Digital Commons Network^™

Breaking Things: Origins And Consequences Of Racialized Hate Speech On Facebook, Katherine Herrick

International Studies Honors Projects

This thesis seeks to bring attention to the ways in which the effects of hate speech--specifically racialized hate speech--transcends digital platforms. It will begin by connecting the phenomenon of racialized hate speech on Facebook to specific psychological tendencies that the company consciously amplifies for its own financial benefit. The first chapter interrogates the common narrative that violent rhetoric indicates a flaw in the platform’s design, instead arguing that proliferation of such content is encouraged by Facebook’s algorithm. From there, the second chapter examines what happens when a technology giant leverages human psychology for corporate greed. A true worst-case scenario, the …

The Current - Volume 32 Issue 24, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Girl-Next-Door To Girlboss: Taylor Swift’S Online Evolution From Puerile Pop Star To Poignant Political Influence, Clare G. Daly

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Of all society’s public figures, the social-media-savvy celebrity is arguably the most powerful. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has amassed one of the largest followings on the internet. In recent years, she has inspired fans to act upon sociopolitical issues via voter registration, letter-writing campaigns, and music. Her digital footprint is not without contention from a slow arrival to politics to white feminist attributes present in her messaging. Through close reading across four social media platforms, I found a shift in Swift’s social media activity. In her transition from a young pop star to a global influence, I concluded that “Swifties” will …

Mojave Desert Children's Picture Book, Kaesee Bourne

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Why the Mojave? Climate Change in the Mojave; Animals reaching thresholds; Current picture books available.

Spartan Daily, April 26, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 158, Issue 35

Composition, Computers, And Covid-19: The Roles Of Multimodal Composition And Digital Technology In The Covid-19 Pandemic., Michael P. Lynn

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The shift toward remote and online learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on teaching multimodal composition at all levels. Part of this shift towards rethinking multimodal composition came from the challenges of moving what would be in person classes online. Drawing on the New London Group’s definition of multimodality (1996), this thesis examines the relationship between remote learning throughout the pandemic and the modalities and technologies used by composition instructors and students in first-year writing. Using interviews with six first-year writing instructors from a private university, this project explores how instructors encouraged students to …

Equity + Catalyst Framework Guide, Naomi M. Silas

Masters Projects

There has been a shift in society, in light of Covid-19 and the global pandemic, more people have begun to recognize the structural and institutional injustices that exist in this country. Social innovation allows collaboration between people from different sectors, disciplines, industries, and backgrounds; in order to create sustainable change to complex social issues. Design thinking is an iterative process used in business to create innovation and products; it’s also used for social impact.

The goal of the Equity + Catalyst Framework is to bridge concepts that include design thinking, and embodiment, as well as lived experiences and community care …

Climate Without Context: Why Climate Change Journalism Is Losing Its Effect, Amanda L. Valentine

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Despite the growing frequency and severity of climate disasters, the news coverage of these events hardly shocks the public like it used to. Environmental journalism has become more “voluminous,” but less complex, ultimately sacrificing quality over quantity to cover as many climate-related events as possible. By analyzing the word choice, key frames, and contexts of climate articles featured in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times over the past five years, this study finds that the frequent decontextualization of climate events and a focus on political actions has banalized climate journalism and rendered it ineffectual.

Miracles Happen: An Exploration Of Girlhood And Celebrity, Sarah Thompson

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, many children’s programs were about fame and featured female protagonists while being written and produced by men. Despite being written by men, these shows clearly interpellate a young female audience. “Miracles Happen” explores this media and considers what girlhood is and what this media is teaching its audience. The first chapter looks at Disney’s studio and its history on how it inserts itself into the private lives of children. This chapter also analyzes this history and makes connections to how these traditions are carried into shows meant for girls on the Disney Channel. It …

Developing Ethical Training Curriculum For University Short-Term Missions, Elizabeth P. Sutphin

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis addresses common problems associated with short-term mission (STM) trips and the gaps in existing training materials for these trips. The research throughout this project is designed to inspire community-specific training materials for college students participating in domestic STM trips through their universities. The final chapter of this thesis includes the framework for a sample curriculum to promote sustainable STM work — providing cross-cultural communication techniques and relationship-building tools to avoid harming the communities students seek to serve.

