Digital Commons Network^™

Phenomenological Analysis Of Trust In Science For The Design Of Ai-Based Health And Social Policies, Kochav Koren

All Duquesne Faculty Scholarship

The promises of artificial intelligence (AI) as a solution to challenges facing health systems increasingly link technological innovation with improvements in efficiency and access. However, the legitimacy of AI-supported health policies depends not only on scientific competence but also on public trust in scientific institutions. Using data from the international Trust in Science Project (71,922 respondents across 68 countries), this study analyses multidimensional trust and communication ecologies to reconstruct relational configurations of trust, termed ‘Figures of Relevance’. Findings reveal that whilst scientific competence is widely recognised, perceptions of institutional openness vary markedly, shaping heterogeneity in trust. The study identifies four …

Values-Based Leadership In Public Discourse: How University Leaders Frame Character And Commitment, Heather Carroll, Jeff Fritz, Sarah Williams, Cheryl A. Maurana

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Public leadership speech is a consequential site of ethical positioning where institutional values are named, contested, and interpreted under pressure, and where the choice of virtue language shapes where attention is directed. Analyzing published quotations from university leaders during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, we examine how virtue language functioned as a public act of values-based leadership through a socio-ecological framework for flourishing that treats character as dynamic and relational. We find that leaders constructed ethical stances by anchoring commitment to moral virtues that named goods, intellectual virtues that narrated deliberative process, and occasionally pairing both …

“I Never Really Thought That Would Be Something To Talk About With My Doctor”: Developing A Theory-Led Decision Aid For College Students’ Substance Use Disclosure In Healthcare, Hayley Stahl

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

College students who use drugs face compounding barriers to disclosing substance use to healthcare providers, including uncertainty about health consequences and stigma-driven identity concerns. Existing disclosure tools address neither barrier in an integrated fashion. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study examined how constructs from the Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM; Afifi & Weiner, 2004) and Stigma Management Communication (SMC; Meisenbach, 2010) theory suggest factors influencing substance use disclosure among college students and shape their lived disclosure experiences. In Study 1, simultaneous-entry multiple regression analyses revealed that communication efficacy was associated with information seeking, perceived benefits of disclosure were linked to …

Chi Meta-Project Ecosystem Overview - Spring 2026, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

This paper offers a high-level account of the Center for Holistic Integration’s (CHI) meta-project ecosystem as visualized in the included system map. CHI provides an organizational structure framed around persistent meta-projects that support and extend individual initiatives across curriculum, scholarly and applied research, infrastructure, artistic production, AI development, cultural inquiry, and external partnerships. Rather than presenting the map as a static inventory of projects, the paper examines how its core domains function as living systems through which knowledge, tools, documentation, participants, and collaborations can accumulate over time. It also considers how CHI-mediated connectivity, institutional integration, and external funding allow the …

Agricultural Extension Agents’ Perceptions Regarding The Use Of Social Media In Extension Work, Howard M. Wallace Ii, K. S. U. Jayaratne, Wendy Warner, Dara Bloom, Julia Mckeown

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Social media enables Extension agents to reach a large group of clients efficiently. However, research on agricultural Extension agents’ perceptions about social media use in Extension work is limited. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of agricultural Extension agents regarding the use of social media in Extension work. This was a descriptive research study conducted online. Findings confirmed that agricultural Extension agents in North Carolina State find social media helpful in Extension work, such as for the distribution of information to their clients and extending its reach to a larger audience. Extension agents perceive that using …

Making Digital Connections: Extension Educators’ Perceptions And Use Of Qr Codes, Kobina D. Fanyinkah, Jefferson D. Miller, Casandra Cox, Will Doss

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

While Extension educators recognize the potential of digital tools for outreach, there are still barriers to adoption, effective implementation, and acceptance. The goal of this study was to evaluate Extension educators’ perceptions concerning quick-reponse (QR) codes in outreach activities, including their effectiveness, integration, and barriers faced when using them. The study used a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews of twelve Extension professionals purposely sampled from the Ozark region of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Participants perceived the effective use of the technology to be related to their target clients’ age and technological proficiency. Additionally, Extension professionals reported …

Desert Desires And The War On Terror: Pre- And Post-9/11 Sheikh Romances, Leena Altamimi

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The existence of sheikh romances as a subgenre has prevailed for well over a century in Western literature. Therefore, would one be able to discern whether the book cover imagery as well as the textual content showcases any tangible differences pre and post 9/11, and America’s “war on terror” campaign? A total of five books are observed: The Sheik by E.M. Hull published in 1919, Sarah Holland’s Desert Destiny published in 1991, Loreth Anne White’s The Sheik Who Loved Me and Penny Jordan’s Possessed by the Sheikh (both published in 2005), and lastly Crowned for the Sheikh’s Baby by Sharon …

