Communication Commons^™

Interactive Landuse Planning In Indonesian Rain-Forest Landscapes: Reconnecting Plans To Practice, Eva Wollenberg, Bruce Campbell, Edmond Dounias, Petrus Gunarso, Moira Moeliono, Douglas Sheil

All UNF Research

Indonesia’s 1999–2004 decentralization reforms created opportunities for land-use planning that reflected local conditions and local people’s needs. We report on seven years of work in the District of Malinau in Indonesian Borneo that attempted to reconnect government land-use plans to local people’s values, priorities, and practices. Four principles are proposed to support more interactive planning between government and local land users: Support local groups to make their local knowledge, experience, and aspirations more visible in formal land-use planning and decision making; create channels of communication, feedback, and transparency to support the adaptive capacities and accountability of district leadership and institutions; …

Navigating The Paradoxes Of Working From Home, Susan L. Rosiek

ETD Archive

Many of today's organizational employees are turning to flexible work programs, such as telework, to help them balance their work and life responsibilities. Previous research indicates working from home has positive effects, but the same research reveals telework can have a negative impact on work-life balance. There are gaps in the amount and variety of theoretical development in the area of telework. The goal of this research study was to extend the scope of telework analysis beyond technology use by exploring the various tensions teleworkers encounter when working from home, learn how teleworkers alter their communication practices to deal with …

Catching The Video Virus, Trupti Guha

ETD Archive

In the process of computer-mediated exchange, some online videos travel from one person to another resulting in the process of diffusion of the video. However, there are very few empirical investigations of the audience involved in the process. This exploratory research employs Rogers' diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework to study online video users. Theories from social networks on tie strength and homophily are applied to create an integrated diffusion model. Based on survey data from college students, online video audience was profiled in two ways: one based on individual characteristics and another on activities with video content. Participants …

Worship Styles, Music And Social Identity, Terri Lynne Johnson

ETD Archive

This study explored worship style, music and social identity from a communication perspective. Specifically, this study was interested in understanding the variables that influence worship music preference. Results indicated that Missouri Synod Lutherans who prefer traditional worship components identify more strongly with the larger organization, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). Moreover, music preference strongly predicts worship style preference. In addition, parishioners perception of self-disclosure in hymns and praise songs was also examined. Results indicated that certain dimensions of self-disclosure are more prevalent in hymns and praise songs than others and perceived self-disclosure is stronger with those who attend a …

It's All In The Words: Determining The Relationship Between Newspaper Portrayal Of Rape Victims And Reader Responses, Amanda Fountain

Undergraduate Review

In order to better understand the effect newspaper portrayal has on reader opinion, it is necessary to explore news framing and structure. This study investigated the relationship between newspaper portrayal, or framing, of rape cases and how that portrayal influences reader response and perception. To determine reader response, participants were asked to read one of three vignettes, each describing a rape with either a positive or negative description of the victim or assailant. This was followed by eight questions testing four factors: blame, responsibility, control and accountability. The results from the four factors illustrate the responses readers had for the …

Strategic Importance Of Higher Education And Research In Positioning Gujarat For Global Competitiveness, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

A Coherent Well-Founded Model For Hybrid Mknf Knowledge Bases, Matthias Knorr, Jose Julio Alferes, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

With the advent of the Semantic Web, the question becomes important how to best combine open-world based ontology languages, like OWL, with closed-world rules paradigms. One of the most mature proposals for this combination is known as Hybrid MKNF knowledge bases [11], which is based on an adaptation of the stable model semantics to knowledge bases consisting of ontology axioms and rules. In this paper, we propose a well-founded semantics for such knowledge bases which promises to provide better efficiency of reasoning, which is compatible both with the OWL-based semantics and the traditional well-founded semantics for logic programs, and which …

