Digital Commons Network^™

Authenticity Assurance: Risk Aversiveness & Authenticity Signaling In Local Product Evaluation, Sidney B. Lasley

Scholars Week

Local products are commonly associated with attributes that contribute to perceptions of authenticity such as ethical values, simplicity, and community embeddedness. However, the characteristics often associated with local businesses, such as small scale, informality, and limited standardization, may be signals of uncertainty regarding quality, consistency, or reliability. As a result, perceptions of authenticity for local products may vary across consumers depending on their sensitivity to risk. Across two studies, we examine how risk aversiveness influences perceptions of authenticity and subsequent purchase intentions in a local product context. Study 1 uses survey data to show that authenticity mediates the relationship between …

Influence Of Violent Media On Adolescents, Alli Shattuck

Best Integrated Writing

This review article explores the relationship between violent media exposure and adolescent behavior. The research examines how repeated exposure to violent video games, movies, and social media may lead to aggressive behaviors. Symbolic Interactionism and Social Learning Theory are used to dissect the way adolescents engage with violent media. The neurological effects of this exposure are discussed alongside environmental influences such as parental supervision and social groups. Overall, the research establishes the complexities of media influence and suggests that violent media is one contributing factor to adolescent aggression rather than the sole cause.

Best Integrated Writing Fall 2026 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies, Kristie Mckiernan

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University.

Assessor Experiences In Cmmc Level 2 Certification Assessments: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Role Expectations, Samuel Heuchert, John Hastings

Research & Publications

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program requires that third-party assessments be conducted under a non-consultative model. The model is intended to ensure impartiality for organizations seeking certification. While this structure defines expectations for assessor behavior, assessor experiences and interpretations of these constraints remain underexamined. The study examines the lived experiences of CMMC-Certified Assessors and how they navigate role expectations within the non-consultative model. Using Role Conflict Theory as a guiding framework, the study applied Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to semi-structured interviews to explore how assessors make sense of their roles. The analysis identified experiential themes that describe how assessors construct …

Did Statewide School Smoking Bans Reduce Smoking Rates?, Rachana Bhatt, Peter Hinrichs

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Trauma-Informed And Collaborative Approach To Safe And Sustained Family Reunification, Alissa M. Cummins

Master of Arts in Human Services

Family reunification involves more than returning a child to the care of their biological family; it requires the sustained promotion of child safety, stability, and family well-being. This literature review examined how trauma-informed and collaborative approaches support safe, stable, and lasting reunification within the child welfare system. The review explored adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and developmental, psychological, family, and socioeconomic risk factors associated with child welfare involvement and permanency outcomes, as well as protective factors such as supportive relationships, caregiver well-being, resilience, and access to services and resources. Analysis of the literature identified three interconnected principles essential to successful reunification: …

Precarity And The Social Organization Of Affect In Public Libraries, Naomi E. Nichols Dr., Phil Canuel, Maggie Pearson, Kathrine Williams

Journal of Institutional Ethnography

Material and felt precarity are increasing in Ontario cities, impacted by housing and food unaffordability, an unpredictable drug supply, rising homelessness, and unmet social and health needs. The social relations of precarity play out in public spaces like libraries, changing how people’s work in, and experiences of, public space are organized. In this institutional ethnography (IE), we draw on 38 interviews with library staff and visitors to describe how shifts in the activities undertaken by library visitors (i.e., an increase in survival-related work) is co-ordered with, and re-shaping the work of library staff. Beginning with the standpoint of library staff, …

Framing Ground-Up Urban Transformation: The Need For Neighbourhood-Scale Statutory Planning Frameworks, Anjali Karol Mohan, Justin Andrews Jeganathan

Journal of Law and Public Policy

Urbanisation in the cities of the Global South is steered through high-level urban development plans and sector-specific policies, often premised on macro-scale processes and economic restructuring. Given the centralized and standardized approach, these plans and policies remain disconnected from the city-making processes that unfold incrementally at the sub-city or the neighbourhood scale through the everyday decisions of multiple stakeholders. The neighbourhood scale is significant as it allows for negotiation and participation, thus providing opportunities to exercise social, spatial, and economic agency. Yet this scale is often overlooked—at times completely missed—in macro plans and policies. Important questions thus remain on how …

Paradoxes Of Customary Land Formalization: A Comparative Study Of Papua New Guinea And Indonesia From A Political Anthropology Perspective, Adi Prasetijo

