Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Editors' Introduction, Shane Willson, Rachael E. Gabriel

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

It is with great pride that we present to you the inaugural issue of Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum. Here we have attempted to create an innovative, peer-reviewed space in which people from numerous disciplines, or even those claiming no discipline, can present research, multimedia, and art aimed at furthering the ideals of social justice, broadly defined. Social justice is not a concept owned by the academy, for attempts to create a more just world can come from many professions, or even from no profession at all. By applying the traditionally academic peer-review process to work done by activists, artists, …

The Role Of Computer Mediated Technologies (Cmts) In Scientific Collaboration In Kuwait, Abdalaziz Aldaihani

Doctoral Dissertations

This study focuses on a component of computer-mediated communicated which is labeled computer mediated technologies (CMTs) and is composed of the latest group of internet technology and digital media including social networking, Web2.0, Smartphone and Videoconferencing. The computer mediated technologies (CMTs) have the potential to facilitate scientific collaboration between scientists from north and south.

This dissertation is a quantitative study that investigates the relationship between CMT use and collaboration, CMT use and research productivity, scientific collaboration and research productivity in Kuwait and the digital divide between developing and developed countries. This study answers the following questions: (1) To what degree …

Communication Breakdown: The Introduction Of Several Communication Technology Innovations, The Societal Effects, And The Disconnect In The Way That We Connect., Christopher Vincent Tramontana

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Communicating Via Knoxblab, Roger Kevin Gray

Masters Theses

This study is a Uses and Gratifications based look at motivations surrounding long-term participation in an internet discussion forum and perceived effects of this participation on users’ social lives. Members of the Knoxville, TN based web forum “Knoxblab” were interviewed for the study. Participants indicated that the forum is a tool by which social ties are maintained and developed, and they indicated that membership in the forum community is perceived as having positive effects on social activity. Consistent with traditional Uses and Gratifications Theory, results suggest that participants are motivated by reasons related to information sharing and entertainment, though web …

Circle Park News November 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Projecting A Preferred Identity: How Five Government Contractors Frame Their Corporate Brands Online, Nicole A. Merrifield

Masters Theses

This study expands framing research as a competitive intelligence tool for discerning the message strategies of a company’s competition. A content analysis of five Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ competitor websites was conducted to determine key subject areas and how each competitor positioned their business to a variety of publics. Using Entman (1991, 1993) and Hallahan’s (1999) framing research as the theoretical framework, the study reviews extant literature on corporate use of websites to frame reputations and cultivate relationships. Key findings reveal that ORAU’s competitors are more likely to promote new business, new hires/promotions, awards/honors, and project completions when issuing press …

Circle Park News October 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Circle Park News September 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Complex Adaptive Systems Theory Applied To Virtual Scientific Collaborations: The Case Of Dataone, Arsev Umur Aydinoglu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is the exploration of the emergence of DataONE, a multidisciplinary, multinational, and multi-institutional virtual scientific collaboration to develop a cyberinfrastructure for earth sciences data, from the complex adaptive systems perspective. Data is generated through conducting 15 semi-structured interviews, observing three 3-day meetings, and 51 online surveys. The main contribution of this study is the development of a complexity framework and its application to a project such as DataONE. The findings reveal that DataONE behaves like a complex adaptive system: various individuals and institutions interacting, adapting, and coevolving to achieve their own and common goals; during the process new …

Circle Park News August 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Journalism Under Siege: An Investigation Into How Journalists In Macedonia Understand Professionalism And Their Role In The Development Of Democracy, Katerina Spasovska

Doctoral Dissertations

The financial decline of the traditional media; technological advances and 24/7 news cycles; and the rise of new media are transforming journalism in ways that are seen as problematic and leading towards less professional practices. In Eastern Europe this transformation tops off the still ongoing systemic transformation from communist systems, ongoing since the late 1980s.

This study examines how journalists in Macedonia perceive their profession today, what they consider professional journalism, and how they define their role in Macedonian society and democracy. Macedonian media system is fragmented and financially fragile, providing an opening for political and business influence. Foreign capital …

Content Analysis Of Social Tags On Intersectionality For Works On Asian Women: An Exploratory Study Of Librarything, Sheetija Kathuria

Masters Theses

This study explores how the social tags are employed by users of LibraryThing, a popular web 2.0 social networking site for cataloging books, to describe works on Asian women in representing themes within the context of intersectionality. Background literature in the domain of subject description of works has focused on race and gender representation within traditional controlled vocabularies such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). This study explores themes related to intersectionality in order to analyze how users construct meaning in their social tags. The collection of works used to search for social tags came from the Association …

The New Diplomacy: Devising A Relational Model Of Public Diplomacy, Anne E. Buckle

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Effective Change Communication In The Workplace, Amy Lynn Harp

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective change communication in the workplace by utilizing goal setting theory. Due to potential validity issues with previous organizational communication audit research, a multi-methods study was devised to investigate and construct a new measure for effective change communication in the workplace. Preliminary interviews along with previous research were utilized to construct a survey questionnaire gauging effective change communication in the workplace. Over 1,000 employees at a large, health-services companies participated in the study. The results from the study yield a framework for evaluating effective change communication on individual (i.e. behavior, trait, and …

