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Professional sports teams and leagues that play at a superior level and have sporting success on an international level nowadays have a large number of geographically distant fans. These fans are labelled in the literature as satellite fans (Kerr & Gladden, 2008). The emergence of the internet, especially social media, allows these satellite fans to stay in constant contact with their favourite team (Kerr & Emery, 2011; Li et al., 2019). However, little is known about the use of social media by satellite fans and its consequences for their fandom. Therefore, this study investigates the motivations for social media engagement with team-related content and the impact of this social media engagement on fan loyalty of satellite fans and compares them to local fans. In particular, this research focuses on NHL fans in Germany (satellite fans), USA and Canada (local fans) that use Instagram to follow their team's official account and/or other related accounts. The local fans reside within 100 miles (160 km) of their NHL team's home stadium (Collins et al., 2016; Richelieu & Pons, 2009). This comparison reveals how geographical distance from a favourite sports team affects social media use and its offline impact on fan loyalty. Uses and gratifications theory was applied to examine the relationship between motivations for media use (entertainment, integration and social interaction, personal identity, information, remuneration, and empowerment) and consumers' online brand-related activity levels (consumption, contribution, and creation). In addition, the relationship between these three online engagement levels and attitudinal and behavioural fan loyalty was investigated. An online questionnaire was conducted and disseminated via social media for data collection. A local fan sample (n = 472) and a satellite fan sample (n = 465) were collected. Quantitative methods using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to confirm the conceptual model. The chi-square difference test was used to compare the local and satellite fan samples and identify differences. The analysis revealed seven paths in the conceptual model that showed statistically significant differences between the two fan groups. Further differences were found at a descriptive level. The results showed that local fans have a smaller set of motivations to engage in social media compared to satellite fans. In addition, social media engagement with team-related content has a greater and usually stronger impact on fan loyalty among satellite fans than among local fans. These results underline that satellite fans have a higher dependence on social media than local fans. It also demonstrates that local and satellite fans are two distinct fan groups in terms of their motivations for social media engagement with team-related content and its influence on their fan loyalty. Furthermore, the study shows that social media can be used as a strategic tool to influence the loyalty of both local and satellite fans. Implications are made on how to address these groups collectively and individually via social media.

Western discourse on Soviet dissidents like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Western politicians and journalists' citation of them as evidence of liberal individualism's inevitable triumph against communist totalitarianism, is interpreted by historians as having been integral to the Cold War's ideological conflict. However, this thesis demonstrates that the USSR was equally interested in depicting left-wing political figures in the West as dissidents who were evidence of capitalism's unpopularity and socialism's inevitable universal rise. This Soviet propaganda narrative primarily focused on figures from the Western New Left and trade unions. To counter the criticism Moscow received from the 1960s onwards for its abuse of Soviet dissidents' human rights, Soviet media utilised an interpretation of human rights that emphasised the centrality of labour rights. Soviet discourse depicted protesting New Leftists and striking trade unionists as dissidents who were the victims of Western anti-socialist state repression. Historians have only recently begun to study this aspect of Cold War history, and this thesis provides a new comprehensive study that reveals how the Soviet state invested significant media and diplomatic resources in building a narrative that depicted the West as the Cold War's worse abuser of human rights. By comparatively analysing Western and Soviet political discourse during 1964-91, making particular use of EastView's archives of Soviet newspapers and journals alongside other contemporary sources, this thesis presents findings that have important implications to historians' understandings of the Cold War. Particularly, they support the case increasingly made by scholars that Cold War history should be read forwards, rather than backwards from the vantage points of 1989 or 1991, to fully appreciate the complex development of the conflict by highlighting how human rights were a contested concept despite the eventual dominance of the Western interpretation post-1991 while also highlighting overlooked debate among Soviet elites and oppositionists over Western dissent.

Background: There is a growing awareness of gambling as a public health issue in Great Britain, whereby harm occurring from gambling extends beyond individuals with a diagnosis of gambling disorder. Gambling marketing has been highlighted as something which may contribute towards gambling harm. The gambling industry in Great Britain is placing increasing focus upon marketing their products on social media. However, minimal research has focused on how gambling is marketed on social media in Great Britain or how bettors respond to such marketing. Methods: An observational approach was taken within the first two studies in order to assess: the types of content included within gambling marketing on social media, the underlying messages of such content, the types of bets advertised and the success of advertised bets. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out upon qualitative data from 10 frequent gamblers to explore how they think about gambling marketing. Two quantitative, online experimental studies were also carried out to assess how regular bettors respond to examples of advertisements on social media and whether social media can be used to effectively promote safer gambling. Findings: Concerns were highlighted about both the frequency and content of social media marketing. Bets included within marketing were largely unsuccessful and simulation data highlighted that the chances of making money upon advertised bets decreased as the number of bets included within the simulations increased. Gambling affiliate marketing was highlighted as a specific concern, given their large number of direct advertisements and their positioning as 'betting communities'. Bettors were found to place increased confidence in affiliate marketing for specific types of bets. They also perceived marketing as something that they could take advantage of to increase their chances of winning, whilst acting as a risk factor for those perceived as being vulnerable. Receiving safer gambling messages on social media for two weeks led to a reduction in gambling behaviour compared to the previous two weeks, however further research is needed to clarify whether the messages were responsible for the observed changes. Conclusions: Findings highlight numerous ways in which social media marketing has the potential to contribute towards gambling harm. Increased regulation of both operator and affiliate marketing is required to ensure such marketing is conducted in an open and safe manner.

