Digital Commons Network^™

Historical Overview Of Children's Magazines, Elaine R. Abadie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to illuminate a neglected field of study, this thesis will examine children's magazines in the United States and the forces shaping them. Children's magazines reflect the country's history and attitudes about youth and yet limited research about these important periodicals exists. This look at the development and publication of children's magazines from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries explores selected periodicals from the printing press to the World Wide Web. Significant aspects of research to be assessed are: (1) the status and role of children's magazines (2) changes in publishing and marketing from early times to present, …

Bp's Use Of Twitter As A Crisis Communication Tool During The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis Response Phase, Lindsay Ann Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On April 20, 2010, British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP launched a major public relations response that targeted its online audience through strategic use of its corporate website, Twitter feed, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Flickr photostream. This content analysis examines BP's use of Twitter during the crisis response phase of the oil spill. BP tweeted on 1,161 occasions from the time of the explosion to the capping of the well. All tweets during this 13-week period were coded by two separate coders to …

The Fashion Content Of Vogue's September Issues Under Editor-In-Chiefs Grace Mirabella And Anna Wintour, Danielle Ligato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examines the two editor-in-chiefs of Vogue magazine in recent history, Grace Mirabella and Anna Wintour, and the fashion content of the September issues of the magazine under their editorships. Fifteen September issues from each editor-in-chief were analyzed to understand how the September issue had evolved as well as the development of fashion content in the magazine. The personal influences of Grace Mirabella and Anna Wintour respectively were found in the fashion content of the September issues. Vogue issues analyzed from Mirabella's editorship shoa concentration of fashion content on the functionality of clothing with a focus on American designers. …

The Evolution Of U.S. Corporate Logos A Semiotic Analysis, Erica Cowin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of six U.S. corporate logos – Apple, McDonald‟s, Nike, Pepsi, Shell, and Starbucks – from each logo‟s inception until the newest version of the graphic emblem today. The objective is to determine the meanings that logos have for a corporation‟s identity, mission, and relationships, as well as the messages that logos convey to viewers (i.e., mostly customers). By “evolution” of logos here, the researcher means “ongoing transformation” of logos. The semiotic model used in this analysis is Charles Sanders Peirce‟s (1958 [1931]) semiotic framework. Peircean semiotics is made up of …

The Portrayal Of Teen Pregnancy In The Tv Series "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager", Erin Lovell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the current study was to investigate the way teen pregnancy is portrayed in Seasons 1 and 2 of the television drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Framing theory and social cognitive theory were used as guiding frameworks for exploring the way the main character’s pregnancy was presented and the way this presentation may influence the ideas and behaviors of viewers. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to examine portrayals in the first 23 episodes. Results indicated that teen pregnancy was portrayed in five major ways: as Dramatic, as Identity, as Manageable, as Transformative, and as …

The Visual Divide Islam Vs. The West, Image Peception In Cross-Cultural Contexts, Hatem Nazir Akil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do two people, coming from different cultural backgrounds, see the same image the same way? Do we employ technologies of seeing that embed visuality within relentless cultural and ideological frames? And, if so, when does visual difference become a tool for inclusion and exclusion? When does it become an instrument of war? I argue that we‘re always implicated in visuality as a form of confirmation bias, and that what we see is shaped by preexisting socioideological frames that can only be liberated through an active and critical relationship with the image. The image itself, albeit ubiquitous, is never unimplicated - …

Communication Apprehension Vs. Social Phobia And Related Conditions A Correlational Study, Christine M. Donaldson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Of all social situations, public speaking is the most prevalent fear in both the general population and among social phobic individuals (Mannuzza, Schneier, Chapman, & Liebowitz, 1995; Stein, Walker, & Forde, 1996). The fear of public speaking is referred to as communication apprehension (CA) by members of the communication field; in other programs of study, this condition has been categorized and conceptualized in a wide variety of ways ranging from stage fright to reticence. Several scholarly fields including communication, social psychology, the health sciences and the social sciences, seek to find an explanation and effective intervention for this prevalent condition. …

A Comparison Of College Students' Perceptions Of Older Tattooed Women And Younger Tattooed Women, Laura Raymond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined how college students perceive older versus younger women based on their tattoo status (i.e., no tattoo, feminine tattoo, or masculine tattoo). A randomly assigned sample of 376 responded to a survey involving a 2 X 3 experiment designed to assess the impact of age (older versus younger) and tattoo status on four dependent measures: credibility, promiscuity, and attractiveness. Results indicate that older and younger women are perceived differently depending on their tattoo status. Not wearing a tattoo may lead to a more favorable perception of older women than wearing one, but wearing a feminine tattoo may engender …

