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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Communication
Deadly Discourse: Negotiating Bureaucratic Consensus For The Final Solution Through Organizational And Technical Communication, Mark Ward Sr
Deadly Discourse: Negotiating Bureaucratic Consensus For The Final Solution Through Organizational And Technical Communication, Mark Ward Sr
All Dissertations
The Final Solution was largely accomplished in eleven months; its executors, the Nazi SS, faced the constant problem that as killing and plunder escalated so did internal competition and corruption; and the SS deliberately cultivated an intensely competitive and polycratic organizational culture that fit the Nazi worldview of life-as-struggle. By tying these three observations together—that the Final Solution was punctuated, entropic, and polycratic—the problem arises: How did SS organizational communications manage, just barely long enough, to create a temporary social reality that regulated the internal contradictions of its genocidal project and fragmented bureaucracy? This study contends that through its organizational …
Style And Electronic Communication: The Accommodation Of Scientific Risks In The Sierra Magazine, Erin Dalton
Style And Electronic Communication: The Accommodation Of Scientific Risks In The Sierra Magazine, Erin Dalton
All Theses
This thesis focuses on how style accommodates scientific risks for public audiences in Magazine articles. Language has previously been unexplored in risk communication; in accommodation research, style has not been investigated. Responding to these gaps in research, this study combines two unexplored dimensions--risk communication and accommodation--to show how syntax, diction, and metaphor resituate technical language and ideas in scientific risk studies for readers. First, interviews with editors and writers will provide a rich understanding of how their editing and composition practices influence accommodation processes. From there, an electronic communication analysis will illustrate how this medium can accommodate beyond text to …
Introducing Writing Across The Curriculum Into China: Feasability And Adaptation, Dan Wu
Introducing Writing Across The Curriculum Into China: Feasability And Adaptation, Dan Wu
All Dissertations
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is a successful educational movement initiated in the US in the 1970s to promote better teaching and learning. It has developed to incorporate writing, speaking, digital educational technologies, and other communication modalities in the past several decades. WAC initiatives have now been successfully transplanted outside of the U.S. in nations and areas such as Australia, Sweden, Germany, and Hong Kong, yet one country that has not endorsed a WAC approach is China. Given the current tension between access and quality for Chinese higher education after an unprecedented enrollment expansion, incorporating WAC approaches is currently a …
Rhetorical Problems And Cinematic Solutions: The Visual Arguments Of The 'Obama Infomercial', Bryan Ricke
Rhetorical Problems And Cinematic Solutions: The Visual Arguments Of The 'Obama Infomercial', Bryan Ricke
All Theses
Most Americans remember the outcome of the presidential election on November 2nd, 2008, and the intense media coverage of the entire campaign. Just three nights before Election Day, the Barack Obama campaign purchased primetime air slots on seven major broadcast and cable stations across the country to air a 30-minute 'infomercial' entitled
American Stories: American Solutions. This thesis looks at this television program with a specific focus not on the verbal message of American Stories: American Solutions, but on how this message is framed through cinematography. The thesis first explores research in the fields of rhetoric, film, politics, and race, …
Institutionalization, Technology, And Power: The Ideological Context Of Style Organizations, Dustin Wilson
Institutionalization, Technology, And Power: The Ideological Context Of Style Organizations, Dustin Wilson
All Theses
Organizations have the power to establish the norms of discourse within various fields through organizational style guides. These style guides determine the conventions of discourse that professionals use every day. In this thesis, I explore and articulate the ideological context of some style guides in prominent professions. The institutionalization of discourse is seen through the history of style manuals and is particularly noted within the discourse of contemporary organizations that create style guides. Through an application of the theories of Foucault and Habermas, I discuss how these organizations institutionalize discourse and perpetuate a system of purposive-rational action. In this thesis, …
Cultural Variation In The Visual Aspects Of Television Commercials: Comparing The Use And Effect Of Field Information In Chinese And Us Television Commercials, Jin Liu
All Theses
Cross-cultural psychology literature demonstrates cultural variation in visual perception patterns and field information inclusion in static visual designs between Chinese and American cultures. This study attempts to empirically investigate whether such variation exists in these two cultures' video images such as television commercials, and whether the commercials customized to cultural preference are more effective than others as previous research suggests. The research results correspond to previous claims about the visual design patterns in Chinese and American cultures, based on which suggestions for cinematic practice are provided. This research contends that variation in information inclusion and exclusion rules manifests differences in …
A Linguistic Analysis Of The Entrepreneurial Pitch, Laura Cunningham
A Linguistic Analysis Of The Entrepreneurial Pitch, Laura Cunningham
All Theses
An entrepreneur faces many challenges in the quest to bring an idea to fruition, and the first step in gaining financial support most commonly comes in the form of a pitch. The goal is always ultimately to persuade investors in the validity and profitability of a product or idea. A wealth of information currently exists in helping entrepreneurs create pitch content as well as giving advice on presentation skills. While this information is important for consideration, the vast majority of available knowledge hovers in the intuitive realm.