A Systems-Theory Analysis Of The Relationship Between Communication, Beliefs/Practices, Religiosity, Spirituality And Expected Future Religious Practices Of College Students, Rachel Williams-Smith

Campus Research Month

This study uses systems theory to explore relationships between individual, micro, meso, and macro factors and expected future religious practices of students studying at a Seventh-day Adventist university. The study operationalizes system theory in context of both public relations and spirituality. The primary purpose is to understand relationship between each level of systems theory and students’ expectations about future religious practices. Key recommendations include the need to increase use of digital communication tools, the value of distinguishing between understanding and belief/action at the micro level, and the importance of supporting spiritual development outside the context of organized religion.

Spartan Daily, April 21, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 158, Issue 34

Give Full Play To National Strategic S&T Force To Provide Vigorous Support For Carbon Peak And Carbon Neutrality Goals, Jingdong He, Daquan Cao, Xiaonan Duan, Tao Zhao, Qifeng Li, Yu Xiao, Zhongmin Liu, Haisheng Chen, Chibiao Ding

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Scientific and technological innovation plays key supporting and leading roles to achieve "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goals (referred to as "dual carbon"). It is necessary to make sustained efforts in the three aspects, namely energy structure adjustment, energy consumption, and carbon sequestration, and build a novel multi-energy-integrated energy production and utilization system based on hydrogen energy, energy storage, and methanol, in which the main lines are clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy, large-scale utilization and complementation of clean energy, low-carbon reconstruction of industrial processes, and intelligent multi-energy integration of building and transportation. In 2022, the Chinese Academy of …

Policy Approaches To Increase Carbon Sequestration Capacity By Optimizing Layouts Of Ecological Construction, Jie Fan, Hongbing Wang, Daojing Zhou, Ning Ma, Baoyin Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Improving carbon sequestration capacity through ecological construction is one of the important ways to achieve the goal of "carbon neutrality" in China. Based on the analysis of the current situation and trend of ecological carbon sequestration in China, this study summarizes the main challenges in the increment of ecosystem carbon sink in China. The current situation and trend, the significant carbon sequestration capacity of forests, the recovery phase of carbon sequestration capacity of grassland, and the carbon sequestration benefits of major ecological projects are also surveyed. Then, the new challenges of China are analyzed, including the backlog of over-mature forests …

Technological Approaches To Enhance Ecosystem Carbon Sink In China: Nature-Based Solutions, Guirui Yu, Jianxing Zhu, Li Xu, Nianpeng He

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutralization in 2060 has been established as one of the important strategic goals of China's economic and social development. During 2010-2020, the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems in China to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) varied from 1.0 to 1.3 Gt/a, with high uncertainty. To enhance the carbon sink capacity of Chinese terrestrial ecosystems, the combination with land space planning and ecological protection is essential. It is necessary to first stabilize the existing carbon storage in these ecosystems, such as forest, grassland, wetland, coast, and others, and then implement some important ecological protection and ecological restoration …

Spartan Daily, April 19, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 158, Issue 32

The Prospector, April 19, 2022, Utep Student Publications

The Prospector

Headline: "Into the Woods"

Diy Disinformation: Using Fake Crafting Videos To Combat Fake News, Elizabeth M. Downey

UL Publications

When Ann Reardon started her YouTube channel How to Cook That, she likely didn’t expect to spend a bulk of her time debunking so-called “cooking hack” videos. Amateur bakers and other viewers would ask her why the so-called easy recipes from channels like So Yummy didn’t work for them. As a service. she would demonstrate the so-called “shortcuts,” explain why they didn’t work, and then show how to execute a similar recipe the right way. With her willing husband serving as the unfortunate taste-tester, the videos gained popularity followed by requests for similar content, expanding to crafting and other “lifehack” …

Melancolía X A Projection Of Queer Of Color Ambivalence In The 21st Century New Mexico, Anthony Rosendo Zarinana

Communication ETDs

This dissertation seeks to elucidate a form of investigation, derived from Jose Esteban Muñoz’s (2006) considerations of brown feelings. By triangulating a base across Queer of Color embodied critiques, I locate a research site in the field of Queer Intercultural Communication to ground the capacity of this project. In this, I work with Queer of Color men in New Mexico, focusing on their feelings about identity and desire as it relates to relational thresholds. By mapping an analytical structure across my own experiences and theirs, I determine to craft a more complicated vantage across our experiences, outlining the socio-cultural pressures …

