Digital Commons Network^™

Sustaining Online Communities In The Charitable Health Sector: How To Keep A Good Thing Going, Leesa N. Costello, Julie S. Dare, Lelia R. Green

Research outputs 2013

What happens when an online community part-funded by a competitive grant process in partnership with a relevant charitable organisation reaches its use-by date? What reasons might an organisation have for continuing (or not) to support the community and its future development? How is ‘ownership’ transferred from the research institution to the not-forprofit organisation, along with any possible risks? These are all good questions: not least because it seems that most communities in this position are not ‘adopted’ by their not-forprofit sponsors, but languish on the sidelines waiting for a benefactor to pick up the potential costs and risks. This paper …

Cooking From Life: The Real Recipe For Street Food In Ha Noi, Lelia Green, Van H. Nguyen

Research outputs 2013

No abstract provided.

New Orleans: A Disaster Waiting To Happen?, Rodney J. Giblett

Research outputs 2013

New Orleans is one of a number of infamous swamp cities—cities built in swamps, near them or on land “reclaimed” from them, such as London, Paris, Venice, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Petersburg, and Perth. New Orleans seemed to be winning the battle against the swamps until Hurricane Katrina of 2005, or at least participating in an uneasy truce between its unviable location and the forces of the weather to the point that the former was forgotten until the latter intruded as a stark reminder of its history and geography. Around the name “Katrina” a whole series of events and images congregate, …

Masculinity, Mass Consumerism And Subversive Sex: A Case Study Of Second Life's 'Zeus' Gay Club, Judith A. Elund

Research outputs 2013

This article is a case study of a Second Life region in reference to the prevailing attitudes of sexual conservatism and the growing acceptance of homosexual coupling. The site of Zeus is a contested site of legitimacy in view of tensions regarding masculinity as it applies to sex, sexuality, gender conformity and consumption practices. Furthermore, it is representative of the tensions between an acceptable, albeit conservative gay male identity, and the subversive hyper-sexual and hyper-masculine subject of desire.

The Western Australian New Music Archive: Finding, Accessing, Remembering And Performing A Community Of Practice, Catherine A. Hope, Lelia R. Green, Tos Mahoney

Research outputs 2013

In 2009, the music composition department at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and Perth organisation Tura New Music embarked upon a project to develop and establish the Western Australian New Music Archive (WANMA), a digital repository and interface of new music by Western Australian composers from 1970 to the current day. The project seeks to discover, collect, collate, digitise, store and disseminate music recordings, video documentation, scores and other evidence surrounding Western Australian new music. WANMA is now a funded Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage research project involving collaboration between the State …

A Deeper Understanding Of Female Athlete Body Image, Jeney Anne Christensen

Health Nutrition and Exercise Science

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how body image can impact the self-esteem and confidence of female athletes. As the media and public image of professional female athletes becomes increasingly more sexualized, the pressure continues to rise for youth and collegiate female athletes to not only to excel at the sports they participate in, but also be what society deems attractive. These demands lead to harmful behaviors such as disordered eating, over-exercising, and certain drug abuse which, in turn, can result in serious health issues or even death. Continuous study and exploration of female …

An Exploratory Examination Of The Factors Influencing Indonesian Sme's Sustainability Practices In The Textile And Chemical Industries, Bulan Prabawani

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

All firms have an impact on the environment in which they operate, for example in the exploration and processing of environmental resources to make a profit. Manufacturing firms, in particular have the potential to pollute the environment with dangerous liquid and solid wastes. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) make a significant contribution to the global economy in both developing and developed countries. Individually, SMEs appear to have little environmental impact, but accumulatively, they have a considerable impact, not only economically but also environmentally. However, managing environment impact is not usually core business for SMEs.

SMEs often suffer from a …

Human Factors And Cultural Influences In Implementing Agile Philosophy And Agility In Global Software Development, Anuradha Sutharshan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

As software becomes increasingly important to all aspects of industry, developers should be encouraged to adopt best practice and hence improve the quality of the processes used, and achieve targets relating to time, budget and quality. In the software industry, several software methodologies have been used to address software development problems; however some of these processes may be too bureaucratic. The Agile Alliance formed in 2001, sought to address this problem; accordingly, they developed a manifesto and twelve principles, to which all agile software methods adhere. The purpose of the manifesto and its principles is to uncover better ways of …

Conceptualizing Identity As Performance In Young Adult Dystopian Literature, Kelly F. Franklin

Masters Theses

Young Adult Literature has historically been read as a genre that encourages singular identity formation. Scholars have argued that this literature inspires young adult readers to find their true identity by showcasing characters in the process of identity construction. However, when read through the lens of performance theory - a vast field that encompasses many disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, literature and theatre - it becomes evident that YAL actually encourages the formation of multiple roles and identities. This genre features characters trying on new roles, casting assigned roles aside, and assuming new identities to best suit their settings. …

Sheep In Wolves’ Clothing: How Composition’S Social Construction Reinstates Expressivist Solipsism (And Even Current-Traditional Conservatism), Keith Rhodes, Monica M. Robinson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reframing the theory of social construction from Romantic/ Classic perspectives yields surprising insights about writing studies.

