Communication Commons^™

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

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Join us for our First Friday writing retreat of the semester!
• Faculty Days 2023
• Publication Spotlight
• Reminders

Digitods, Statistical Machine Learning Algorithms, And Internet Cognition: Sociocultural Learning Through Familial Modeling And Mediated Exchanges, Sina Foley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With ever-advancing technology and the ubiquity of smart devices, younger generations of children are growing up with access to smart mobile technology from birth. These digitally acculturated children ages 0-5, or digitods, are learning to make sense of the world in large part through sociocultural exchanges in the home. As these digital natives are habituated to mobile media, prevalent and accessible, they are also opened to data-mining and target-marketing as their online engagement signals algorithmic function. This study adds to our understanding of how digitods may be susceptible to algorithmic culture and strategic digital marketing, as familial modeling and mediated …

Flying The Unfriendly Skies: How Flight Crew Members Perceived And Communicatively Constructed The Emotional Labor Of Their Positions Throughout The Covid-19 Pandemic, William B.L. Ingelson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented levels of volatility to all hospitality industries, including aviation. Such levels of volatility have highlighted a need to understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on flight crew communication. This study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intra-flight crew communication and the emotional labor flight crew members experienced. Utilizing the theoretical frameworks of facework, politeness theory, emotional labor, and emotional management, this study examined how participants communicated through the tumult of this time period. This study discovered heavy usage of surface acting and increased levels of emotional labor through 28 qualitative interviews …

Examining Reflexive Communication Following A Break In Alcohol Abstinence, Lynda Kay Maxfield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over 107 million individuals are thought to have alcohol use disorder (AUD) (Ritchie & Roser, 2018). Discontinuing drinking can be difficult, but social support is thought to promote sobriety efforts. The r/stopdrinking online public community supports such efforts. This study has two broad aims: (1) explore how resilience building might occur on r/stopdrinking among initial users disclosing an abstinence disruption and responses from other users; and, (2) explore possible relationships, within initial posts, between resilience and three other phenomena (i.e., trauma, stated views of Alcoholics Anonymous, statements reflecting the transtheoretical model’s ten processes of change; Prochaska & Prochaska, 2021). To …

“But What About Me?”: How Memorable Messages Received During Catholic Sex Education Contribute To The Development Of Identity Gaps, Hannah Novak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sex education in the United States is a widely debated issue. Christians have supported abstinence-based education in the United States for decades (Dent & Maloney, 2017). There are numerous studies that have examined how abstinence sex education is faulty, specifically religious sex education (Judge, 2020; Levand & Ross, 2021; Rasmussen, 2010; Reuther, 2008). Studies found that religious sex education led to mental, physical, and emotional health disparities in the United States (Baker et al., 2015; Nelson et al., 2017). This study explored how memorable messages received in Catholic sex education led to the formation of identity gaps in participants' lives. …

The Connection Between Gen Z And Online Fast Fashion Media; Aiming To Create A Sustainable Future In Fashion., Rachel Peters

School of Art Undergraduate Honors Theses

It is impossible to think about culture in the past two decades without referencing social media. My generation, commonly known as Gen Z (born between 1997-2010), has been on the forefront of social media development. One of the first generations to grow up with some form of unfiltered online social experience, Gen Z has been hard wired to consume media. While using social media alongside my peers, I have observed a problem that has resulted from this: mass consumption. A mass consumption of food, beauty products, home decor, and clothing in particular. On social media we see hundreds of videos …

Evidence-Based Practice As An Undergraduate Clinician, Abigail Guinan

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Evidence-based practice consists of client perspectives, clinical expertise, and research evidence to make clinical decisions for client treatment. This project evaluated evidence-based practice in the field of speech-language pathology. One evidence-based treatment method was found for each of the Big Nine areas of treatment in speech-language pathology. More focus was put on the area of language, specifically late language emergence in pediatric populations. Late language emergence is a delay in language development that is not caused by any comorbidities. Children with late language emergence struggle in all areas of language. The three intervention strategies for late language emergence are family-centered, …

“We Felt Powerful And Rebellious”: Contested Spaces, Lesbian Identity, And The Evolution Of Separatism, Sarah Cooper