Spartan Daily, April 14, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 158, Issue 31

Shifting Identities: Professorial Identification During Covid-19, Anthony Survance

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Building on existing studies of identification, this paper melds crisis research with studies of identity to understand how crises influence workplace identities. To accomplish this, the study addresses two research questions: (a) How are professors’ identities enacted during the COVID-19 crisis? And, how, if at all, does university rhetoric shape the enactment of identity during the COVID-19 crisis? This paper uses qualitative methods to get rich descriptions of professorial identities allowing research to get at the heart of how changes during the pandemic affected professors’ organizational, personal, professional, and workgroup identities. Overall, this study shows the pandemic encouraged professors to …

The Current - Volume 32 Issue 23, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Spartan Daily, April 12, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 158, Issue 29

A Content And Sentiment Analysis Of Facebook Posts Regarding Wild Horse Management, Libbie Anderson

Student Research Symposium

Controversy surrounding wild horse populations and public lands use has directly affected 177 herd management areas over 26.9 million acres across 10 western states, and grasped the attention of thousands across the nation. As a topic that impacts agriculture, public land use policy, and sparks public conversation, there is a need to understand how wild horse management is being communicated and perceived. The purpose of this study was to better understand public sentiment and current conversations on Facebook regarding wild horse management practices, including fertility control, roundups, and adoption. This was done by conducting a quantitative content analysis and social …

The Cowl - V. 86 N. 17 - Apr 7, 2022

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 86 No. 17 - April 7, 2022. 24 pages.

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume 4

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 4.

Sex With Robots And Human-Machine Sexualities: Encounters Between Human-Machine Communication And Sexuality Studies, Marco Dehnert

Human-Machine Communication

Sex robots are a controversial topic. Understood as artificial-intelligence enhanced humanoid robots designed for use in partnered and solo sex, sex robots offer ample opportunities for theorizing from a Human-Machine Communication (HMC) perspective. This comparative literature review conjoins the seemingly disconnected literatures of HMC and sexuality studies (SeS) to explore questions surrounding intimacy, love, desire, sex, and sexuality among humans and machines. In particular, I argue for understanding human-machine sexualities as communicative sexuotechnical-assemblages, extending previous efforts in both HMC and SeS for more-than-human, ecological, and more fluid approaches to humans and machines, as well as to sex and sexuality. This …

Human, Hybrid, Or Machine? Exploring The Trustworthiness Of Voice-Based Assistants, Lisa Weidmüller

Human-Machine Communication

This study investigates how people assess the trustworthiness of perceptually hybrid communicative technologies such as voice-based assistants (VBAs). VBAs are often perceived as hybrids between human and machine, which challenges previously distinct definitions of human and machine trustworthiness. Thus, this study explores how the two trustworthiness models can be combined in a hybrid trustworthiness model, which model (human, hybrid, or machine) is most applicable to examine VBA trustworthiness, and whether this differs between respondents with different levels of prior experience with VBAs. Results from two surveys revealed that, overall, the human model exhibited the best model fit; however, the hybrid …

The Symptom Of Ethics: Rethinking Ethics In The Face Of The Machine, David J. Gunkel

Human-Machine Communication

This essay argues that it is the machine that constitutes the symptom of ethics— “symptom” understood as that excluded “part that has no part” in the system of moral consideration. Ethics, which has been historically organized around a human or at least biological subject, needs the machine to define the proper limits of the moral community even if it simultaneously excludes such mechanisms from any serious claim on moral consideration. The argument will proceed in five steps or movements. The first part will define and characterize “the symptom” as it has been operationalized in the work of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj …

Human-Machine Communication Scholarship Trends: An Examination Of Research From 2011 To 2021 In Communication Journals, Riley J. Richards, Patric R. Spence, Chad Edwards

Human-Machine Communication

Despite a relatively short history, the modern-day study of communication has grown into multiple subfields. To better understand the relationship between Human-Machine Communication (HMC) research and traditional communication science, this study examines the published scholarship in 28 communication-specific journals from 2011–2021 focused on human-machine communication (HMC). Findings suggest limited prior emphasis of HMC research within the 28 reviewed journals; however, more recent trends show a promising future for HMC scholarship. Additionally, HMC appears to be diverse in the specific context areas of research in the communication context. Finally, we offer future directions of research and suggestions for the development of …