Digital Commons Network^™

A History Cannabis As A Cultural Communication Artifact, Morgan L. Harper

Communication Senior Capstones

This essay aims to detail the mechanics, structure, history, and ideology of cannabis from a socio-cultural perspective within the United States. However, it does contain some content that I believe will correlate with an international perspective. My emphasis in conducting this research is to look at the ways in which cannabis acts as a societal communication artifact, and in doing so, how it has formed a vast and highly identifiable culture. I believe that Cannabis acts as a communication tool both socially and interpersonally, with both notions being equally important to the culture overall. Cannabis has language, looks, and sounds, …

Data Capitalism, Digital Health, And Marxism, Samantha C. Stanger

Communication Senior Capstones

Abstract

When immersed in a capitalist society individuals often fail to see the ways in which they are exploited, and when these discussions do come into discourse they are often geared toward workplace labor. Less commonly do we consider the ways in which these problems arise in conjunction with free labor, mainly performed in digital spaces. While less often considered or discussed, the exploitation occurring in the digital world is real and has substantial consequences, particularly when the digital spaces involve sensitive information and data. This paper aims to address how data capitalism functions in three different digital health spaces: …

Visionary Art As Evolving Consciousness, Azul Delgrasso

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Visionary art is art that is not confined by form, it argues that the artist who creates spiritual art allows the spirit to guide them, rather than relying on traditional form or technique. This can result in art that is incredibly unique and expressive, as it comes from a place of pure creativity and intuition. It also examines the visionary art of Alex Grey whose works offer a gateway into a different state of consciousness, where the viewer can access new insights and perspectives. In in a world that is becoming increasingly disconnected from the creative body, visionary art can …

À La Carte Cable: A Regulatory Solution To The Misinformation Subsidy, Christopher R. Terry, Eliezer J. Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz, John Stack, Eve Sando

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Although “fake news” is as old as mass media itself, concerns over disinformation have reached a fever pitch in our current media environment. Online media outlets’ heavy reliance on user-generated content has altered the traditional gatekeeping functions and professional standards associated with traditional news organizations. The idea of objectivity-focused informational content has primarily been substituted for a realist acceptance of the power and popularity of opinion-driven “news.” This shift is starkly visible now: mainstream news media outlets knowingly spread hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and the like.

This current state of affairs is not some freak accident. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment …

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Post-Crisis Organizational Learning Thresholds, Pitfalls And The Risk Of Repeated Crises: Clarifying The Discourse Of Renewal Theory, Rodrigo Soares

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Through a case study analysis of repeated crises that impacted the same organization in Brazil, this dissertation aimed to solve an applied problem: the potential for unresolved or amplified risk for organizations and their stakeholders facing repeated crises due to incomplete post-crisis learning. This research expands and clarifies the understanding of organizational learning, particularly in the Discourse of Renewal theory, by exploring the potential for organizations to ascertain vital lessons for a crisis but fail to communicatively constitute them as central features of a renewed organization. The study investigated an organization's failure to avoid repeating a crisis within a relatively …

Evolution And Diffusion Of Icts In The Indian Railways: A Historical Analysis, Ramesh Subramanian

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The Indian Railway system is one of the largest socio-technical systems in the world. It has existed for over 160 years, starting from the British Colonial times. It continues to play a critical role in present-day India. It’s continued functioning is dependent not only on the personnel who are employed in the railways, but also the technologies that go into the system. A critical technology in the functioning of the railway system is information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs are deployed in almost every facet of the railway system. But these ICTs did not manifest themselves recently. They have been …

Online Discussion Forum And Pre-Migration Information Seeking: An Affordance Perspective, Daniel Gulanowski, Luciara Nardon, Michael J. Hine

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Potential immigrants increasingly rely on online technologies to access needed information as they have limited access to offline sources of information at the pre-arrival stage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of online discussion forums in facilitating potential immigrants’ access to relevant information about the host country labor market. This paper draws on extant literature on computer-mediated communication and a qualitative content analysis of 363 forum discussions to explore the phenomenon of increased use of online forums by prospective immigrants to Canada to access relevant labor market information. We draw on existing concepts of technology affordances …

Ambiguous Appalachianness: A Linguistic And Perceptual Investigation Into Arc-Labeled Pennsylvania Counties, Crissandra J. George

