Communication Commons^™

The Need For Foreign Correspondents: A Cost Benefit Analysis, Haley Petersen

Journalism

This paper includes an examination of the decline in foreign news coverage, the factors contributing to the decline, the implications of decreased coverage in a democratic society, the market for international news, and an explanation of various models of foreign correspondence in relation to the quality of work produced contrasted against the cost of production.

User Profile Construction In The Twin Personality-Based Recommender System, Alexandra Roshchina, John Cardiff, Paolo Rosso

Conference Papers

The information overload experienced by peo- ple who use online services and read user- generated content (e.g. product reviews and ratings) to make their decisions has led to the development of the so-called recommender systems. We address the problem of the large increase in the user-generated reviews, which are added to each day and consequently make it difficult for the user to obtain a clear picture of the quality of the facility in which they are interested.

In this paper, we describe the TWIN (“Tell me What I Need”) personality-based recom- mender system, the aim of which is to select …

Teacher Disclosure: Developing Privacy Rules, Managing Boundaries And Building Relationships, Renee Monique Kaufmann

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The roles and responsibilities of middle school teachers are never ending. From instructing students on state-mandated curriculum to the enrichment of character and inquiry, teachers make daily decisions about how and what to disclose to their students. The current study reexamines Hosek and Thompson’s (2009) study on how teachers develop privacy rules and coordinate boundaries using Petronio’s Communication Privacy Management as the theoretical framework. Studying middle school teachers, in lieu of college instructors, allows for a better understanding of how privacy rules and boundaries are constructed and used within the middle school. This provides a better understanding of the important …

“What’S Happening” @Twitter: A Uses And Gratifications Approach, Corey Leigh Ballard

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The uses and gratifications approach places power in the hands of the audience and is a helpful perspective when trying to understand media usage, exposure, and effects. However, while the uses and gratifications approach has been applied regularly to traditional media, research explaining why people use new social media networks as well as the gratifications they obtain from them is scarce at best. This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the uses and gratifications approach as well as the current literature about social media networks. An argument is built within the thesis to study Twitter as one social media network …

Becoming Bodies: How Preadolescent Girls Consume And Produce Media In 21St Century America, Margaret Louise Mcgladrey

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This study investigates preadolescent girls’ interpretations of images of and messages about women’s bodies presented in both traditional and online media in the American cultural context. Using qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, email diaries, and digital photo collages, this study gives voice to girls aged nine to eleven from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds so that they might tell their stories about interacting with media that is relevant to their relationships with their bodies. Employing objectification theory as well as concepts from the cultural studies tradition, the findings suggest that the process of becoming a female body in the 21 …

Advertising Media Selection, Lawrence Soley

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Advertising media planning is part of the media planning process. It consists of selecting the appropriate media and vehicles that will carry the campaign advertisements. The decision making involved in media planning is quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative decisions include analyzing the vehicles' delivery to the target market and determining the cost efficiency of particular media and vehicles. Qualitative decisions include looking at the appropriateness of a vehicle's editorial environment for the product being advertised, and the attentiveness of prospects to that vehicle.

Unspoken Rules Of The Creative Game: Insights To Shape The Next Generation From Top Advertising Creative Women, Jean M. Grow, Sheri J. Broyles

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This study addresses gender issues in advertising creative departments and defines some of the unspoken rules in the creative game. Based on the interviews of twenty top creative women from the United States and Canada, the study focuses on the work creative women do, how they do it, and the environment in which they work. Content analysis of in-depth interviews led to the emergence of four thematic categories: the business, about personality, the work, and being female. Ultimately, knowing the unspoken rules will help prepare future generations of advertising creatives for the challenges that lie ahead. For women, knowledge of …

The Place Of Arts And Culture Sponsorships Within The Theory And Practice Of Public Relations, Brenda Carney

Theses

This study is concerned with the role and position of sponsorship, specifically sponsorship of the arts, in public relations. It aims to add to the, as yet considerably sparse, body of knowledge that exists on arts sponsorships from the perspective of the public relations practitioner.

