Digital Commons Network^™

Yellowjackets And White Hoods?!: The Mistreatment Of Bipoc Characters, Suki Shepherd

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

In 2021, a psychological horror television series inspired by Lord of the Flies, reimagined as a high school girls' soccer team, was released. The highly skilled team from Wiskayok High School is on the way to the national championship game when their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With both a teenage timeline and an adult timeline, the show switches between the girls' desperate survival and descent to madness in the woods and modern times, where the truth of how they made it out starts to be revealed.

Creative Engagement For Community Through The Life-Span, D. Nicole English, Pelgy Vaz

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Creative Engagement for Community Through the Life-Span

Creative Engagement includes crafts, cultural practices, expressive arts, and activities that bring people together. Having access to such activities enables people to develop healthy habits, social interactions, and build community that can sustain one throughout the lifespan. On-going research indicates that Creative Engagement Activities, and the Communities of Practice that build around them, benefit people throughout the life-span, but become particularly important to older adults, by building resilience and social connections, in the face of inevitable life losses.

https://youtu.be/r3JS5YP-MnM

Digital Touchpoints: Investigating Contact Page Accessibility And Visual Authenticity Within Medical Tourism Health Websites, Alicia Mason, Elizabeth Spencer, Kristen Livingston, Treyton Meyers, Sakshi Bhati, Himika Akram

Faculty Submissions

This study examines two critical digital touchpoints on medical tourism provider (MTP) websites: (1) the accessibility of contact pages which often function as entry points for inquiries, scheduling, and pre-travel coordination, and (2) the authenticity of visual imagery used to shape expectations about care environments, personnel, and technological capacity. A sample of 105 MTPs across all six World Health Organization regions were analyzed using quantitative web accessibility testing and qualitative visual analysis. Results indicate pervasive accessibility errors on contact-page touchpoints and extensive reliance on inauthentic imagery to depict patients, providers, and medical technologies. Together, these practices may distort user expectations …

Hungary For More? Russian Storm-1516 Narratives And Engagement Tactics Targeting Hungary’S 2026 Parliamentary Election., Ella Murray, Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren

Media Forensics Hub Reports

This report identifies and analyzes a coordinated influence operation aligned with the Russian Storm-1516 ecosystem and targeting Hungary’s 2026 election. The campaign leverages a network of inauthentic social media accounts to disseminate fabricated narratives, amplify political attacks, and undermine trust in Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar and the TISZA party. The campaign reflects a broader evolution in Russian influence operations, combining established narrative laundering techniques with new amplification strategies. These include the use of fabricated media outlets, paid influencers, and a network of commercial marketing accounts with links to Africa. The campaign leverages likely compensated influencer accounts as well as …

Simple D&D: A Web-Based Character Creation System For Dungeons & Dragons, Brennan M. Bondio, Dalton N. Tate, Landon F. Boyd

ATU Scholars Symposium

Dungeons & Dragons, published by Wizards of the Coast, is a widely played tabletop role-playing game that requires players to create detailed characters governed by structured rule systems. Character creation involves managing interdependent attributes, calculations, and constraints that can be difficult for new players and time-consuming even for experienced participants. These complexities create a barrier to entry and reduce efficiency during gameplay preparation.

This project addresses that challenge through the development of Simple D&D, a web-based character creation system designed to streamline and automate rule-driven character configuration. The system aims to reduce manual calculation errors and setup time while maintaining …

Beyond Green: Re-Reading "Wicked" As Anthropological Text, Tan Gia Bao Huynh

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This paper examines "Wicked" through the lens of cultural borderlands, revealing how the musical dramatizes the creation and navigation of social boundaries. By analyzing Elphaba's journey, the research demonstrates how her green skin serves as a powerful metaphor for cultural otherness, while her experiences at Shiz University and beyond illustrate strategies of resistance, accommodation, and identity formation familiar to those navigating between dominant and marginalized spaces. Particularly significant is the paper's examination of Oz's propaganda system, which demonstrates how cultures manufacture monsters and heroes through selective storytelling and public ritual. This analysis offers fresh insights into "Wicked's" enduring appeal, suggesting …

The Sensationalizing Of Presidential Assassinations In Mass Media Throughout American History, Lindsay E. Smith

Undergraduate Theses

This project explores how mass media has shaped the public response to presidential assassinations across American history. By examining the deaths of Abraham Lincoln (1865), James A. Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963), we can trace how evolving media technologies – such as newspapers, yellow journalism, radio broadcasts, and live television coverage – have sensationalized violence, politicized tragedy, and transformed periods of national mourning into mass spectacles. The thesis analyzes reporting methods, narrative framing, and the news industry to show how each has influenced emotional response, political landscapes, and eventual presidential legacy. Ultimately, we find that …

Lindenwood Digest, April 8, 2026, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

• Primary Figures: Ken Lanter (United HealthCare Medicare Solutions); Ryan Tomlinson (U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management); Dr. Jennifer Edler, Julie Ingoldsby, Julee Mitsler, and Zeke Chism. 