Little to no quantitative, academic research exists on the actual use of language …
Fantasy Football: Analyzing Fantasy Themes In America's Rhetorical Pastime, Frankie Christ
Fantasy Football: Analyzing Fantasy Themes In America's Rhetorical Pastime, Frankie Christ
All Theses
Fantasy football has emerged as a male-bonding experience of our online age. In understanding the formation of a rich rhetorical community, a close examination of how these fantasy football communities represent the larger culture is required. This thesis uses Ernest Bormann's theoretical framework of fantasy theme analysis to examine how the sharing of group fantasies creates a symbolic convergence. Once symbolic convergence has occurred, group members are then able to share rhetorical visions that shape their world's view. In the case of this thesis, Bormann's methods have been modified to better understand the small group dynamics of fantasy football participants. …
The Enthymematic Model Of Meaning-Making In Video Games: Towards Narratively Designed Transmedia Texts, Kevin Human
The Enthymematic Model Of Meaning-Making In Video Games: Towards Narratively Designed Transmedia Texts, Kevin Human
All Theses
After introducing the ludological and narratological sides of modern video game theory, we explain Ian Bogost's concept of procedural rhetoric. We go on to argue that procedural rhetoric in practice is a form of what Stephen Dinehart and others have called narrative design. Furthermore, we argue that narrative design principles fall into the Aristotelian, enthymematic form of knowledge creation. We then cite examples of effective narrative design in video games and show how they fit the enthymematic model. We conclude with a discussion of how the epistemic principles of narrative design are applicable to a transmedia design context and how …
Communicating During An Economic Crisis: An Examination Of The Use Of Strategic Ambiguity Within The Banking Industry, Stephanie Tarbet
Communicating During An Economic Crisis: An Examination Of The Use Of Strategic Ambiguity Within The Banking Industry, Stephanie Tarbet
All Theses
The current economic crisis has adversely affected companies and organizations throughout our nation and around the globe. One of the industries hit hardest by the unprecedented downturn was the banking industry. During these critical times, these companies have a responsibility to communicate information to stakeholders about the economy's impact on financial results, operations, and future plans. The following research study describes how four major companies within the banking industry communicated with external stakeholder groups about the economic crisis. Specifically, I analyzed how these companies communicated with external stakeholder groups and whether their communications revealed instances of strategic ambiguity. Using Kathy …
Social Media As A Branding Tool In Heterogeneous Organizations: A Collective Case Study Approach, Heather Dunn
Social Media As A Branding Tool In Heterogeneous Organizations: A Collective Case Study Approach, Heather Dunn
All Theses
The concept of branding can be applied to an endless list of topics including products, organizations, and individuals. Just as a product line can have a brand identity, so can a university, business or non-profit. This thesis details a study on universities, businesses and non-profits and how they use social media as a branding tool. In this thesis, I provide a brief literature review, describe my methodologies, describe in detail the research of each of the three cases and finally, draw conclusions and suggest future research. This thesis ends with a list of references and additional readings that provide insight …
Eastern Martial Arts And The Cultivation Of Persuasive Power, Kevin Cantey
Eastern Martial Arts And The Cultivation Of Persuasive Power, Kevin Cantey
All Theses
Martial arts, which incorporate Eastern philosophical and cultural perspectives, enhance rhetorical skill along with self-defense mastery. Furthermore, Western styled rhetorical movements within workplaces can benefit from the integration of Eastern self-cultivation approaches, specifically Taoism and Zen. Eastern martial arts training grounded in Zen and Taoist precepts, such as the interdependence of seeming opposites, the persuasive power of restraint and humility, and the benefit of applying pathos as a primary rhetorical movement, increases self-knowledge. Through dedicated practice grounded in mutual respect and an openness to challenge physical and mental limitations, the life artist emerges by simultaneously obtaining self-defense ability and virtuous …