Browsing by Author "Pitcher, Sandra."

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Being a ‘good’ Zulu woman? an investigation of female UKZN students’ self-perception of ‘Zuluness’.
(2017) Ngubane, Sinenhlanhla Diana.; Pitcher, Sandra.
In this study, the researcher was interested in understanding and exploring what female Zulu UKZN students on the Howard College and Pietermaritzburg campuses felt made a ‘good’ Zulu woman. The objectives of the study were to explore academic literature, which outlines the role of women in Zulu culture with the intention of finding out how female UKZN Zulu students reacted to these ideals. Researchers all seem to agree that in order for a Zulu woman to be considered ‘good’ she has to have certain characteristics and attributes that derive from Zulu culture. These include being kind, humble and nurturing. The findings of this dissertation reinforced some of these characteristics as participants felt that a Zulu woman needs to perform domestic chores, maintain the household and bear children for her husband. However, there were also a number of findings, which highlighted confusion from participants as to what was expected of them as Zulu women, often attempting to justify normative gender identities in combination of independence and individuality outside of the traditional Zulu home.
Brand engagement on facebook : an analysis of UKZN Pietermaritzburg student habits.
(2017) Duma, Mathabo Castalea.; Pitcher, Sandra.
Facebook is a type of social media platform that is used by millions of people around the world to engage in peer-to-peer conversations. Brands also use this platform to share their interests, thoughts and opinions with their consumers. Mostly, this is due to the high increase of social networking sites globally, so brands are now turning away from traditional forms communication to new types of integrated marketing communication. Additionally, studies have shown that the youth are heavy users of the Internet and online social networking sites however, little data exists on the use of the Internet and online social networks, including Facebook, in the global South. The main objective of this study is to explore how the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal's students use Facebook to interact with brands. In particular, the study explores the perceptions on brand engagement on Facebook, the ways in which Facebook helps facilitate sharing and the types of brands students choose to share with their network. An explanatory sequential design was adopted as a mixed method technique to understand the interplay between branding concepts and social media. Findings revealed that students use Facebook to engage with brands however, results show that there is a shift from using Facebook to using other platforms such as Instagram, concluding that students preferred to engage with brands with Facebook in combination with other platforms.
Brand engagement on Facebook : an analysis of UKZN Pietermaritzburg student habits.
(2017) Duma, Mathabo Castalea.; Pitcher, Sandra.
Facebook is a type of social media platform that is used by millions of people around the world to engage in peer-to-peer conversations. Brands also use this platform to share their interests, thoughts and opinions with their consumers. Mostly, this is due to the high increase of social networking sites globally, so brands are now turning away from traditional forms communication to new types of integrated marketing communication. Additionally, studies have shown that the youth are heavy users of the Internet and online social networking sites however, little data exists on the use of the Internet and online social networks, including Facebook, in the global South. The main objective of this study is to explore how the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal's students use Facebook to interact with brands. In particular, the study explores the perceptions on brand engagement on Facebook, the ways in which Facebook helps facilitate sharing and the types of brands students choose to share with their network. An explanatory sequential design was adopted as a mixed method technique to understand the interplay between branding concepts and social media. Findings revealed that students use Facebook to engage with brands however, results show that there is a shift from using Facebook to using other platforms such as Instagram, concluding that students preferred to engage with brands with Facebook in combination with other platforms.
Deviant doodling: contextualising the discourses of Zapiro in a socially responsible press.
(2016) Pitcher, Sandra.; Jones, Nicola-Jane.
Abstract available in PDF file.
Hashtag activism : assessing the perceived value of online activism campaigns among UKZN (PMB) students.
(2017) Pillay, Nikolai.; Pitcher, Sandra.
The phenomenon of online activism is relatively new and thus, there is little in the way of research on the subject, particularly in the African and, more specifically, the South African context. This dissertation aims to analyse the emotional reactions and behaviours of students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg) regarding online activism. To do this, this dissertation focuses on the concepts of the public sphere, networks, participatory culture and activism, both traditional and online, discussing how these concepts have evolved and how they intermingle in order to allow for online activism to be a viable form of activism. In order to analyse this, data collected from students will be analysed and discussed in relation to the aforementioned concepts. From this, conclusions will be drawn relating to whether students engage in online activism, whether students believe online activism is a meaningful form of engagement or whether they believe it to be a lazy substitution as critics do and finally, whether students believe online activism is capable of creating tangible change in the real-world.
