The Pink And Blue Problem: Altercasting In Gendered Advertising, Abigail Benn

Capstone Showcase

When you meet a baby for the first time, and you don’t know its sex, if its wearing pink clothes, most people will automatically assume it’s a girl; or if they’re wearing blue clothes, it’s automatically a boy. The pink and blue problem is the enforcing of gender stereotypes through color, associated roles, and imagery. The root of this problem is that many people are unaware of the difference between “sex” and “gender”, and that they can be mutually exclusive. Your sex is the body you’re born with, and all the parts that come with it, while your gender is …

Habermas, The Public Sphere, And Wikileaks: The Public Sphere And The Right To Know, Mary Murray

Capstone Showcase

Jürgen Habermas, a German theorist, coined the public sphere as a place where citizens could interact, study, and debate issues together outside the realm of the home or family, which was defined as the private sphere. The public sphere can also be seen as a “manifestation of citizen sovereignty”. At its core, Habermas centered the public sphere around feudalism and the shift of one all-powerful individual reigning and representing the public to those citizens under the control of the state. Some critics argue voices encouraging the minorities were actually private voices leaking into the public sphere, while others argue the …

Using Bourdieu In Communication And Forensics Research, Stephen P. Hagan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

As norms in the forensics community are often unspoken and have few identifiable starting points, habitus and Bourdieu seems an apt place to begin an analysis. Further, such analysis can serve as a potential case study for broader applications of Bourdieu to communication studies. Thus, my goal is to provide an overview of Bourdieu’s work through his interconnecting ideas of habitus, field, and cultural capital and use those concepts to discuss college forensics as a case study of how communicative norms and attitudes are shaped in small collective social structures such as forensics. Building from that application, I explore ways …

The Age Of The Advertorial: Incorporating Sponsored Content Into The Newsroom, Hayley Robb

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

During a time when news is fast, frequent and easier to find than ever, it has become harder for news outlets to not only generate revenue but to establish a need with their readers. Sponsored content pieces, also referred to as native advertising, have offered creative solutions to this problem for student media groups and professional news outlets across the country.

Using WKU’s first-ever content agency, Cherry Creative, as a case study and by analyzing various other news outlets in the U.S., this project aims to develop a series of recommendations for the future of Cherry Creative and student media, …

Evaluating Constituent Representation Among Southern Members Of Congress: The Cases Of Georgia And Kentucky, Mary Adams

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study examines the factors that influence the representative relationship between members of Congress and their constituents. Given the foundational nature of representation in democratic republics, research on the communication between citizens and their representatives is needed. Because the relationship between constituents and their representatives is most frequently studied in the electoral context, studies on the factors that impact constituent representation by their members of Congress are lacking. Using a mixed methodology of quantitative logistic regression analysis and qualitative interviews, I examine constituent-initiated contact of the office of their member of Congress and interpersonal interactions between representatives and their constituents …

Learning Wakanda: Assessing The Responses Of African-American Children And Their Caregivers Toward Concordant Educational Media, Cameron L. Coleman

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Screen-based educational media, as an extension of the schooling process whose history has mirrored brick and mortar institutions, have traditionally espoused narratives of Eurocentricity, shifting relatively recently to multicultural yet simultaneously raceless narratives. While many viewers have learned from and been inspired by these media, the enthusiastic response to the film Black Panther (2018), as demonstrated by financial earnings and sustained social media energy, revealed an intense yearning in the Black community for media positively centering the strengths and successes of Black lives. Launched from the sociocultural fervor for Black concordance in media, and extending concordance into the educational media …

Recherche Formative Exhaustive Sur Les Croyances, Les Pratiques Et Les Comportements En Matière De Santé Au Mali, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

Breakthrough RESEARCH, in conjunction with the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche sur l’Information en Population et Santé (CERIPS), designed and conducted a mixed method formative study to inform USAID Mali’s health and nutrition programming for the next five years. This project aimed to increase demand for and use of health, nutrition, water and sanitation services; increase individual and household adoption of healthy behaviors; and improve household and community capacities to plan, finance, and manage their own health and health systems. This formative research comprised three phases of data collection to reveal the contexts of health behaviors and determinants, motivators, and …

