Digital Commons Network^™

Social Media And Public Opinion In Times Of Conflict: How Arab Social Media Impacted International Perspectives On The Gaza War, Mariam Rizk

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines how Arab social media content creators impacted the international public perception of the 2023 Gaza war through English-language content. The research is conducted through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants: 4 Arab social media content creators and 15 English-speaking university students (13 American citizens and 2 international students studying in American universities). Through these semi-structured qualitative interviews, the research investigates the agenda-setting capabilities of social media during conflicts and identifies effective cross-cultural communication strategies. The study employed purposive sampling with snowball technique, targeting content creators with established social media presence (37,000-426,000 Instagram followers) and university students who …

Explain. Write. Edit. Summarise: An Exploratory Study On Agency Negotiations In Student-Chatbot Conversations, Árni Már Einarsson Mr, Ekaterina Pashevich

Human-Machine Communication

LLM-based chatbots such as ChatGPT have given technologies that traditionally operated on the back end a user-friendly, conversational interface. Their rapid adoption among students has prompted universities worldwide to issue guidelines and re-examine existing practices. Supplementing prior research based on discourse analysis and self-reported measures (e.g., surveys and interviews), we propose an approach for analyzing naturally occurring student–chatbot interactions, rooted in conversation analysis of chats (n = 503) donated by eight current Danish university students. The analysis identifies conversational patterns across three main types of activities and examines how agency is negotiated across the structural dimensions of signification, domination, and …

Two Years To Madness: A 30-Month Journal Of Human–Machine Communication And Second-Hand Reality, Andrew Prahl

Human-Machine Communication

Drawing on a 30-month analytic-autoethnography of the first author’s journal as an earlyaccess OpenAI user, this study examines how sustained communication with generative AI affects everyday lived experience and identity. Inductive content analysis of 166 entries by independent coders is followed by theory-driven coding with the extended-mind and sensemaking frameworks. Three interlocking themes emerge. Enabled and Degraded captures the tension between new capabilities and efficiency versus creeping skill atrophy. Scary New World charts rising anxiety as productivity gains erode competitive and relational distinctiveness. The findings also show a growing, pervasive doubt about the human authorship of texts, images, and other …

The Material Condition: A Practice Theory-Oriented Infrastructural Turn To The Ethics Of Human-Ai Communication, Anne Mollen, Sigrid Kannengießer

Human-Machine Communication

This paper calls for an infrastructural turn in human–AI communication, centered on the materiality of generative AI. We argue that a nuanced understanding of ethical implications of generative AI necessitates examining the socio-technical infrastructures that constitute these systems. These infrastructures encompass not only technological artifacts but also human actors (developers, users, data subjects, etc.) and their practices as well as social contexts in designing, developing, implementing, and maintaining AI. Therefore, we propose to adopt a practice theory approach, to analyze how ethical concerns materialize within these infrastructures. This perspective reveals how infrastructures are contested spaces in global production chains, highlighting …

A Communication-Process-Centered (Cpc) Approach To Intercultural Communication Education, Yanrong (Yvonne) Chang, Dora E. Saavedra

Communication Faculty Publications

Purpose: In response to a call to seek renewed purpose and new conceptualizations for intercultural communication education (ICE) (Dervin and Tournebise, 2013), the purpose of this conceptual paper is to critiquee limited traditional models of ICE and to propose, explain and argue for a communication-process-centered (CPC) approach to the field. The proposed CPC framework emphasizes dynamic conceptualizations of culture, identity, and interaction as fluid processes rather than static traits.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes anticipated learning outcomes of the CPC approach and advocates for the use of ethnographic methods in classroom teaching. It provides practical ways for applying these methods …

The Role Of Mass Media In Reportig Natural Disastersn: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Of Gunther-Kress Photojournalism Of The Great Eastern Japan Disaster In The Yomiuri Shinbun Daily 11-13 March 2011, Moh Gandhi Amanullah, Faruk Faruk, Budi Irawanto

International Review of Humanities Studies

This article examines the role of the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun in covering the great East Japan disaster on March 11-13, 2011. This study uses a quantitative and qualitative approach, with content analysis methods and Gunther-Kress multimodal critical discourse analysis methods on 98 photos published by the newspaper. The results show that the newspaper published a special edition twice, with photos that did not show photos of the deceased victims, creating a distance between the reader and the subject. Most of the photos were taken from a distance, indicating a lack of interaction and showing that the victims did not …

