Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nebraska’S Centennial Mall: An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan, Shimmer Shack Advertising, Lauren Case, Jeff Price, Smidy Smidt, Kelsey Satra, Hilary Winter, Stacy James

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

“A present touch on the future.”

Shimmer Shack is a group of five senior advertising majors from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. We set out in August 2010, to assist Nebraska’s Centennial Mall (NCM) and the Lincoln Parks and Recreation to promote the renovation of NCM and to increase statewide awareness of the brand NCM itself.

Through our research these last few months, we have seen the need for a newly renovated space that connects two great entities of our state: the State Capitol and the University of Nebraska. We discovered that Nebraskans are very proud of their state and that …

An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For Nebraska’S Centennial Mall, B.Bach Advertising, Brian Muhlbach, Crystal Wulfekuhl, Bryce Wergin, Kelsey Nowka, Colin Clifford, Tyler Vaughan, Stacy C. James

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

Built in 1967 to commemorate the state’s Centennial year, Lincoln’s Centennial Mall is the open pedestrian mall area spanning from the Capitol Building on K Street north to the Nebraska State Historical Society on R Street. Managed by the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, the Mall has been the site for many important political and social events, including Robert Kerry’s announcement for his candidacy for President as well as local festivals and functions like Rib Fest and World Day on the Mall. But, as of 2010, the once-grand fountains have been mostly filled in, the steps are not handicapped accessible, …

Nebraska's Centennial Mall -- Where You Go To Grow: An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan, Secret Radio, Pam Orr, Brianne Hake, Jessica Simpson, Stephanie Scharf, Charles Wetzel, Stacy C. James

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Advertising Projects

Situation Analysis
Nebraska’s Centennial Mall, extending from the State Capitol seven blocks north on what would be 15th Street, serves as a scenic connection between Nebraska’s iconic State Capitol and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Mall is currently in a state of disrepair, but a restoration project will soon begin. Our task is to implement a statewide awareness campaign to encourage all Nebraskans to visit and take pride in Nebraska’s Centennial Mall. In essence, the new Mall is the front yard and primary entrance to the State Capitol and should be viewed and appreciated as a symbol to the state …

News Consumption Habits Of Students At The University Of Nebraska, Ford G. Clark

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

People in America today have many choices when it comes to the media. There are hundreds of channels available on cable or satellite television, hundreds of radio stations across the United States, as well as myriad newspapers. Many of these traditional media outlets have Internet websites available as well. Many studies have been done as well as current ratings, subscription information and website tracking to determine who is consuming news in this country. However, information about college students and news consumption is difficult to find. This study attempts to find out what, if any, news is being consumed, and through …

Commenting On Cannabis: Testing News Fragmentation Using Reader Comments On California's Proposition 19, John D. Beecham

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This content analysis studies reader comments on news articles pertaining to the issue of California’s Proposition 19—the “Tax Cannabis Initiative” to legalize marijuana. It investigates whether these reader message boards are consistent with news fragmentation theory, by examining whether the distribution of “yes” and “no” opinion on alternative media sites’ message boards is more homogenous than the distribution of opinions on mainstream news sites’ message boards. This study also uses a thematic analysis to investigate whether the mainstream media, as represented by editorial board endorsements by daily California newspapers, influences themes used by reader comments on Proposition 19. Results show …

The Post-Nuclear Family And The Depoliticization Of Unplanned Pregnancy In Knocked Up, Juno, And Waitress, Kristen Hoerl, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay explores three films from 2007, Knocked Up, Juno, and Waitress, which foreground young women’s unplanned pregnancies. These movies depoliticize women’s reproduction and motherhood through narratives that rearticulate the meaning of choice. Bypassing the subject of abortion, the women’s decisions revolve around their choice of heterosexual partners and investment in romantic relationships. Although they question the viability of the nuclear family for single pregnant women, these films represent new iterations of post-feminism that ultimately restore conservative ideas that valorize pregnancy and motherhood as women’s imperatives. We conclude by addressing how these movies present a distorted and …

Coaching Efficacy With Academic Leaders: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deanna Lee Vansickel-Peterson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this psychological phenomenological research was to understand the efficacy of life coaching from the perspective of academic leaders. To date, not one investigation or attempt has been made towards the above stated purpose. This study includes a theoretical overview and a review of the coaching literature from Socrates (469-399 BC) to current day Humanistic theory presented in part by Roger (1902-1987).

