Digital Commons Network^™

Becoming A Functioning Member Of The Collegiate Culture: How Cellphone Communication Affects First-Year College Students' Self And Identity In College Transition., Arata Miyazaki

Wayne State University Dissertations

This longitudinal ethnographically-oriented study explores the meanings of cellphones and cellphone communication of first-year college students during their college transition and how such newly populated human communicative conducts affect their sense of self and identity during this life period. The findings from this study suggest that participants' perceptions about appropriate cellphone communication are closely tied with a growing sense of emerging adulthood that college students develop in conjunction with their college transition. Cellphone communication creates social situations where participants engage in identity exploration and strategic impression management by switching their social roles in order to properly present their self as …

Toward An Applied Communication Relational Inqueery: Autoethnography, Co-Constructed Narrative, And Relational Futures, Derek M. Bolen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Born out of my personal relationships with others and the field of communication, particularly as it overlaps and intersects with the field of personal relationship research, this project begins with an exploration of research practices personal relationship inquiry, offers a queer critique on research and relating, and forwards a queer applied communication approach--relational inqueery. This dissertation was directed by three goals: (a) creating a space and terrain for queer relationships in the study of personal relationships and relational communication, (b) founding and beginning to further a field of relational inqueery, and (c) offering an applied communication approach within queer relational …

Talking Circles For Adolescent Girls In An Urban High School: A Restorative Practices Program For Building Friendships And Developing Emotional Literacy Skills, Martha Ann Schumacher

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TALKING CIRCLES FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS

IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL: A RESTORATIVE PRACTCES' PROGRAM FOR BUILDING FRIENDHIPS AND DEVELOPING

EMOTIONAL LITERACY SKILLS

by

MARTHA ANN SCHUMACHER

DECEMBER 2012

ADVISOR: Dr. Loraleigh Keashly

MAJOR: Communication

DEGREE: Doctor of Philosophy

Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice programs in schools are a new and emerging field. Meeting in Circles to build community, resolve conflict, and learn interactively are core components of these programs. This ethnographic study, which took place February 2010 to December 2011, evaluates 12 small, out-of-classroom Talking Circles for 60 adolescent girls as part of a Restorative Practices program in an …

"Don't Drop The Soap": Organizing Sexualities In The Repeal Of The Us Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy, Craig Rich, Julie Kalil Schutten, Richard A. Rogers

Communication Studies Faculty Works

Guided by critical, feminist, and queer approaches to organizational communication, this paper critically analyzes the United States military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy and the Department of Defense's (2010) report recommending DADT's repeal. Rather than fostering genuine integration, the repeal report reproduces the conditions that marginalize queer soldiers under DADT, relegating gays and lesbians to the hyper-private (closet) while constructing an asexual veneer for the military organization. Such closeting remains necessary due to the threat that "openly" gay men pose to the image of the soldier as an impenetrable predator. Finally, the recommendation to deny sexual orientation the status …

Improving Communication Skills Among Nursing Students: Assessing The Comfort Curriculum As An Intervention, Rachel Steckler

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Effective communication is just one of the many skill sets nursing students must master to be effective in their field. A nurse’s role goes far beyond that of medical care. In addition, Today’s nurses should be equipped with a working knowledge of medical management, communication skills, ethical/legal issues, end-of-life care, and team collaboration, among others (e.g., Ferrell, Dahlin, Campbell, Paice, Malloy, & Virani, 2007).Wittenberg-Lyles, Goldsmith, Sanchez-Reilly, and Ragan (2010) contend nurses need to have specialized training protocols focused on developing effective communication skills . The current study employed one such protocol, the COMFORT curriculum, as a tool to teach nursing …

Genesis In Hyperreality: Legitimizing Disingenuous Controversy At The Creation Museum, Casey Ryan Kelly, Kristen E. Hoerl

