Digital Commons Network^™

All The News That’S Fit To Be Identified: Facilitating Access To High-Quality News Through Internet Platforms, Sonja R. West, Jonathan Peters, Lefteris Jason Anastasopolous

Scholarly Works

Roughly half of Americans get some of their news from social media, and nearly two-thirds get some of their news from search engines. As our modern information gatekeepers, these internet companies bear a special responsibility to consider the impact of their platform and site policies on users’ access to high-quality news sources. They should adopt policies that clear the digital pathway between the public and press by facilitating such access. To that end, the companies must first, address the threshold issue of how best to identify high-quality news sources. This article examines factors that would be useful, drawing from legal …

Transitional Entrepreneurship: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential Across Numerous Challenging Contexts, Golshan Javadian, Anil Nair, David Ahlstrom, Kaveh Moghaddam, Li-Wei Chen, Younggeun Lee

Management Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] We are pleased to publish the special issue of the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship on transitional entrepreneurship. Transitional entrepreneurship refers to the practices of entrepreneurs from communities facing adversity who navigate substantial life transitions as they launch and manage new ventures in response to various changes and challenges in their environment. Entrepreneurship is not only a critical driver of economic growth and social development (Ahlstrom et al., 2019; McCloskey, 2010) but can also represent a life-changing transition for most, if not all, of the entrepreneurs themselves. Transitional entrepreneurship entails strategic pivots or transformations that enable entrepreneurs to …

Communication As Conscience, Florence Chee

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Focusing on ethics in games studies, Chee notes the importance of
communication as it has played parts in these other fields and how that might
reflect back on our community.

In A Digitally Connected World Through Likes, Hashtags And Followers - Advancing Surgical Research Through A Social Media: A Narrative Review, Sabah Uddin Saqib, Qamar` Riaz, Russell Seth Martins, Amna Riaz, Hasnain Zafar

Department for Educational Development

In this era of modern information technology, the world is now digitally connected through various platforms on social media, which has changed the way medical professionals work, communicate and learn. The use of social media in surgery is expanding, and it is now becoming an essential tool for surgical training, research and networking. Articles, journal clubs and surgical conferences are within reach of everyone regardless of geographical location worldwide. Electronic publications have now resoundingly replaced printed editions of journals. Collaborative research through social media platforms helps collect diverse data, enhancing the research's global generalisability. The current narrative review was planned …

Pharmacy Ethics Textbook Tackles Moral Challenges, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Pharmacists now have increased opportunities and responsibilities beyond dispensing drugs, which means they also have new ethical challenges to consider.

Plagiarism In Non-Anglophone Countries: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Researchers And Journal Editors, Latika Gupta, Javeria Tariq, Marlen Yessirkepov, Olena Zimba, Durga Prasanna Misra, Vikas Agarwal, Armen Yuri Gasparyan

Medical College Documents

Background: Plagiarism is one of the most common violation of publication ethics, and it still remains an area with several misconceptions and uncertainties.
Methods: This online cross-sectional survey was conducted to analyze plagiarism perceptions among researchers and journal editors, particularly from non-Anglophone countries.
Results: Among 211 respondents (mean age 40 years; M:F, 0.85:1), 26 were scholarly journal editors and 70 were reviewers with a large representation from India (50, 24%), Turkey (28, 13%), Kazakhstan (25, 12%) and Ukraine (24, 11%). Rigid and outdated pre- and post-graduate education was considered as the origin of plagiarism by 63% of respondents. Paraphragiarism was …

Virtue Ethics, Situationism And Casuistry: Toward A Digital Ethics Beyond Exemplars, Bastiaan Vanacker

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

This paper aims to propose an ethical approach best suited to dealing with the issues of digital ethics in general and internet research ethics in particular.

Design/methodology/approach

This article engages with the existing literature on virtue ethics, situationism and digital (research) ethics.

Findings

A virtue-based casuistic method could be well-suited to deal with issues relating to digital ethics in general and internet research ethics in particular as long as it can take place in communities with shared practices and traditions.

