Communication Commons^™

Dna Ancestry Testing And Racial Discourse In Higher Education: How The (Re)Biologization Of Race (Un)Settles Monoracialism For Graduate Students, Orkideh Mohajeri, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Anita K. Foeman, Bessie Lee Lawton

Communication and Media Faculty Publications

The recent proliferation of DNA testing in both popular culture and higher education calls to question whether such testing reifies race as a biological construct and, in particular, whether or not it disrupts or reinforces monoracial categorizations. Graduate students, who are often at a point in their educational journeys to further question and critique commonly held ideas, provide a unique lens through which to investigate discourses surrounding DNA testing. In this qualitative study, we analyze data from four focus groups with 22 racially diverse U.S. graduate students who had recently completed an ancestry test. We identify two specific discourses that …

Cute Politics! Articulating The Kawaii Aesthetic, Fandom And Political Participation, Hsin-Yen Yang

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

What do Hello Kitty and other cute artifacts have anything to do with political communication? As the dominant aesthetic of global consumer society, kawaii (“cute” in Japanese) has become a popular expression in many public spaces and political cultures, especially in East and Southeast Asia. Based on her field participation, interviews, and secondary sources, Dr. Hsin-Yen Yang offers a historical-textual analysis of the ways in which cute aesthetics and fan participation alter the political communication process in postauthoritarian Taiwan. This study suggests that the prevalence of kawaii in protests and political campaigns indicates an ideological shift from masculine communication styles …

Mood: A Zine Exploring The Value Of Youth-Oriented Media, Patricia K. Paul

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Media is a constant, persistent force in human lives that informs and influences through published, broadcasted, and digitally mediated formats. Mass media industries produce and distribute content consumed by diverse audiences, though the facilitators represent only a fraction of the demographics they serve.

Youth denote one of the most frequently misrepresented groups, with very few practical opportunities for young people to make decisions about the texts available to them. A jarring absence of youth participation in media creation at all levels suggests cultural contributions through art exclude young people's authentic perspectives and desires. Moreover, media portrayals of youth cannot adequately …

English Learners In Nyc, Raquel Neris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

English Learners in NYC is a Digital Humanities project that intersects Migration Studies and Foreign Language Learning Studies by presenting a podcast series about the learning experience of international students in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs at English schools in New York City. The project aims to provide visibility to the educational migration in this specific context and to promote a discussion on how international students and educators can reimagine their teaching and learning experience. It also aims to reveal ESL schools' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they incorporated digital technologies during and after this event. …

The Guardian The Month Of June 2023, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the Month of June 2023. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Lindenwood Magazine, Spring 2023, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Magazine (2017- )

Lindenwood University news magazine.

Entextualización Del Discurso Político En Colombia. Análisis Glotopolítico Del Proceso De Escritura De La Constitución De 1991, Jorge Luis Alvis-Castro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although constitutions are part of the canon of disciplinary writings, along with grammar books and etiquette manuals, and are also central texts in the processes of formation and consolidation of Latin American nation-states, to date, they have not been sufficiently explored in their social and linguistic processes of discursive elaboration. With a glottopolitical approach, this research examines the social, communicative and ideological components involved in the writing process of the Colombian Constitution of 1991, developed in a context of State crisis and violence aggravated by narco-terrorist attacks. Using the concept of entextualization, which refers to the process of extracting discourse …

Advising Communication In Finance, Jordan J. Schumann

Communication Studies

Communication is an important factor in relationships. When it comes to financial advising and the advisors’ relationship with their clients, it is no different. However, the driving factor of what makes a client choose one advisor over another remains in question. As such a question builds: what does an advisor do to maintain a client and promote gaining new ones? This study examines the experiences current advisors have had in their respective careers. To examine this topic, communication theories (Social Cognitive Theory, Source Credibility Theory, and Uncertainty Reduction Theory) are called upon to inform the outcomes of advisors' experiences. The …

