Digital Commons Network^™

Viewer Discretion Is Advised: Disconnects Between The Marketplace Of Ideas And Social Media Used To Communicate Information During Emergencies And Public Health Crises, Peter Maggiore

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

In a sense, social media has become the ideal manifestation of the "Marketplace of Ideas" (hereinafter "Marketplace") that Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes articulated. The Marketplace concept will be discussed in greater detail below, but in brief, it is the theory that truth will surface over falsehoods when all opinions and ideas are freely expressed, because the value or worth of that opinion or idea will be determined on the market of public opinion. Part I of this Note will examine the Marketplace concept through the works of various legal and philosophical theorists. Chief among them is Frederick Schauer's work …

A Risk Not Worth The Reward: The Stored Communications Act And Employers’ Collection Of Employees’ And Job Applicants’ Social Networking Passwords, Nicholas D. Beadle

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Honors Research Symposium Program [2012], University Honors Program Students And Staff

Honors College: News & Publications (2008-2020)

No abstract provided.

Not A Free Press Court?, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

The last decade has been tumultuous for print and broadcast media. Daily newspaper circulation continues to fall precipitously, magazines struggle to survive, and network television audiences keep shrinking. In the meanwhile, cable news is prospering, mobile devices are contributing to increased news consumption, and many new media outlets appear to be thriving. Despite the dynamism in the media industry, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has taken up relatively few First Amendment cases directly involving the media. The Court has addressed a number of important free speech cases since 2005, but thus far the only Roberts Court decisions …

Organizational Communication, Social Media, And Sensemaking During A Cascading Crisis: Tokyo Disney And The 2011 Japan Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Crisis, Holly Ann Roberts

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This study examines the connection between organizational crisis communication and sensemaking. In particular, the research focuses on messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management and the use of social media in distributing these messages through and by the Tokyo Disney Resort during the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis that hit Japan in 2011. Case study methods are used to analyze news coverage, Twitter and YouTube videos, informed by personal interviews and documentation related to the crisis and the Tokyo Disney Resort. The analysis found that the Tokyo Disney Resort provided messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management in order to effectively foster the …

Enhancing Public Access To Online Rulemaking Information, Cary Coglianese

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

One of the most significant powers exercised by federal agencies is their power to make rules. Given the importance of agency rulemaking, the process by which agencies develop rules has long been subject to procedural requirements aiming to advance democratic values of openness and public participation. With the advent of the digital age, government agencies have engaged in increasing efforts to make rulemaking information available online as well as to elicit public participation via electronic means of communication. How successful are these efforts? How might they be improved? In this article, I investigate agencies’ efforts to make rulemaking information available …

Not A Free Press Court?, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

The last decade has been tumultuous for print and broadcast media. Daily newspaper circulation continues to fall precipitously, magazines struggle to survive, and network television audiences keep shrinking. In the meanwhile, cable news is prospering, mobile devices are contributing to increased news consumption, and many new media outlets appear to be thriving. Despite the dynamism in the media industry, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has taken up relatively few First Amendment cases directly involving the media. The Court has addressed a number of important free speech cases since 2005, but thus far the only Roberts Court decisions …

Constructing A Community Response Grid (Crg): The Dublin, Ohio Case Study, John Freund

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

During an emergency, information availability is critical to preserving life and minimizing damages. During the emergency response, however, information may not be available to those who need it. A community response grid (CRG) can help ameliorate this lack of availability by allowing people to document and distribute emergency information to professional emergency responders (PERs). A CRG combines mobile communications services, Internet technologies, e-government applications, and social network concepts with traditional emergency response systems.

The problem that this case study investigated was how to construct a CRG for the City of Dublin, Ohio, Division of Police that works in conjunction with …

Expectations Of Privacy In Social Media, Stephen E. Henderson

Faculty Articles

This article, which largely tracks my remarks at Mississippi College’s Social Media Symposium, examines expectations of privacy in social media such as weblogs (blogs), Facebook pages, and Twitter tweets. Social media is diverse and ever-diversifying, and while I address some of that complexity, I focus on the core functionality, which provides the groundwork for further conversation as the technology and related social norms develop. As one would expect, just as with our offline communications and other online communications, in some we have an expectation of privacy that is recognized by current law, in some we have an expectation of privacy …

The Vital Non-Action Of Occupation, Offline And Online, Dylan E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Using an Arendtian framework, I argue that we can understand distinctive and effective elements of the #OWS movements as forms of non-action related to prior strategies of non-violence, the propaganda of the deed, and coalitions of affinity rather than identity. This understanding allows us to see that, while the use of social media in the movement does not provide the same affordances for building and maintaining power as physical occupation, and while online community clearly cannot substitute for physical community in many relevant and consequential ways, Facebook does nonetheless provide a platform well suited to maintaining power through these distinctive …

"Friend" Is A Verb, Dylan E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

An argument against the Aristotelian emphasis on formal and final causes in understanding friendship, and in favor of efficient and material causes. Attempts to establish that social media communications constitute a secondary literacy in the context of a shared asynchronous experience at a distance, and addresses "the sandwich problem:" how we can charitably account for the practice of photographing and sharing one's lunch.

