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Despite growing use of computer-based communication tools, and interest in their impact on language use, shared workspace tools are not being used regularly, to support text-based teaching and learning, in mainstream higher education. Such tools support interaction with learning material and with people, both of which can help learning. However, neither the design requirements nor the benefits of using shared workspace tools, in text-based disciplines, have been established. Both were investigated. The starting point was the need to support teachers' work. There is insufficient information in the CSCW literature about tasks, communication needs and the effects of using a shared workspace in text-based classes. Participatory methods and prototyping were considered to suit the problem, the technology, the kind of application and the potential users. Observation and document study were combined with focus groups, interviews and questionnaires, to study the use of two prototype shared workspace tools, in a programme of extended field trials. Initial studies, with co-located classes, investigated learning activities around shared, printed materials and suggested similarities across subject boundaries. Field trials were conducted, in distributed foreign language classes, using a prototype desktop multimedia conferencing system. The main aim was to establish design requirements to support teaching and learning tasks. A two-year study, in undergraduate Russian classes, aimed to deepen understanding of how a shared workspace tool could contribute to teaching and learning. The need for flexible control mechanisms and support for awareness and reference were confirmed. To support the range of tasks observed in face-to-face classes, flexible re-structuring of text objects and hiding, as well as sharing, of objects, are needed Promoting active student participation and supporting teacher management of space are requirements particular to this application area. The shared workspace tool excited teachers, who explored its use over a long period. The sharing of data, its persistence, the manipulation of on-screen objects and the accessibility of the shared space enabled the shared workspace to support lesson attributes that teachers and students valued Sharing data caused a Jew students anxiety, however. Shared workspace tools can enhance both distributed and face-to-face teaching and learning, in text- based disciplines. They offer something different from tools in current use. The research has generated a list of recommendations to designers of shared workspace tools and a list of recommendations to teachers wishing to use shared workspace tools in text-based subjects.

This research examines how political connectedness influences the corporate governance disclosure practices of listed companies. The research also explores the process of preparation of annual reports and seeks explanations on decision making, regarding the level and nature of corporate governance disclosure. This research uses annual report data from companies listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange from 2009-2013. The research utilises qualitative content analysis for the study of the disclosure practices of politically connected and non-connected firms. An in-depth analysis of silence has been conducted focusing on the incidence of the lack of information on corporate governance. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews have been conducted in order to seek deeper insights into the research phenomena and the triangulation of findings. The findings of the qualitative content analysis indicate that non-connected firms disclose a higher level of voluntary, as well as mandatory corporate governance information, in comparison with politically connected firms. However, the variation in the level of voluntary disclosure is found to be higher when compared with mandatory disclosure. The results of the analysis of silence indicate that politically connected firms stay silent on a diverse range of voluntary disclosure items and provide notably limited disclosure. The findings of interview data analysis are consistent with the findings of qualitative content analysis and the analysis of silence in annual reports. To make sense of the findings the research has called upon the dual perspectives offered by agency theory and rational choice institutionalism. In assessing the implications of disclosure/non-disclosure practices it is found that the decision to disclose information is driven by the self-interest and opportunism of politically connected members of the board who avoid voluntary disclosure of information. However, it is also found that rationality plays an important role and while the firms are operating in a tight regulatory environment, politically connected firms provide better mandatory disclosure.

This thesis examines the politics of identity of women accountants in the UK who are mothers, by exploring the links between working in the accounting profession and the experience of motherhood. It takes a sociological approach to analyse how social, political, cultural and moral forces, in relation to accounting, motherhood and wider society, affect identity, or the self. The accounting profession is arguably a masculine enviromnent into which the accountant is socialised. Motherhood illustrates the tensions between an essentialist and a non-essentialist view of identity. The thesis explores the contradictions and juxtapositions between these two identities of accountant and mother, and the struggle of women to exercise agency within the confines of the profession. It uses a feminist methodological framework based on the subjective experience of women. As such, I present my own autobiographical account of being an accountant and mother, and the oral history narratives of fifteen other women, arguing that narrative forms an integral part of identity construction. The thesis concludes that the narrative approach and the use of oral histories has much to offer to accounting research and has important implications for our understanding of the interrelationships between accounting and motherhood. These include the emotions, transformations and constructions of identity of women accountants.