Originality/value

These insights could add and further deepen the rich debate about research ethics that is already ongoing within …

Ethical Issues In Data Journalism, Bastiaan Vanacker

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter starts out by situating data journalism in relation to computer-assisted reporting and computational journalism and argues that data journalism has ballooned in recent decades as a result of the great availability of databases, increased training, and lower costs of computers. It then analyzes the main issues that can spring up at each phase of the data journalism process. During the collection process, journalists can be manipulated by flawed data or ethically compromised by using illegally obtained data. When they obtain data through surreptitiously scraping the web or paying for datasets, they might be violating notions of transparency and …

What An Ethics Of Discourse And Recognition Can Contribute To A Critical Theory Of Refugee Claim Adjudication, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Thanks to Axel Honneth, recognition theory has become a prominent fixture of critical social theory. In recent years, he has deployed his recognition theory in diagnosing pathologies and injustices that afflict institutional practices. Some of these institutional practices revolve around specifically juridical institutions, such as human rights and democratic citizenship, that directly impact the lives of the most desperate migrants. Hence it is worthwhile asking what recognition theory can add to a critical theory of migration. In this paper, I argue that, although its contribution to a critical theory of migration is limited, it nonetheless carves out a unique body …

The Internet Never Forgets: Student Journalists Meet The "Right To Be Forgotten", Emily R. Feek

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This study examines how journalists at college publications handle unpublishing requests in the context of United States media law, the European Union's Right to be Forgotten and journalistic ethics. Interviews with student editors at Washington state public universities' student newspapers were used to examine how student publications address requests for information or entire articles to be unpublished and what those editors' attitudes toward unpublishing are. This research reveals that this subset of student journalists tended to favor alternatives to unpublishing, although articles could be removed ethically in some select cases, and a lack of consistent guidelines regarding how to manage …

Painted Nails: The Gender(Ed) Performance Of Queer Sexuality, Justin Rudnick

Communication Studies Department Publications

In this essay, I interrogate my own experiences performing my queer identity through my painted nails. I attest to the ways queer bodies might performatively challenge and/or reinforce rigid norms of sexuality through mundane performances of (gendered) identity. To accomplish this, I engage in an autoethnographic exploration of queer performativity. I recount and analyze a series of anecdotes that illustrate how performances of queer identity in everyday life are accomplished—and policed—in mundane situations. In turn, I reflexively investigate the ways in which these performances situate me within a nexus of aesthetic, embodied, and ethical social interaction and performative resistance. I …

Social And Entertainment Media, Justin Bailey

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This chapter first appeared in Discerning Ethics, ed. Hak Joon Lee and Tim Dearborn, 2020, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com

More information about this book:

https://www.ivpress.com/discerning-ethics

Expectations Of Artificial Intelligence And The Performativity Of Ethics: Implications For Communication Governance, Aphra Kerr, Marguerite Barry, John D. Kelleher

Articles

This article draws on the sociology of expectations to examine the construction of expectations of ‘ethical AI’ and considers the implications of these expectations for communication governance. We first analyse a range of public documents to identify the key actors, mechanisms and issues which structure societal expectations around artificial intelligence (AI) and an emerging discourse on ethics. We then explore expectations of AI and ethics through a survey of members of the public. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the role of AI in communication gover- nance. We find that, despite societal expectations that we can design …

Understanding Ethical Decision-Making In Design, Danielle J. Corple, Carla B. Zoltowski, Megan Kenny Feister, Patrice M. Buzzanell

Communication Faculty Publications

Background: Little is known about how students engage in ethical decision-making, especially when designing in messy, real-life contexts. To prepare ethically competent engineers, educators need a richer understanding of students' ethical decision-making throughout the course of the design process.

Purpose/Hypothesis: This study examines students' intuitive ethical decision-making as it emerges throughout the design process as well as when and how students engage in ethical reflection. Outlining these processes enables educators to better structure and support students' ethical reasoning.

