Communication Commons^™

Bias In The Network Nightly News Coverage Of The 2004 Presidential Election, Stephen Arthur Shelton

Theses Digitization Project

Examines the issue of media bias in favor of the Democratic Party during the 2004 Presidential Election. To examine the most far reaching form of media in the United States, this study consisted of the three major television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and their weekday nightly newscasts during the entire month of October 2004. Emerging themes and strategies were compared to a study conducted at Sonoma State University of the year's most underreported yet newsworthy events. Results of the study indicate that no evidence exists to support the notion of media bias in favor of the Democratic Party in the …

Black And White And Read All Over: An Analysis Of Narratives In The O.J. Simpson Murder Trial, Martin Larry Lastrapes

Theses Digitization Project

The thesis examines the O.J. Simpson murder trial and analyzes the racial narratives that affected its outcome and the way it is perceived by the American public. By examining four books about the trial written by lawyers who served on the case, the analysis focuses on how race functions within each of the reconstructed narratives, as well as within the framework of the U.S. criminal justice system. The author argues that racial narratives affect how and why people can see the same event differently, a prime example of which is the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Representations of Mark Fuhrman, his …

Social Issues In America, Stephen D. Cooper

Communications Faculty Research

One of the more contentious issues in social science at this time is the question of media bias. Both the scholarly and popular literature are thick with writings on this topic, yet for all the interest in it and work devoted to it we are far from a consensus on how media bias can be defined, conceptualized, or researched. Ironically enough, many writings on the subject of media bias do take the position that the news content distributed to the public fails, in one respect or another, to accurately and fairly represent real events, issues, personalities, and situations. Studies differ …

Access And Resilience: Analyzing The Construction Of Social Resilience To The Threat Of Water Scarcity, Ruth Langridge, Juliet Christian-Smith, Kathleen A. Lohse

All UNF Research

Resilience is a vital attribute that characterizes a system’s capacity to cope with stress. Researchers have examined the measurement of resilience in ecosystems and in social–ecological systems, and the comparative vulnerability of social groups. Our paper refocuses attention on the processes and relations that create social resilience. Our central proposition is that the creation of social resilience is linked to a community’s ability to access critical resources. We explore this proposition through an analysis of how community resilience to the stress of water scarcity is influenced by historically contingent mechanisms to gain, control, and maintain access to water. Access is …

The Presentation Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Information In Canadian Midwifery Care, Pamela J. Mckenzie, Tami Oliphant

FIMS Presentations

Abstract: This paper uses discourse analysis to consider midwives’ and pregnant women’s discussions of conventional and complementary and alternative medicine interventions for inducing labour. Participants distinguished between “natural” and “medical” methods and used information sources based on both biomedical evidence and women’s experience to justify and challenge authority claims. Résumé : Cet article utilise l’analyse du discours pour examiner les conversations des sagesfemmes et des femmes enceintes au sujet des interventions en médecine traditionnelle, douce et alternative pour assister l’accouchement. Les participantes ont fait la distinction entre les méthodes « naturelles » et « médicales » et ont utilisé des …

Critical Theory And Information Studies: A Marcusean Infusion, Ajit K. Pyati

FIMS Publications

In the field of library and information science, also known as information studies, critical theory is often not included in debates about the discipline’s theoretical foundations. This paper argues that the critical theory of Herbert Marcuse, in particular, has a significant contribution to make to the field of information studies. Marcuse’s focus, for instance, on ‘technical rationality’ as a tool of domination in modern capitalist society is a useful construct for understanding how discourses of information technology are being used to perpetuate modernist notions of information and capitalist logics of consumption. It is argued here that critical theory theory and …

Ua77/1 Wku Spirit, Wku Alumni Relations

WKU Administration Documents

WKU alumni magazine. Contents:

• Society of 1906 Honor Roll
• Wilkerson, Martha. Thank You Gretchen Niva!
• Special Needs Trust Commits $750,000 for Clinical Education Complex
• 2 WKU Students Win Hearst National Championship – Will DeShazer, Brenna Gallegos
• WKU Regents Approve Move to Division I-A Football
• McDaniel, Sue. A Century of Academics
• A Quarter of a Century for the Center for Gifted Studies
• 100 Hours of Life on the Hill, September 6-10, 2006
• Newton, Tommy. A Century of Campus Planning
• A Century of Gifts: 100 Gifts WKU Gave the World
• Centennial Timeline
• One Century, One Vision – Henry Cherry, Gary Ransdell
• Adventures …

Ua1f Wku Archives Vertical File - Wku History, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

Digitized vertical file materials regarding WKU history.

Ua1f Wku Archives Vertical File - Wku Owensboro, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

Digitized vertical file materials regarding WKU Owensboro.

William Jefferson Clinton, "Racism In The United States" (16 October 1995), Jill M. Weber

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

In "Racism in the United States," President Bill Clinton acknowledged racial differences and called upon Americans to "clean our house of racism." Maintaining that the discussion of differences was the first step in alleviating racial tension, Clinton made dialogue a centerpiece of his race initiative. Clinton's approach to civil rights and his emphasis on dialogue marked an important step in the ongoing debates over civil rights in America by illustrating a president's role in shaping such debates.