All Dissertations

Drawing on theoretical perspectives from lesbian studies, queer theory and studies and, feminist rhetorics while using rhetorical analysis, interviews, and archival research, this project traces the relationships lesbians have had to place, through case studies. To date, research on how space occupancy or land practices have contributed to the constitution of a contemporary lesbian identity in the United States lack scholarly attention. My following chapters ask: how has separatism historically and at present contributed to the constitution of lesbian identity? To answer, I turn to archival evidence of women’s lands in Southern Oregon, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, and Olivia Travel. …

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

The Guardian Student Newspaper

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

“If I Am Going To Have To Force You To Talk About It With Me, Then I’M Not Going To”: Relational Dialectics In Transracial Asian Adoptees’ Conversations About Race, Brooke Hornberger

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Transracial adoptive families often encounter various struggles around race as they acknowledge the challenges of racial dissimilarity in their family structure. This thesis, grounded in the theoretical framework of Relational Dialectics Theory, explored the competing discourses around the conversation of race for adult Asian adoptees. The results from 35 semi-structured interviews and contrapuntal analysis revealed one dialectical tension highlighting the Asian adoptee’s role in maintaining conversations of race with their White adoptive parents. Some adoptees voiced the discourse of taking the opportunity to be the advocate, while others voiced the discourse of feeling frustrated with being the advocate. The results …

The Role Of Storytelling In Digital Brand Marketing: A Case Study Of Tennessee Hills Distillery And Brewstillery, Cassidy Blackwell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study evaluates the impacts of brand storytelling on customers of a craft brewery and distillery in East Tennessee. Brand storytelling is well researched, but has not been applied to niche sectors and customer response. The study consisted of a 15-question survey distributed to customers of Tennessee Hills Distillery and Brewstillery (TN Hills), and received 139 responses. The results were that despite a seeming trend of lack of engagement with the business, respondents value brand stories and can identify unique brand characteristics. Respondents’ answers reflected a personal connection with TN Hills, and connected the brand to grander ideals like the …

The Effects Of Tiktok's Covid-19 Content On Anxiety In Young Adults, Nicholas Fontaine

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic spiked generalized anxiety worldwide. The onset of the pandemic also coincided with TikTok’s rise to popularity in the social media landscape, especially among young adults and children. As a result, COVID-19-related content rose to prevalence on the platform as it became a common outlet for users to share their thoughts and opinions on the pandemic while also feeding a growing audience in need of information and diversion. Given the connection between COVID-19 and anxiety, along with temporal ties between TikTok’s rise to popularity and the COVID-19 pandemic, this study set out to determine whether young adults would …

Seeking Second Skins, Alisa Scott

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Seeking Second Skins, a mini magazine serving as a slight counter to mainstream fashion reporting. This creative project unpacks clothing’s role in impression management, the modern fashion industry’s role in hypercommercialism and more.

The project will open with images and this conversational note, titled A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR, explaining my process and main ideas:

Hello,

I’m an NEIU senior and University Honors Program member pursuing a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies. On November 24, 2020, I donated nine large bags of clothes, shoes and bags. This experience made me wonder how and why people collect material things— clothing specifically. …

Pregnant Black/African Americans' Experiences In Prenatal Genetic Counseling, Latonya Alexander

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Pregnant Black/African American patients have faced systematic racism in the U.S. healthcare system embodied in the high maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Patients have the desire to feel heard and connected with their healthcare providers. Prenatal genetic counselors are not only trained to provide education to individuals, couples, and families who may be seeking genetic counseling, but also to use psychosocial skills with patients. Previous studies with majority of White participants have described how psychosocial skills build patient trust. Therefore, this study aimed to determine what factors made pregnant Black/African American patients feel heard and trustful with their prenatal genetic …

An Exploration Of Influences On Consumers' Behaviors/Decisions In Relation To Animal Agriculture, Abigail Durheim

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Animal agriculture provides many daily resources for consumers around the globe. While the average American is at least three generations removed from agriculture, they still hold power to influence the industry with the dollar and their vote. The purpose of this study was to identify influences on consumer behaviors/decisions in relation to animal agriculture. Seven hundred four complete and usable responses were collected via a researcher-developed online survey. Using branding concepts as a framework, the first study evaluated how visual stimuli influenced consumers' intention to purchase Nebraska beef products. Researchers found that visual stimuli did influence respondents to choose Nebraska …

