Communication Commons^™

Literaturas En Exhibición: Autores-Show Y Posturas Precarias En El Siglo Xxi Hispanoamericano Neoliberal, Sara Cordon Hornillos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The consolidation of neoliberalism, the demands of the market, the importance of the image, the possibilities offered by social media, and the ways celebrity is constructed not only favor but also demand the exhibition of the artist.

This dissertation examines for the first time how twenty-first-century Latin American and Spanish authors with sexual, ethnic, gender, or class identities traditionally excluded from the realm of literary distinction employ self-exhibition to engage with the public, thus redrawing the limits of literature. Reflecting critically on the commodification and manipulation of the contemporary authorial figure, as well as the possibilities of agency that certain …

The Influence Of Disciplinary Background On Peer Reviewers’ Evaluations Of Engineering Education Journal Manuscripts, Kelsey Watts, Gary Lichtenstein, Karin Jensen, Evan Ko, Rebecca Bates, Lisa Benson

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

This is the first of a series of studies that explore the relationship between disciplinary background and the weighting of various elements of a manuscript in peer reviewers’ determination of publication recommendations. Research questions include: (1) To what extent are tacit criteria for determining quality or value of EER manuscripts influenced by reviewers’ varied disciplinary backgrounds and levels of expertise? and (2) To what extent does mentored peer review professional development influence reviewers’ EER manuscript evaluations? Data were collected from 27 mentors and mentees in a peer review professional development program. Participants reviewed the same two manuscripts, using a form …

Building A Community Of Mentors In Engineering Education Research Through Peer Review Training, Karin Jensen, Lisa Benson, Kelsey Watts, Gary Lichtenstein, Evan Ko, Rebecca Bates

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

Peer review of scholarship is critical to the advancement of knowledge in a scholarly discipline. Despite this, scholars receive little or no training in effective and constructive peer review. The process of peer review has been routinely criticized in higher education for lack of quality reviews and reviewers, and reviews that are personal and not constructive. As a discipline, engineering education research (EER) benefits from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives of scholars, and as such relies on peer review of scholarship to generate, interpret, and translate knowledge. Supported by funding through the National Science Foundation, this project is developing, implementing, …

A Word From The Writing Team (August 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Upcoming Workshops
• Writing Opportunity
• Summer's End

Volume 58, Issue 1, Summer 2022 Speaker & Gavel Front Matter

Speaker & Gavel

Front matter and table of contents for Volume 58, 2022 of Speaker & Gavel.

Editor's Letter, Bradley Wolfe

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Letter from the Editor of the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal, Bradley Wolfe, for Volume 45, 2022 issue.

Volume 45, 2022, Communication And Theater Association Of Minnesota Journal, Front Matter

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Front matter and table of contents for Volume 45 (2022) of the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal.

A Word From The Writing Team (July 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Research Support News from Liz D’Angel in the Academic Commons
• Writing Prize Deadline
• Writing Tip: Accountability
• Reminder

Do Book Consumers Discriminate Against Black, Female, Or Young Authors?, Dana B. Weinberg, Adam Kapelner

Publications and Research

The publishing industry shows marked evidence of both gender and racial discrimination. A rational explanation for this difference in treatment of both female and Black authors might relate to the taste-based preferences of book consumers, who might be less willing to pay for books by such authors. We ran a randomized experiment to test for the presence of discriminatory preferences by consumers based on authors’ race, gender and/or age. We collected ratings of 25,201 book surveys across 9,072 subjects on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, making this study the largest experimental study of the book market to date. Subjects were presented with …

International Cross-Media Adaptation: A Case Study Of The Witcher, Alexa Schmidt

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

As consumer media habits further diverge with the introduction of new technologies and social spaces, literature has increasingly been adapted in new mediums. Adaptations of written works have the exposure and visual appeal to draw in a larger audience than the pages of the original would.

