Digital Commons Network^™

Ua3/9/1 Wku Annual Progress Report, 2013-2014, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Progress report regarding Challenging the Spirit (2012-2018) action plan.

Ua51/1 Collections & Connections, Jennifer Wilson

Collections & Connections

Collections & Connections is a bi-annual publication of the Western Kentucky University Libraries featuring the Libraries' events with a view of reaching out to the Libraries supporters in the community. This issue SOKY reads "The Returned", &%th Anniversary of the Kentucky Building , the Evelyn Thurman Book Award, and librarians who have won state and national recognitions.

Nationalism, Identity, And Rhetoric In Bosnia-Herzegovina: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Presidential Speeches, 2004–2012, Mary Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ethnic divisions undermine statebuilding efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina almost twenty years after the end of a war among the three main ethnic groups in the country. The political elites influence on how nationalism and identity is experienced in Bosnia-Herzegovina and offer reflections on how the country can or cannot be united. To what extent do the political elites at the level of the presidency articulate more narrow, ethnic themes or a broader national identity in pubic speeches? The rhetoric used by the political elites is explored to find occurrences of ethnic polarization or a framing of national identity. The thesis is …

Ua42/3/2 Challenging The Spirit Action Plan, Wku Glasgow

WKU Administration Documents

Strategic plan workbook for 2014-2019.

City Magazine Editors And The Evolving Urban Information Environment, Susan Currie Sivek

Faculty Publications

The urban information environment in which city magazines operate is changing dramatically, with the decline of local newspapers and the growth of user-generated local content. City magazine editors are re-envisioning their purpose as local information providers. This study provides a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with senior editors at 15 award-winning city magazines. The editors’ responses speak to the changing role of their publications today; the function of new technologies in informing local communities; and the public service that local journalism organizations offer in a constrained economic situation.

Virtually Dead: The Extension Of Social Agency To Corpses And The Dead On Facebook, Adam Tucker

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Facebook and other social networking technologies are become vastly powerful and expansive social forces that are exerting an influence on corpses, the dead, and death communications. Since its invention in 2004, millions of users of Facebook have died, leaving durable profiles subject to the site’s changing regulatory policies and socially present for the network’s living users as well. Because of their ability to enmesh, mutate, and interact with the social interactions of the living—as well as their durability as a site of continuing bonds—Facebook profiles retain social agency consistent with the theories of agency of Alfred Gell (1998) and Bruno …

Gender Mainstreaming In Journalism Education, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

In a time of swift technological changes in the news media, much of journalism education is focused on preparing students for careers in a new media landscape instead of focusing on gender or other diversity issues. For example, Pavlik (2013, p.213) argued in a recent article that a curriculum that ‘emphasized innovation and digital media entrepreneurship is one of the keys to a robust professional future for the field and students seeking a media career’. Even so, Pavlik (2013, p.217) recognised that most programmes in media education are holding on to an outdated professional model of journalism and mass communication, …

Bizarre Foods: White Privilege And The Neocolonial Palate, Casey R. Kelly

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

Location Prediction Of Twitter Users Using Wikipedia, Revathy Krishnamurthy, Pavan Kapanipathi, Amit P. Sheth, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Kno.e.sis Publications

The mining of user generated content in social media has proven very effective in domains ranging from personalization and recommendation systems to crisis management. The knowledge of online users locations makes their tweets more informative and adds another dimension to their analysis. Existing approaches to predict the location of Twitter users are purely data-driven and require large training data sets of geo-tagged tweets. The collection and modelling process of tweets can be time intensive. To overcome this drawback, we propose a novel knowledge based approach that does not require any training data. Our approach uses information in Wikipedia, about cities …

Alignment And Dataset Identification Of Linked Data In Semantic Web, Kalpa Gunaratna, Sarasi Lalithsena, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

The Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud has gained significant attention in the Semantic Web community over the past few years. With rapid expansion in size and diversity, it consists of over 800 interlinked datasets with over 60 billion triples. These datasets encapsulate structured data and knowledge spanning over varied domains such as entertainment, life sciences, publications, geography, and government. Applications can take advantage of this by using the knowledge distributed over the interconnected datasets, which is not realistic to find in a single place elsewhere. However, two of the key obstacles in using the LOD cloud are the limited support …

