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The Pacific Sentinel, November 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Vivian Veidt

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Drones and Robots Battling
• COVID-19
• PSU’s First Homelessness and Housing Insecurity Study
• The Ziplock Diary
• Constitutionally Speaking
• God May Be Dead, but the Christian Left Isn’t
• A True Professional
• Black Is King

Policing Politics: Facebook And A Politician's Right To Free Speech, Adewunmi Adedji, Nisha Hemantha Raju, Jennifer Wagner, Alfonso Herrero, Matthew Johnson

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Advancements in technology are not without their own ethical concerns. Social media technology provides for platforms which allow users to interact and exchange ideas in virtual communities. Of these Facebook is among the leaders of the pack with an estimated 2.7 billion monthly active users globally as of the second quarter of 2020 and estimated 190 million users in the United States as of October 2020.

This wide reach, in combination with low cost for advertisement makes it one of the platforms of choice for Organization to promote their products, services or agenda. This accounts for why 98% of the …

Eco-Publishing In The Book Industry: An Interdisciplinary Case Study With Patagonia Books, Julie A. Collins

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to explore eco-publishing in the book industry with an interdisciplinary approach: I will address eco-trends in human movements and essential industries; provide an overview of the book industry’s recent efforts to determine their environmental impact; and explore eco-publishing in practice by presenting findings from a case study of Patagonia Books featuring an interview with their publisher Karla Olson. This analysis of environmentalism on a broad scale gives us the ability to see how trends outside the industry may affect how we define the goals of publishing, and of particular publishing houses. Patagonia Books is …

Social Media Use, Social Comparison, And Loneliness, Jordan Elena Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

Since its invention, the use of Instagram and its psychological effect on users has been a topic of conversation for researchers. To achieve a better understanding of Instagram's effect on loneliness, it's important to isolate different behaviors on Instagram because of its different attributes as a social media app. Drawing on literature on the emotional effects of social media use and social comparison orientation (SCO), this study takes a closer look at specific Instagram behaviors: broadcasting, interacting, and browsing as well as SCO's relationship with loneliness. A total of 147 undergraduate students attending a university in the Pacific Northwest completed …

Late-Night Political Comedy's Impact On Audience Political Attentiveness, Public Opinion, And Civic Engagement, Molly J. Olmstead

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between late-night comedy news shows and their audiences, in terms of how they impact public opinion, political attentiveness and civic engagement. It looks at how the genre of late night political comedy is not a monolith, and neither is its audiences, and addresses the different ways these two interact with one another. Through an in-depth literature review, this thesis finds that late night political comedy has the most impact on politically inattentive audiences who end up learning about politics inadvertently, and that the jokes featured on these shows actively primes these viewers to hold certain …

The Scicommdiversity Travel Fellowship: The Challenge Of Creating A Sustainable Intervention, Alberto I. Roca, Cynthia-Lou Coleman, Tara S. Haelle, Danielle N. Lee

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Diversifying a community requires outreach, recruitment, and retention which in this case targets the science communication (SciComm) workforce. Establishing a strategy to accomplish such diversification includes designing, launching, and sustaining the new intervention. Here we review the 6-years history of the DiverseScholar SciCommDiversity Travel Fellowship. This intervention was designed to build a community of minority science communicators that would interact with experienced professionals at the ScienceWriters conference. The travel fellowship reduces the financial burden of conference attendance while introducing the fellows to mentors who facilitate networking and knowledge-building during the event’s professional development opportunities. The first two years of the …

So Many Choices: An Experimental Study Of Digital Television Choice, Customization, And Satisfaction, Johanna Lee Hoener

Dissertations and Theses

Internet streaming television is increasingly available in society and is changing the way television is viewed by creating more and more choices for consumers. We no longer watch the same three channels on television, now the consumer controls when, where, and what to watch. Producers of this digital media landscape provide customization mechanisms that consumers also engage in, creating tailored presentations of content.