This process included data collection from five academic leaders who have been coached for at least two years. Levels of analysis of 365 statements, quote and/or comments produced finding of efficacy in life coaching with academic …

Revising The Ap Stylebook: Q&A With Editor David Minthorn, Sue Burzynski Bullard

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

David Minthorn, the deputy standards editor of the Associated Press, answered questions in an e-mail interview about how the AP Stylebook comes together. Minthorn has been a correspondent or editor with the Associated Press for more than 40 years. He has worked on style issues at the news cooperative since 2000. Minthorn is one of three editors of the AP Stylebook and answers questions on the Ask the Editor website.

Constitutive Discourse Of Turkish Nationalism: Atatürk’S Nutuk And The Rhetorical Construction Of The “Turkish People”, Aysel Morin, Ronald Lee

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This article explores the “Great Speech” Nutuk, delivered in 1927 by Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In analyzing Nutuk and its rhetorical features, we identify the mythic underpinnings Atatürk employed to construct a modern “Turkish people.” We use this case to further our understanding of the constitutive discourses of nationalism. We believe Atatürk’s Nutuk provides a profitable discourse to think with as we attempt to understand Muslim nations and their negotiation of modernity.

Blogs: An Essential Teaching Tool, Sue Burzynski Bullard

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Blogs are a good way to teach journalism. In fact, there are many journalism professors who contend that they are an absolute necessity if students are going to have marketable skills for potential employers. Or for those students who head down the entrepreneurial path, a blog can be the lifeblood of that enterprise. In creating and using blogs, students become aware of—and familiar with the use of—a popular and ubiquitous and (virtually) no-cost digital platform on which journalists work these days. For them, it’s like collecting “clips,” only without having to clip anything.

Innovator In Residence: Oh Yeon-Ho, Yeon-Ho Oh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Talks, Speeches, and Presentations

Oh Yeon-ho, CEO and founder of the citizen journalism website OhmyNews, will be the second Innovator in Residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. He will visit Oct. 12 to 14.

Operating under the motto "Every citizen is a reporter," OhmyNews receives between 200 and 250 stories each day from 100 countries worldwide. Launched in 2000 in Seoul, South Korea, OhmyNews began by working with 727 citizen journalists. Today, it is an international media outlet with nearly 62,000 citizen reporters and 70 full-time editors and reporters.

"OhmyNews, one of the first citizen journalism sites, is …

Transmitting Relational Worldviews: The Relationship Between Mother-Daughter Memorable Messages And Adult Daughters’ Romantic Relational Schemata, Jody Koenig Kellas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study investigates memorable messages that daughters report hearing from their mothers about romantic relationships to examine the development of meaning in the content of parent-child communication and the ways in which these messages may affect and reflect adult daughters’ relational worldviews. Findings from a study involving 149 adult daughters revealed 4 supra-categories of memorable messages: value self, characteristics of a good relationship, warnings, and value the sanctity of love. Moreover, statistical analyses reveal that memorable message types significantly related to daughter’s romantic relationship schemata as operationalized by Fitzpatrick’s (1988) couple types. Both message and couple type predicted intergenerational transmission.

Introduction To Special Issue: Public Argument/Digital Media, Damien S. Pfister

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This introductory essay to the special issue of Argumentation and Advocacy on Public Argument/Digital Media makes the case for a sustained interrogation of digitally-networked argumentation practices. To complement current scholarship on how new forms of digital mediation produce group polarization and truthiness, I suggest that argumentation scholars look at digital media as a rich source for the production and criticism of argument. Each of the essays in the special issue is then introduced by examining five cross-cutting themes that argumentation scholars may consider when examining how digital media produce networked argument practices: interactivity, instantaneity, scale, archiving, and search.

Regret The Error, But Who Admits It?, Sue Burzynski Bullard

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Correcting errors is simple and quick online. For Craig Silverman, that ease raises ethical issues. The author of the popular "Regret the Error" book and website believes news sites too often "scrub" away errors without acknowledging the mistakes. But what's the most ethical way to handle those errors? Should the story be updated without explaining that the original error occurred, what Silverman and others call "scrubbing"? Or should the fix be made with a note appended to the original article explaining that an error had been made?

An Ardent Flame: Witness To Distant Suffering, Human Rights And Unworthy Victims In The Coverage By The New York Times And Two Journals Of The Religious Left Of The 1980s Civil Wars In El Salvador And Nicaragua, Charles A. Flowerday

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist’s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience’s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to …

Contesting Sphere Boundaries Online: Private/Technical/Public Discourses In Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Discussion Groups, Kittie E. Grace

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The internet is fast becoming a means for people to obtain information, creating a unique forum for the intersection of the public, technical, and private spheres. To ground my research theoretically, I used Jürgen Habermas’s sphere theory. Habermas (1987) explains that the technical sphere colonizes the private sphere, which decreases democratic potential. In particular, the internet is a place for altering technical colonization of the private and public spheres.