Comprehensive Formative Research On Health Beliefs, Practices, And Behaviors In Mali, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

Breakthrough RESEARCH, in conjunction with the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche sur l’Information en Population et Santé (CERIPS), designed and conducted a mixed method formative study to inform USAID Mali’s health and nutrition programming for the next five years. This project aimed to increase demand for and use of health, nutrition, water, sanitation and health services; increase individual and household adoption of healthy behaviors; and improve household and community capacities to plan, finance, and manage their own health and health systems. This formative research comprised three phases of data collection to reveal the contexts of health behaviors and determinants, motivators, …

Mapping Misinformation In The Coronavirus Outbreak, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

The coronavirus outbreak has sent ripples of fear and confusion across the world. These sentiments—and our collective responses to the outbreak—are made worse by rampant misinformation surrounding the new strain of the virus, COVID-2019. In this post, I survey some of the most pervasive areas of tentacular coronavirus-related misinformation that has proliferated online -- as well as the responses of social media companies like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok that may ultimately prove inadequate given the magnitude of the problem.

The Cultivation Theory And Reality Television: An Old Theory With A Modern Twist, Jeffrey Weiss

Capstone Showcase

George Gerbner, a Hungarian-born professor of communication, founded the cultivation theory, one of the most popular and regarded theories in the communications world. Developed in the mid 20th century, the theory focus on the long-term effects of television on people. Longer exposure to signs, images and people on television cultivates their perception of reality in the real world. The television became a household staple during this time. Families often spent time together watching programming together, however, it played out different effects for each person. Television's constant visual and auditory stimulation on a person made it easier to cultivate certain messages, …

Richard Dyer's Star Theory Applied To Musician/Actress: Lady Gaga, Allora R. Lee

Capstone Showcase

Richard Dyer’s Stars and general studies analyze the unusual phenomena surrounding influential film stars and their unmitigated power to compel and amaze those outside of the spotlight. His studies separate the theory into three intermingling parts: stars as a social phenomenon, stars as images, and stars as signs. There are many components in Dyer’s studies that can be extracted and used in analyses of particular actors and actresses. However, this does not solely revolve around film stars. In this analysis, I will be examining the famous pop music icon and recent actress, Lady Gaga. Through an analysis of her style, …

How Misinformation Spreads Through Twitter, Mary Blankenship

Student Research

While living in the age of information, an inherent drawback to such high exposure to content lends itself to the precarious rise of misinformation. Whether it is called “alternative facts,” “fake news,” or just incorrect information, because of its pervasiveness in nearly every political and policy discussion, the spread of misinformation is seen as one of the greatest challenges to overcome in the 21st century. As new technologies emerge, a major piece of both content creation and the perpetuation of misinformation are social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. As news events emerge, whether be a pandemic, a mass …

The Morphology Of Sex: Tracking Change In The Sex Discourse At Augustana College, Robert E. Burke

Audre Lorde Prize

Here, I track how the criteria for deeming sex as acceptable or unacceptable have changed over time at Augustana College. To do so, I apply two critical lenses to archived issues of the Augustana Observer. The first lens involves Rubin's concept of the "sex hierarchy," a variety of categories by which we may judge sex as good or bad. The second lens is related to Berlant and Warner's "national heterosexuality," a concept that claims that sexual norms are intrinsically elastic but politically, culturally, and economically firm under capitalism. Making use of a localized "snapshot" approach, I use recent Augustana history …

The Good Ol' Days: How Sociopolitical Climate Influences Motivations To Seek Historical Nostalgic Media Experiences Versus Non-Nostalgic Media Experiences And The Outcomes Of Those Experiences, Samantha Rosenthal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Nostalgia is a complex cognitive and affective experience and has been described by some as a "social emotion" (Goulding, 2002; Merchant & Rose, 2013; Wildschut et al., 2006). Through nostalgic media experiences, people can develop connections to prior eras or periods in society which are accompanied by a range of emotions and feelings. Perceptions of the past are influenced by experiences in the present. Because of this, it is possible that people's perceptions of their current political climates and society play a role in how they seek and react to media experiences, including nostalgic media experiences. Considering how the political …