• Key Events: Lindenwood Giving Week including daily focus areas for campus colleges and athletics; Medicare 101 hybrid information session; Staff Celebration BBQ; Digital Symposium on AI-Augmented Learning; "How to Become a Multi-Millionaire" personal finance presentation; Lindenwood Showcase faculty and student research event. 

• Date/Location: Events scheduled between April 8, 2026, and May 31, 2026, at locations including Spellmann Center, Lindenwood Learning Academy, Pavilion, Dunseth Auditorium (Harmon Hall), and the LARC. 

• Archival Significance: …

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Redefining Aesthetics: The Communicative Construction Of Body Image And Self-Esteem Among Young Female Adults In Fiditi And Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Christopher Omamuromu Amojo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines the communicative construction of body image and self-esteem among young female adults in Fiditi and Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, within the context of contemporary social media use. Although a substantial body of scholarship has explored social media’s relationship with body image, much of this research is situated in Western contexts and framed predominantly through psychological or effects-based paradigms. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach grounded in social construction theory and the sociocultural communication tradition to investigate how meanings surrounding beauty, self-worth, and identity are produced and negotiated through mediated interaction in a …

Correlating Communication Channels With Baptism Outcomes: A Quantitative Case Study Using Media Multiplexity Theory In The Texas Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Kenrunne L. Dixon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the use of social media within the local church setting as a tool for engaging diverse communities through tailored, targeted messaging that addresses their unique needs and desires. The use of multiple channels helps connect on different levels, allowing for more profound and lasting relationships (Ledbetter, 2021). This quantitative research explored the local church and how it invests in connecting to its communities outside the church walls through multiple communication channels. Local church congregations invest significant time and resources in planning programs that seem only to attract current members. Their congregations …

A Qualitative Study Of The Uses And Gratifications Theory In Tiktok’S Short-Form Video Influence On Users Behaviors And Motivations Among Young Adults In The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Jonathan V. Robertson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative dissertation explored the TikTok consumption and engagement behaviors of young adults aged 18-25. The TikTok social media platform is well-known for its active community of content creators producing high-quality, short-form, eye-catching video content. These videos are tailored to individuals' personal interests, beliefs, and values, shaping users' daily lives. Alternative social media platforms offer similar capabilities; however, they fall short of TikTok's powerful algorithm. The uses and gratifications theoretical framework were specifically selected to help understand why young adults engage with TikTok, how their unique motivations shape their engagement behaviors, and the role TikTok plays in identity development. The …

Public Willingness To Report Suspicious Activity Captured On Facebook Viral Videos, Tamika S. Bouldin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The widespread use of social media platforms has transformed how individuals observe, engage with, and respond to public events. Viral videos depicting potentially unlawful and dangerous behavior have become common, yet little is known about the factors that motivate viewers to report such content to the authorities. The study aimd to examine the factors influencing the public's willingness to report suspicious activities observed in viral videos across Facebook. Using a cross-sectional correlational quantitative design, the research employed a structured survey questionnaire collecting data from a diverse sample of adult Facebook users in California. Key predictor variables included trust in law …

The Media's Influence On The Public's Perception Of Police Use Of Force, Kristopher D. Lauro

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Police use of force has long been a concern within law enforcement, but in recent decades, it has faced increasing scrutiny from the general public and across all sectors of society, sparking widespread debate on the practice. The rise of body-worn cameras (BWCs) and the prevalence of cell phone recordings of police incidents have amplified attention on the issue. Media representations of police use of force are influential in bringing together or shaping public opinion and often encapsulate ideological biases; the pervasive publicity associated with such incidents provides a unique opportunity for detailed examination of the underlying relationship between media …

Cowpox And Counterpublics: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Anti-Covid Vaccine Conspiracy Theories On Social Media, Cole Melton '26

Honor Scholar Theses

In order to better understand why people construct and perpetuate anti-COVID vaccine conspiracy theories, I perform a rhetorical analysis of some conspiracy theories widespread on social media during the height of the COVID vaccination effort. I begin with a literature review, highlighting the history and efficacy of vaccine technology, gathering characteristics and definitions of conspiracy theories, and reviewing the history of the anti-vaccine movement. Ultimately, I argue that anti-COVID vaccine conspiracy theorists understand vaccination as an attack on personal rights by the U.S. government, prompting the conspiracy theorists to establish an ideological institution rival to the U.S. government that would …