An Ethical Framework For Library Publishing Version 2.0, Tina Baich, Nina Collins, Jaime Ding, Abigail Gulya, Zoe Wake Hyde, Bernadette A. Lear, Joshua Neds-Fox, Charlotte Roh, Melanie Schlosser, Kate Shuttleworth, Christine Turner

LPC Publications

Conceived at the Library Publishing Forum in 2017, the Ethical Framework for Library Publishing was a first-of-its-kind document for the LPC and the library publishing community. But remarkable social upheaval in the ensuing years, along with the continued maturation of our discipline, prompted the LPC to convene a task force to update the Framework for our current environment. What the task force developed, to our surprise, looks very little like the original document. An Ethical Framework for Library Publishing Version 2.0 is a true framework to help library publishers set an ethical baseline for their programs and activities. Consisting of …

Developing The Food Navigator Role At Everyone's Harvest, Chase Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Everyone’s Harvest (EH) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that operates farmers’ markets. In order to reduce hunger in Monterey County, Everyone's Harvest offers several food assistance programs for low-income people including the Market Match (MM) incentive program which matches CalFresh money, modern day food stamps, dollar for dollar. The problem is that in Monterey County 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 3 children are food insecure. The purpose of the Food Navigator (FN) at EH is to engage with the local community and connect low-income people with food assistance resources, primarily the MM program. This project was a role development …

T. Hanks For Nostalgia: The Power Of Tom Hanks And Film Branding, Jacob Higgs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In March 2020, Tom Hanks announced he had contracted COVID-19 while shooting the Elvis Presley Biopic in Australia. On Instagram, he encouraged fans to take the disease seriously and be aware of how severe of a disease it was. Character brands and nostalgia have been found to foster trust in products and encourage relationships with those brands. Using the lens of nostalgia and uses and gratification to examine Tom Hanks as a character brand, the researcher analyzed five blockbuster films with Tom Hanks as the lead character. The study used narrative thematic analysis to observe Hanks and the depictions of …

Men, Women, And Italians: The Masquerade Of Narrative And Identity In Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, Ruth A. Holmes

English Theses & Dissertations

The chaotic masquerades that proliferated during the British long eighteenth century punctuated the period’s preoccupation with order and categorization. The identity categories that the masquerade disrupted, the novel reinforced, or perhaps even created. It was in the middle of this period, in the political center of Britain, that Samuel Richardson published his third and final novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753), a novel which centers England and was also centered by England, a national treasure entangled in literary and cultural history. Tracing the nexus of gender and nationalism in Grandison then becomes important given the novel’s active entanglement …

Supporting Account-Based Queries For Archived Instagram Posts, Himarsha R. Jayanetti

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Social media has become one of the primary modes of communication in recent times, with popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram leading the way. Despite its popularity, Instagram has not received as much attention in academic research compared to Facebook and Twitter, and its significant role in contemporary society is often overlooked. Web archives are making efforts to preserve social media content despite the challenges posed by the dynamic nature of these sites. The goal of our research is to facilitate the easy discovery of archived copies, or mementos, of all posts belonging to a specific Instagram account …

Student Relational Maintenance With Instructors: Scale Development And Validation, Emily N. Napier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the instructor-student relationship through an interpersonal communication perspective. The current thesis took a two-step process to first derive participant-generated responses concerning undergraduate student maintenance behaviors and second to construct and validate a scale concerning those behaviors. Of additional interest was to explore reasons as to why students aim to maintain these relationships. A 16-item measure titled the Student Relational Maintenance Scale was created and consists of making connections, advice seeking, etiquette, and attendance behaviors. Additionally, results revealed that both professional and personal reasons motivated students to build these relationships. Making connections, advice seeking, etiquette, and attendance behaviors …

Message Framing For Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake: A Content Analysis Of Cdc Facebook Communication, Victoria Amoako

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the frequent frames adopted by the CDC in the communication of the Covid-19 vaccine and how it impacts vaccine uptake through quantitative content analysis. The study builds on the framing theory and elaboration likelihood model. This study’s content collected 327 posts by the CDC on covid-19 vaccinations from December 2020- December 2022. A research randomizer was used to choose 200 posts as the final sample from the data that had been gathered. 122 posts out of the 200 total posts that the randomizer tallied were pertinent to the research questions for the study. It was found that …