Tales Of The Empathic Support Provider: How Emerging Adult Women Make Sense Of Providing Empathic Support To Female Friends, Emma R. Eslinger

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study explored the stories and reflections of 33 emerging adult women who made sense of their empathic support provider (ESP) identity in the context of female friendships. From the standpoint of the retrospective storytelling heuristic, within communicated narrative sense-making theory, participants told stories about their ESP identity, including how they provide support to others and reflect on the benefits of drawbacks of serving in this role (CNSM, Koenig Kellas, 2022). Under Proposition 1 of CNSM theory, meanings, values, and beliefs (MVBs) that ESP women expressed in this role were depicted as key takeaways gathered. Findings illuminated how ESP …

What Is Media Authenticity?: A Guide To Detecting Authentic Media Literacy, Kawan Yarbrough

Theses

This project seeks to answer the question of what media authenticity is, as it relates to different forms of popular media such as social media and content creators, content consumers that also actively post on social media, Reality Television and also touching base on how Artificial Intelligence has infiltrated the lives of many. Aside from discussing academia that has been published on this topic prior, my project will additionally include a quick guideline for being able to detect inauthentic media, and give quick points and recommendations for people that have no active media literacy training of any kind that can …

Nbc Peacock North Summer 2026 Newsletter, Peacock North Staff

NBC Peacock North Newsletter

Highlights include: What's Now! Advice to the Class of 2026 -- Peacock Family -- Spring Luncheon Photo Gallery -- Tributes to Silent Microphones

Millennial Memories

DePaul Magazine

Social media influencer Kate Steinberg (CMN '13), who studied public relations and advertising at DePaul, revisits her youth and DePaul days to create viral content with a nostalgic edge.

The Study Of How Sensory Marketing Techniques Used By Beauty Brands Influence Engagement And Consumer Perception On Social Media Platforms, Particularly By Evoking Specific Consumer Emotions, Eeshani Juthani

Digital Marketing Theses

This study describes how a consumers' attitude towards beauty products on social media is affected by sensory marketing techniques and cues. This study also examines how sensory marketing tactics and elements such as sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste affects the way a consumer engages with content on social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram.

Da Mosang Tarsier Series: Developing Digital Bullying Prevention Materials For Filipino Parents Of Grade School Students, Rudy M. Danganan Jr., Ann Christine V. Braga, Maria Kristina S. Alfonso, Romelito Manuel D.S. Clorina, Ma. Regina Hechanova

Children and Families

Bullying remains a significant public health and educational concern worldwide and is particularly prevalent in Philippine public schools, with Grade 7 students identified as a vulnerable group. Although the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 (Republic Act No. 10627) mandates school-based policies and procedures, persistent implementation gaps underscore the need to strengthen home–school partnerships and equip parents with practical, culturally grounded response strategies. This paper describes the development of the Da Mosang Tarsier Series, a set of digital psychoeducational comic strips designed for Filipino parents of Grade 7 students. Guided by a user-centered design (UCD) framework, the project began with a Generative …

Deepfakes As Crisis Triggers: Experimental Evidence On Response Strategy Effectiveness, Responsibility Attributions, And Sharing Intentions, Alicia Mason, Mariah Laman, Tanner Glenn, Treyton Meyers

Faculty Submissions

The term deepfake refers to falsified media content created using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to manipulate audio, video, or images. Deepfake news fabrications are designed to appear highly realistic, making it difficult for audiences to distinguish them from authentic content. Responding to deepfake-induced  reputational threats therefore presents a unique challenge for organizations. Despite the growing prevalence of deepfake technology, little experimental research has examined how different crisis communication strategies perform in mitigating the reputational and relational harm posed by deepfake-induced crises. Accordingly, this study seeks to (1) examine how exposure to deepfake news relates to public perceptions and affect toward …

Black Americana: Packaging Black Critique For White Consumption, Sean Bloemetjie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I extend the theorization of Black Americana, a conservative, racialized mass media project where Black celebrities, through the assertion of the American-ness and promotion of the American empire, engage in the containment of Blackness and Black people. Historically, Black Americana was conceptualized by Michele White around the online marketplace for racist, caricatured, slavery-era memorabilia, but I argue that this practice has morphed and evolved into a prominent form of mediated Black subjugation by Black elites. Utilizing Whitney Houston’s performance of the national anthem as a case study, I argue in the introduction that, by insisting upon her …