Que No Te Eduque La Rosa De Guadalupe - Stereotypes In Telenovelas, Ana Gomez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence prevail in cultures where sexism and violence are usual. According to feminist organizations our best solution is education from an early age. However, in places where means of formal education are scarce, we may turn to alternative solutions such as television. Television has been examined in multiple studies for its role in the formation of gender, and other type of stereotypes. But also it has been considered a useful tool in challenging traditional notions about gender and in helping to promote social change. For this reason, a textual analysis was conducted on La Rosa de …

Surviving The Digital Age, David Franklin Meland

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This project provides a look at educational studies, theories, and principles to help people understand the enhancing and diminishing characteristics of contemporary communication technologies. The project uses the theoretical framework of media ecology to show that through an understanding of today’s media environments, society can better grasp just how media technology has been, and continues to be, an influential part of everyday life. The primary feature of the project is a comprehensive website – titled Surviving the Digital Age (http://melandd.wix.com/survivingdigitalage) – which also serves as a way to show how media plays an enormous role in shaping who we are …

Media Framing, Proximity And Spheres: The Media Account Before And After The August 21, 2013 Syrian Chemical Attack, Jeremy D. Crisp

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The conflict in Syria over the past two years came to the forefront of international policy, and media reporting, following the August 21, 2013, chemical attack within the country which left more than 1,400 civilians dead. The United States administration was thrust into a position to respond in some fashion to those attacks. President Barack Obama and some U.S. policy makers called for limited military intervention. Others officials called for non-intervention. Diplomacy ultimately prevailed. How the media framed the conflict before and after the attack is the crux of this research, as media framing can play a role in how …

Communication Apprehension And Its Effects On Online Readiness Skills, Lindsay Kristine Miller

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This project developed an assessment instrument testing student communication apprehension in the online environment. The instrument assessed communication apprehension that might be linked to online written communication, computer, and self-regulated learning readiness skills. The development of the instrument is informed by recent scholarship, as well as qualitative research on a community college campus, which sought to investigate and surface the communication apprehension that online students negotiate. This qualitative project utilized two research methods: focus group research of ten online students (five females and five males ranging in age from 18 to 60) and field research interviews of four online teachers …

A Study Of The Relationships Between Income, Information Channels, And College Match Among Admitted Students At Gonzaga University, Erik Hoffman

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The college admissions process often disadvantages low-income students because they lack equal access to the information channels used by their more affluent peers. Especially for the most selective colleges, income has been shown to substantially impact the application behaviors and enrollment decisions of low-income students. Low-income students are more likely to be “under-matched,” which means they fail to enroll at colleges that meet their academic qualifications. According to one national data sample, 40.9% of all college students are under-matched, and 16.1% are “substantially under-matched,” meaning they are enrolled at a school two levels below their selectivity match (Smith, Pender, & …

A Post Feminist Look At Hbo's Girls: A Critical Analysis Of Characters, Career, Gender, And Sexuality, Aaliyah A. Miller

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Television plays an integral role in the lives of Americans, regardless of class, ethnicity, gender, race, or religion. Despite the fact that viewership on the major networks has decreased over the years, television continues to be a dominant cultural and informational force that does more than just entertain us -this medium has the power to influence and alter our attitudes, behaviors, perceptions, and actions. Gender bias as a result of gender stereotypes found in television has been an issue of concern for feminist, politicians, and social researchers. Research studies have found that gender stereotypes found in television negatively influence women …

Financial Markets And Online Advertising: Reevaluating The Dotcom Investment Bubble, Matthew Crain

Publications and Research

While the dotcom period is often dismissed as a false start in the history of the web’s commercial development, it is better conceived of as highly generative of modern structures of online advertising. Soaring investment markets and the developing online advertising sector entered into a pattern of mutual reinforcement that began in 1995 and intensified until the bubble collapsed in 2000, transforming the character of the web in the process. This article sketches the contours of this generative capacity, focusing on the production of demand for online advertising services. Taking the approach of critical political economy, this narrative is contextualized …