This study seeks to understand what the large landscape of choice does to our satisfaction in viewing choice and what part customization plays in that satisfaction through an experimental-survey design. Drawing from choice literature which points in …

Social Media In Business-To-Business Marketing And Sales: Review Of Literature & Research Recommendations, Daniel Bello Manjarrez

University Honors Theses

Social media usage in business to business marketing and sales has been steadily rising since its advent in the late 2000s. Similarly, research surrounding social media in this context has increased, with specific focus on its usage, influence, and adoption from B2B marketers and salespeople. This focus has resulted in gaps in the literature, especially when regarding small and medium B2B enterprises. This review of literature provides a systemic understanding of the research landscape by identifying the theory, methods, context, and results of twenty-one peer-reviewed business marketing articles concerning social media. This review also proposes five key recommendations to inform …

The Role Of Perceptual Simulation In L2 Vocabulary Acquisition, Min Zhu, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research in embodied cognition suggests that perceptual simulation may play a role in language comprehension. In this study we use a combination of experimental and qualitative research to explore the potential of simulation exercises to improve acquisition of esoteric literary English vocabulary by English majors at a Chinese University. Through quantitative analysis of the data from one pre-test and two post-tests of the experimental and control groups, and qualitative examination of the student feedback collected from an open-ended survey and face-to-face interviews, we find that most of the students in both conditions have simulations of the learned words whether based …

Spatial Politics And Literacy: An Analysis Of Little Free Libraries And Neighborhood Distribution Of Book-Sharing Depositories In Portland, Oregon And Detroit, Michigan, Desiree Wilson

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The purpose of this research is to interrogate whether Free Little Libraries (LFL), the largest branded book-sharing movement in the world, continues to uphold its currently stated mission to provide book access to communities where book accessibility is low (determined by how many estimated books are in each household). Though the Little Free Library nonprofit has flourished in the decade since it was founded, indicating a fondness and appreciation for the Little Library as an idea and neighborhood ornament alike, critics of the organization have raised multiple concerns about whether the library boxes provide service to those who need them. …

The Pacific Sentinel, June 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• The Shift to Remote Learning
• Added Punishment (Analysis)
• Oregon Reopens
• Remarks from the Author on “Josh Cohen”
• Kill the Death Penalty
• Grateful PowerPoint Grad
• Virtual Commencement Blues
• Postpone Don’t Cancel
• Neoliberalism Is the Disease
• No Time to Change
• Why You Should Bake Sourdough
• Skateboarding During Quarantine
• Virus of Nihilism
• The Trolls Have Killed Cinema… Maybe
• Tiger King for a Day
• Cultural Food Appropriation
• Unions on the Silver Screen

The Representation Of Rape And Sexual Assault Within News Media, Katherine E. Layman

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to observe how the framing of rape and sexual assault within The New York Times has changed from 1980 to 2020. To achieve this study, I conducted a content analysis of 150 New York Times articles divided into three separate time periods and taking 50 randomized articles from each timeframe. The first data set was taken from 1980-84 to provide a baseline to work from. The second set is from 1993-97 to encompass significant legislative changes about sexual violence. The final data set is from 2016-2020 and provides the most recent conversation about rape …

Developing A Conceptual Framework For Research On Social Media And Political Polarization, Audrey C. Sanders

University Honors Theses

Americans in 2020 live in a time of unprecedented political polarization. Scholars often study this trend of increased polarization in conjunction with the use of social media platforms, or social networking sites (SNSs). Despite a nearly twenty-year existence, however, the discourse community surrounding the relationship between SNS use and political polarization has yet to develop past a scattered and largely theoretical body of literature. What follows is a description of the current state of the literature followed by a description of a conceptual framework scholars can use when approaching the field and designing their own research in order to make …

Workplace Motivation: Addressing Telework As A Mechanism For Maintaining Employee Productivity, Kaitlyn Fujii

University Honors Theses

This research seeks to identify social and psychological factors that affect satisfaction levels of employees. The thesis suggests teleworking as a renewed tool for communicating and executing work in organizations; and moreover, demonstrating how telework systems can motivate millennial and gen-z workers to be productive. The main factors identified for said analysis have been determined through the study of business and academic literature about workplace culture and how it is changing. Such research investigated the differences between baby boomers, millennials and gen-zs, and furthermore how providing employees with the option to participate in telework may enhance their output. To make …

The Effects Of Instagram Influencers And Appearance Comparisons On Body Appreciation, Internalization Of Beauty Ideals And Self Esteem In Women, Juliane K. Bauer