Rhetorical Physics And The Laws Of Language: A Comparative Analysis Of President Trump And President Macron At The United Nations 2025, David Edmund Allen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The paper features a textual analysis of the UN speeches made by the US President Donald Trump and by France’s President Macron. President Trump’s speech was made in the absence of a teleprompter and lasted almost an hour. President Macron’s speech was representative of a more standard diplomatic speech. Both speeches are analyzed using a variety of models and techniques. The analysis incorporates an exploration of Manin’s link of Zipf’s law to concepts from information theory and algorithmic complexity, Tao’s concepts applied to power laws, ‘E pluribus unum’, out of many, one, plus a completely new application of Villermaux’s universal …

The Narrative Dynamics Of Special Books By Special Kids Youtube Videos And Comments: A Study Of Disability Rhetoric And Public Narrative Engagement, Jessica Louise Allee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Digital media has expanded disability advocacy and community building by enabling accessible, visual storytelling and connection. Special Books by Special Kids (SBSK), a YouTube channel using interview-based disability storytelling, foregrounds people’s experiences with disabilities in the videos, while inviting viewers to interpret, identify with, and respond in the comments. As a participatory storytelling space, SBSK offers a site for examining how disability meanings are constructed, negotiated, and transformed through narratives, multimodal practices, and audience uptake, while revealing how dominant disability rhetoric or ableist discourse that positions people with disabilities as burdens, inherently deficient, or socially devalued, can be reproduced, complicated, …

“The Ai Pushed Me To Consider New Perspectives”: Preliminary Observations On A Chatgpt Intervention Designed To Elicit Critical Thinking About Media Headlines, Karina Luna, Chelsea Julian Reynolds, Ali Zain

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

This study explored whether a custom AI chatbot could be a relevant tool for promoting critical thinking about news bias. The research team discusses the development of a custom critical media literacy chatbot and its implementation in an upper-division critical media studies course at a large North American public university. Students interacted with the chatbot to analyze news headlines about transgender issues, employing a scaffolded framework to dissect media framing and generate alternative frames. We argue that the same AI technologies fueling anxiety can be reimagined as partners in cultivating critical media literacy and guiding future directions in journalism pedagogy. …

Expanding The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform Through Artificial Influence Assessment (Aia): Rationale, Development, And Measurement Design, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping how individuals access information, make decisions, and interact with digital environments. The Cognitive Attentional Standards Platform (C.A.S.) was developed to assess attention related harms, cognitive safety, digital autonomy, and platform influence across digital systems (Clark, 2026). However, the growth of generative AI, conversational agents, and algorithmic decision support technologies has introduced new forms of influence that may not be fully captured by existing assessment domains. This paper proposes the Artificial Influence Assessment (AIA) as an expansion of the C.A.S. framework designed to measure AI mediated influence on cognition, behavior, autonomy, and information processing. Drawing on …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

Self-Help Or Hype? How The Public Seeks And Uses Health And Self-Help Information, Bailey Fraser Dr., Joanna Pozzulo Dr., Emily Pica Dr.

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The rapid growth of the global wellness industry and increased availability of health information through social media and self-help resources have raised concerns about the public’s ability to evaluate credible health information. This study examined how adults in Canada and the United States use health information, what they consider qualifies information as evidence, and their reading behaviors related to physical and mental health, including self-help books. A total of 96 participants completed an online survey assessing health information use, criteria for evidence, reading habits, and self-help book selection. Participants reported using health information primarily to make personal health decisions and …

Using Amish Scribes’ Newspaper Letters To Portray The New Wilmington, Pa, Amish Settlement, Kristin Park

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

In studying distinctive ethnoreligious communities, it is preferable to listen to and analyze the voices of members themselves. This paper interprets the professed values, activities, and priorities of an understudied, hybrid Andy Weaver / Old Order Amish settlement using Amish scribes’ letters to two Amish and one non-Amish newspaper. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the newspaper letters discovered dominant themes of emotional expression, illness and accidents, visits, weather, and work and compared their prevalence across the newspapers. Amish newspapers were more emotionally expressive and highlighted members’ illness and injury while the non-Amish newspaper primarily focused on visiting, weather, and …

Toward Professionalization: Insights From Sign Language Interpreters In Vietnam, Anh P. Doan

Journal of Interpretation

This study examines how sign language interpreters in Vietnam perceive the professionalization of their field and the strategies they propose for establishing it as a recognized profession. Despite growing demand for communication access, sign language interpreting in Vietnam remains an emerging field with limited institutional infrastructure and no formal interpreter education programs. Data were collected through an online qualitative survey of 28 hearing interpreters working in sign language interpreting across Vietnam. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key themes in interpreters’ experiences and perspectives. Findings show that many interpreters enter the field through informal pathways such as community …

The Meme Event: Memefication, Memory-Making And Political Resistance In The Biafra Digital Discourse, Chimaobi Dick Onwukwe

