Communication Commons^™

Validation Versus Gossip: A Fine Line Dilemma, Essraa Nawar

Library Articles and Research

"Years ago, a friend confronted me about something that shifted my perspective on communication. They told me I wasn’t validating them enough. Instead of listening to their frustrations, I would jump into 'fix-it' mode—offering solutions, mediating, or even defending the other person. At the time, I thought I was helping. But their frustration was clear: 'I don’t need you to solve this. I just need someone to listen.'

That feedback stayed with me. It made me wonder: What does it mean to validate someone’s feelings? Is listening enough? And what happens when validation crosses the line into gossip? This is …

Dungeons & Dragons In Times Of Transmedia, Nazario Robles-Bastida, Ricardo Victoria-Uribe

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

This paper explores the current state of transmedia storytelling, that is, the art of developing a cohesive narrative through a variety of media. Using Dungeons & Dragons as a case study, this study explores the complex nature of current forms of transmedia storytelling, as well as the complex relationships between media producers and consumers that have arisen due to this narrative technique. Focusing in three specific examples within the franchise: Drizzt Do'Urden, the Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon series and the 2023 film Honor among Thieves, our analysis illustrate the fact that current media franchises are constituted by a …

Arquetipos & Aventuras: La Identificación De Jugadores De Rol Con Personajes De Cultura De Masas, Miguel Ángel Galindo Núñez Dr., Víctor Emmanuel Quintana Villarreal

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

Este estudio explora la reiteración de figuras arquetípicas en la cultura de masas y su manifestación en los juegos de rol, particularmente en Dungeons and Dragons. Basado en la teoría de la mímesis de Aristóteles y los arquetipos de Jung, se analizará cómo roles estandarizados presentes en diversas culturas se replican en productos culturales contemporáneos. Desde la actancialidad de Barthes y la agencia de Giddens, se examinarán los arquetipos y su interpretación en narrativas de la cultura de masas.

Enfocándose en Dungeons and Dragons, el estudio destacará cómo las clases de personajes actúan como arquetipos y moldes predefinidos …

Harnessing 360-Degree Video To Prompt Users To Think Along With Pro-Environmental Campaign Messages, Mincheol Shin, Heejae Lee

Mass Communications - All Scholarship

Three-hundred-and-sixty-degree videos visualized through virtual reality (VR) technologies are recognized as an effective tool for fostering positive attitudes towards environmental stewardship by immersing users in persuasive storytelling narratives. However, a lack of an overarching framework hinders the understanding of its role in promoting prosocial environmental behaviors, particularly its effects on information processing and behavioral intentions. Notably, recent studies have suggested that feeling transported into a VR environment (i.e., presence) could positively bias message evaluation and the way people process information by activating heuristics connected to immersive experiences (i.e., the bias hypothesis of the heuristic-systematic model). Drawing on this proposition, this …

Not Taking "No" For An Answer: The Interactional Organization Of Accepting And Refusing Childhood Vaccination In The Netherlands, Robert Prettner, Hedwig Te Molder, Jeffrey D. Robinson

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Communication-intervention strategies for reducing vaccine hesitancy have been primarily based on survey and interview data. Virtually absent is an understanding of how vaccine hesitancy is organized interactionally in its primary, natural environment of medical consultations between parents and healthcare providers. This article uses conversation analysis to describe the sequence organization of the action of providers soliciting parents’ vaccination intent. We demonstrate that parents’ acceptance is “preferred” and sequence-closure relevant and that refusal is “dispreferred” and sequence-expansion relevant. Regarding vaccine refusal, we describe three different sequence-expansive actions, including soliciting an account, cautioning about the consequences of vaccine refusal, and “keeping the …

Data Security In The Apple Ecosystem: An Evaluation, Kayrene Woods

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of data security within the Apple ecosystem, focusing on the company’s privacy policies, user perceptions, and the effectiveness of its App Store review processes. Employing an interdisciplinary methodology, the research examines Apple’s commitment to data protection, emphasizing transparency and user trust. A survey of user experiences revealed varying levels of engagement and understanding of Apple’s privacy practices, with only 32.8% of respondents having read the Privacy Policy and mixed opinions on its clarity. Additionally, concerns persist about third-party app security, with 39.7% of users expressing apprehension and skepticism about Apple’s App Store review process. …

Social Media As Health Educator: An Assessment Of The Understandability And Accuracy Of Tiktok Content About Contraception, Julianna Coleman, Maetal Haas-Kogan, Andrea Pelletier, Rachel Stoddard, Natasha Johnson, Julia Beatini, Nora Sun, Alex Keuroghlian, Deborah Bartz

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Contraception knowledge and attitudes are largely formed from conversations within one's social network. More recently, this network has expanded to include social media. As the fastest growing social media platform, we aimed to assess popular contraception videos on TikTok for content understandability, actionability and accuracy.

METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of the most viewed, contraception-specific TikTok videos that were previously coded as containing educational messaging in a content-analysis study. We assessed videos for understandability (ability to explain a key message) and actionability (identify what they can do to act on that message) using the Patient Education Materials Assessment …

Entrevista A Soyelgas, Fotógrafo De Los Conflictos Del 2019, Ximena Córdova Oviedo

All Works

The Bolivian crisis of 2019 was unleashed with accusations of electoral fraud against Evo Morales, then president and presidential candidate in the elections of October 20, 2019. Soyelgas covered this period for the La Paz newspaper Página Siete, working together with several other foreign and local journalists. “Soyelgas” is the artistic name of Gastón Brito Miserocchi, a Bolivian-Italian photographer who covered the most critical period of the post-electoral conflicts of 2019. His generous testimony as a first-hand witness is a valuable contribution to the analysis of the 2019 conflicts, since that allows us to glimpse a perspective rarely exposed: that …

Rethinking Human-Autonomy Teamwork In The Context Of Design And Robotic Fabrication, Iremnur Tokac Celikyay, Caja Thimm, Sigrid Brell-Cokcan

Human-Machine Communication

The integration of autonomous agents in design is challenging due to its unstructured nature. The increasing focus on human-robot interaction (HRI) is driven by its potential to address this issue, enabling human-robot teams to effectively manage creative design tasks. This paper aims to identify interactive processes among the agencies of humans, robots, and materials. We explore how HRI can shift robotic fabrication from a linear deterministic process to an iterative co-creation one. Through reflective analysis of robotic fabrication studies, we illustrated how interaction interfaces can distribute agency among humans, robots, and materials while negotiating the design intent with material and …

A Systematic Review Of The Effects Of Ai-Assisted Moderation On Individuals And Groups, Zehui Yu, Lukas Otto, Dennis Assenmacher, Claudia Wagner

Human-Machine Communication

This review paper provides a conceptualization of AI-assisted content moderation with various degrees of autonomy and summarizes experimental evidence for how different levels of automation in content moderation and related losses of autonomy affect individuals and groups. Our results show that current research predominantly focuses on individuallevel effects, necessitating a shift toward understanding the impact on groups. The study highlights gaps in exploring different levels of AI-assisted moderation interventions and misalignments of different conceptualizations that make comparing research results difficult. The discussion underscores the prevailing emphasis on harmful content removal and advocates for investigating more constructive moderation techniques, emphasizing the …

Towards Human-Machine Collaboration In Autonomous Material Handling On Construction Sites, Jyrki Oraskari, Lukas Kirner, Marit Zöcklein, Sigrid Brell-Cokcan

Human-Machine Communication

In the contemporary construction industry, the shortage of skilled labor has prompted the exploration of automation as a remedy and machine autonomy as a potential solution to the environmental conditions at the site. This research explores the balance between human oversight and the independent decision-making capabilities of robots for material delivery on construction sites. Using a scenario-based approach, autonomy in construction robotics is evaluated across four human-machine interaction cases with spatial and temporal dimensions. The expected outcomes revolve around improved safety through better human-machine communication and establishing an interoperable data model to enhance robot autonomy. This aims to automate tasks …

Accomplishing Robotic Autonomy: The Complexities Of Sociotechnical Care And Agency In The Laboratory, Yifan Xu, Elliott Hauser

Human-Machine Communication

Effective ethical interventions in emerging technologies such as robotic autonomy demand situated understandings of the practices that shape them. Drawing upon a year of participatory ethnography, this study examines the sociomaterial practices used to accomplish robotic agency in an engineering research laboratory. Ironically, the robot was often a helpless, even pathetic, figure. Roboticists displayed an attitude of surprisingly genuine, diligent, and self-effacing care toward the robot as they helped enable it to perform basic competencies such as picking up a bottle. Using a practice theory, we show how roboticists’ care practices, motivated and sustained by anticipatory narratives of robotic agency, …

Between Autonomy And Automation: Mapping Practices Among Syrian Delivery Drivers In Beirut, Blake Atwood

