Communication Commons^™

Social Positioning In Social Work Practice: Stories Of Hopes And Struggles Among Racialized Minority Workers, Utamika Cummings

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The primary purpose of this qualitative research is to understand the experiences of racialized social workers and social services workers and how social positioning plays out in their practice. What are the experiences of racialized workers in their work places? How do they position themselves in terms of their age, gender, race and professional identity in the various contexts of their practice? Do they experience self-doubt? How are they recognized or misrecognized for how they position themselves? How do they deal with these experiences? What are their stories? These were the main questions that this narrative research sought to capture …

Single And Pair Housed Chacma Baboons’ (Papio Ursinus) Response To Caregivers’ Use Of Species-Specific Behavior, Josefine Holm

All Master's Theses

Most captive primates suffer from stereotypical or abnormal behavior which can be reduced by implementing enrichment protocols. There is, however, often spatial or economic limitations to facilities’ enrichment programs, and implementing the most beneficial and cost-effective enrichment is therefore crucial to ensure the best welfare for captive primates. Social enrichment has been designated as the most effective type of enrichment, but often captive primates cannot be housed in social groups. Through this study, I wanted to determine if species-specific behavioral interactions between human caregivers and captive chacma baboons (Papio ursinus)would alter the baboons’ behaviors, and if these interactions could …

Leadership In Community Public-Private Partnership Health And Social Care Initiatives, Hawa Yatera Mshana, Magdeline Aagard, Cheryl Cullen, Patrick A. Tschida

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Although the public–private partnerships in health have been adopted as the best pathway to improving health outcomes in many developing nations, implementation lacks collaborative leadership. The purpose of this empirical qualitative case study was to determine key factors that promote leadership synergy (LS) between partners that enhance ownership and accountability of community health and social initiatives in Tanzania. The diffusion of innovation theory and public–private integrated partnership module were the theoretical framework guided this study. Diffusion of innovation theory is based on the importance of effective communication to spread new ideas and foster change in behavior in a social group …

Domestic Extension Of Public Diplomacy: Media Competition For Credibility, Dependency And Activation Of Publics, Yicheng Zhu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation connects theories of political communication, public relations and international relations to conceptualize a new model of public diplomacy, where boundaries between distinct types of actors are drawn. It proposes an ecological model and a competition model of public diplomacy. Based on these conceptual models, it empirically supports the academic rationalization of governmental interference in foreign media effects among its domestic citizens: Using a quota sample of 560 survey respondent from mainland China, the empirical part of the dissertation illustrated: 1. Governmental control on foreign media accessibility has significant effects on perceived media credibility and thus dependency on it; …

Younger Everyday, Melody Forsythe

Communication Studies Student Works

In this comic, the student reflects on the process of doing research for Dean Scheibel's Communication Studies course. Students were instructed to create comics using photographs, drawings, or a computer program called Comic Life 3.

The idea of reflection is important in education. These comics could be viewed as a response to reflective learning (or metacognition) about the idea of the literature review, or “research as inquiry.” Through reflection on what we do, we learn more deeply about our everyday experiences of life, death, love, God, and even literature reviews. Although “comix” have been the objects of critique by academics, …

Watered Down: The Challenges Of Managing Water Resources In Montana, Beau E. Baker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Like much of the American West, Montana sits in the cross hairs of climate change. State drought resiliency projects and cooperative watershed management are on the rise in the face of decreased snowpack, early runoff, precipitation variability and lower seasonal stream flows. Population growth, land use practices, recreation and tourism all contribute to pressures on state water supplies.

Montana is faced with the arrival of invasive species that threaten the ecological health of its lakes, rivers and streams. State budget constraints and depressed agency capacity are hurting our ability to fend off these threats. There’s a lack of public education …

Vendorgraphs - Data Visualization, Samuel Park

Masters Theses

Creating a data visualization solution for automotive dealers to enhance sales performance. As many auto dealers use over 20 vendors per store, it is very difficult to keep track of vendor performance. Therefore, auto dealers need a tool that explains vendor performance through visual charts and graphs. VendorGraphs will meet this need.

Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers - Accession 1049, Dorothy Moser Medlin

Manuscript Collection

(The Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers are currently in processing.)

This collection contains most of the records of Dorothy Medlin’s work and correspondence and also includes reference materials, notes, microfilm, photographic negatives related both to her professional and personal life. Additions include a FLES Handbook, co-authored by Dorothy Medlin and a decorative mirror belonging to Dorothy Medlin.

Major series in this collection include: some original 18th century writings and ephemera and primary source material of André Morellet, extensive collection of secondary material on André Morellet's writings and translations, Winthrop related files, literary manuscripts and notes by Dorothy Medlin (1966-2011), copies …

Writing As A Science Educator, Emily K. Faulconer

Publications

As scientists, we write to record observations and procedures. We write to analyze and present our data. We write to evaluate the works of others. My training in scientific writing started in earnest as an undergraduate student where I dutifully wrote lab reports and literature reviews. I learned how to write objectively. I practiced evidence-based arguments. After years of practice, this writing style is second nature. I see hints of it in my e-mail communication style. I even hear its echo in my administrative documents. This style is efficient and clear.

My.Eskwela: Designing An Enterprise Learning Management System To Increase Social Network And Reduce Cognitive Load, Ma. Regina Justina E. Estuar, Orven E. Llantos

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

A typical learning management system (LMS) provides a tool for teachers to upload and create links to resources, create online assessments and provide immediate evaluation to students. As much as it tries to be student centered, most LMS remains a tool for instruction rather than learning. In a learning generation that is bound by very high online social capital, connectedness to the family weakens. my.Eskwela (My School) redefines LMS to include a parent component to address the need for inclusive participation of parents in the teaching-learning process. Basis for re-design came from the low user acceptance of teachers in using …

Finding Companionship On The Road Less Travelled: A Netnography Of The Whole Food Plant-Based Aussies Facebook Group, Robyn Chuter

Theses : Honours

Chronic conditions are now the leading contributors to the burden of disease and associated healthcare expenditure in Australia. Wholefood plant-based diets are an evidence-based approach to the prevention, management and even reversal of many types of chronic disease. However, numerous practical, cognitive, social and intrapersonal barriers inhibit the ‘mainstreaming’ of plant-based diets (PBDs). Online communities may provide the informational, emotional and social support to help members overcome these barriers. However, there is a paucity of research on both the support needs of people attempting to follow PBDs in Australia, and the role that online community membership plays in providing this …

Impact Of Social Media On Ghanaian High School Students, Frankie Asare-Donkoh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Many high school students in Ghana have access to social media using several devices with internet connectivity including Ipads, mobile phones, laptops, tablets and others. Some parents and educationists believe social media has negative impact on students. They argue that social media makes students incapable of making independent and critical analysis of issues and events. Notwithstanding this, other parents, educationists and students applaud the positive impact of social media on learning and social cohesion. The findings of this study reveal that social media has positive impact on the academic and social life of Ghanaian senior high school students.

Creating An Online Social Movement In Socially Conservative Societies: A Case Study Of Manshoor Blog Using Frame Alignment Process, Noura Abdullah Al-Duaijani

Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, the Arab region has witnessed many political and social changes. Parts of these changes were initiated by millennials seeking social change to elevate the quality of life in their country and themselves. In one particular country, Kuwait, youth have pursued social change by advocating a freer lifestyle and regime change in government and institutions. Manshoor, an Arab language blog launched in November 2016 by two Kuwaiti liberals, Jassim Qamis and Ali Al-Nessif, stimulates an open conversation on a wide range of issues, including controversial ideas in the region such as scrutinizing some practices and beliefs of …

Fandom In Politics: Scale Development And Validation, Won-Ki Moon

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the importance of fandom in politics to understanding individuals’ political behaviors, reliable scales measuring political fandom are lacking. To fill this gap, the present study constructs and validates a new scale for political fandom. First, by reforming existed questions and making new questions, the author derived 42 questions belonging to seven dimensions as an initial item pool based on conceptualization. Second, to refine and develop the scale, the researcher conducted exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. According to the result of the studies, the final factor model of political fandom retained 25 questions and seven dimensions. In addition, …

