Abstract
This study, written in 2001, is a qualitative research examining how society uses and is affected by communication technology, primarily through digital imagery. This writer's perspective is that, through media, society's ties to the past are being diluted into oblivion and that our thoughts are being molded into a homogeneous lifestyle devoid of diversity and history.
(Please note: Although this was written several years ago the study and findings are relevant to today's society)
Chapter 1
...presents an introduction of the 4 guiding questions to this research. Supporting issues are also introduced whose theme will continue throughout the study.
Chapter 2
Guiding Questions
...review of literature that comprises Chapter 2 is an in-depth exploration of several interconnected factors that directly relate to media, marketing, politics, human physiology and education. The literature review contains over 112 separate entries. They are an extremely varied collection covering many seemingly disparate topics that are, in truth, interrelated.
Chapter 3
Research Proposal
...provides information concerning the strategy and rationale that were utilized in this study and the methods of data collection, management and analysis. The appendices provide the actual data collected in a graph format. There were 380 individuals who participated in the surveys. Only those over 18 years old or over were included in the data analysis.
Chapter 4
...the data that was collected, which included the telling percentages that were obtained from two online surveys, observations and interesting quotes from 7 individuals who were interviewed, are contained within this chapter.
Chapter 5
...the final chapter is the researcher's final analysis of the combined data collected intermingled with a personal interjection of thought and information concerning the research topic.
The study found that digitized imagery could be used as a very successful marketing tool along with it being a format that can readily be combined with data collection technologies. The data analysis provided information that showed that the technologies are now in place for directed behavior modification campaigns to be successfully engineered and carried out without the knowledge of the general public.
This thesis is important because it provides information that is extremely timely in nature and of direct importance to our society.