Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Participatory Fandom In American Culture: A Qualitative Case Study Of Dragoncon Attendees, Katherine L. Fleming

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of the mass media over the last century, fame and celebrity seem to have evolved into ever-growing phenomena. Likewise, audience members have sought increasing involvement with people or activities related to the focus of their interest. These individuals are not content to simply watch their favorite actors or films from home. Instead, they take a more active approach, engaging in activities related to their fandom as well as seeking interaction with each other in organized groups (in person and on the Internet), attending conventions, and seeking interaction with celebrities.

This study presents a discussion of fame, celebrity, …

Fanning The Flames: Religious Media Consumption And American Politics, Brian Newman, Mark Smith

Brian Newman

Both religion and mass media are politically important in the United States. However, little is known about the political role of religious media. Religious media might be politically influential because they help translate religion into political thinking and because their consumers are likely to internalize the political cues these media provide. We find that almost a quarter of the public claims to have relied on religious media when making voting decisions in 2000. Religious media users felt significantly closer to George W. Bush and Pat Buchanan and farther away from Al Gore and were more likely to vote for Bush …

The Media Production Experience: A Phenomenological Study Of Student Media Production In A Secondary Education Environment, Brian N. Saxton

Theses and Dissertations

Many media education researchers have pointed out the benefits of incorporating a production element into a media literacy program. In fact, the simple use of the word “literacy" alludes to both critical analysis of (“reading") media and creative expression through (“writing") media. However, many of those same researchers have found that there are serious difficulties with student media production from a practical standpoint. The lack of equipment, the lack of class time, poor educator training, and the possibility that students may produce school-inappropriate or offensive texts create doubts about whether or not the effort is worth the reward. This qualitative, …

High Stakes Testing In Florida: Media Portrayals And Parental Realities, Jennifer Gilroy Hunsecker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1998, Florida implemented a system of standardized testing known as the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). While initially designed as one among many tools to assess student and school progress, the FCAT has become a high-stakes test. Schools whose students fail to meet certain benchmarks are in danger of losing their students to "school choice plans" (which enable parents of children attending failing schools to choose another, more highly rated school) while parents must contend with ever broadening educational policies. The implications of this policy have been far reaching. Textbook makers now market individualized textbooks that teach FCAT content, …

Reality Cosmetic Surgery Makeovers: Potential Psychological And Behavioral Correlates, Steffanie Sperry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2006), the number of cosmetic procedures has increased to over 10 million in 2005, showing a 38% increase from 2000. This increase in cosmetic surgery prevalence is paralleled by a surge in reality cosmetic makeover television programming, such as Extreme Makeover and Dr. 90210. No research to date has assessed the potential relationships between reality media viewership and body image, eating pathology, or cosmetic surgery attitudes. The tripartite model of core influence (Thompson et al., 1999) is presented as a theoretical framework for conceptualizing the link between media influences, internalization, body image …

Sexy Sensationalism Case Study: The Fascination With Celebrity News And Why Usa Today Caters To The Obsession, Grant Edward Boxleitner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the digital age where newspapers compete with the Internet, cable TV and other publications for an audience, USA Today strives to stay relevant in the media with a daily dose of celebrity news. Newspapers continue to lose circulation during a time when the fascination with celebrities shows no signs of dwindling. This study explores how much celebrity news coverage USA Today gives readers, how much competition from other outlets plays a factor and whether the nation's largest newspaper is making a sacrifice of traditional forms of newspaper content in favor of celebrity coverage. The methodology for this qualitative case …

Filming Theater: The Audiovisual Documentation As A Substitute Of The Performance, Nestor Fernando Bravo

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre is not a thermometer of society; it is the fever. The archive is the aftermath that recalls that fever. In this thesis I theorize about the status of audiovisual documentation, its functionality, and its ontological relation with the performance. I argue that the film of a performance does not constitute evidence per se, but it acquires such status through the concurrence of other documents and archival artifacts existentially related to the theatrical production. I also propose that the audiovisual document becomes a substitute for the performance when it has disappeared from the historical world, becoming the new referent for …

Credibility Of Editorial Content Versus Advertising Of Luxury Hotels In Egypt, Sara Fathi Mohamed Ibrahim

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Editorial content is the most visible part of public relations for their effectiveness and credibility. Public relations practitioners have asserted the superiority of news editorial over advertising. This belief is based on the credibility of the third party endorsement.

Luxury hotels segment is one of Egypt's most productive sectors that is supported by a number of dynamic public relations professionals. These practitioners play an integral part in the field to actively influence publics' perception, media and community in order to enhance hospitality business.

A purposive sample of public relations managers and key decision makers within the luxury hotels sector was …

Review: Perpetual Art Machine., Mark Mcbride

Mark F McBride

The Perpetual Art Machine (PAM) provides us with an opportunity to look into the world of video art being created around the world.

Interview With A First Generation Male Chinese Immigrant, Lisa Roy-Davis

Telling to Live: The Immigrant Experience in a Global Suburb

Male immigrant from Hong Kong who immigrated to America for college. Discusses the conditions and differences between growing up in Hong Kong and growing up in America. He also relates his immigrations story, and how America was not what he was expecting from watching American media. Further he discusses his wedding in America and his wife's community involvement.

Balancing Bias In The Media, Sharon Beder

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

The news is presented to give the impression it is factual, uncoloured by journalistic bias, so each side of a controversy is accurately reported. This paper outlines the way that the influence of editors, owners, advertisers – as well as journalistic conventions – are more important to the final result of journalism than the reporting skills or biases of individual journalists.

Narrative And Media: Helen Fulton With Rosemary Huisman, Julian Murphet And Anne Dunn, Melbourne, 2005., Helen Caple

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Book review

Narrative and Media Helen Fulton, with Rosemary Huisman, Julian Murphet, and Anne Dunn, Melbourne, 2005.

The book Narrative and Media should be of great interest to students and scholars of Media Studies alike. Coming from a post-structuralist perspective, the book interrogates the ideological implications of narrative strategies across the major forms of the media, and offers a clear and cogent explanation of how readers are positioned as consumers of the media. With the commodification of the media becoming more and more prevalent, media scholars need to develop a reliable set of theoretical tools rigorous enough to unpack how …

Providing Language And Academic Skills Support In A Multi-Media And Distributed Learning Environment, Jeannette Stirling, L. Celeste Rossetto

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

[extract] This paper examines the role of the language and academic skills (LAS) lecturer in a multi-media and geographically distributed learning environment at the University of Wollongong. By this we mean providing language and academic skills support where subjects comprising various degree programs are taught simultaneously across a range of networked satellite campuses including, at times, the central campus: hence the idea of a ‘distributed learning environment’. Subject delivery to this network of campuses is variously achieved through the use of multi-media teaching and learning technologies such as videoconferencing, web-based resources, online discussion spaces, pod-cast lectures, and face-to-face tutorials. We …

Qep Grant Proposal, Jenn Fishman

Jenn Fishman