Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural Identity In Isolation: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Big Brother Season 23, Summer Ann Clutter

Masters Theses

This qualitative content analysis focuses on the creation and maintenance of cultural identity amongst the houseguests in the reality television program Big Brother. Season 23 of Big Brother was qualitatively coded through the lens of cultural identity theory. The study found that cultural identity language was heavily present through the houseguest’s early personal disclosure, strategic formation of alliances, demonstration of interpersonal skills, and candid sharing with the audience in Diary Room segments. Sharing cultural identity language on a national television program allows the audience to witness and interact with the information and apply it to their society.

Using Media Equation Theory To Assess The Effectiveness Of Virtual Reality Technology In Organizational Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Belonging (Deib) Training, Michael L. Oetken

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The emergence of immersive virtual reality media technology is providing human beings with a new communication platform to engage beyond the traditional frameworks of video media, audio media, and static webpages on the Internet. These communication media technologies offer users an immersive environment in which they are able to communicate and interact with fellow human beings and non-human entities in life-like mannerisms. Most importantly, this technology also has the potential to bridge gaps and solve problems within the context of certain cultural and societal issues. The issue of communication deficiencies surrounding the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) …

Using The Motivated Information Management Theory And The Social Support Theory To Understand Caregiver Perspectives Of Currently Available Health Communication Regarding Dementia: A Qualitative Study, Sara J. Alig

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Dementia brings a cascade of changes into the life of not only the person facing it, but also the lives of the supporting family and caregivers. Dementia manifests with a gradual decline, or in some cases, a variably progressive decline in cognitive abilities. This decline requires the individual to rely more and more on caregivers. Caregiving necessitates the giving of oneself for another’s sake and oftentimes results in negative physical and social-emotional side effects. To navigate through the changes that are happening to their loved ones, as well as to themselves, caregivers need educational and social support. The purpose of …

Residence Halls Named To Honor Faithful Service Of 50-Year Faculty Members, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

At its annual May meeting, Cedarville University’s board of trustees honored the service of several long-standing faculty members — 50 years or longer — by unanimously naming residential facilities after them. Trustees also approved the appointment of 10 new faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year and affirmed a new six-year pathway for its Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Experiences Of Dyslexic Students Learning A Second Language: A Review Of The Literature, Lauren Ricci

Senior Honors Theses

A systematic review of the literature was conducted to explore the experiences that college students with dyslexia face learning a second language in the classroom setting while studying at a private institution in Central Virginia. This literature review offers an analysis of the scholarly research related to this topic. The processability theory is discussed in the first section, followed by a review of recent literature on how dyslexia affects the brain’s processing, specific experiences of students, and how to best support these students in second language acquisition (SLA). Lastly, the literature surrounds phonological processing, working memory, specific struggles in the …

The Effects Of Communication Overaccommodation On Non-Native English-Speaking Employees In The U.S. Workplace, Elizabeth Curtis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Communication overaccommodation (CO) takes the form of baby talk, speech mimicry, and overcommunication, and its effects on recipients have been studied in physician/patient relationships, civilian/police officer relationships, manager/employee relationships, and native and non-native speaker communications. This study focused on CO in non-hierarchical relationships between native English-speaking and non-native English-speaking employees in the U.S. workplace. I investigated the effects of CO on non-native English-speaking co-workers, regarding their feelings of exclusion and satisfaction with their job. I also investigated the potential moderation effect of English proficiency on non-native English-speaking employees’ feelings of being excluded. It was found that the level of English …

Putting Forward Sustainability As A Model For Journalism Education And Training, Nancy Booker, Bruce Mutsvairo, Dinesh Baliah, Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey, Lars Tallert, Jean Mujati

Graduate School of Media and Communications

African journalism practice presents unique opportunities and challenges that require journalists to be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and values to engage in sustainable journalism. Training institutions play a critical role in ensuring that journalists are not only professionally-ready to execute their mandate but also that they can safeguard and promote ethical values in their everyday work. Some of these values include “truth telling, independence, objectivity, fairness, inclusivity and social justice” (Gade, Nduka, and Dastger 2017, 10). Africa, like other regions of the Global South, has several journalism training institutions that provide an opportunity to challenge “hegemonic epistemologies and …

