Digital Commons Network^™

Social Media Influencers' Impact On Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Kennedi O. Kutz, Kiara Espinal, Erin Flynn, Julia Cheney

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The study entails how social media usage and parasocial relationships with social media influencers impact the audience’s purchases as a consumer. The survey covers a wide range of questions discussing the different social media platforms, how often they engage on them, and how often they click and engage with advertisements and influencers. It also covered questions that collected the participants' demographics to better understand which groups are more likely to be influenced by advertisements and influencers. We have found that younger audiences are more likely to have their consumer purchases influenced by social media advertisements and influencers than older audiences. …

Media Framing Of Transportation, Agriculture, And Gasoline In The Russia-Ukraine War, Sk Farhan Rabbi

Student Theses and Dissertations

The war between Russia and Ukraine has the potential to exacerbate social and economic effects on a worldwide scale, impacting several industries including energy, transportation, and agriculture crisis. Due to their heavy reliance on imports of key foods, the Middle East and North Africa are the most susceptible countries. The COVID-19 epidemic increased worldwide demand, and bad harvests all occurred at the same time as the conflict, further pressuring the food supply, transportation, and gasoline costs. Previous studies identified three categories: countries with diminishing fuel security, those making little advancements, and Latvia, which has undertaken noteworthy initiatives. Sanctions against Russia …

The Current - Volume 35 Issue 2, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Exploring Artificial Intelligence: A Collaborative Small Group Analysis And Application, Ellamarie Powell

AI Assignment Library

In this small group project, students will collaborate to explore the principles and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Each group will research, analyze, and present on a specific AI topic, highlighting its real-world implications and ethical considerations. The project involves team members contributing to various roles, including research, technical analysis, and presentation. The final deliverable will be a video presentation integrating individual contributions, showcasing a comprehensive understanding of AI and its impact on society. This assignment fosters teamwork, critical thinking, and effective communication skills.

Creating An Event Proposal For A Reinvented Product Using Generative Ai, Ian Berry

AI Assignment Library

In this assignment, students will work in small groups to develop a comprehensive event proposal for the launch of a reinvented product. The task involves utilizing generative AI tools to assist with research, planning, and writing, helping students explore the complexities of event planning in a public relations context. Each group will unveil a unique aspect of the product, such as a new concept or flavor, and will be responsible for defining objectives, identifying the target audience, planning logistics, creating a budget, and developing promotional strategies.

Trust Everybody, But Always Cut The Cards: An Exercise For Exploring Truth-Bias And Deception Detection, John S. Seiter

Communication Studies and Philosophy Faculty Publications

This activity helps students examine key elements of truth-default theory. Specifically, by participating in a deception detection game, which secretly prompts different teams to be more or less suspicious, students learn that people’s tendency to be “truth-biased” leads to lower accuracy when judging actual lies and higher accuracy when judging actual truths (i.e., “the veracity effect”).

The News Is History: Building News Literacy Skills With Historic Primary Sources, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

The news is inescapable, and simultaneously headline-laden advertising-as-news follows us on scrolling video screens through public transit, at the gym, and on billboards lining the sidewalks. As the news and its lookalikes feel more and more omnipresent, the need for news literacy skills and their implementation feels more and more urgent. At the same time, continually morphing media platforms and news formats make it seem impossible to know: which of these things actually is the news? What’s most important for me to pay attention to?

What if, instead of teaching skills for understanding the next shiny news format, we turn …

A Study To Explore How People Evaluate The Quality Of Their Medical Information From The Social Media For Celiac Disease, Phillip Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

Every day, millions of people visit various social media platforms to post updates on their daily lives, to search for information, and to repost and/or potentially like posts on social media. This has led to scores of pieces of misinformation appearing on these social media posts. While some misinformation can be harmless and disregarded by the general public, there are various subject matters, including medical treatments and diseases, where misinformation on the treatment and other various subjects involving the disease can lead to dire consequences. This research proposes to investigate how social media users vet their data on two different …

Mobile Podcast Production: How To Educate And Engage Through Online Audio, Jacqueline V. Aenlle, Whitney Stone, Peyton N. Beattie, Jamie Loizzo

Journal of Extension

The use of podcasts in Cooperative Extension programs continues to grow. Ongoing research shows the benefits of podcasting for formal education, non-formal education, connecting with distance learning, and reaching a broader audience. This article will provide readers with steps to create an educational podcast. This article will be of interest for Extension agents and Extension programs that are moving to, or can be complemented by, a digital platform. Extension professionals can consider using podcasts and podcast analytics to complement existing programming, impact reporting, and promotion.