This research question is extremely relevant to the shift the industry has made with the introduction of new technologies for cross-media storytelling through video games, film and television. Increasingly, publishers, like Level 4 Press, look for stories that will translate well into a TV series or movie, and cross-media stories and adaptations have been …

A Word From The Writing Team (June 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Exciting News about Biorender, A Simple Tool For Making Great Graphics
• Writing Opportunity
• Writing Retreats
• Quick Reminder

Muslim Fashion Influencers Shaping Modesty In The Twenty-First Century On Social Media, Awa Sanno

Student Theses and Dissertations

The depiction of Muslim women in Western media has been a long-running joke, as they are framed to be oppressed by the burdens of their religion and the hijab. However, Muslim women have used the power of social media to counter that narrative through their large followings as fashion influencers, digital creators, food bloggers, makeup artists, lifestyle bloggers, musicians, and so much more. Specifically, Muslim fashion influencers are changing and redefining the notion of modesty throughout their posted content on social media. Many people in Muslim communities see this redefinition of modesty as a conflict with the "proper" ways of …

Mahalaya: Building Community In The Filipinx Diaspora Through Solidarity Journalism, Casey Ticsay

Master's Theses

Unethical approaches to storytelling in professional journalism continue to shape public discourse around the diverse experiences of Asians and Asian Americans. This paper analyzes the origins and impact of ethnic news media, specifically the rise of Filipino and Filipino American press in the United States, and the ways journalists of color continue to challenge traditional practices of professional journalism that perpetuate anti-Blackness and maintain white supremacy. Filipino and Filipino American newspapers in the early twentieth century provide historical insight into the issues, debates, and conversations transpiring at the time and highlight the community’s ongoing response to the misrepresentations of their …

Artificial Intelligence As A Content Creator In The Publishing Industry, John Huston

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Several methods were used in my research. A literature review was used to define artificial intelligence (AI) in general and in relation to how it’s used in literature today. I also relied heavily on Dr Leah Henrickson’s work on Natural Language Generation (NLG), which discusses authorship and roles between authors and readers.

Several case studies were used in my research. Liam Porr’s Guardian Op-ed was reviewed as his team used humans to edit GPT-3 output for a coherent article, much like I used it in a focus group. The Kimagure Artificial Intelligence Writer’s Project was also evaluated. The writing for …

The Rise Of Xr Storytelling And The Contribution Of Consumer Accessibility, Cost Efficiency, & Intrinsic Value To Feasibility, Sarah Moffatt

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This research assesses the current state of XR (extended reality) publishing and its feasibility within an exceptionally virtual landscape. Feasibility is measured upon the challenges and opportunities posed by accessibility, cost efficiency, demand, and intrinsic value.

Through market analysis of past and ongoing XR storytelling projects, as well as qualitative methods which include industry interviews and public surveys, it has been found that publishers would do well to first adopt augmented reality storytelling methods before venturing further into virtual reality storytelling. Because augmented reality is generally more accessible and cost efficient, its adoption contributes to increased …

An Ipad For Everyone: A Case Study Of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Digital Transition, Madeline Quon

Honors Theses

In a more technology-driven world, the industry of print journalism has been suffering. It has adapted in the past with the invention of the radio and television for broadcast news, but with the internet and social media, print journalism has been losing ad revenue and readers. Because of the advancements of journalism in the digital aspect, several newspapers have shut down over the past 20 years. Other papers changed their business models to make their content more social media oriented.

One newspaper took a more radical approach to not only stay afloat, but also thrive as a paper. The Arkansas …

Finding Their Chrysanthemum: Linguistic Representation In Children's Literature, Marielena Zajac

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Children in America today struggle with finding themselves in the books they read due to societal expectations. From an early age, children are dictated on the correct way to speak and write in “American,” which can leave children and their home languages feeling unseen and dismissed. To help further the conversation and promotion of linguistic diversity in American society, this capstone analyzes dialectal representation in children’s books, with a heavy focus on attitudinal linguistic principles rather than prescriptive mechanics. The secondary research explores current literature and resources that discuss literacy acquisition in adolescents, trends in dialects in America, and childhood …

Book Deserts Of Litlandia: A Case Study Of Book Deserts In The Literary City Of Portland, Oregon In Relation To Book Waste From It’S Largest Independent Bookstore, Megan Jessop

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The goal of this project was to look at book waste from a local independent bookstore, Powell’s Books, in Portland, Oregon and compare local donation and literacy programs—such as Little Free Libraries (LFL), Children’s Book Bank, and programs with the Multnomah County Library (MCL) to see if there were books or print materials that were being thrown away, recycled, and/or turned into pulp that could have been utilized in other ways towards literacy efforts. Through a process of interviews with staff at Portland’s largest local independent bookstore, MCL, a LFL steward, and Children’s Book Bank, as well as analysis of …

