Mass Communication Commons^™

When And Why Do Arabs Verify? Predicting Online News Verification Intention During The 2023 Gaza War, Menna Elhosary

Theses and Dissertations

Guided by the network gatekeeping and secondary gatekeeping theoretical frameworks, this study employed a 2 (news headlines: pro-Palestine/anti-Palestine) x 2 (news sources: the Times of Israel/Al-Jazeera English) experiment embedded in an online survey on a purposive sample of Arab social media users (N= 452), aiming to understand the antecedents of online news verification during the 2023 Gaza War1. The study investigated the motives that might have encouraged or discouraged Arabs from verifying the war-related news circulated on social media. A model was proposed to examine the role of confirmation bias in shaping perceptions about sources and messages, thereby impacting online …

Netflix’S Role In Reshaping The Global Audience’S Perception Of Arabs And Muslims, Menatalla Abbas

Theses and Dissertations

This research study investigates Netflix’s role in reshaping the global audience’s perceptions of Arabs and Muslims. The aim of this study is to understand how Netflix has positioned itself as a powerhouse in the streaming-service industry, and whether or not it has been able to use that power to promote authenticity, diversity, and inclusion. This study employed the triangulation method in order to develop a cohesive understanding of how, and to what extent, Netflix has reshaped the global audience’s perceptions of Arabs and Muslims. A content analysis of four Netflix Original Arabic productions were chosen, consisting of two series: Finding …

(Not) Knowing, Jared Friedman

Theses and Dissertations

Jared Friedman’s work creates monuments out of banal common objects. Through acrylic paintings on- Astroturf, burlap, canvas, and upholstery fabric- he explores the ambiguity of the unremarkable, such as the condenser coils on the back of a refrigerator. In, (Not) Knowing, he parses the difference between knowing and understanding.

Artificially Intelligent Communication: An Exploratory Study On Replika Mobile Application, Nouran El-Ashry

Theses and Dissertations

This paper aims to address artificial intelligence from a communication perspective by looking at the usage of Replika, an AI-based platform. A quantitative survey was conducted to analyze the frequency of usage, attitude toward the application and the level of attachment to it. Moreover, qualitative questions were developed to get in-depth understanding of the type of relationship users have with their Replika application and reasons behind their usage. Results show no significant relationship between demographics and the application consumption except for age where older users communicate more frequently with the application than younger ones. Moreover, attachment levels were related to …

Tiktok Battlefield: Comparative Analysis Of English And Arabic Language Representations Of The 2022 Russian Ukrainian Conflict On Tiktok, Dina Magdeldin Mahmoud Elhawary

Theses and Dissertations

This study extends the growing political communication research on TikTok platform through studying the representation of a major political conflict in modern history; the 2022 Russian Ukrainian conflict. The study is providing a cross cultural comparison by studying the perspectives of English and Arabic speakers about the conflict. The study is based on the analysis of the 500 most liked TikTok videos - in one month duration that starts with the day of the Russian invasion - with top hashtags about the conflict in order to find the common message themes. The study uses a multi-dimensional analysis approach of connective …

The Impact Of Gender Differences And Geographic Locations On Social Media Literacy Among Public Universities Students, Heba Tallah Moustafa Helmy

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of both gender difference and geographic location on social media literacy levels among undergraduate students in public universities in Egypt. Four aspects related to social media literacy were considered in the Likert-scale survey, including basic technical skills, digital interactions, information evaluation, and privacy and security practices. A total of 520 students participated in this exploratory research, of which 265 males and 255 females enrolled at four public universities in different geographic locations. Cairo University and Ain Shams University represent the urban areas. The other two universities are located in center-periphery …

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

Promoting Climate Change Mitigation & Supporting Ngos: Converging The Theory Of Planned Behavior & The Elaboration Likelihood Model, Passant Mostafa Halawa