Immigrant Narratives And Popular Culture In The United States: Border Spectacle, Unmotivated Sympathies, And Individualized Responsibilities, Stacey Sowards, Richard Pineda

Departmental Papers (Communication)

Issues related to immigration have long been present in U.S. television and print news cycles. In recent years, those issues have become more prevalent in U.S. popular culture, especially in television and popular music. In this essay, we analyze three representative and diverse examples from U.S. popular media to better understand the representation of immigrant narratives: ABC’s Ugly Betty, the Chicano band, Los Lobos’s 2006 album, The Town and the City, and CNN Presents ‘‘Immigrant Nation.’’ From our analysis, we advance three interconnected arguments: First, personalized narratives of the immigrant experience reify stereotypes through accumulation and repetition that contributes to …

Narratives Of Southern Contact Zones: Mobility And The Literary Imagination Of Zora Neale Hurston And Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Kyoko Shoji Hearn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the literary works of the two Southern women writers, Zora Neale Hurston and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, based on the cultural contexts of the 1930s and the 1940s. It discusses how the two writers' works are in dialogue with each other, and with the particular historical period in which the South had gone through many social, economical, and cultural changes. Hurston and Rawlings, who became friends with each other beyond their racial background in the segregated South, shared physical and social mobility and the interest in the Southern folk cultures. They wrote fiction about the region and its …

Untangling Cultural Differences In Behavioral, Physiological, And Psychological Symptoms Of Dementia And Alzheimer’S Disease, John S. Avant

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; 4^th ed. Revised; American Psychiatric Association) and (BPSD) there are many behavioral, physiological, and psychological issues that have been correlated with the progression of the Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Examples of these issues include; emotional regulation problems, variations in eating behavior, and an advancing decline in memory. Though certain symptoms of the disease seem to be widely universal, current literature shows that a number of disparities do exist. There are several differences between and within populations suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia that are influenced by various …

Promoting Information Literacy Through Media Literacy, Greg Pond

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Mass media messages have overwhelmed modern culture. Many of these messages are not created with the best interest of the recipient in mind (Potter, 2008). The Mass media does not operate as a public service. It’s big business. Good daily decision making has become increasingly dependent on the ability to be “information literate” – to effectively evaluate the accuracy, currency, and completeness of media messages. But these critical information literacy skills are surprisingly lacking today (Asher & Duke, 2012). One recent study suggests that information literacy skills can be effectively developed through training in media literacy (Van De Vord, 2010). …

What Changes Await Local Tv News?, Stephanie Ann Vigil

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Over the years, local television news stations across the nation have seen a dramatic decrease in viewership. Much like newspapers, fewer people are relying on television news for several reasons. Two of the biggest culprits are the age of new technology and social media. These two factors alone have reprogrammed people’s daily habits, changing the landscape of television news viewership and resulting in uncertain times at local television news stations. Few studies have been done on the future of local television news. Of the studies that have been conducted, it is clear to see that local news is still relevant …

Immigration Reform Opponents Framing Propaganda As Fact To Influence Public Opinion, Christopher Barr

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2005). This study is to see how propaganda is used by a anti-immigrant special interest organization to frame the debate and assist the televised press to set the agenda on the topic. Specifically, the attention of the study was on the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The research explored in this thesis was founded on Shaw’s and McComb’s (1972) agenda-setting theory and Entman’s (1993) process of framing. The study applied …

News Media Influence On Perceptions Of Veteran Mental Health, Elizabeth Faye Weber

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated how news media communications affect public awareness and perceptions of the mental health concerns of post-deployed military of the recent Iraq war. Focus group research included 22 adult participants from the same geographic location with discussions on news media consumption behaviors and their perceptions of the mental health issues of veterans. Results revealed that news media consumption is preferred at a national level versus a local level, and that online news sources are utilized more frequently than television or print news sources. Participants with the least news media exposure admitted to the lowest awareness of veteran mental …