Untangling Influence: The Effect Of Follower-Followee Comparison On Social Media Engagement, Yi Peng, Liling Lu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Social media platforms and marketers are keen on identifying truly influential creators. Number of followers (i.e., those who follow creators) and number of followees (i.e., those who are followed by creators) serve as cues to infer creators' influence. However, a cue of creators' actual influence is under-addressed and its effect on social media engagement remains to be explored. This research fills the gap in the literature by investigating how the cue of creators' actual influence (i.e., follower-followee comparison) may affect followers' engagement behavior. The study further examines the moderation effects of media-, topic-, and creator-related factors. The present work leverages …

Digital Rite Of Passage: The First Social Media Kids, Julia Kennedy

Honors College Theses

Through a combination of academic research and creative storytelling, this thesis delves into the largely undocumented experiences of the “first social media kids,” an entire generation of tweens who grew up using social media in the 2010s before it was heavily moderated or imbued with age restrictions. While stories about this age of social media have been traded consistently in conversations between peers who are currently in their early twenties, there is a clear lack of academic work focused on early social media and the young users who explored it. Through the medium of an episodic and investigative podcast titled …

Claiming The Crown — The Agency And Fandom Of “The Woman King”, Cibonay R. Dames

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This content analysis study aimed to understand the culture-sharing pattern of The Woman King fans on X and the film’s impact on Black popular culture. The specific problem that was addressed is the need to explore Black popular culture artifacts, such as The Woman King, to understand how Black culture is produced and reproduced by Blacks and the social commentary it creates. This qualitative dissertation was guided by cultural studies and fandom theories and employed a Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) to analyze 1,469 public posts on X during the film's opening weekend and a content analysis of the film. …

Uprooting Inaccessibility: Growing Awareness And Efficacy For The Use Of Health-Related Resources At A Nashville Nonprofit, Jules Leslie Webb, Caroline Driskell, Abby Ray

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Clients of The Branch, a local 501(c)(3) that serves the Antioch community through direct aid and education, often face barriers in meeting basic needs. These barriers often include unfamiliarity with navigating basic services such as filling prescriptions or registering for health insurance online. Our team of HON 3520 students crafted visual guides to aid in navigating websites that are already commonly used by clients of The Branch. This is part of an ongoing initiative at The Branch to provide a more holistic set of services (in addition to relieving immediate food needs) that addresses the root causes of poverty and …

The Actions Of A Lonely Woman And The Effects Of Online Incel Communities On Society, Antara Dabral

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

In recent years, the resistance to women’s rights movements has started to shift from only being based on gender roles and has started to take root in insecurity and anxiety surrounding a dating life. This phenomenon has been further exacerbated with the advent and growth of the internet, where ideas are allowed to spread across the world rapidly which has created online forums where people known as incels gather.

In this paper, I ascertain that these online forums have a broad incel culture and community founded on victimhood and frustration and how they were formed as a consequence of a …

La Voz Del Autor En El Discurso Médico Y Sus Implicaciones En Ele, David Sanchez-Jimenez

Publications and Research

La demanda de profesionales de la salud que pueden prestar atención lingüísticamente concordante al paciente en contextos multilingües explica el aumento de los cursos de español médico en el currículo de pregrado y posgrado en instituciones universitarias de Estados Unidos en las últimas décadas. El aprendizaje de los estudiantes matriculados en estos cursos requiere el conocimiento de las características retórico-discursivas propias de los principales géneros discursivos que estudian durante su carrera para fines específicos en el campo de la salud los alumnos universitarios de español, cuyo fin último será el de replicarlos eficazmente en su práctica profesional. Por ello, en …

Age And Ideology: The Emergence Of New Political Cleavages In Thailand’S 2566 (2023) Election, Napon Jatusripitak, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Move Forward Party’s victory in Thailand’s 14 May 2566 (2023 CE) election surprised most observers, defying widespread predictions of a Pheu Thai win. Departing from traditional vote-mobilization strategies, Move Forward’s campaign focused largely on social media and broad calls for political reform while eschewing the vote-canvassing networks and economic policy promises that had delivered victory after victory for Pheu Thai. Does Move Forward’s win indicate changes in Thai voting behaviour? Relying on data from an original survey collected the week before and the week after the election, as well as observations from fieldwork, we identify two political cleavages that …

Fake News: Finding Truth In Strategic Communication, Anne Damisa

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Fake news is an old phenomenon that has become a new obsession and a menace to society due to technological advancement and the proliferation of social media, which has changed traditional journalism norms. As the spread of false information has increased these past few years, it has become increasingly difficult for information consumers to distinguish between facts and fakes. A comprehensive systematic literature review to extract themes revealed the major factors responsible for spreading fake news. This qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis (QIMS) aims to better understand and offer solutions to combat fake news. This Ph.D. dissertation will serve as a guide …

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 1 - January 25, 2024

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 1 - January 25, 2024. 16 pages.

