Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Speaking In Thai, Dreaming In Isan: Popular Thai Television And Emerging Identities Of Lao Isan Youth Living In Northeast Thailand, Catherine Hesse-Swain

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This is an ethnographic study of how Lao Isan youth living in the northeastern provincial capital Khon Kaen and nearby town Mahasarakham experience Thainess or khwampenthai in its most popular form – television. People who inhabit the northeast of Thailand interchangeably label themselves and are labelled by others as Isan, Thai Isan, Lao Isan, Thai or Lao, depending on the ethnic, political, social or familial nuances of any given situation. I use the term Lao Isan to refer specifically to Isan people of Lao origin or ethnicity. Lao Isan are subject to complex and often competing notions of Isanness, Laoness …

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 …

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 …

Exploring Community Development In Online Settings, Christopher Brook

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

As educators and training providers embrace online technologies, some researchers posit that the development of a learning community is perhaps the most fundamental goal of online instructors (Hiltz, 1997). The process for developing and maintaining learning communities, however, remains unclear (Bonk & Wisher, 2000; PaJloff & Pratt, 1999). This study sought to provide insight into factors that influence community development through an exploration of the community experience in online settings. To do this, it was necessary to establish an understanding of the community construct through an extensive review of contemporary literature. A review of the online learning community literature was …

On Being-In-Community : A Phenomenological Explication Of The Experience Of Being-In-Community : In The Context Of The Community Building Workshop Tm And Business, Carl Holroyd

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A call for business to introduce a humanistic workplace ethos within a supportive work community resounds throughout the western world. Scott Peck's model of community building workshops is explored as a tool for creating a business ethos centred-on human flourishing which embraces the principles of socially responsible community. The CBW provides a concrete experience of a psychological and physiological sense of deep-community. In -Peck's vernacular, this is termed as being in-community. In my research the experience of being-in-community is explicated via phenomenological analysis, which allows some of the eidetic structures of the phenomenon to come to light. The experience is …

Multiply-Mediated Households : Space And Power Reflected In Everyday Media Use, Donell Joy Holloway

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates how contemporary Australian families incorporate the consumption of multiple media technologies within their home environments. It uses an approach similar to David Morley's (1986) Family Television where he explored the consumption of television programs in the context of everyday family life. He viewed the household (or family) as the key to constructing understandings of the television audience; where there were gendered regimes of watching, and where program choice often reflected existing power relationships in the home. However since then (a time when most families had only one television set) the media environment of many homes has changed. …

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 …

History, Culture And Alcohol: Drinking Patterns In Poland And Australia, Barbara Wolska

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

It is a widely held view in Poland that for centuries those in power have promoted heavy drinking among their subjects in order to achieve their various goals and that this contributed to the development of Polish drinking patterns. There is some empirical evidence that the political economy of alcohol in Poland promoted heavy drinking among the Polish population. Drinking alcohol in Poland was an important aspect of social situations. The most popular beverage was vodka(s). Social pressure to drink in the extreme was attributed to the tradition of hospitality. Cultural norms encouraged very heavy drinking among men and imposed …

Surviving Sexually Oriented Bias Incidents: The Experiences Of Homosexually Active Men, Christopher Churchouse

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Discrimination, persecution, violence and harassment of certain groups are not a new phenomenon. Legend has described the formation of groups who have been known to persecute others, such as Jews, blacks, religious orders, as a means of protecting the dominant views of society. Homosexually active men have been reported as being one such group that has been persecuted over time due exclusively to their sexual orientation. The purpose of this structured, descriptive study, was to describe the experience of what it feels like to be violated, harassed, persecuted or discriminated against due to sexual orientation, as well as to seek …

Urban Aboriginal Children In Sport: Experiences, Perceptions And Sense Of Self, Cheryl S. Kickett-Tucker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to describe the sense of self for a group of urban Western Australian Aboriginal children through analysing their perspectives and experiences in school sport and physical education. A symbolic interaction inquiry paradigm complemented with qualitative data collection methods was utilised. Informal conversational interviews and nonparticipant observations were employed. Interviews were conducted with participants and those whom they reported as their significant others. Participants were also observed in the school sport setting during physical education classes and intra and inter school sport competitions. Eight Western Australian Aboriginal children who resided in an urban suburb of …

Chinese And Australian Conversational Styles: A Comparative Sociolinguistic Study Of Overlap And Listener Response, Xudong Deng

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study compares the use of overlap and listener response by Chinese and Australian speakers in their respective intracultural conversations, that is, in conversations between Chinese interlocutors in Mandarin Chinese and between Australians in Australian English. The main purpose of this study is to locate similarities and differences between these two groups of speakers in their use of the two conversational strategies. Another major theme of the thesis is to examine the role of gender in the use of overlap and listener response in conversations of the two languages. The study is based upon the theoretical premise of interactional sociolinguistics …

The Lived Experience Of A Group Of Mothers, Geographically Isolated From Their Extended Families, In Establishing Their Social Support Networks, Stephanie Jackiewicz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explores the Jived experience of a group of women, geographically isolated from their extended family, as they establish their new support networks. It is based on the assumption that the shape and structure of families are constantly changing and evolving and this change in family structure impacts on both the parents and the children. One of the significant changes families are experiencing is the increasing isolation of the nuclear family from traditional family networks. It is the purpose of this study to explore the experience of this group of women to identify how the members establish their support …

The Social Construction Of Masculinity As It Relates To Sport: An Investigation Into The Lives Of Elite Level Athletes Competing In Individually-Oriented Masculinised Sports, Murray Drummond

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Sport has long been regarded as a masculine domain. In the past the literature has tended to focus on male athletes with respect to sensational or noteworthy performances, however little attention has been placed on the reasons why men participate in sport and the subsequent underpinning sociological implications of masculinity. This research investigated the lives of 12 elite level athletes competing in the three individually-oriented sports of triathlon, surf lifesaving and bodybuilding to attain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between male identity and sport, and the process of masculinisation experienced by men throughout the lifecourse. Further, it explored …