Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The User Experience Of Participation: Tracing The Intersection Of Sociotechnical Design And Cultural Practice In Digital Ecosystems, David L. Jones

English Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, I combine methods from Technical Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, and User Experience Design to trace the social and creative practices of social web participants. Using actor network theory, I explore the concept of participation as social and creative practice that demands coordinative knowledge work enacted within a cultural space. Leveraging the insight gained from this research, I develop the user experience of participation as a research and design methodology that privileges the movement of people and information in order to structure and re-structure social connections.

I explore this methodology through three intersections between people and technology. …

Crosswords At A Crossroad: The Puzzle Turns 100. What Is The Clue To Its Survival?, Lynn J. Feigenbaum

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the crossword on Dec. 21, 2013 will be a dedicated, demanding and outspoken following – an online community that may be the key to its future as a popular American pastime. The crossword puzzle has always had a tight-knit core of fans, even in its earliest years. But, for the most part, doing a crossword was a solitary pursuit. That has changed with the advent of a burgeoning fan community on the internet, a virtual community of crossword enthusiasts. It is not far-fetched to regard the saga of the crossword as a microcosm of modern …

Ethical Ambivalence In Local Television Weathercasting: A Rossian Analysis, Vernon Keith Thompson

Masters Theses

Today’s television weathercasters are being called upon increasingly to go beyond benign weather prognostications to become the “newsroom experts” for science topics. The expectation to act as both scientists and journalists can cause ethical ambivalence (EA), a sociological condition in which, faced with conflicting norms, the subject feels that he/she is being pulled psychologically in two different directions (Jansen & Von Glinow, 1985). This thesis presents a Rossian analysis of climate change in weathercasting, a topic that captures the most important ethical tensions arising from conflicting duties within the weathercaster role, specifically: a) how might the duties of the television …

Social Media And The Transformation Of The Humanitarian Narrative: A Comparative Analysis Of Humanitarian Discourse In Libya 2011 And Bosnia 1994, Ellen Noble

Political Science Honors Projects

Within humanitarian discourse, there is a prevailing narrative: the powerful liberal heroes are saving the helpless, weak victims. However, the beginning of the 21^st century marks the expansion of the digital revolution throughout lesser-developed states. Growing access to the Internet has enabled aid recipients to communicate with the outside world, giving them an unprecedented opportunity to reshape discourses surrounding humanitarianism. Through a comparative discourse analysis of Libyan Tweets, 1994 newspaper reports on Bosnia, and 2011 newspaper reports on Libya, this paper analyzes whether aid recipient discourse can resist the dominant humanitarian narrative and if that resistance can influence dominant …

Refresh. Create. Inspire. The Mission, Vision And Values Behind The Coca-Cola Company And The Digital Marketing Strategies Of The "Open Happiness" Campaign, Sara Svendsen

Masters Theses

Due to the influence of Coca-Cola on advertising, digital marketing, and marketing strategies, the present rhetorical analysis seeks to show the many aspects of digital media in the Company's present "Open Happiness" campaign. The study of the campaign seeks to show that the Company mission statement, Company values and the vision of The Coca-Cola Company are implemented into all of the different facets of the Open Happiness campaign, and in the context of Mood Management Theory, exude the overall theme of the campaign, happiness. The parts of the campaign that were analyzed were focused on the YouTube channels of The …

Fifteen Percent Or More: A Content Analysis Of Geico's Commercial Advertising, Paul Davis

Masters Theses

In this media saturated world which is lived in today, the general public is bombarded by a multitude of advertisements. This thesis was conducted to examine Geico's commercial advertising looking specifically at their use of humor. The Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Humorous Message Taxonomy were used to conduct this content analysis. The research examined the route of persuasion and elaboration that were used in 60 Geico commercials from five of their most recent campaigns. The Humorous Message Taxonomy helped to establish which types of humor were being used along with the processes and relationship between elements. Three research questions …

Hangin' With Judas: A Narrative Analysis Of Stephen Adly Guirgis's 'The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot', Constance Falconer

Masters Theses

Stephen Adly Guirgis has created an era-melting play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, which explores the timeless debate between divine mercy and free will. A systematic application of Walter R. Fisher's narrative analysis, through form identification and a functional analysis, determined how Guirgis accomplishes persuasion. This qualitative study focused on Guirgis's narrative, using Walter R. Fisher's narrative paradigm as a framework to answer the research question(s): (1) If Guirgis's ideology and created world in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot are foreign and imagined, how is narrative probability and narrative fidelity achieved?; and, (2) How does Guirgis persuade his …

