet de cadrage et prise de décision, nous avons montré que la simple exposition à l’incertitude situationnelle impliquerait une absence d’effet de cadrage, qui, selon les travaux précédents, pourrait provenir d’une augmentation du traitement systématique (système 2), liée au processus de régulation fronto-amygdalienne. Dans le second axe, Incertitude des conséquences, information à la population et prise de décision, nous avons mis en évidence le fait qu’une réduction de l’incertitude des conséquences dans l’information donnée à la population permettait, dans certains cas précis, d’aboutir à de meilleures prises de décision. L’effet obtenu n’a néanmoins été identifié que dans les situations impliquant de fortes émotions anticipatoires (domicile, dilemmes moraux), situations fréquentes au cours des catastrophes naturelles. Enfin, dans le troisième axe, Création d’une base de stimuli pour l’étude du comportement humain face aux risques naturels, nous avons présenté la construction et la validation d’une base d’images liées aux catastrophes naturelles et au volcanisme, nommée « Natural Disasters Picture System » (NDPS)
The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the decision-making of individuals at risk of natural disaster, specifically related to volcanism, and to achieve potential applications, notably to improve the decision-making of individuals at risk. We focused on the uncertainty, an essential aspect of natural disaster events, which greatly impacts individuals’ emotions and decision-making. On the one hand, the situational uncertainty is an essential component for prospective emotions such as fear, and on the other hand, the uncertainty of consequences determines the use of affect heuristics (emotions used as relevant aspects of the decision) in decision-making (system 1). This doctoral thesis followed three complementary axes. In the first axis, namely Situational Uncertainty, Framing Effect and Decision-Making, we exhibited that the mere exposure to situational uncertainty could negate the framing effect, which could be explained, based on previous works, by an increase of systematic processing (system 2), stemming from the processes of the fronto-amygdala regulation. In the second axis, Uncertainty of Consequences, Information to Population and Decision-Making, we have evidenced that a reduction of the uncertainty of consequences applied to the information to population could improve, under certain circumstances, the individuals’ decisions. This effect was only identified in situations of highly charged anticipatory emotions (home environment, moral dilemmas), which are frequently encountered situations during natural disasters. Lastly, in the third axis, Creation of a Stimuli Dataset for the Study of the Human Behavior Facing Natural Hazard, we detailed the conception and validation of an image dataset dedicated to natural disasters and volcanism, named “Natural Disasters Picture System” (NDPS)

Outsourcing av IT innebär att överlåta aktiviteter relaterade till informationsteknologi till en eller flera externa parter och är idag ett utbrett fenomen. Skälen till att outsourca IT varierar och några exempel på vanligt förekommande skäl är att organisationen som outsourcar vill fokusera på sin kärnverksamhet, höja sin kvalitet, sänka riskerna med föråldrad teknologi eller kostnadseffektivisera sin IT genom att köpa kompetens och komponenter från en extern part. När en kund överlåter IT-relaterade aktiviteter till en leverantör ingår de båda parterna i en outsourcingrelation med varandra och båda har förväntningar på och målsättningar för outsourcingrelationen. Förväntningar och målsättningar styr hur kunden och leverantören agerar och spelar en viktig roll för styrkan i outsourcingrelationen. Framgång inom IT-outsourcing kan definieras som att kunden uppnår sina målsättningar med IT-outsourcingen och känner sig nöjd med outsourcingrelationen. En hög andel av de organisationer som outsourcar sin IT uppger sig dock inte vara nöjda. Den outsourcande organisationen uppnår inte sina målsättningar eller upplever outsourcingrelationen som problematiskt. Framgång eller misslyckande inom IT-outsourcing kan förklaras utifrån flera olika faktorer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera IT-outsourcing från kundens och leverantörens perspektiv för att komma fram till vilka kritiska framgångsfaktorer som har påverkat outsourcingens framgång och misslyckande och på vilket sätt. Analysen bygger på en kvalitativ undersökning som har genomförts i form av en fallstudie av en outsourcingrelation mellan en kund och en leverantör, där personer från båda parterna har intervjuats. De kritiska framgångsfaktorer som analyseras är: Val av aktiviteter, Strategi, Val av leverantör, Undvikande av oförutsedda Kostnader, Personal, Avtal, Partnerskap, Styrning av leveransen och Uppföljning av leveransen. Dessa framgångsfaktorer analyseras mot bakgrund av de förväntningar och målsättningar som kunden och leverantören haft i outsourcingrelationen. Resultatet av fallstudien visar att Val av aktiviteter, Strategi, Undvikande av oförutsedda kostnader, Personal, Avtal, Partnerskap och Styrning i hög grad påverkade målsättningarna och Kundens nöjdhet med outsourcingrelationen. Eftersom studien har genomförts på en enda outsourcingrelation går det inte att generalisera slutsatserna till att gälla alla förhållanden, men de bidrar till en ökad förståelse kring interaktionen mellan parterna i outsourcingrelation där båda förhåller sig på sitt sätt till de framgångsfaktorer som nämns i litteraturen kring IT-outsourcing. Ytterligare en möjlig framgångsfaktor som inte nämndes i den genomgångna litteraturen framkom i intervjuerna: Intern styrning hos leverantören.