Hearing the ‘Voiceless’ : examining the #FeesMustFall movement as an issue community.
(2017) Muchena, Mellisa Rufaro.; Pitcher, Sandra.
The hashtag #FeesMustFall was adopted by students on social media platforms as a rallying cry to unite students and the public to support the cause for free education in South Africa (Thomas, 2015). This study aims to ‘listen’ to the voices of #FeesMustFall 2016 on Twitter. Literature focussed on exploring how issue communities (Mareider and Schwarzenegger, 2012) and social curation (Villi, 2012) provide insight on the characteristics of the #FeesMustFall movement. Furthermore, this research investigates the conversations of this online community on matters of free education. Therefore, the conversations were examined using the norms of the Hauserian (1999) public sphere, which focusses on discourse and not the group enacting the discourse. Because this research explored aspects of ‘hashtag activism’, this type of analysis proved useful to understand new types of civic engagement which occur on online platforms like social media. In terms of methodological framework, this study was grounded within cultural studies and network theory as it explored the discourses within the conversations and the network structure of the community. This helped uncover the underlying topics discussed in the community, and identify the most influential members.
Hearing the ‘Voiceless’ : Examining the #FeesMustFall movement as an issue community.
(2017) Muchena, Mellisa Rufaro.; Pitcher, Sandra.
Hearing the ‘Voiceless’: Examining the #FeesMustFall movement as an issue community The hashtag #FeesMustFall was adopted by students on social media platforms as a rallying cry to unite students and the public to support the cause for free education in South Africa (Thomas, 2015). This study aims to ‘listen’ to the voices of #FeesMustFall 2016 on Twitter. Literature focussed on exploring how issue communities (Mareider and Schwarzenegger, 2012) and social curation (Villi, 2012) provide insight on the characteristics of the #FeesMustFall movement. Furthermore, this research investigates the conversations of this online community on matters of free education. Therefore, the conversations were examined using the norms of the Hauserian (1999) public sphere, which focusses on discourse and not the group enacting the discourse. Because this research explored aspects of ‘hashtag activism’, this type of analysis proved useful to understand new types of civic engagement which occur on online platforms like social media. In terms of methodological framework, this study was grounded within cultural studies and network theory as it explored the discourses within the conversations and the network structure of the community. This helped uncover the underlying topics discussed in the community, and identify the most influential members.
The mass collaboration of digital information : an ethical examination of YouTube and intellectual property rights.
(2010) Pitcher, Sandra.; Jones, Nicola-Jane.; Michell, Lincoln.
The Internet has been lauded as an open and free platform from which one is able to engage with, and share large amounts of information (Stallman, 1997). As one witnesses the shift from analogue media to digitalism, so too is it possible to note a change in cultural practices of media consumers. Users of the media can now be viewed as “prosumers”, producing as well as consuming media products (Marshall, 2004). Digital media users have been given the ability to engineer their own unique media experiences, especially within the realms of the Internet. However, this process has seemingly led to mass copyright infringement as Internet users appropriate various movies, music, television programmes, photographs and animations in order to create such an experience. The art of digital mashing in particular, has been deemed an explicit exploitation of intellectual property rights as it re-cuts, re-mixes and re-broadcasts popular media in a number of alternative ways. YouTube especially has been at the forefront of the copyright furore surrounding digital mash-ups because it allows online users the facility to post and share these video clips freely with other online users. While YouTube claims that they do not promote the illegal use of copyrighted material, they simultaneously acknowledge that they do not actively patrol that which is posted on their website. As such, copyright infringement appears seemingly rife as users share their own versions of popular media through the art of digital mashing. This dissertation however, explores the concept that the creation of mash-ups is not undermining intellectual property rights, but instead produces a new avenue from which culture can emerge. It highlights how Internet users are utilising the culture which surrounds them in an attempt to navigate the new social structures of the online, subsequently arguing that mash-ups are an important element of defining a new postmodern culture, and that the traditional copyright laws of analogue need to be modified in order to secure the development of new and emerging societal structures.
The print to digital transmediation of the visual rhetoric of comic books : a comparative case study involving Marvel's Uncanny X-Men 328 (Print) and Madefire's motion book titles (Digital).
(2014) Tomaselli, Damien Rinaldo.; Jones, Nicola-Jane.; Pitcher, Sandra.
No abstract available.