The literature reveals that while sponsorship is used as a vehicle for public relations. it is often activated as part of an integrated marketing and public relations communications campaign. It also highlights the importance of planned communication based on organisational objectives and the different approaches to public relations including relational theory and rhetorical theory. Both …

Bp's Use Of Twitter As A Crisis Communication Tool During The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis Response Phase, Lindsay Ann Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On April 20, 2010, British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP launched a major public relations response that targeted its online audience through strategic use of its corporate website, Twitter feed, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Flickr photostream. This content analysis examines BP's use of Twitter during the crisis response phase of the oil spill. BP tweeted on 1,161 occasions from the time of the explosion to the capping of the well. All tweets during this 13-week period were coded by two separate coders to …

Risks And Safety For Australian Children On The Internet: Full Findings From The Au Kids Online Survey Of 9-16 Year Olds And Their Parents, Leila Green, Danielle Brady, Kjartan Olafsson, John Hartley, Catharine Lumby

Research outputs 2011

This report presents the AU findings for research in Australia which parallels the EU Kids Online project (see www.eukidsonline.net). Specifically, it includes selected findings, calculated and interpreted for Australia only, but with some comparisons made with the survey data and analysis reported in Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., and Ólafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children. Full Findings. LSE, London: EU Kids Online, and comparisons with some country reports of the 25 nations participating in EU Kids Online II. The Australian research was funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative …

Reporting From Down Under: Foreign Correspondents In Australia, Beate Josephi

Research outputs 2011

This paper draws on a study of 12 foreign correspondents reporting on Australia for print, radio, TV and news agencies. The study found evidence that while new technology may have changed transmission speeds, it has not changed the nature of events they report on. News ranking is still determined by factors such as political influence and trade volumes, news values and news interest. Australia - medium-sized, geographically on the periphery and politically stable - is not a major player on the world political stage. As a country, it is always more likely to come to the world's attention because of …

Health Reporting: The Missing Links, Trevor A. Cullen

Research outputs 2011

There is a growing interest in health stories. This is evident from both the increase of health publications and online research for health information. But how accurate and reliable are these stories. Two surveys in the United States that examined the state of online health reporting exposed the extent of spin, the lack of medical evidence and the narrow frame and context of many health stories. This last point, narrowcasting, is the main focus of this article and the research questions examine why this is so and how coverage could be widened. Using press coverage of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) …

Journalism As Research Within The Framework Of Academic Ethics, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This paper makes a case for a review of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2007a) and/or its accompanying documentation to more clearly acknowledge the beneficent role of journalism as an academic methodology and to resolve issues that currently force journalism academics to work around, rather than through, their universities’ Human Research Ethics Committees. In recent years the case has been made that, in addition to being a profession governed by an explicit, internationally-recognised ethical code, journalism is also a valuable academic research methodology (Lamble, 2004; Pearson & Patching, 2010). There are problems with this though, …

Journalism And Hrecs: From Square Pegs To Squeaky Wheels, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This article follows on from a discussion by Richards (2010) about ethics committees and journalism researchers being ‘uneasy bedfellows’. It argues that there is scope for research using journalism as a methodology to be approved by Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs), while acknowledging that work needs to be done in familiarising journalism academics with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) and HRECs with journalism as a research methodology. The issues that arise as journalism academics and HRECs meet tend to focus on the requirement of informed consent and timing problems, but these are not insurmountable and …

Australian Children’S Experiences Of Parents’ Online Mediation, Lelia Green, John Hartley, Catharine Lumby, Danielle Brady

Research outputs 2011

This paper draws on the work of the "EU Kids Online" network funded by the EC (DG Information Society) Safer Internet plus Programme (project code SIP-KEP-321803); see www.eukidsonline.net, and addresses Australian children‟s online activities in terms of risk, harm and opportunity. In particular, it draws upon data that indicates that Australian children are more likely to encounter online risks – especially around seeing sexual images, bullying, misuse of personal data and exposure to potentially harmful user-generated content – than is the case with their EU counterparts. Rather than only comparing Australian children with their European equivalents, this paper places the …

When The Saints Go Marching In: An Ethnography Of Volunteer Tourism In Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, Jennifer Lea Erdely