A Word From The Writing Team (June 2023), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Happy Pride Month!
• Faculty Days 2023
• Publication Spotlight
• Reminders

Stories To Empower Our Communities: Promoting Diverse Lgbtqia+ Narratives In Picture Book Collections, Amanda Melilli, Alicia G. Vaandering, James W. Rosenzweig

Library Faculty Presentations

Do you want to move past marking that diversity checkbox and take your LGBTQIA+ collection development to the next level? As seen through the work of Diverse BookFinder, how historically underrepresented identities are portrayed in our collections is just as important as increasing the number of books depicting these identities. This presentation moves beyond asking if there is LGBTQIA+ representation in recently published picture books and instead explores the more complex questions of who is being represented, in what ways, to what extent, and why each type of narrative is important to children and their families. Join us to gain …

The Identification Of Representation Gaps In Diverse Us Children's Picture Books, Alena Rivas

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This paper addresses this research question: which intersectional identities remain underrepresented in diverse US children’s picture books? The analysis is based on two datasets, one from Diverse BookFinder (collected December 2022–April 2023) and another from a survey of librarians (collected January 2023–April 2023). Each book in the Diverse BookFinder collection features a non-white character in the following racial/cultural categories: Asian/Pacific Islander, Biracial/Multiracial/Mixed Race, Black/African American, Brown Skinned/Unspecified Race, Latinx/Hispanic, Middle Eastern/Arab, Multi-Racial Cast of Characters, Native American/Indigenous, and White/Caucasian. These identities were cross tabulated with the following identities to measure intersectionality: Gender (Nonbinary, Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Intersex, and Unspecified); LGBTQIAP2S+; …

Fighting The Invisibility Of Domestic Violence, Yesenny Fernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Analyzing the invisibility of domestic violence in New York City as 32% of women in the city experience intimate partner physical violence. In this project, domestic violence refers to all different kinds of violence that occur in a home between all the members who live there regardless of whether they are intimate partners or not. The data focuses on all the daily calls received by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) regarding domestic violence related incidents such as physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual violence, or murder. Even though many …

Review Of Hate Speech, A. Jay Wagner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

From The Closet To The Campaign Trail: Navigating Disclosure Of Sexual Orientation In Campaign Media Content By Openly Lesbian Political Candidates In The Oregon 2022 Election Cycle, Bridget D. Volk

University Honors Theses

This qualitative study examines the strategies employed by openly lesbian political candidates in navigating the disclosure of their sexual orientation within campaign media content during the Oregon 2022 election cycle. The project uses Tina Kotek, a candidate for Oregon governor, and Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a candidate for Oregon House District 5, as case studies. The thesis comprises of four main sections, each focusing on a specific aspect of campaign media content: analysis of the biography sections on each candidate's campaign website, examination of two selected social media posts from each candidate, analysis of two television advertisements for each candidate, and a …

Lights, Camera, Climate Action: Investigating Emotional Responses To Climate Change Trailers (Documentary, Television, & Narrative Film), Erik Daniel Schell Devore

University Honors Theses

This research examined the emotional responses elicited by different genres of environmental visual media (VM) trailers. Six undergraduate Environmental Science and Management student participants self-selected to watch trailers from three different genres of VM: a documentary film, a television series, and a narrative film. The goal of this research was to understand the extent people become aware of various environmental VM topics, how VM elicits emotional responses, the effectiveness of VM in promoting action, and to gain a better understanding of how producers and directors can potentially modify VM to have a greater impact on changing participants' attitudes toward climate …

Hegemonization Of Whiteness In The Latinx Community, Ava N. Jakubowski

University Honors Theses

This literature review aims to explore the discourse on how whiteness engages with the LatinX community. The majority of the literature asserts that whiteness is hegemonized in the LatinX community. Addressed are the claims made for how these two groups intersect, drawing on a variety of prevalent research and experts in the field. This review is situated within the social science field, with an emphasis on communications, psychology, and sociology. The current power dynamics between these two groups is explored through a variety of lenses including the assimilation and racial boundary paradigms. Also addressed are areas in the research that …