Green Trust Perceptions Of Eco-Labels, Rebecca Dupont

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Sustainability in the United States trends a new marketing demand for eco-labels yet brands often skip regulation to obtain these labels and break consumer trust. The country currently has over 200 eco-labels, leaving consumers overwhelmed and confused. In the present study, 3 focus groups of 6-8 participants were interviewed about their opinions, perceptions and attitudes towards eco-labels. A thematic analysis of the focus group audio was completed. The results indicated that participants desire products with eco-labels yet paradoxically distrust eco-labeled products.

[Review Of] Colin Milburn, Respawn: Gamers, Hackers, And Technogenic Life, Durham, Nc: Duke University Press, 2018, 301 Pp., William T. Howe

Communication Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Use Your Head: A Frame Analysis Of Digital Media On Concussions In The National Football League Using The Health Belief Model And The Extended Parallel Process Model, Harrison Stow Witwer-Dukes

Senior Independent Study Theses

Over the past decade, the topic of concussions in the National Football League has increased in discourse as more information about the long term effects of head injuries has come out. The way the media portrays the topic has a significant impact on how the general public perceives the issue, as well as how solutions to the issue are proposed. The purpose of this study is to perform a frame analysis on 30 digital media news articles from 2009-2019. The frames presented in the study are based on elements from the Health Belief Model and the Extended Parallel Process Model. …

“I Don’T Want To Hear Your Language!” White Social Imagination And The Demography Of Roman Corinth, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This article aims to deconstruct the hidden pervasive whiteness in biblical scholarship and to propose another way to reimagine the linguistic dynamic of Roman Corinth from an Asian American perspective. It highlights the legal and historical interconnectedness of whiteness and the dominance of English. English is a critical marker of whiteness in the United States. In this context, immigrants are expected to conform to and assimilate themselves with whiteness by performing English. This particular racialized context has influenced and resulted in a scholarly historical reconstruction of immigrants in Roman Corinth as “Greek speaking im/migrants.” Immigrants can come from many different …

The Pacific Sentinel, January 2020, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Letter from the Editor
• Study Determines How Measles Destroys the Immune System
• Another Police Shooting: A Whose Fault WHODUNNIT?
• (News) Portlanders Join Nationwide Rallies to Impeach and Remove Trump
• (Opinion) Reconstructing America
• The Uyghurs: A Fading Chapter
• Chickens Are for Hugging
• The Myth of Vegan Virtuosity
• Stop Saying "Be Grateful for What You Have"
• Who Would Make a Baking Challenge Like That?! Zumbo Would.
• Best of 2019 Staff Picks
• Baby Ketten Finds Its Forever Home
• (Satire) How to Deal With the Crushing Weight of Familial Rejection Next Holiday Season

การสื่อสารการตลาดผ่านผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดบนอินสตาแกรมของผลิตภัณฑ์เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่นแบรนด์ไทย, ณัชชา จริยธรรมานุกูล