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

The Appalachian Regional Commission (2022) designates 52 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties as Appalachia, excluding only the southeast portion of the state. Matthew Ferrence, in Appalachia North, states that his "home is sometimes called Appalachia, sometimes Rust Belt, other times Midwest, even though very few who live there would accept any of those labels as correct" (xi). This ambiguous and fluid identity is due to the shaping, forming, and changing of Pennsylvania’s role within society from a founding colony to a thriving state with industry, unselfishly spoiling others, to the grounds of converging identities (Ferrence xi). This ambiguous identity makes …

Communicating Individual And Collective Mindfulness: Understanding Listening And Sensechecking At Work, Leanna Hartsough

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations made workplace changes, which added an additional challenge to employees’ communication. However, mindfulness may help members strengthen their workplace interactions. Mindfulness is an intentional open awareness to the present moment (Shapiro, 2009). The theoretical framework of collective mindfulness includes organizational mindfulness, which is mindfulness from a top-down approach and mindful organizing, which is a bottom-up approach to mindfulness at work. This dissertation extends research on collective mindfulness by including listening, individual mindfulness aspects, and sensemaking to examine how collective mindfulness members make meaning of changes due to COVID-19. I observed 26 meetings and interviewed …

Doing “Care Work” In Emergency Service Calls, Angela Cora Garcia

Natural & Applied Sciences Faculty Publications

Sending help when needed is a central role for emergency service call takers, but providing help during the call is also an important part of the job. The “care work” call takers do may assist callers with physical and emotional safety and enhance their resilience as they deal with ongoing emergencies prior to the arrival of the police. This conversational analytic study of a collection of 24 emergency telephone calls reveals the interactional techniques the call takers use to accomplish care work and shows how they integrate care work into their communication within the call.

Comparison Of Chinese And Western Arts Mirroring The Evolvement Of Consciousness, Rui Peng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

A few researchers of consciousness in the West demonstrate that the development of western art mirrors the evolvement of human Consciousness since human civilization emerged. This paper explores the differences in art development between China and the West by comparing the artworks in the same era. Furthermore, discussing why the Chinese scholar art over two thousand years does not reflect the same structures of Consciousness that western researchers defined.