Language-Related Misunderstanding At Work: What It Is, Why It Occurs And What Organizations Can Do About It, John Fiset, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Language is the foundation of human interaction. It plays a central role in facilitating effective communication by allowing people to express their thoughts, share essential information and establish connections with one another.

She Speaks For Millions: The Emergence Of Female Diplomatic Voices In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Amber Brittain-Hale, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

This research critically investigates the public diplomacy strategies deployed by a cohort of influential female European leaders on Twitter during the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022-2023. The study comprises eight leaders - Kallas (Estonia), Marin (Finland), von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Sandu (Moldova), Simonyte (Lithuania), Zourabichvili (Georgia), and Meloni (Italy) - representing millions of constituents. By mirroring the analytical attention given to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this study scrutinizes the distinct approaches and dif erences in emotional, cognitive, and structural language use between these influential female figures and President Zelenskyy in their …

Discourses That Undermine Union Movements: A Multimodal Analysis Of Union-Busting Videos, Theresa A. Catalano, Julia Schleck

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Labor unions in the United States have experienced decades of decline, but recent years have seen a rebirth of union campaigns and successes. Because unions are once again becoming a threat to large companies, it is reasonable to assume that efforts to discourage organizing efforts will increase and become even more robust in the near future. Although traditionally, companies have worked to suspend union organizing through captive audience meetings in which unions were discussed via verbal or written modes, more recent means of reaching workers with anti-union messages incorporate a variety of communication strategies to get the message across. As …

Identifying Barriers: Analysis Of Federal Law Enforcement Social Media And Recruitment Efforts, Reena Desai, Edgar Greer, Meghan Waldron

Doctor of Education Capstones

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Richmond Field Office seeks to diversify their applicant pool. In an effort to provide information on how to meet this need, our doctoral team analyzed the social media sites of six federal law enforcement agencies to include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation- Headquarters, Federal Bureau of Investigation-Richmond Field Office, Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the United States Marshal Service. By examining a 60-day window of images and their associated text on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram accounts, we wanted to gain a stronger understanding of …

Patient Perceptions Of Audio-Only Versus Video Telehealth Visits: A Qualitative Study Among Patients In An Academic Medical Center Setting, Ryan Kruis, Elizabeth A. Brown, Jada Johnson, Kit N. Simpson, James Mcelligott, Jillian Harvey

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Introduction: Telehealth utilization surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering expanded health care access. Audio-only visits emerged as a crucial tool for patients facing technology or connectivity barriers to still use telehealth. This qualitative study aims to better understand patient perceptions of audio-only versus video telehealth visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how patients perceive the role of each in their overall health care. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 adult patients seeking care at an academic medical center located in the Southeast region of the United States. Patients had experienced both an audio-only and video telehealth visit within the …

Creation And Use Of Sbs’S The Boat; Principles For The Co-Creation Of Online Interactive Learning Environments For Innovative Digital Pedagogy, Prue Miles, Kylie Boltin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Teachers and students rely more on online-learning environments than ever before, including open, trusted and high-quality online learning resources produced by public broadcasters. For educators, this represents both an inspiration and challenge in the wake of new techologies and online learning environments. This article is a case study of one such online learning environment created by Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), an adaptation of Nam Le’s award-winning short story, “The Boat” (2008). SBS’s The Boat (2015) is an immersive online experience that explores a refugee perspective and is accompanied by SBSLearn online learning materials. The Boat (2015) …

Puppy Love And [Information] Play: An Intersection Of Theatre, Queer Kink, And Consent, Emily Kitchens

Faculty and Research Publications

This note from the field centers on a nexus of queer kink subcultures and consent-based intimacy work in theatre. I report, investigate and wrangle with the process of incorporating queer kink aesthetics into the production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill I directed at KSU February 2023. What I have learned and hope to demonstrate throughout the paper, is that queer kink subcultures are often paradigmatic examples of communities built on consent, and we as performing arts practitioners can more visibly expand the margins of our cultural competency dialogues to not only include them but look to them as …

A Content Analysis Of Non-Profit Organizations Social Media: Through The Lens Of Compliance-Gaining & Persuasion, Meredith Diene Kiljan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Non-profit organizations utilize social media platforms like Instagram to reach the community, fundraise, convey their mission and vision, establish themselves, and educate others. This study examined whether the communication artifacts of selected nonprofit organizations employed Cialdini's (2021) compliance-gaining strategies through an eight-week qualitative digital content analysis on Instagram to address the problem of understanding how non-profit organizations use Instagram tools to influence and persuade their audience. Compassion International (@compassion), CARE (@careorg), and Direct Relief (@directrelief), the three non-profit organizations chosen in this study, demonstrated the usage of Cialdini’s (2021) compliance-gaining strategies within their digital media communication strategy. Non-profit organizations operate …

