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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Down The Rabbit Hole: Understanding The Instigators Of The Qanon Conspiracy, Trevor Mcnally
Down The Rabbit Hole: Understanding The Instigators Of The Qanon Conspiracy, Trevor Mcnally
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
Conspiratorial ideas have permeated the American ethos for decades. Whether it be Hollywood faking the moon landing to government involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers, there has always been a subsection of the population who believes larger relevant forces are at work. As humanity moves towards a more digital existence, conspiracy theorists also have advanced; enter Qanon. This paper will attempt to deduce the correlation between members of the Qanon community and what external factors could drive one to this belief. Qanon is a conspiratorial community that has attached itself to former President Donald Trump; their thoughts …
What Are You Scared Of? How Social Media News Consumption Impacts Voter Fear, Emilie Haskell
What Are You Scared Of? How Social Media News Consumption Impacts Voter Fear, Emilie Haskell
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
In the ideal world, all voters create the perfect democracy by voting through rational choice: logically comparing the available candidates, and selecting the one they perceive to best promote the public good. However, this is not always the case, and the rise of social media news has brought new levels of fear and distrust into the polls. In this piece, I will be examining whether those who reported getting their news from social media are likely to vote for a politician because of their fears. I will be using data collected by the 2020/21 edition of the Chapman Survey of …
The Political Dynamics Of Legislative Reform: Potential Drivers Of The Next Communications Statute, Christopher S. Yoo, Tiffany Keung
The Political Dynamics Of Legislative Reform: Potential Drivers Of The Next Communications Statute, Christopher S. Yoo, Tiffany Keung
All Faculty Scholarship
Although most studies of major communications reform legislation focus on the merits of their substantive provisions, analyzing the political dynamics that led to the enactment of such legislation can yield important insights. An examination of the tradeoffs that led the major industry segments to support the Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides a useful illustration of the political bargain that it embodies. Application of a similar analysis to the current context identifies seven components that could form the basis for the next communications statute: universal service, pole attachments, privacy, intermediary immunity, net neutrality, spectrum policy, and antitrust reform. Determining how these …
Beyond Gatekeeping: Propaganda, Democracy, And The Organization Of Digital Publics, Jennifer Forestal
Beyond Gatekeeping: Propaganda, Democracy, And The Organization Of Digital Publics, Jennifer Forestal
Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works
While there is disagreement as to the severity of the digital disinformation problem, scholars and practitioners have largely coalesced around the idea that a new system of safeguards is needed to prevent its spread. By minimizing the role of citizens in managing their own communities, however, I argue that these gatekeeping approaches are undemocratic. To develop a more democratic alternative, I draw from the work of Harold D. Lasswell and John Dewey to argue that we should study the organization of digital publics. For citizens to engage in democratic inquiry, publics must be organized so that they can (1) easily …
Debating Immigration: Political Tropes In The Echo Chamber Of Social Media, Chaniece Williams
Debating Immigration: Political Tropes In The Echo Chamber Of Social Media, Chaniece Williams
Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry
Analyzing the statements made by our Political Leaders President Obama and President Trump. President Obama embracing inclusivity towards immigrants, while President Trump embraces exclusivity towards immigrants.
Gender, Party, And Political Communication In The 114th Congress, Maria Gabryszewska
Gender, Party, And Political Communication In The 114th Congress, Maria Gabryszewska
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation investigates the interaction of gender and party in the political communication of members of Congress (MCs). The study focuses on the tweets of all MCs in the House of Representatives during two weeks of the 114th Congress (9,374 tweets from 431 MCs). I conduct an in-depth content analysis of these tweets to extract important message characteristics related to issue areas, electoral behaviors, and constituency targeting.
I find that MCs emphasize their partisan ties when they tweet about women’s or men’s issues, but Democratic congresswomen and Republican congressmen go further to address feminine and masculine issue areas respectively. …
The Potential Electoral Influence Of Internet Memes, Sierra K. Hatfield
The Potential Electoral Influence Of Internet Memes, Sierra K. Hatfield
Oswald Research and Creativity Competition
The rising popularity of social media has affected the communication methods of political candidates within the United States. Given the online presence of candidates in recent years, this paper argues that it’s time to consider internet memes – one of the many facets most commonly found on social media – as political rhetoric. This paper seeks to discern which components of an internet meme are most effective in persuading a young voter, using a visually rhetorical approach to understand which characteristics make it most effective. The study also seeks to find which demographics are most likely to be influenced, using …
Beyond Big Bird, Binders, And Bayonets: Humor And Visibility Among Connected Viewers Of The 2012 Us Presidential Debates, Kevin Driscoll, Alex Leavitt, Kristen L. Guth, François Bar, Aalok Mehta
Beyond Big Bird, Binders, And Bayonets: Humor And Visibility Among Connected Viewers Of The 2012 Us Presidential Debates, Kevin Driscoll, Alex Leavitt, Kristen L. Guth, François Bar, Aalok Mehta
Communication Faculty Publications
During the 2012 US presidential debates, more than five million connected viewers turned to social media to respond to the broadcast and talk politics with one another. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines the prevalence of humor and its relationship to visibility among connected viewers live-tweeting the debates. Based on a content analysis of tweets and accounts, we estimate that approximately one-fifth of the messages sent during the debates consisted of strictly humorous content. Using retweet frequency as a proxy for visibility, we found a positive relationship between the use of humor and the visibility of individual tweets. Not …
College Students And Online Political Expression During The 2016 Election, Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice
College Students And Online Political Expression During The 2016 Election, Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice
SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
While college students traditionally exhibit low levels of political participation and interest in politics, they are more likely to engage in some forms of political expression than their elders. Their greater familiarity with online forms of political expression and engagement potentially lowers their barriers for political involvement. In turn, this potentially draws more young adults into the political process. We compare the precursors of expressive forms of online political engagement to those of talking to someone offline and trying to persuade them to vote for or against a candidate or party among college students. We find that both activities are …
The Effects Of Social Media And The Internet On Political Participation, Leslie Orozco
The Effects Of Social Media And The Internet On Political Participation, Leslie Orozco
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
The 21st century has been a century of many changes and technological advancements. Arguably the most important and influential technological advancement of this century has been the internet. With the internet came other branches of the internet such as social media that have now become extremely prominent in American daily life and culture. In the last few Presidential elections, candidates have used the internet and social media as an important part of their political campaigns.
This research project looks at the effects that social media and the internet has had on political participation during the most recent Presidential elections using …
Use Of Social Media In Presidential Campaigns: Do Social Media Have An Effect On The Political Behavior Of Voters Aged 18-24?, Samantha Hamilton
Use Of Social Media In Presidential Campaigns: Do Social Media Have An Effect On The Political Behavior Of Voters Aged 18-24?, Samantha Hamilton
Honors Theses
Today, the idea of social media is radically different from the media of a decade ago. While a decade ago the Internet was considered new media, our society now turns to Facebook, Twitter, and blogs as sources of information. In the United States during election cycles, the use of social media by presidential candidates has become a way for many voters to find out about candidates. As a result, presidential candidates have had to adapt their campaign strategies to work with these media in a way that will effectively target these audiences. This study examines whether campaigns that are more …