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้เป็นการวิจัยแบบผสมผสาน โดยใช้วิธีการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพด้วยวิธีวิเคราะห์เอกสาร จากโพสต์บนอินสตาแกรมของผลิตภัณฑ์เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่นแบรนด์ไทย จำนวน 1,210 ชิ้น และการสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึกเจ้าของตราสินค้าจำนวน 3 คน เพื่อวิเคราะห์กลยุทธ์และรูปแบบการสื่อสารการตลาดผ่านผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดบนอินสตาแกรม และใช้วิธีการวิจัยเชิงปริมาณด้วยวิธีการวิจัยเชิงสำรวจ เก็บข้อมูลด้วยแบบสอบถามออนไลน์กับกลุ่มตัวอย่างอายุระหว่าง 18 - 30 ปี จำนวน 400 คน เพื่อสำรวจและอธิบายความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างการเปิดรับการสื่อสาร ทัศนคติต่อผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิด และการตัดสินใจซื้อสินค้า ผลการวิจัยพบว่า ตราสินค้าผลิตภัณฑ์เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่นแบรนด์ไทย มีการสื่อสารการตลาดผ่านผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดบนอินสตาแกรม โดยใช้ผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดที่มีรูปลักษณ์แบบคนเอเชีย มีรูปแบบการดำเนินชีวิตที่สอดคล้องกับตัวตนตราสินค้า ใช้รูปแบบชุดรูปภาพ (Carousels) ที่เสนอภาพบุคคลครึ่งตัว เห็นใบหน้าชัดเจน และแสดงออกอย่างเป็นธรรมชาติ มีพื้นหลังของภาพเป็นบรรยากาศธรรมชาติ และโทนสีสว่างสดใส มีเนื้อหาสาระแบบให้ข้อมูลทั่วไปของผลิตภัณฑ์ และใช้คำที่เป็นกระแสนิยมบรรยายใต้ภาพ ทั้งนี้พบว่า รูปแบบวิดีโอสั้นความยาวไม่เกิน 15 วินาที ได้รับการตอบสนองในการรับชม และมีการแสดงความรู้สึกด้วยการกดไลก์ (Like) แสดงความคิดเห็นต่อเนื้อหาแบบชุดรูปภาพ กดสัญลักษณ์อารมณ์ (Emoji) และใช้คำพูดเชิงบวก นอกจากนี้กลุ่มตัวอย่างมีทัศนคติต่อผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดเชิงบวกมาก โดยมองว่าการใช้ผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดที่มีรูปแบบการดำเนินชีวิตตรงกับตราสินค้า จะทำให้สินค้ามีความน่าสนใจ ผลการทดสอบสมมติฐานพบว่า การเปิดรับการสื่อสารการตลาดผ่านผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดบนอินสตาแกรมของผลิตภัณฑ์เสื้อผ้าแฟชั่นแบรนด์ไทย มีความสัมพันธ์กับทัศนคติต่อผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิด และทัศนคติต่อผู้มีอิทธิพลทางความคิดมีความสัมพันธ์กับการตัดสินใจซื้อสินค้า อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ .01 และเป็นความสัมพันธ์เชิงบวก

Colonial Patronage: Evolutions In The Critique Of Sartre’S “Orphée Noir”, Gus Huiskamp

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

One of the most interesting and controversial episodes in the history of the Négritude literary and philosophical movement came when two white, French authors prefaced the texts of two of the movement’s most significant authors. Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Orphée noir” is one of these texts in question, and it served as the preface for Léopold Sédar Senghor’s Anthologie de le nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache de langue française. In one sense, one might characterize Sartre as a friend to the Négritude movement, exposing it to the francophone mainstream and thereby helping it gain traction in Western academia. Viewed a different way, …

Interpersonal Influences On Interpretation Of Workplace Sexual Harassment, Rachael E. Purtell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how women interpret and respond to incidents of sexual harassment at work, in the context of both their romantic relationships and workplace cultures. Incorporating Ambivalent Sexism Theory (Fiske & Glick, 1995) to measure sexist attitudes, I presumed that their own, their partners’ and their presumed workplace’s sexism scores for both subsets would be linked to the women’s perceptions and behavioral intentions in response to being sexually harassed at work. Participants were 145 heterosexual adult women, employed full-time and in self-defined committed heterosexual relationships. Each completed a survey that included the Ambivalent …

Media Exposure To Crime, Fear Of Crime, And Social Interaction Anxiety, Genea Shoulders

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2000, approximately 30% of all news stories in mass media focused on crime. According to research, increased exposure to the media directly correlates to an increased fear of crime; however, little research has been conducted into this influential relationship and the extent of which it could affect a person’s social interaction anxiety. Therefore, the study’s purpose was to examine the relationship and consequential impact of media exposure and the extent of which the fear of crime had on individuals’ social interaction anxiety levels. Through a quantitative approach, this study used the theory of cultivation. Question one examined the effect …

The Effect Of Newspaper Closure On Local Media Ecology, Cody David Nespor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