Approximate Owl-Reasoning With Screech, Tuvshintur Tserendorj, Sebastian Rudolph, Markus Krotzsch, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Applications of expressive ontology reasoning for the Semantic Web require scalable algorithms for deducing implicit knowledge from explicitly given knowledge bases. Besides the development of more effi- cient such algorithms, awareness is rising that approximate reasoning solutions will be helpful and needed for certain application domains. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of the Screech approach to approximate reasoning with OWL ontologies, which is based on the KAON2 algorithms, facilitating a compilation of OWL DL TBoxes into Datalog, which is tractable in terms of data complexity. We present three different instantiations of the Screech approach, and report on …

Gloria Steinem, "Testimony Before Senate Hearings On The Equal Rights Amendment" (6 May 1970), Jill M. Weber

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

In her testimony before the Senate ERA hearings, Gloria Steinem refuted sex‐based myths about women and championed the ERA. Situating the ERA within the larger civil rights movement, Steinem called on Congress to acknowledge women's oppression as a serious political issue. She also worked to make women's rights issues more appealing to a mainstream audience by talking about the ERA's benefits for men and women and by emphasizing the democratic principles it embodied.

125 Years: Tampa Bay Through The Times., Robert W. Hooker, Ron Brackett

Faculty Books

This is an important birthday for the Times, (125 years!) and this album is one way of celebrating with the neighbors who helped us reach that milestone. Way back when, baseball fans gathered around the newspaper offices, while the editors called out the running score of World Series games from the telegraph wire. they could not have imagined that their town would have its own baseball team competing in the World Series, or that the newspaper could send that news around the world on something called the Internet. As the town grew, so did the newspaper. It campaigned to protect …

Global Media, Communication Technology, And The War On Terror, James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

From the telegraph, radio, film, and television to the Internet and mobile satellite networks, media and communication technologies have been integral to the waging and representation of war. Always eager to improve communications, surveillance, and weapons systems, military institutions have funded and developed new communication technologies and media since at least the 19th century, and journalism and entertainment have long been central to governments’ propaganda efforts. In the current context of the Iraq War and the “war on terror,” most accounts of international communication equate media with news (ignoring other genres) and often neglect the crucial role that audiences and …

Online Forums As An Arena For Political Discussions: What Politicians And Activists Can Learn From Teachers, Kevin Y. Wang

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

This paper discusses the use of online discussion forums in various “e-democratic” practices in light of the lessons learned from the field of education. Informed by a conceptual framework drawn from the role of public sphere in electronic democracy and the ideal learning conditions of a computer-mediated communication environment, the author analyzed two discussion forums maintained by a government and a civil society group. Results suggest that, in both cases, online discussion forums only reflect a few elements of effective online learning and therefore, have yet to reach their full potentials. Implications for future research are discussed.

Conceptualizing Strategies For Research And Activism: A Media Sociology Approach, Margaretha Geertsema

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

The article considers reasons for the continuing exclusion and stereotyping of women in the news media. It also suggests productive avenues for research and media activism. A media sociology approach was used to consider the various factors that influence the production of news. Media sociology is concerned with how news is socially constructed, typically resulting in the inclusion of some issues and events and the exclusion of others.

First Amendment Showdown: Intellectual Diversity Mandates And The Academic Marketplace, 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 …

Women Film Directors And Producers, Ann M. Savage

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Encyclopedic entry concerning women film directors.

Cinematic Jujitsu: Resisting White Hegemony Through The American Dream In Spike Lee’S Malcolm X, Kristen Hoerl

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X (1992) presented Malcolm X’s life story using the narrative framework of the American Dream myth central to liberal ideology. Working from Gramsci’s notion of common sense in the process of hegemony, I explain how Lee appealed to this mythic structure underlying American popular culture to give a platform to Malcolm X’s controversial ideas. By adopting a common sense narrative to tell Malcolm X’s life story, this movie functioned as a form of cinematic jujitsu that invited critical consciousness about the contradictions between liberal ideology and the life experiences of racially excluded groups. Other formal devices …

Sixteen Candles, Allison Harthcock

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Encyclopedic entry concerning the movie Sixteen Candles.

