Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Web Content Management System And Accessibility Awareness: A Comparative Study Of Novice Users And Accessibility Outcomes, Fatima Artiba Diaz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since its creation, the Web has progressively developed and become a vital source of information in every domain and for almost all people. It is crucial to guarantee that the information contained on the Web is available for everyone, especially for people with special needs. Removing accessibility barriers is fundamentally based on tools, skills and support of all contributors, particularly the content creators, to ensure information is navigable and usable in the context of the end users experience. Web Content Management Systems play a significant role in structuring, storing and provision content to the Web and have evolved to address …

Appraisal Of Free Online Symptom Checkers And Applications For Self-Diagnosis And Triage: An Australian Evaluation, Michella Gaye Hill

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The internet has impacted society and changed the way companies and individuals operate on a daily basis. Seeking information online via computer or mobile device is common practice. The phrase ‘Google it’ is now part of modern vernacular and is a resource increasingly utilised by young and old alike. Around 80% of Australian’s search health-related information online as it is convenient, cheap, and available 24/7. Symptom checkers are one tool used by consumers to investigate their health issues. Symptom checkers are automated online programs which use computerised algorithms, asking a series of questions to help determine a potential diagnosis and/or …

Facebook: Where Privacy Concerns And Social Needs Collide, Sonya Scherini

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Facebook is an integral part of today’s social landscape, but Facebook use involves compromising one’s privacy in relation to both other users and to the Facebook corporation and its affiliated businesses. This analysis explores respondents’ reasons for using Facebook together with their Facebook-related privacy concerns, and how these factors influence self-disclosures and privacy management strategies on the site. Also explored are respondents’ perceptions both of what the Facebook corporation ‘knows’ about them and with whom it shares their data. The research is based on the concepts of user-user and user-corporate privacy concerns versus the social needs of self-portrayal and belonging. …

Caught In The Frame: A Critical Analysis Of Australian Media Representations Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 2014–2015, Mayyada Mhanna

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite the many current conflicts in the Middle East and the world, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict is still one of the most significant conflicts of the modern era. The reasons for this include the history and violence of this conflict and the lack of practical solutions for it. The significance of this conflict is reflected in its prevalence in many disciplines, such as political science and media studies. Related literature shows that Australian media coverage of this conflict has not been investigated thoroughly. Hence, this study attempts to bridge this gap in literature, aiming to identify how Australian media portray …

Reading Between The Crimes: Online Media’S Representation Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People’S Interaction With The Criminal Justice System In Post-Apology Australia, Jonathan Cannon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Australian research confirms that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience high levels of social inequality, racism and injustice. Evidence of discrimination and inequality is most obvious within the criminal justice system where they are seriously over-represented. The Australian news media plays a large part in reinforcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality, stereotypes and racist ideology within specific situations such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the Redfern riots. This study widens the scope from how the media reports a single criminal justice event to how the media reports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interaction with the …

Investigating The Practice And Capacity Of Paediatric Occupational Therapists To Promote The Physical Activity Levels Of Children In Western Australia, Sally Coombs

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Reorientation of the Australian health care system to meet the increasing burden of disease requires health workers to develop a focus on disease prevention and health promotion. In Western Australia (WA) a priority area for the promotion of health involves increasing the physical activity levels (PAL) of children in accordance with Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. There is substantial support in the literature for paediatric occupational therapists, who assist children to participate in a range of meaningful occupations, to incorporate the promotion of children’s PAL into their service. However, there is a dearth of research world-wide regarding occupational …

Communication: How Do Females With Rett Syndrome Perform This Activity And What Factors Influence Performance?, Anna Urbanowicz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily caused by mutations in the X-linked methyl-Cp2G-binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene. The disorder affects approximately 1 in 9000 females and is usually associated with language, physical and intellectual impairments, each of which contributes to difficulties with communication. In Rett syndrome, eye gaze is considered a common form of communication and conventional methods, such as talking and gestures, less common. Females appear to use these forms of communication to serve a number of functions including choice making, requesting, social convention, bringing attention to themselves, and to reject, comment and answer. However, the literature …