No One Who Reads The History Of Hayti Can Doubt The Capacity Of Colored Men: Racial Formation And Atlantic Rehabilitation In New York City's Early Black Press, 1827-1841, Charlton W. Yingling

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

From 1827 to 1841 the black newspapers Freedom’s Journal and the Colored American of New York City were venues for one of the first significant racial projects in the United States. To counter aspersions against their race, the editors of these publications renegotiated their community’s identity within the matrix of the Black Atlantic away from waning discourses of a collective African past. First, Freedom’s Journal used the Haitian Revolution to exemplify resistance, abolitionism, and autonomy. The Colored American later projected the Republic of Haiti as a model of governance, prosperity, and refinement to serve this community’s own evolving ambitions of …

A Nation In Its Prime: A Pentadic Study Of Walt Disney World's Main Street, U.S.A., Casey Guise

Masters Theses

The purpose of this paper is to consider the entrance to Walt Disney World, Main Street, U.S.A., as a rhetorical text and apply Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad. Background is provided on rhetorical theory and The Disney Company. Meanings are derived from messages interpreted using semiotics and symbolic interaction within the location. The significance of Main Street, U.S.A., as a replica of historic architecture and an illustration of revival architecture in creating emotive messages is discussed. Further discussion includes the implications of this study on corporations and the field of rhetorical studies in addition to suggestions for further research.

"It's Just That For The First Time, I Feel... Wicked": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Wicked's Elphaba Using Kenneth Burke's Guilt-Purification-Redemption Cycle, Patricia Foreman

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the Broadway production, Wicked, and more specifically, the character of Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West. The study utilized Kenneth Burke's theory of the guilt-purification-redemption cycle, and considered Elphaba's journey between the three steps of Burke's cycle. In order to understand this journey better, the researcher considered various facets of the show, including the script, lyrics, costuming, including attire and make-up, and interactions with other characters in the production. Elphaba's causes of guilt, including her mother's death, her relationship with Glinda, her cause in working with Animals, and failed magic …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 88, No. 43, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Stukenborg, Sarah. Presidential Candidates Debate Issues – Student Government Association
• French, Jackson. Largest Fundraising Campaigns Occur During Gary Ransdell’s Presidency – College Heights Foundation
• Marnon, Christian. WKU Men Walk a Mile to Protest Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence – Sexual Assault Awareness Month
• Watson, Paul. Can You Duet? Talent Show Raises Money for Charity – Sigma Kappa
• Prochazka, Tyler. Omega Phi Alpha to Host St. Baldrick’s for Fourth Year
• Jacobs, Alex. Candidate Cain Alvey: A Man After the Student Body’s Own Heart – Student Government Association, Elections
• Grogg, Mitchell. Radio …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 88, No. 42, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Harrison, Taylor. Gary Ransdell to Push WKU’s Need for Tuition Increase with Council on Postsecondary Education
• Aulbach, Lucas. Seeing Double – Basketball
• Grogg, Mitchell. Shamrock Shootout Raises Money for Family & Children’s Charities – Kappa Delta
• Stukenborg, Sarah. Student Government Association Prepares for Upcoming Election Debate
• Matchen, Quiche. International Justice Mission Stands for 27 Hours Against Sex Trafficking – Human Trafficking
• Vogt, Darren. Editorial Cartoon Voting
• Students Should Vote for Those Who Represent Them – Student Government Association, Elections
• People Poll: Do You Think the Student Government Association Makes …

Damsels And Heroines: The Conundrum Of The Post-Feminist Disney Princess, Cassandra Stover

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

This research explores cultural shifts in the popularity of the Disney princess in American culture, especially its postmodern resurgence, as well as the complex relationship between Disney’s recent representations of women in the 1990’s and post-feminist ideology. My project begins by analyzing the historic appearance of the Disney female in relation to the women’s movements. I also examine lingering anti-feminist backlash in representations of what I call “New Wave” Disney heroines. Finally, I examine the implications of post-feminist discourse and advertising for young female viewers.

Re-Masculating The Vampire: Conceptions Of Sexuality And The Undead From Rossetti's Proserpine To Meyer's Cullen, Emily Schuck

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

This paper explores the relationship between sexuality and the undead from Victorian England to present day vampire narratives. Specifically, I examine the shift in the vampire narrative from the frightening Dracula to the extremely sexualized nature of vampires in the early twenty-first century. My results are concerned with the nature and exchange of fluids between vampire bodies and their victims (or lovers) and the power associated with that exchange. My conclusion implies that re-masculating the vampire is a return to a patriarchal dominant discourse promulgates the heteronormative status quo, unlike their early predecessors, which tend to undermine heteronormative sexuality.

