Digital Commons Network^™

Communication Of Social Support In Computer-Mediated Groups For People With Disabilities, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Vincent R. Waldron, Jerry Finn

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study documented the types and extent of social support messages exchanged by persons with disabilities who participated in a computer-based support group. A modified version of Cutrona and Suhr’s (1992) social support category system was used to code 1,472 support messages. The largest percentage of these messages offered emotional and informational support, whereas network support and tangible assistance were least frequently offered. It appeared that many of the support messages directly redressed limitations and challenges associated with disability-related mobility, socialization, and self-care. Results are discussed in terms of the generalizability of existing category systems for coding support to this …

Journal Of Pedagogy, Pluralism And Practice, Volume 1 (4), Fall 1999 (Full Issue), Journal Staff

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

The theme of this issue is deconstructing the concept of human rights, legal elements of bilingual education, and the relationship between language development and education

What Is Critical Literacy?, Ira Shor

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

We are what we say and do. The way we speak and are spoken to help shape us into the people we become. Through words and other actions, we build ourselves in a world that is building us. That world addresses us to produce the different identities we carry forward in life: men are addressed differently than are women, people of color differently than whites, elite students differently than those from working families. Yet, though language is fateful in teaching us what kind of people to become and what kind of society to make, discourse is not destiny. We can …

Millennial Rhetoric At The Turn Of The Millennium, John Robert Stanley

Masters Theses

Millennial rhetoric has predominately had an apocalyptic theme in the past; however, the current rhetoric about the millennium can be seen as more positive, optimistic, and enthusiastic. By treating the texts Deep Impact and Armageddon, various news sources, and five web sites as part of what Becker (1971) defines as a "mosaic," it was found that the current view of the millennium presents various tensions present in our current society. These tensions include unity versus individualism, technological advancement versus technological limitations, and optimism versus angst. The analysis suggests that unity is preferred over individualism to overcome current obstacles at …

Comparative Strategies Of Environmental Awareness Campaigns In Egypt, Rawia Abbas El Dabi

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Rituals In The Management Of The Dialectical Tension Of “Old” And “New” In Blended Families, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leslie A. Baxter, Anneliese M. Harper

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In this study we examined how members of step- or blended families interact and develop their families by examining their successful and unsuccessful ritual enactments. Blended families provide a fertile context in which to study ritual adaptiveness and the possible relationship between successful enactment of rituals and their adaptability. Data were in-depth interviews with 53 members of blended families concerning their successful and unsuccessful ritual enactments. A qualitative/interpretive analysis indicated that blended families face an ongoing dialectical opposition between the “old family” and the “new family.” Blended family rituals are important communicative practices that enable blended family members to embrace …

Everyday Relating Or “The Grout Around The Tile”: Studying The Ordinary Aspects Of Personal Relationships, Dawn Braithwaite, Kathryn Dindia, Valerian Derlega, Mark Fine, Mark Leary, Rowland Miller, Julie Yingling

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In answering the call to explore everyday aspects of personal relationships, we planned a thematic symposium for the 1997 INPR [International Network on Personal Relationships] conference in Oxford, Ohio, titled, “‘Everyday Relating’: Studying the Ordinary Aspects of Personal Relationships.” We brought leading scholars together to facilitate discussion groups to explore how this diverse group would respond to the call to focus research attention on everyday relating. We asked the participants to consider: “How should we approach and study everyday relating in personal relationships?” We gathered panelists representing diverse disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and research methods. Panelists shared their perspectives and led …

'About Talk': The Category Of Talk-Reflexive Words, Corey Anton

Peer Reviewed Articles

The present exploration examines the everyday capability to talk about talk by considering mainly the use of a particular word-type, what I shall be calling 'about talk' words. As an important note, the reader of this text should observe that almost all the sentences within this paper (except for quotations) embody 'about talk'. But, rather than continue to distract the reader by underlining every instance, I shall highlight (i.e., underline) only within the first two paragraphs of this essay all of these definite references to the verbal order. As for the other sentences, paragraphs, and pages, the reader is strongly …

Institutional Language Of Control: Race, Class, And Gender Issues, Harry Morgan

Trotter Review

Controlling discourse is a common practice among colleges and universities, public and private schools, political parties, libraries, departments of government, and funding institutions, just to name a few. The control of discourse is essential for maintaining their power, status, and influence. The goals and missions of these institutions are shaped through conversations between individuals at various levels of power, status, and influence. The ongoing behavior of these institutions — as dictated primarily by those in positions of power, status, and influence — is reflected in discourse among and between themselves, and their counterparts in other institutions.