Antropologi Indonesia

This article studies the dynamics of customary land ownership in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where approximately 97 percent of land is collectively held by clans. Drawing on insights from political anthropology—particularly normative pluralism (Griffiths, 1986; von Benda-Beckmann, 2006), Polanyi's double movement (Filer, 2014), along with cosmological perspectives on land and identity (Weiner & Glaskin, 2007; Ingold, 2021), it analyzes how government efforts to formalize customary land through the Land Act 1996 and the Incorporated Land Groups (ILG) Act 2009 generate three principal paradoxes: (1) protection versus exclusion, (2) recognition versus commodification, and (3) negotiation versus rigidity. The study blends an …

Epic Heroism For The Ordinary: Tolkien’S Reworking Of Odyssean Heroism In The Hobbit, Jon Billsberry

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article explores The Hobbit as a narrative of two Odyssean homecomings: Thorin’s return to Erebor and Bilbo’s return to Bag End. Thorin undertakes the more direct nostos: as a displaced royal heir, he returns to recover his ancestral household, inheritance, authority, and public identity. Bilbo, by contrast, leaves a secure home and gradually acquires the cunning, adaptability, judgement, and independence that make Thorin’s return possible. Tolkien thus separates heroic position from heroic conduct. This separation produces conflict at Erebor, where Thorin’s defence of royal possession threatens violence and Bilbo uses the Arkenstone to challenge the king he helped …

Virtual Lunch And Learn: Journal Publishing On Digital Commons, Stefanie Lapka

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

No abstract provided.

What Do Teacher Applicant Pools Look Like In School Districts And Charter Schools?, Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, Constance A. Lindsay, Elton Mykerezi, Aaron Sojourner, Lauren Dachille

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

More Than ‘School-Based’: Unpacking Definitions Of Literacy In Local Nonprofit Work, Angela J. Stefanski, Peggy S. Rice, Veronica M. Fife-Demski

Mid-Western Educational Researcher

This participatory action research explores how non-profit literacy initiatives in a Midwestern city define literacy as they engage in an ongoing collective effort to ‘move the needle’ on local literacy outcomes. Data for this study includes interviews, marketing materials, and participatory fieldnotes focusing on the work of 20 local initiatives. Analysis of the data reflects both compliance and resistance to institutionalized literacy norms. Additionally, findings demonstrate that where literacy occurs shapes how initiative leaders define literacy, including the involvement of community members in the shaping of the initiatives. The discussion includes recommended resources for researchers and local non-profit organizations focusing …

“It Feels Like Your Life Hinges On Me”: Lived Experience Of Being Next Of Kin To Someone Who Self-Harms, Kenneth Haugjord, John-Kåre Vederhus, Tore Dag Bøe, Kristine Dahl

The Qualitative Report

Through previous research, attention has been drawn to the burden experienced by next of kin to someone struggling with self-harm, yet less attention has been given to how they experience and make sense of the relational and existential complexity of this role in their everyday lives. We asked how next of kin experienced and made sense of caring for a loved one who self-harmed. We conducted in-depth interviews with fourteen next of kin, including parents, partners, and siblings, and analyzed the data through reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretive qualitative framework. Our analysis generated an overarching theme, "It Feels Like …

Silence And Whispering In The L2 Pragmatics Classroom: Duoethnographic Insights From A Vietnamese Context, Duong Minh Tuan, Le Thi Diem Lan

The Qualitative Report

This article examined how silence and whispering shape participation in an L2 pragmatics course for English majors at a Vietnamese university. Using a duoethnographic approach, we, as lecturer–researchers and the sole participants in this study, engaged in written dialogic exchanges over a 12-week semester, drawing on salient classroom incidents and institutional texts as prompts. Our dialogues revisited scenes in which students were quiet or whispered in Vietnamese, and we interrogated our shifting interpretations of those moments in light of scholarship on silence, L2 pragmatics, and language policy. Four themes emerged. First, silence as calibrated participation showed how students strategically modulated …

Review Of The Book Blinders: Annals Of Vandalism At The British Library: A Necrology, By John Clute, Janet Brennan Croft

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Review of The Book Blinders: Annals of Vandalism at the British Library: A Necrology, by John Clute. The book discusses the British Library's policy of discarding dust-jackets, with examples of the sort of information lost when these important paratexts are destroyed.