Satanic Indifference And Ultimate Reality, Brian J. Reis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Satan has captured the imagination of writers in the English language for centuries. This figure and the notion of evil have gone through many changes in English literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Something changed Satan during this time, and made him into an arbiter of truth rather than a figure of rebellion. In The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain used him as the grand narrator of the universe who explains the truth of all existence, that life is an illusion. The American horror author H.P. Lovecraft carried this one step further, using Rudolf Otto's mysterium horrendum to divest Satan …

Chicana Aesthetics: A View Of Unconcealed Alterities And Affirmations Of Chicana Identity Through Laura Aguilar’S Photographic Images, Daniel Perez

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In this paper I will argue that Chicana feminist artist Laura Aguilar, Alma Lopez, Laura Molina, and Yreina D. Cervantez established a continuing counter-narrative of cultural hegemony and Western essentialized hegemonic identification. Through artistic expression they have developed an oppositional discourse that challenges racial stereotypes, discrimination, socio-economic inequalities, political representation, sexuality, femininity, and hegemonic discourse. I will present a complex critique of both art and culture through an inquiry of the production and evaluation of the Chicana feminist artist, their role as the artist, and their contributions to unfixing the traditional and marginalized feminine. I argue that third wave Chicana …

Tiki Kitsch, American Appropriation, And The Disappearance Of The Pacific Islander Body, Daniel Mcmullin

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

After Greenberg's famous analysis of kitsch in terms of aesthetics, Art critic James Gaywood, reasserted the question of kitsch in terms of market. (Gaywood 1997) Here Picasso and cultural appropriation were supplanted by Marcel Duchamp and the readymade. The products of art became completely non-native on all fronts, the world so reflected was postcultural. In that sense, cultural appropriation was no longer an aesthetic, it was a commodity for production, and as much as possible, production by machines. The form of such commodity, of Pacific Islander cultures, was highly variable, from a 17th century English play by John Clarke, to …

Cultural Identity, Deafness And Sign Language: A Postcolonial Approach, Steven Loughran

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Franz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks describes the experience of the recently de-colonized members of the Negro (as he refers to those of African descent) population living in Europe, particularly France, in the 1960s. A little over a decade later, Edward Said published Orientalism, thus adding to a growing discipline of scholarship in the fields of art, literature, and cultural studies called “Postcolonialism.” My essay attempts to show that Deaf persons who communicate with each other using sign language can be viewed as a colonized group, and that applying postcolonial theory to the study of their culture is appropriate.

Mad Men: The Relationship Between Psychology And Religion In Chaim Potok’S The Chosen, Laura Longobardi

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

After watching an episode from the first season of Mad Men, that cleverly juxtaposed the Catholic Sacrament of Confession and a session with a psychologist, I wondered: are religion and psychology really all that different? After reading Chaim Potok’s 1967 novel The Chosen, I began to think that the perceived differences between these two disciplines were superficial. Psychology and religion both provide people with a valuable way of understanding their relationship to the world around them, in spite of the apparent differences between them. By examining Sigmund Freud and William James’ attitudes toward both religion and psychology and applying these …

Oxymormon: Feminism Ain't Got No Place On The Pulpit… Or Does It?, Jennifer Johnson-Bell

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Just as Moraga examines the effects this myth has had on her identity, I will, as a Mormon (although I dis-identify with that label except in the context of my upbringing) and a feminist, explore certain myths perpetuated within the Mormon culture and what effects they have had on my identity as well as my relationship with other Mormon women. Three myths I would like to explore revolve around the concepts of plural marriage (polygamy), priesthood, and the notion of Heavenly Mother. [excerpt]

A Christian Understanding Of Aesthetic Agency: A Theological Framework Of Resistance To Cultural Imperialism, Elise Edwards

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Aesthetic agency refers to conditions, capacities, and states that inform artistic forms of acting and exerting power on social structures. In resistance to the marginalization of women of color, aesthetic agency is exercised through creative acts of culture-making and critique of such practices to challenge domination and representation of the oppressed other. To support this work as a feminist Christian ethicist, I construct a theological framework for aesthetic agency. This paper proposes a theological understanding of transformative aesthetics and then describes the exercise of aesthetic agency for Christian communities by using a television special, Black Girls Rock! as an example.

