Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Social Research
- Creators: Mean, Lindsey
Description
Although the social network site (SNS) Facebook achieved great success around the world, in China, it was over taken by the local website Kaixin001. Using comparative analysis and interviews, this thesis compared the architecture of the two websites and Chinese users' attitude towards them. From one side, the result indicates that they are almost the same, but not quite. Kaixin001 is a copycat which adapts to local cultures and political regulations. From the other side, the research also highlights that people associate Kaixin001 with a game platform rather than a social tool. It suggests that there are two layers of digital divide: access and utilization. Chinese users can not get equal access because of the Great Firewall. At the same time, unlike western users, they are fond of playing games, listening music and other functions, rather than creating original content or building social capital. Therefore, the SNS utilization is not equal. Because of regulations and self-surveillance, their SNS use is enjoying the apolitical does not challenge the Chinese state. At the end of the thesis, the author points out the limitations of this research. As Internet-mediated qualitative research, this study lacks extended time and samples to explore the SNSs in global context. Further research is needed to collect extended samples. Moreover, the users' dependence on social network websites may be addressed to seek more comprehensive and deeper understanding of SNS.
ContributorsQin, Yuchun (Author) / Wise, Greg (Thesis advisor) / Kassing, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Waldron, Vincent (Committee member) / Mean, Lindsey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This thesis explores the relationship between sports and human rights based on United Nations reports and literature within the growing Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector. Recognizing the benefits of sport (including physical activity and play), SDP posits sport as an effective tool for achieving humanitarian, development, and peace objectives. Inspired by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team in Training (TNT) sports charity training model, which provides participants valuable coaching in exchange for charity fundraising, this research looked at the contribution of TNT and endurance sports to SDP for individual and social change. Interviews were conducted with TNT staff and team members (who are recent or current participants of the program) in order to find out specific reasons about why people join the program and to identify the benefits of combining endurance training with charity fundraising and what impacts this had on personal life goals and challenges. Using thematic analysis to identify key themes from the interview data, the study acknowledged the program's successes in developing endurance athletes and raising money for LLS research and services but also found an additional dimension to the merit of the program. The accomplishment of completing four months of training culminating in the completion of an endurance event with the support of team mates and coaches provides a life changing experience for participants. The study concludes that positive impacts of the TNT program can be applied to other organizations, causes and social issues. In particular it showed how endurance sport not only has physiological benefits but can be used as a method of healing and reconciliation, can aid in advocacy and awareness, and promote individual development.
ContributorsAdviento, Laura Marie (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Elenes, Alejandra (Committee member) / Kassing, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT
Elite experience and careers in judged female sports complicate the binary categories of retirement while they are especially exposed to cultures of abuse, pressure and subjectivity. This thesis is comprised of multiple voices and experiences from the elite female athletic perspective, including my autoethnographic narrative. Highlighted and discussed are the topics of sexual assault and abuse, family pressure on children to do and excel at sport, the National Team experience representing the United States and subjected bodies and judging. It is an aim of this thesis to culminate all of those factors in the final chapter and hold that the experience and the cultures of athletic identity within synchronized swimming, gymnastics and figure skating not only cannot be explained by current research on athletic identity through retirement but have the capability to retire undeveloped young women by overdeveloped athletic identities. Through a sampling of voices and experiences across different female judged sports, over three decades, the reader will observe similarities that cause these sports to have a culture of solidarity through the aspects they hold in common with each other. The narrative highlights pivotal moments in the lives of the elite female athlete within these sports, which add to the calculation of their athletic identities and the lack of their personal identities. Through reflection and analyses of not only my story, but the interviewees from my original research and that of Joan Ryan’s as well, I aim to voice a mutual experience of elite athletes. Consisting of multiple factors throughout many years we will see through my autoethnography, paralleling with other voices and experiences, how it all intersects and contributes to this: Who am I now and where do I go from here?
Elite experience and careers in judged female sports complicate the binary categories of retirement while they are especially exposed to cultures of abuse, pressure and subjectivity. This thesis is comprised of multiple voices and experiences from the elite female athletic perspective, including my autoethnographic narrative. Highlighted and discussed are the topics of sexual assault and abuse, family pressure on children to do and excel at sport, the National Team experience representing the United States and subjected bodies and judging. It is an aim of this thesis to culminate all of those factors in the final chapter and hold that the experience and the cultures of athletic identity within synchronized swimming, gymnastics and figure skating not only cannot be explained by current research on athletic identity through retirement but have the capability to retire undeveloped young women by overdeveloped athletic identities. Through a sampling of voices and experiences across different female judged sports, over three decades, the reader will observe similarities that cause these sports to have a culture of solidarity through the aspects they hold in common with each other. The narrative highlights pivotal moments in the lives of the elite female athlete within these sports, which add to the calculation of their athletic identities and the lack of their personal identities. Through reflection and analyses of not only my story, but the interviewees from my original research and that of Joan Ryan’s as well, I aim to voice a mutual experience of elite athletes. Consisting of multiple factors throughout many years we will see through my autoethnography, paralleling with other voices and experiences, how it all intersects and contributes to this: Who am I now and where do I go from here?
ContributorsHaylor, Alyson (Author) / Colbern, Allan (Thesis advisor) / Mean, Lindsey (Committee member) / Kassing, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) offer community spaces where players can interact and develop a diverse range of skills online, such as communication and socialization, that can be applied offline. Designing more inclusive community spaces is crucial to give a more diverse range of individuals the chance to develop these skills. One way to add diversity to an online community space is to attract players with diverse personalities and play styles. This study is a qualitative exploration of personality and play in Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV). The specific research question is: what kinds of patterns exist in player personality and in the choices players make in a massively multi-player online (MMO) game Subjects were given the Big 5 personality survey to measure the five core personality dimensions. The survey also included FFXIV-specific items about in-game preferences and play styles of the players, and it concluded with open-ended questions that allowed subjects to explain certain choices. Thematic analysis was used to find patterns in the open-ended questions. The results of this exploratory study indicate that the players in this community are mostly casual and play FFXIV for the content and social aspects of the game. They enjoyed the customization options and gameplay of FFXIV. It is important to be open to the different backgrounds of players who join the Free Company (FC) and to accommodate their preferences and choices in the game. Consistent player interactions and activities with other members in their FC help to create a sense of community.
ContributorsFlor, Michelle Kaitlyn (Author) / Wise, Greg (Thesis advisor) / Mean, Lindsey (Committee member) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023