Untold Mourning: The Epistemology Of Naming And Grieving The Loss Of Identities, Bao Diep, Verna Wong

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This paper explores the epistemology of mourning through the lens of two Asian American scholars pursuing doctoral degrees at a Midwestern university. We examine how racialization in Midwestern educational institutions reflects a broader historical and cultural distancing from Vietnamese immigrants and refugees, despite a shared geopolitical past. Employing critical collaborative autoethnography as both method and remedy, we engage in a dialogic process of uncovering and understanding our collective memories and lived experiences. This approach empowers us to confront hegemonic narratives and reclaim our identities as immigrant scholars navigating predominantly white academic spaces.

Emotional Rescue: Junior Women Academic’ Experiences On Emotional Labor And Academic Identity Work, M. Ikhwan Maulana Haeruddin, Sigal G. Barsade, Annisa Ciptagustia

The Qualitative Report

This study explores the emotional challenges and identity work processes experienced by junior women academics as they navigate the complexities of academia. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews, the research highlights how gender-based power imbalances, workplace culture, and pressure to meet high expectations shape their daily experiences. The rationale for this study is built on the growing body of research that has documented the unique challenges and barriers faced by women faculty, particularly at the early stages of their academic careers. Studies have consistently highlighted the emotional toll of managing professional identities, negotiating gendered expectations, and contending with systemic biases and exclusion …

Being A Padawan And Mastering The Force: A Dissertation Quest, Papia Bawa

The Qualitative Report

This study explores the experiences of one doctoral researcher and two doctoral peers navigating mentor-mentee relationships through a literary lens, employing autoethnographic methods to capture the nuanced dynamics of guidance, expectation, and emotional labor. Data were drawn from narratives found in reflective journals, personal memos, email exchanges, text messages and conversations with four faculty mentors and two doctoral peers accumulated through the doctoral journey.  The narratives were analyzed using thematic analysis. Using vignettes and incident reports, the research highlights key turning moments in the doctoral journey that shaped perceptions of mentorship, emphasizing both the cognitive and affective dimensions of academic …

Constructing An Inferior Identity: Special Educational Needs Students Under Inclusive Education In Hong Kong, Jesse W. C. Yip, Anna H. N. Ng

The Qualitative Report

Inclusive education has been in place for approximately three decades in Hong Kong, and previous research has predominantly focused on examining its effectiveness from the perspectives of teachers, policy makers, and healthcare professionals. However, there has been limited investigation into the personal experiences of students with special educational needs (SEN) who are integrated into mainstream schools. This study employing narrative inquiry explores the identity formation of eight SEN students throughout their 20-year learning journey within Hong Kong’s inclusive education system. The results revealed that the participants developed an identity of inferiority, which encompassed three key themes: experiencing school bullying, feeling …

Interpretative Repertoires Of Resilience Among Beginning Teachers In Chile, Paula Villalobos-Vergara, Diego Palacios, Joel Alvarez Ruf, Rodrigo Vergara Ortuzar

The Qualitative Report

In this study, we analyze how beginning teachers in Chile construct meanings around resilience during their first year of professional induction, within a context of intensified teachers’ work and limited institutional support. Drawing on a socioecological perspective and Critical Discursive Psychology, we developed a qualitative design focused on interpretative repertoires. Ten beginning teachers from various subject areas, educational levels, and regions participated, with each being interviewed at two time points, six months apart. Through an abductive analysis, we identified three affective–discursive repertoires. The first construct enters the profession as a generational tension, in which innovation is associated with youth, while, …

Calm, Connection, Or Just Compensation: A Qualitative Investigation Of Subjective Adolescent Experiences With Behavioral Health Interventions Within A Clinical Trial, Talia Thompson, Katherine Thompson, Sarah Perzow, Holly Spinner, Bentley Porterfield-Finn, Lauren D. Gulley, Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson, Isabel Thorstad, Laura Pyle, Molly Basch, Megan J. Moran, Marian Tanofsky-Kraff, Megan M. Kelsey, Eleanor R. Mackey, Lauren B. Shomaker

The Qualitative Report

Adolescent mental health and cardiometabolic concerns are at an all-time high, necessitating the development of acceptable, feasible, and effective interventions. Investigations of behavioral health interventions with teenagers must incorporate a means of understanding how adolescents perceive and engage with an intervention, and the relevance and meaning they ascribe to its therapeutic goals, as these potentially modifiable factors may ultimately influence future uptake, sustainability, and effectiveness of the interventions. Qualitative research methods provide well-established, rigorous frameworks for addressing these questions, but are underutilized in pediatric research. This qualitative study is part of a multisite, pilot, and feasibility randomized controlled trial of …

Asking Questions Of The Data: Operationalizing The Disruptive Aims Of Poststructural Discourse Analysis, Maxxine Rattner

