Digital Commons Network^™

How Effective Are Fact-Checks In Pakistan And Who Engages With Them?, Waqas Ejaz, Sacha Altay, Muhammad Ittefaq

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

For fact-checks to be effective, they must first and foremost reach their intended audience. Yet, little is known about what determines engagement with fact-checks and how to enhance their reach. We conducted a pre-registered online survey experiment in Pakistan (N participants = 302, N observations = 1208) investigating the effectiveness of fact-checking, and the determinants of engagement with fact-checks and misinformation. We found that fact-checking reduced misperceptions, especially among the most misinformed. Trust was an important moderator of the effectiveness of fact-checking and of engagement with both the fact-checks and misinformation. For instance, fact-checks were more effective among participants who …

Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between language, trauma, and emotional expression among bilingual Arabic-English speakers, focusing on code-switching patterns and euphemisms, and more broadly the emotional roles of native and non-native languages in trauma narratives. Through qualitative interviews with 20 Egyptian participants, the research reveals that code-switching serves as both a linguistic and emotional tool, allowing speakers to navigate trauma by creating distance or engaging more intimately. Such codeswitching patterns include the integration of English content words within Arabic structures, morphosyntactic innovations, and gender agreement applications, reflecting the creative adaptability of bilingual speakers in emotionally charged contexts, in line with …

The Shift To Visual News Consumption: Exploring Egyptian Users' Motivations, Behaviors, And Perceptions Of News Values, Credibility, And Recognition On Instagram As A News Source., Hussein Battah

Theses and Dissertations

With the evolution of visual social media such as Instagram, news consumption and dissemination became different, focusing on Visual and Graphic content. With the current political and social-economic challenges in Egypt and the Region, such as The war in Gaza and the Egyptian economic crisis, the need for simple and immediate news updates became essential. Instagram has now satisfied that need among various users, specifically youth. This paper explores how consuming news over "Instagram" has influenced Egyptian users' perception of News Values and their definition of what to consider news. The paper also studies how several sources on Instagram have …

Queering ‘Common Sense’: Using Critical Discourse Analysis Of Lgbtq+ Book Bans In Florida Public Schools To Unmask Heteronormativity, Talia Zito, Nicole E. Morse

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Historically, censorship of LGBTQ+ content in education has been rooted in socio-political efforts to marginalize non-heteronormative identities. However, even those who oppose censorship tend to frame their arguments around concepts like “age-appropriateness” and “protecting children.” Our Critical Discourse Analysis examines formal challenges to And Tango Makes Three in one Florida school district in 2022 to show how these concepts are deployed on both sides of the debate. The book, depicting a same-sex penguin couple raising a chick, faced objections under Florida’s HB 1557, a law designed to restrict discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Ultimately, the picture …

Building Blocks For New Kinship Partnerships And Coalitions, Kathy L. Dial, Daniel J. Koltz, Janet Salo, Erin Beasley

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Building successful kinship partnerships and coalitions requires intentional effort to establish trust, align goals, and foster inclusivity. These collaborations are essential for addressing the unique and evolving needs of kinship families, who often face limited access to resources due to the informal nature of many caregiving arrangements. Effective partnerships prioritize clear missions, open communication, and active engagement with stakeholders, particularly those with lived experiences such as kinship caregivers. Research demonstrates that coordinated efforts among organizations enhance resource availability, improve advocacy capabilities, and strengthen service delivery. By integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles, coalitions can ensure that diverse perspectives shape solutions …

Podcasting Towards Togetherness: Utilizing Podcasts To Improve Departmental Camaraderie And Well-Being, Michael Petrauskis, Colleen Gutman, Rosemarie Fernandez

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Physician burnout is on the rise, and this is of particular concern in emergency medicine. Burnout is associated with medical errors, adverse events, poor professionalism, and litigation. A sense of community can build engagement and mitigate workplace stressors on well-being. Emergency physicians may have trouble connecting due to the nature of shift-work and various practice settings. Communication technology, and particularly podcasting, has the potential to help overcome these barriers and positively impact relatedness and well-being.

Approach: We developed an inward-facing podcast, “The ER Break Room” within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida. Through the …

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 14 - February 13, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 14 - February 13, 2025. 20 pages.

The Non-Apology Of Tyler, The Creator, John Gibaud

CAFE Symposium 2025

This project analyzes the behavior and statements of the musician Tyler, The Creator as compared to contemporary understandings of the steps, requirements, and functions of a public apology. In 2009, Tyler, The Creator began his career as a solo singer songwriter, using shock value tactics to gain the attention of the public with lyrics and online comments which glorified murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping. Outcries against the themes of the comments and lyrics called for an official public apology and acknowledgement from Tyler, The Creator, however, such a statement never came to fruition. Since his problematic debut, Tyler, The Creator …