Critical Design And The Robotic Imaginary: Design Criticism And Critical Robots, Jörgen Behrendtz

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

This paper brings critical design and design criticism to critical robot studies. Critical design can be described as an umbrella term for approaches making use of speculative designs to highlight and challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions or even taken-for-granted truths about the role products play (in a wide sense) in everyday life. Design criticism refers to a reasoned procedure that investigates emancipatory and/or limiting potentials of designs, theorizes the roles of affordances, materials and embodied perception as epistemological resources in media interaction, and clarifies connections between specific design choices and their associated experiential qualities, seductive powers, ideological underpinnings, material operations, and …

Discourse Markers In Conflict Management: A Literature Review, Erica W. Martin, Krystle L. Hunter

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Discourse Markers in Conflict Management: A Literature Review

Discourse markers, often seen as fillers in conversation, are important for managing interpersonal conflicts. This literature review aims to show how these markers influence conflict dynamics, with implications for promoting peace and strengthening community relationships. By combining research from linguistics, communication studies, and conflict resolution, the review looks at how discourse markers function during three phases of conflict: initiation, escalation, and de-escalation. The authors aim to improve both theoretical understanding and practical approaches to engaging constructively in conflicts, enhancing cohesion within global and local communities through better communication.

Using a qualitative synthesis …

Considérations Pédagogiques Dans L’Enseignement Des Outils De Traduction : Le Cas De Memoq Et De Memoq Agt, Anna Mohácsi-Gorove

Al-Kīmiyā

The integration of computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools and translation management systems (TMS) into university-level translation programs has become an essential requirement. Among these tools, memoQ holds a significant position due to its advanced features and adaptability to pedagogical needs. This article explores the pedagogical parameters involved in teaching memoQ as part of translator training. It examines the target competencies outlined in the European Master’s in Translation Competence Framework, the teaching methodologies employed, course contents, and the integration of artificial intelligence in the learning process of post-editing skills.

English title
Pedagogical considerations in the instruction of translation tools: the case of …

Traduire La Créativité Lexicale En Littérature De Jeunesse : Enjeux, Stratégies Et Proposition D’Un Nouveau Cadre Méthodologique, Inès Zorgati

Al-Kīmiyā

Language plays are often considered untranslatable, but is this assumption justified? Lexical creativity presents numerous challenges for translators and raises compelling questions, particularly in children’s literature, where linguistic experimentation is especially abundant. However, the presumed untranslatability of language play stems largely from linguistic and cultural preconceptions. This article argues that lexical creativity is indeed translatable through a variety of strategies. It introduces a new methodological framework that outlines the strategies available to translators. This framework draws on the works of Jacqueline Henry (2003) and
B. J. Epstein (2012), which are combined and further developed to support this approach.

English title …

La Traduction Des Décisions De Justice Comme Acte De Communication : Étude Des Juridictions Constitutionnelles Sud-Américaines, Mathilde Kamal

Al-Kīmiyā

In unilingual states, translating constitutional court decisions is a voluntary, non-binding practice. Such disseminative translations aim to communicate jurisprudence beyond national borders. In South America, only Brazil’s Supremo Tribunal Federal and Colombia’s Corte Constitucional have adopted this approach. This article analyzes their respective translation practices at three levels: within the South American legal space, within their national contexts, and through the specific modalities by which their decisions are translated.

English title 
The translation of court decisions as communication: a study of South American constitutional courts

Résumé
Dans les États unilingues, la traduction des décisions constitutionnelles est volontaire et dépourvue de …

L’Extraction Terminologique Outillée À L’Épreuve De L’Expérimentation : Proposition D’Exercice Avec Des Étudiants En Traduction, Rudy Loock

Al-Kīmiyā

This article reports on a terminology extraction project conducted with second-year master’s students enrolled in a specialized translation program. Students engaged in terminological extraction tasks based on a specialized linguistic corpus, with four different tools: a computer-assisted translation (CAT) software, a concordancer, an online terminology extraction platform, and a large language model (LLM). Students were subsequently required to perform a comparative analysis of the outputs generated by each tool, with the ultimate objective of compiling a monolingual glossary. The article offers a reflective evaluation of the project, which aimed to develop students’ evaluative judgment on the results generated by the …