University Honors Theses

The current study investigated how exposure to thin bodies on different (social) media platforms affect body appreciation, internalization of beauty ideals, and self-esteem in female and non-binary participants. The participants (N=116) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exposure to content from a) Instagram influencers, b) models in magazines, or c) peers. Participants completed an online survey, answering questions about their feelings towards the women depicted in the media content as well as appearance comparison tendencies, body appreciation, self-esteem, internalization of body ideals, and BMI. Overall, significant differences between groups were found for the internalization of body …

The Role Of Marketing Education In Reactions To Advocacy Advertising, Tobin Carlberg

University Honors Theses

The present research aims to explore whether marketing education creates a positive or negative reaction towards advocacy advertising in general. To test this, consumers with varying levels of marketing education were either interviewed or surveyed to gauge their level of persuasion knowledge, advertising appreciation, and overall reactions to advocacy advertising. Thus, a combination of qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (survey) methods were employed. Interview results suggested that those with greater marketing education held more favorable attitudes toward advocacy advertising, and survey results illustrated a strong correlation between those with more marketing education and one’s appreciation for advocacy advertising, which influenced positive …

Frequency Of Limited English Proficient (Lep) Patient Visits And Language Resources: An Assessment Of Rural Oregon's Health Centers And Working With Lep Communities, Gabriel I. Lehrburger

University Honors Theses

Persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) can face barriers when seeking health care. Rural communities often have reduced access to some health resources. However, little is known about how rural communities meet the language needs of their LEP populations. A cross-sectional survey and interview were designed and sent to managerial staff in rural health centers around the state of Oregon. During the months of January – March 2020, survey and interview data were collected to assess the relationship between frequency of LEP patient visits and available language resources in rural Oregon. The study also investigated staff perceptions when working with …

Ethics And True Crime: Setting A Standard For The Genre, Hazel Wright

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

True crime is a genre that has existed for centuries, adapting to social and literary trends as they come and go. The 21st century, particularly in the last five years, has seen true crime explode in popularity across different forms of media. As the omnipresence of true crime grows, so to do the ethical dilemmas presented by this often controversial genre. This paper examines what readers perceive to be the common ethical problems with true crime and uses this information to create a preliminary ethical standard for true-crime literature.

A comparison of the ethical concerns raised in scholarly sources with …

Identifying And Connecting With Diverse Sff Readers, Denise Morales Soto

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Science fiction and fantasy is one of the most abundant genres today, projected to gross $590.2 million in the adult fiction market in the year 2020. However, despite its growing popularity and its large reader base, it still predominantly caters to white men; something that could be detrimental to the industry. This paper aimed to show how science fiction and fantasy (SFF) publishers can learn more about their non-white reader demographic and how they can potentially increase their interaction with their diverse audiences. I conducted a study of social media interaction by compiling Twitter posts over the course of four …

Beloved And The Water Dancer: A Longitudinal Study Of Book Reviews From 1987 And 2019, Tiffany Watson

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

There is a trail of profoundly pessimistic opinions on the state of book reviews and critics from Lorentzen to Hardwick to Marshall and McCarthy to Poe to Pope.

In earlier drafts, I tapped into that same despair. I considered calling this essay "The Death of the Book Reviewer". I must admit I was committed to the allusion more than to the truth of such a statement. Because, as I read each essay which laid out the faults of the then most-recent form of book reviewing, I came to the conclusion that if the book reviewer is to die, it is …

The Pacific Sentinel, May 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Ongoing Crisis in Yemen
• Coronavirus Updates
• Squashing Coronavirus Will Take Time
• There Is No “Chinese Virus”
• An Unequal Pandemic
• Do Not Go Gently Into That Pandemic
• The Coronavirus Outbreak Reveals the Flaws of Our Social Safety N
• Language, Thought, Freedom, and the Soul
• Stop Going on Twitter
• Crocheting COVID-19
• Isolation in the Time of Coronavirus
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review
• Mysteries, Wonder Boys, and Other Phenomena

Pottermore, A Case Study: What Publishers Can Learn About Developing Interactive Transmedia In The Post-Web Age, Megan Crayne

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

15 years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling’s magical world would be transformed into an interactive, playable website called simply Pottermore. It included all the elements that dominate successful interactive transmedia: exclusive narrative content that brought readers into the storyworld, spaces for members to create and build virtual communities, interactive gameplay, and additional forms of transmedia available for purchase. Then in 2015, Pottermore Publishing launched a major redesign of Pottermore in the face of declining eBook and audiobook sales.