A Research Study Examining Forgiveness, Empathy, Commitment, Trust, And Relational Satisfaction Among Adult Friends After Relational Transgressions, L. Lori Poole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examined how forgiveness was managed by adult friends after relational transgressions. It studied how the emotion of empathy promoted the act of forgiving and why the construct of commitment related to trust and relational satisfaction among friendship dyads. Isolating the specific emotion empathy in regards to forgiveness heightened the understanding of what emotional behaviors were used to maintain friendships once a relational transgression was experienced. Measuring and analyzing the interaction between commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction helped to determine how these constructs promoted forgiveness among adult friends.

Written In Black And White: A Content Analysis Of Newspaper Coverage Of The Desegregation Of Three Flagship Public Southern Universities, Michael Alexander Patronik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to correlate agenda-setting effects of the press to newspaper coverage of public university desegregations in the southern United States in the early 1960s. Front-page news and editorial page content from the Atlanta Constitution, the Athens Banner-Herald and the Red & Black newspapers were analyzed for the 1961 desegregation of the University of Georgia. The Clarion-Ledger , the Oxford Eagle and The Mississippian newspapers were analyzed for the 1962 desegregation of the University of Mississippi. The Birmingham News, the Tuscaloosa News and the Crimson White newspapers were analyzed for the 1963 desegregation of the University …

Protecting The Magazine Brand: Brand Manuals, Their Uses And Implementation, Callie Jean Blackwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the need for a brand manual for a magazine after the creation of a first issue. A brand manual ensures each subsequent issue of the magazine has consistent design from issue to issue as well as keeps the tenets of the overall magazine brand intact. This thesis was project based and conclusions were met by means of a literature review of branding, interviews and experiential research. The foundational similarities between brands and magazines through the lens of magazine design was discussed and found to be one in the same: magazines are brands. Brands are only as good …

Residential Broadband Access For Students At Walters State Community College., Mark A. Hurst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the availability of internet access for students attending Walters State Community College during the spring semester 2010. In particular, it is unknown to what degree broadband internet access is available in the counties that Walters State considers the service area of the college.

The research was conducted during the spring semester 2010 including the months February, March, and April of 2010. Data were gathered by surveying currently enrolled students of the college. Twelve percent of the population responded to the study. The survey instrument covered the areas of demographics, Internet connection type …

A Tumultuous Tenure: The Presidency Of Lyndon Baines Johnson., Michael Paul Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a work that focuses on how significant the press was to the success and failure of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. In the thesis, three aspects of the Johnson years are analyzed. The first chapter discusses the media's portrayal of Lyndon Johnson during the presidential campaign of 1964. The second chapter is an analysis of how the press reported on President Johnson concerning the issue of civil rights. The third chapter dissects the media's perception of Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam conflict. The primary research used in the thesis is a culmination of polls, editorials, personal letters, and …

From The Sacred Canopy To The Civic Canopy: Social Transformation Through Dialogue, Collaboration, And Civil Society, William K. Fulton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American creed of e pluribus unum--out of many, one--has proven to be an elusive aspiration for societies throughout history. Research suggests that as the diversity of a community increases, its stores of social capital decline. Yet, there exists a growing body of evidence that suggests under certain conditions, patterns of inclusion and collaboration are not only possible but predictable. This project explores theory on effective communication practices, grounded in Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action, as well as research on effective group interaction to suggest that certain communicative capacities and collaborative processes that successfully face the challenge of e …

Our Health Matters: Promoting The Health Of Sexual Minority Women In The New Media Landscape, Brenda Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The shifts occurring in the mediascape and the field of public health offer new opportunities for promoting the health and wellness of sexual minority women. As a population that has historically been underserved by the healthcare system, sexual minority women face multiple barriers to achieving positive health outcomes. They are often less likely to access preventive healthcare services and more likely to engage in risky behaviors that are detrimental to health than heterosexual women. Despite the significant health disparities among sexual minority women, studying this population has not been a priority in health research and there is little research-based evidence …

