Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

When Old Issues Call Forth A New People: A Constitutive Rhetorical Analysis Of Black Liberation Manifestos, Ian Summers

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

While much rhetorical research has been dedicated to social movements, not as much scholarship has examined the manifesto texts that form the rhetorical basis for said movements. This essay analyzes whether related rhetorical forms exist across multiple manifesto discourses, specifically elements of constitutive rhetoric, through the study of the UNIA and Black Panther Party’s manifestos. Although the scope of this particular inquiry is too narrow to provide a definitive conclusion, it appears constitutive elements recur enough across black liberation discourses to warrant further discussion on whether manifestos ought to be considered as a separate rhetorical genre.

Emergency Text Messaging Systems And Higher Education Campuses: Expanding Crisis Communication And Chaos Theory, Tanya Desselle Ickowitz, Michael J. Palenchar

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Recent public safety threats affecting college and university campuses during episodes of natural disasters and mass violence have exposed numerous challenges and opportunities in risk and crisis communication. This study addresses how colleges and universities have incorporated emergency text messaging systems into their crisis communication plans; how these institutions have tested such emergency notification systems; and what, if any, prevalent gaps exist between audience expectations and actual practices. Using grounded theory, the data collected in this study through in-depth phone interviews (N=10) of university public relations practitioners, as well as a document analysis of media coverage of campus crises (N=36), …

Social Media As Precursor To Arab Revolt, Mark D Harmon, Brittany Rose Nauta

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This research examines the use of the Internet and social media as related to 2011 to 2012 Arab protests and civic unrest, testing the widespread belief that communication revolutions played a large role in the political revolutions sometimes known as the Arab Spring. The researchers take a two-pronged approach. They examine the pre-uprising communication firmament in Egypt, specifically seeking and finding correlation between Internet use and political dissatisfaction. This was done using a secondary analysis of the Egypt portion of the 2008 World Values Survey. Secondly, the researchers use secondary analysis of the Arab Barometer, first wave 2006-2007, seeking and …

Early V. Election-Day Voters: A Media Profile, Mark D Harmon

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Abstract

The researcher conducted a secondary analysis of three major surveys of voters: the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey, and the 2007 and 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Surveys. All three of these surveys had media components, making it possible to create a profile of significant media differences between Election Day voters and those who vote early.

Early voters, contrasted to those on Election Day, are super citizens—the kind of extremely likely voters campaigns seek out and contact. Early voters (at p < .0001 level of significance) were more likely to be contacted by campaigns by both mail and e-mail, and at a p < .05 level of significance were more likely to be contacted by campaigns face-to-face and by phone.

Early voters, compared to election-day voters, are more likely to mention News and Documentary among their top-four favorite types …

I Look To You: Religious Leaders As Social Support In The Management Of Uncertainty Within The African-American Community, Stephen Anthony Spates

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

African-Americans continue to show stronger relationships between spirituality, worship, and daily life. When faced with uncertainty in life, these individuals may look to their religious leadership as a tool for social support and guidance in decision-making. This study uses Uncertainty Management Theory as a framework to look at the relationship between these individuals and their religious leaders. Credibility will also be measured to see if religious leadership can be perceived as credible when dealing with issues that are not based in faith and worship. The importance of this study is seen in understanding how African-Americans are able to cope with …

No, Kidding! Are We Branded From Birth ? Content Analysis Of Ads In Children's Magazines, Meenakshi Trichur Venkitasubramanian, Jinhee Lee

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Children are the favorite among marketers and advertisers. Most of the advertisers make use of the convincing power children have to make adults purchase products. This is exploited by advertising the messages exclusively to cater to children’s taste and interest. This is a proposed exploratory study that looks at the message strategies used by the advertisers in ads present in children’s magazines. Most of the research conducted focuses on television commercials and this paper hopes to add to the research on ads in children’s magazine. This study uses the six-segment strategy wheel to analyze the ads in the children’s magazines. …

The Influences Of Perceived Environmental Responsibilities On Green Purchasing Intentions, Jinhee Lee, Ilwoo Ju

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

The current study examined the influences of perceived environmental responsibilities of the three types of important social agents (individuals, companies, and governments) on consumers’ green purchasing intentions. Drawing on the environmental consumerism and purchase decision making literature, consumers’ perceptions of the aforementioned social agents’ roles in environment protection were hypothesized to influence their purchase intentions for green products. In addition, the current study attempted to investigate the different prediction patterns of such factors for two different purchase intention measures (e.g., general purchase intention and “willingness to pay more” for green products) to capture the nuance between the different measurement scales, …