Design/Method: We conducted 103 semi-structured interviews with students in a multidisciplinary service-learning program. To capture how ethical decision-making unfolded over time, we …

Balancing Transparency And Privacy In A University Sexual Misconduct Case: A Legal Public Relations Case Study, Chelsea L. Woods, Shari R. Veil

Communication Faculty Publications

In 2016, the University of Kentucky became embroiled in an open records debate with its student newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel. Following a professor’s resignation amid a sexual misconduct investigation, the Kernel asked for records pertaining to the case. The University refused, claiming the information would violate survivors’ privacy. The decision sparked public backlash, forcing the University to combat accusations that it was prioritizing reputation over student safety. This case study provides insight into the crisis management process by exploring how key actors in the case made decisions. Drawing from theoretical perspectives including stakeholder theory and the ethics of care …

The Ethical And Political Contours Of Institutional Promotion In Esports: From Precariat Models To Sustainable Practices, Florence Chee, Veli-Matti Karhulahti

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study evaluated five cases in which an executive esport owner (Riot Games) made rulings regarding activities and infractions by members of various institutions related to its product (League of Legends). The findings of this study support future theoretical exploration of other esports in seeking a fuller understanding of issues related to consent, power differentials, and roles and behaviors expected of the institutional activities of players and teams in competition. We suggest that a consideration of moral rights in the policymaking process is a way to explicitly acknowledge and reward the bond between artist and art, as well as move …

New Ethics Book For The 21st-Century Pharmacist, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Pharmacists are being valued more and more for their knowledge and skills and have been able to provide a wider range of health care options, not just preparing medicines. These new opportunities for pharmacists require intensive ethics training, and Cedarville University’s Dr. Dennis Sullivan is leading that effort by authoring a new textbook on the topic.

Workplace Democracy And The Problem Of Equality, Jared Sterling Colton, Avery C. Edenfield, Steve Holmes

English Faculty Publications

Purpose: Professional communicators are becoming more invested in unique configurations of power in organizations, including non-hierarchical and democratic workplaces. While organizations dedicated to democratic processes may enact power differently than conventional organizations, they may fall short of practicing equality. This article explains the differences in non-hierarchical workplaces, considers businesses where democracy is a goal, and argues for considering equality as a habitual practice, particularly when writing regulatory documents.

Method: We conduct a review of the literature on non-hierarchical workplaces and organizational democracy, applying Jacques Rancière’s concept of equality to two examples (one using primary data collection and one using secondary …

Applying An Ethics Of Care To Internet Research: Gamergate And Digital Humanities, Todd Suomela, Florence Chee, Bettina Berendt, Geoffrey Rockwell

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article examines key ethical issues that are continuing to emerge from the task of archiving data scraped from online sources such as social media sites, blogs, and forums, particularly pertaining to online harassment and hostile groups. Given the proliferation of digital social data, an understanding of ethics and data stewardship that evolves alongside the shifting landscape of digital societies is indeed essential.

Our study involves a primary research archive that is comprised of data scraped from our project concerning the case study of Gamergate, which involved numerous instances of hate speech in various online communities. Doing this type of …

An Uber Ethical Dilemma: Examining The Social Issues At Stake, Florence Chee

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose

This paper aims to engage with the social issues emerging from the increasing reliance upon app-driven services, as they pertain to precarious labor and ethical standpoints in a digital era. Popular ride services such as Uber have been lauded for bringing much needed transportation services that are superior to expensive taxis or unpleasant or inaccessible public transit.

Design/methodology/approach

As a result of over three years of ongoing research and analysis, this paper is a comprehensive assessment of a number of social issues facing the integration of practices both signified and enacted in an economy driven by apps such as …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Lib 3040 (Information And Society), Kimmy Szeto

Open Educational Resources

LIB 3040 Information and Society. 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: ENG 2100. This course examines the nature, production, value and uses of information in historical perspective; the latest development in information technology; the ways information is produced and disseminated and how they affect business, politics, media, science, arts and culture; the growth of the “information society;” and major information policy issues. (Cross-listed with COM 3040 and PAF 3040)

Crisis Communication And Ethics: The Role Of Public Relations, Yan Jin, Augustine Pang, Joshua Smith

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the veracity of the contingency model of ethical crisis communication by examining the factors of influence in a time of crisis including what constitutes ethics in a time of crisis; the role of public relations (PR) practitioners as the “moral conscience” of an organization and perceptions of the PR’ role within top management. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were conducted among ten senior PR managers with crisis communication experience in North America. Findings: This research identifies and investigates six ethical variables – the nature of the crisis, the role of top management, the …

From Silence To Condemnation: Institutional Responses To “Travel Ban” Executive Order 13769, Andrew S. Pyle, Darren Linvill, S. Paul Gennett