My research focuses on women’s health because it is a particularly useful case study for examining sphere tensions. Historically, the biomedical health establishment has been a powerful agent of colonization, resulting …

Financial Literacy Explicated: The Case For A Clearer Definition In An Increasingly Complex Economy, David L. Remund

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This study explicates the concept of financial literacy, which has blossomed in use this century. Scholars, policy officials, financial experts, and consumer advocates have used the phrase loosely to describe the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation necessary to effectively manage money. As a result, financial literacy has varying conceptual definitions in existing research as well as diverse operational definitions and values. This study dissects the differing financial literacy definitions and measures, urging researchers toward common ground. A clearer definition should improve future research, in turn helping consumers better understand and adapt to changing life events and an increasingly complex economy.

Orwellian Language And The Politics Of Tribal Termination (1953–1960), Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

From 1953 to 1960, the federal government terminated sovereign recognition for 109 American Indian nations. Termination was a haphazard policy of assimilation that had disastrous consequences for Indian land and culture. Nonetheless, termination cloaked latent motivations for Indian land within individual rights rhetoric that was at odds with Indian sovereignty. Termination highlights the rhetorical features of social control under capitalism portrayed in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), in which opposing principles are fused and inverted. This essay critiques termination’s Orwellian language to show how ideographs of social liberation are refashioned by the state to subvert Indian sovereignty and popular dissent.

The Debate Authors Working Group Model For Collaborative Knowledge Production In Forensics Scholarship, Gordon R. Mitchell, Carly Woods, Matthew Brigham, Eric English, Catherine E. Morrison, John Rief

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The disconnect between modes of knowledge production in forensics (mostly collaborative) and academic study in the humanities (mostly solo work) is a chasm that can complicate the transition from tournament competitor to professional scholar. Might arrangements that promote joint authorship help harmonize the two modes of knowledge production and convert creative energy from the forensics setting to the academic publishing enterprise? This essay considers the possibility, reflecting on how efforts to coordinate collaborative knowledge production in debate authors working groups relate to professional development challenges isolated in the 1974 Sedalia Conference, the 1984 National Developmental Conference on Forensics, the 1993 …

Antecedents Of Servant Leadership: A Mixed Methods Study, Curtis D. Beck

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the antecedents of servant leadership. The sequential explanatory research design consisted of two distinct phases: quantitative followed by qualitative.

The Phase One quantitative survey collected data from 499 leaders and 630 raters from community leadership programs in the United States using the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006).

During Phase Two, selected leaders from phase one (N = 12) were interviewed to explain those results in more depth. The data were coded and analyzed for possible themes. Triangulation was used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data to validate …

Youtube Politics: Youchoose And Leadership Rhetoric During The 2008 Election, Scott H. Church

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The present study employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine the discourse of leadership in the YouTube video clips of 16 candidates who competed in the 2008 U.S. presidential race. The introduction and farewell videos of the candidates included on the YouChoose portion of YouTube are inductively analyzed for leadership utterances. Common categories are constructed through a grounded theory approach, while frequencies of the appearance of leadership traits are discovered through a content analysis of the data. The findings are then compared with relevant literature to determine the nature of presidential campaigns within the participatory culture of YouTube. …

Edward R. Murrow: His Life, Legacy And Ethical Influence, Howard Lester Rose

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

EDWARD R. MURROW: LIFE, LEGACY AND BROADCAST ETHICS TODAY Howard Lester Rose, M.A. University of Nebraska, 2010 Adviser: Nancy Mitchell This study researched the life and legacy of Edward R. Murrow and examined broadcast ethics today. Murrow invented radio news, as we know it and was the standard-bearer of journalism, ethics, and reporting. Many consider him the father of broadcast journalism.

This study covers ethics in broadcast journalism today, with remarks by veteran journalists (and one student) and journalism educators. These experts comment on where TV news stands today based on the ethical standards that Murrow set five decades ago. …

Female Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of The Portrayal Of Women In Advertising, Virginia M. Johnson

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This study examined how twelve undergraduate female students at a university in Alabama perceive and react to the way women are portrayed in advertising. Using a purposive sample and qualitative copy testing techniques, the study was designed to investigate the reactions of these undergraduate students to seven images of women, each portraying a different role, that are similar to images currently used in print advertising. Several themes emerged from the participants’ responses to questions in the qualitative interviews. Themes about the participants wanting to have a family occurred within the responses to several of the questions. In addition, a theme …

The Wired World: A Primer On Electronic Research, Wikipedia, Social Networking Sites, And Web Journalism, Ryan F. Love

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

THE WIRED WORLD: A PRIMER ON ELECTRONIC RESEARCH, WIKIPEDIA, SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, AND WEB JOURNALISM

Ryan F. Love, M.A.