Cultic Studies Cultivate Libertory Language, Todd Heckathorn

University Honors Theses

Coercive abuse at its most extreme manifests in cultic groups. These groups abuse their members using the same tactics that a domestic abuser or totalitarian government would to make their victims completely dependent on and subservient to them. Cultic studies investigate these tactics to define cults, coercive control, thought reform, indoctrination, and group psychological abuse behaviors. This fairly recent area of study has significant overlap with abolition feminist studies, which compare interpersonal and systemic abuse to liberate oppressed Americans, such as Black and Indigenous people, queer and disabled people, and women. This thesis combines cultic studies and abolition feminist studies …

Pandemic Collaborative Governance Facilitation: A First Look At Covid-19'S Impact On Collaborative Governance, Amelia Webb

University Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on Collaborative Governance Facilitation, prompting a need to examine continuing impacts and repercussions. This study investigates the effects of COVID-19 on Collaborative Governance Facilitation by exploring the perspectives of facilitators who worked through this period. Using a qualitative approach, and incorporating elements of Grounded Theory and Phenomenology, a focus group was conducted with facilitators operating in the greater Pacific Northwest that identified several emerging themes and patterns in the facilitators' pandemic experiences. The analysis revealed significant insights in several key areas: the assessment phase, pace and productivity, equity and demographic differences, building …

Ad Natural: A Campaign Advocating For Representation Of Diverse Female Body Types In Advertising Practices, Stacey Horton

University Honors Theses

In this paper, I discuss the conceptualization, research, and execution of my awareness campaign, Ad Natural, in which I explore the best methods for promoting representation of diverse body types among women in advertisements. Through studying the history of women in advertising, the conduction of an anonymous survey, and competitor analysis I am able to determine where there is room for growth in advocating for this cause and integrate the solutions into the campaign. The end result consists of a full brand identity across a website, advertisement series, and merchandise with consistent messaging and imagery meant to empower the desired …

The Little Magazine In The Digital Era: A Startup Guide, Dan Chilton

University Honors Theses

The primary goal of this project is to outline steps for success in the development of the little magazine (aka, the literary magazine) in today's digitally dominated world. Through literary analysis, interviews with established editors from various fields, houses, and magazines, and a consideration of my own time working with multiple publications, I've set out to offer a startup guide for those interested in delving into the impactful world of literary forums, herein referred to as little magazines.

Toward Understanding Japanese And Us Mainstream Media In Light Of The Invasion Of Ukraine: Conflict Training, Sophie Truesdale

University Honors Theses

In today's society, there are various ways of watching and reading the news; however, advanced marketing and technology expose us to what best matches our beliefs. Our beliefs influence which media we choose and are shaped by what we read or watch. Because of the overload of information produced by social media, 24/7 news, podcasts, and a barrage of online news sources, it can be challenging to absorb all the information that we gather. In times of extremity, we are so consumed by the incursion of information that we forget to question and probe. When there is heightened violence and …

The Politics Of Expertise And The Articulation Of Authority In Democracy: Cognitive Style And Intelligibility In The Education Of Problem-Solving And Professional Decision-Making In The Domain Of Law, Michael W. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Computational complexity refers to the representational aspect of problem-solving. This representational aspect is commonly understood to describe the regularities that organize the definition of the problem-situation, the qualities that designate its difficulty, either in terms of the process of arriving at a definition of the problem or in the process of arriving at a solution. It is for this reason, that it is commonly said that “representational design precedes computational efficacy.” The point of this maxim is to serve as a reminder that an efficient use of resources begins with the design of near decomposability, the specification of the properties …

Navigating Through World’S Military Spending Data With Scroll-Event Driven Visualization, Hong Beom Hur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Catching up with the current geopolitical event is more important than ever these days. Anti-western nations like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea constantly challenge the world order set by the United States and its close allies. As a result, the world has seen a rise in military spending consecutively for the last several years. This data visualization project aims to provide an easy-to-read summary of military spending data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for hotly conflicted regions: East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Scroll-event-driven visualization implemented using Scrollama.js and D3.js combines text, map, and data …