Exploring College-Aged Student Anxiety: Aggravating Factors And Coping Strategies, Julie E. Volkman Phd, Bianca M. Wolf, Chris Morse, Ella Browning, Andrew High, Heather P. Lacey, Joseph J. Trunzo, Wendy Samter

Communications and Language Studies Faculty Journal Articles

Undergraduate college-aged students are increasingly experiencing anxiety. Yet, many struggle to cope effectively, resulting in poor school performance and compromised health and well-being. Our goal was to identify common anxiety-inducing and aggravating stressors, as well as preferred adaptive coping strategies, in this exploratory study to inform anxiety intervention development. A total of 19 undergraduate students (17 female and 2 male) were recruited. Students previously diagnosed or treated for anxiety by a clinician participated in a two-week, daily diary entry study. A total of 219 diary entries were transcribed and thematically analyzed for student reports of awareness variables and associated coping …

Challenging Beliefs: Examining The Efficacy Of Corrections For Conspiratorial And Partisan Misinformation, Ava Zwolinski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The threat of misinformation is widely acknowledged among researchers and laypeople (NORC, 2021). When misinformation coalesces with conspiracy theories, the repercussions can be especially dangerous, sometimes even fatal. Events such as the January 6th insurrection and the Buffalo Tops Supermarket shooting were both, in part, inspired by misleading information and conspiracy theories (Burke, 2022; Dawsey, 2023). While misinformation involving conspiracy theories is recognized as possibly posing a greater threat to correction efforts (Lewandowsky, 2021a), no study has yet experimentally manipulated the presence or absence of conspiratorial elements within misinformation. This dissertation explores whether conspiratorial misinformation is more difficult to correct …

The Link Between People's Social Perceptions Of Cultivated Meat Eaters And Their Acceptance Of Cultivated Meat, Xiaoyu Dai, Angela K. Y. Leung, Mark Chong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Low consumer acceptance emerges as one important barrier to the introduction of cultivated meat, a novel food which offers an opportunity for more sustainable and ethical meat production. Due to the motives for impression management and self-esteem, one factor that could contribute to people's acceptance of cultivated meat is their perceptions of other individuals who consume cultivated meat. In the current research, two online survey studies with 393 Singaporean undergraduate students and 401 American adults were conducted to explore the perceptions of cultivated meat eaters. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to read one of three profiles that described …

Reviving Hysteria: The Nineteenth Century At The End Of The Twentieth, Christina Quintana

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores popular and medical representations of female madness in two time periods: the late nineteenth and late twentieth centuries. I argue that 1990s American culture produced an abundance of texts, images, and narratives that revitalized the iconography and medical discourses of late nineteenth-century hysteria. Analyzing popular texts, films, and cultural touchstones of the 1990s, I explore how Victorian ideas about women’s minds—such as the inherent feebleness of the female brain and nervous system; the fatalistic, life-altering effects of female puberty; the association between hysteria and deviant female sexuality; and the implicit racialization of hysteria and female madness more …

The Role Of Indonesian Doctors As Content Creators In Fighting Health Hoaxes, Myths, And Stigma On Social Media, Lydia Okva Anjelia, Deddy Mulyana, Jenny Ratna Suminar

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

Amidst the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation related to health on social media, the public must ensure that the sources of information are trustworthy. This research aims to explain the role of doctors in the fight against health hoaxes, myths, and stigma spread through social media. The study adopts qualitative research with a phenomenological approach to understand doctors' experiences and perceptions regarding their efforts to address health hoaxes, myths, and stigma on social media. Fifteen doctors as content creators in Jakarta and Bandung were selected as informants using purposive sampling. The data was collected through interviews, observation participation, and documentation …

Scla 521 Ai In Society, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides access to information resources on societal impacts of artificial intelligence from multiple libraries databases covering multiple disciplines including government information resources.

What's In It For Me? Applying Social Exchange Theory To Beverage Brand Engagement On Facebook, Destiny Elise Rinder

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Managing engagement with existing and potential consumers on social networking sites has proven to be a challenge for many brands (Gretry et al., 2017). Focusing on the marketing communications of American beverage brands on Facebook, the researcher aimed to learn why some brands earn more engagement than competing brands. To answer this question, the researcher conducted a qualitative study that utilized a content analysis. Social exchange theory was applied to the findings of the content analysis, which allowed the researcher to perceive and interpret the high-value rewards of brand communication. Applying a communication theory that combines behavioral psychology and elementary …

(Dis)Invested Bodies: The Neoliberal Crafting Of Disability, T. Wesley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a unifying text, my dissertation explores the relationship between cultural production and the neoliberal crafting of humanity, the term I use to describe how social dimensions—including the construction of the textual and material body—become reorganized and governed through market relations. While many disability scholars and activists frame the ADA’s failures through social misunderstandings of disability, few have seriously attended to the limits of the ADA as a neoliberal fusing of economic governance and classical liberal individualism.