As existing social media platforms are further developed, and new platforms are introduced, their use by both organisations and individuals continues to grow. The adoption of such platforms as a means for commercial (e.g., retail) organisations to interact with clients and customers is now ubiquitous. There remains an ongoing need however to understand how and why organisations and individuals continue to interact through social media in the ways that they do. Prior literature has highlighted the need to understand not only what social media behaviours should be implemented by organisations, but how user engagement behaviours persist, develop, and differ across multiple social media platforms. Based on these identified gaps in the literature, the primary over-arching aim of the research described in this dissertation is to develop a greater understanding of social media users' engagement behaviours and the effect that this engagement may have on maintaining and growing online social media audiences. This thesis presents a sequence of four studies that utilise both qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand social media users' engagement behaviours in real world contexts. All studies took an empirical approach to social media data collection and analysis, taking into account the rapidly changing ethical and privacy landscape that has developed during the course of the work. The first of these studies offers an outline of how retail organisations make use of social media, the types of content that they share, and the resulting levels of engagement they receive. This knowledge is then further developed in later studies, demonstrating and evaluating a means by which user engagement with different types of content can be modelled. Further to this, a longitudinal study demonstrates how networks of account followers develop over time, and how this growth may be modelled and predicted, including levels of engagement as one such potential predictor. Though primarily focused on these academic contributions, the dissertation also provides a number of practical implications for organisations. These include insights into approaches to develop a greater understanding of their online audiences, and the ability to tailor their online content strategies by understanding how groups of followers engage with different types of content. The thesis concludes with implications for future work, highlighting how recent literature and the findings of these studies can be used to motivate continued research in this field.

There is a growing body of literature on digital inequalities with an interest in mending inequalities in a world that increasingly relies on the digital by identifying and isolating the factors that predict digital opportunities. However, there is little which addresses differences in Internet access where infrastructural access in terms of availability and affordability is not an issue. In addition, artificially limiting Internet access is becoming normalised, with limitations used liberally as means for control, neglecting the potential implications of such measures. The inspiration for this research came from the small body of knowledge available on the effect of artificial Internet limitations on digital inequalities and the consequences of Internet controls on how people make use of the Internet. This research highlights these potential consequences, whether deliberate or not, and link them to outcomes of Internet use, while shedding light on the effectiveness of such limitations. The research was motivated by a belief in the potential the Internet allows as an open platform for a universe with equal access and opportunities for the people. The first part of the research studied artificial Internet limitations in three communities, Bahrain, Estonia, and Singapore, as a factor in determining digital inequalities through two studies aimed at assessing change in opportunities, measured as differences in tangible outcomes of Internet use, as a function of artificial Internet limitations. The findings showed that artificial Internet limitations do indeed affect digital opportunities, producing lower satisfaction, with achievement opportunities attained when the individual is able to circumvent the controls. The second part of the research is a practical implementation of the model developed in the first part to predict digital opportunities in one of the projects to reach new Internet users, commonly referred to as Next Billion(s). Facebook's Free Basics platform was chosen as an example. The platform provides access to a set of services without incurring data charges in a form of zero-rating. The innate limitations of the platform were proven to limit the potential for individual to access any content not within the walled garden of the platform with near-zero circumvention potential, leaving opportunities provided by the platform to wither in front of the limitations set. People with access only to that platform remain passive consumers and part of disconnected and excluded communities, as the platform limits the potential for meaningful participation in the network society.

This study was conducted in the response to the lack of empirical study of citizen journalism (CJ) within an online journalistic field in a newly democratic country. This study adopts Bourdieu's (1998, 2005) field theory, the social theory of journalism of McQuail (2013) and McCombs' (2014) agenda-setting theory to understand the "struggle" of the legacy media in defending its position within society as the mediator of political communication. It utilises parallel convergent mixed-methods with qualitative data is collected based on an ethnographical study of three major Indonesian online news media outlets. It analysed 33 media staffs interview results about news production during the 2017 Indonesian election. Meanwhile, the quantitative data was generated from published political news content during January- March 2017. The analysis of data shows that CJ put pressure on the journalistic fields so that journalists made efforts to maintain their status quo. Journalists are adapting their journalistic norms and traditions so as to defend their position in dominating political communication and influencing public opinion. This study argues that the online news media are engaged three areas of struggle; that is struggles to find a business model, to be equally recognised as offering quality journalism, and to compete with non-professional journalists. This study provides an original contribution to research on journalism in explaining the development of CJ in the Indonesian context both theoretically and empirically.

The proliferation of web-based technologies has led most national governments to begin transitioning to a so called "e-service," where provision is made through purely digital means. Despite their obvious benefits for most users, these on-line systems present barriers of access. This research seeks to identify the current information seeking behaviours of English as a second language (ESL) users when performing e-government-related tasks, to ascertain where and why issues arise during this process. Utilising a multi-phase and integrated mixed methods approach, this research investigated how ESL users find information in an e-governmental context, how this differs from native users, and how differences can be supported by the system. The Participatory Design approach identified relevant search task topics, which were utilised during experiments in the second integrated mixed methods phase. Results from the mixed methods phase suggest that success may be less dependent on second language proficiency, but rather the search strategies employed and the fastidiousness of the user in assessing document relevance. There were a number of significant differences identified between ESL and native English participants, but also a number of similarities as both groups were unable to consistently predict when they had not performed particularly well. In light of a solely e-government system, this raises significant concerns about users and the information they rely on to make judgements that can have real world implications. A number of participant recommendations are suggested but one way of mitigating such concerns is to consider the use of system wizards. Performance was high between both groups when this system design was implemented, with positive sentiment (from both groups) towards such a tool as they provide a clear and structured platform to information.