Semi-Supervised Conditional Random Fields For Improved Sequence Segmentation And Labeling, Feng Jiao, Shaojun Wang, Chi-Hoon Lee, Russell Greiner, Dale Schuurmans

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present a new semi-supervised training procedure for conditional random fields (CRFs) that can be used to train sequence segmentors and labelers from a combination of labeled and unlabeled training data. Our approach is based on extending the minimum entropy regularization framework to the structured prediction case, yielding a training objective that combines unlabeled conditional entropy with labeled conditional likelihood. Although the training objective is no longer concave, it can still be used to improve an initial model (e.g. obtained from supervised training) by iterative ascent. We apply our new training algorithm to the problem of identifying gene and protein …

An Investigation Of Codon Usage Bias Including Visualization And Quantification In Organisms Exhibiting Multiple Biases, Douglas W. Raiford, Travis E. Doom, Dan E. Krane, Michael L. Raymer

Kno.e.sis Publications

Prokaryotic genomic sequence data provides a rich resource for bioinformatic analytic algorithms. Information can be extracted in many ways from the sequence data. One often overlooked process involves investigating an organism’s codon usage. Degeneracy in the genetic code leads to multiple codons coding for the same amino acids. Organism’s often preferentially utilize specific codons when coding for an amino acid. This biased codon usage can be a useful trait when predicting a gene’s expressivity or whether the gene originated from horizontal transfer. There can be multiple biases at play in a genome causing errors in the predictive process. For this …

A Semantic Future For Ai, Rudi Studer, Anupriya Ankolekar, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

In our modern information society, people need to manage ever-increasing numbers of personal devices and conduct more of their work and activities online, often making use of heterogeneous services. The amount of information to be processed by each individual is constantly growing, making it increasingly difficult to control, channel, share and make constructive use of it. To mitigate this, computing needs to become much more human-centered, e.g. by presenting personalised information to users and by respecting personal preferences in controlling multiple devices or invoking various services. Appropriate representation of the semantics of the information and functionality of devices and services …

Creativity, Free Expression, And Professionalism: Value Conflicts In U.S. Community Radio, Michael Huntsberger

Faculty Publications

This study investigates how the values of free expression and professionalism provide the basis for interpersonal and organizational conflict in U.S. community radio stations, and shape divergent approaches to audience service. Using qualitative methods, the project examines the motivations, expressions, and behaviors of producers and managers to establish how their values contribute to cooperation and dissention within these organizations. The study illustrates the delicate balance that exists between content-centered and audience-centered objectives, concluding that these core values have a pervasive effect on community radio’s capacity to reach audiences and promote social change through the media.

The Use Of Scholarly Monographs In The Journal Literature Of Latin American History, Meiyolet Mendez, Karen Chapman

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

This study explores the use of the monograph in the journal literature of Latin American history through a reference study of Hispanic American Historical Review for the years 1985, 1995 and 2005. The authors found that the use of monographs as secondary sources increased over time. Monographs in Spanish and Portuguese were heavily used, although English was the predominant language. Distribution of publication dates varied somewhat over the period, with less use of works from the previous five years in 2005. The most frequently-cited publishers were university presses. The authors concluded that the monograph continues to play a vital …

Exploring The Lsu Libraries’ Virtual Reference Transcripts: An Analysis, Jenna Ryan, Alice L. Daugherty, Emily C. Mauldin

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

Virtual reference is an important service provided by the Louisiana State University Libraries. A subcommittee within the Reference Department of Middleton Library decided to quantitatively and qualitatively review virtual reference transcripts for the 2005-2006 school year in order to assess and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the services provided. The transcript analysis provides information reflecting how our patrons are using virtual reference and how our librarians are performing in the virtual environment.

Tiered Reference: The New Landscape Of The Frontlines, Susan Gardner

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Introduction

When one walks into a typical academic library today, he or she is hard-pressed to see a reference librarian in plain view working at a public services desk. The well marked “reference desk” of yore, staffed by a smiling librarian and once a staple of every traditional academic library, has evolved into a less visible, more amorphous facility. Most libraries now use a new service strategy called “tiered reference,” whereby the initial reference contact point is with trained students or paraprofessionals at a general service desk. These non-librarians field all manner of questions, including directional, computing, and occasionally reference. …

Subject Librarians In The Changing Academic Library, Louise Feldman

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

This article overviews the literature and key topics surrounding the role of subject librarianship in the evolving environment of academic libraries. Subject librarians are looked at in the context of the broad trends affecting librarianship and in the context of the traditional roles they have held in collection development, instruction, and reference. The author opened a discussion on this topic entitled, “Subject Librarians: Viable or Vanishing?” for the RUSA-CODES Dual Assignments Discussion Group at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in January of 2006.