Tracing convergences between the ADA and earlier US disability legislation to socioeconomic and political reforms enacted …

Collision Of Beauty: Exploring Users’ Perceptions Of Beauty Trends Generated By Tiktok Influencers Versus Douyin Influencers, Xueqi Wang

Theses - ALL

This study explores the comparative perceptions of beauty trends generated by TikTok influencers from the United States and Douyin influencers from China. By employing a qualitative content analysis of user comments and interactions with top trending makeup videos, this study examines the similarities and differences in responses of Douyin and TikTok users to beauty trends. Drawing on Social Comparison Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory, the research seeks to uncover the nuanced emotional and psychological impacts of these trends. The findings highlight significant cultural differences in user responses, revealing variations in admiration, emotional benefit, and self-doubt. Additionally, the study identifies …

The Delicate Situation Of Childhood Vaccination: On The Dispreferredness Of Soliciting Parents' Intent To Vaccinate, Robert Prettner, Hedwig Te Molder, Jeffrey D. Robinson

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the Netherlands, parents of newborns typically participate in two-, four-, and eight-week medical consultations to monitor their children’s development and discuss vaccinations, which will not be administered before eight weeks. During these visits, healthcare professionals routinely ask parents if they intend to vaccinate their children (i.e. to participate in the National Immunization Program). Using Conversation Analysis, we examine 62 videotaped consultations and present two lines of evidence to argue that the sequence initiated by professionals wherein they solicit parents’ intent to vaccinate is dispreferred. First, this action is routinely deferred by preliminary sequences. Second, when professionals eventually initiate this …

“I’M Speaking”: Black Women Leading School Public Relations, Managing Communications And Personal Challenges, Keisa Gunby

Theses and Dissertations

Operationalizing feminist communication theory with a critical lens, this research analyzes virtual, semi-structured interviews with 13 Black women who are integral to impacting organizational culture through the brand management and narratives to the stakeholder groups of employees, parents and community members for a public school district. This study aims to describe the oppression and invisibility of Black women in school public relations and amplify their voices as they lead the communication, marketing, and promotional efforts in public school districts across the United States. The interview transcripts were analyzed utilizing NVivo software through the first round of coding initial and the …

Corporate Social Advocacy: A Study Of Brand And Consumer Activism In The Era Of Social Media, Christa L. Taylor

Student Theses and Dissertations

As corporations recognize the importance of balancing profitability with social responsibility, the adoption of corporate social advocacy has become a critical approach for addressing pressing social issues, fostering trust, and enhancing brand reputation. Growing public pressure has forced corporations to take a more vocal stance on social and political issues. Considering that corporate social advocacy is an emerging trend and is viewed as a practice outside of a corporation’s standard business practices, organizations have been presented with a new challenge of achieving legitimacy in their advocacy and taking on an expanded role as corporate citizens. This study explores the ways …

A Qualitative Evaluation Of Speech Sound Disorder Treatment Apps For Children, Rachel G. Barnett

Master's Theses

This research examined 20 speech sound disorder (SSD) treatment apps’ features and costs as related to the feature matching process within speech-language therapy. Methods included the development of a 67-item SSD checklist and sorted into 9 categories, including linguistic levels, speech models, software customization, cost, game types, image types, technical elements, feedback types, and engagement and manipulation. Two independent reviewers applied the checklist to randomly selected contemporary apps available on both iPhones and iPads. App cost was capped at $25. Results indicated that app cost was not a good predictor of feature quantity and contemporary apps had some relevant feature …

Language Dominance And Connected Speech In Multilingual Spanish-English Adults, Alyson Jimenez

Master's Theses

With a growing prevalence of multilingual, Spanish-English speakers in the United States, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) face limited research to learn about how to evaluate the language skills of this population. Exploring evaluation tools, more specifically, connected speech samples, and their effectiveness in assessing the dynamic nature of multilingualism with adults who speak Spanish and English can assist SLPs in making informed recommendations. This study aimed to investigate relations between language dominance and connected speech with cognitive-healthy multilingual Spanish-English adults. Language dominance was further examined by two perspectives that an SLP may utilize in their evaluation: evaluated and perceived. Correlations between …

Disability And News: How Audiences Respond To Disabled Messengers In A Newcast, Daniel J. Andersen