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This original study examines a new phenomenon in New Orleans tourism. Since Hurricane Katrina hit in late August 2005, droves of individuals and groups have come to New Orleans to help rebuild the city. Through conducting fifty interviews with these individuals from 2008-2009, the author traces the steps of volunteer tourists in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. This study investigates the experiences of volunteer tourists. Additionally, the author immersed herself with volunteer tourism groups to experience volunteering and the groups herself. Through careful inspection of original interviews with volunteer tourists, the author discovers how the volunteer tourists contribute to the city …

Performing Toilets: Putting Matter Into Place, Danielle Dick Mcgeough

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, I place toilets and toilet practices center stage. Each chapter begins with and is compelled by a performance event in which a toilet plays a central role, such as the display of toilets in museum settings, a festival celebrating the building of public toilet blocks, and a Big Squat event, in which people gather en masse to squat collectively for one minute in recognition of the millions that lack access to toilets. By means of performance, the toilet is transferred from the backstage to center stage. Out of place, the toilet defamiliarizes and refunctions the body’s techniques, …

Writing William Burroughs, Performing The Archive, John Lebret

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Between 1958 and 1972, author William S. Burroughs undertook a series of radical experiments with alternative compositional modes based on the aleatory form of the Cut-up. Burroughs sold the entirety of his work from the period, assembled into an archive, to a collector in 1972. This study uses performative writing to document a year of archival research in Burroughs' collection, currently housed by The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library. Melding Bakhtin's theories of the chronotope and the grotesque body with creative writing and experimental modes of scholarly …

Hbcu Crises And Best Practices In The Discourse Of Renewal: A Crisis Communication Case Study Of Three Institutions, Erica Courtney Taylor

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Crises have been a part of all societies over the course of time. Leaders of small, primitive societies may have dealt with these crises by directly communicating with their citizens or by taking other hands-on approaches to crisis management and recovery. However, in large post-modern technological societies, leaders must find more efficient ways to handle and recover from crises. This qualitative study examines three crises that occurred at three Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) in the last six years. Crisis communication planning and practices are explored with a special focus on elements of the discourse of renewal theory each …

Editor's Introduction: Activism And Anagnorisis, Marc Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

As I mull the current issue – a wonderful collection of open submissions and a terrific supplement on “post-9/11” developments, about both of which I feel too intellectually impoverished to write adequately – I am filled with mixed feelings, thoughts and even theoretical positions. This last is kind of inescapable given my best efforts to put theory into practice whenever and wherever possible. The two cannot and should not be inseparable, at least for anyone who claims to be even the most remotely involved in Cultural Studies. And yet, I know that this is the area where Cultural Studies fails …

Journal Impact Factor, Scott H. Church

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In a recent issue of Human Communication Research, Thomas Hugh Feeley notes, “journal impact rankings provide objective data for tenure, promotion, and, possibly, grant review committees on the quality of scholars’ work.” Though the metric is widely regarded as the conventional measure to assess the influence of a journal in both the social and physical sciences, many doubts regarding its effectiveness have been raised. This essay assesses the effectiveness of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) as a scholarly metric. After first considering the metric's history and developing a working definition of JIF (part one), next I delineate its strengths and …

Scimago, Getachew Dinku Godana

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The degree to which a scholar’s work is cited by others has been regarded as an indicator of its scientific impact relative to other researchers in the web of scholarly communications. Likewise, various metrics based on citation counts have been developed to evaluate the impact of scholarly journals. Recently there has emerged a new research trend aimed at developing impact metrics that consider not only “the raw number of citations received by a scientific agent, but also the importance or influence of the actors who issue those citations.” These new metrics represent scientific impact as a function not of just …

Librarianship Presence In Virtual Worlds, Jenny M. Baum, Kate Lyons

Publications and Research

Librarianship has stereotypically been about books, communities, and the connection between the two. With the emergence of new media and technology, the concept of books has expanded to include information of all types and in multiple formats: eBooks, DVDs, videogames, electronic databases, et cetera. Meanwhile, the idea of community has stayed the same. For example, public libraries primarily serve communities defined by geographic lines; academic libraries serve their campus communities. In non-profit, medical or corporate libraries, communities are defined by their organization’s particular mission. However, now that virtual worlds are becoming mainstream, librarians are redefining community, just as they redefined …

