Communication Commons^™

Tools For Nonfiction Developmental Editors, Jacoba Lawson

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

While works of fiction allow for a great deal of flexibility and creativity, they are, for the most part, narratives written for an audience unfamiliar with the characters and world contained within. Nonfiction on the other hand comes in a variety of forms, from narrative nonfiction, to instruction-based texts, to peer-reviewed research. The audience for nonfiction varies more significantly, too, from a general public with no assumed knowledge of a subject to experts in a field wanting to further their skills. Through surveys of contemporary editors and analysis of books and published correspondence from years past, this paper catalogues and …

Regulating Pavement Dwellers: The Politics Of The Visibly Poor In Public Space, Lauren Marie Larin

Dissertations and Theses

Many researchers argue the increasing reliance on sit/lie ordinances to regulate homeless people's use of public space is one in a suite of neoliberal policies that shape the geographies of public space in cities to serve the needs of global capital. However, these policies are developed at the local, not global, level as specific actors make claims in the public sphere that communicatively shape policy formation. Through comparative case study, this research asks, how do different actors, situated in specific local and global contexts, influence the adoption of sit/lie ordinances?

I examine two cases of policymaking in Portland and San …

Each Medium Tells A Different Story: The Effect Of Message Channel On Narrative Persuasion, Nathan Walter, Sheila T. Murphy, Lauren B. Frank, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Limited attention has been given to the medium of story presentation in this process of narrative persuasion. The present study (N = 243) fills this gap by directly comparing narrative involvement across print and audiovisual versions of the same cervical cancer-related story. The mediation analysis revealed that exposure to an audiovisual narrative was associated with higher levels of cognitive and emotional involvement than exposure to the exact same narrative in its printed form. Yet the higher levels of transportation in the audiovisual condition came at a price of enhancing psychological reactance, eliminating the relative advantage of the film narrative.

Media Choice Proliferation And Shifting Orientations Towards News In The United States And Norway, 1995-2012, Eiri Elvestad, Lee Shaker

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Around the world, rapid media choice proliferation is empowering audiences and allowing individuals to more precisely tailor personal media use. From a democratic perspective, the relationship between the changing media environment and news use is of particular interest. This article presents a comparative exploration of citizens’ changing orientations towards local, national and international news in two very different countries, Norway and the United States, between 1995 and 2012. Prior research suggests that more media choice correlates with a decrease in news consumption. Our analysis shows a pattern of increasing specialization in news orientation in both countries. We also find that …

“Metaphor Wars”: Time For A Truce?, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Are metaphorical words and phrases merely clever use (or abuse) of language, or do they tell us something important about human thought and communication? Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), initially proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in 1980, claims that commonplace metaphorical expressions like “rising prices” and “a warm relationship” reflect deep conceptual relationships (e.g. MORE IS UP and AFFECTION IS TEMPERATURE) that shape almost all of human cognition. CMT is supported by the “embodiment hypothesis,” the proposal that ordinary language use and comprehension involves areas of the brain primarily concerned with perception and muscle control (e.g. Barsalou, 1998). These …

The Role Of Ethics Online And Among Social Media Designers, Meredith James

Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design Faculty Publications and Presentations

As communication designers, our roles have changed greatly with the technological advancements of the Internet and social media. With these vastly changing roles are equal (and often problematic) demands on designers to act as ethical interventionists. In specific, designers are more and more frequently finding themselves in roles of arbitration and decision-making surrounding ethical concerns. Such decisions span everything from what is to be considered “allowable content” (breastfeeding, for example) to deciding how our devices respond to crisis (Miner, et al., 2016). I intend to present several case studies of designers placed in authority positions centered around ethics and new …

Narratives Of Native American Women And Tribal Courts: The Framing Of The Violence Against Women Act Of 2013 In Mainstream, Native American, And Tribal Press Coverage, Alesha Marie Sangster

Dissertations and Theses

The Violence Against Women Act is a legislation created to expand more legal rights and services to survivors of domestic violence or intimate partner violence. Frame analysis was used to examine the coverage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 in three genres of press media: mainstream press, Native American press, and tribal press. Based on the media frames produced in the three media genres, the legislation was presented as more of a conflicting or controversial issue in mainstream press through the use of the conflict frame and the "Indian as other" frame. But all news coverage also presented …

The Power Of The Small Press: Entrepreneurial Publishing And Disruption Of The Industry, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to the conglomeration of media and publishing companies in the twentieth century (McCleery, 2007), the size of publishing companies has become more polarized, with a majority of small publishers comprising a small percent of revenue and market share compared to the few, but powerful, larger publishing houses (Publishers Association, ‘UK Book Publishing Industry in Statistics’ 2014). In economics, the polarizing principle asserts that ‘developments at one pole of the corporate/cultural spectrum are often counterbalanced by antithetical innovations at the other’ which has, in the publishing industry, led to ‘the emergence of tiny publishing houses’ at the other end of …

Gender Bias And The Evaluation Of Players: Voice And Gender In Narrated Gameplay Videos, Robin April Crowell

Dissertations and Theses

This study evaluates perception differences of male and female narrators in video game tutorials. Video games have long been considered a masculine pursuit, and because of this, women have endured unpleasant surroundings and interactions in gaming and related communities. With the proliferation of technologies like Twitch and YouTube gaming, gaming is more communicative than ever, increasing potential for problematic interactions. Recent booms in these technologies emphasize the importance of understanding how varying demographics are perceived, as these perceptions influence interactions, potentially limiting the likelihood of women and others' involvement and interest.

Involvement in technology during youth is associated with interests …

Practical Wired Digital Communications Link Analysis, Raymond Matthew Schmelzer

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis deals with the analysis of a Wired High Speed Serial Data Link (PAM2) which is commonly used throughout the data-communications and tele-communications industry. The goal of this study is to build a scalable simulation tool using Matlab that ultimately uses Receiver Bit Error Ratio (BER) as the metric for data link health. This study is also designed to aid in link specification development.

The Matlab and theoretical development is broken up into three sections being Transmitter (TX), Channel (Hs) and Receiver (RX). Realistic noise impairments can be added to each section along the signal path creating signal stresses …

The Impacts Of Microaggressions On The Performance Of Multiracial And Monoracial College Students, Jasmine S. Keith

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This study attempts to contribute to the research on how microaggressions affect performance of multiracial and monoracial college students in both social and academic realms. Microaggressions were explored through online surveys distributed via email to several hundred students. Participants consisted of students over the age of 18 at an urban institution in the Pacific Northwest. Bivariate logistical regression and axial coding were used to analyze participant responses. The first hypothesis for this study is that multiracial college students experience more microaggressions in social settings, while monoracial students experience more microaggressions in academic settings. The second hypothesis is that multiracial students …

The Importance Of Online Peer Relationships During The Transition To Motherhood: Do They Decrease Stress, Alleviate Depression And Increase Parenting Competence?, Bobbie Sue Arias

Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging …

Advocacy Campaign For Women's Reproductive Health And Access On Social Media, Rachel Crist, Jules Montes, Lauren Frank

Student Research Symposium

Advocacy organizations increasingly rely on social media (e.g. Twitter hashtags) to foster issue awareness. Social media platforms can be promising communication channels to reach diverse audiences; however, it is unclear how effective these campaigns are at reaching audience members whose views do not align with the campaign. Using diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework, this study examines the #BirthControlHelpedMe campaign to better understand the response to an advocacy campaign promoted via Twitter. Focus groups were conducted separately for men and women. The moderator led participants in a semi-structured discussion of perceptions of birth control. Participants were then shown example …

525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity In Oregon Trade Publishing?, Alyssa Gnall

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, and whether and how the economic concept of cultural diversity can be useful to publishers committed to increasing diversity in their lists or amongst their staff. Generally speaking, the term “diversity” refers to the social choice to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, sex, class or economic status, etc. In this paper, I will also refer to the economic concept of cultural diversity. In publishing, …

Anarchism In Book Publishing: An Exploration Of Business And Ethics, Alexis M. Woodcock

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The term anarchist business may seem like an oxymoron to some. In fact, the misconception that anarchism precludes any organization at all is rampant, regardless of participation in capitalism. The fact remains that there are anarchist businesses all over, from restaurants to bookstores to record labels, engaging in capitalism while simultaneously opposing it. Publishing is an area of particular interest, with a number of explicitly anarchist presses actually thriving. How do they reconcile their businesses with their ideals? Does their work contradict their ideologies?

We’Ll Want It When We Say We Want It: How The Market Speaks To The Publishing Industry Via Crowdfunding, And Why Publishers Should Listen, Alan Scott Holley

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

With its utilization of an environment as fluid and innovative as the internet, it’s no wonder that the digital revolution is an ongoing phenomenon that is reinvigorated time and time again with no signs of slowing down. As advanced digital technologies and practices are rolled out by developers and embraced by consumers, commercial companies are thrust headlong into a necessitated showing of adaptability, progressiveness, and up-to-the-minute technological fluency. For the publishing industry, these expectations have been met with a slow yet relatively steady adherence—an understandable reaction considering how so many digital innovations appeared at the time to have the express …

This Is Your Brain On Editing: How Digital Tools Affect The Cognitive Processes Behind Copyediting, Megan Doyle

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Copyediting is an important mechanic in developing content, and it has many functions to do so, including mechanical editing, correlating parts, language editing, content editing, permissions, and typecoding. In recent years, copyediting has almost exclusively become a task that is done by digital means, using computers and software to complete via track changes, callout queries, and typing. Although publishing professionals in recent years have shown a trend toward younger age demographics, a significant portion of them are “digital immigrants” using digital technology to do their daily jobs. In order to study digital technology’s effects on copyediting, I analyzed the cognitive …

Publishing Puzzles: Some Implications Of Literary Diffculty For The Editor, Brendan Brown

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The specter of literary difficulty is at bottom the very same as, or a primary aspect of, that which has dogged and driven textual scholars and literary theorists, linguists and philosophers of language, educators, legislators, theologians, and aesthetes—in short, “professional readers” of all stripes—from time immemorial. As such, it carries with it a bevy of unknowns, questions thus far neither satisfactorily answered nor, in many cases, even fully and properly articulated. This likely has a great deal to do with the fact that the term difficulty is and has historically been applied in a variety of senses to a radically …

How To Be In Charge (And Make Authors Do What You Tell Them): An Examination Of Editorial Authority In Letters Written By Trade Fiction And Nonfiction Editors, Emily Goldman

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This paper will introduce and discuss the ways in which six different editors of trade fiction establish their own authority as editors in their developmental letters to their authors. These particular editors edit a wide range of genres, such as literary fiction, adult fantasy and science fiction, middle grade fiction, short story collections, memoirs, and nonfiction. Some are (or have been) editors for big New York publishing houses, and others are part of small, independent presses. One editor is currently a literary agent, and another does freelance editing in addition to working at a publishing house. All six of them …

Dismantling The Gate, Crossing The Threshold: The Promise Of Producerly Paratexts In Building An Innovative, Responsive, And Representative Book Industry, Dory Athey

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Aisha Saeed was the first to use the hashtag that would fuel what was (and continues to be) arguably the first digital campaign to speak loudly and directly to publishers and booksellers about the mis-and underrepresentation of nonwhite, differently abled, and queer populations in young adult and children’s literature. Though Saeed’s original tweet received only eleven retweets and seven likes, two years later, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag is now just a piece of the larger organization that generated more than 333,000 dollars in 2014 (its first year as an organization) and continues to promote large-scale programming in schools, organize festivals, award …

Elevating The Translator: Next Steps In Promoting International Literature, Olenka Burgess

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Enthusiastic readers both inside and outside the publishing industry have lamented the paucity of international literature translated into English. Despite the widely held belief that translated literature doesn’t sell, small presses and literary organizations have emerged over the past decade to take the lead in advocating for more translated literature and more recognition for those who, despite the near impossibility of making a living from their craft alone, continue to spill unfathomable hours into the pursuit of literary translation. In response to this advocacy, media coverage of translated literature has grown considerably, and it is increasingly common to see translations …

Foreign Word Alert, Foreign Word Alert: Rethinking Editorial Approaches To The Italicization Of Foreign Terms, Katey Trnka

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Several style guides dictate that foreign words in running text be set in italics, but those individuals concerned with marginalization are questioning this rule in increasing numbers. With an eye to authorial intent and inclusiveness, is it time to do away with this stylistic dictum wholesale, or are there valid reasons for keeping this convention in play?

Changes In Tone, Setting, And Publisher: Indigenous Literatures Of Australia And New Zealand From The 1980s To Today, Per Henningsgaard

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines four novels written since 1980 by two Aboriginal Australian authors and two Maori authors. Two of the four novels were written near the beginning of this period and feature settings that are contemporary with their publication; The Day of the Dog by Aboriginal Australian author Archie Weller was published in 1981, while Once Were Warriors by Maori author Alan Duff was published in 1990. The other two novels (That Deadman Dance by Aboriginal Australian author Kim Scott and The Trowenna Sea by Maori author Witi Ihimaera) are works of historical fiction written in the last decade. The …

Entrapment As A Threat To Community Peace In The Global War On Terror: An Analysis Of Discourse In Local Press, Priya Kapoor, Adam Testerman, Alex Brehm

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our study tries to understand the phenomenon of Entrapment, which is an outcome of (a) security discourses that prioritize pre-emptive community strategies; (b) the ongoing military initiative of the Global War of Terror (GWOT); and (c) and the increased budgetary convergence of state agencies of the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the military, impacting the legal and court processes that indict “homegrown” terrorists. We offer a critical discourse analysis of the events that led to the arrest and trial of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, covered in local newspapers The Oregonian and The Willamette Week, after …

A Relevance Rule Organizing Responsive Behavior During Projectably Multi-Unit Tellings, Anri Zama

Dissertations and Theses

Research on projectably multi-unit tellings (e.g., stories) has largely focused on their contexts of emergence, beginnings, endings, and uptakes (or lack thereof), rather than on their ‘middles.’ The relatively small literature on such ‘middles’ has focused on different types of responsive behaviors when they do occur (e.g., continuers). However, there is virtually no research on relevance rules that might systematically organize these ‘middles,’ including the production of responsive behaviors (or lack thereof) and the management of intersubjectivity. This thesis describes and defends one such relevance rule: Advisors are strongly accountable for responding – either vocally and/or nonvocally – at each …

Desirable Conversations: Sexuality And Women With Intellectual Disabilities, Neera Malhotra

Dissertations and Theses

The American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD, 2011) assert that individuals with intellectual disabilities, irrespective of gender, have an equal right to learn about and experience their own sexuality. A review of the extant literature indicated that the voices of women with intellectual disabilities on the topic of familial culture, as it relates to sexuality, are rarely included (McCarthy, 1993; Shakespeare, 2000; Siebers, 2012).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the role of familial culture and lived experiences of women with intellectual disabilities, ages 21-35, in understanding their own sexuality. Eight women participated in individual …

Is Scholarship Advancing?: An Analysis Of Fifteen Years Of Framing Research, Joseph Zachary Provencher

Dissertations and Theses

In 2011, Porismita Borah published "Conceptual Issues in Framing Theory: A Systematic Examination of a Decade’s Literature" to shed light on the status of framing research, and attempt to answer several scholars' criticisms of framing research practices (Carragee and Roefs 2004, D'Angelo, 2002, Entman, 1993). Borah argues that framing research has several areas of necessary improvement, and her prescription is for future research to be able to examine specific framing issues or effects, but also be able to connect with broader understandings of framing.

The following content analysis of framing research, conducted between the year 2000 and 2013, seeks to …

Exploratory Study Of The Adoption And Use Of The Smartphone Technology In Emerging Regions: Case Of Saudi Arabia, Fahad Abdulaziz Aldhaban

Dissertations and Theses

Users' acceptance of a new information technology (IT) is considered to be a key determinant factor of its success. Also, studying users' adoption and use of new IT plays an important role in determining users' needs and reducing business risk, especially in industry segments with rapid changes in IT such as Smartphone technology. Such rapid evolution is influencing consumers' behaviors, their daily lifestyle, the manner of conducting their activities and their ways of consuming and using information.

Smartphone technology holds a promising future with an expected global market that could reach US $258 billion by the end of year 2015 …

Check-In Frequency With Friends On Location-Based Social Networks: A Look At Homophily And Relational Closeness, Jacqueline H. Vo

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines factors associated with the frequency with which users of location-based social networks (LBSNs) "check-in" with their "friends." In addition to a variety of control factors (i.e., sex homophily, race homophily, geographic proximity, length of friendship, and "friendship" type, including non-romantic friend, romantic partner, and family), the central factors of interest were users' background and attitude homophily with, and relational closeness to, their "friends." Results demonstrate that relational closeness and "friendship" type (i.e., romantic partner) were significantly, positively associated with "check-in" frequency.

Insights Into The Mental Imagery And Gestural Awareness Of Representational Gestures Produced In Everyday Talk: An Exploratory Study Of Using Participants' Comments As Data, Sue M. Wendel

Dissertations and Theses

To better understand representational gestures used in everyday talk, this study explores the ways participants talk about their own mental imagery and gestural awareness, and how their comments affect analysis. Literature pertaining to representational gestures, mental imagery, gestural awareness, and self-report data provide the theoretical framework for the study's design and implementation. Data is drawn from observations of two video recorded dyads engaged in everyday conversation, and four audio recorded interviews with each participant individually as they viewed and commented on selected video segments in which they had produced a representational gesture. Findings indicate that participants talked about mental imagery …