I am very grateful to all those who have given me their friendship, put up with my odd hours, and provided me with lifts and practical help

My thanks are due first to my Director of Studies, Dr Martin Polley, of the School of Education, University of Southampton (formerly of King Alfred’s College of Higher Education, Winchester), and my Second Supervisor, Professor Joyce Goodman, of University College, Winchester, for their guidance, encouragement and enthusiasm for my project over the years. My thanks are also directed at my Academic Advisor, Dr Terence Rodgers, of Bath Spa University College, for advice and comments on particular aspects of the thesis, and to Professor Roger Richardson, University College, Winchester, for his initial help and supervision of the project. I am grateful to Dr Malcolm Smith, of the University of Wales, Lampeter, and Dr Chris Aldous, of University College, Winchester, for their examining input at the upgrade stage.

University College, Winchester also provided a lively research community and I am grateful to other staff and postgraduates for their support and ideas, in particular Dr Stephanie Spencer for allowing me to practise verbally expounding my ideas. King Alfred’s generously funded the initial three years of study, and has subsequently funded attendance at conferences, giving me further opportunities to present my work and discuss issues with established historians. It also funded participation at workshops, including those concerning the digitisation of historical resources. The library, in particular Miranda Nield-Dumper, patiently ordered many inter-library loans, and the ITCS Department ensured that my computer remained in working order, whilst Ian Short (software developer) and Lynne Frost (née Biltcliffe) (IT Trainer) also provided help with the initial development of the project database. I am exceptionally grateful to Dr James Heather, University of Surrey at Guildford, who has spent many hours developing the project database to my requirements, even whilst completing his own PhD.

An extensive amount of time has been spent in archives and record offices, and I thank all the staff for the help and advice given, particularly the following: Michael Moody at the Imperial War Museum; Anna Green and Joy Eldridge of the Mass-Observation Archives; Katrina Royall and others at the Victoria & Albert Museum; the Public Record Office; the British Library, in particular The British Library Newspaper Library, Colindale; Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge; the London Transport Museum; the House of Lords Record Office; the Wellcome Institute and the Women’s Library.

I am also indebted to other libraries that allowed me to use their facilities in the course of my research, in particular Winchester School of Art Library, the Hartley Library, University of Southampton; the Institute for Historical Research; St. Peter’s Library, University of Brighton; Templeman Library, University of Kent at Canterbury, and the library at the University of Sussex. I am very appreciative of University College, Winchester who allowed me to attend the ‘Research Methodology’ module from ‘MA in Regional and Local History and Archaeology’, and Winchester School of Art, who allowed me to attend selected lectures from ‘MA: Art and Ideology in Europe 1917-1968’, both free of charge. I also appreciate the University of Kent at Canterbury, who allowed me to attend selected lectures from their ‘MA in Propaganda, Persuasion and History’. I am very grateful to all those who have written to me, particularly those who completed my questionnaire in 1997 and 1998, from which I received much useful information.

Personally, I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me throughout the years, financially, practically and with moral support, especially my parents. I am exceptionally grateful to Andrew Frost for providing me with a room at a rate that I could afford to stay in Winchester for a key time. Particular thanks goes to Toby and Nicky Robinson and Justin Wood for providing me with places to stay whilst conducting extensive research in London, and to Dr Justine Cooper, who alongside such practical help, provided beneficial advice arising from her previous experience as a Winchester PhD student. Kate Stephens gave me exceptional moral support, Karen Neal allowed me to practise explaining my thesis, David and Chris Quayle were supportive landlords during the final months of writing, and there are many more whom I could name, including Amanda Henocq and Helen Hobbs, but the list would be absurdly long. I am very grateful to all those who have given me their friendship, put up with my odd hours, and provided me with lifts and practical help.

Contributor: @ww2poster

Source: Lewis, B (2004) The Planning, Design and Reception of British Home Front Propaganda Posters of the Second World War, PhD, University College Winchester

…for their understanding and support on this wonderful journey

I firstly wish to acknowledge the guidance and support provided by my primary supervisor, Associate Professor Marj Kibby from the University of Newcastle. I very much appreciate everything she has done in the course of the supervision of this thesis. Associate Professor Kibby provided a safe space for me to explore the new world of being a doctoral candidate, provided insightful feedback whenever it was required (often within short timeframes), and was a great support throughout. I thank her for her kindness and for the incredible encouragement to pursue this research.