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay analyzes the argumentative structure of the “Answers in Genesis” ministry’s Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Founded by a $27 million grant, the 70,000-square-foot museum appropriates the stylistic and authoritative signifiers of natural history museums, complete with technically proficient hyperreal displays and modern curatorial techniques. In this essay, we argue that the museum provides a culturally authoritative space in which Young Earth Creationists can visually craft the appearance that there is an ongoing scientific controversy over matters long settled in the scientific community (evolution), or what scholars call a disingenuous or manufactured controversy. We analyze the displays and layout …

Public Speaking: Breaking Down Barrier And Building Confidence, Cameron Scott Knauerhaze

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This paper is a consulting project for prospective public speakers. This project is intended to help break down barriers and build confidence of students when faced with public speaking situations. The project is designed for adult students. Students will be introduced to public speaking from a historical perspective with the hope they will build a foundation for accepting the remaining course material. The theory of Communication Apprehension (CA) is identified and discussed throughout the paper. As students start to recognize what barriers they possess in public speaking, they will learn simple methods in how to create and deliver a speech. …

Teleconferencing In Large Corporations, Thomas E. Howard

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Technology based communication tools in business represent an area that has been intensely researched. Of all the available tools, teleconferencing remains the most widely and frequently used in business communication. This case study explores whether teleconferencing is a useful communication tool for leadership to express objectives to the organization’s members. Philosophical assumptions in this paper are based on Aristotle’s components of rhetoric: ethos, pathos, and logos. Media Naturalness (Kock, 2004) and Social Presence Theory (Short & Williams, 1976) provide the theoretical basis for this paper. The study is based on qualitative data gathering and analysis surrounding the 3rd Quarter Organization-wide …

Computer-Mediated Communication And Educational Games, Stacy Lee Keller

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The continuous development of technology has made Computer-mediated communication the normal means of communication in many organizations. Many educators are beginning to use resources designed to prepare their students for the global world of computer-mediated communication. Even though computer-mediated communication is different from face-to-face, it does not necessarily inhibit collaboration. This study examined the success of a non-collocated team playing MoonWorld using only computer-mediated communication versus the success of a team that was collocated and able to use face-to-face communication. The data showed that there were differences in the collaboration between the two teams, but that both teams were successful …

Authentic Blackness And The Portrayals Of African Americans In Prime Time Television Commercials, Dari L. Rogers

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Though each African American person holds unique experiences, beliefs and preferences that are molded by his or her background, education, gender, sexual orientation and religion, he or she is often defined by superficial characteristics, such as how a person behaves, speaks and dresses, that determine his or her degree of authentic blackness. This thesis explores authentic blackness within the African American community and how television commercials help define what is considered authentically black. Based on the Social Cognitive Theory, Hall’s Theory of Encoding and Decoding, the Cultivation Theory and the Social Construction of Reality Theory, this thesis explores how African …

President Barack Obama's Speech In Cairo: A Metaphor Analysis, George Ebimobowei Oti

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the metaphors embedded in President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo, delivered on June 4, 2009. Mr.Obama delivered his speech at a time when the dissonance between the Muslim world and the West expanded. The rhetor’s motive was to arrest the increasingly compounded atmosphere of rapprochements between the two worlds. The study employed two philosophical foundations, Burkean identification- consubstantiation and Buber’s I-thou personality theory. The two philosophies promote the notion of humankind’s sharing of a bond. The study categorizes the deployment of metaphors into archetypal and transcendent metaphors; the results show that both types of metaphors serve a …

The Prettiest President I Ever Saw: Cold War Film Portrayals Of Women Political And Military Leaders, Michael Flannery Hatchett

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This thesis offers generic criticism of the portrayal of women political and military leaders in Cold War films. The study uses textual analysis of several films to judge certain factors, including ethical, philosophical, and aesthetic concerns. The films examined in this thesis are: Project Moonbase, The Manchurian Candidate, Kisses for My President, and By Dawn’s Early Light. This thesis traces the evolution of attitudes about women leaders, identifies qualities that are shown to be important to leaders during the Cold War, and examines the ways in which these leaders manage to defy stereotypes in each of their films. It also …