Transformer-Based Multi-Task Learning For Crisis Actionability Extraction, Yuhao Zhang, Siaw Ling Lo, Phyo Yi Win Myint

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social media has become a valuable information source for crisis informatics. While various methods were proposed to extract relevant information during a crisis, their adoption by field practitioners remains low. In recent fieldwork, actionable information was identified as the primary information need for crisis responders and a key component in bridging the significant gap in existing crisis management tools. In this paper, we proposed a Crisis Actionability Extraction System for filtering, classification, phrase extraction, severity estimation, localization, and aggregation of actionable information altogether. We examined the effectiveness of transformer-based LSTM-CRF architecture in Twitter-related sequence tagging tasks and simultaneously extracted actionable …

Pro-Cap: Leveraging A Frozen Vision-Language Model For Hateful Meme Detection, Rui Cao, Ming Shan Hee, Adriel Kuek, Wen Haw Chong, Roy Ka-Wei Lee, Jing Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Hateful meme detection is a challenging multimodal task that requires comprehension of both vision and language, as well as cross-modal interactions. Recent studies have tried to fine-tune pre-trained vision-language models (PVLMs) for this task. However, with increasing model sizes, it becomes important to leverage powerful PVLMs more efficiently, rather than simply fine-tuning them. Recently, researchers have attempted to convert meme images into textual captions and prompt language models for predictions. This approach has shown good performance but suffers from non-informative image captions. Considering the two factors mentioned above, we propose a probing-based captioning approach to leverage PVLMs in a zero-shot …

Automating Intended Target Identification For Paraphasias In Discourse Using A Large Language Model, Alexandra C. Salem, Robert Gale, Mikala S. Fleegle, Gerasimos Fergadiotis, Steven Bedrick

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose:

To date, there are no automated tools for the identification and fine-grained classification of paraphasias within discourse, the production of which is the hallmark characteristic of most people with aphasia (PWA). In this work, we fine-tune a large language model (LLM) to automatically predict paraphasia targets in Cinderella story retellings.

Method:

Data consisted of 332 Cinderella story retellings containing 2,489 paraphasias from PWA, for which research assistants identified their intended targets. We supplemented these training data with 256 sessions from control participants, to which we added 2,415 synthetic paraphasias. We conducted four experiments using different training data configurations to …

Matk: The Meme Analytical Tool Kit, Ming Shan Hee, Aditi Kumaresan, Nguyen Khoi Hoang, Nirmalendu Prakash, Rui Cao, Roy Ka-Wei Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The rise of social media platforms has brought about a new digital culture called memes. Memes, which combine visuals and text, can strongly influence public opinions on social and cultural issues. As a result, people have become interested in categorizing memes, leading to the development of various datasets and multimodal models that show promising results in this field. However, there is currently a lack of a single library that allows for the reproduction, evaluation, and comparison of these models using fair benchmarks and settings. To fill this gap, we introduce the Meme Analytical Tool Kit (MATK), an open-source toolkit specifically …

Confirmation Report: Modelling Interlocutor Confusion In Situated Human Robot Interaction, Na Li

Reports

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is an important but challenging field focused on improving the interaction between humans and robots such to make the interaction more intelligent and effective. However, building a natural conversational HRI is an interdisciplinary challenge for scholars, engineers, and designers. It is generally assumed that the pinnacle of human- robot interaction will be having fluid naturalistic conversational interaction that in important ways mimics that of how humans interact with each other. This of course is challenging at a number of levels, and in particular there are considerable difficulties when it comes to naturally monitoring and responding to the …

Evaluating Biblical And Theological Training In The Developing World Through The Lens Of Communication Infrastructure Theory, David Keep

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research that shows the impact of training throughout the developing world is positive and limited. Informed by Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) and framed within the Cybernetic tradition, this study expands communication research to understand the impact of biblical and theological training among marginalized people in San Gabriel Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Through semi-structured interviews and direct observation, this qualitative research study shows how the curriculum developed by Shepherd’s Global Classroom (SGC) and deployed through Ezra Biblical Seminary in San Gabriel works to equip believers and church leaders in their developing-world context. The storytelling network of CIT is examined and discovered to …