การโหยหาอดีตและการประกอบสร้างความทรงจำร่วมในแนวเพลงซินธ์ป๊อปของโพลีแคท และ วรันธร เปานิล, สุพิชญา คำเขียน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์เรื่องนี้ มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษากลวิธีการนำเสนอการโหยหาอดีต และ วิเคราะห์การประกอบสร้างความทรงจำร่วมจากแนวเพลงซินธ์ป๊อปของศิลปินโพลีแคท และ วรันธร เปานิล ผู้วิจัยใช้วิธีวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ โดยวิเคราะห์ตัวบทจาก ผลงานเพลงของทั้งสองศิลปินจากแพลตฟอร์มออนไลน์ และเอกสารที่เกี่ยวข้องกับกระบวนการสร้างสรรค์ ร่วมกับการสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึก ผู้ประพันธ์เพลง แฟนเพลง และผู้เชี่ยวชาญที่ให้มุมมองวิชาการในด้านดนตรีศึกษากับมิติเชิงสังคม รวมทั้งสิ้น 23 คน ผลการวิจัยพบว่า การโหยหาอดีตในแนวเพลงซินธ์ป๊อปของทั้งสองศิลปิน มีกลวิธีในการนำเสนอผ่านองค์ประกอบต่าง ๆ ของเพลง ได้แก่ เนื้อเพลง (Lyrics) คีตประพันธ์ (Form) จังหวะ (Tempo) และ สีสันของเสียง (Tone color) โดยภาพรวมของผลงานเพลงทั้งหมด มุ่งถ่ายทอดเนื้อหาผ่าน 2 ประเด็นหลัก ได้แก่ มุมมองเกี่ยวกับเรื่องความรัก และ ช่วงเวลาสำคัญของชีวิต แฟนเพลงสามารถเชื่อมโยงการโหยหาอดีตที่เกิดขึ้นในระดับปัจเจกบุคคล ได้จากตัวแปรสำคัญ คือ ประสบการณ์การใช้ชีวิต (Live experience) ซึ่งสัมพันธ์กับอารมณ์และความรู้สึก (Emotional and feeling) ที่เกิดขึ้นระหว่างการฟังเพลงนั้นในอดีตเป็นหลัก สำหรับองค์ประกอบของคีตประพันธ์พบว่า โครงสร้างของเพลงแบบ ABC ที่มีการวนซ้ำในตำแหน่งครอรัสของเพลง เป็นแบบแผนที่เสริมให้เพลงซินธ์ป๊อปเกิดท่อนที่จดจำ และแฟนเพลงสามารถเชื่อมโยงเนื้อหาผ่านเพลงกับเรื่องราวของอดีตของตนเองได้ ในส่วนของสีสันของเสียง พบว่า ซินธิไซเซอร์ เป็นเครื่องดนตรีหลักที่ส่งเสริมอัตลักษณ์ (Identity) ของแนวเพลงเป็นซินธ์ป๊อปให้แฟนเพลงสามารถเชื่อมโยงกับเสน่ห์ในยุค 80s อาทิ สภาพสังคมความเป็นอยู่ หรือ แฟชั่นเครื่องแต่งกาย ที่ได้รับความนิยมในยุคนั้น และองค์ประกอบส่วนของจังหวะ เป็นตัวแปรสำคัญในการส่งเสริมอารมณ์เพลง ให้ผู้ฟังสามารถเลือกเชื่อมโยงความรู้สึกจากประสบการณ์อดีตที่เกิดขึ้นได้แตกต่างกันตามบุคคล เมื่อพิจารณาการสื่อสารเนื้อหาเกี่ยวกับการโหยหาอดีตผ่านเพลง กล่าวโดยสรุปได้ว่า ในมุมของศิลปิน อาศัยกระบวนการในการการถ่ายทอดแรงบันดาลใจร่วมกับ การนำเสนอเอกลักษณ์ของความเก่าคลาสสิค แบบ 80s ที่สะท้อนผ่านตัวตนของตนเอง ในขณะเดียวกับแฟนเพลงสามารถรับรู้และเชื่อมโยงเอกลักษณ์นั้น ร่วมกับประสบการณ์ส่วนตัวอันนำไปสู่การโหยหาอดีตจากแนวเพลงซินธ์ป๊อปได้ และสำหรับการประกอบสร้างความทรงจำร่วม ผู้วิจัยทำการวิเคราะห์ตัวบทผ่านสื่อคอนเสิร์ต ซึ่งเป็นเหตุการณ์ (Event) ที่มีร่วมกันระหว่างศิลปินและแฟนเพลง พบว่า ปัจจัยที่ส่งผลให้เกิดความทรงจำร่วมผ่านเพลงซินธ์ป๊อปของโพลีแคท และ วรันธร เปานิล ประกอบไปด้วย 1) ประสบการณ์ส่วนตัว 2) รสนิยมในการฟังเพลง (Personal …

Honor Thyself, Alonzo O. Williams

Dance (MFA) Theses

The black male experience and identity in America are filled with complexity. We struggle to know ourselves. We work to see the way of love and the peace of an unviolated free spirit. We want to engage with ourselves with the highest degree of freedom and comfort, not to continue to question our identity in a life-threatening white patriarchal masculinity ideal. Honoring oneself from the lenses of the Reconstruction era of the United States is essential. Reconceptualizing this history explores the significance of emphasizing Reconstruction in my life as a black male to go through a process of self-discovery and …

Circulating Suburbia: Locating A Transnational Suburban Imagination In Post-War Periodicals, 1945-1970, Tyler Dick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this thesis I argue that a suburban cultural imagination developed transnationally during the post-war period (roughly 1945-1970) rather than as a cultural phenomenon largely associated with the 1950s United States. I situate the suburbs—in both their physical and cultural constructions—as my primary focus and discuss the suburb's influence on hegemonic culture by performing an in-depth comparison of the U.S. with another country with a long history of suburbanization—Australia. Given that the suburbs structure several social, cultural, economic, political, and historical vectors—which all in turn inform issues of gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality—I focus on how the suburbs inform …

’Make It More Fun’: Residence Life Employees’ Insights On Hosting And Advertising Outreach Programs For Undergraduate Students, Kristen S. Shuyler