Capitalizing On Affect: Viagra (In)Action, Kristin A. Swenson

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Recent cultural criticisms of Viagra’s advertisements and promotional materials have argued that rhetorical constructions of Viagra users reestablish a hegemonic masculinity premised on heterosexual standards of traditional gender norms (Baglia, 2005; Bordo, 2000; Loe, 2004). Cultural critics have also noted that Viagra’s promotional materials allow “for alternative readings by potential users who do not fall into the category of the ‘traditional/ideal’ Viagra user” including women and homosexual men (Mamo & Fishman, 2001, p. 14). What most criticisms fail to take into account is that Viagra, like other lifestyle drugs, does not only reestablish cultural constructs of the contemporary gendered body …

Language Skills Of Profoundly Deaf Children Who Received Cochlear Implants Under 12 Months Of Age: A Preliminary Study, Richard T. Miyamoto, Marcia J. Hay-Mccutcheon, Karen Iler Kirk, Derek M. Houston, Tonya Bergeson-Dana

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Conclusion. This study demonstrated that children who receive a cochlear implant below the age of 2 years obtain higher mean receptive and expressive language scores than children implanted over the age of 2 years. Objective. The purpose of this study was to compare the receptive and expressive language skills of children who received a cochlear implant before 1 year of age to the language skills of children who received an implant between 1 and 3 years of age. Subjects and methods. Standardized language measures, the Reynell Developmental Language Scale (RDLS) and the Preschool Language Scale (PLS), were used to assess …

Media Literacy In The Digital Age: Implications For Scholars And Students, Barbara R. Burke

Communication, Media, and Rhetoric Publications

Advocates of the practice assert becoming media literate may be the way to take control, and to be better able to identify and control the borders between the real world and the world manufactured by the media. This paper embraces this assertion, and suggests advocating expanding our understandings of media literacy, and creating new strategies for analysis and critique of New Media. To make this argument, the paper will describe American attempts at shaping media education to foster media literacy. Then, a comparison between Campbell’s system and Federov’s modules of media literacy will be offered. Finally, two new elements of …

Catalyzing Personal And Social Change Around Gender, Sexuality, And Hiv: Impact Evaluation Of Puntos De Encuentro´S Communication Strategy In Nicaragua, Irela Solorzano, Amy Bank, Rodolfo Pena, Henry Espinoza, Mary Ellsberg, Julie Pulerwitz

HIV and AIDS

Somos Diferentes, Somos Iguales (SDSI) is a communication for social change strategy whose objective is to prevent future HIV infections in Nicaragua, through mass communication actions that include educational entertainment programs, strengthening of local capacity, and the development of alliances within the communities. This report presents the results of an interinstitutional evaluation to explore the impact of SDSI on gender equity, stigma reduction, personalization of risk perception, knowledge and use of services, interpersonal communication, HIV prevention practices, and individual and collective effectiveness for HIV prevention. The impact evaluation showed that the SDSI strategy made a great contribution in key aspects …

Propiciando Cambio Personal Y Social Alrededor Del Género, Sexualidad Y Vih: Evaluación De Impacto De La Estrategia De Comunicación De Puntos De Encuentro En Nicaragua, Irela Solorzano, Amy Bank, Rodolfo Pena, Henry Espinoza, Mary Ellsberg, Julie Pulerwitz

HIV and AIDS

Somos Diferentes, Somos Iguales (SDSI) is a communication for social change strategy whose objective is to prevent future HIV infections in Nicaragua, through mass communication actions that include educational entertainment programs, strengthening of local capacity, and the development of alliances within the communities. This report presents the results of an interinstitutional evaluation to explore the impact of SDSI on gender equity, stigma reduction, personalization of risk perception, knowledge and use of services, interpersonal communication, HIV prevention practices, and individual and collective effectiveness for HIV prevention. The impact evaluation showed that the SDSI strategy made a great contribution in key aspects …