This research investigates the design of social media tools for non-market institutions, such as local government or community groups. At the core of this practice-based research is a software tool called LocalNets. LocalNets was developed to collect, analyse and visualise data from Twitter, thereby revealing information about community structure and community assets. It is anticipated that this information could help non- market institutions and the communities with which they work. Twitter users send messages to one another using the '@mention' function. This activity is made visible publicly and has the potential to indicate a Twitter user's participation in a 'community structure'; that is, it can reveal an interpersonal network of social connections. Twitter activity also provides data about community assets (such as parks, shops and cinemas) when tweets mention these assets' names. The context for this research is the Creative Exchange Hub (CX), one of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Under the theme of 'Digital Public Space', the CX Hub facilitated creative research collaborations between PhD researchers, academics and non-academic institutions. Building on the CX model, this PhD research forged partnerships between local councils, non-public sector institutions that work with communities, software developers and academics with relevant subject expertise. Development of the LocalNets tool was undertaken as an integral part of the research. As the software was developed, it was deployed in relevant contexts through partnerships with a range of non-market institutions, predominantly located in the UK, to explore its use in those contexts. Four projects are presented as design case studies: 1) a prototyping phase, 2) a project with the Royal Society of Arts in the London Borough of Hounslow, 3) a multi-partner project in Peterborough, and 4) a project with Newspeak House, a technology and politics co-working space located in London. The case studies were undertaken using an Action Design Research method, as articulated by Sein et al. Findings from these case studies are grouped into two categories. The first are 'Implementation findings' which relate specifically to the use of data from Twitter. Second there are six 'situated design principles' which were developed across the case studies, and which are proposed as having potential application beyond Twitter data. The 'Implementation findings' include that Twitter can be effective for locating participants for focus groups on community topics, and that the opinions expressed directly in tweets are rarely sufficient for the local government of community groups to respond to. These findings could benefit designers working with Twitter data. The six situated design principles were developed through the case studies: two apply Burt's brokerage social capital theory, describing how network structure relates to social capital; two apply Donath's signalling theory - which suggests how social media behaviours can indicate perceptions of community assets; and two situated design principles apply Borgatti and Halgin's network flow model - a theory which draws together brokerage social capital and signalling theory. The principles are applicable to social media analytics tools and are relevant to the goals of non-market institutions. They are situated in the context of the case studies; however, they are potentially applicable to social media platforms other than Twitter. Linders identifies a paucity of research into social media tools for non-market institutions. The findings of this research, developed by deploying and testing the LocalNets social media analytics tool with non-market institutions, aim to address that research gap and to inform practitioner designers working in this area.

This study considers the practice of freelance radio producers creating music documentaries for commercial radio audiences. Commercial radio is an underexplored field of study, while investigations into music documentary content for commercial broadcasters are even more uncommon. Previous inquiries into radio documentary production have focused on public service models of broadcasting. These studies often view the subject from a journalistic agenda, overlooking technical approaches and ignoring the commercial imperatives that inform freelance practices. I explore how advances in digital production tools and online technologies shape the work of radio producers. I address wider issues of debate surrounding freelance activities and question whether autonomous producers are capable of creating music documentary content of a calibre consistent with traditional team approaches to documentary production. As an experienced practitioner in the field of commercial radio, I use a practice-based approach to reveal the practices a freelance radio producer adopts to make music documentaries for commercial radio. I argue that this method is essential in order to capture an accurate, first-hand perspective of contemporary industry practice. It draws on a combination of data collection methods including iterative production research, industry interviews, and auto-ethnographic observations as a freelance radio producer across a five-year period of production. This data is interrogated using a theoretical framework that incorporates ideas of political economy, commercial broadcasting and documentary production. I find that the advances in digital production tools and online technologies have streamlined workflow processes and enabled the merging of a various duties into a single production role. I argue that political, economic and commercial considerations impact on the work of radio freelancers in the field by shaping their production output. I acknowledge this is a highly specialised field, as music documentaries are not commonly heard on commercial radio. Yet I assert the industry is favourable towards this form of programming, and recognises its ability to attract new audiences, strengthen listener loyalty and reinforce a station's brand.