The Effectiveness Of Dialogic Relationship On The Military-Public Relationship, Sejin Park

Masters Theses

This study investigates the influence of dialogic relationship and organizational cultures on the military-public relationship. College students (N=218) participated in a 2 x 2 (dialogic relationship: high vs. low x organizational culture: military vs. civilian) independent groups factorial quasi-experiment. To induce dialogic relationship, two versions of the U.S. Army internet webpage screenshots were created. Organizational culture was controlled by purposive sampling two groups of military and civilian subjects. The results indicate that dialogic relationship and organizational culture combine exerts an effect on the military-public relationship by increasing perceptions of control mutuality, trust, commitment and communal relationship for civilians but not …

The Effects Of Prior Knowledge And Stealing Thunder On Interpersonal Social Attraction, Kathrine Amanda Williams

Masters Theses

This study first examines the effectiveness of stealing thunder in increasing the target’s liking for the discloser. The study further inspects liking relative to the amount of information known about the discloser prior to their initial interaction. Additionally, the target’s perception of the negativity of the information revealed is observed. 120 subjects participated in an experiment during which they were either exposed to the negative information via the confederate or the experimenter or were not exposed at all. Results, although interesting, were largely inconsistent with the hypotheses. This could have been due to several factors namely, poor experimental execution and …

Circle Park News June/July 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Intention To Comply With Food Safety Messages In A Crisis As A Function Of Message Source And Message Reliability, Karen June Freberg

Doctoral Dissertations

A key role of public relations is to manage crises, unexpected yet unpredictable events that cause emotional and physical harm (Coombs, 2007). Among the challenges in handling a crisis effectively is dealing with the various media in which information is presented. Because the use of social media in a crisis is a relatively new phenomenon, further understanding of the challenges and opportunities of these media is warranted. Part of meeting this challenge requires precise modeling of consumer responses to safety messages. To remedy gaps in our understanding of social media and food safety crisis communications, consumer intent to comply with …

The Role Of Financial Services Advertising On Investors' Decision-Making, Tae Jun Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study assesses the effect of financial services advertising on investors’ decision-making by adopting a two-sided approach: a stimulus-side analysis to document the nature and prevalence of advertising strategies and advertising disclosures being used and a response-side investigation to examine the investors’ processing of and receptiveness to financial services advertising. By performing a content analysis of recently published financial services magazine advertisements, this study provides a contemporary look at whether and how financial services companies inform, persuade, and communicate with average investors. Results from this content analysis method is also used as a foundation to help design realistic test …

The Lived Meanings Of Product Placement In Social Network Sites (Snss) Among Urban Chinese White-Collar Professional Users: A Story Of Happy Network, Huan Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

A phenomenology study reveals the lived meanings of product placement in social network sites (SNSs) among Chinese urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. In total, 25 face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings indicated that participants’ interpretations of product placement were interrelated with the socially constructed meanings of the SNS, participants’ social role of white-collar professionals, and the consumer culture of contemporary Chinese society. In particular, the emerged themes with regard to the shared meanings of the SNS include five dialectic relations: in control/controlled by, dependent/independent, public/private, intimate/distant, and personal/social. …

Circle Park News May 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Privacy Law And The Internet Using Facebook.Com As A Case Study, Amelia D. Grubbs

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Political Communication In A Digital Age: 2011 Tea Party Senators And Social Media, Kaitlyn M. Barrett

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Social Media And Political Campaigns, Kristian Nicole Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Public Confidence In Social Institutions And Media Coverage: A Case Of Belarus, Dzmitry Yuran

Masters Theses

Social scientists agree that public confidence in social institutions is a crucial element in building democratic society. This is especially true for transitional societies including post-communist countries, because the lack of public confidence in newly emerged democratic institutions can interfere with democratic development. Although different theories explaining public confidence in social institutions were developed, these theories ignored the role that mass media play in building public confidence. The goal of this study is to examine the connection between mass media coverage of social institutions and public confidence in these institutions by conducting content analysis of Belarusian newspapers, reviewing the results …

Scoop Magazine Spring 2011, College Of Communication And Information

SCOOP

No abstract provided.

Interface, Spring 2011, School Of Information Sciences

Interface Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Circle Park News April 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

Circle Park News March 2011, College Of Communication And Information

Circle Park News

No abstract provided.

A Relational Approach To Reducing Uncertainty During A Crisis Through The Use Of Mobile Technology, Nicole A. Merrifield Ms.

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

It is estimated that six in ten American adults access the Internet using some form of a wireless device (Smith, 2010). In the years ahead, the United States is expected to reach 100 percent mobile phone penetration by 2013 (“Getting to Know the Mobile Population,” 2009). Recognizing that the ability to access the information network at any time and at any place will continue to expand in the near term, it is incumbent upon public relations practitioners to critically examine the opportunity to reduce uncertainty through a variety of digital applications. In this regard, this paper adopts a relational approach …