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The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 11 - Dec 4, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 11 - December 4, 2008. 32 pages.

Communication, Crisis, And Identity: Dialectical Tensions In Family Narratives About Hurricane Katrina, Laura Poole Rogers

Dissertations

In this study victims of Hurricane Katrina ordered their experiences with the crisis into meaningful themes which expressed their values, actions, inactions, occupations, needs and losses, and feelings. In interviews participants explained what happened, when it happened, how they responded, how they thought they should have responded, and how they handled situations surrounding the storm. Narratives about situations after the storm revealed descriptions of their and others' relationships in interactions with representatives of larger social units. The dialectical analysis revealed dialectical tensions that emphasized participants' dynamic and changing relationships and identities. Dialectical analysis of narratives about those relationships revealed dialectical …

New Yoga Studio Encourages Positive Impact On Community Through Communication And Leadership, Shauna Stelzer

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which a well-attended Yoga studio can inspire health, wellness and the desire to contribute to one’s community. Members of the community who have been attending Yoga for varying amounts of time were given the opportunity to comment on their experiences and their heightened communication abilities with community members as a result of their attendance in Yoga classes. Additionally, studio owners gave their thoughts and opinions on the businesses in their community, as well as expressed their beliefs and knowledge of transformations that they have witnessed in the community because …

The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 10 - Nov 20, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 10 - November 20, 2008. 28 pages.

The Drama Of Collaborative Creativity: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Hollywood Film Making-Of Documentaries, Robert M. González Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current creativity research is dominated by attention to the individual, with increasingly less attention paid to creativity in its context, in groups, and in filmmaking as a collaboratively creative enterprise. This study answers the research call to explore filmmaking as an exemplar for collaborative creativity. Utilizing the stories told on DVD extras on special edition releases of feature films, this study analyzes how collaborative creativity is storied. In turn, these stories reveal specific communication forms, practices, and strategies that enrich theoretical conceptions of collaborative creativity. Following dramatistic concepts elaborated by Kenneth Burke, this rhetorical analysis finds three emergent patterns of …

The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 8 - Nov 6, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 8 - November 6, 2008. 32 pages.

The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 7 - Oct 30, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 7 - October 30, 2008. 32 pages.

The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 6 - Oct 23, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 6 - October 23, 2008. 36 pages.

Applications Of Combinatorial Designs In Key Pre-Distribution In Sensor Networks., Dibyendu Chakrabarti Dr.

Doctoral Theses

Key pre-distribution is an important area of research in Distributed Sensor Networks (DSN). Some improved techniques over the existing schemes (employing combinatorial designs) have been proposed in this thesis and detailed mathematical analysis of the schemes has been presented. At first, combinatorial design followed by randomized merging strategy is applied to key pre-distribution in sensor nodes. Our main target is to get more than one pair of common keys between any pair of nodes to provide a robust network in terms of security under adversarial conditions where some nodes may get compromised. A transversal design is used to construct a …

The Cowl - V. 73 - N. 3 - Sept 25, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 73 - Number 3 - September 25, 2008. 28 pages.

Music And The Modern Maya: A Reception Study Of Rock-Maya Music In Guatemala, Malcolm Miguel Botto

Theses and Dissertations

The current global flows of people, capital, technology, images and ideas--a phenomenon described as "mediascapes" by Arjun Appadurai (1996), traverse the most isolated Maya communities in Guatemala. These flows have recently influenced the creation of hybrid media products among the Maya. Among them we find an emerging indigenous musical genre called "Rock-Maya." I use reception analysis methods to document the encoding and decoding of this new indigenous medium of communication. Through qualitative interviews I attempt to show how K'iche'-Maya youth appropriate, what Motti Regev (1997) calls, the rock aesthetic to promote a sense of K'iche'-Maya youth identity in a modern …

Developments In Urban Environmental Information Perception And Communication, Kostas Karatzas, J. Lee

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Urban environmental information (EI) is related to knowledge concerning the status, the pressures and the consequences of environmental quality parameters to human life and the urban surroundings. One of the most important aspects in the life cycle of EI is knowledge generation and flow, data management and information dissemination between ICT systems and environmental actors, players, or interested parties. In the present paper, urban air quality serves as the application domain, for which the following issues are discussed, • Analysis of the way that environmental information is related to urban structures (roads, buildings, etc) • Investigation of the spatial and …

Smart People, Stupid Networks: The Internet’S Equalizing Influence On Political Discourse And Engagement, Joseph D. Backer