Contests As A Tool Of Public Diplomacy: The “India Is…” Global Video Contest, Navdeep Suri

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

There is a growing recognition amongst public diplomacy practitioners for the need to reach young people. In large parts of the developing world - in Africa, in South and Southeast Asia, in the Caribbean and elsewhere - persons below the age of thirty-five constitute approximately seventy percent of the population. Among them, the educated, urbanized youth are growing up in an era in which connectivity and information on the go are taken for granted. India or Indonesia, Nigeria or Nicaragua, the phenomenon is rapidly gathering momentum.

How do we engage with this new generation? How do we encourage them to …

Facebooking In Distance Education: Constructing Virtual Communities Of Practice, Virginia M. Tucker

English Faculty Publications

The growth of distance education warrants a closer look at how virtual communities of practice form in asynchronous online classrooms. Prior studies have sought to identify a process to virtual community formation, which may vary depending upon the media used for collaboration. This microstudy examines how one student group in a distance writing course used the popular social media site Facebook to construct community and whether the stages of virtual community development were observed in this setting. Findings suggest that revisions might be made to our current understanding of the process of building virtual community within small groups. “Othering” and …

Beyond The Water Cooler: Speech And The Workplace In An Era Of Social Media, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

"Twitter Diplomacy": Engagement Through Social Media In 21st Century Statecraft, Owen Henry

Honors Papers

In the Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review (QDDR) issued by the U.S. State Department in 2010, there is a stated commitment to expanding interaction with foreign populations. Through statements made by other officials in various venues, it is clear that social media is seen as having a part in this aim. But how effectively are officials now using social media to connect? Are they managing to achieve "two-way dialogue" or are they underutilizing the medium? This paper attempts to start to answer and analyze this question through a review of the existing literature and theories as well as original research …

Griffin V. State: Setting The Bar Too High For Authenticating Social Media Evidence, Brendan W. Hogan

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Social Networking And Judicial Ethics., Craig Estlinbaum

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter have become an increasingly ever-present feature in American life since first appearing in the late 1990s. SNSs now impact virtually all parts of daily life, and the judiciary is not immune to this effect. Recent statistics show that approximately 40% of judges nationwide utilize SNSs for personal, professional, and electoral purposes. Social media, like any public communication form, presents special ethical challenges for judges. In recent years, judicial ethics committees in various states have weighed in on these questions and have not shown any clear consensus. However, it is generally …

The Writing On My Wall: Freedom Of Expression, First Amendment And Social Media: New Faculty Rights Concerns, Bethany Flora, Jasmine Renner

ETSU Faculty Works

Abstract is available to download.

Engaging Virtual Communities In Appreciative Innovation, Colleen N. Holt

Theses and Dissertations

Since the introduction of the Internet, cyber networks have expanded into new virtual worlds, demanding global cooperation across borders, cultures, time, and space. Social media platforms have enabled consumers to exert increasing influence over business and communities. This experimental research combined appreciative inquiry and design thinking, into a new five-phase, 6-week process (AI.d) and examined its use as a tool for innovative collaboration. Young adults from a globally dispersed spiritual community applied AI.d, using Facebook as a collaborative virtual space. Virtual interaction, collaboration, relationship, goal efficacy, skill building, and innovation were measured. Results were positive: resources were identified and used; …

Diy Pr: How Independent Music Artists Use Online Social Networks For Public Relations Purposes, Martina Lawless

Theses

Significance of the study: Independent musicians are a huge part of the Irish music industry and yet they are the part that do not have the backing of a record label. This means independent musicians need to look at cheap or even free ways to promote themselves to existing fans and potential new fans. With the emergence of social networks musicians both signed and independent have the tools necessary to engage in a new form DIY PR. The purpose of this study is to look at the different ways that social networks have helped musicians in recent years, but also …

Predictive Modeling For Navigating Social Media, Meiqun Hu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Social media changes the way people use the Web. It has transformed ordinary Web users from information consumers to content contributors. One popular form of content contribution is social tagging, in which users assign tags to Web resources. By the collective efforts of the social tagging community, a new information space has been created for information navigation. Navigation allows serendipitous discovery of information by examining the information objects linked to one another in the social tagging space. In this dissertation, we study prediction tasks that facilitate navigation in social tagging systems. For social tagging systems to meet complex navigation needs …

Endometriosis And Livejournal: How Women Use Social Media For Health Communication, Beena Gohil