Factors Influencing Young Bystanders' Decisions To Intervene When Witnessing Cyber-Aggression: A Mixed Methods Exploration, Lisa Jodi Patterson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the modern proliferation of computers, the Internet and smart phones, adolescents are at increased risk of cyber-aggression: negative, harmful behaviour expressed through electronic means and aimed at an individual (or group of individuals). Cyber-aggression can have serious consequences for the social, emotional and physical health of both targets and perpetrators. Some experts recommend tackling cyberaggression using the strategies applied to face-to-face forms of aggression and bullying in school environments. One such strategy is to encourage peer bystanders to intervene in a positive way, which has been demonstrated to influence both the duration and severity of bullying episodes in the …

The Identity Of The Heart Patient In The Context Of The Gift Economy: Heartnet And Media Framing, Lynsey Uridge

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

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 …

A Comparison Of Australian And German Literary Journalism, Christine Boven

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and compare the traditions shaping the development of literary journalism in Australia and Germany. Tracing the different historical developments of the form in the two countries provides the contextual basis for an in-depth comparative analysis, which concentrates on the concepts of credibility and authenticity. The thesis explores whether different attitudes to news and opinion in journalism in the two countries influence these notions that are central to literary journalism. However, in the comparative analysis other significant factors become apparent. In four case studies, two from each country, consisting of book-length examples of …

The Development Of Community Cable Television In Taizhou And The Rise Of The Chinese Middle Class, Shangling Lin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis looks at the development of community cable television in the eastern coastal town of Taizhou in China from its beginnings in the 1990s to 2007. The establishment of community cable television can be seen as a new form of media production in China, by which changes in economic and political power and social identity can be traced. My hometown of Taizhou serves as a good example of this societal development. Taizhou is famous for private economy. Its average income is ranked in the top six among more than three hundred cities in China, making the middle class the …

Print To Pixel: How Can The Cultural Implications Of Mediated Images And Text Be Examined Using Creative Practice?, Patricia Adele Thomas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Information in the twenty-first century is at our fingertips in an instant. Through the technology of the mobile phone, computer, and television, we are alerted to information of international, national, local, and personal significance. The aim of this research is to establish that creative practice can provide a cogent forum with which to interrogate the cultural implications of mediated images and text in the twenty first Century. This exegesis Print to pixel explores the interrelationship between the political and cultural values as identified in the various codes within western mainstream news media. The cultural implications of the shift from print …

The Perception And Practice Of Silence In Australian And Jordanian Societies : A Socio-Pragmatic Study, Ahmad Al-Harahsheh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The willingness to understand the perception and practice of silence is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention in the literature on sociolinguistics and pragmatics. This study aims to investigate silence as perceived and practised by speakers of Australian English and Jordanian Arabic in casual conversation from a socio-pragmatic perspective. It also attempts to anticipate processes in which silence can be created and used in the mainstream of communication. In addition, it identifies problems in perceiving and practising silence in both cultures. The present study also looks at gender differences in both societies. Ethnographic and qualitative data were drawn from …

Brand And Public Relations In The Taiwanese Not-For-Profit Sector : A Case Study Of The Eden Social Welfare Foundation, I-Hsuan Wu

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In a competitive environment in Taiwan, not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) seek to differentiate themselves from other NPOs. ‘Brand’ improves the internal functions and competitiveness of these NPOs; attracts funding to them by making use of public relations (PR) strategies and techniques and expanding the access to public resources; and also conveys a slick corporate image to the public. This research project has adopted a PR perception of leading marketing concepts to look at charity brand strategy. This approach has been taken instead of the more common marketing-oriented perspective. NPOs exist because of their public service or social welfare missions. The best …