Divide And Conquer: Polarization, Power, And Conspiracy Theories, Lilly Vanhouten '26

Honor Scholar Theses

The following paper is designed to explore belief in conspiracy theories, especially conspiracy theories surrounding the distrust of government like the Uniparty theory in relation to polarization, cults, moral and psychological factors, populism, precedence for having distrust in the government, and influencers. I sought to discover why people believe in conspiracy theories like the Uniparty theory and conducted a media analysis; researched polarization, cult and conspiracy, moral and psychological factors, populism, and precedence; analyzed influencers I watch reflecting conspiracy theory belief; and wrote poetry about conspiracy theories to determine the answer. I found that conspiracy theory belief is influenced by …

Media Center Gets New Studio, Name, Timesdaily

Documents

New Media Center and grand opening for the new Communications Building (former Gymnasium) in 1988

Short-Form Content And The Long-Term Effects, Grace Brown

Research Days

This research aims to explain the rapid growth of short-form digital content. This is an exploration as to why platforms, like TikTok, have taken over modern entertainment. As media evolves away from long-form content with high-production towards short-form with minimal editing, audiences adapt. Short-form content allows social media users to scroll past “uninteresting” videos with ease, validates shortened attention spans and creates more economic incentives. TikTok has successfully developed a highly personalized and fast-paced algorithm, which many social media apps have attempted to mimic. This algorithm sustains engagement by encouraging rapid scrolling and continuous content consumption. While users can easily …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

Rock On! Examining The Relationship Between Armed Conflict And Rock Protest Music, Dylan Conner Dunn

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between rock protest music and wars, armed conflicts, and other related events. The purpose of this research is to explore how such specific events, or war and conflict in general, influence rock songwriters. This paper examines a series of nine rock songs ranging across five decades, from the Vietnam War to the 2010s. A variety of artists wrote and recorded these songs, ranging from hard rock to classic rock, to folk rock and beyond. Some are more audially intense, lyrically visceral, and featuring explicit language, whereas others are much more stripped-back and “family-friendly.” Each of …

‘They’Re Squeezing Us Like An Accordion’:Assessing The Information Environment Of Working-Class Residents Of Dublin’S North Inner City, Stephanie Costello

Irish Communication Review

This article assesses the communication environment of the north inner city of Dublin, an area characterised by entrenched disadvantage, rapid demographic change, and neoliberal urban renewal. Findings were produced from a ten-week engagement journalism project involving the Dublin Inquirer, various community groups, and working-class residents. Using Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT), the study draws on focus groups, participant observation, and interviews to assess local storytelling networks in the context of the project. The findings reveal a fractured communication action context (CAC), where safety concerns, transient populations, litter, lack of public space, and negative national media portrayals constrain residents' ability to connect …

From Lino To Luxury: Class, Taste And Identity In The Mid-Twentieth Century Irish Provincial ‘Good Room’, Angela Mehegan

Irish Communication Review

The aim of this paper is to position issues of class and taste within the context of the home and through the lens of the domestic in mid-twentieth century provincial Ireland from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. This was a time of unprecedented economic growth and heralded a period of social and cultural change. Our homes and the artefacts we surround ourselves with are central to our sense of self and how we wish to be seen by others. Issues of class, taste, status, gender, and aesthetic possibilities are unpacked by focusing on the ‘Good Room’ as a …

Class And The Screen Industries In Ireland – The Unspoken Barriers In The Sector, Caroline Ann O'Sullivan Dr, Mary Ann Bolger Dr

Irish Communication Review

This article proposes the need to widen the diversity conversation in the screen sector in Ireland to one that also considers social inequality. It closely examines the current policies of the main public funders of Ireland’s screen industries, evaluating how these approaches may unintentionally reinforce and sustain structural barriers within the sector. It presents a case study on barriers to entry conducted amongst screen industry practitioners at a professional networking event in 2024. It also draws from qualitative interviews with working class industry professionals who have sought out upskilling and further training opportunities through TU Dublin and Screen Ireland. The …

The Middle-Class Rip-Off'? Subsiding Culture In Contemporary Ireland, Connell Vaughan Dr

Irish Communication Review

In the last few years (roughly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic) there has been a noted increase in state-led cultural funding in Ireland. Key examples include the raise in the financial allocation to the Arts Council, the introduction of the Basic Income for the Arts scheme, and increased sports capital funding. With reference to the official communication documents of these cases (so-called ‘grey literature’) and deploying the classic 1982 episode of the British sitcom Yes, Minister, ‘The Middle-Class Rip-Off,’ which pitches sports funding against support for the arts, as a satirical lens, this paper reflects on the contemporary …