Assessing Library Collections Using Brief Test Methodology, Jennifer Benedetto Beals

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

The brief test methodology was developed by Howard White as an assessment tool to determine or verify the existing strength of a library collection. The relatively quick and inexpensive procedure utilizes the Research Libraries Group’s Conspectus levels, subject expertise, and cataloging records in WorldCat. In support of the University of Tennessee Libraries’ continuing efforts to encourage resource sharing with Information Alliance partners, I developed a project with art counterparts at the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University. Using brief tests, I completed an assessment of each institution’s collection in the subject area of African art. The results enabled us …

Conceptualizing And Measuring White House Staff Influence On Presidential Rhetoric, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

Scholars have debated extensively the impact of presidential rhetoric on public opinion and congressional behavior, but have largely ignored the determinants of what the president actually says. This inattention is partly the result of the difficulty of acquiring systematic observations of presidential speech crafting. We devise a method of quantifying White House staff influence over the composition of rhetoric that captures the multistage negotiations between the president's speechwriters and his policy advisors and provides a framework for future studies on the determinants of presidential rhetoric. We employ our method to study influence over the writing of President George H. W. …

Gender And The Digital Economy: Perspectives From The Developing World, Margaretha Geertsema Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Editors Cecilia Ng and Swasti Mitter address an important and timely topic in their new book. The book sets out to do exactly what the title says; the authors interrogate the participation of women in the Information and Communication Technologys (ICTs) industry, particularly in developing countries. As the editors point out in the introduction, there are concerns that globalization will increase inequalities and asymmetrical power relationships between the rich and the poor. Yet, they are quite optimistic about the potential enabling power of new technologies.

Vicarious Liability And The Private University Student Press, Nancy Whitmore

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Once described as a quintessential marketplace of ideas by the Supreme Court of the United States, the academic marketplace has been criticized recently for institutionalizing a left-leaning ideology within its curriculum and academic discourse. As a result, national activists and organizations have been calling on state legislatures and university administrators to adopt policies and report on steps taken to encourage intellectual diversity and protect political and cultural minorities from faculty bias and academic retribution in the classroom and other university settings. But who would win a constitutional showdown between the academy and those seeking to infuse academic discourse with alternative …

Infants’ Perception Of Rhythmic Patterns, Tonya R. Bergeson, Sandra E. Trehub

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

We explored 9-month-old infants perception of auditory temporal sequences in a series of three experiments. In Experiment 1, we presented some infants with tone sequences that were expected to induce a strongly metric framework and others with a sequence that was expected to induce a weakly metric framework or no such framework. Infants detected a change in the context of the former sequences but not in the latter sequence. In Experiment 2, infants listened to a tone sequence with temporal cues to duple or triple meter. Infants detected a change in the pattern with duple meter but not in the …

Overcoming Cultural And Linguistic Barriers In Providing Adequate Speech-Language Pathology Services To U.S. Latinos, Allison Carolan

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

While these problems in health care and education are seemingly innumerable and heavily debated in every branch of American politics today, this review will focus primarily on the smaller realm of Speech-Language Pathology, and how Latinos are affected by America's inadequacies in this increasingly imperative discipline that lies beneath the umbrellas of health and education.

The President Over The Public: The Plebiscitary Presidency At Center Stage, Lori Cox Han

Political Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In this chapter, I will address the question of the usefulness of the public presidency in the current political environment (that is, can a president’s communication strategy make a difference in terms of what he achieves), as well as the constitutional danger, if any, posed by a president’s attempt at public leadership. Has the public presidency, and its focus on the public aspects of the office, thrown the constitutional balance of power between the three branches out of balance? Does the president really gain political power within the constitutional framework of our government if he is a skilled and effective …

Cyberactivism : Public Relations In A Wired World, Shane Newton

Theses : Honours

Computer-mediated communication has revolutionised the way activist groups influence the opinion of corporations, governments and the community. It has never been so cheap or convenient to publish high-quality material to push a specific issue or cause. Activists are no longer restricted to satisfy the news values of media corporations to reach wide publics. Nor do these businesses (or governments) have any apparent advantage, despite their more economically sustainable and highly-resourced positions. Current literature is able to examine and explore how the Internet is used and the problems involved, yet much research fails to examine how these constraints and opportunities are …

New Strategies For An Old Medium: The Weekly Radio Addresses Of Reagan And Clinton, Lori Cox Han

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"While a rich literature exists on presidential communications (including the public/rhetorical presidency and the presidential/press relationship), only recently have presidential scholars begun to analyze weekly radio addresses as an important primary unit of analysis (Rowland and Jones 2002; Sigelman and Whissell 2002a, 2002b). This article analyzes how the use of radio has fit into the overall development of White House communication strategies during the television age, and takes an in-depth look at how Reagan and Clinton used weekly radio addresses to communicate with both the American public and the news media. Specifically, the issues considered here include the strategy development …

Alumnews, Winter 2006, Alumni Association, Wright State University

AlumNews

Eight page issue of the AlumNews newsletter. This newsletter focuses on news about programs, events, and activities for alumni from Wright State University.

Wright State University Men's Soccer Media Guide 2006, Wright State University Athletics

Athletics Publications

A media guide for Wright State University's 2006 Men's Soccer team. This guide includes photographs, player stats, game results, and records.

Wright State University Women's Soccer Media Guide 2006, Wright State University Athletics

Athletics Publications

A media guide for Wright State University's 2006 Women's Soccer team. This guide includes photographs, player stats, game results, and records.