The Making Of An Aids Quilt Panel: A Burkean Pentadic Analysis, Stephanie J. Poole

Masters Theses

Chapter I briefly discusses the development the AIDS Quilt, demonstrates the importance of the AIDS Quilt as a form of communication, provides an overview of the major academic works on the AIDS Quilt, and describes the methodology to be employed in this study. Chapter II discusses the history of quilting as a form of social culture and the history of the quilt as a form of activism. This study found that the use of the Burkean Pentad also requires a review of the major kinds of studies that historically and currently define the use of this framework within academic circles. …

Envisioning A Capstone Course In Communication: The View From A Departmental Armchair, William J. Seiler

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

For many departments, the need to develop an assessment package has been the driving force in the consideration of adding a capstone course to their communication curricula. But there are other reasons to justify the creation of such a course. In general, the capstone course has been described by some as a course in which students are required to integrate diverse bodies of knowledge to solve a problem or formulate a policy of societal importance. The dictionary describes a capstone as the “final or crowning part.” That may be a bit presumptuous, but it illustrates the notion of what most …

Journal Of Pedagogy, Pluralism And Practice, Volume I (3), Fall 1998 (Full Issue), Journal Staff

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

No abstract provided.

Managerial Emotionality In Chinese Factories, Kathleen J. Krone, Ling Chen, Diane Kay Sloan, Llinda M. Gallant

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Managerial emotion may be experienced and handled differently when reason and emotion are understood to be continuously (e.g., Eastern cultures) rather than dichotomously (e.g., Western cultures) related. Using a social constructionist perspective, this study investigated emotionality among directors from 48 different factories in the People’s Republic of China. Social, moral, and material/economic situations were identified as sources of pleasant and unpleasant managerial emotional experience. Thought-feeling continuities were identified in how the managers described their emotional experiences. Both pleasant and unpleasant emotions were experienced very intensely and were managed in ways that both conformed to and departed from cultural ideals. Managerial …

Approaches To Managerial Influence In The People’S Republic Of China, Kathleen J. Krone, Ling Chen, Hongwei Xia

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study identifies approaches to managerial influence in the People’s Republic of China and examines the reflection of cultural themes in these approaches. Forty-eight factory directors from state-owned enterprises completed a survey in which they reported what they would say to workers in obligatory and nonobligatory work situations. Descriptive coding was used to develop message category systems for each situation. A more interpretive form of analysis was used to identify how the cultural themes of values, political ideology, and changing managerial roles were reflected in the influence approaches reported. The interrelated cultural values of group-centeredness, hierarchy, and face concern were …

Conjuring Post-Worthlessness: Contemporary Web Art And The Postmodern Context: Part 1, Brett Stalbaum

SWITCH

This article is part one of two of an analysis of the Jean Baudrillard's essay, "A Conjuration of Imbeciles". This essay compares the idea of art as a metaphor for French politics and the “uselessness” of contemporary art. A sense of postmodernism is drawn from that comparison and relates to contemporary art shared on the World Wide Web. Inevitable messages and meaning found in art will change, but economics and distribution continues to ground the economy on a global scale. Therefore, contemporary art represented on the web actively dates the practice of art, and the value of the practice is …

Consumption Of Over-The-Counter Drugs And Attitudes Towards Over-The-Counter Drug Advertising: A Comparison Between The United States And Hong Kong, Kara K. Chan, Louisa Ha

School of Media and Communication Faculty Publications

A survey of 547 adults from the United States and Hong Kong was conducted to compare their perceptions about functions and consequences of OTC drug advertising and medical decisions when encountering health problems. Results indicate that American and Hong Kong consumers were very similar in their overall perception of functions and consequences of OTC drugs. A large majority of American consumers relied heavily on OTC drugs for all five types of selected health problems in this study. In contrast, Hong Kong consumers took OTC drugs only for specific illness.

Computer-Mediated Communication As The Paradigm: Resistance To Technology And The New Style Of Human Communication, Kaori Konta

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

“Here?” Strategies For Teaching About Cultural Diversity In Non-Diverse Settings, Anneliese Harper, Carol Cumber, Charles Braithwaite, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

How can educators motivate people in ethnically non-diverse areas to learn about multiculturalism? The roadblocks people may encounter in this process are explored and ways instructors may address multiculturalism in the classroom are presented.

Implications Of A Feminist Narratology: Temporality, Focalization And Voice In The Films Of Julie Dash, Mona Smith And Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Jennifer Alyce Machiorlatti

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation conducts feminist narrative textual analysis of films by three independent women film-makers-of- color: Julie Dash, Mona Smith and Trinh T. Minh-ha. The research utilizes traditional cinematic narratological methods combined with a feminist perspective. Narratology is the structural/textual study of narrative organization, style and content. Feminism is a theoretical body of inquiry which lends implications of gender difference, power relationships, cinematic stereotypes, and cultural significance to textual analysis. Feminist inquiry contributes a social, cultural, ideological and historical perspective to the taxomony of a structuralist narrative methodology. By combining this contextual perspective with a topological textual method, I propose consideration …

A Critical Theory Research Project: A Program Evaluation Of The Blueprint For Volunteer Diversity Project, Vassar Jean Vessup

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

A Binding Tie: Supportive Communication Of Family Kinkeepers, Margaret S. Leach, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Families are an important source of social support, and little scholarship exists regarding how family members stay in touch and provide support for one another. Kinkeepers are said to provide support and keep family members informed about one another, yet there has been little research on who family kinkeepers are and how they communicate and enact this role. Two studies were undertaken. The first study used surveys to provide demographic data on kinkeepers and to ascertain information on their activities. The second study used diaries and interviews to document the activities of a set of kinkeepers and to describe outcomes …