Faculty Scholarship

What can library workers learn about student-centered programming and outreach from student employees who design, advertise, and lead programs for college students as part of their employment in a student housing or residence life department? This study draws on cognitive work analysis to understand how employees of the Office of Residence Life (ORL) at a public research university host outreach programs for students. Fourteen interviews were conducted and analyzed to ascertain the definition and purpose of RA-led programming, challenges in this work, and strategies for overcoming challenges. Findings indicate that as these student employees do their programming work, they build …

Self-Sexualization In Relation To Sexual Harassment And Body Shame, Dooyoung Choi, Ju-Young M. Kang, Jieun Kim, Ha Kyung Lee

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While many researchers examined several harmful consequences of the imposed or forced sexualization of women, still little is known about voluntary self-sexualization and its potential effects on women who engage in the practice. Although the idea that self-sexualization is self-fulfilling remains contentious, women who self-sexualize are naturally expected to receive sexualized attention, including unwanted attention. This study starts with the question of whether self-sexualizing women, including those who use self-sexualization as a source of power, experience sexual objectification, measured by nonphysical sexual harassment, and its negative consequence, measured by body shame. Furthermore, we investigate how age moderates the relationship. An …

An Unspoken Story Of Education: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Racism In Education, Elisa A. Perez-Garcia

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Privilege is when one voice is the norm, but some children’s voices are underheard within research. Extensive research has demonstrated that Hispanic face multiple barriers within the education system. This study examines how whiteness within the education system can impact a Hispanic student’s perspective of the world. An autoethnographic approach is used to analyze five stories. A grounded theory approach identified emergent themes from the stories shared. The four themes that emerged among the stories were intersectionality, privilege, social construct, and microaggression. It demonstrated minority students’ experiences and interactions could profoundly affect how they view their identity. There are measures …

Covid-19 News Frames In Sports Headlines In England: A Content Analysis, Yazeed Aljasser

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

This study examined the nature of sports reporting of COVID19 in England by employing framing analysis on a sample of five newspapers. Through a quantitative content analysis, this study revealed how sports news coverage framed the COVID19 virus in these newspapers: The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail, and the Sun. The findings revealed that Competition and Players and Staff frames were the Major frames in the headlines media news organizations reported on COVID19. Implications and future research needs are discussed.

When Doubt Comes In: Framing Of Sexual Trauma Experiences In R/Sexualassault, Alison Kubala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

At age 23 I began acknowledging and healing from my experiences with sexual trauma. Although my trauma occurred from ages twelve to eighteen, my doubt and preconceived notions about what abuse was kept me from believing that I deserved help. Due to an incessant belief that abuse looked one particular way, I found ways to minimize and frame my experiences as "not abuse". Fueled by encouragement from my therapist and my interest in Communication research, I began to wonder how others who experience shame and doubt surrounding sexual abuse frame their experiences. To better understand, I conducted a critical discourse …

Difficult Dialogues: Toward Building Community Through Conversation, Jessica Rhyne, David Marlow

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

This paper examines the construct of community: its nature, ontological significance, and role in society, as well as determining factors in community fragmentation and the role constructive dialogues can play in community building. With this knowledge, a campus conversation was orchestrated to explore students’ perceptions of our community and wicked problems confronting our world.

Students were asked the ways in which they engage with their communities, what barriers they identify as inhibiting community cohesion, and potential paths for progress. Challenges with orchestration as well as student responses are discussed.

This paper concludes that, among this demographic, there is very little …

A Grounded Approach To Integral Art Therapy: Initial Reflections On Art Materials, Natalia Gómez-Carlier

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Art therapy has the power to bring healing and wholeness as it expands globally, an awareness of the integral structure of consciousness can benefit an adaptation of this profession that is both integrative and respectful of multiple perspectives and cultural views. The art-making process in art therapy can ground experience, and art materials can serve as vehicles through which different structures on consciousness are elicited, experienced, documented, and integrated. Integral art therapy can study the use of art materials to activate an integral structure of consciousness. Integrality is defined by its ability to play simultaneously from all structures of …

Aesthetic Altruism: Consciousness Of Street Artists, Melanie Cheng

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In the past few decades, many street artists have gained international recognition and now straddle the worlds of actual street art – art in the streets, art in the public domain – and fine art – art that is perceived to be of a particular quality, shown in galleries or museums. Despite perhaps “transcending” the streets, most successful street artists choose to continue creating artwork in public spaces, both legally with permission, or illegally without. Street art is different from public art, which is categorically created through a public process; while some street art, if not created aesthetically or …