Publications

On January 27, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order that attempted to bar citizens and refugees from seven countries from entering the U.S. for a certain time period. One of the contexts most directly affected by this order was higher education. This study examined college and university communicative responses to the order from a public relations perspective. We qualitatively determined a range of responses from U.S. universities then quantitatively determined variables of particular colleges and universities that had a correlation to the nature of the responses. Responses were then assessed using public relations best practices. The data …

Course Syllabus (Su17) Coli 331: “‘World-Traveling’: Alterity And Liminality In Spike Lee’S Do The Right Thing And Amiri Baraka’S Dutchman”, Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship

Course Description:

This semester, we’ll view Spike Lee’s 1989 Do the Right Thing and Shirley Knight’s 1966 cinematic production of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman through the critical lenses of Maria Lugones’ notions of ‘worlds’ and ‘world-traveling,’[1] which she develops in Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions. Our task is to analyze a number of the problematics addressed in these visual works as discernible ‘world(s)’ of meaning and experience constituted by the libidinous investments, concrete practices, and ideological convictions of the human subjects who bear and circulate them.

[1] Maria Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, …

Redefining Roles And Duties Of The Transactional Lawyer: A Narrative Approach, Lori D. Johnson

Scholarly Works

Today’s transactional lawyers perform myriad tasks for their clients, including structuring, drafting, conceptualizing, negotiating, and executing the complex, risky, and often cutting-edge transactions their clients bring to the table. On the other side of that table, often sits another team of sophisticated transactional lawyers. These opposing counsel are armed for battle over every nuance, every word, every representation, every deliverable, and every obligation their client is poised to undertake or agree to. Therefore, modern transactional lawyers must behave as advocates and explore new modes of persuasion. As a response, scholars have begun to propose that transactional lawyers employ methods of …

Perspectives From China: Social Media And Living Well In A Chinese Context, Sarah Mattice

UNF Faculty Research and Scholarship

The United States has a current population of approximately 313.9 million people. In 2013, more than 600 million users had active accounted on Qzone, China’s largest social media site (Millward 2013). Although discussions of social media tend to assume American or European users, social media is a worldwide phenomenon, and different locales bring different concerns to bear on social media ethics. China not only leads the world in terms of sheer numbers of users, but also has the most active environment for social media, ranging from instant chat platforms like QQ to blogs, microblogs, social networking sites, and gaming platforms. …

Case Study: Sexism In Advertising And Airlines, Tamilla Curtis, Anke Arnaud Ph.D., Blaise Waguespack

Publications

This case study outlines an ethical dilemma faced by a young female student who is planning to buy airline tickets. Her purchase decision is influenced by cost and advertising strategies. The case discusses advertising ethics, ethical moral philosophies, including teleology and deontology, and sexist advertising with examples from the airline industry. This case will be beneficial for marketing students to discuss the topic of advertising ethics, and for business students to discuss the topic of organizational ethics. Students enrolling in aviation related classes will also benefit from this case. The teaching notes for instructors are available upon request.

Empowering Employees To Prevent Fraud In Nonprofit Organizations, John M. Bradley

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the significant problem of fraud within nonprofit organizations and demonstrates that current anti-fraud measures do not adequately reflect the important role employees play in perpetuating or stopping fraudulent activity. Psychological and organizational behavior studies have established the importance of (1) participation and (2) peers in shaping the behavior of individuals within the organizational context. This Article builds on that research and establishes that to successfully combat fraud, organizations must integrate employees into the design, implementation, and enforcement of anti-fraud strategy and procedures. Engaged, empowered employees will be less likely to commit fraud and more likely to dissuade …

The Diminishing Role Of The Ombudsman In American Journalism, Wade B. Hilligoss

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

News ombudsmen have been around since 1967 when two Louisville newspapers created a position that served as an independent accountability buffer between the newspapers and the publics they served. That position was called the news ombudsman. Its role was to respond to reader complaints, call out newspaper errors and explain behind-the-scenes news decisions, processes and more in a weekly or bi-weekly column in the Sunday paper. In 1970, the Washington Post created an ombudsman position and other news outlets followed over the next 30 years. The New York Times instituted its first ombudsman in 2003 after the Jason Blair plagiarism …

The Failure Of College Sport As An Equal Opportunity Employer, Richard Lapchick

UCF Forum

As someone who has worked for institutions of higher education for more than four decades, it is especially embarrassing for me that colleges have the worst record in sports for hiring women and people of color.