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examined how women who have or are affected by endometriosis use the social blogging site LiveJournal as a means of communicating about the disorder, and what gratifications they received in the process. The philosophical framework for this study stemmed from Martin Buber’s (1923/1958) work on “dialogic ethics.” The theory that grounded this study is a version of Uses and Gratifications theory that has been expanded so that it is applicable to social media. The data was gathered as part of a content analysis study in which blog posts and their comments were collected, coded, and analyzed. The results …

Does Social Media Usage Translate To Offline Voting And Civic Engagement?, Sara Cureton

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

One of the most important objectives of media is to provide citizens with the information they need to make informed decisions. Based on the theory of technological determinism by scholars such as Marshall McLuhan, the innovations of a society are driven by its technology, so the widely-used medium of social media has been found to have a growing influence in civic matters. This thesis examined how social media usage impacted offline civic engagement. Through an analysis of a sample of 49 political candidates' Facebook and Twitter activity, this study questioned whether social media impacted the outcome of the 2012 General …

Print Media In The Digital Age: Creating Conversation And Community, Hilary E. Parker

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

With the rise of the Internet, print media has been forced to reinvent itself. Now, with the growing acceptance of social media networks such as Facebook, the industry must once again find relevance within the new technology. As social networks have become widely accepted within the general population, it behooves print publications to be involved in the same milieu as its readers. Becoming part of the social networking community as well as a publication’s geographic community may reap rewards as publications begin to participate in and foster conversations around topics of interest in the community. This thesis discusses the link …

Exploring The Use And Effectiveness Of Mediated Communication By Churches, Sarah Christine Syptak Hinrichs

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In an era categorized by a decline in traditional religious participation, Protestant church leaders in the United States are utilizing computer mediated forms of communication to attract and retain members. Research shows, however, that many churches lack the resources or knowledge to communicate effectively online. To aid in a greater understanding of webbed communication tools, this thesis looks at the ability of dialogic mediated communication to contribute to satisfaction with communication in the church as well as overall organizational satisfaction and involvement. Rooted in the phenomenological tradition and in relationship management theory, the study focuses on mediated communication as a …

This Just In: Breaking News With Social Media By The Newspaper Organizations In The Southwestern Corner Of New York State, Chris Chapman

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Social media is the newest form of technology to tempt journalists. What is it? How can it be used to bring their information to the consumers? This thesis examines the ability of eight papers in the southwestern corner of New York state to break news on social media like Facebook and Twitter. The study, conducted by a survey of the journalists working for those papers, takes a look at the policies that govern social media within their organization. Through the lens of the agenda-setting theory, the data shows that the rural region of New York state has yet to find …

What Impact Does Social Media Have On Knowledge Transfer?, Michael Walgren Showalter

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Knowledge management and knowledge transfer is vital to the long-term success of any organization. Social media is connecting people in a way never before possible. Previous research has concluded that knowledge transfer is more likely to take place between individuals in an organization who have built a relationship with each other. In parallel, social media is compared to Roger‟s Diffusion of Innovations Theory and his Technology of Acceptance Model. This thesis contains the results of focus groups conducted with engineers from an international aerospace corporation and examines the likelihood of knowledge transfer taking place based on social media relationships. This …

How Social Media Communities Impact Consumer Behavior, Leslie Martinka

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Social media, in particular, Facebook and Twitter, are comprised of communities typically of like-minded individuals. Through social media sites we can network with these communities and converse in ways that are sometimes difficult to do offline. But do these social media communities influence how one purchases online? Mead’s theory of symbolic interactionism describes how offline communities influence one’s actions and helps to create our cultural norms and ideologies. Using Mead’s theory as a basis for the following study, this thesis attempted to determine if Facebook and Twitter communities influence consumers’ online purchasing behaviors. Employing a Likert-like scale of 1-3, a …

The Corporate Social Network As An Internal Communication Medium: Employees' Perceptions Of Its Usefulness, Jeffrey Brady

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Social media have become important tools in the workplace, allowing employees to share ideas and participate in running the business. Most large corporations currently use a corporate social network for internal communication, with over 80% of Fortune 500 companies using the Yammer platform alone (Yammer, 2012). Deetz (1992, 2003) theorizes that this return to the ancient Greek concept of participation has the potential to improve corporate productivity—and ultimately, profitability.

This pilot study set out to better understand employees’ perceptions of social networks, and how they influence productivity and engagement. Twenty-one participants responded to an online survey on these topics. The …

Facebook, Twitter, And The Uncertain Future Of Present Sense Impressions, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The intricate legal framework governing the admission of out-of-court statements in American trials is premised on increasingly outdated communi- cation norms. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the hearsay exception for "present sense impressions." Changing communication practices typified by interactions on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter herald the arrival of a previously uncontemplated-and uniquely unreliable-breed of present sense impressions. This Article contends that the indiscriminate admission of these electronic present sense impressions (e-PSIs) is both normatively undesirable and inconsistent with the traditional rationale for the present sense impression exception. It proposes a reform to the exception that …