A Comparison Of The Expressive Language Characteristics In Schizophrenia And Wernicke’S Aphasia, Taylor Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness and language disorders are rarely linked together as a way of making a comparison. In this study, a comprehensive scoping review was initiated to discuss the differential diagnostic characteristics of expressive language in Schizophrenia and Wernicke’s Aphasia (WA). This study will examine the domains of language where there are overlaps between the characteristics of expressive language. Semantics, pragmatics, and discourse will be further examined while comparing what aspects of expressive language are key in each domain. Schizophrenia being classified as a mental illness and WA being classified as an acquired language disorder, there are fundamental properties of language …

Espacio, Edgar Perez Peña, Edgar Perez Peña

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Edgar Perez Peña (He, Him, His) is a Queer, Chicanx contemporary figurative painter, who lives and works in the Los Angeles County. A native of Los Angeles, California, his paintings, and assemblages are a strong combination of process, materials, and content that displays his fascination on how physical/psychological space (from where he resides), reflects on the Queer Brown body and its comfort/discomfort in relation to public and private space.

Peña looks at his artistic practice as an opportunity to explore the human condition from the Queer and Brown perspective as well the beginning of healing through the meditative process of …

You Have The Right To Remain Uneducated: The Role Of Lobbying In Subverting Anti-Racist Curricula, Liam Martin

Washington Semester Program

This research paper seeks to explore the relationship between professional political actors and the subject of racism in primary education curricula, specifically in areas with prominent anti-CRT movements. Synthesizing these ideas together, the fully formed research question guiding the development of this paper reads as follows: how does the lobbying industry impact the development of primary education curricula in the United States on the subjects of race and racism, specifically in reference to anti-CRT activism? The extant literature on topics of racism, the institution of lobbying, and primary education in America, led to the development of the following thesis …

Environment Influence On Interaction Outcomes, Kaley Lambert

Comm-entary

In tandem with other interactional elements, the body plays a substantial role in communicative interactions with companions and oneself. This research compares environmental differences between spaces from two different reality television program environments (Love is Blind and Love Island) which are specified as having the same interaction-goal, observes how the spaces may influence the types of interpersonal interactions they are built for, and compares data regarding the outcomes of said interactions within these spaces so as to provide support for the argument that environments may influence interpersonal interaction outcomes.

Health-Oriented Nonprofit Organizations: The Influence Of Framing And Altruism On Intention To Donate, Abbey Dilatush

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of framing and altruism on individuals' intentions to donate to a health-oriented nonprofit organization. One hundred ninety-three participants were recruited from social media to complete an experiment online. Participants reviewed fundraising messages using either a statistical frame or a narrative frame. Following the presentation of a fundraising message participants completed close-ended self-report scales to evaluate their perceptions of the ad, their intentions to donate, and their personal altruism. Results demonstrated there was a correlation between intention to donate and ad evaluation. Next, there was no relationship between altruism and intention to donate and neither frame …

With Generative Ai, Do We Still Need Unis?, Lily Kong, Sun Sun Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong and SMU Vice President of Partnerships and Engagement and Professor of Communication & Technology Lim Sun Sun discussed why there is a need for universities even as generative artificial intelligence (AI) may increasingly cause job displacement. They believe a university education can make all the difference in a world infused with innovations like generative AI, as it allows people to hone their human instincts and people skills to augment the rich substantive knowledge they will acquire. They also shared how universities, with their diverse and stimulating learning environments, can prepare individuals for …

Digital Literacy Among Older Adults In Singapore, Mindy Eiko Tadai, Micah Tan

ROSA Research Briefs

Singapore stands as the fourth most digitally competitive country, after Denmark, USA, and Sweden, in the latest edition of the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (IMD World Competitiveness Center, 2022). This global ranking measures the capacities of 63 nations to adopt and explore digitally transformative practices across government, industry, and wider society. Among households in Singapore, an astounding 99% have Internet access and 92% have computer access (Infocomm Media Development Authority, 2023). Even within the eldest surveyed cohort, proportions of smartphone usage have risen from 28% in 2017 to 48% in 2021 among resident Singaporeans aged 75 and above, and …

2023 Staff Bios, Author Bios, And Abstracts Brochure

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.