Email has become the main means of correspondence, displacing the letter with its conventions and procedures developed over centuries. Every organisation needs to develop and implement policies to manage email as records of evidence of transactions and as a source of information. This study aimed to critically explore the management of email in the context of the management of information and record keeping in the transition to the digital. The objectives of the study were: To explore the legal and regulatory environment in relation to the Malaysian Government and the information it creates and holds; to explore the evolution of email recordkeeping by the Malaysian Government; to critically review existing policies, guidelines and systems for capturing and managing email by the Malaysian Government from a record keeping perspective; and to investigate the current practices in managing email in a selected part of the Malaysian Government against existing policies and guidelines, in part to determine if the latter were clear and unambiguous. It highlights the fact that no in-depth case study of email management has been published previously. In the public sector there are many examples of poor email management. For instance, Michael Gove, when UK Secretary of State for Education, conducted government business using his wife's personal email account; and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a personal email account and server for both government and personal business. The context of this thesis is the introduction by the Malaysian government of a project that will provide a free email account for every citizen over eighteen to allow them to access e-Government services through a single sign-on user ID, as part of the move to e-government in Malaysia to deliver its Vision 2020. The research is based on a case study of the implementation of this initiative and the accompanying system for managing email at a selected government ministry in Malaysia; it is based on interviews with twelve participants with different roles across three departments and the two providers of policies and guidelines. The design of interview questions was based around the records continuum model and is four elements, the creation, capture, organisation and pluralisation of information. The findings suggest that email has been accepted by the government as records and evidence mandated by Malaysia's National Archives Act 2003. Yet not all government servants accept emails as records, largely as a consequence of poor project planning and faulty design of the Digital Document Management System (DDMS) for email management. The DDMS has been developed to ensure that the government manages its email, and other electronic records, according to international standards embodied in ISO 16175:2 (2011), which has been adopted nationally as MS ISO 16175:2 (2012). The main factors influencing the implementation of the DDMS in the government sector are people, processes and technology. The DDMS project has been seen as an IT project, and not a records management project, and consequently has failed to meet the requirements for a digital records management system. This explains why some government servants are reluctant to accept email as a record. Project management, change management and quality management should have been central during the system implementation process, but were found to be either inadequately addressed or completely overlooked. The findings conclude that email management can be markedly improved by promoting information culture and awareness of the importance of managing email records. This case study contributes to the evolution of record keeping policy and practice in a former UK dependency during the transition to the digital environment and in the identification of good practice that could be applicable in other similar national government contexts.

Smartphone take-up has grown exponentially, a growth that far exceeds any consumer technology in history. The growth of these technologies has created a cultural shift. Users are accessing, storing and retrieving digital information on more portable devices and doing so on the move. This cultural shift away from the stationary context (at home or at work) to a more mobile 24/7 way of accessing and consuming information is creating challenges. Today’s developers and shapers of digital information (businesses, marketers, advertisers and web agencies, to name a few) need their applications to be workable to support the consumer in all contexts; at home, at work, in the lift, on the bus. When developing applications for these kinds of situations, changeable technological configurations and contexts are crucial to support the user experience and device interaction. In the early days of mobile computing researchers and usability professionals identified a range of challenges facing a tester’s ability to accurately map a mobile users experience. Testing strategies have stood the test of time, working extremely well in many lab-based configurations, but how do they fare in an increasingly mobile information society? This Professional Doctorate aims to support and contribute to the mobile testing evolution and will adapt some existing practices to help keep pace with the phenomenon. This research will present a strategy that explores the development of new a framework (via a systematic review) to inform mobile testing. The framework builds upon themes within Human Information Behavior (HIB) and Mobile Human Computer Interaction (Mobile HCI). The research takes an interpretivist approach to investigate how this framework is applied to build and contextualise methods informing testing methodology in the mobile arena.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the theory on which professional practice of archivists and records managers drew was reviewed, in light of cultural and technological changes and of postmodernist philosophies. In particular, the theoretical narrative of the “neutral archives” was terminally disrupted, and more explicit responsibility attributed to the profession for actively seeking to redress the way that power imbalances in contemporary society were reflected in ‘the archive’. Professional archivists and records managers began to look for ways in which as professionals they could counteract these areas of neglect. There had not been any systematic analysis of “marginality” or “marginalised” as a concept, as opposed to particular instances thereof. In addition, the focus of attention in many of the responses had been those records related to situations or groups that already had been politicised. This combination seemed problematic, as a conceptualisation of marginality or exclusion was emerging and consolidating, one that focused primarily on situations of political instability or disenfranchisement or of conflict. While the disruption of the narrative of the neutral archive could in theory have resonance for all information professionals in all working environments, the particulars of the examples of exclusion and marginalisation were not applicable in every scenario. That is to say, those archivists and records managers who were not responsible for records that were in some clear way related to a politicised group or situation could assume on that basis that they were not, in their professional capacity, colluding in exclusion, marginalisation or neglect. By articulating the conceptualisation of marginality and seeking to focus on possible domestic and quotidian means by which power imbalances and exclusions are manifested, this research contributes to the extension of the relevance of the debate to politically stable environments and everyday activities, in addition to unstable or post-conflict situations. By focusing on the potentially dynamic relationship between the information curator and the records for which they were responsible – rather than the records creators or subjects – it also draws out additional opportunities for professional engagement with social and cultural imbalances.

Terrestrial free-space optical (FSO) communications is an emerging low-cost, licensefree and high-bandwidth access solution for a number of applications including the “last mile” access network. However, for a transmission range from a few meter to longer than 1 km, a number of atmospheric phenomena, such as rain, haze, fog, snow, scintillation and pointing errors become a major performance limiting factors in FSO systems resulting in link deterioration and ultimately complete link failure. Relay-assisted technique is capable of mitigating the signal fading and maintain acceptable performance levels. In this thesis, a two-way relay (TWR) channel technique is adopted to increase system spectral efficiency, which in turn boosts the network throughput. This is achieved by using a physical layer network coding (PNC) technique, where network coding (NC) is applied at the physical layer. It takes advantage of the superimposition of the electromagnetic waves, and embraces the interference, which was typically deemed as harmful, by performing the exclusive-OR mapping of both users’ information at the relay. Therefore, the main contribution of this thesis is to study the design of the TWR-FSO communication system that embraces PNC technique for the full utilization of network resources based on the binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation. Moreover, error control coding (ECC) in conjunction with interleaving can be employed in FSO communications to combat turbulence-induced fading, which can enhance the performance of the proposed TWR-FSO PNC system. A comparative study between convolutional code (CC) and bit-interleave coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID) code are carried out. The result shows that the BICM-ID code outperforms the CC for TWR-FSO based PNC over strong turbulence regime by ~10dB of SNR to achieve a BER of 10-4 . However, the number of users that can be simultaneously transmitted to the relay is considered the main constraint in PNC system. Therefore, to overcome this challenge, a new scheme that integrates the iterative multiuser detection (I-MUD) technique with the PNC system over RF and FSO links are introduced as another achievement. The results show that the I-MUD offers improved performance about 8, and 22dB of SNR to get a BER of 10-4 over RF and FSO channels, respectively, for number of simultaneously users equal to 14 with respect to TWR-PNC system.