Theses and Dissertations

In the 21st century, public opinion's attention in developed nations has increasingly been directed to climate change and the urgency for humanity to take action. The main discourse is that climate change would have devastating consequences on a global scale, threatening humanity’s existence. However, in most developing countries climate change is generally not regarded as an important topic and climate change messages suffer from poor public engagement. Most recent research has investigated climate change communication efficiency in developed countries. The novelty of this study lies in understanding the effectiveness of climate change messages in the Egyptian context. More specifically this …

Instagram Use And Young Women's Body Image And Self-Objectification In Egypt, Sara Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigates the effect of Instagram use on young Egyptian women’s body image and how it is related to self-objectification. The aim of this research is to understand how Instagram usage affects women’s body image and makes them dissatisfied with their bodies; besides, it also tests how the comments women receive on their Instagram accounts affect them positively or negatively, and how the more hours they spend on Instagram, the more pressure they face to acquire a better body shape. Additionally, it examines the direct relationship between feministic beliefs and body surveillance and self-objectification. Moreover, self-objectification and Cultivation …

Superhero Tv– Analyzing The Narrative Techniques Of The Cw’S The Flash (2014 - Present) & The Netflix Original Program Daredevil (2015 - 2018), Dasmond R. Mcmillan

Theses and Dissertations

Shaped by contemporary television industry distribution practices and the phenomenon of binge-viewing culture, Netflix introduced its version of narrative storytelling via original drama series that rival traditional linear broadcast network series narratives. This thesis project is a textual analysis that evaluates the separate narrative strategies of two different, but very similar, superhero television drama series that appear on two different distribution platforms. In this thesis, I analyze and compare the Netflix original series Daredevil (2015 – 2018) to The CW series The Flash (2014 – present) to find out if they share any narrative similarities or differences with linear TV …

Where’S The Fair Use? Participatory Culture, Creativity, And Copyright On Youtube, Joseph Daniel Barden

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how citizens used YouTube to air concerns about copyright law and its influence on content creation. It studies the “Where’s the Fair Use?” (#WTFU) movement that was formed in February 2016 and used YouTube videos to oppose the site’s copyright systems. Using textual and discourse analysis, this thesis examines seven different videos and their respective comment sections. It analyzes how video is used to express dissent, it analyzes the movement’s discourse about fair use, and it examines how YouTube’s copyright systems influence participation. Among the findings, this thesis argues that videos are framed much like television news …

In Media Res, Christopher Andrew Sisk

Theses and Dissertations

We are inundated by a constant feed of media that responds and adapts in real time to the impulses of our psyches and the dimensions of our devices. Beneath the surface, this stream of information is directed by hidden, automated controls and steered by political agendas. The transmission of information has evolved into a spiral of entropy, and the boundaries between author, content, platform, and receiver have blurred. This reductive space of responsive media is a catalyst for immense political and cultural change, causing us to question our notions of authority, truth, and reality.

Consuming Digital Debris In The Plasticene, Stephen R. Parks

Theses and Dissertations

Claims of customization and control by socio-technical industries are altering the role of consumer and producer. These narratives are often misleading attempts to engage consumers with new forms of technology. By addressing capitalist intent, material, and the reproduction limits of 3-D printed objects’, I observe the aspirational promise of becoming a producer of my own belongings through new networks of production. I am interested in gaining a better understanding of the data consumed that perpetuates hyper-consumptive tendencies for new technological apparatuses. My role as a designer focuses on the resolution of not only the surface of the object through 3-D …

Revisiting The Spiral Of Silence In A Social Media Environment: Egypt’S 2014 Presidential Election As A Case Study, Heba T. Saleh Elshahed

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of the Internet and anonymous features of online media, users have established novel platforms to voice their opinion freely without fear of negative feedback. This thesis explores the application of a long-standing public opinion theory– the spiral of silence by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann–within the prevalent Social Networking Sites (SNS), particularly Facebook. When applying spiral of silence to online mediated environment, it seems intuitive that the lack of verbal cues and anonymity offered would serve to undermine the fear of isolation and restlessness that results in unwillingness to express minority views. This research contributes to understanding how the spiral …