Government and International Relations Honors Papers

This study explores the impact and influences of the Internet on formalized political discourse and engagement during the last decade. It traces the traditions and conventions of predominantly top-down and elite-dominated methods of information dissemination and citizen mobilization, beginning with newspapers at the turn of the nineteenth century and progressing to the professionalization and specialization experienced during the twentieth century. These sustained patterns of limited influence for non-elites had a marginalizing effect on participation and understandings of democratic responsiveness. Since the emergence of the Internet as a widespread medium of communication, however, prevailing hierarchies of control over discourse and engagement …

Organizational Culture, Workplace Incivility, And Turnover : The Impact Of Human Resources Practices., Dana Cosby Simmons 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between two communication-related dimensions of organizational culture, workplace incivility, and turnover. In particular, it investigates the impact that four human resources practices have on the relationship between incivility and turnover. These practices are (a) training, (b) formal policies, (c) grievance procedures, and (d) vertical hierarchy. Employing data from the National Organizations Survey (2002), the study provides a conceptual model suggesting that "soft" measures such as organizational culture and human resources practices impact the bottom line of an organization. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction to the research problem and …

Opening The Aperture: Examining Images Of War In The Press, Jeffrey Albanese

Senior Honors Projects

A number of policymakers have attributed America’s defeat in Vietnam, the first “television war,” to a collapse of public support caused by nightly news coverage of combat with associated iconic photographs and moving images. The assumptions underlying this opinion are that photographs and video footage of war have an inherent pacifistic bias, that the emotional impact of visual images can override reason, and that powerful images can drive or overturn foreign policy. This has led subsequent administrations to increase their control over the media’s coverage of war. During the Vietnam War, the press was relatively uncensored. As a response to …

A New Voice For Chariho, Christopher Barrett

Senior Honors Projects

When the Founding Fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution, they recognized the importance of a free press by protecting it from government interference. Newspapers can wield incredible power in making positive change and building a better community. They also provide fantastic opportunities for journalists to learn about the world around them and become an expert in many fields. Journalists, however, are not limited to professionals in the newsrooms of the nation’s largest daily papers. Reporters of every age have made an impact on their communities. For my Honors Project I sought to bring this ability to high school students by designing …

Hip Hop Is Dead: The Rhetoric Of Hip Hop, Kalyana Champlain

Senior Honors Projects

There is no doubt that Hip Hop has become a most influential international force. This animal has had many faces: two of these faces have been as a political tool as displayed by Public Enemy, and as a therapeutic release-- as I discovered while in AmeriCorps interning at AS220 for a program called Hip Hop 220, in which we took underprivileged youth and helped them to channel their energy through this art form. However, there is a dark side to this culture that includes extreme misogyny, self- sabotage, hatred, and an unhealthy obsession with status. As I reflected on these …

Sparkle: What Every Teenage Girl Should Know, Alexandria D’Angelo

Senior Honors Projects

As a journalism major with an interest in women’s studies, I took time to educate myself about the tactics that the magazine media use to sell themselves. I focused on magazines, because I am a print-oriented journalism student with the goal of working for a newspaper or a magazine after graduation. During my research, I found that there are few publications in this country offering sound advice to problems that teenage girls face on a daily basis. Most magazines for teenage girls focus on celebrity style, gossip and make-up tips. There is nothing wrong with this form of entertainment, especially …

Cancer Rumor Effects On Sense Making, Nicole M. Robinson

Theses

A cancer rumor is collective sense making in response to uncertainty or threat regarding a cancer diagnosis. This study explored the types of cancer rumors in circulation, how these rumors spread, why people believed them, and how people made sense of these rumors in order to cope. Web survey responses from 188 participants found that both negative and positive rumors were spread. These rumors were believed due to perceived source credibility and plausibility. While participants held more faith in medical sources, 71 percent changed their behavior after hearing a rumor from a non-medical person. Results suggested that rumor participation aided …

The Express: April 28, 2008, Taylor University Fort Wayne

2007-2008 (Volume 12)

What Would William Wilberforce do? Stop Slavery Now — Room Draw: Housing Options for On-Campus Students — The Aliens of Tipton County — Right to be Wrong: Tatoos — The Quake According to Bethany — My Right To Vote — The Church Has Left the Building — Beyond the Blog: The Evolution of Social Networks — Rockin’ Review: The Mill Cafe — Stephen Colbert: An American Laugh Track