Communication Strategies In Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements, Ilwoo Ju

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Little research has incorporated a theoretical framework for the analysis of message and creative strategies used in DTCA to date. The purpose of the current study is to extend the previous literature by providing a more complete list of DTCA message and/or creativity strategies based on Taylor’s message strategy wheel. The results show that DTCA has been used to promote drugs for such life-threatening conditions as asthma, acid reflux, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and arthritis. The most common inducement was the offer of consumer support information. In general, magazine DTC ads from 2006 to 2010 were likely to take both informational …

Dating, Friendship, Courtship: Developing Healthy Relationships (Women Only), Reggie Jenkins

Black Issues Conference

"Dating, Friendship, Courtship: Developing Healthy Relationships" is a powerpoint presentation that is designed for young adult women. It defines the difference between courtship, dating, and friendship. It goes into detail regarding what dating really entails and what questions to ask when going out on dates. It also explains how dating and friendships are really about self-discovery. It explains what personalities to avoid while dating and steps to take toward self-empowerment. The purpose of this presentation is an attempt to prevent future trauma and abuse within the Black community. Its also an attempt to empower young ladies by providing a thorough …

Using Meisenbach's Typology To Classify Stigma Management Strategies And Their Effects, Lia Marjorie Lombino, Jamie Eden Shapiro

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Jamie Shapiro & Lia Lombino

There are certain traits people possess that lead to stigmatization and mistreatment by others. A stigma is traditionally defined as an identity discrediting mark on someone of questionable moral status (Goffman, 1963). Despite extensive research on stigma, there is an absence of research that studies the role of communication in stigma and the impact of utilizing different communicative strategies when managing stigma. The purpose of the current study is to validate Meisenbach’s (2010) typology of stigma management communication, which is based on accepting or challenging personal and private stigma. Meisenbach proposes four different stigma management …

Understanding Social Presence And Subject Position In Online Environments, Michael Miceli

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Within various fields of linguistics, language is perceived as a social mechanism, always carrying the meanings and values of community, social groups, networks, culture, identity, and more. Language is at the heart of our interaction with the world around us. In a gaming environment, this translates in discursively created actions and interactions that regulate the relationships between players and, consequently, the outcome of the game. In order to be successful in such environments, players will need to develop a strong social presence, that is to say, the ability to project themselves through their characters in the social community and present …

The Merry Death Collector, Benjamin Wade Murphy

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Documentary filmmaking puts life on lens and who knows what the outcome will be. The creative team chose Arnie Meredith to be the subject of the short documentary The Merry Death Collector. The oddball LaFollette, Tennessee resident collects and sells antique items from estate sales and recently purchased two buildings to house and run his business. The story follows Arnie’s struggle to open and maintain a small-town business. He attends a convention in Knoxville, Tennessee to raise funds, and even attempts to hang a biplane in one of his buildings. With his projected opening date around the corner, an exhausted …

Getting In Our Own Way: The Degradation Of Student Organizations, Johnny Brownlee

Black Issues Conference

Getting in our own Way: The Degradation of Student Organizations:

Across the nation our student organizations are struggling and student governments are struggling. Many seem to be on their last leg, past their prime, etc. Organizations don’t have the activism and sacrifice of students form the 60’s and 70’s, drive of the 80’s, survival skills of the 90’s or money and participation of orgs form the early 2000’s. We seek to see if it’s a generational problem or are other factor the problem

Compassion Fatigue Or Ethics Exhaustion?, Sonnya Dennis

International Veterinary Social Work Summit

Compassion Fatigue or Ethics Exhaustion?

In veterinary practice, the diagnosis is critical for proper treatment. Different diseases can cause the same symptoms, and while palliative treatment is sometimes necessary, ideally we want prevention or cure. In this talk, I will speak from the experiential perspective of companion animal general practice about the very real and common problem of compassion fatigue, and why it is different from, and can mask, what I call Ethics Exhaustion. In brief, I define Ethics Exhaustion as the feeling of being powerless to even try to do what you think that you ethically should do, because …

Mom Made Me: Students Respond To The Flu Shot, Lauren Elizabeth Gregg, Kristin Kelly Carver, Christine Cordelia Copelan