That’S Sooo Povo!, Sophie O'Toole, Trudy Nolan

Irish Communication Review

When Chantelle and Craoí, two working class Dublin drama students, lock horns over The Plough and the Stars, their combined rage brings forth Queen Povo, a drag-drenched larger-than-life entity who forces the girlos and the audience to examine what they’re thinking about when they think of class. From D'Girlos Theatre, this riotous, razor-sharp debut crashes through class, art, and authenticity with wit, grit, and glitter. A juicy-tracksuit clad call to arms for anyone who’s ever felt too loud, too real, or just too povo.

Gendered Discourses And Classed Access Routes For Feminist Djs In Irish Subcultural Scenes, Andrea Cleary

Irish Communication Review

This article examines feminist collectives in Ireland’s electronic/dance music (E/DM) and music technology (MT) scenes, focusing on how gender and class intersect to shape access and participation. Drawing on thematic analysis of interviews with five collective members active between 2016 and 2025, it traces paths to participation from "musical homes" to instrument education to university DJ societies. To do this, it examines the overlapping family, cultural and subcultural capitals which shaped their journeys. Finally, this article considers the role of feminist collectives in creating alternative educational spaces and networks for women and gender minority participation in E/DM cultures.

‘It’S The Best Person For The Job’: Gendering Logic And The Hiring Practices Of Music Organisations In Ireland, Yvonne Kiely Dr

Irish Communication Review

Despite calls for reform in the allocation of jobs in music industries, little is known about how music organisations operate internally and the day-to-day realities that male and female workers must navigate. Findings of bullying and harassment in the arts sector by the Irish Theatre Institute prompted the Irish government in 2022 to issue a set of recommendations aimed at reforming the working conditions and gender divisions of labour of arts sector organisations under its remit. These recommendations were made in the absence of academic studies of music organisations in Ireland, and in the absence of centralised data about these …

“This Play Has Become Something That Isn’T For Us”: Working Class Identity, Canonical Inheritance, And The Girlo On Stage In That’S Sooo Povo!, Ciara L. Murphy Dr

Irish Communication Review

That’s Sooo Povo! was first produced in 2025 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival by D’Girlos Theatre Company. The play follows Chantelle and Croía, two working class Dublin drama students who, when faced with partnering up to perform a scene from Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars (1926), end up summoning the “drag-drenched larger-than-life entity” Queen Povo (That’s Sooo Povo! | Fringe Festival, 2025). This companion piece firstly aims to examine how O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars has made a journey from subversive class critique to nostalgic institutional property, and what it means for working class women …

Fear In The Forecast: Do You Believe The Government Controls The Weather?, Gabriella Bartsch

Honors Papers and Posters

Weather manipulation by the government is among the most widely believed conspiracy theories in America, with over 49 percent of Americans subscribing to this belief. As belief in weather-related conspiracies continues to gain traction, understanding the political and social factors that drive these beliefs becomes increasingly essential. In this study, data from the Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative national sample of U.S. adults, as well as a qualitative content analysis of X/Twitter posts from 2020 to 2026, are used. This research examines how political partisanship and conspiratorial predisposition are reflected in media consumption and levels of institutional trust, …

Butterflies & You: Considerations Of Human Relationships With The Natural World (Paper), Madison Colby

2026 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents & Media

Science communication only accounts for approximately 2% of the entire scientific output of 2017-2022 (Parejo-Cuéllar et. al, 2024). It is an under-researched and under-valued field, especially in an age that has devalued science as a whole. The delicate art of explaining complicated ideas to people who are unfamiliar with scientific jargon is vital to humans’ understanding of the world. Butterflies & You is a documentary film exploring the relationship between humans and the many different butterfly species that call Illinois home. Video-based science communication is important to research and practice because of its impact on environmental advocacy and the growing …

A Research Proposal: Gender Differences In The Experience And Impact Of Fear Of Missing Out (Fomo), Valeria Garcia, Yesenia De Leon

Posters - 2026

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the anxiety individuals feel when they believe others are having rewarding experiences without them, a feeling that has increased with the rise of social media. Constant exposure to others' curated lives can lead to social comparison, increased social media use, and negative outcomes such as decreased academic focus and poorer mental health. Research suggests that FoMO may be experienced differently across genders due to differences in social expectations and online behaviors. For example, women may be more likely to engage in social comparison and seek validation, while men may use social media for different …