Unfiltered?: A Content Analysis Of Pro Athletes' "Twitter" Use., Justin A. Shockley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As new media grow, so do the users who navigate the virtual world. People and organizations are forced to adapt in order to stay relevant in a technologically driven marketplace. The sports world has been changed drastically because of new media. Athletes no longer communicate with the general public solely through traditional media outlets such as newspapers. Social networking sites such as Twitterallow athletes to directly communicate with mass audiences. This direct communication raises several questions with regard to dynamics of communication and uses of Internet portals. A content analysis examined professional athletes' "Twitter" posts to help …

Vignetwork: An Exquisite Corpse Network Of Short Films, David Scott Calhoun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vignetwork (www.Vignetwork.com) is the name for an online system of interconnected short films that comes from the combination of the terms vignette and network. By developing Vignetwork as an experiment in narrative structure, it is possible to analyze what a hypertext is and what it means as a tool, environment, and model for understanding the world. By comparing it to various other films, projects, and ideas, Vignetwork emerges as a parable for how individuals define themselves in a shared, crowded world.

Refashioning Old Clothes: Secondhand Fashion, Meaning, And Liquid Modern Consumption, Keeley M. Buehler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a critical look at consumption in liquid modernity as it plays out in secondhand shops. Interviews with secondhand shop owners and shoppers demonstrate that secondhand fashion has the potential to promote individuality and foster relationships, ultimately encouraging a reflexive approach to consumption. It also becomes clear that secondhand shoppers are more concerned with how they consume than what they consume. Secondhand shoppers situate how they approach consuming as a facet of their identity that qualifies them as expert shoppers. In addition, shoppers are aware that how they use secondhand fashion is an opportunity for individuality. Shop owners …

Ethical Elitism: A Burkean Analysis Of The Rhetorical Construction Of A Moral Persona In The First Term Of President George W. Bush, Veronica Lynn Koehn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On November 4, 2004, President George W. Bush won re-election. According to exit polls, a majority of people who voted for Bush over his opponent, Senator John Kerry, did so because they believed that Bush was the “moral values” candidate. In this dissertation, I assess the moral persona that the President rhetorically constructed during his first term in office. To do so, I utilize Kenneth Burke‟s cluster and pentad tools to analyze Bush‟s statements on embryonic stem cell research, 9/11 and the ensuing War on Terror, and same-sex marriage, three issues that the elite press explicitly identified as being “moral …

Mercy Mercy Me (The Media Ecology): Technology, Agency, And "Cleavage" Of The Musical Text, Arthur J. Bamford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores changes that occurred in popular music during the 1960s and early 1970s through case studies involving three significant albums released in 1971 and 1972: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, and Stevie Wonder's Talking Book. These albums deserve attention particularly because, as this thesis argues, existing research on the cultural significance of popular music has focused largely on the periods before or after the 1970s and research on music-making technologies has focused largely on white artists or groups from the late 1960s. Addressing this blind …

Dogs And Technology: Our Most Beloved Companions In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century America, Claire V. Bow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the suburban rush and steep rise in household technological devices in the mid-twentieth century, Americans have drawn apart from each other, a shift that has coincided with a rise in both dog ownership and the adoption of handheld mobile devices. This paper argues that these phenomena, which are both ubiquitous and intimate in many American households, reflect one of the most basic and static human needs: the need for emotional connection. Furthermore, it is the unique combination of canine and digital elements that replace human-to-human social networks; networks that were once both literally and figuratively tightly drawn. In the …

Hamlet From The Stage., David Blair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hamlet From The Stage is a video production designed to be an extra feature on the DVD video of the stage production of Hamlet, performed by the Division of Theatre and Dance at East Tennessee State University, and filmed by the Department of e-Learning during the Spring Semester of 2009. Hamlet From The Stage is a professional interview style video package of the cast of Hamlet designed to help inexperienced collegiate actors learn some useful tools when approaching a Shakespearean audition or performance. This video package represents over eleven months of production: concept, writing, set design and studio setup, interview …

Exploring The Lower Third: The Use, Innovations, And Future Of Snipes In The U.S. Television Industry., Aaron M. Sharp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital video recorders have given a growing number of viewers the ability to skip television commercials. In an effort to combat ad-skipping, television providers and advertisers are looking at ways to embed advertising into the video content; one way this can be accomplished is with graphic overlays known as snipes. Little is known about how content providers use snipes and what research they have conducted. This study is qualitative and uses long telephone interviews with 8 respondents from various cable television network and broadcast affiliate stations; examining the characteristics of innovation, as found in Rogers's (1995) diffussion of innovation theory. …