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The University of Tennessee Knoxville’s on-campus Student Health Center publicizes the opportunity for students to receive the influenza immunization for $25 during the flu season. Despite on-campus convenience, many students are still deterred from receiving the shot. Advertising and Public Relations research students used survey research to sample more than 200 students in six major colleges across the University of Tennessee’s campus. The research team gathered relevant information about student perceptions of a healthy lifestyle, flu experience (diagnosis and shot), motivations and deterrence from the flu shot, and general knowledge of the Student Health Center. Results show that 27.5% of …

A Research On Family-Owned Newspaper, Mengmeng Li, Xiaofei Song, Alix Carole Bilip

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This paper conducts a research on the family-owned newspapers by interviewing the managers from the industry and doing a solid content analysis. It answers three research questions: What is the role of organizational ecology in the development or innovation of family-owned newspapers? How can organizational ecology be applied to newspapers? What elements on the newspapers’ websites are possibly profitable for the newspaper?

The Effects Of Message Quantification: The Modearing Role Of Numeracy, Ilwoo Ju

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Although the numerical information effects has been reported in persuasive contexts, little research has investigated how numeric information in the drug efficacy appeals may affect consumers' evaluation of DTC advertising. Based on an experiment, the current study revealed that: (a) consumers reported more positive perceived message effectiveness of and attitude toward advertising toward numeric DTC advertising; (b) when consumers were lowly numerate, the persuasive effects of numeric information was stronger. When consumers were highly numerate, however, the persuasive effects of numeric information was significantly reduced; and (c) perceived message effectiveness was found to be a valid indicator of actual DTC …

Media And Gender: How Has The Story Of Chaz Bono Impacted Media’S Portrayal Of Transgender People?, Scott A. Eldredge, Iveta Imre

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

The coverage of transgender issues in serious media is relatively new and has been on the rise. In fact, the amount of stories covering this issue on the major networks and cable news programs in the United States nearly doubled in 2007 compared to 2006 (Hollar, 2007). Despite the fact that this topic is becoming less taboo, and is more frequently treated as socially and politically important, the coverage has still been predominately sensationalistic. For example, the controversy surrounding the pregnancy of a transgender male, Thomas Beatie, in 2008 was headline news for months, while the first-ever congressional hearing on …

Hate Speech Versus Free Speech On College Campuses: Exploring The Viability Of A Constitutional And Sustainable Campus Speech Code, Michelle Epstein Garland

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This article explored the viability of a Constitutional and sustainable campus speech code. Specifically, this article used the website and rating system of the organization Freedom for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as the source for the pilot analysis. Southeastern Conference and Pacific 10 Conference universities were chosen as the sample, and both the overall university and individual codes were examined for violations of free speech. For the purpose of this article, codes that were found to have no violations were presented. This article found that based on the chosen sample, no Constitutional and sustainable campus speech code is currently …

Relationship Between Usage And Age: How Lgbt Individuals Use Online Social Networking Applications For Personal Relationships, Rick Curry

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

A pilot study titled "Relationship Between Usage and Age: How LGBT Individuals Use Online Social Networking Applications For Personal Relationships" that looks at the impact of online social networking applications and how they are changing the way LGBT seek and develop personal relationships.

Stages Of The Diabetes 'Roller Coaster': A Textual Analysis Of Tudiabetes.Org (R), Jodi Lynn Rightler-Mcdaniels, Lisa Metzer

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Online virtual health communities have recently emerged to engage people with common medical conditions and experiences. Tudiabetes.org® is an example of a peer-to-peer virtual health community that provides an online social platform to exchange ideas, fears, knowledge, and support about the diabetes experience. This study explored the communication of parents within this non-moderated virtual health community surrounding the diagnosis of a child with type 1 diabetes by analyzing the dialogue of a particular tudiabetes.orgâ discussion thread. Textual analysis revealed four emerging stages of the narrative, which structurally resembled a “roller coaster” ride: catastrophic, social support, cathartic release, and “new normal.” …

Horatio Alger Is Dying: Has U. S. Tv News Noticed?, Mark D Harmon

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Terms such as “rags to riches,” “Horatio Alger,“ and pulling one’s self up by one’s “own bootstraps” are important to American self-identity. Several analyses, however, show social and economic mobility in the United States is in trouble. It is less frequent than in past generations, the U. S. now trails many nations in measures of movement, and one mechanism of mobility, education, is losing its effectiveness in that regard.