Familiarity Of Psychiatric Terms Among College Students, Julia Pekala

CAFE Symposium 2025

Recently, there has been an increase in the usage of psychiatric terminology used among internet users. Terms such as autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are thrown around without an understanding of these words and their true meaning. These words are picked up and used in a similar context as any other internet lingo, in an ironic, joking manner, without proper consideration of their origins and meaning. Due to most content on the internet being unmoderated and seemingly endless, users are often faced with misleading information about real clinical disorders. The use of these words follows the …

The Significance Of Social Media Neologisms Across The Globe, Molly Bushong

CAFE Symposium 2025

Social media neologisms, new terms coined through digital platforms, have drastically altered human communication, and will only continue to do so as technology rapidly advances. These words and phrases develop alongside society as innovative technology, experiences, and phenomena are continuously introduced into everyday life. Although neologisms have been present throughout all time and social media's existence, research has identified that their popularity has exponentially increased in recent years. My research builds upon previous research while exploring how social media neologisms have evolved over the past five years, their impact on language formality, and the familiarity of these terms across various …

Why Are Youtubers Bad At Apologizing?, Tejaswi Amatya

CAFE Symposium 2025

There has been an increasing number of youtuber apology videos in the past few years, but almost all the youtubers fail at apologizing. My poster delves deeper into why are youtubers so bad at apologizing and how they can improve.

Lindenwood Digest, February 12, 2025, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been a digital employee newsletter since 2009.

We Feel, We Understand: Examining The Moderating Effects Of Publics' Empathy On Crisis Outcomes Across Crisis Types And Response Strategies, James Ndone

Communication, Media, and Culture

This study examines how empathy, operationalized into affective and cognitive dimensions, influences stakeholders' perceptions during organisational crises. Also, the study explores the mediating role of account acceptance in the relationship between crisis response strategies and organisational outcomes. An online three (crisis type: victim vs. accidental vs. preventable) × two (crisis response strategy: apology vs. denial) between-subjects experimental design with 686 participants randomly assigned to different crises (victim, accidental, preventable) and response strategy (apology, denial) was conducted. The findings reveal that account acceptance mediates the relationship between crisis response strategies and key organisational outcomes such as reputation, forgiveness, and purchase intention. …

Shifting The Paradigm With Wednesday Addams: An Intersectional Analysis Of The First (Autistic) Female Latinx Detective, Camille Bassett, Jason Gilmore

Communication Studies and Philosophy Student Research

For centuries, Autistic people have been portrayed in media through two dehumanizing stereotypes, the robot and the superhuman savant. Together, the robot and the superhuman savant combine into one of the most popular hybrid stereotypes to appear in media: the detective. Past detectives have been almost exclusively white male characters, a longstanding pattern that erases Autistic women and people of color, among others. In 2022, however, Netflix’s spinoff series of The Addams Family, Wednesday, brought to the screen the first-ever female Latinx detective. This study is a thematic analysis of Wednesday as a character, the autism …

The Current - Volume 35 Issue 8, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Rattler (Volume 113, Issue 5), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 13 - February 6, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 13 - February 6, 2025. 16 pages.

Stereotypes Of Female Characters In Disney, Merouge Hazem Elboraie

The Undergraduate Research Journal

The depiction of female characters in Disney films has undergone a significant transformation throughout the decades, reflecting societal shifts and changing perceptions of gender roles. As young girls tend to idolize fictional female characters, ensuring a healthy portrayal of women in animated films is crucial. This paper aims to discuss the portrayal of female characters in Disney movies within certain frames and their impact on the general public through a case analysis of literature reviews. It underscores the dynamic interplay between societal change and cinematic narratives, particularly in Disney. The research’s findings indicate that the negative portrayal of Disney female …

Lindenwood Digest, February 5, 2025, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been a digital employee newsletter since 2009.

The Association Between Online Health Information Characteristics And Appropriate Trust In Informational Quality Among Patients With High Cardiovascular Risk, Lim Woei Xian

Student Works (2020-2029)

More patients are turning to the Internet to understand their health and make health decisions. However, the quality of online health information (OHI) is highly variable, and it may contain misinformation. Patients who lack the necessary skills to appraise OHI may trust poor-quality OHI. Thus, this study aims to examine the association between OHI characteristics and appropriate trust in patients with high cardiovascular (CV) risk. This is a secondary analysis from a quantitative cohort study of 270 patients from a primary care clinic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Patients recorded each OHI encountered over two months in a digital information diary …

Emergent Groups And The Informal Digital Emergent Response To Hurricane Florence In The United States, Andrew S. Pyle, Hillary Smith, Ryan P. Fuller

Publications

Our study presents a thematic analysis of 1,582 posts from five digital emergent Facebook groups during Hurricane Florence, affecting North and South Carolina in the United States in 2018. We pose four research questions related to the formation and functioning of digital emergent groups during a disaster. Specifically, we examined how groups contributed to response efforts; messages developed across stages of the disaster; grassroots groups’ organized disaster response; and how proximity affected group functioning. Participants contributed to disaster response by sharing and seeking information and aid. Groups coordinated logistics; offered affirmation; and provided commentary and humor. Group members supported the …

Book Review: Dangerous Innocence: White Men, Mass Culture, And The Southern Outsider's Appeal, 1960-2020, Chris Sharpe

Georgia Library Quarterly

A book review of Dangerous Innocence: White Men, Mass Culture, and the Southern Outsider's Appeal, 1960-2020 written by William P. Murray.