The Cat Is Back: Analyzing Newspaper Coverage Of Mountain Lions In The Midwest, Chloe Euston

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Reassessing The Cultural Distance Between China And The United States As Perceived By Students From The Sino-American 1+2+1 Dual Degree Program, Cynthia Letts

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"As a result of the exponential growth of international commerce and academic exchange between Mainland China and the United States, this thesis examines the present-day validity of those Chinese and American cultural characteristics, such as practices and values, historically understood as defining cultural differences. Using Babiker's Cultural Distance Index (Babiker, Cox, & Miller, 1980) questionnaire (an institutionally established instrument since 1980), 45 Mainland Chinese student-sojourners conveyed their perceptions of cultural differences found in daily living. Chinese participants identified many cultural attributes that still affect the migrant's perceptions of difference. These attributes are language, food, education costs, and leisure activities. Participants …

An Evolving Dyke-Otomy: Lesbianism And Learning, Megan Pugh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homophobia and prejudice against the lesbian community have been argued to be consequences of lack of education within academic and non-academic spaces. This study introduces a pedagogical model of gendered lesbian identity that can act as a tool for educators to understand lesbian experiences, and thus contribute to addressing issues related to homophobia and prejudices in the classrooms and beyond. Based on thematic analysis of data generated by a qualitative online survey of 29 participants, this study argues that notions of social norms, individual agency, and importance of advocacy are critical points of emphases in the proposed educational model. Although …

Community As Metaphor: Dialectical Tensions Of A Racially Diverse Organization, Joseph Jacob Jenkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, a sense of community has declined throughout the United States. Common Point Community Church has responded to this trend by prioritizing "community" as an organizational metaphor. The present study explores how this metaphor is co-constructed through the communication practices of current organizational leaders and members. I begin this process, first, by positioning the study within existing literature on institutional theory, institutional legitimacy, community, community of practice, social construction of race, sensemaking, organizational metaphor, tension-centered approach, and dialectic theory. Building upon more than three years of ethnographic field work, I then outline the study's context and methodology. Next, …

Masculinity, Sexuality, And Soccer: An Exploration Of Three Grassroots Sport-For-Social-Change Organizations In South Africa, Sarah Theresa Mcghee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Programs that utilize soccer as a tool for social change are steadily emerging throughout townships and rural areas in South Africa, the most economically disadvantaged areas of the country. In South Africa, grassroots sport-for-social-change organizations are compensating for failed government policies and programs that seek to help at-risk youth. As a result, program staff are often members of the community who are not versed in academic critiques of the use of sport in development initiatives. Additionally, much of the existing literature on sport-for-social-change champions the advancement of specific projects without asking critical research questions, which should include the appropriateness of …

Improvisational Music Performance: On-Stage Communication Of Power Relationships, David A. Steinweg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project explores how musical improvisational processes come into being through interacting discursive power relationships that are embodied and enacted through performance. By utilizing the concepts of framing and performativity I am able to show how discursive power constitutes the performance of improvisational music. To exemplify this theory, the project presents a case study examining a Grateful Dead cover band named Uncle John's Band that performs at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa, FL. Using an ethnographic methodology, the project articulates the dominant discursive power relationships that constitute Uncle John's Band's improvisational performances. The dominant discursive power relationships revolve around the lived …

Nature Is Ordinary Too: Raymond Williams As The Founder Of Ecocultural Studies, Rodney Giblett

Research outputs 2012

In a recent article in Cultural Studies, Jennifer Daryl Slack called for the jettisoning of ecocultural studies as an add-on to Cultural Studies and the revitalizing of Cultural Studies with the eco as integral to it. One way I propose of doing so in this article is to revalue and re-establish the beginnings of Cultural Studies, and of ecocultural studies, in the work of Raymond Williams in which both were integral to the other. I call Williams both a founder of Cultural Studies and the founder of ecocriticism and ecocultural studies, though of course he did not use these terms, …