Varia : Introduction, La Rédaction De « Al-Kīmiyā »

Al-Kīmiyā

La rubrique Varia de ce numéro réunit des contributions qui, par la diversité
de leurs corpus, de leurs langues et de leurs cadres théoriques, interrogent
un même objet central : le langage en tant que pratique située, traversée
par des enjeux esthétiques, culturels, sociaux et politiques. Qu’il s’agisse de
traduction littéraire, de traduction juridique ou d’analyse sociolinguistique,
les articles rassemblés ici mettent en lumière la manière dont les choix
langagiers reflètent, négocient ou redéfinissent des rapports de sens, de
pouvoir et d’appartenance.
[...]

Dossier Thématique : Introduction – La Formation Des Formateurs À L’Ère Des Mutations Technologiques Et Professionnelles, Nicolas Froeliger

Al-Kīmiyā

Des asymétries d'information dans le monde de la traduction – et comment y remédier

La traduction a longtemps eu la réputation d’être une activité (il ne s’agissait pas encore d’une profession) de solitaire. Les traducteurs étaient vus, et c’est même un classique de l’iconographie chrétienne, comme travaillant retirés du monde, désert ou chambre isolée, concentrés sur la tâche qui consistait à extraire le sens ou le message d’un texte original, avec pour seule aide quelques grimoires, et éventuellement l’inspiration divine, qui leur parvenait d’une haute fenêtre. Tous les traducteurs d’aujourd’hui savent bien qu’il n’en est rien, et ceux qui ont …

L’Intégration De L’Ia Dans La Formation Des Traducteur·Ices : Évolution Sous Double Contrainte ? Le Cas De L’Université De Liège (Belgique), Valérie Bada, Perrine Schumacher

Al-Kīmiyā

This article focuses on integrating AI into the translation curriculum at the University of Liège, a challenge that must accommodate academic, legal and market-driven demands. Given that the ULiège translation programme has both academic and vocational grounding, the institutional politics has aimed at developing a critical awareness of the market demands (focusing on targeted, technical skills) and of scientific methods (based on a rigorous, metareflexive approach). It also fits into the changing landscape of translation education, shaped by pressures from three distinct spheres: academia, the professional market, and the legislative framework. After outlining our department’s history and presenting four courses …

روميو وجولييت: تعدّد النهايات – دراسة مقارنة لأربع ترجمات وفقًا لمقاربة لانس هيوسن, Nour Nasrani Snaifer, May Hobeika Haddad

Al-Kīmiyā

This article presents a comparative study of four translations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet produced during three major phases in the history of Arab theatre in general, and of Lebanese theatre in Lebanon and Egypt in particular. It focuses on the diversity of the endings chosen by the translators, which vary according to the sociocultural context of each period as well as the way both audiences and theatre practitioners have perceived the role of theatre. The article reports the results of a comprehensive analysis that is not limited to the endings and that follows Hewson’s approach to translation criticism. The …

La Créativité Et Ses Fonctions Sociales Face À L’Usage De L’Ia Générative, Caroline Rossi, Perrine Schumacher

Al-Kīmiyā

This article asks whether creativity will still be a key skill for translators in the future, as we move towards ubiquitous and more diversified uses of generative AI. The focus is primarily on creativity in translation. Instead, creativity is here conceptualised as a soft skill, crucially linked with a number of social functions. We hypothesise that if the development of creative skills is linked to technical skills and accompanied by critical reflection on the latter, it could be one of the cornerstones of training programmes aimed at future proofing translators faced with rapidly changing professional environments.
The research presented here …

Former Les Traducteurs (Et/Ou Interprètes) Assermentés Exerçant Près Des Cours De Justice Françaises : L’Exemple De L’École D’Été Tacatrad « Expertise Et Terminologie », Florence Serrano

Al-Kīmiyā

In France, there are various public and private entities offering training courses for sworn translators, including some universities. In this paper, we will report on one such course, the first edition of which was held in July 2024 in Lyon, the TACATrad Summer School “Expertise and Terminology. Training Sworn Translators”. This short training course, coordinated administratively by the Continuing Education Department and the UFR des Langues of the Université Lumière Lyon 2, was created by the author of the communication and is backed by the open science component of the ANR PRC project TACATrad. We will briefly present the ANR …