Zombie-Auras: Genai And Hybrid Text Production, Joshua Nieubuurt

English Faculty Publications

This paper explores the iterative evolutions of textual production and their impact on the “aura” of texts, as conceptualized by Walter Benjamin. The study identifies three key phases of textual production: the natural, the mechanized, and the digitized, each progressively displacing the “cult value” of texts. This cult value is lost through increased ease of creation, reproduction, dissemination, and dislocation of creators and audiences in time and space. The advent of Generative AI (GenAI) marks the latest evolution, transforming the “aura” into a memetic “zombie” form—familiar yet opaque, evoking both the sublime and fear. By examining Benjamin’s notion of “aura” …

The Evolution Of Masculinity And Fatherhood In God Of War: Ragnarok, Jacob Tf Wingo

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

God of War: Ragnarok was released in 2023 to millions of sales and offers its players a unique look at the themes of masculinity and fatherhood set to a backdrop of mythical deities warring against one another. This game relies heavily on its narrative to convey its core themes of divergent forms of masculinity and the conflict between father and son due to differences in their masculine forms. In light of the game’s popularity and its nuanced representation of masculinity, this study uses textual analysis to explore research on masculinity, fatherhood, and gaming, focusing on the dominant narratives in God …

The Guardian The Month Of February 2025, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the Month of February 2025. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Tale Of Two Requesters: How Public Records Law Experiences Differ By Requester Types, A. Jay Wagner, David Cuillier

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The journalism industry was central to the materialization of U.S. freedom of information (FOI) laws, yet journalists frequently voice dissatisfaction with the state of FOI laws. The study surveyed 330 public records requesters on their experiences with FOI laws, finding public-interest requesters (journalists, academics, nonprofits, and private individuals) reported a significantly different experience, including a lower likelihood of receiving records, than for-profit requesters (commercial requesters and lawyers). For-profit requesters were less likely to believe FOI laws positively impact government accountability or improve society. The findings suggest reassessing whom the laws serve and whether they meet their original democratic objectives.

Impact Of Multidimensional Presence On User Well-Being In Metaverse Communities, Arslan Rafi, Sanjit K. Roy, Mohsin Abdur Rehman, Muhammad Junaid Shahid Hasni

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In metaverse communities, users engage in various activities, such as socializing, gaming, and exploration. Presence in such communities refers to the feeling of being there and being fully immersed. This study examines the role of various dimensions of presence (e.g., social, spatial, and self) in driving user well-being in metaverse communities. Moreover, the study tests the mediating roles of social connectedness and social support. The data set comprised responses from 357 metaverse users. Data were analyzed using multigroup analysis (MGA), necessary condition analysis, partial least squares path modeling, and artificial neural network analysis. Results show that social presence, spatial presence, …

Leadership Practices For High-Performing Teams: Insights From Senior Military General Officers And Flag Officers, Kimberly Mitchell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe how senior military general officers and flag officers (GOFOs) used the three competencies of high-performance teams (HPTs; clarity, connection, and communication) to achieve objectives in their organizations. The second purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that senior military GOFOs perceived the three high-performance team effect (HPTE) core competencies impacted their leadership for creating HPTs.

Methodology: This mixed methods study identified and described nine senior military officers’ perceptions of strategies to lead HPTs while focusing on the three core competencies: clarity, connection, and …

Celebrating Achievements As Digital Rituals Among Indonesian Youth On Social Media, B.J. Sujibto, Malikatun Natiqoh, Kafhaya Nuzulanisa, Saras Wati Widodo

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

Youth and social media are increasingly intertwined, as their socio-cultural trajectories accelerate digital connectedness and intensify the contestation of diverse identities. Posting on social media has thus become a ritualized practice. This article explores how Indonesian university students construct identities by sharing achievement stories and success narratives on Instagram. Using qualitative data, it examines the experiences of students who have excelled in academic competitions. The study identifies two key typologies behind such posts. Firstly, personal determinism, aimed at self- reward and self-branding. Secondly, social motivation, focused on inspiring peers and building supportive networks to achieve academic success. These typologies reflect …

Revisiting The Diffusion Of Innovations Theory In The Digital Era: Adoption Of Artificial Intelligence In Social Media, Aliaa Khaled Elshabassy

Theses and Dissertations

The present study aims at revisiting the applicability of Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory in the digital era, particularly in relation to recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence and their use in social media. The role of generational differences in influencing the adoption and non-adoption of these technologies is also explored. Drawing on the rich insights of qualitative data, the researcher adopts a multi-method approach comprising seventeen interviews with academic and professional experts and four focus group discussions among different generations to collect first-hand insights on AI adoption in the present time. AI was itself used for qualitative data analysis, including …