Exploring Brand Personality Through Archetypes., Candice Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though brands are created and maintained using many different management strategies, market and academic research has offered evidence that brands presenting the strongest personalities are more likely to perform better and resonate longer with consumers. This paper examines the components of brand personality using connections between contemporary branding and 13 classic archetypes. The study also discusses the life cycle of the brand, including development of brand personality and achievement of iconic status in conjunction with archetypal marketing. The research of Faber and Mayer (2009) is the basis for an analysis measuring participant attitudes toward popular brands by matching them with …

The "Oprah Effect": A Content Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Toni Morrison And How The Coverage Changed Post-Oprah., Mariah J. Childress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study analyzes the way in which Toni Morrison, an established author, was covered by U.S. newspapers in the year before and year following her selection for Opraha's Book Club. The content analysis method was used in the research, and the results were used to test 6 hypotheses and 6 research questions.

The results indicated that there was a significant increase in the total number of mentions of Toni Morrison in the year after her inclusion in Opraha's Book Club. The overwhelming trend that was seen in all variable comparisons was that while there were obviously more mentions of …

Unfulfilled Potential : A Case Study Of Traditional News Media And The Internet., Brenna Loraine Angel 1984-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Internet offers a tremendous opportunity for traditional media to expand and/or enhance news stories. This thesis is an exploration of the convergent journalism practices of three news organizations in a medium-sized market. It employed content analysis and in-depth interviews to compare the news stories of a newspaper, television station, and radio station with content on each organization's Internet website. While the three media organizations in this case study had different approaches to convergent journalism, they each utilized some type of multimedia technique on their websites including slideshows, videos, audio, hyperlinks, and reader interactivity. For the most part, however, online …

Black And White On Black: Whiteness And Masculinity In The Works Of Three Australian Writers - Thomas Keneally, Colin Thiele, And Patrick White., Matthew Israel Byrge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

White depictions of Aborigines in literature have generally been culturally biased. In this study I explore four depictions of Indigenous Australians by white Australian writers. Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) depicts a half-caste Aborigine's attempt to enter white society in a racially-antipathetic world that precipitates his ruin. Children's author Colin Thiele develops friendships between white and Aboriginal children in frightening and dangerous landscapes in both Storm Boy (1963) and Fire in the Stone (1973). Nobel laureate Patrick White sets A Fringe of Leaves (1976) in a world in which Ellen Roxburgh's quest for freedom comes only through …

Moving From A Textbook To Facebook College Students' Motivations For Using Social Networking Sites In Education, Heather J. Halter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined college student motivations for using social networking sites for educational purposes. Motives were examined through the uses and gratifications approach. If we can determine student motivations for using social networking sites, perhaps we can determine a way to successfully implement social networking sites into the classroom. By adding the concept of satisfaction, we can also determine if students will use the sites again. If students are satisfied with educational social networking site use, they will return to these sites for educational purposes again. Data was collected by giving a questionnaire to undergraduate students that assessed social networking …

Increasing Self Reported Argumentativeness In College Level Public Speaking Students, Kim E. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Argumentativeness, or the predisposition “to advocate positions on controversial issues and to attack verbally the positions which other people take on these issues” (Infante & Rancer, 1982, p.72), has been associated with a number of positive outcomes. Research among student populations indicates that compared to people who are low in argumentativeness, people high in argumentativeness display higher ability to learn, higher self esteem, greater ability to creatively manage conflict, and higher ability to see both sides of a situation (Barden & Petty, 2008; McPherson Frantz & Seburn, 2003; Rancer, Whitecap, Kosberg, & Avtgis, 1997). Promoting argumentativeness among college students should …

Dialectical Tensions Between Glocalization And Grobalization For Wal-Mart In The United States, Laura Lord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative analysis examines Wal-Mart managers‟ perspectives of the strategies that the U.S. corporation has implemented in order to increase its sales and profits at more than 4,000 stores in local U.S. communities. Two theoretical paradigms are specifically used: glocalization and grobalization. The former refers to cultural adaptation; the latter means standardization. The ultimate goal of the researcher is to identify the dialectical tensions between those two current forms of globalization. In-depth, face-to-face, qualitative interviewing of ten Wal-Mart managers in Central Florida allowed the researcher to actually comprehend managers‟ perspectives, gather fresh data, and construct a final product to enlighten …