This research aims to investigate current volunteer use in public libraries in England. Volunteer use is not a new phenomenon, and has been an integral part of public library provision for many years. However recent Government policies, together with greater financial austerity, have resulted in a change in public service delivery. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of volunteers involved within the public library service, and the growth of community run libraries, resulting in much public and professional concern. An interpretivist research approach was used to investigate stakeholder opinions regarding volunteer use, and involved a two phase process. Initially a Delphi survey explored attitudes of 15 English public library service managers, followed by in-depth investigation of two case study library authorities, located in the North-East of England. Surveys, interviews and focus groups, helped to build a rich picture of volunteer use amongst the groups of stakeholders. Findings clearly indicated that volunteer use has moved from additionality to replacement of staff, and is increasingly being used by local authorities as a solution to budget reductions required as a result of economic austerity. A hybrid approach to library service provision has developed, using a combination of paid staff and volunteers, which indicates a fundamental culture shift within public libraries. Research results identified concerns relating to the long term viability of a hybrid approach, and how this impacted on the wider community in terms of service provision. Key concerns were raised concerning advocacy, sensitivity, the fragility of relationships, and the provision of an accountable and high quality service. Formal and informal control mechanisms need to be employed by library service managers to ensure that they reap the benefits of volunteer use, thereby avoiding social exclusion, clarifying stakeholder boundaries, and delivering a high quality accountable service. Training library managers in new volunteer management skills, and adopting a volunteer relationship management approach may help to ensure that this new arrangement is mutually beneficial for all concerned.

In today's ICT dynamic society, questions continue on how internet use affects social relationships and well being. By building upon past work and conceptualising visually impaired older adults as a distinct user group, this research explored the perceptions of visually impaired older people concerning how they build and maintain social ties via Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). The research attempts to create an understanding of how internet use could be of benefit to visually impaired older adults and what implications it has for their social well being. The study employed tools of ethnography [observations in an internet café specifically for visually impaired people and semi structured interviews]. One to one and focus group interviews were conducted with 23 visually impaired older adults between the ages of 60 87 years. All participants were registered visually impaired members of a Voluntary organisation in Newcastle, UK. Findings show that participants mainly perceived the internet as a means to establish and maintain social relationships rather than a substitute for social contacts in the face of myriad challenges with socialisation offline. It also enabled them to challenge popular stereotypes about older people and use of new technologies. Many participants regarded internet use as a means to enhance social connectedness and overcome feeling isolated. Findings showed how internet use fits into the communication styles of visually impaired older people and enable them to cope with the challenges of vision loss. Some participants regarded the absence of visual cues in CMC as a communication advantage which afforded them a platform to socialise with others on an equal footing. The implication of findings for existing theoretical concepts of CMC and the need for a more inclusive theoretical stance which integrates the position of visually impaired users were discussed. The study concludes that the internet is a vital tool for social integration of visually impaired groups. It has potential for positive impact on their well being if accessibility is further enhanced.

This thesis is an autoethnography exploring the engagement of records management (RM) through the vehicle of a computer mediated communication (CMC) focused co-operative inquiry. CMC is defined as, “communication that takes place between human beings via the instrumentality of computers” (Herring, 1996, p.81). The PhD stance was that with the advent of new technologies, such as CMC, the role and place of RM has been challenged. RM practitioners needed to evaluate their principles and practice in order to discover why RM is not uniformly understood and also why it fails to engage many CMC users and information professionals. The majority of today’s information is generated as the result of unstructured communications (AIIM, 2005 and 2006) that no longer have a fixed reality but exist across fragmented globalised spaces through the Cloud, Web 2.0 and software virtualisation. Organisational boundaries are permanently perforated and the division between public and private spaces are blurred. Traditional RM has evolved in highly structured organisational information environments. Nevertheless, RM could lie at the heart of the processes required for dealing with this splintered data. RM takes a holistic approach to information management, establishing the legislative requirements, technical requirements and the training and support for individuals to communicate effectively, simultaneously transmitting and processing the communications for maximum current and ongoing organisational benefits. However RM is not uniformly understood or practiced. The focus of the thesis was to understand how RM engagement can and should be achieved. The research was conducted by establishing a co-operative inquiry consisting of 82 international co-researchers, from a range of disciplines, investigating the question, ‘How do organisations maximise the information potential of CMC for organisational benefit, taking into account the impact of the individual?” The PhD established a novel approach to co-operative inquiry by separating, managing and merging three groups of co-researchers (UK Records Managers, UK CMC users, international Records Managers and CMC users). I was embedded as a co-researcher within this wider inquiry personally exploring as an autoethnography the relevance of RM to the wider research question, the ability of RM practitioners to advocate for RM and the co-researchers’ responses to the place of RM within this context. The thesis makes several contributions to the research field. It examines how records managers and RM principles and practice engaged through the inquiry, articulating the reasons why users sometimes failed to engage with RM principles and practice, and what assists users to successfully engage with RM. It was found that national perspectives and drivers were more significant as to whether or not individuals engaged with RM concepts than age, gender or professional experience. In addition, users engaged with RM when it was naturally embedded within processes. In addition, as a result of the inquiry’s discussions and actions, the thesis suggests that RM principles and practice need to be refined, for example in regards to the characteristics that define a record. In this respect it concludes that there is rarely likely to be an original archival record surviving through time given the need for migration. The research delivered a novel approach to co-operative inquiry whereby merging groups through time produced new learning at each merger point. The thesis recommends further research to build upon its findings.