The Writing’S On The Wall: Using Multimedia Presentation Principles From The Museum World To Improve Law School Pedagogy, Cecilia A. Silver

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Law school pedagogy is a relic. Nearly 150 years after Christopher Langdell pioneered the case method, the typical doctrinal course remains predominantly a verbal domain, featuring lectures, Socratic dialogue, and final exams. But the visual disconnect between legal education and legal practice does students a disservice. Under the proliferating influence of laptops, iPads, smartphones, and Zoom, students now read, work, and study electronically more than they ever have before. So instead of business as usual, it’s time to embrace “visualization”—using multimedia to enhance, or even supplant, the near-exclusive reliance on language—to build a more vibrant and inclusive learning environment.

Law …

Accustomly Intermarried: Racial/National Intermarriages And Their Negotiation Of Family Celebrations, Jori Adrianna Nkwenti

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Previous quantitative works gives a decent account for the predictors of racial/national intermarriages, and qualitative research finds that intercultural couples negotiate their racial, national, religious, class, and cultural differences within the context of their intimate relationships and the broader stigma of the social world. However, no scholars, to my knowledge, have looked intently at this intersection of interracial and international intermarriages. Related, scholars have not dissected how these couples negotiate their family celebrations-despite research showing the importance of celebrations to family well-being. Through autoethnographic reflexivity, and in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 4 individuals married to a spouse of …

An Examination Of Trust In News Mediums By College Students: A Comparison Of Egypt And The Usa, Karim Soliman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polls have shown a decline in trust in the USA when it comes to trust in Media. This study looks at if trust in news mediums really does matter. The study also compares a sample from USA to Egypt. The study finds that American college students have more trust in traditional news media but use it less than newer forms such as social media. The Egyptian sample has high trust in social media and low trust in traditional news media that are normally under the influence of the Egyptian government. The frame works used are the uses and gratification theory, …

The Disappearance Of The Anti-Aesthetic; The Death Of Fashion, Scrap Evans

Capstone Showcase

In this essay, Scrap explores the connection between famous nihilist and postmodernist theorists, Dadaism, the concept of the anti-aesthetic, and today's high fashion. They provide a history of nihilism and follow its influence through time upon other social, political, and artistic movements. They then make direct connections between famous theorists' prose and famous fashion designers' collections. Finally, they analyze the current state of the fashion world and discuss their plan of action.

The Program To Reduce Implicit Bias In Carroll Hospital Center Using The Implicit Association Test, Katherine E. Traynor

Capstone Showcase

Natural brain processes make all individuals susceptible to unconscious bias; however, stressful, fearful, or anger-evoking situations as well as the negative influence of media and social surroundings increase the risk of holding obstructive bias, and there is a greater risk of being negatively impacted by this phenomenon when belonging to a minority population (Rose & Flores, 2020). As a result, high rates of infant mortality (10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births for the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 4.1 in the White population) and cardiovascular related diseases (190.0 cases per 1,000 in the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 161.3 in …

Religious Violence And Twitter: Networks Of Knowledge, Empathy And Fascination, Samah Senbel, Carly Seigel, Emily Bryan

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

Twitter analysis through data mining, text analysis, and visualization, coupled with the application of actor-network-theory, reveals a coalition of heterogenous religious affiliations around grief and fascination. While religious violence has always existed, the prevalence of social media has led to an increase in the magnitude of discussions around the topic. This paper examines the different reactions on Twitter to violence targeting three religious communities: the 2015 Charleston Church shooting, the 2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, and the 2019 Christchurch Mosque shootings. The attacks were all perpetrated by white nationalists with firearms. By analyzing large Twitter datasets in response to the attacks, …

Cultural Materialism Theory & The Kardashian Family, Jaylin Redman

Capstone Showcase

Raymond Williams popularized cultural materialism theory and used it to help understand cultural texts and their contribution to society. This theory is used to understand societal interactions and cultural shifts. This includes areas of society such as economics and politics. We focus on the Kardashian family as a cultural product used to influence society, using cultural materialism theory to understand them.