La Traduction Audiovisuelle Freelance Aujourd’Hui – Réalités Professionnelles Et Écarts Avec La Théorie, Sylvain Caschelin, Julie Gravier

Al-Kīmiyā

This article examines the realities of working as a freelance audiovisual translator through the lens of the EMT (European Master’s in Translation) framework. By tracing the workflow – from client requests to the recognition of subtitled works – it highlights the gap between theory and practice, including issues such as economic insecurity, delayed payments, fragile contracts, and the general invisibility of translators. The study argues that professionalization requires more than linguistic expertise alone; it also demands a wider range of skills, including administrative, legal, and interpersonal competencies. Finally, it calls for stronger regulation and greater symbolic and economic recognition of …

Social Support In The College Classroom And The Impact Supportive Communication Has On Student Academic Success And Quality Of Life, Rachael Tiede

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

College students often encounter academic and personal challenges that lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. These challenges can feel burdensome, making it difficult for them to determine the best course of action for the issues they face. They frequently experience difficulties in managing the demands of college. Given these challenges, a potential solution for their anxiety and stress is social support through supportive communication from friends, instructors, and others at the college or university. Guided by social support theory and social penetration theory and employing a quantitative methodology, the research examined the impact of supportive communication on college …

“I’M A Figure-Outer!”: Connecting Through Self-Narratives Of Competence In A Community Of Literacy-Learners, Mckenzie Weddle-Coats

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation applies qualitative methods through intrinsic case study design to explore how one emerging literacy learner’s self-narrative of literacy competence manifested in a literacy-learning community. Drawing on multiple data collection and analysis methods, this dissertation investigates how a school-aged child with a history of literacy struggles used her self-narrative statements to position her identity within a 6-week summer literacy project. Findings revealed that the participant used self-narrative statements strategically to carry out different connecting mechanisms for the purposes of demonstrating competence or saving face in literacy contexts, ultimately demonstrating her prioritization of connection. The child’s orientation towards connection is …

Seminar: Playing As Inquiry At Rocket, Cristo Leon, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

STEM for Success Resources

This PowerPoint presentation presents Playing as Inquiry, a methods-forward account of the León Multimodal Protocol (LMP) for studying transformation in tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) at scale. The presentation is designed for scholarly audiences interested in qualitative methods, game studies, and transdisciplinary research design, with an explicit commitment to accessibility through consistent verbal description of visual materials.

The talk begins by situating TTRPGs as layered narrative, social, and material systems in which meaning emerges across embodied performance, language, rules negotiation, artifacts, platforms, and memory over time. From this foundation, the presentation identifies a core methodological problem: traditional qualitative approaches struggle …

“She Was My Egg Donor, Not My Mom”: Using Attribution Theory To Understand How Adult Daughters Manage Their Low-Quality Daughter-Mother Relationship, Denise Alonso-Pecora, Crystal Nguyen, Jennifer L. Bevan, Michelle Miller-Day, Allison Alford

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study employs attribution theory to examine how adult daughters from low-income backgrounds perceive and manage low-quality daughter-mother relationships. Using in-depth interviews and flexible coding, we analyzed how daughters (n = 42) attribute locus, responsibility, specificity, and stability. Daughters often located control internally within their mothers, citing enduring traits as sources of conflict while noting external influences such as trauma or substance abuse. Responsibility was frequently self-assumed despite blaming mothers, positioning attribution as a means of asserting agency. Many saw their relationships as uniquely difficult and consistent, reinforcing perceptions of stability and specificity. Our study extends attribution theory to …

Global Insight 2026, Masey Smith, Chance Carden, Hayley Pounds

Books

Global Insight 2026 is the annual publication of the International Institute at Mississippi State University, documenting the university’s global engagement across education, research, service, and institutional partnerships. This issue highlights Mississippi State University’s international impact through faculty‑led study abroad programs, international research and development initiatives, global fellowships, and comprehensive international student support services. Featured content includes narrative case studies of student and faculty experiences abroad, data‑driven insights into study abroad participation and international enrollment trends, and in‑depth examinations of international research collaborations spanning Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The magazine also showcases the work of the English Language Institute …

“No Ifs, Ands, Or Butts”: Analyzing Race And Gender In Sex And The City Through Black Feminist Theory, Daniella Orias