The aim of this research is to investigate factors affecting active participation in Business-to-Business Online Business Communities (B2B OBCs). The primary objective of the study was to develop a framework to better understand the important factors affecting members’ active participation behaviour in B2B OBCs. To achieve the main goal of this research, an integrated framework was developed underpinned by three well known theories: Uses and Gratification (U&G), Social Exchange (SET), and Information Systems Success Model (ISSM). A mixed method approach (partially mixed sequential dominant status design) was employed to answer the research question and achieve the objectives of the study. Accordingly, this study was carried out in two phases. During the first phase an exploratory study was carried out to further explore the framework. For that purpose semi-structured interviews with twelve members of B2B OBCs were conducted. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis utilising NVIVO and this assisted in discovering another important factor ‘service quality’, which reflected on the moderator’s role inside B2B OBCs. Subsequently, service quality was added to the model. The exploratory study is also helped to develop a new measure for active participation in the context of B2B OBCs as this study was unable to adapt the measure for the construct from prior studies due to the discrepancy in the literature. In the second phase of the study, a quantitative approach (online questionnaires) was employed to test the developed framework. Using non-probability convenience sampling technique, 521 useable online questionnaires were collected from 41 B2B OBCs on LinkedIn. The collected data was then analysed using a second generation approach (SEM) utilising AMOS. During the data analysis, two U&G constructs (functional need and hedonic need) were found to have a positive impact on active participation. Yet, the direct association between psychological need and active participation was not significant. Nevertheless, the construct found to have a positive and indirect relationship with active participation. In addition, two of the SET constructs (reciprocity and affective commitment) were also found to have a positive association with active participation. Trusting beliefs was found to have no direct impact on active participation. Further analysis revealed that the relationship between the two construct was indirect via affective commitment. Furthermore, three factors that were identified under ISSM, information quality, system quality, and service quality, were also found to be the antecedent of trusting beliefs but they did not have a direct impact on active participation. Information quality and service quality were also found to have an indirect and positive impact on affective commitment and active participation. The analysis also revealed that members from different industry types had different participation behaviour in B2B OBCs. The research outcomes made several contributions to the literature. These include a new measure for active participation and service quality. This provides a new validated instrument for B2B OBC researchers to adapt in the future. Further, an integrated model for factors affecting active participation in B2B OBCs was developed. This also provides a foundation for future studies in the field. The final results of this study demonstrate the appropriateness and robustness of the developed model, and further suggests that any attempt to investigate members participation behaviour in B2B OBCs will be incomplete unless all three theories (U&G, SET, and ISSM) are cosnidered. Moreover, this study helped to extend the existing knowledge on Online Community (OC) defintions, OC taxonomies, OC commitment, and OC trust. Finally, the findings of this study propose several guidelines to assist B2B OBC providers to build and maintain successful communities.

The purpose of my research is to investigate music-making as discursive practice, focusing on amateur musicians in English folk clubs. This is intended to support my thesis that music-making can be usefully characterised as intersubjective practice, whereby musicians and participants acquire and reaffirm a sense of social and communal identity through involvement and interaction within the symbolic world of the music event. My objective is to contribute towards popular music scholarship by focusing on music-making at a grass-roots level and showing the value of analysing this seemingly peripheral domain in enhancing our understanding of popular music culture. By using Christopher Small's (1998a, 1998b) concept of 'musicking' as a central reference point, my analysis is based on a methodological framework of symbolic interactionism, drawing on the works of Harold Garfinkel (1967) and Erving Goffman (1959, 1961b, 1963), to map out a series of object-signs as constituent elements of the intersubjective domain of the folk club. By applying this approach to case study analyses, interview responses and direct observation, this study reveals the internal relations and dynamics of signification and identification that gave shape to amateur musicmaking as discourse. This is complemented by recognition of external discursive frameworks - professionalism, popularism, regulation and the institutionalised English 'folk scene' - and their role in defining the cultural experience of sharing music in folk clubs. In this way, my thesis demonstrates the capacity of object-sign analysis to provide a more rigorous characterisation of amateur music discourse than one based solely on ethnographic description and interpretation. The outcome of this research is a detailed perspective of 'musicking' as an experiential and cultural activity. It shows how amateur musicians and participants become subsumed within the discursive domain of folk clubs through sharing and recognising meanings invoked in musical (and social) performance. I conclude that the benefits of 'musicking' as a concept have not been sufficiently realised in popular music studies and that my research opens up possibilities for new and significant insights through its focus on intersubjective engagement with music as a focus for cultural practice and identity.