Human-Machine Communication

This article studies the tension between autonomy and automation as it is experienced by Syrian refugee food-delivery drivers who work on the Toters app in Beirut, Lebanon. Central to this study are the freedom narratives these drivers construct, which reflect their ambivalent relationship with digital labor platforms. These narratives highlight how the algorithmic nature of the Toters app provides opportunities for self-employment and flexible work, crucial for refugees facing employment barriers and limited physical and social mobility in Lebanon. However, in these narratives, the drivers’ sense of autonomy is also often compromised by the app’s increasing automation, which imposes surveillance …

Wired To Offend: Cancel Culture Meets Generative Artificial Intelligence, Andrew Prahl, Shanice Koh Jie Qing, Justina Tan Ann Qi

Human-Machine Communication

Cancel culture has been limited to individuals and corporations being cancelled. However, AI is also getting cancelled, challenging our understanding of machine autonomy and cancel culture. This paper investigates how AI cancellation is discussed on X (Twitter) using a recent AI cancellation incident involving Nothing, Forever, an AI-generated parody of Seinfeld. Qualitative content analysis is performed on 734 relevant posts to extract the main categories dominating the discourse, including emotional expression, attitudes toward AI, and discussion of human versus AI qualities. The results provide insights regarding how people perceive the autonomy of AI and who is responsible for AI output.

Autonomy And Agency In Farming: Exploring Human, Machine, And Animal Dynamics, Ricarda Drüeke, Corinna Peil

Human-Machine Communication

Human-Machine Communication is reshaping the agricultural sector as digital technologies and automated systems transform farms into complex communicative environments. Farms, which serve as both workplaces and living spaces, uniquely integrate these technologies, yet their impact on farmers’ daily practices, labor, and decision-making remains underexplored. Through an ethnographic approach involving qualitative interviews and farm visits in Austria and southern Germany, the study investigates the interactions among farmers, automated technologies, smart devices, and animals. Using Actor-Network Theory, the redistribution of labor and agency in smart farming is explored. This analysis examines two forms of human-machine relations: the dynamics of automation and autonomy …

Human-Machine Relations And Relational Autonomy, Hendrik Kempt, Camilla Colombo, Saskia K. Nagel

Human-Machine Communication

The ever-growing use of interactive technologies and digitization processes in decisionmaking contexts raises key challenges to the conceptualization of autonomy. Starting from the shortcomings of individualistic models, we argue that relational accounts of autonomy provide a more adequate characterization of human beings as socially embedded and integrated. By introducing a decision-theoretic framework, and further theoretical elaboration, we suggest a substantial account of relational autonomy incorporating machines and technologies within the significant relations entertained by agents. Besides optimizing decision-making performances, human-machine interactions could genuinely support and enhance individual autonomy, by fostering human connections, expanding the individual’s social context with additional perspectives, …

Four Notions Of Autonomy. Pitfalls Of Conceptual Pluralism In Contemporary Debates, Roman Wagner, Bert Heinrichs

Human-Machine Communication

The concept of autonomy is indispensable in the history of Western thought. At least that’s how it seems to us nowadays. However, the notion has not always had the outstanding significance that we ascribe to it today and its exact meaning has also changed considerably over time. In this paper, we want to shed light on different understandings of autonomy and clearly distinguish them from each other. Our main aim is to contribute to conceptual clarity in (interdisciplinary) discourses and to point out possible pitfalls of conceptual pluralism.

Rethinking Autonomy In The Digital Age: Between Human Exceptionalism, Hybridity And Conviviality, Anne Hoss

Human-Machine Communication

In the humanities and social sciences, there is a long tradition of discourses on the relationship between automats and human autonomy. Socio-technological transformation processes of the past decades have revitalized related discussions. At the same time, based on ideas of either human exceptionalism or hybridity, current debates tend to focus on ontological questions and comparisons between humans and machines. This paper aims to widen recent discursive foci by introducing Ivan Illich’s work which highlights institutions, power structures, and the social shaping of technology as key factors of humanartifact relations and autonomous action. It will be argued that Illich’s approach contributes …

"There Is No Such Thing As A Machine That Acts Outside Of Relations With Humans”, Lucy Suchman, Caja Thimm