Testing Links Among Uncertainty, Affect, And Attitude Toward A Health Behavior, Robert J. Griffin, Timothy K.F. Fung, Sharon Dunwoody

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This study examines the conceptual linkages between individuals’ uncertainty judgments and affective reactions (worry and anger) within the context of an environmental health risk. It uses data from a longitudinal study of people’s reactions to the risks of eating contaminated fish from the Great Lakes that employed the risk information seeking and processing model and incorporates a set of variables from the full model, which includes preventive behavior. Findings support the model and indicate that worry and anger strongly influenced uncertainty judgments but worry and anger influenced attitudes toward fish avoidance and information insufficiency differently.

Duplicity In Alternative Marketing Communications, Cristina Nistor, Taylan Yalcin, Ekin Pehlivan

Business Faculty Articles and Research

In the past couple of decades, following the advancements in communication technologies, alternative marketing communications such as consumer generated content, influencer marketing and native advertising, have emerged as a viable and gainful tactic. These alternative marketing communications blur the boundaries between the roles of consumer and marketer. The possibility of duplicity and deception in marketing relationships is fueled by the ambiguity of these roles and the lack of clarity in persuasion knowledge when alternative marketing communications are utilized. In this paper, we illustrate the various types of duplicity in marketing relationships that use alternative marketing communications. We adopt a conceptual …

Submission Or Subversion: Women With Shaved Hair In Media, Thea Cheuk

Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

“It is quite obvious that the shaving of heads fundamentally damages the physical and moral integrity of those people for whom it was intended,” Fabrice Virgili asserts in his book Shorn Women: Gender and Punishment in Liberation France (135). For centuries, hair has been held as a standard of feminine beauty, therefore a lack of it has a long and storied history as well. Records of head shaving as a form of punishment for women can be traced back to Ancient Greek and Roman times. Shaving a woman’s head was a sign of sin and shame, and stripped them of …

Of Rattle Snakes And Grapes Of Wrath: Rise, Fall And Rise Of Independent Media In Kenya, Peter Kimani

Graduate School of Media and Communications

The Kenyan case highlights government’s recourse to sophisticated, “silent” but effective process of emasculating the media in spite of the robustness of the constitutional, legal and institutional frames for media behaviour. The author, Peter Kimani, notes further, however, that investments in the technology sector have led to an empowered citizenry and helped to reorganize the way news is sourced and disseminated, particularly through mobile telephony. According to him, “this, it is safe to predict, is the next news frontier, and start-ups and other fringe news portals are likely to problematize power relations between media barons and the state, and provoke …

Technology Over-Consumption: Helping Students Find Balance In A World Of Alluring Distractions, George D. Shows, Pia A. Albinsson, Tatyana B. Ruseva, Diane Marie Waryold

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The last two decades has seen a fundamental shift in society with the growth in technology and the growth of social media. This shift has been embraced in the classroom as a tool to enhance the learning experience of the student. Students have experienced a fundamental shift in interaction with themselves and the world they inhabit with the exponential growth in technology and social media both inside and outside the classroom. The result is the multitasking student, who must constantly switch between a growing number of interactions. Attention spans have a finite limit, and eventually students experience an over-consumption of …

Marketing Leadership In A Knowledge Economy, Myles Bassell, Sonia Lambert

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Often the most valuable assets of a marketing driven firm are intangible assets such as a brand name, intellectual capital, and the expertise and knowledge of employees. The new breed of marketing leaders understand that it is important for employees to collaborate and be engaged and that leaders must be agents of change, creative, ethical, and global thinkers who can create learning organizations. The research reveals that organizations that are going to thrive in the knowledge economy are those that have marketing leaders who can build learning organizations, encourage diversity, and ensure employees are engaged in meaningful work.