A Word From The Writing Team (May 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• News from the OPWPC
• Quick Tip
• Reminder

Media Erasure: A 1904 Lynching In St. Charles, Arkansas, Mary Hennigan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Americans grew increasingly interested in historic racial violence following the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021, select news publications chose to publish apologetic editorials and articles that addressed their failure of inclusive reporting for the last century (Lancaster, 2021; Fannin, 2020). In the theme of acknowledging past mistakes, the Printing Hate project emerged to investigate the power white-owned papers had in influencing lynching incidents in the county (Capital News Service, 2021). The present study examines one Arkansas lynching in 1904 St. Charles. The incident includes the death of 13 Black men. Findings from a content analysis of 70 original …

Human-Machine Communication Scholarship Trends: An Examination Of Research From 2011 To 2021 In Communication Journals, Riley J. Richards, Patric R. Spence, Chad Edwards

Human-Machine Communication

Despite a relatively short history, the modern-day study of communication has grown into multiple subfields. To better understand the relationship between Human-Machine Communication (HMC) research and traditional communication science, this study examines the published scholarship in 28 communication-specific journals from 2011–2021 focused on human-machine communication (HMC). Findings suggest limited prior emphasis of HMC research within the 28 reviewed journals; however, more recent trends show a promising future for HMC scholarship. Additionally, HMC appears to be diverse in the specific context areas of research in the communication context. Finally, we offer future directions of research and suggestions for the development of …

A Word From The Writing Team (April 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Upcoming Workshop
• News from the OPWPC
• Quick Reminder

The Many Moving Parts Behind Brandon Sanderson’S Record-Breaking Kickstarter Campaign, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

The creation and fulfillment of Sanderson’s Kickstarter relies on a crack team managing massive amounts of data as well as all aspects of production. Sanderson had been running a multi-million-dollar, mid-sized publishing company well before his March 1, 2022 Kickstarter shot north of $28 million in two weeks, making it the biggest campaign—for now—in Kickstarter history.

Killer Serials: Amazon’S Kindle Vella, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Can Amazon's Kindle Vella Break Through With Younger Readers? From its inception, Amazon has pushed book publishing toward a digital future that other entertainment industries such as video games and streaming media have been quicker to embrace. Kindle Vella, one of Amazon’s most recent digital programs, is worth watching.

Kindle Vella is a serialized reading experience folded into Amazon’s Kindle app. It quietly launched in July 2021. If it can catch on, it has enormous potential to capture the attention of a new generation of readers and writers already engaging serialized stories in apps like Webtoons and Wattpad--GenZers reading serialized …

Publishing In The Pacific Northwest, Kathi Inman Berens, Rachel Noorda, Nathalie Op De Beeck

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Overview of how 11 Pacific Northwest booksellers survived Covid, and continue to thrive after pandemic lockdowns have lifted. After many consumers shifted to online book buying, what techniques are these book stores using to attract and keep customers?

A Word From The Writing Center (March 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Quick Tip: Inclusivity and Awareness in Writing
• Upcoming Workshop Reminders
• News from the Academic Commons

How Are We Dei-Ing?, Elizabeth Mamo, Hemant Kalia, Richard Alweis

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

No abstract provided.

A Word From The Writing Center (February 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Introduction to Liz Declan
• Upcoming Workshops
• Quick Tip: When to Use Semicolons

Winter 2022

Conversations

Dean's Letter; Remembering Jill O'Brien (1947-2021); Mastering the Art of Professional Communication: A new online master's program helps communications professionals advance their careers; Inclusive Journalism for a Diverse Society: Faculty member Judith McCray aims to deepen the bench of diverse journalists; An Alumna with an Ear for News: Rachel Hinton; Interorganizational Networks for Social Impact: A conversation with Assistant Professor Kate Cooper

Deepfakes, Shallowfakes, And The Need For A Private Right Of Action, Eric Kocsis

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

For nearly as long as there have been photographs and videos, people have been editing and manipulating them to make them appear to be something they are not. Usually edited or manipulated photographs are relatively easy to detect, but those days are numbered. Technology has no morality; as it advances, so do the ways it can be misused. The lack of morality is no clearer than with deepfake technology.

People create deepfakes by inputting data sets, most often pictures or videos into a computer. A series of neural networks attempt to mimic the original data set until they are nearly …