Promoting knowledge sharing has long been regarded as a very important aspect of the management of knowledge. However, knowledge sharing has its challenges due to the special nature of knowledge. Based on this, the researcher argues that it is knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing that plays a crucial role in knowledge management. However, there is no clear definition for knowledge seeking in existing literature. In the few studies of knowledge seeking research, knowledge has been viewed as a noun and as such knowledge seeking has been seen as no different to information seeking. The aim of this research has been to explore the knowledge seeking process in the workplace in order to conceptualise knowledge seeking by developing a theoretical model. A review of the literature concerning knowledge seeking has been conducted in order to clarify the concept of knowledge seeking. From the interpretivist’s perspective, a qualitative research approach has been taken, in which sense-making theory is employed as a methodological guide. Time-line interviews were carried out with construction engineers in China to collect primary data, and Template analysis was utilized. Based on the literature, this thesis defined knowledge seeking as a learning process, which consists of three major themes: experiential learning, information seeking and problem solving, based on which a preliminary framework was developed. Twenty six engineers were successfully interviewed. The findings from the data confirmed the links between the themes. Further codes were also identified to develop a final template, which evolved to a theoretical model illustrating the knowledge seeking process in the workplace. By promoting knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing, this research contributed innovatory insight into existing KM research. The new concept of knowledge seeking and the theoretical model developed thereafter contribute to knowledge by providing a theoretical framework for further research in this area. The specific combination of time-line interviews and template analysis has demonstrated good results in this research. Collecting primary data from China, this research applied Western theories onto engineers within a Chinese context, which has contributed to KM research in China. These contributions will result in many practical implications for KM practices.

The general aim of the research was to establish whether the Bologna Process (BP), started after the Bologna Declaration (1999) in Europe and including the internationalisation programmes, could be a lever for quality enhancement of Library and Information Science (LIS) education in Italy. The main problem identified by the research is that there are different concepts of quality and that the internationalisation of LIS education lends itself to various interpretations. The BP learning outcomes model has been adopted as an approach which has the potential to empower students through the knowledge and capabilities needed for the European labour market. The approach to the research was qualitative and a number of research methods were used in trying to achieve an in-depth understanding of the issues, through literature and documentary reviews and by interviewing key informants and LIS stakeholders. To find out what the possible impact in Italy could be of an international curriculum, with an advanced application of the BP learning outcomes model, the research project considered the case study of the International Masters in Information Studies (MAIS) which is a joint international course offered by the Universities of Northumbria, (UK) and Parma, (IT). From the collection of data in the first phase, an LIS learning outcomes quality model was drawn up, which included the content of the programme, related to a new active role in society for information and library specialists, learning and teaching and learning outcomes which should achieve an international view, capability for critical thinking, self-management, as well as an understanding of the social role of the profession. Analysing the case study, it became clear that MAIS has contributed to an effective transformation of the student learning experience, but that students have met obstacles to putting into practice the knowledge and capabilities they had gained. A negative impact on the library profession was generated by poor comprehension within it of the role of libraries in the context of constant change: effectively this approach taken by the programme, and encouraged in the students is discordant with a prevailing attitude within Italian society which sees libraries only as elements innately linked to the conservation and stability of the cultural heritage, within an ―archival paradigm‖. The absence of a dialogue amongst the stakeholders in LIS education is exacerbated in Italy by the different purposes each stakeholder has of evaluation. The Government which is leading the quality assurance process apply quantitative and generic indicators, the Library Association contributes to lowering the profession qualification. The evidence demonstrates that in Italy the profession is not international and the BP has been only partially applied.

The study takes ideological domination in the field of the media as a point of departure, concentrating on current affairs as one of the most keenly debated issues in the field of mass media since the emergence of news agencies and up to the present age of satellite television channels. The study deals in particular with monopolies of news coverage by the major news agencies, including Reuters, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UP), and Agence France Press (AFP). The study focuses on the cultural dimensions of news stories and the controversies over their content which have spurred regional and international efforts to establish alternatives to the one-way flow of news and information from core countries to the rest of the world. The study also focuses on American domination in the field of news and the establishment of CNN, which has itself become a symbol of American influence as well as a significant influence on the live news coverage of events. The impact of CNN has also triggered many reactions, including efforts in various countries to compete with it in order to cover the news from perspectives within these countries. The study goes on to focus on the Arab region, which has its own characteristics but also shares many features with other peripheral countries, particularly in the field of the mass media and the reliance of Arab audiences on news sources in core countries. This study deals with various issues concerning the mass media and news coverage in the Arab region, providing a historical framework for the development of its mass media; the political atmosphere and other factors which have affected their performance. The study also examines attempts by Arab countries to work collectively in order to establish alternatives to the core countries’ news outlets. By focusing on the Arab region this study aims to examine in particular the significance of the Arab satellite news channels and their success in competing with the news outlets of core countries. The competitiveness of the Arab satellite channels is evaluated, considering Al-Jazeera as a particularly important example. The study finally focuses on Libya as an example both of an Arab county and as a representative of peripheral countries. This section of the work involves an empirical study into perception and evaluation of regional and international news. This provides ideal opportunities to assess the theoretical framework of the study with references to the features and difficulties of peripheral countries. Libya’s efforts in the field of mass media, and particularly its news outlets, are also evaluated. In addition the study examines the attitudes of the Libyan people towards domestic, regional and international news outlets and their significance in terms of news coverage. This provides a thorough understanding of the perceived weaknesses and strengths of these news outlets, and such information may help in the development of a new strategy for the Libyan mass media in order to make them more competitive.