Human-Machine Communication

Starting with her early works on “Talk with Machines” (1986, republished in 2021) and her books Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-Machine Communication (1987) and Human-Machine Reconfigurations (2007a), Lucy Suchman not only opened up a new domain of scientific interest in humans and technology, but also showed how the scope of human machine relations needs to be reconceptualized. With her most recent works (2023a, 2023b), she not only widens the perspective on the contexts for machine usage, particularly by the military, but she also gives insights on how to conceptualize AI in terms of its ontological status and …

From Automation To Autonomy: Human Machine Relations In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Caja Thimm, Gabriele Gramelsberger, Maximilian Mayer, Frank T. Piller

Human-Machine Communication

The shift from automation to autonomy marks a new chapter in human-machine relations, especially in the context of the expanding and diversifying applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As machines gain capabilities that resemble autonomous agency, the boundary between human and machine autonomy blurs, challenging traditional concepts of agency, control, and independence. This special issue examines the multidisciplinary perspectives on autonomy in the digital age, addressing the complexities of attributing autonomy to machines and AI systems. Philosophical, sociological, and technical approaches converge to explore how emerging forms of machine autonomy impacts human agency, freedom, and decision-making, with applications spanning from autonomous …

The Affective Labor Of Cross-Disciplinary Communication Education: Enacting A Feminist Praxis, Kailin Regutti, Zane Austin Willard

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical commentary addresses the pedagogical experiences of being instructional assistants of communication in an engineering classroom at a Florida public university. In weaving together our experiences, we reflexively explore the affective labor and challenges of teaching interpersonal and intercultural communication concepts in a STEM environment while navigating restrictive state legislation and varying disciplinary perspectives and metatheoretical assumptions. We manage these dynamic tensions by adopting a feminist pedagogical praxis that works toward reimagining futures for STEM education—a future that helps students foster a critical consciousness and apply communication as a means of developing more equitable and just solutions across industries. …

Pedagogies Of Discomfort: Critical Lessons From Florida Feminist Professors, Aisha Durham Dr., Mahuya Pal Dr., Sonia Ivancic Dr.

Feminist Pedagogy

In a collaborative letter, Florida feminist faculty instructors describe pedagogies of discomfort devised by the state to empower an assumed alienated student decentered by difference and to disquiet a culturally responsive teacher who treats education as transformation and liberation rather than career-relevant job training. They recall classroom resistance strategies and tactics not only to speak to the policies of erasure in this moment, but also to speak to the precarious student who needs to feel cared for, honored, and acknowledged in their pursuit to learn and unlearn to be in community today. The political intent of discomfort is to divide …

Barbie, Taylor Michelle Gale

Theses and Dissertations

The stereotypes placed over men and women throughout various forms of media, including film and TV, song, printed media, and even through objects like toys, have a large impact on society as a whole. Kumari and Joshi (2015) explain that media plays an important role in sharing information concerning what deems to be the fabric of contemporary culture, which can aid in changing, or perpetuating long standing societal norms. This study identifies how Greta Gerwig's Barbie (2023) approaches the themes of the portrayal of women in the media through the Barbie film, examining themes such as objectification, self-objectification, and the …

The Rattler (Volume 113, Issue 4), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Ethical Considerations In Qualitative Research After Dobbs, Sabrina Singh

Pace Law Review

The verdict in the Dobbs case will undoubtedly have an impact on the United States research enterprise for years to come. Since the landmark decision was handed down by the high court, researchers have warned of the impacts that the decision will have on clinical research. However, there is less discussion about how qualitative researchers will be impacted by this decision. Oftentimes, qualitative researchers are asking their participants to be vulnerable and to let researchers be privy to intimate and/or confidential details about their lives. In exchange for such access, researchers need to ensure the protection of their participants and …

The Current (Including Special Section) - Volume 35 Issue 6, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 8 - November 21, 2024

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 8 - November 21, 2024. 16 pages.

Framing Barbie: A Thematic Analysis Of News Media, Mckenzie Muskett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study qualitatively examined how newspapers and digital media sources frame the 2023 movie, Barbie, and how news media can either perpetuate stereotypes or uproot them. This was done by first facilitating a thematic analysis of newspaper articles from five major U.S news outlets, New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, and then from four major digital news outlets, Newsweek, Reuters, BBC, and NewsNation. This study utilized framing theory to identify ten frames news outlets used to frame Barbie. Additionally, feminist theory was implemented to inform the findings and analyze the articles. …

Lindenwood Digest, November 20, 2024, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been a digital employee newsletter since 2009.

Literature Review: Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Fraternity And Sorority Life, Payten Madlem-Easterday

Bakerman Student Research Awards

No abstract provided.