How American Student Journalists At A College Newspaper Consume, Perceive, And Disseminate News And Information About China, Xiaohua Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increase of cooperation between America and China, the average person's perception of the other country could be an important factor that influences the development of the relationship between these countries. This study was designed to explore how Americans student journalists view China and how these student journalists select the news for a campus newspaper that might influence their readers' perceptions of China. Student journalists not only represent American youth but also act as connectors and filters between a huge flow of information outside and students on campus. A convenience census sample of student journalists at a campus newspaper …

Outside The Frame: Towards A Phenomenology Of Texts And Technology, Anthony Crisafi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subject of my dissertation is how phenomenology can be used as a tool for understanding the intersection between texts and technology. What I am suggesting here is that, specifically in connection with the focus of our program in Texts and Technology, there are very significant questions concerning how digital communications technology extends our humanity, and more importantly what kind of epistemological and ontological questions are raised because of this. There needs to be a coherent theory for Texts and Technology that will help us to understand this shift, and I feel that this should be the main focus for …

Exploring Interdisciplinary Prayer Research In A Health Context, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Communication, Psychology, and Sociology are three leading academic disciplines engaged in the social scientific study of prayer, the spiritual communication between a believer(s) and God, but rarely do these disciplines collaborate in interdisciplinary prayer scholarship. Possibilities for interdisciplinary prayer research in a health context are explored through a review of the literature and academic interviews. Interdisciplinary linkages in the prayer-health context are organized in an integral "all-quadrant" theoretical model, and an assessment of the viability of interdisciplinary prayer-health research is considered.

Nbc Peacock North Winter 2008, Peacock North Staff

NBC Peacock North Newsletter

Highlights include: Spring Luncheon Features Robert Hager -- Marilyn's Page -- Edwin Wesley Paulsen -- We Get Letters -- MSNBC Moves From Secaucus to 30 Rock

Can Patriotism Be Carved In Stone?: A Critical Analysis Of Mt. Rushmore's Orientation Films, Teresa Bergman

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

This essay examines the three orientation films that have been shown at the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial since 1965, and analyzes how these films interpret the memorial as a patriotic symbol. Although the site was originally conceived to celebrate U.S. imperialism, each film moves away from that interpretation. This analysis tracks how these films’ interpretations of this patriotic icon have evolved to suit contemporary political exigencies rather than a fixed definition of Mt. Rushmore. I draw on memory studies, rhetoric, historical theory, and documentary film theory to examine the changing representations of nationalism and patriotism in these films.

Review Of Online Advertising Research And Future Research Agenda [Slides], Louisa Ha

School of Media and Communication Faculty Publications

Slides from a presentation based on the journal article: Online Advertising Research in Advertising Journals: A Review. Published in 2008 in the Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 30(1), 33-50 by Louisa Ha.

New Liaison Librarians: Factors Influencing Confidence Levels And The Type Of Activities Undertaken, Ramirose Attebury, Sara Holder

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

Abstract

Although library literature related to liaison work is not uncommon, most of what has been written takes the form of advice to new liaisons or else describes liaison program implementation and evaluation. This study seeks to identify what types of activities liaison librarians are employing nationwide and what factors influence the decision to undertake these activities. It also investigates what factors affect self-reported confidence levels of new liaison librarians.

Subject Guides: Putting A New Spin On An Old Concept, Nedelina Tchangalova, Amanda Feigley

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

Abstract

The wide application of digital technologies in the library environment has changed the format and content of subject guides. Given the advent of new Internet tools and the explosive growth of electronic resources available on the Web, the reference librarians at the University of Maryland (UM) College Park were facing many issues when keeping up with new technologies and creating subject guides that meet library users’ satisfaction. The goal of this paper was to explore the challenges librarians are facing and to identify new technologies to assist them in creating subject guides. The literature revealed a wide variety of …