The purpose of this research is to assess the function, form and content of knowledge sharing in communities of practice, social networks and the use of collaborative technologies in Third Sector community networks in the North East of England. This is a significant area worthy of detailed examination due to the acknowledged relationship between communities of practice, social networks and the use of collaborative technologies. These three domains have been examined separately by others and suggestions have been made as to relationships between them but few, if any, studies appear to have used case-based evidence to explore how these relationships add value to knowledge sharing. The research addresses the following research question: To what extent does the use of collaborative technologies in communities of practice and social networks, in the Third Sector of the North East region, add value to face- to-face knowledge sharing and how may this be measured? In order to answer the research question a qualitative holistic case study approach based upon three case studies in Newcastle upon Tyne, South Tyneside and Sunderland has been utilised and grounded theory is used to formulate theory from the observed and analysed practice of the case studies under investigation. The conclusion is drawn that when value is added to knowledge sharing it is relative to the strength of several key variables, including, reciprocity, trust, the strength of network ties and the ability to integrate the use of collaborative technologies into ongoing activities. To aid analysis of the presence and strength of these variables a working paradigm has been designed and developed. Case studies are analysed through this paradigm leading to the development of a theory of knowledge sharing in the Third Sector.

Television in Thailand, as in many nations, can be regarded as an essential form of popular media. Although television plays an important role within and across all levels of society, the relationship between television and Thai cultural identity is a problematic and ambiguous one; it is also a subject of study often neglected or not taken seriously enough in Thailand. This research project, "Popular Television and the Construction of Contemporary Thai Cultural Identity', is an exploration into the relationship between television and the formation of contemporary Thai cultural identity. It draws together media and cultural studies and the study of television in contemporary Thailand. Through interviews with key media practitioners and an analysis of popular television programmes (such as the controversial game show 'The Weakest Link', popular dramas, youth programmes, and broadcasts of national rituals), the research has found that television plays a prominent role in Thai cultural identity formation. One existing line of argument is that Thai cultural identity in the era of globalisation has been inevitably influenced by western homogenisation, as is suggested by the thesis of Cultural Imperialism. Yet on the other hand, globalisation has played a multi-faceted role in creating the sense of Nationalism which has led to the strengthening of Thai traditional identity, evidence of which can be seen in the Thai government's use of television to support Thai tradition and values. In this way, television has played a unifying role in the formation of Thai cultural identity. Moreover, globalisation, as a new global-local articulation, has also created a new kind of cultural hybridity which is apparent in the styles, forms, and language usage in certain youth programmes. In addition to the theoretical analyses, focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews have been conducted in order to examine the 'cultural hybridity' of 'mixed-race' youngsters in Thailand, and the roles television has played in the formation of their identity. The research has further found that 'mixed-race' youngsters (`third-culture kids' or TCKs) in Thailand have learnt to 'translate' themselves within the different cultures. And television, in some way, has helped them make sense of, and negotiate between, the different cultures they are living in.

The aim of this study is to explore advertising and in particular advertising reception as a significant part of contemporary social practice. Although advertising in some form has been a feature of a wide range of societies, historically and culturally, its economic and social importance has perhaps never been greater. Advertising, across the industrial period and in particular since the Second World War, has through the entrenchment of market economies and the development of different media technologies increased its reach and density through a variety of means. It has become a significant media form, received by audiences differentiated by social, economic, spatial and other factors. This study enquires into the nature of audience reception of advertising through an exploration and application of the encoding/decoding media model. The study argues that attention to the textual and formal elements of the model need to be given greater emphasis and the decoding aspect of the model broadened to deal with a complexity of contextual factors contributing to the process. Advertising media by their nature are comprised of different formal and presentational means. The study focuses on newsprint, television and billboard and other outdoor advertising. The public and private environments in which these forms appear can be characterised through the social and symbolic difference between the domestic environment in which much television is viewed and the outdoor urban environment in which much billboard advertising appears. These are recognised as contributory elements in the reception of advertising and any significance the advert may have for its audience. Audience decoding of advertisements is then a combination of producer intent and a complexity of contributory factors brought to or found in the decoding process. This includes a recognition of various ways of seeing associated with different media forms and social and spatial circumstances and the presentation and reception of adverts as part of a flow of advertising and of a wider social experience. The relation between adverts and other texts also has important intertextual consequences for reception. In the process of decoding, it will be argued that social groups can be understood to act as interpretive communities and a process of advertising diffusion can be observed. Three empirical case studies form a survey of mainly car or car related advertising, featuring television, billboard and newsprint advertising, and highlight a range of possible decodings. The significance of historical and social factors is confirmed as important in securing particular readings of advertisements, and spatial, environmental and contextual features are emphasised in this survey. The survey acknowledges the significance of advertising form and medium and highlights the circumstances in which negotiated and oppositional readings may occur. This study re-emphasises that advertising texts form their signification within a complex arrangement of synchronic and diachronic circumstances in which immediate social and environmental factors should be accorded further significance in the study of advertising. The study concludes with a reflection on its methods and procedures and a consideration of further work that might be carried out in the area of empirical advertising studies. In the interest of a richer understanding of advertising, further research would acknowledge the complexities of audience reception and might include an enquiry into further advertising contexts and environments.