Agendamelding And Covid-19: The Dance Of Horizontal And Vertical Media In A Pandemic, J. Benjamin Taylor, Milad Minooie, Chris J. Vargo

Faculty Articles

How are attitudes formed in the 21st Century, and who sets the agenda for initial COVID-19 coverage in the United States? We explore these questions using a random sample of 6 million tweets from a population of 224 million tweets collected between January 2020 and June 2020. In conjunction with a content analysis of legacy media such as newspapers, we examine the second-level agendamelding process during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The findings demonstrate that in the early weeks of the pandemic, public opinion on Twitter about the virus was distinctly different than the coverage …

Lindenwood Digest, May 31, 2023, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

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

Exploration To Brand Communication On Tiktok, Victoria M. Priola

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between the video-sharing social media platform TikTok and companies that use it to publish corporate branding content. The research intends to compare TikTok to other social media outlets. The motivation behind this study was fueled by the want to understand where TikTok lands within a company’s social media content planning process. Can TikTok ever become a solid foundation in social media content planning like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have been? Most of the previous research on TikTok has proven how unique the platform is compared to other social media, but …

Persuasion Across Platforms- Get In The Water Campaign, Kristen Kim, Ashley Shahinian, Ashley Abaya

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

In the following persuasive campaign, we aim to improve guests’ experience at the Surfrider Hotel Malibu to thus boost the company’s monetary inflow. Through the rollout of our “Get in the Water” campaign, we plan to transform guests’ perceptions of the hotel’s offerings. Furthermore, we plan to persuade guests that getting in the water is a fun and rewarding experience, ultimately improving their overall experience at the hotel and in Malibu. Initiatives, including a media-output revival and influencer-marketing events, would allow the Surfrider to connect with potential guests and advertise the possibilities of a hotel stay.

A Review Of Motivating Language Theory’S Effects On Trust In Organizations, James B. Larue

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

In their research, Men and colleagues (2022) investigated the influence of Motivating Language Theory (MLT) from supervisors on employee trust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Men and colleagues conducted online surveys across the United States to determine the effectiveness of empathetic, meaning-making, and direction-giving language in building trust within organizations. Results showed that empathetic language had a strong positive relationship with trust (β=.53), and direction-giving language had a weak positive relationship in satisfying employees’ need for competence (β=.32). This article is particularly relevant for organizational leaders looking to build trust with employees and those interested in psychology, communication, or business.

The Artistry Of Mediation: A Look At Mediation’S Effectiveness For Resolving Cross-Cultural Disputes Through The Leonardo Da Vinci Conflict Between France’S Louvre Museum And Italy’S Uffizi Gallery, Sophia D. Casetta

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Art is powerful, as it symbolizes the history and identity of the country that claims it. However, through timely transitions, such as trade and wars, the ownership of meaningful artworks blurs, with museums fighting to claim their heritage to put on honorable display for their people. Mediation can be a peaceful means to resolve art ownership disputes, as it accounts for respecting the individual cultures of the countries represented in the dispute. Using the key medication traits described within this essay, a prepared mediator involved in such a cross-cultural conflict should be able to help resolve the issue at hand. …

Exploring The Experiences Of Black College Women With Autism, Ruth Childress

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

This research paper explores the experiences of Black women with autism in college by adopting a framework of intersectionality. The paper specifically examines self-advocacy within these women and the impact that their intersecting identities may have on their ability to self-advocate. The development of self-advocacy skills in students with disabilities is crucial for their academic achievement in college, and students with autism face specific challenges in navigating the transition into post-secondary institutions. However, students with disabilities face challenges in developing self-advocacy skills due to the stigma surrounding disability and the need for self-realization and awareness. Black women with autism face …