From Social Media To Social Movement: Developing A Secondary Stakeholder Model For The Information Age – The Case Of Deepwater Horizon, Michele A. Jurgens

2014

Secondary stakeholders are thought to differ from primary stakeholders in that they interact with the firm mainly for the purpose of changing its ethical, societal, and environmental policies and practices. Research on secondary stakeholders has shown that they are successful in influencing their corporate targets despite the relative lack of power, legitimacy, and urgency of their requests. One explanation for the success of secondary stakeholders can be found in the `political process model' from the social movement literature. The political process model describes and predicts how social movements are formed and the conditions that are necessary for them being sustained …

Kingswood Lake Management Plan, Sarah Martina Tierney

Honors Theses and Capstones

High water quality and natural buffers exist on Kingswood Lake located in Brookfield, New Hampshire. A comprehensive lakes inventory (CSI) was recorded and health of the land, wildlife, and waterways were observed. Educational outreach was taken to inform the local community and to instruct them on proper stewardship of the land. A completed watershed management plan was constructed including key recommendation of limiting nitrogen loading in the area, checking septic systems for leaching, stabilizing shoreline from erosion, and establishing man-made rain gardens to help preserve water quality. The Kingswood watershed management plan acts as a guide for the town of …

Exploring Influences On Gender Equality In Photojournalism: Is The Field Picture-Perfect?, Andrea Briscoe

LSU Master's Theses

America prides itself on having a free press. Ideally, this free press would look like the communities in which they cover. However, research shows that gender discrepancies are quite common in newsrooms (Anderson 2014; Briscoe 2012; Norris 1997; Willnat and Weaver 2014). Women often have a marginal presence in newsrooms, and this is troublesome, because scholars have noted that men and women approach newsgathering and reporting differently (Beam and Cicco 2010; Briscoe 2012; Grabe et al. 2011; Weaver 1997). While research has focused on gender discrepancies in various types of media, little to no research has looked at the field …

The Irish Sport Horse Abroad: The Role Of Public Relations In Promoting An International Brand, Marianne Van Pelt

Theses

This thesis uses a case study approach to explore the role of public relations in promoting an international brand. This thesis attempts to determine whether public relations can contribute significantly to the promotion of an established international brand. This thesis looks at whether the people in the organisation formally responsible for promoting the Irish Sport Horse brand have a stated goal of promoting the brand, a clear intention of promoting the brand through public relations tactics, and whether find these tactics successful. The thesis also looks at the views of opinion makers within the industry to try to verify the …

The Relationship Between Intercultural Communication Experience And College Persistence Among First Generation Appalachian Students, Meredith A. Garrison

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This study seeks to explore the relationship between intercultural communication experiences and college persistence in first-generation college students from the Central Appalachian region. Because Appalachia has a rich and unique culture, which is often misunderstood, the literature review seeks to establish a basis for studying this relationship as a way to understand the multi-dimensional nature of low-educational attainment in the Appalachian region, particularly Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Using a survey-based quantitative method this study examines Appalachian first generation students attending college as an intercultural communication process through the frame of acculturation theory. Specifically, the study seeks information …

Eurocentrism, Modernity And Chinese Sociality : An Ethnographic Study Of Everyday Socio-Cultural Life In New-Millennium China, Tung Yi Kho

Lingnan Theses

This dissertation seeks to contribute to our understanding of Eurocentrism, Modernity,and their impacts on traditional Chinese cultural formations. It is based on ethnographic research conducted in Shenzhen, South China and Qinghai, West China, and explores the impacts of Chinese modernization on everyday forms of sociality.

I conceive of Eurocentrism foremost as an Ontology, a mode-of-being grounded in a cosmology about the nature of reality and human being-and-becoming in the world. I argue that because Eurocentrism is an ontology predicated on materialism and individualism - “matter” being the basis of reality and the “individual”, the fundamental unit of society, respectively - …

Immigration, Diversity, And Broadcasting In The United States 1990—2001, Vibert C. Cambridge

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

The last decade of the twentieth century brought a maturing of the new racial and ethnic communities in the United States and the emergence of diversity and multiculturalism as dominant fields of discourse in legal, educational, and cultural contexts. Immigration, Diversity, and Broadcasting in the United States, 1990—2001 is a contribution to our understanding of the web of relationships that existed at the intersection of immigration, race, ethnicity, and broadcasting in America during this period.