University of Nebraska, 2010

Adviser: Mary Kay Quinlan

The Internet initiated profound changes that are difficult to contextualize. Having grown up with the Internet, young people are particularly likely to perceive the wired world as a given condition, rather than the result of a developmental process. To understand and shape our society, people must see how the Internet has transformed it. After an introduction, this thesis contains three more chapters, focusing on electronic research and Wikipedia, social networking sites, and journalism. …

Study Of Convergence In Nebraska Newspapers, Kathryn L. Schindler

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This thesis studies Nebraska newspapers and their efforts to converge with Web, multimedia, radio, or television entities. It also studies the efforts by Nebraska newspapers to converge reporter roles and organizational roles. Paper surveys were sent and in-person interviews were conducted in Nebraska during the 2009-2010 academic year. The results showed more examples of multimedia convergence than role or organizational convergence. Nebraska publishers and editors say they do not want to attempt convergence or multimedia products just to be trendy. They say convergence has to make sense, be useful, and be profitable for their individual businesses, staff, and communities.
Advisor: …

An Intergroup Perspective On Stepchildren's Communication With Their Nonresidential Parent's Family, Rebecca Diverniero

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Communicating and negotiating boundaries can be a challenge to family members who have experienced a divorce and remarriage. In particular, stepchildren and their nonresidential parent‘s family must manage potential changes and challenges to their communication and relationship as the stepchild transitions into stepfamily life. Centered in the interpretive paradigm and Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), the researcher interviewed 29 current and former stepchildren about their transition into stepfamily life to address six research questions: (1) What are the turning points in stepchildren‘s communication with their nonresidential parent‘s family? (2) How do stepchildren perceive and describe family identification with their nonresidential parent‘s …

Student Perceptions Of Digital Textbooks In A College Nursing Program, Alan D. Eno

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The purpose of this research was to study the use of digital textbooks in a small liberal arts college. The research was a mixed methods descriptive study using a pre and post survey to determine student perceptions of the technology. Findings indicated that students needed training in the installation and use of digital textbooks. Findings also indicated the need for further research into what students understand about using digital textbooks. Recommendations are for the college to institute training sessions to teach students how to use the digital textbooks.

Counter-Mapping As Place-Framing: Naturalized Injustice, De-Naturalized Community And Organizing For Social Change On Google Earth, Joshua P. Ewalt

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, I perform an analysis of counter-mapping on Google Earth as a process of organizing for social change. I address the process of mapping the virtual earth as an act of place-framing, an organizing process by which space is transformed to place so as to motivate action on the part of current and potential organizational adherents. Specifically, I argue that there are at least two ways in which place is framed on Google Earth so as to motivate action: place as “naturalized injustice” and place as “de-naturalized community.” Using the analytical vocabulary of collective action framing, and Martin’s …

User Motivation: Likability And Usability Of An Agricultural Web Site, Vishal Singh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Web communications has become a critical component of mass communications and media today. Web sites must be user-friendly if they are to communicate effectively. This study examines the relationship between user motivation and the likability and usability of web sites. Web designers, stakeholders, and web site owners need to pay close attention to the likability and usability of a web site since these are key components of its credibility.

A key finding of this study indicates there is not a direct relationship between likability of a web site and its usability. Often, web designers and web site owners judge web …

Conceptions Regarding Children’S Health: An Examination Of Ethnotheories In A Sending And Receiving Community, Maria Rosario De Guzman, Jennifer Deleon, Gloria Gonzalez-Kruger, Rodrigo Cantarero

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Ethnotheories are beliefs that adults hold about children and the factors that impact upon their development. Scholars suggest that “ethnotheories” serve as cultural models that underlie motivations for parenting practices and the way adults organize children’s early experiences. This study examines Mexican adults’ ethnotheories about children’s health in two communities that are linked by transnational migrants and serve as sending and receiving communities for workers. Forty-four Mexican adults in six focus groups discussed well-being issues affecting children in their communities. Qualitative analyses using grounded theory revealed a complex conception of children’s health issues that included physical, psychological, and behavioral components …