Theses and Dissertations

Starting in the 1960s, many communications theories sprung to life in response to social movements that thrived in that era. While those theories were applied to movements such as gender equality, the equal rights movement, and racial and ethnic minority recognition efforts, the disability community has largely been left outside of academic exploration. Building off of decades of stereotype and representation research within communications psychological theories, this study used eye tracking to understand how audiences respond to seeing disabled newscasters. Using quantitative analysis and experimental design to expose participants to a news anchor in a wheelchair, this study built off …

Establishing A Christ-Centered Understanding Of The Minor Prophets At First Baptist Church, Greenville, Ky, John Michael Galyen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this action research project is to help members of First Baptist Church Greenville, KY, interpret and apply the Minor Prophets from a Christ-centered perspective. This project measured church members’ understanding of the Minor Prophets as they pertain to Christians today. It also measured attitudes and affections toward the Minor Prophets. A total of eleven people participated in the study. Eight were female; the other three were male. Each participant completed a pre-intervention survey, along with three instructional workshops that focused on biblical exposition, biblical theology, and hermeneutics. An eight-part sermon series was implemented to model the kind …

"You Are More Than Just Your Gift:" Facework And Idealization In Disney's Encanto, Janelle L.H. Gruber, Valerie Lynn Schrader

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In this rhetorical analysis, we apply Goffman’s theory of facework to the Disney film Encanto, arguing that Encanto provides important lessons regarding facework and advocates for using facework in moderation. Encanto tells the story of the Madrigals, a family who experiences a miracle that results in each member of the family having a special gift – all except for one, the teenage protagonist, Mirabel. When Mirabel recognizes that both the miracle and her family are in danger, she realizes that her individual family members are using facework in order to fit in with the rest of the family and impress …

A ‘Nuclear Bomb’ Or Just ‘A Joke’? Groundwater Models May Help Communicate Nuanced Risks To The Great Salt Lake, Matthew D. Laplante, Piyush Dahal, Shih-Yu Simon Wang, Kirsti Hakala, Avik Mukherjee

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The Great Salt Lake entered the zeitgeist of environmental concern in 2022 when a coalition of scientists and activists warned in a highly publicized report that the lake might be just five years away from complete desiccation, a possibility one state official warned was tantamount to an “environmental nuclear bomb”. Shortly thereafter, an unpredicted and unprecedented pluvial winter resulted in an increase in inflow, temporarily halting the lake’s decline and prompting Utah’s governor to mock the dire prediction as “a joke”, an outcome that speaks to the tension between agenda-setting and trust-building that researchers face when sharing worst-case warnings, particularly …

Staff Perspectives Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing College Students’ Alcohol Use, Christine L. Gannon, Theresa H. Gibble, Retta Evans

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

A predominant health issue at colleges and universities is alcohol use. This is also true for deaf and hard of hearing college students. Key stakeholders who observe and witness this alcohol dynamic are staff. Researchers used a semi-structured qualitative guide to interview Gallaudet University staff (N = 26) to learn about their perspectives on and experiences with student alcohol use. Through thematic analysis, they identified several dominant themes that were then grouped into the three levels of the social-ecological model. First, they identified intrapersonal factors, including fear of missing out and coping strategies. Second, they identified interpersonal factors such …

Analyzing The Message Complexity, Signal Words, And Readability Of Medical Tourism Warning Messages, Alicia Mason, Sakshi Bhati

Faculty Submissions

Medical tourists are deemed to be a vulnerable patient population because they often have limited knowledge of the specialized health care treatment and services they seek. They are also frequently unfamiliar with the medical tourism physicians, providers, and facilitators with whom they interact. As a result, travel, biomedical, and procedural risks are often difficult to define and estimate. This analysis uses computer-automated technology to analyze the risk and warning messages distributed by government and private medical associations to medical tourists. Results show these messages are often complex and highly textual with little visual graphic elements. The messages frequently lack key …

Empowering Ugandan Women Smallholder Farmers: Documenting Her Mighty Hands Agriculture Extension Nonprofit, Anna Mathis

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women smallholder farmers in East Africa, including Uganda, provide the majority of agriculture labor. However, women are significantly less productive than men due to extreme barriers such as their lack of decision-making rights, inability to solely own land, and familial responsibilities. The purpose of this project was to create a full integrated communications and fundraising campaign for Her Mighty Hands, an agriculture extension nonprofit whose mission is to connect Ugandan women subsistence farmers to technology and knowledge which empower them to advance their agricultural business; enabling them to improve the quality of life for themselves, their families, and communities. Photos …