The researcher conducted a content analysis regarding social mobility terms in transcripts from NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, ABC World News, MSNBC and Fox News. By various measures U. S. …

Propinquity And News Coverage: The U.S. As Seen In Latin America, Charles Primm

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Propinquity theory is used to frame a pilot study examining the tone and frequency of U.S. coverage in Latin American newspaper websites. Results of a survey of U.S. news stories appearing in Latin American newspaper websites (n=211) did not find significant correlation between the tone of coverage of the U.S. and the frequency of that coverage. Results suggest, however, that repeating the survey with a larger sample might produce significant findings.

Developing A Definition Of Nonverbal Slang, Timothy E. Martin Jr.

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This abstract explains an attempt to produce a definition of “nonverbal slang” that can be applied as a lens through which to view nonverbal behavior and determine what displays might fit this definition. Establishing a definition can provide additional understanding into the degree to which nonverbal behavior might impact interpersonal interactions both positively and negatively. This paper develops the concept of “nonverbal slang” to assist in filling the current literature gap concerning specific nonverbal display’s influence within human communication and seeks to provide terminology by developing a definition that will promote further research in this area.

Keywords: communication, slang, nonverbal

Verbal Judo Training Module For Law Enforcement: An Ethnographic Perspective, Lorna F. Keathley, Virginia Kupritz, John Haas

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This study examined Verbal Judo non-verbal and verbal communication tactics in a compliance-gaining context between a police officer and an individual who had been stopped by the officer. Verbal Judo emphasizes the use of both verbal and non-verbal communication by the officer with specific discourse structures aimed at the individual to obtain goals in compliance-gaining contexts. Verbal Judo incorporates the principle of nonresistance deflecting the other’s energies to obtain goals within a context. This study determined that Verbal Judo compliance-gaining procedures used in training videos should be tailored by law enforcement to the specific context and type of person ( …

Motherhood As Salvation: The Experience Of Young Appalachian Mothers, Betsy D. Dalton

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

This study explored the meaning of teenage motherhood to young Appalachian mothers using a phenomenological approach. In-depth interviews with 14 mothers between the ages of 18-22 from the southern central Appalachian region were conducted. Findings indicate that the experience of teenage motherhood can be described in terms of filling a void and the pervasive drug culture. Analysis of these findings indicates that the experience of motherhood is characterized by salvation. The salvation of motherhood is shaped by the emotional chasm it fills, as well as the protective barrier it provides between the mother and the drug culture surrounding her. Implications …

Dtc Advertising And Perceived Importance Of Illness: Two-Sided Message And The Moderating Role Of Dtca Skepticism, Ilwoo Ju

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

To better understand consumers' coping mechanisms of DTC advertising and to address socially important health issues, the current study examined whether perceived importance of sleep disorders is influenced by DTC advertising. Two-sided message order and DTCA skepticism were hypothesized as predictors of the perceived importance. The results showed that there is interaction between order effects and DTCA skepticism. Theoretical, practical, and regulatory implications are discussed.

The Effects Of Statistical Information In Pharmaceutical Product Advertising, Ilwoo Ju

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

In the contexts of prescription drug (DTC) advertising, statistical information has been frequently used. However, little is known about how the statistical information affects consumer attitude toward the advertisement and perceived importance of an advertised illness. Based on an experiment, the present study explored the mechanism of consumers' DTC advertising information processing using structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The findings revealed that: (a) the use of statistical information in DTC advertising positively related to perceived message effectiveness; (b) perceived message effectiveness positively related to attitude toward the advertisement and perceived importance of an advertised illness; and (c) message framing (gain …

An Examination Of The European Advertising Standards Alliance: The Relationship Between Uncertainty Avoidance And Children's Online Advertising Regulation Code., Nathan Evans

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

No abstract provided.

Innovative Event Management: Is Your Organization Thriving Or Just Surviving?, Chivonne Marie Hyppolite, Brandon Lamont Jones

Black Issues Conference

"Innovative Event Management: Is Your Organization Thriving or Just Surviving?"- All programming is not effective programming! This presentation will allow participants to critically analyze the structure and effectiveness of their organization. This presentation will address three pertinent domains of student organization function: Leadership, Event Management Strategies and Organizational Branding and offer participant’s innovative ideas to catapult their organization to the next level. The learning outcomes of this presentation will prepare the participant to utilize collaborative relationships to construct a holistic brand, develop innovative leadership strategies and effectively execute events.

The success of your organization stems from your university and community …