I also wish to thank my two co-supervisors. Professor Patricia Gillard initially supported me on this path, introducing me to Associate Professor Kibby, and providing me with the “roadmaps” so I could navigate what was then a very new world of academia. After Professor Gillard’s retirement from the University of Newcastle, Associate Professor Christine Daymon, Murdoch University, agreed to co-supervise my doctoral work. I am most appreciative of her offer of supervision at a crucial time in the project. I am most grateful for the time she spent providing insightful critique and guidance when it was most necessary.

I must acknowledge the generous support of the University of Newcastle throughout this project. Through the support offered by internal grants I have been able to spend extended periods of time working on my research and have been afforded opportunities to travel to undertake field work and also to present my research in progress to my peers at conferences – a vital part of my ability to move through this project. I must particularly thank Professor Patricia Michie, Professor Bill Hogarth, Dr Brian Regan, Dr Anne Llewellyn and Professor Tim Roberts for providing guidance and support.

The generous support of my colleagues and fellow research students in the School of Design, Communication and IT throughout my doctoral project has been very much appreciated. I also wish to thank my undergraduate students, and particularly my honours students, who have challenged me and spurred me on to engage with new techniques and ideas.

Thank you to my husband, Stephen, and to my children, Alexandra and Patrick, for their understanding and support on this wonderful journey.

I must acknowledge the work of Kim Edmonds who provided professional editorial services in the latter stages of my thesis preparation. These services were limited to editing for consistency (Standard E, Completeness and Consistency of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice) and complied with the University of Newcastle’s Policy for Editing of Research Theses by Professional Editors.

This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Frank and Joan Skillen.

Contributor: @melanie_james

Source: James, M (2010) The strategic construction of intended meaning in Australian public relations campaigns through the use of key messaging and positioning techniques, PhD, University of Newcastle, Australia

I am thankful to my loving wife Esther for her patience and encouragement

First of all, I’d like to thank my friends and family for their support throughout this writing process and my studies as a whole. Most notably, I am thankful to my loving wife Esther for her patience and encouragement. Also, my thanks go out to my supervisor and colleagues. To professor O’Callaghan, for finding the time to supervise me, for his support and his valuable feedback. I’d like to thank Jeroen de Jong of Erasmus University for proof-reading early versions of this work, for his contributions to the survey, for frequently providing advice and for being a great mentor in general. I’d like to thank Eric von Hippel for his friendly encouragement and inspirational guidance. Moreover, his seminal work in user innovation and open source communities provides a critical foundation for this thesis.

During my research, many people have provided important insights, put me into contact with the right people, or otherwise have enabled me to do this work. I whole-heartedly thank the whole RepRap and related communities, of which many have taken the time to provide information through the survey and in many other ways. I’d like to thank the many people that have provided encouragement and welcomed me to their homes, hackerspaces and labs. In particular I’d like to thank Benjamin “Mako” Hill, Zach “Hoeken” Smith, Bre Pettis, Chris Palmer, Rhys Jones, Adrian Bowyer.

Several conferences where I had the privilege to speak were the fertile soil for discussions and development of ideas that are now incorporated in this work. Many thanks to the organizers for making that happen, thanks to Hay Kranen, Thomas Madsen-Mygdal, Bas van Abel, Phoebe Moore, Michel Bauwens, George Kuk, Pedro Custodio, Carla Koen, Xander van Mechelen, Neil Gershenfeld and many others. To Siert Wijnia, for being a good friend and companion to the several conferences. To Martijn Elserman, for involving me in yet another adventure in open source 3D printing.

Finally, I’d like to thank the interviewees and others who have likewise contributed to this work, in no particular order, Marius Karthaus, Pieter de Bruijn, Aike de Jongste, Serge Broekhuizen, Gerald Barnett, Krista Polle, Kees Seldenrijk, George Kuk, Pia Weiss, Kerstin Balka, Marcin Jakubowski and Eric Hunting.

Additional thanks go out to Eric von Hippel and the MIT Sloan School of Management for subsidizing trips to New York City and MIT, Cambridge allowing me to conduct key interviews for my research and to EIM Business and Policy Research for providing additional funding that allowed me to do this work.

Contributor: @ErikDeBruijn Erik’s blog is here
Source: de Bruijn, E (2010) On the viability of the open source development model for the design of physical objects: Lessons learned from the RepRap project, MSc, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands