Communication Commons^™

The Portrayal Of Teen Pregnancy In The Tv Series "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager", Erin Lovell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the current study was to investigate the way teen pregnancy is portrayed in Seasons 1 and 2 of the television drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Framing theory and social cognitive theory were used as guiding frameworks for exploring the way the main character’s pregnancy was presented and the way this presentation may influence the ideas and behaviors of viewers. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to examine portrayals in the first 23 episodes. Results indicated that teen pregnancy was portrayed in five major ways: as Dramatic, as Identity, as Manageable, as Transformative, and as …

A Tumultuous Tenure: The Presidency Of Lyndon Baines Johnson., Michael Paul Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a work that focuses on how significant the press was to the success and failure of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. In the thesis, three aspects of the Johnson years are analyzed. The first chapter discusses the media's portrayal of Lyndon Johnson during the presidential campaign of 1964. The second chapter is an analysis of how the press reported on President Johnson concerning the issue of civil rights. The third chapter dissects the media's perception of Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam conflict. The primary research used in the thesis is a culmination of polls, editorials, personal letters, and …

Residential Broadband Access For Students At Walters State Community College., Mark A. Hurst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the availability of internet access for students attending Walters State Community College during the spring semester 2010. In particular, it is unknown to what degree broadband internet access is available in the counties that Walters State considers the service area of the college.

The research was conducted during the spring semester 2010 including the months February, March, and April of 2010. Data were gathered by surveying currently enrolled students of the college. Twelve percent of the population responded to the study. The survey instrument covered the areas of demographics, Internet connection type …

From The Sacred Canopy To The Civic Canopy: Social Transformation Through Dialogue, Collaboration, And Civil Society, William K. Fulton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American creed of e pluribus unum--out of many, one--has proven to be an elusive aspiration for societies throughout history. Research suggests that as the diversity of a community increases, its stores of social capital decline. Yet, there exists a growing body of evidence that suggests under certain conditions, patterns of inclusion and collaboration are not only possible but predictable. This project explores theory on effective communication practices, grounded in Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action, as well as research on effective group interaction to suggest that certain communicative capacities and collaborative processes that successfully face the challenge of e …

Our Health Matters: Promoting The Health Of Sexual Minority Women In The New Media Landscape, Brenda Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The shifts occurring in the mediascape and the field of public health offer new opportunities for promoting the health and wellness of sexual minority women. As a population that has historically been underserved by the healthcare system, sexual minority women face multiple barriers to achieving positive health outcomes. They are often less likely to access preventive healthcare services and more likely to engage in risky behaviors that are detrimental to health than heterosexual women. Despite the significant health disparities among sexual minority women, studying this population has not been a priority in health research and there is little research-based evidence …

Unfiltered?: A Content Analysis Of Pro Athletes' "Twitter" Use., Justin A. Shockley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As new media grow, so do the users who navigate the virtual world. People and organizations are forced to adapt in order to stay relevant in a technologically driven marketplace. The sports world has been changed drastically because of new media. Athletes no longer communicate with the general public solely through traditional media outlets such as newspapers. Social networking sites such as Twitterallow athletes to directly communicate with mass audiences. This direct communication raises several questions with regard to dynamics of communication and uses of Internet portals. A content analysis examined professional athletes' "Twitter" posts to help …

Vignetwork: An Exquisite Corpse Network Of Short Films, David Scott Calhoun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vignetwork (www.Vignetwork.com) is the name for an online system of interconnected short films that comes from the combination of the terms vignette and network. By developing Vignetwork as an experiment in narrative structure, it is possible to analyze what a hypertext is and what it means as a tool, environment, and model for understanding the world. By comparing it to various other films, projects, and ideas, Vignetwork emerges as a parable for how individuals define themselves in a shared, crowded world.

Refashioning Old Clothes: Secondhand Fashion, Meaning, And Liquid Modern Consumption, Keeley M. Buehler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a critical look at consumption in liquid modernity as it plays out in secondhand shops. Interviews with secondhand shop owners and shoppers demonstrate that secondhand fashion has the potential to promote individuality and foster relationships, ultimately encouraging a reflexive approach to consumption. It also becomes clear that secondhand shoppers are more concerned with how they consume than what they consume. Secondhand shoppers situate how they approach consuming as a facet of their identity that qualifies them as expert shoppers. In addition, shoppers are aware that how they use secondhand fashion is an opportunity for individuality. Shop owners …

Dogs And Technology: Our Most Beloved Companions In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century America, Claire V. Bow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the suburban rush and steep rise in household technological devices in the mid-twentieth century, Americans have drawn apart from each other, a shift that has coincided with a rise in both dog ownership and the adoption of handheld mobile devices. This paper argues that these phenomena, which are both ubiquitous and intimate in many American households, reflect one of the most basic and static human needs: the need for emotional connection. Furthermore, it is the unique combination of canine and digital elements that replace human-to-human social networks; networks that were once both literally and figuratively tightly drawn. In the …

Ethical Elitism: A Burkean Analysis Of The Rhetorical Construction Of A Moral Persona In The First Term Of President George W. Bush, Veronica Lynn Koehn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On November 4, 2004, President George W. Bush won re-election. According to exit polls, a majority of people who voted for Bush over his opponent, Senator John Kerry, did so because they believed that Bush was the “moral values” candidate. In this dissertation, I assess the moral persona that the President rhetorically constructed during his first term in office. To do so, I utilize Kenneth Burke‟s cluster and pentad tools to analyze Bush‟s statements on embryonic stem cell research, 9/11 and the ensuing War on Terror, and same-sex marriage, three issues that the elite press explicitly identified as being “moral …

Mercy Mercy Me (The Media Ecology): Technology, Agency, And "Cleavage" Of The Musical Text, Arthur J. Bamford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores changes that occurred in popular music during the 1960s and early 1970s through case studies involving three significant albums released in 1971 and 1972: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, and Stevie Wonder's Talking Book. These albums deserve attention particularly because, as this thesis argues, existing research on the cultural significance of popular music has focused largely on the periods before or after the 1970s and research on music-making technologies has focused largely on white artists or groups from the late 1960s. Addressing this blind …

Hamlet From The Stage., David Blair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hamlet From The Stage is a video production designed to be an extra feature on the DVD video of the stage production of Hamlet, performed by the Division of Theatre and Dance at East Tennessee State University, and filmed by the Department of e-Learning during the Spring Semester of 2009. Hamlet From The Stage is a professional interview style video package of the cast of Hamlet designed to help inexperienced collegiate actors learn some useful tools when approaching a Shakespearean audition or performance. This video package represents over eleven months of production: concept, writing, set design and studio setup, interview …

Exploring The Lower Third: The Use, Innovations, And Future Of Snipes In The U.S. Television Industry., Aaron M. Sharp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital video recorders have given a growing number of viewers the ability to skip television commercials. In an effort to combat ad-skipping, television providers and advertisers are looking at ways to embed advertising into the video content; one way this can be accomplished is with graphic overlays known as snipes. Little is known about how content providers use snipes and what research they have conducted. This study is qualitative and uses long telephone interviews with 8 respondents from various cable television network and broadcast affiliate stations; examining the characteristics of innovation, as found in Rogers's (1995) diffussion of innovation theory. …

Exploring Brand Personality Through Archetypes., Candice Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though brands are created and maintained using many different management strategies, market and academic research has offered evidence that brands presenting the strongest personalities are more likely to perform better and resonate longer with consumers. This paper examines the components of brand personality using connections between contemporary branding and 13 classic archetypes. The study also discusses the life cycle of the brand, including development of brand personality and achievement of iconic status in conjunction with archetypal marketing. The research of Faber and Mayer (2009) is the basis for an analysis measuring participant attitudes toward popular brands by matching them with …

The "Oprah Effect": A Content Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Toni Morrison And How The Coverage Changed Post-Oprah., Mariah J. Childress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study analyzes the way in which Toni Morrison, an established author, was covered by U.S. newspapers in the year before and year following her selection for Opraha's Book Club. The content analysis method was used in the research, and the results were used to test 6 hypotheses and 6 research questions.