Theses - ALL

In this thesis, I examine the Biafran digital commemoration on May 30th every year—Biafra Commemoration Day. Specifically, I examine how the Biafran digital commemorative culture functions as memorialization and political action. Drawing on theoretical reserves from modern meme studies and performance studies, I propose a theory of “meme event”—a coordinated digital practice that encompasses not just memetic content but the larger ecology of its creation, circulation, strategic timing (May 30th), and strategic deployment. The rallying slogan “We don’t die, we multiply” serves as the anchor around which the meme event revolves, circulating both memetic content and non-meme posts. This theoretical …

The Strange Case Of Family: How The Dual Character Is Represented In 2025 American Horror Films, Camila Flores

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines the representation of dual-role characters in contemporary American horror cinema through a qualitative textual analysis of three 2025 horror films: The Monkey (Osgood Perkins), Sinners (Ryan Coogler), and Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro). While dual or doubled characters have historically been analyzed through psychoanalytic frameworks centered on the ego, repression, and identity fragmentation, this study argues that recent horror films move beyond the traditional “double as self” narrative. Instead, these films position dual-role characters within broader social, cultural, and familial contexts, emphasizing how doubling reflects generational trauma, collective memory, and systems of oppression. Guided by Stuart Hall’s theory …

Legitimacy And Reputation In Sports Corporate Social Advocacy: The Role Of Communication Strategies, Issue Position, And Fan Identification, Maria Grover

Dissertations - ALL

Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has become increasingly common in professional sport, yet most research has examined individual athlete activism or sport consumer brands rather than leagues and teams. This dissertation examined how two public-relations communication strategies – highlighting a collaborative decision-making approach and creating a strong explanatory link between an organization and an issue – impact perceived CSA legitimacy and organizational reputation, and how audience-level factors such as fan identification and pre-existing issue position condition those evaluations. A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with a control group (N = 302) presented U.S. NFL fans with a fictitious league statement advocating …

Locate Alternative Media In The Digital News Ecosystem: A Cross-Country Comparative Study Of Alternative-Mainstream Audience Overlap Networks, Qinfeng Zhu, Fan Liang, Gabriel Miao Li

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines alternative media within the digital news ecosystem in six European countries: Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, and Spain. Using a network approach and a cross-country comparative design, we analyze audience overlap between alternative and mainstream media, the positions alternative media occupy within these networks, and how media systems and political contexts may shape these dynamics. Our findings show that while overall audience overlap is low, it is higher in countries where far-right populist parties have greater institutionalized access to political discourse. We also identify alternative media enclaves within the Northern-type media system characterized by strong professional journalism—particularly …

Online Rights Defense Among Chinese Americans Against Racial Aggression In The U.S. During The Covid-19, Fangzhu Lu, Wenshan Jia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

This study investigates how Chinese American communities responded to heightened racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing social media platforms to safeguard their civil rights, articulate collective concerns, and mobilize resistance against racial aggression.

Methodology

Through qualitative case study analysis, the research examines the social media activities of six advocacy organizations, including three X accounts (WashTheHate, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Americans Advancing Justice) and three Instagram accounts (Stop AAPI Hate, Stop Asian Hate, Advancing Justice: AAJC). The analysis focuses on the content strategies and communication mechanisms employed to counteract racial hostility.

Findings

The selected organizations used social …

Freshman Student Sleep And Academic Stress Levels: An Empirical Study For Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Julia M. Cortese

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Receiving an adequate amount of sleep is essential for academic success as it prepares the brain each day for the workload ahead. Sleep deprivation is associated with negative cognitive, emotional, and physical outcomes that may affect academic performance. Currently, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) does not have any form of sleep education or awareness for first-year, first-semester students, which leaves them susceptible to a cycle of sleep deprivation, academic underperformance, and stress. This study examines the relationship between sleep habits and academic stress among first-semester, first-year students of Fall 2023 at ERAU. This empirical study used a mixed-methods survey with eighteen …

National Belonging And Cricket Fandom: Narrative Storytelling By Indian Premier League (Ipl) Teams On Instagram, Aman Misra, Adam William Love

Journal of Global South Sport Studies

This study examines how Indian Premier League (IPL) teams employed narrative storytelling on Instagram during the 2020 edition of the tournament, which was held in the United Arab Emirates rather than in India. Throughout the season, IPL teams used social media, especiallyInstagram, to foster online relationships and construct visual narratives reflecting transnational identity and other forms of cultural symbolism. Using Fisher’s (1985) narrative paradigm and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework for visual narrative analysis, we investigate how Instagram posts from IPL team accounts articulated political and cultural identities. In doing so, the current study provides a novel contribution to …