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This article analyzes Season 3, Episode 5 of Sex and the City, “No Ifs, Ands, or Butts,” through the lens of Black feminist theory. It investigates how race and gender are constructed, stereotyped, and selectively represented within the episode’s narrative. The analysis focuses on two Black characters who were featured only in one episode of the series, Adeena and Chivon, and examines how the show portrays harmful stereotypes such as the angry Black woman (Adeena) and sexualized Black male (Chivon) in the episode. These limited and harmful representations are further scrutinized by the fact that the show is often …

Brute Force Branding: Variations & Repetitions Of The Almighty Dollar Banknote, Rui-Long Monico

Artl@s Bulletin

Abstract: This paper examines the U.S. dollar as a global brand and mythic icon, revealing how its stable aesthetic asserts dominance and infiltrates daily life. Through visual analysis and global comparison, it shows how banknotes are battlegrounds where art, identity, and geopolitics collide—currency as a weapon of soft power and cultural hegemony. The dollar’s visual inertia—ritualized, repeated, reappropriated—cements its supremacy as a symbolic force, where repetition enforces authority and variation sparks both resistance and conformity. Banknotes emerge as tools of statecraft and vessels of collective memory, as reflected in the author’s bespoke creation accompanying this study.

Résumé: Cet article analyse …

Simulated Intimacy, But Real Connection: Perceived Reciprocity And Romantic Closeness Make Otome Fun To Play, Nicholas Bowman, Elena Yifei Zhao

Media Studies - All Scholarship

Otome games offer players the opportunity to form romantic relationships with NPCs. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, we proposed that, in the context of otome game, reciprocity enhances the sense of romantic closeness with NPCs, which in turn lead to greater enjoyment and appreciation. Survey data from 293 Chinese otome players supported the model, suggesting that at least one of the reasons that otome gaming is so entertaining is that they provide players with relationships that those players engage as if they were authentically social. Descriptive results revealed high reciprocity scores and strong romantic connection with NPCs, which players feeling …

An Eye For An Eye And A Smile For A Smile: Examining Aggressive And Supportive Behavioral Alignment Among Taiwanese Adolescence Who Play Video Games, Nicholas Bowman, Chrissy Cook, Chingching Chang

Media Studies - All Scholarship

The social dynamics of video games, especially those played online, are one of the primary motivators for gaming. Unfortunately, while there are numerous benefits to online gaming, there is also potentially harmful toxic and aggressive behavior. Prior research has investigated toxicity, but most studies rely on convenience samples, typically from WEIRD populations. The current study extends this scholarship with a nationally representative sample of Taiwanese adolescents who are frequent gamers, (a) quantifying their experiences with aggressive and supportive behaviors in games and (b) investigating personological-level variables that might explain reciprocating (referred to as “behavioral alignment”). Key findings were (1) aggressive …

Wei Xiqin’S Evolutionary Plan For Modern China, Nianhong Qiu

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This study examines the thinking, practices, and significance of Wei Xiqin (1882- 1952). Born in Germany and educated in various European countries, Wei was a musician and educator who played an active role in the educational reform of the Republic of China. Wei was equipped with modern European thoughts but held deep reverence for Confucianism and other traditional Chinese classics. Examining this contentious figure in the wake of “Chinese Evolutionism” trend, this study investigates the differences between Wei’s evolution theory and the dominant evolution theory during early 20th-century China. Wei’s evolutionism, which I call a type of “Cyclic Evolution,” implies …

Deconstructing Shifting Narratives: Critical Discourse Analysis Of Terminology Trends In Unfpa’S State Of World Population Reports (1978-2024), Naqib A. Noory

Theses and Dissertations

Rooted in both scholarly inquiry and lived experience in global development, this study explored how language shapes power, inclusion, and representation. It analyzed the evolution of population and development discourse in UNFPA’s State of World Population reports (1978–2024) using Fairclough’s Level 1 Critical Discourse Analysis framework. Giddens’ Structuration Theory provided a broader lens linking linguistic change to the interaction between institutional structures and human agency. A theory-based coding framework, drawing on Malthusian, Senian, Spivakian, and MDG/SDG paradigms, guided the analysis of evolving discourse. Findings revealed a layered narrative: earlier scarcity framings persisted beneath newer development language; rights and empowerment rhetoric …