The Gendered Body In Virtual Space : Sexuality, Performance And Play In Four Second Life Spaces, Judith Elund

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This work is principally an investigation into visual and screen culture, using four specific regions of the three-dimensional virtual world of ‘Second Life’ as case studies. The analysis follows a thematic application of discourse analysis as a basis for critiquing Western screen culture, most importantly the cultural and social conditions that replicate dominant paradigms of power and agency. Of particular pertinence to this study are the framing, representational and spatial practices of gendered and sexual identities within ‘Second Life’ spaces. As is typical of the internet, sexual freedom is a given, yet representational performance (how one appears through their embodied …

Reducing Risk And Injury To Transit Officers, Christine Teague

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines whether an understanding of the communication and safety culture of transit officers, who form part of a security section of a large state Rail Transport Organisation (RTO), can lead to strategies to reduce their risk of injury. The core functions of the transit officer position are passenger safety and customer service. This puts the officers in the front line of defence against the antisocial behaviour from some patrons that occurs regularly on the railway system. Like urban railways the world over, this anti-social behaviour can range from bad language to severe violence. Whilst these officers are not …

The Role Of Information And Communication Technologies In Managing Transition And Sustaining Women's Health During Their Midlife Years, Julie Dare

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research has been motivated primarily by a desire to extend and enrich existing research on women’s uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to manage relationships, and access and construct social support during their transitional midlife years. In doing so, this research addresses a gap in the literature on women’s consumption of such technologies. Since the late 1980s, when several landmark studies investigated women’s use of the telephone, there has been little systematic evaluation of the degree to which newer communication technologies have become integrated into women’s communication practices.

Another key feature of this research is an examination of …

An Investigation Into A Community Information Database System In The Northeast Of Thailand: Community Empowerment Through Community Learning Centres, Chumnong Wongchachom

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Following the economic downturn in the late 1990s the Government of Thailand restructured the economy resulting in rapid economic recovery. The society now needs developments to project it into the Information Age. This study is but one creative response to this need. To initiate the study, an extensively validated Questionnaire was implemented with a snowball sample comprising 500 representative, non-randomised respondents from the four provinces of the Inpeng Community Network (ICN). The purpose of the Questionnaire was to ascertain levels of information needs and local knowledge, and to identify ten local experts from ICN for subsequent In-depth Interviews. Data obtained …

Promoting Metacognitive Regulation Through An On-Line Environment, Mark Mcmahon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The constantly evolving world of work is causing a great deal of emphasis on the need for graduating students to demonstrate a range of generic skills to enable them to be both employable and able to adapt easily to new requirements. However, research indicates that secondary schooling is not preparing students adequately for learning independently.

This study sought to explore strategies for developing and supporting the metacognitive skills of higher education students. In particular, it sought to explore how university students' cognitive self-regulation could be supported in an on-line environment designed to engage them in the self-monitoring integral to metacognitive …

Processual Media Theory, Organised Networks And The Politics Of Information Societies, Ned Rossiter

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis setss out to re-evaluate and re-think theories of communications media and theories of democracy formation under translocal, global and networked conditions. In order to do this, the thesis brings a combination of social and communications theory, political philosophy and "radical empiricism" to the study of the socio-technical dimensions of Net cultures. It examines the ways in which emergent networks of creativity, labour, organisation and intervention challenge the sovereignty of the state-corporation nexus, which functions tu restrict access and control information flows in the interests of security and profit. The thesis investigates the relationship between emergent forms of organisation …

Keeping The Money Under The Soap : Constructions Of The English And English Migrants In Australian Nationalist Texts, Ann Rule

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Where does an Englishman hide his money?' 'I don't know. Where does an Englishman hide his money?' 'Under the soap'. This thesis interrogates representations of ‘Englishness’and by extension, English migrants, in a variety of Australian cultural texts, including film, television, newspapers and academic publications. Underlying this investigation are two major research questions: What are the factors informing the ambivalent place accorded 'Englishness' in Australian cultural texts? and What can this form of investigation tell us about Australian culture and associated national myths? I have attempted to reinterpret these national myths through the texts/ narratives of Englishness and class. One of …