The results indicated that there was a significant increase in the total number of mentions of Toni Morrison in the year after her inclusion in Opraha's Book Club. The overwhelming trend that was seen in all variable comparisons was that while there were obviously more mentions of …

Unfulfilled Potential : A Case Study Of Traditional News Media And The Internet., Brenna Loraine Angel 1984-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Internet offers a tremendous opportunity for traditional media to expand and/or enhance news stories. This thesis is an exploration of the convergent journalism practices of three news organizations in a medium-sized market. It employed content analysis and in-depth interviews to compare the news stories of a newspaper, television station, and radio station with content on each organization's Internet website. While the three media organizations in this case study had different approaches to convergent journalism, they each utilized some type of multimedia technique on their websites including slideshows, videos, audio, hyperlinks, and reader interactivity. For the most part, however, online …

Black And White On Black: Whiteness And Masculinity In The Works Of Three Australian Writers - Thomas Keneally, Colin Thiele, And Patrick White., Matthew Israel Byrge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

White depictions of Aborigines in literature have generally been culturally biased. In this study I explore four depictions of Indigenous Australians by white Australian writers. Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972) depicts a half-caste Aborigine's attempt to enter white society in a racially-antipathetic world that precipitates his ruin. Children's author Colin Thiele develops friendships between white and Aboriginal children in frightening and dangerous landscapes in both Storm Boy (1963) and Fire in the Stone (1973). Nobel laureate Patrick White sets A Fringe of Leaves (1976) in a world in which Ellen Roxburgh's quest for freedom comes only through …

Authenticating Người Mỹ Gốc Việt: Vietnamese Americans And The Struggle For Identity, Jennifer Huynh Thi Anh Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a critical investigation of the politics of identity among the U.S. diasporic Vietnamese community, in particular, the discourse of authenticity that has been prevalent in the community and its (in)adequacy as a means of displacing racialization and othering as a minoritized community. Using a critical phenomenological approach, the study consisted of interviews with 14 Vietnamese subjects currently living in the U.S. whose family heritage(s) are traceable, in part or in whole, to Vietnam and/or who are racially marked as bearers of Vietnamese culture. A thematic analysis of the interviewees' personal stories uncovered three ideological challenges to authenticating …

Fostering Global Security: Nonviolent Resistance And Us Foreign Policy, Amentahru Wahlrab

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprehensively evaluates, for the first time, nonviolence and its relationship to International Relations (IR) theory and US foreign policy along the categories of principled, strategic, and regulative nonviolence. The current debate within nonviolence studies is between principled and strategic nonviolence as relevant categories for theorizing nonviolent resistance. Principled nonviolence, while retaining the primacy of ethics, is often not practical. Indeed, most nonviolent movements have not been principled, or solely principled. Strategic nonviolence is attractive because it does not require any individual or group to believe in a particular faith or ethical tradition. However, strategic nonviolence is problematic as …

Theorizing Ambivalence In Ang Lee's Transnational Cinema: The Discourse Of Chinese Identity Between The Local And The Global, Chih-Yun Chiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using ambivalence as a theoretical framework, this study examines Ang Lee's cinematic discourse of Chinese identity, which is co-constructed with the audiences from different cultural communities. I focus on Ang Lee's transnational films Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution as my two case studies. By analyzing the audience discourse from Taiwan, Mainland China, and overseas Chinese communities, I am able to conceptualize their reactions as communicative moments that co-construct the meaning of the film text. I suggest that ambivalence is a self-representational strategy for the ethnic "Other," who is historically denied access to representation, to contest and subvert the …

Secrets In Plain Sight: Institutional Covert Discrimination, Jacquelynn Suzette Mcdaniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While dominant national P-20 narratives circulate a discourse of the near achievement of racial equity post Brown v. Board of Education, there remains a large gap between the experiences of people of color and the official record of their inclusion and access. Organizational self-analysis of racial disparities in education often attribute undeniable discrimination to the micro-level performances of individuals; claiming micro-aggressions, lack of training, political/personal conflict, or ignorance. When these reasons cannot fully explain gross inequity; organizations turn to society's socio-economic disparities and mirrored racial realities within the country as instructive on the inevitable realities of racism within schools.

A …

Moving From A Textbook To Facebook College Students' Motivations For Using Social Networking Sites In Education, Heather J. Halter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined college student motivations for using social networking sites for educational purposes. Motives were examined through the uses and gratifications approach. If we can determine student motivations for using social networking sites, perhaps we can determine a way to successfully implement social networking sites into the classroom. By adding the concept of satisfaction, we can also determine if students will use the sites again. If students are satisfied with educational social networking site use, they will return to these sites for educational purposes again. Data was collected by giving a questionnaire to undergraduate students that assessed social networking …