On August 31, 2019, the local newspaper of Youngstown, Ohio, The Vindicator, ceased publication after 150 years. The Vindicator’s closure left Youngstown as the largest city in the United State without a major newspaper. As local newspaper closures become more and more common across communities, there are questions on how, and if, the coverage and content those newspaper provide to their communities can be replaced or will simply be lost forever. This study has three research questions. Question one pertains to the amount of original reporting that will exist without The Vindicator. Questions two asks about the amount of locally …

Instructor-Initiated Communication And Student Success In Online High-Impact Community College Courses, Tonia J. Benton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem addressed in this study is low student success in online high-impact courses. Researchers have shown that instructor-initiated communication contributes to student satisfaction and success. The purpose of this study was to determine any relationship between instructor-initiated communication and student pass rates in online high-impact courses offered at a community college in the United States. The Community of Inquiry (CoI), which identifies teacher, social, and cognitive guidelines supporting learning experiences for students, was the theoretical foundation of the study. The research question was designed to explore relationships among the percentage of students passing a course with an A, B, …

What We Value: Trends In Value Appeals Of Interstate Oratory Contest Final Round Speeches, Carson Kay, Eric Mishne

National Forensic Journal

Value appeals are crucial to persuasion. However, we wonder if forensic educators prioritize certain values. This content analysis examines the value appeals in the introductions of the three highest-placing persuasive speeches (N = 56) from the 1996-2016 Interstate Oratory Contests. Our two-decade comparison reveals that the diversity of values to which the finalists appealed decreased in the last decade. Drawing upon the Interstate Oratorical Association's historical context, Rokeach's (1973) value appeals, and Social Judgment Theory, we explain this trend and explore practical implications regarding exclusivity and judge bias, as well as methodological implications for future content analyses of value appeals.

1940 - 1949: Understanding The Interstate Oratorical Contest During And After World War Ii, Richard E. Paine

National Forensic Journal

The 1940s began shortly after the first salvos of World War II were fired. That war dominated the decade-for millions of lives touched or ended by the war, for those faced with the task of rebuilding when it ended, and even for the Interstate Oratorical Association. This paper examines the impact of the decade on the speeches presented at IOC and looks at patterns which appeared in the topics chosen, structures used, styles employed, and choice of supporting materials on which speakers relied. Attention is also paid to such logistical aspects of the contest as the tournament's continuing use of …

1990 - 1999: Examining How The Interstate Oratorical Contest Closed Out The 1900s, Judy Santacaterina, Harry Bodell, Jessica Bozeman

National Forensic Journal

This paper examines the top six speeches presented each year during the 1990s at the Interstate Oratorical Contest. Our purpose is to explore how these speeches reflected the political, social, economic and cultural climate of the time as well as the changes our discipline was experiencing in the final decade of the millennium.

The Times, They Were A-Changin': Exploring The Interstate Oratorical Contests Of The 1960s, R. Randolph Richardson, Kathy Brittain Richardson

National Forensic Journal

Since 1874, a handful of American college classrooms have hosted generations of students practicing the art of oratory. Throughout the intervening decades, students involved in the Interstate Oratory Contest have, to varying degrees, addressed the compelling social, political, economic and educational issues of their time. When one considers the shifting socio-political landscape of the 1960s, this decade seems a far cry from the rhetorical contexts that gave rise to speeches for the previous nine decades. Did stock issues give way to Woodstock issues? An analysis of the Interstate Oratory winning orations from the 1960s raises numerous questions. To what extent …

1970-1979: Investigating The Interstate Oratorical Contest During The "Me Decade", Karen Morris

National Forensic Journal

The decade of the 1970s further entrenched the socially progressive values that came to the U.S. cultural forefront in the 1960s. Investing in such activities as the Women's Movement and Vietnam War protests, college students became increasingly vocal about social issues. Those speaking up on such topics included the interstate orators who crafted the IOC speeches of the 1970s. In order to analyze the speeches presented at the Interstate Oratorical Contest between 1970 and 1979, the first part of this paper will explore how this socially important historical time period influenced the speeches themselves. The second section will address the …