香港流行文化與流行歌詞縱橫談, Minghui Liao

Dissertations from all years

本地文化與流行歌詞的關係

文化，就是指人類慣有的生活模式。它會因時代、地域、歷史、民族性等差異而有所不同。香港開埠已歷百餘載，但真正建立屬於"香港人"的文化，還只是近數十年的事。舊日歷史遺留的問題，令香港被視為無根的土地：加上其特殊的地理位置，香港自然成為東西方不同文化的交流點。香港的本土文化，就在強大的外來文化壓力下建立起來。

流行歌曲是流行文化的一個組成部分，亦能反映出時代變化。所謂 "流行" 是指一段時期內，大部分人熱衷於某種生活模式；時間一久，人們又轉而追求新一種生活模式。這種潮來潮去、乘時盛衰的表現，正是通俗文化發展的特點。值得注意的是，香港的流行歌詞或多或少沾有商業味道，而香港流行歌曲之所以發展蓬勃，亦有賴於 "經濟掛帥"；故此，仔細研究本地的流行歌詞，就像把弄著鏡子，不難照出香港獨特文化的真面目。

例如七十年代中期，香港經濟起飛，"大香港文化" 一時成為主流，許冠傑的通俗淺白的粵語歌曲大行其道；八九年六四前後，香港洋溢著一片愛國氣氛，遂於當時湧現了一批支持學運的歌曲。

由此可見，本地文化與流行歌詞的關係相當密切，歌詞反映的是六百萬香港人多年來的眾生相。本文以近三十年來粵語流行歌詞的演變作藍本，逐一細析香港這一時代的歌詞，並兼論三位具代表性的填詞人，探索他們的詞風在潮流漲退之下，如何產生變化。

穩定與不定 : 李碧華三部小說中的文化認同與性別意識 Certainty And Uncertainty: Cultural Identification And Gender Consciousness In Three Novels By Li Bihua, Siu Leung Li

Volume 4

No abstract provided.

The Nebraska Department Of Communication Studies Story: There Are Happy Endings That Go Beyond Football And A Good Crop Year, William J. Seiler

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The following essay discusses the proposed targeting of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Communication Studies for total elimination. The essay describes the department’s demographics, the university’s budget crisis, and the department’s status at its time of peril. The essay reveals how the department learned of the proposal to eliminate it, how the department reacted to the proposed cut, how the administration established an appeals process to the proposed cuts, what explanation and criteria were used to target the department, how the department responded to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affair’s (VCAA) criteria for targeting the department, how the VCAA …

Popular Religious Radio Programs (A Content Analysis), Anthony Brian Corea

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Anthony Brian Corea in July of 1995.

“I Do” Again: The Relational Dialectics Of Renewing Marriage Vows, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leslie A. Baxter

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study provides descriptive insight into the dialectical themes of one public relationship ritual in modern US society, the renewal of marital vows between spouses. Interpretive analyses of in-depth interview data revealed that this ritual allows spouses to manage three underlying dialectical contradictions: private-public, stability-change, and conventionality-uniqueness.

The Nature And Authority Of Scripture : Historical Sources And Theological Engagement For Congregational Awareness And Reflection, Carson Reed

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

For many Christians, biblical authority is rooted in the concept of inerrancy or in the historical veracity. But within a increasingly post-modern culture, the church faces a crisis in both of these foundations. The modern presuppositions that undergird the inerrancy doctrine and the historical-critical method are showing distinct cracks in the once seamless confidence placed in both approaches. Additionally, for Churches of Christ, understandings about the nature and authority of Scripture area just below the surface of a number of issues confronting congregations. This project/thesis seeks to address this growing dilemma within the context of the Westlake Church of Christ …

Postmodernism And Anthropology, Elisabeth R. Gaines

Nebraska Anthropologist

Postmodem anthropology questions the authority of the objective participant observer, yet eludes a precise definition. Many different experimental approaches comprise the postmodern stand, and represents a diversion from interpretive anthropology. Deconstructionists peel away the layers of subjectivity from written text derived from observation. The movement presently resides in a whirlwind of conflicting opinions conceming the postmodem style of ethnography. One of these styles, inclusive of anything and everything, conveys a chaotic message, but lacks a truly holistic quality. Some postmodem critics believe the key to fundamental meaning lies in a historical perspective where the subtleties of interpretation and writing are …

A Qualitative Study Of Interpretive Communities Among Lds Women, Oleah Clegg

Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown that a number of researchers have turned to the concept of the interpretive community to explain how audiences interpret the media within the context of their everyday experiences (Biocca, 1989; Gunter, 1989; Lindlof, 1989, 1992; Radway, 1984; Schrøder, 1994). D. A. Stout (1993) conducted a study that discovered three interpretive communities among LDS women who watch television, establishing that interpretive communities do exist among religious media audiences.

In 1994, K. Schrøder showed that the interpretive community can be further understood by taking a "social semiotic" approach to analyzing interpretive community members' social interaction with other communities. …

A Study Of The Rhetoric Of Rachel Carson's Spoken Messages, Kellie Dean Crump

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Communication by Kellie Dean Crump on December 8, 1994