Jealousy And Attachment 2.0: The Role Of Attachment In The Expression And Experience Of Jealousy On Facebook, Megan Cole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this research was to investigate how people use Facebook within the context of their romantic relationships from an attachment theory perspective. In the present study, a convenience sample (n = 179) completed an online survey with questions about Facebook use, attachment style, uncertainty-related behaviors, jealousy, relationship satisfaction and commitment. Results indicate that 1) there is a positive correlation between jealousy and Facebook use; 2) also, there is a positive correlation between jealousy and the time an individual spends viewing their partner's profile; 3) further, jealousy is positively related to uncertainty-reducing behaviors. Taken together, these results support …

An Analysis Of Daily Newspapers In Mississippi That Charge For Online Content, David Hopper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines seven daily newspapers in Mississippi that charge for content on their websites. The papers analyzed include the Vicksburg Post, Greenwood Commonwealth, Columbus Dispatch, Starkville Daily News, Daily Times Leader, Herald and Oxford Eagle. The thesis discusses the pay models used by each paper's website, the reasons for switching to a pay site from a free site and the results received thus far. Numbers include the number of online subscribers and the number of hits to each website. The national debate over paid versus free content is discussed. Literature on the subject is reviewed.

A Web 2.0 Strategy For The Meek School Of Journalism And New Media, Lauren Zimmerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper explains the evolution of the web from a "read only" format to a "read and write" format in which users generate content also. Using the components of a Web 2.0 platform, such as blogging, social networking, and podcasting, a strategy for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media is proposed. This strategy aims to help recruit new students to the school as well as inform current students about events and news. Recommendations included in the paper will discuss specifically how the meek school of journalism can adopt a Web 2.0 strategy with the assistance of its faculty, …

Interactive Text-Image Conceptual Models For Literary Interpretation And Composition In The Digital Age, Beth Nixon Weaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on text-image conceptual models for literary interpretation and composition in the digital age. The models investigate an interactive blend of textually-based linear-sequential approaches and visually-based spatial-simultaneous approaches. The models employ Gestalt-inspired figure-ground segregation models, along with other theoretical models, that demonstrate the dynamic capabilities of images as conceptual tools as well as alternate forms of text. The models encourage an interpretative style with active participants in openended, multi-sensory meaning-making processes. The models use the flexible tools of modern technology as approaches to meaning-making with art strategies used for research strategies as well as a means to appreciate …

Alternative Weekly And City Magazine Under One Roof: Contemporary Media, Inc.'S “Memphis Flyer” And “Memphis” Magazine, Cory Taylor Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the media of alternative weekly publications through a case study of the Memphis Flyer and its relationship with sister publication Memphis magazine, both under the umbrella of Contemporary Media, Inc. History of the publications, targeted demographics and business models will be taken into account to answer proposed research questions. The publications prominence in local media as well as their relationship to the traditional city paper, The Commercial Appeal, is recognized, along with the company's plans for adaptation to new trends in online journalism.

Designing For Multicultural And International Audiences: Creating Culturally-Intelligent Visual Rhetoric And Overcoming Ethnocen, Bridget Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various cultures interpret visual rhetoric differently; therefore, technical communicators must adjust their rhetoric accordingly by creating effective visual rhetoric for their international and multicultural audiences. Although there is a great deal of research in the field regarding how to create effective visual rhetorical rhetoric, this research often fails to take into international and multicultural audiences into consideration. Many visual rhetoric solutions proposed in technical communication involve 'catch all' approaches that do little to communicate to people of non-Western cultures and can even serve to offend or confuse international and multicultural audiences. These solutions are generated by a globalization mindset, but …

A Content Analysis Of Elite U.S. Newspapers' Coverage Of Iran, 1979 And 2005, Melissa Kamal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a quantitative content analysis of the New York Times and Washington Post coverage of Iran during the period surrounding the Ayatollah Khomeini's ascension to power in 1979 as well as the period surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election in 2005. The results showed that coverage of Iran in the elite American print media as it related to terror was higher in the period after Khomeini came to power and also in the period after Ahmadinejad's election than it was in the period immediately preceding their respective ascensions. The results also showed that there was more coverage of Iran as …

Source Representation And Framing In Childhood Immunization Communication, April Raneri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has indicated a strong interest in knowing who is being represented and how information is being represented in the communication about childhood immunization. This study uses a two-part analysis to look at source representation and framing in childhood immunization communication. A quantitative analysis of articles from the New York Times and USA Today were examined for their source representation, their use of fear appeals, through the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM), and the use of frames, through the application of Prospect Theory. A qualitative semiotic analysis was conducted on 36 images that appeared on www.yahoo.com and www.google.com to find …