Alcohol Restraint Television Advertisements Targeted At Adolescents : A Three-Way Comparison Of Reinforcement Styles On Attitude To The Advertisement, Attitude To The Cause And Attitude To The Act, Neil Robinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Adolescent binge-drinking is an area of great concern in Australia as it is with many other developed countries around the world. Every year in Australia, Commonwealth and State health authorities invest considerable resources into trying to address this issue and the results have been described as being at best, mixed. Health promotion initiatives such as school programmes, media promotion and health programmes coupled w1th restrictions on supply of alcohol are all used to try and curb the incidence of adolescent binge drinking. In recent years television advertising has specifically been used to try and curb the incidence of adolescent binge-drinking …

Scratching Protest: A Study Of Graffiti As Communication In Universities In Thailand, Sirach Lapyai

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study examines the production of campus graffiti as an alternative communication channel and opportunity for Thai students in three universities in three different parts in Thailand. The writing of graffiti is deemed an illegal activity in Thailand, which makes its prevalence on the Thai university campus an intriguing issue. To understand why Thai university students so readily indulge in an illegal activity this thesis investigates student graffiti through an analysis of graffiti as anonymous resistance from students to authoritarian power exercised on campus and as an escape from sociocultural taboos and cultural oppressions that Thai society places on youth …

Hardwiring Consumer Desire: Publishing And Promoting The Online Technocultural Experience : A Critical Textual Analysis Of Wired Magazine And Its Advertising, 1993-1996, Ann Willis

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines the evolution of magazine publishing in the face of significant technological change in print-based industries. It takes as its focus the techno-lifestyle magazine Wired, and to a lesser degree its online derivative, Hot Wired because both these media magazines exemplify the changes in publishing examined. In the magazine's initial editorial statement Louis Rossetto, the publisher and editor of Wired, claimed to ''reinvent the magazine .. ,going beyond paper by making our hard copy edition a gateway to our interactive services" {Rossetto, 1993, p. 12). This claim demands an explanation as it suggests that changes in media are …

Monday Morning And The Millennium : Cultural Studies, Scepticism And The Concept Of Power, Mark Gibson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The thesis examines the use or the concept of power in cultural studies, offering a revisionist perspective on the history or this use. The dominant approach to questions or power in the field, it is argued, is a 'rationalist' one: the various phenomena comprehended under the concept are conceived ultimately as instances or the one phenomenon. This approach implies that positions in relation to power share a common referent allowing them to be assessed according to general criteria of 'correctness' or theoretical adequacy. It also allows developments in debates around power to be represented in terms or a narrative or …

Managing The Information Overload : A Case Study Of Managerial Staff In A Government Department, Kerttu Hamilton

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research shows that the amount of information has grown vastly and information technology has greatly increased its availability. This has caused changes in the organisational environment, placing greater and greater demands on the individuals' and organisations' capacity to absorb and process information. Since information is considered to be a valuable and necessary asset, and as time for processing information is limited, an individual will have to make choices about what information to process. An exploratory case study was conducted to ascertain what rationale do individuals in an organisational setting use for making decisions about what information to process from the …

The Construction Of A Particular Version Of The Modern Indonesian Women In Contemporary Indonesian Women's Magazines, Rachmah Ida

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis analyses the representation of women in two women’s magazines in Indonesia. It compares and contrasts the representation of women under the New Order Regime (1966-1998) and the Reformasi (reformation) period (1998-1999) through an analysis of the content of Kartini and Femina, between 1992 and 1998. It seeks to understand how changes in the representation of women are specifically related to the social, economic, and political changes in Indonesia. Moreover, by analysing the cultural production of a particular popular media [women’s magazines], this study examines the explicit characteristics of Indonesian women that have been identified as “modern” in the …