Professor Vibert C. Cambridge investigates and questions how broadcasting in the United States responded to the changing racial and ethnic composition of the society. What …

How Corporations Manage Industry And Consumer Expectations Via The Csr Report, Sarah Bonewits Feldner, Kati Tusinski Berg

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

With increased stakeholder scrutiny, it is increasingly salient to consider how corporations make the case that their CSR activities are sufficient, appropriate, and successful. The CSR report is the vehicle by which organizations communicate the breadth of activities they engage in to make a difference in society. Using rhetorical analysis and surveys, we argue that the CSR report functions as a means by which corporations manage stakeholder expectations and seek to legitimate corporate behaviors. Our findings indicate that most reports are structured based on external guidelines but include the use of classic rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos to …

Jamaica: A Famous, Strong But Damaged Brand, Hume N. Johnson

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Image, brand and reputation are the new capital for nations in the twenty-first century. In this era of the global marketplace, nations, regions and cities are forced to compete with each other for tourists, investment, aid, students, for buyers of their products and services, and for talent. Scholars now agree that nations themselves have become brands, and are now obliged to manage their images in order to influence people’s decision in terms of purchasing, investing and traveling. Nations with unknown or poor reputations, including those enduring prolonged crises are thus likely to suffer marginalization and will not easily witness economic …

Staging The Voice : Towards A Critical Vocal Performance Pedagogy, Derek Mudd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Until the late twentieth century, courses in voice and diction were a staple of the field of communication studies. Increasingly these classes are disappearing from departments around the country, largely over concerns regarding the prescription of strict speech standards. At the same time, an interest in vocal training has increased in BFA and MFA actor training programs. This study looks to the shared history of voice training between the fields of communication studies and theatre instruction to provide a critical pedagogy for vocal performance, specifically for the area of performance studies, but also for use in other disciplines. Informed by …

"Post Your Version Here!": Performances In/Of Online, Noncommercial, Video-To-Video Adaptations, Lyndsay Michalik

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Processes of creative adaptation no longer fit traditional, culturally sanctioned forms, like commercial book-to-film adaptation, or vice versa. Meanwhile, internet users are demonstrating how noncommercial, creative text adaptation using video technology has become an everyday art form, a skill set, a form of communication, and a means of cultural commentary. Internet video adapters physically perform in their own videos and they create videos that work performatively online. Negotiating the slippery spaces between copyright, creativity, and cultural commentary, these creators adapt videos in myriad ways, and find spaces to share their adaptations online, despite (for most) a lack of financial return …

Expressions Of Grief On Facebook: Navigating Discomfort, Persistent Identity, And Public Memorialization, Molly Kalan

Theses - ALL

When someone dies, their online identity does not die with them. If a deceased Facebook user leaves behind a once active profile, friends and family members may choose to use this virtual space to express grief, interact with one another, and engage in active memorialization. Young adults who are traditionally marginalized in the grieving process can take advantage of the digital space to engage in mourning rituals. Through qualitative inquiry and in-depth interviews with 20 young adults who have dealt with the death of a friend or family member on Facebook, this study addresses phenomenological research questions concerning expression of …

When There's A Will, There Might Be A Way: The Economic Impact Of Mobile Phones And Entrepreneurial Motivation On Female-Owned Microenterprises, Han Ei Chew, Vigneswara P. Ilavarasan, Mark Levy

Research Collection Office of Impact

Based on a survey of 598 urban microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we contend that access to mobile phones is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving certain development goals. We explicate an innovative concept, entrepreneurial expectations, and explore its linkage with mobile phones and microenterprise growth. We found that among high-expectation microentrepreneurs (14 percent of the sample) business use of mobile phones amplified the impact of entrepreneurial expectations and was associated with greater microenterprise growth.