By comparing and contrasting the three versions of Pottermore (Old, New, and now Wizarding …

A Major Motion Picture Or Just A Picture? An Analysis In Movie Tie-Ins Vs. Original Cover Art, Vivian Nguyen

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

It has been believed that the needs of consumers who are primarily readers versus moviegoers greatly differ; those who are readers are more likely to purchase a book that features the original cover art, while those who are mostly moviegoers gravitate toward movie tie-in covers. This paper examines the accuracy behind that belief by calculating the number of book sales from NPD BookScan, as well as collecting survey data from participants across all reading activity levels.

Analysis revealed that though there is a slight difference in amount of preference based on reading group, overall participants overwhelmingly preferred the original cover …

Lifecycles Of Digital Files And Staff Labor At Ooligan Press In Portland, Oregon, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This Sidebar is an overview of the human process of creating, sorting, storing and preserving digital files in the lifecycle of one book made by Portland State University's Ooligan Press. Ooligan is a teaching press staffed by students pursuing master's degrees in the Department of English.

The Pacific Sentinel, April 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Rolling Back Water Protection
• Relatively Speaking
• Oregon Responds to Coronavirus
• The Case Against Joe Biden
• Sounds Terrible
• Views on the Decline of Civilization
• An ASMRticle
• In Defense of Radicalism
• nîpawistamâsowin: The Boushie Family Stands Up
• Sunless Shadows Complicates the Murderess
• Martin Eden’s Class Struggle
• The Quiet Compassion of The Good Place
• Portland’s First eSports Bar Creates Community

The Pacific Sentinel, March 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter From the Editor
• Safe Together?
• Vaccination: Spreading Misinformation Spreads Disease
• Impeachment? What Just Happened?
• Vote Local
• Under the Red Lights
• Homeschool Pride
• The Utopia of Animal Crossing
• Not Too Cold to Canvas for Bernie
• The Top 5 Shoegaze Albums of 2019
• Nick Fish’s Untimely Death and Enduring Legacy
• Harry Styles Is a Mess
• Dump Those Dumplings in My Mouth
• The Real Horror of The Turning is Its Disappointing Story

The Pacific Sentinel, February 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Putting a Stop to PPOP?
• Portlanders Say "No War With Iran"
• Hospitals Penalized for Readmissions
• Dying Young
• Flower Power
• "Take a Nap!"
• Making People Homeless: Our Country's Collective Shame
• Draft Dodging: My New Favorite Sport
• A Century of Socialism
• Spoiler Alert Alarmism
• Mo Troper Delivers in New Album

The Pacific Sentinel, January 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Study Determines How Measles Destroys the Immune System
• Another Police Shooting: A Whose Fault WHODUNNIT?
• (News) Portlanders Join Nationwide Rallies to Impeach and Remove Trump
• (Opinion) Reconstructing America
• The Uyghurs: A Fading Chapter
• Chickens Are for Hugging
• The Myth of Vegan Virtuosity
• Stop Saying "Be Grateful for What You Have"
• Who Would Make a Baking Challenge Like That?! Zumbo Would.
• Best of 2019 Staff Picks
• Baby Ketten Finds Its Forever Home
• (Satire) How to Deal With the Crushing Weight of Familial Rejection Next Holiday Season

To Disclose Or Not To Disclose? Self-Disclosure Of Mental Health In The Workplace, Samantha Margaret Reynolds

Dissertations and Theses

When making the decision to disclose a mental illness, individuals may be met with a number of factors that impact disclosure. This study examines the relationship between self-stigma, psychological safety, social support and self-disclosure of mental illness in the workplace. The present study surveyed 756 participants and found a positive relationship between stigma and self-disclosure as well as a positive relationship between social support and self-disclosure. For work outcomes, there was a negative relationship between both job satisfaction and productivity in relation to self-disclosure. This study potentiates the antecedents and consequences of self-disclosure of mental illness and how it impacts …

The Pacific Sentinel, December 2019, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Making Oregon Count
• Sandwich Ministry
• Racist Propaganda at PSU
• Perils of Commuting
• Pricey Parking
• Further Thoughts on Phrases
• Merry Krampus
• Festival Highlights
• Pop up Readings
• Impact of YA on Teens
• Deep River
• Hard Conversations
• Portland Review & Ooligan Press
• Schnitzer Museum
• Exquisite Creatures
• Giant Poop
• 3 From Hell