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

How Men And Women Differ: Gender Differences In Communication Styles, Influence Tactics, And Leadership Styles, Karima Merchant

CMC Senior Theses

This paper lays the historical background for why women and leadership is an important topic today in order to discuss gender differences in communication styles, influence tactics, and leadership styles. This paper also outlines barriers women face when trying to attain and succeed in leadership positions. The analysis should provide a greater understanding of how men and women differ, especially in leadership and management positions, and what companies can do to help women overcome gender bias and discrimination in the workplace.

Landscape In Irish And Iberian Galician Poetry By Women Authors, Manuela Palacios González

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Landscape in Irish and Iberian Galician Poetry by Women Authors" Manuela Palacios González reflects on the similarities between Irish and Galician women poets with regard to their treatment of landscape. Although Ireland and Galicia have been construed as green, fertile Arcadias, contemporary Irish and Galician women poets have engaged in a radical revision of this anachronistic stereotype. Women poets of these two communities suggest in their works that there is more than a chronological coincidence between a growing ecological awareness and the increased presence of women writers in the last thirty years. Both ecocriticism and ecofeminist literary …

Male And Female Differences In Communicating Conflict, Jessica Cinardo

Honors Theses

Research suggests that males and females communicate using different styles of interaction. Men and women are biologically different, but evidence also demonstrates a social difference. The patterns displayed in cross- sex communication often reveal how men and women interact interpersonally. In conflict situations the contrasting behaviors between the sexes become more evident. This is a collection of research defining and explaining the differences which exist between males and females and how those differences develop within communication. Conflict is a prevalent element of all relationships and the manner in which it is handled is crucial to the survival of those relationships. …

Lesson Not Learned: Deepwater Horizon Research And Media Coverage Exposes Gaps In Knowledge And Risky Protocol Within The Oil Industry, Lauren Haller

Honors Theses

An insatiable thirst for oil has led poorly coordinated, risk-prone megasystems deeper into the ocean in search of new oil reserves. Profit-driven agendas at the corporate level have a top-down effect within these megasystems. Cost-cutting and risk-downplaying leaves the field employees unprepared to handle emergencies. A series of costly mistakes led to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which caused extensive damage to an already fragile ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. The wealth and political influence of the oil industry overpowers lax regulatory agencies and legislation-even though media and research has exposed frustrating parallels between the Deepwater Horizon …

The Antelope, University Of Nebraska At Kearney

The Antelope

No abstract provided.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 87, No. 27, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Stephens, Brad. Willie Taggart’s $475,000 Deal Draws Praise, Criticism – Football
• Wade, Katherine. Blind Horses Find a Home on Karen Thurman’s Bowling Green Farm
• Wade, Katherine. WKU Seeks to Stop State Budget Cuts
• Anderson, Anna. Community Action of Southern Kentucky Helps Keep Locals Warm for the Winter
• Rutledge, Chris. M is for Movie Enthusiast – Stefan meadows
• Jenkins, Spencer. Sarai Aguazul Remembered for Her Faith, Friendship
• Kriz, Lindsey. WKU Finding New Ways to Interact with Students
• McKay, Michael. Old Bowling Green Junior High Converting Into Apartments
• Vogt, Darren. Editorial …

Spartan Daily December 8, 2011, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 137, Issue 53

The Cowl - V. 76 - N. 12 - Dec 8, 2011

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 76 - Number 12 - December 8, 2011. 40 pages.

Nor'easter News Volume 5 Issue 7, Nor'easter News Staff

Nor'easter News

The forty-sixth issue of the University of New England's student-run newspaper, Nor'easter News.

The Antelope, University Of Nebraska At Kearney

The Antelope

No abstract provided.