Technology Use In A Virtual World To Build Organizational Culture And Identity, Tim Carroll

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Organizations are embracing agile work environments for their employees more and more every day. This thesis explores the ability to create and maintain organizational culture in a virtual world through technology use. As more of these organizations move to a virtual workplace it is becoming more imperative to find ways to connect these virtual employees together as peers and to the organization as a whole. This communication audit is formed using the cultural approach to organizational theory, by Geertz and Pacanowsky, and uses surveys as well as interviews to assess how effectively organizational culture is expressed and maintained through the …

Effects Of Social Media On Individual Voting, Noel Albert Bermudez

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama established social media as an essential part of the campaign toolbox. Twitter, a widely-used social media site, provides a means of creating virtual communities that can instantly send messages and move "followers" to action. This thesis seeks to ascertain if Twitter messages - sent to known supporters by a presidential campaign asking a person to vote - can positively affect that person's likelihood to cast a ballot and, if so, would that vote be for the candidate whose campaign tweeted the message. Media ecology, as proposed by Marshall McLuhan and developed by Neil …

[Including But Not Limited To] Violence Against Women, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

This Article highlights three developments in criminal justice in 2012 that marked the move toward more gender-inclusive anti-violence movements: the FBI’s adoption of a gender-neutral definition of rape; the debate regarding the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); and the promulgation of new Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA). These recent developments reveal a growing movement towards more gender-inclusive conceptions of rape and intimate partner violence. The change to a more gender-inclusive approach will have many implications for criminal justice policy and institutions. One critical project is to ensure that …

Connecting Classrooms: Russian Language Teaching Project At Ucf, Alla Kourova

Russian Language Journal

Change happens all the time and in all places. It is a characteristic of our modern world. A current trend in the world is globalization, which occurred by rapid developments in transportation and information technology. Today, people from diverse backgrounds come into more and more contact with each other with a regularity that is unique to this period of human history. As a result, intercultural communication has become increasingly important.

Cross Cultural Pragmatics: A Study Of Apology Speech Acts By Turkish Speakers, American English Speakers And Advance Nonnative Speakers Of English In Turkey, Mehmet Aydin

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The study aims to identify and compare apology strategies used in Turkish, American English, and advanced non-native speakers of English in Turkey. In order to identify and compare the norms of apologizing in Turkish, English, and non-native English speakers in Turkey, apologies given to the same situations from these three different groups of participants were analyzed. The results from the Native Speakers of Turkish (NST) and Native Speakers of English (NSE) groups were used to identify the norms of apologies in these languages. Then, NNSE participants' responses were compared to the norms to be able to identify transfers from L1 …

Annual Report On Research Activities 2012-2013, Lingnan University (Hong Kong, China)

Annual Report on Research Activities to Research Grants Council

No abstract provided.

Components, Volume 9 (2013), Lsu Center For Computation And Technology

Components

No abstract provided.

2013 Accountability Report Usf St. Petersburg, Usf

USF Accountability Reports

No abstract provided.

De-Tenured: A Latina Endures More Than Four Decades In The Educational Industrial Complex, Ramona Fernandez

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

2013 About Us, Nichole M. Rustad

Reports and Promotional Materials

No abstract provided.

Socrates In A Different Key: James Baldwin And Race In America, Joel Alden Schlosser

Political Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

This essay interprets Baldwin as continuing the Socratic practice of self-examination and social criticism while also shifting his Socratic undertaking by charting the limits of examination created by the harsh effects of race and slavery in the United States. I argue that Baldwin's Socratic practice inflects not only his essays – the center of previous analyses – but also his fictions. By transposing Socrates to issues of race in twentieth-century America and confronting the incoherent effects of a racialized society, James Baldwin thus carries forward and transforms a pivotal figure in the history of political thought.

In Search Of The Unpredictable: Complexifying The Classroom In The Age Of Globalization, Anne Dalke, Elizabeth Mccormack

Literatures in English Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Perspectives On Audience Activity: ‘Prosumption’ And Media Activism As Audience Practices, Brian O'Neill, J. Ignacio Gallego, Frauke Zeller

Books/Book chapters

Until relatively recently, the subject of social relationships, constituted in and through audience practices, has been a minor part of audience research studies. This chapter explores how social relationships and forms of audience agency change and / or evolve, through the usage of both traditional and ‘new’ media. In a media environment where traditional and new media worlds collide, the potential of audience practices to rework, not only media-audience relationships, but also wider social relationships, is now an important research theme. Two key examples of mediated relationships between social actors in conditions brought about through transformations in media culture are …