Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hablamos Español: Insights From Three Web Designers Who Design A Bilingual Or Multilingual Websites That Target Hispanic Audiences, Jeremy Brent Hughes

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine particular aspects three web designers use, with regard to layout and content, to effectively create a bilingual or multilingual website that targets Hispanics. In addition, it examines the processes that are used in creating a Spanish-language website. In-depth interviews were conducted with three web designers from top 25 Hispanic-targeted websites, as determined by Hispanic Online. Results indicate a six-step process that web designers should follow when creating a bilingual or multilingual website. Implications for web designers of organizations thinking about creating a bilingual or multilingual website are cited and recommendations for future …

Cigarette Papers: Cigarette Advertising And Promotion In College And University Student Newspapers, A Case Study Of The Orange And White At The University Of Tennessee, Elizabeth Crisp Crawford

Doctoral Dissertations

This historical dissertation discusses the relationship between cigarette advertising and student publications at colleges and universities across the United States. This study uses The Orange and White at the University of Tennessee as a case study. Cigarette advertisements were printed in student publications from the 1920-1921 academic year to the 1963-1964 academic year and provided a needed source of revenue for student newspapers. This research examines the tactics and strategies that the tobacco industry used to target youth in the absence of federal legislation. This dissertation is divided into five chapters, which explain in detail the relationship between student publications, …

Myths, Metaphors, And Mass-Mediated Reality: U.S. Press Coverage Of Bird Flu And Avian Influenza Pandemic, 1996-2006, Kunka Dineva Ignatova

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined U.S. press coverage of the H5N1 bird-flu virus and the possible influenza pandemic in the period 1996 - 2006. One elite and three regional newspapers were used. Framing analysis facilitated by the QDA Miner revealed that militaristic, race, natural disaster and Christian/biblical metaphors, as well as the myths of the “other world,” the “hero,” the “victim,” and the “plague,” created fear that helped to perpetuate the story and keep it on the media agenda. This was a story that the press constructed both scientifically and metaphorically, relying on scientific facts as well as on cultural myths and …

An Analysis Of Values Conveyed By Fiction In Boys’ Life Magazine, 2002-2006, Tina Mendzigall

Masters Theses

Scholars involved in gender research generally advocate the idea that gender subjectivities are based on active social construction and interaction and as such are amenable to change. Notions and values of masculinity therefore are cultural constructs that are reflected and articulated through symbolic systems such as spoken and written language. Fiction narratives in teens’ magazines are one form of textual media content in which these values can be expressed. The purpose of this study was to explore the textual representations of American values of masculinity in 56 contemporary fiction stories of Boys’ Life magazine by conducting a qualitative content analysis. …

Persuasion Strategies, Motivational Factors And Obstacles: Influences In The Evolutional Transition From Public Relations Practitioner To Professor, Patricia R. Silverman

Doctoral Dissertations

Future public relations practitioners may not be as well-equipped as their predecessors due to a faculty shortage. The shortage “is severe because we are faced with a critical gap between available qualified full-time faculty and an enrollment of students that continues to climb year after year” (B. F. Neff, personal communication, September 7, 2006). Additionally, low salaries, limited training, inadequate number of Ph.D. programs and stricter faculty requirements has contributed to this shortage. How do we persuade more practitioners to transition to the classroom? The purpose of this study was to look at the practitioner/professor transition experiences to provide answers …

New Media Migration: Digitization And Computer Networking Technology Use In Three Community Newspapers, Larry Shane Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

The study contributes to the understanding of how technology adoption effects organizations in structural and procedural operations. Specifically, this investigation was motivated by the perceived need to understand how digitization and networking technology is affecting how a community newspaper is produced. At its core, this study seeks to provide a foundation to focus efforts to understand what digitization and networking technologies mean to the practice of community newspapers by first making it clear what is happening. By establishing a framework of distinct identification for the phenomenon, more accurately aimed study of it can begin to occur. This, in turn, can …

It's All About The Motivation: Factors That Influence Employee Motivation In Organizations, Abby M. Brooks

Doctoral Dissertations

To be successful at work, individuals need to be productive. To be productive, environmental factors such proper equipment and abilities must be present, but employees must also possess some level of motivation to perform tasks correctly. To further uncover how and why employees are motivated this research project was designed to answer the overarching question: How are employees across organization types motivated by communication at work? Ten in-depth interviews, to redundancy, of full-time employees in different types of organizations comprise the starting data to answer this question. From this work, the researcher can offer greater insight into the motivation of …

The Pursuit Of Community Journalism In A Segregated Tennessee Town, 1949-1969: Richard Smyser And The Alfred Hill Family, Amy Rebecca Drews

Doctoral Dissertations

In 1949, The Oak Ridger became the first successful independent newspaper to serve residents of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, previously called the “Secret City” because of its participation in the World War II Manhattan Project. Alfred and Julia Hill founded the newspaper, and Richard Smyser was the founding managing editor. The Hills were fully aware of the reciprocal relationship between financial statements and editorial content. The paper had to create ties with local businesses and readers for it to survive.

The paper paid special attention to the Civil Rights Movement. Oak Ridge was a unique southern city, and Oak Ridge schools …

A Page Of History: Front Page Design Of Newspapers Covering Three National Tragedies, Roger B. Hagy

Masters Theses

This study observed the news coverage of three historically significant and especially emotional national tragedies – the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – specifically regarding front page design, an increasingly important yet underrepresented facet of journalism research. Past research regarding newspaper page design on typical news days and research regarding the atypical, emotional coverage of the three tragedies fueled the researcher’s hypotheses that type, photographs, and layout on front pages covering the tragedies would be significantly different than those on typical news days. In an examination of 436 front pages …

The Effects Of Narrative Based Language Intervention On Children With Cochlear Implants, Ellie Carol Justice

Masters Theses

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of Narrative Based Language Intervention (NBLI) with children who have cochlear implants (Cis). The researchers sought to determine in a preliminary study whether a 6-week production-based intervention approach focusing on production of grammatical structure, as well as narrative content and form, would produce similar results in children with Cis as previously shown in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

Participants: Three girls, ages 5;4 - 8;0, participated in the study. Participants were recruited from Child Hearing Services (CHS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The children were …

Discovery Of President Bush’S Professional Reputation In The Opinion-Editorial Section Of The New York Times, Chioma Ndukwe Marbrey

Masters Theses

Neustadt transformed academia’s fundamental conception of presidential leadership by arguing that extra-constitutional resources such as strategic persuasion, public prestige, and professional reputation are more critical to effective presidential governance than the simple application of the president’s constitutional powers. Professional reputation, which refers to political elites’ appraisals of the president as a leader, is a central yet scholastically understudied pillar of Neustadt’s theory. Neustadt argued that the “echoes” of a president’s professional reputation typically emerge from the newspaper columns of prominent political commentators (1990, p. 53-54). In essence, newspaper columns function as public forums where elites engage each other in interactive …