Phronesis Through Praxis: Cultivating The Habit Of A Rhetorical Disposition In Positive Deviance Action Research, Lucia Dura

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Positive deviance is an asset-based, community-driven, problem-solving approach to social change premised on the idea that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges (www.positivedeviance.org). Positive deviance has been used in over 40 countries to address issues as diverse as productivity in the workplace, infection and disease prevention, education, and child trafficking. This dissertation situates positive deviance within the areas of social change and change studies in the discipline of …

Exploring Organizational Culture And Leadership Styles In El Paso Nonprofit Organizations, Milena Murta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on two non-profit organizations in the El Paso region to document the communication processes by which they maintain their culture across their units. The study also explores leadership styles, both what are they and how they are employed in these organizations. This study involves three research methods, including: content analysis of organizational documents, interviews with leaders, and ethnographic observation. The findings of this study suggest that managing non-profit organizations is a challenge but yet rewarding duty. Moreover, managers explained that mission management is facilitated through four major ways: through documents, through the delivery of services, through training …

Craving Effect Of Unintentional Smoking Cues In Antismoking Images In Light Smokers, Francisco Isaac Salgado-Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tobacco use is considered the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the nation. According to cue-reactivity models, environmental stimuli associated with smoking may elicit cravings in smokers. Antismoking advertisements, may also elicit cravings in smokers because of unintentional use of smoking cues, which may promote smoking maintenance and hinder quitting attempts. The purpose of this study is to assess if cue-reactivity elicits cravings in light and intermittent smokers and if impulsivity serves as a moderator. Data from 155 participants who reported smoking at least once in the past week to 10 cigarettes per day were collected. …

Gross National Happiness And It's Third Pillar: A Policy Analysis Of The Bhutanese Broadcast Syatem, Deki Palden Thinlay

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Bhutan occupies a special position in the international arena with its unique "guiding philosophy for development process called the Gross National Happiness and its objectives holds priority over economic growth. A rapidly changing local media and the foreign channels expanding foreign way of thinking introduce foreign values and cultures. This changing scenario builds up challenges for the government's vision of GNH and the pillar of cultural preservation to prevail. This research analyzes the government's policies available on the broadcast media through document analysis, discussions with people related to the law and policies, and analysis of selected TV and radio program …

Hybrid Interactive Rhetorical Engagements In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (Mmorpgs): Examining The Role Of Rhetors And Audiences In Generative Rhetorical Discourses, Yowei Kang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The dissertation explores the emerging rhetorical practices in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) in general and World of Warcraft (WoW) game in particular. The study applies Kenneth Burke's rhetorical theories and concepts to examine the persuasive processes employed by both game designers and players at various stages of their gameplay experiences. The author argues that the analysis of these interactive rhetorical discourses during gameplay helps rhetorical scholars to understand the emerging rhetorical practices where the rhetors and the audiences collaborate to co-generate their hybrid intensive rhetorical engagement (H.I.R.E.).

On the basis of the gaming sessions captured by the researcher …

Fan Commitment And Its Transformation Into Communitas Through The Process Of Proxemic Exchange, Arthur Alexander Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Live performances are comprised of various elements that scholars have utilized to understand the artist-fan relationship as well as the relationship among the fans themselves. In this study, I look at fandom in independent, or “indie” music and utilize my findings to creation a foundation for the understanding of fan commitment. I then argue that when a fan of a particular artist attends a live performance by that artist, they inherently engage in a proxemic exchange with the artist as well as the fans around them. This proxemic exchange is driven by fan commitment and facilitates the creation of communitas …

Drowning In The Depths Of Climate Change: An Exploration Of Polar Bear Rhetoric, Gloria Leticia Bebber

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study explored campaigns that used polar bears to bring awareness to the issue climate change. The study analyzed three environmental campaigns, two major corporations, and one non-profit organization. The campaigns were examined using a rhetorical criticism method. Findings show that although polar bears are symbolically a good representation of the effects of climate change, it is imperative to address the entire issue. The limitations that occurred during the study are addressed.