Manifest Content Without A Dreamer: A Freudian Analysis Of Percival Everett’S Erasure, Irene Rose De Lilly

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

This paper will provide a Freudian analysis of Erasure in order to prove that Everett is, in fact, the two main characters he has created, as well as attempt to challenge the stigma of interpreting through a psychoanalytical lens, rather than treating writing and literature as manifest content without a dreamer.

It's Not About The Coffee: Queer Temporalities At A Community Coffeehouse, Jodi Davis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Long Beach California’s “gay ghetto” 1 is a loosely defined neighborhood with bars, coffeehouses and businesses that cater to the LGBTQ community. The corner of Broadway and Junipero roughly marks the center of the gay ghetto and is home to Hot Java “The Community Coffeehouse”. The customers there are loyal and through ethnographic inquiry this paper highlights the importance of Hot Java as a queer site of resistance and community building. Through interviews, observation, and exploration of queer theoretical models of space and time, this paper illustrates Hot Java as a queer temporal space marked by trauma, resistance, and community …

Beauty-Ful Inferiority: Female Subservience In Disney’S Beauty And The Beast, Jeremy Chow

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

The ubiquity of Disney movies has certainly transformed the American cultural landscape. The Disney zeitgeist manifests itself as generations of children actively seek Prince Charmings, unrealistic fairy tale relationships and the omnipotent, happily-ever-after. One such Disney favorite, Beauty and the Beast (1991), reveals typical Disney themes such as the power of altruism, the transformation of the anthropomorphic, and the catharsis of true love. Yet, under these benevolent-seeming Disney themes lurk more sinister, subliminal messages. Beauty and the Beast promotes female subservience and subjugation in addition to the glorification of abusive relationships. Belle, the female protagonist, embodies these gendered disparities and …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 88, No. 41, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Aulbach, Lucas. Former WKU Players Take Part in Pro Day – Football
• Grogg, Mitchell. Gary Ransdell: Budget Challenges Face WU Next Year
• French, Jackson. Newly Proposed South Campus Food Court May Be Student Run – Dining Services
• Koch, Cameron. Theatre & Dance and Sociology Students Work with Juvenile Delinquents
• Burnside, Ella. Students Speak Out Through The Vagina Monologues – Sexual Assault Awareness Month
• Crumbie, Trey. T Is for Tuba – Pep Band, Matt McCay, Music
• Parker, Jacob. Student Creates Peace Mural with 60 Elementary Schoolers – Megan McDonald, Hartstern …

Together, Science And Art Can Provide Answers In Search For Truth, Carla Poindexter

UCF Forum

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UCF this year, we are reminded that the core benefit of an upper-level education is the opportunity to pursue and obtain insight and knowledge over blindness and ignorance.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 88, No. 40, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Harrison, Taylor. Students Present Their Research During Second Full REACH Week – Research Experiences & Creative Heights
• French, Jackson. School of Nursing Relocating to the Medical Center in the Fall
• WKU Schedules Events for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
• Stukenborg, Sarah. Student Government Association Passes Resolution to Oppose Study Abroad Fee
• Vogt, Darren. Editorial Cartoon Big Red Learning About Sexual Assault
• Students May Not Be As Educated on Sexual Assault As They Think
• People Poll: Do You Think Sexual Assault Is A Problem on This Campus?
• Bratcher, Nick. Study Abroad …

The Emerald Ash Borer, Emily Bryant

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

An Emerald Ash Borer made from recycled natural materials to create sustainable art.

Migration Grid #26, Stanton Hunter

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This work is inspired by invisible sky grids formed by Ultra Violet (UV) light researchers discovered that guide Monarch butterflies on their migration from the mid-western United States to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico. I use terrestrial material, clay, to make something celestial. Earth, associated with mass and permanence, is translated into these shifting, ephemeral, and ethereal sky-forms. The work encompasses void more than object and the complex shadows they cast are immaterial. Together, the objects and shadows point to what can’t be seen, at least by the human eye.

On Cultural Polymathy: How Visual Thinking, Culture, And Community Create A Platform For Progress, Whitney Dail

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Within the last decade, the commingling of art and science has reached a critical mass. Science has long infused the arts with curiosity for natural phenomena and human behavior. New models for producing knowledge have given rise to interaction and collaboration across the globe, along with a renewed Renaissance.