Living A Tattooed Life: The Female Experience, Kara G. Cleveland

Communication

The present research is rooted in Human Science, and employed the epistemology of Constructionism, as well as the theoretical perspective of Social Construction of Reality. I used Narrative Inquiry as methodology and conversational interviewing as my method of collecting data. I interviewed six women who provided narratives of their lived experience of constructing their identities through tattoos. Three emergent themes, along with three sub-themes, are discussed in regards to the lived experiences of tattooed women: (1) becoming tattooed constructs who you are; (2) becoming tattooed develops relational identity with (a) friends, (b) the tattoo community, (c) family; and (3) the …

Keeping The Home Fires Burning: The Effects Of Military Induced Separations On Marital Intimacy From A Female Perspective, Deborah J. Cynar

Communication

In this study, a convenience sample of 56 female, married, military wives in northwestern community responded to a survey questionnaire concerning intimacy promoting communication skills, marital satisfaction, and military induced separations. The results indicated a strong correlation between marital satisfaction and intimacy promoting communication skills. This study also explores the difference between the type and frequency of military induced separations and their influence on marital satisfaction and intimacy promoting communication skills. To further describe this military population, several post hoc tests for difference found significance between military branch affiliation, and between those who had or had not received premarital counseling …

Who Is In Charge Here? A Feminist Communicology Of Followership And Leadership In An Academic Organization, Robert Locke Jordan

Communication

This feminist critical study explicates the ways that followership is conceptualized at an academic organization in the Pacific Northwest. Through the use of qualitative methods, stories were solicited providing descriptions of events that define the hegemonically masculine ways that followership is conceptualized, suggesting the need for a feminist critical analysis and revisioning. A number of themes emerged from conversational interviews including: conceptual verisimilitude, archetypes of leadership, alternative conceptions of followership, the role of action in leadership and followership, and the emergent organization. The capta gathered from this qualitative study suggest a revisioning of human organization and recognizes leadership and followership …

Major League Baseball Franchises And Their Minor League Players, Maintaining A Relationship On And Off The Field, Michelle Keating

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In today's professional arena, organized sports have grown to become institutionalized and highly organized through corporations in a multi-billion dollar industry. Through the use of in depth interviews completed online, this study investigated the role franchise communication plays in the development of nineteen minor league players' relationships within the Major League Baseball (MLB) sports industry. Results found that players feel their organizations disproportionately help some players achieve success over others and withhold information. As players, they felt they have a limited voice regarding the direction of their careers. Despite a difficult working environment, the players' desire to achieve success and …

The Cowl - V. 72 - N. 20 - Apr 3, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 72 - Number 20 - April 3, 2008. 28 pages.

Network Neutrality: What Is At Stake?, Shannon Griffin

Honors Projects in Communication

Network neutrality is the view that Internet users should have control over what content they view on the Internet. This principle was honored until 2005 when the FCC reclassified the technology that brings the Internet to its users. The purpose of this project is to gain insight into the net neutrality debate, examine what net neutrality really means to users and the potential long-term consequences the results of this debate could produce. I intend to demonstrate the need for network neutrality by providing the context in which network neutrality can be best understood. I examine the circumstances that led to …

Sleep Now In The Fire, Nick Kogos

ESSAI

No abstract provided.

Fashion Advertising, Men’S Magazines, And Sex In Advertising: A Critical-Interpretive Study, Jennifer Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines sexualized portrayals of women in fashion advertising found in metro-sexual men's magazines as visual rhetoric. Historically, studies on sexual images of women in advertising have focused on content analyses of these images and how they affect women. This study asks how sexualized imagery of women functions rhetorically as part of a branding message designed to sell products. The exemplar advertisements were chosen specifically for their sexual imagery from an earlier study by the researcher on sexual images of women in fashion advertisements found in men's magazines.

The messages interpreted within the visuals of this study reveal a …

The Cowl - V. 72 - N. 19 - Mar 13, 2008

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 72 - Number 19 - March 13, 2008. 32 pages.

An Examination Into How Group Performance Is Influenced By Various Communication Channels, Jason C. Norgaard

Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this research was to look at the how group performance is influenced by various communication channels. Specifically, this research sought to determine what communication factors are affected when groups are forced to use different communications channels. The three communications channels tested were face-to-face communications, audio conferencing, and computer-mediated communications through an Internet chat program. Each channel was measured on accuracy, efficiency, and total number of ideas generated. The research found that the groups using computer-mediated communications had a difficult time completing the exercises in the allotted time. Additionally, the computer-mediated produced significantly fewer total words and total …