The Qualitative Report

I wrote this paper to support qualitative researchers in accessibly engaging with poststructural discourse analysis. In it, I detail how I flexibly adapted this methodology to meet my study’s aims. I begin by outlining poststructural understandings of discourse and explaining why a researcher may choose a poststructural discourse analysis for a study’s theoretical and methodological framework. While published poststructural discourse analyses commonly draw upon Foucauldian concepts to guide analysis, in this paper I share a more expansive approach. I demonstrate how developing and asking questions of the data can be one way to analyze diverse texts for the presence of …

Analyzing Accessibility And Efficacy Of One Research Survey Website To Test Readability Of Physical Activity Promotion Material Disseminated Online: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study, Jafra D. Thomas, Anuraj Dhillon, Yi Sheng Wu, Jasmine C. Wong, Regina F. Hockert

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology

Volume 7: Issue 1, Article 2, 2026.  Accessibility is the effort and ability required to access and navigate environments and participate in activities. Physical activity educational materials disseminated to the public and used within behavior change interventions may be hard to read and navigate, decreasing their accessibility and a study’s validity. This study documented, and addressed, issues that may hinder researchers’ ability to gauge accessibility of their online educational materials using the cloze procedure (a direct readability measure, requires guessing missing words from text passages). A multi-stage, mixed methods pilot study was utilized (August 2022 to May 2023). Phase 1: …

Communication & Theater Association Of Minnesota Journal, Volume 49, Issue 2, 2026

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Volume 49, Issue 2 (2026) of the Communication & Theater Association of Minnesota Journal.

Ctamj Forum On Mshsl Activities: One Act, Tony Hartmann, Allee Nickolauson, Grif Sadow

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The CTAM Journal seeks to raise up voices from notable interest groups. Occasionally, individuals are asked to share their thoughts on issues that pertain to the target readership of CTAMJ.

For this special forum, three coaches share their voices on Minnesota State High School One Act: Tony Hartmann (Belle Plaine), Allee Nickolauson (Fergus Falls), and Grif Sadow (Stillwater).

Overcoming The Blank Page: In Class Ai Brainstorming For Public Speaking Topics, Jacquelyn K. Seymour

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This activity introduces students to their speech assignment, allows for a discussion on the ethical uses of AI, and allows for class-wide use of AI to select speech topics (Slade et al., 2025). Ideally, every student will leave class with a topic for their speech to begin the process of research and writing rather than be stuck on selecting a topic.

The Public Speaking Survival Kit: A Personalized And Holistic Approach To Managing Speech Anxiety, Sydney Kamm

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Speech anxiety is a common stressor for students in public speaking classes (McCroskey, 1977) and is a particular worry for Gen Z students (Wahed & Palmer-Wackerly, 2026), yet it is often treated superficially in curricula and textbooks. When instruction centers on generic advice, students are left unequipped to manage anxiety that directly affects performance. Although delivery is graded, many “poor delivery” habits—fidgeting, filler words, lack of eye contact—stem from unmanaged anxiety (Bodie, 2010). This activity addresses that gap through a holistic approach that integrates cognitive, behavioral, and physiological dimensions. Informed by my experience with a neurological condition that causes physical …

Welcoming Generation Alpha Through The Lens Of Connectivism: Featuring Ai's Rhetorical Agency, Lin Allen, Shea-Tinn Yeh

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

As students pack for college do they leave space in their carry on for agency—self-empowerment through the strategic use of artificial intelligence?  And in what ways do educators address the need to define and shape their learning experience?  Preparing to welcome the first wave of Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha) by endowing them with agency, this theoretical framework draws upon the eight principles of connectivism. Gen Alpha, digital natives by necessity, demands a new learning archetype incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). However, the contested capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) reveal a disparate, disconnected approach to responding to the ubiquity of GenAI …

Debating Without Format: A Portrait, A Proposal, A Possibility, Stephen M. Llano

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This essay distinguishes "Debate" — competitive, tournament-driven, and governed by fixed procedural rules — from "debate," rhetoric's older practice of persuading an audience. Drawing on the dual etymology of "format" (to shape, and to arrange data for machine processing) and on Goodhart's law, the essay argues that competitive format has displaced audience assent as debate's real aim, training students to satisfy a judge's rules rather than move real listeners. As an alternative, it proposes a co-curricular model rooted in the university rather than the tournament circuit, treating rules as adaptable paradigms rather than algorithms to execute. Drawing on Perelman and …