Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

In A World Where We Are Constantly Connected, How Connected Are We?, Samantha Valenza

Senior Honors Projects

Social media in today’s world is common amongst millennials (trend-setting young adults born 1980-2002) as a source of news and networking. Social media has yielded benefits, including the ability to connect with geographically dispersed, like-minded individuals for entertainment, employment opportunities, or to engage in activism. However, the popularity of social media, as well as the frequency of its use, raises questions about its effects on our lifestyles, habits, and interpersonal relationships. Despite its benefits, social media usage may have a darker side. Extreme cases involving addiction, fake news, identity theft, cyber-bullying, and other criminal activities have received some attention. Less …

Print Books And E-Books: How Each Format Plays A Role In Reading Comprehension, Maeko Bradshaw

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This research paper aims to examine the different components of electronic books (e-books) and print books, and seeks to illuminate the ways in which reading retention is affected by each format. Using the data from studies conducted on adult readers, this paper examines how humans process information read from a text; the positive and negative impacts of e-books; whether or not digital natives are affected in the same way by e-readers; and suggestions publishing houses might take considering these findings and the future development of technology.

“We Were Not Prepared To Tell People Yet”: Confidentiality Breaches And Boundary Turbulence On Facebook, Jocelyn M. Degroot, Tennley A. Vik

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Communication Privacy Management theory provides a framework for investigating confidentiality breaches that occur on Facebook. Open-ended online questionnaires served as mechanism for collecting data about privacy violations and the resulting boundary turbulence. Privacy violations validated three a priori categories (Petronio & Reierson, 2009) of confidentiality breaches (privacy ownership violations, discrepancy breaches of privacy, and pre-emptive privacy control). Findings indicated that the lack of established explicit privacy rules led to privacy violations and boundary turbulence. Results also provided insight regarding motivations of privacy violations, reactions to privacy violations, and the role of privacy rules in the violation.

Information Sharing, Transparency, And E-Governance Among County Government Offices In Southeastern Michigan, Lawrence Bosek

All NMU Master's Theses

The Internet has given rise to the availability of information at our fingertips. While the public, particularly consumers, are more commonly described as being the leading users and beneficiaries of electronic information services, businesses and governments are also players in the arena for sharing official information. Information can be easily stored on Internet websites for the public, businesses, and other governmental offices to search and peruse when needed. This study examined the ease of locating county governmental information, such as contact information for public officials and financial reports, and surveyed elected county officials for purposes of identifying how information is …

"To Share Or Not To Share:" A Study Of An Individual's Self-Representation On Instagram In Accordance With Impression Management Theory, Breyanna Marie Blackwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study examined what the motivations and consequences of self-disclosure on Instagram were as well as its correlation with Impression Management Theory. The research used a 37 question survey which was distributed on social media, through the Department of Media and Communication at ETSU as well as a public speaking class. There were 232 participants in this study who were 18 or older and used Instagram. Research found that individuals’ self disclose using levels of relationship management, showing off, information sharing and habitual behavior. Future research includes the opportunity to incorporate a sample of participants across different cultures to …

Dialogic Communication And Public Relations Websites: A Content Analysis Of The Global Top 250 Pr Agencies, Charles C. Akwari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that dialogic communication has essential characteristics that foster two-way communication between organizations and their stakeholders. This study investigates how public relations firms incorporate the principles of dialogic communication on their websites. The top and bottom 50 websites from the Holmes report on Top 250 Global PR agency rankings were content analyzed. Kent and Taylor’s (1998, 2003) five principles of dialogic communication were applied to find out if public relations firms incorporate the principle of dialogic communication effectively on their websites, provide relevant information for stakeholders and prospective clients, and if there are differences between PR rankings …

Broadcast News Directors' Perceptions Of Race: A Survey Of Psychological And Sociological Measures, Amaya Nichele Worthem

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the role of media in the lives of consumers has been a longstanding concern of various scholars. Although the news media do not tell consumers what to think explicitly, they do imply what consumers should think, via the contexts in which news is presented. The central thrust of this thesis is a psychological and sociological perception study of news directors’ implicit and explicit perceptions of race when creating news content. The aim is to discover whether an implicit or explicit racial bias can be found amongst some news directors when covering racial minority groups. A better understanding of bias …

Student Attitudes On Social Media And Perception Of Instructor Social Media Use., Abi Mathew John

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand what student attitudes are toward using social media in the classroom and if those attitudes influenced how they perceive instructors using social media in the classroom. Implementing a mixed method approach, this study conducted focus groups to gain an in-depth understanding of what student attitudes were and why they held those ideas. A survey was then distributed to the students’ in a Midwestern University to see if there was a relationship between students attitudes and their perceptions of instructors who use social media. Results showed that students do hold a positive attitude …

Video Game Engagement, Gender, And Age: Examining Similarities And Differences In Motivation Between Those Who May Or May Not Play Video Games, Joseph Camarata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than …

Social Relevance And Innovation In Public Radio, Malak Habbak

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since its founding, National Public Radio has been denied steady funding by the government and has therefore been focused and reliant on its audience for funding. This study explores National Public Radio’s (NPR) efforts to appeal to audiences by staying relevant and innovative in the face of changing technology and new media. The study content analyzes five years of news media coverage of NPR stations for news values and key messages. Out of 1,853 articles that were analyzed, about 23 percent were related to the stations’ efforts to remain socially relevant and innovative. Those articles were then examined using descriptive …

Lindenwood Digest, April 28, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Ways To Market Without Social Media: Where Are They When They Aren’T Online?, April Miller

Faculty Articles & Research

Workshop presentation by SWOSU Librarian April Miller.

How Facebook Has Transformed Journalism, Sarah E. Rodriguez

Senior Honors Theses

Journalists use Facebook as a tool to distribute information to the public. Over recent years, Facebook with its updated features has changed the way journalists interact with readers and sources. Facebook Live and Instant Articles have increased reader engagement. Journalists use crowdsourcing and conversationally-toned posts to gather information and connect with readers on a personal level. The journalistic process has accelerated since the addition of Facebook because news is disseminated almost instantaneously. Yet the rise in fake news challenges journalists to effectively use Facebook as a platform for news dissemination. Facebook is using fact checkers and increased awareness to fight …

Lindenwood Digest, April 25, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

When One Is Sick And Two Need Help: Caregivers’ Perspectives On The Negative Consequences Of Caring, Ilja Ormel, Susan Law, Courtney Abbott, Mark Yaffe, Marc Saint-Cyr, Kerry Kuluski, Debbie Josephson, Ann C. Macaulay

Patient Experience Journal

Informal or family caregivers contribute significantly to individual care, and to the Canadian healthcare system, yet receive limited support from governments, institutions, and healthcare professionals in recognition of their role, or in response to their health and social care needs – often due to the negative consequences of caregiving. Learning about the diversity of others’ experiences can positively influence personal decision-making, reduce feelings of isolation, as well as promote adjustment to a personal situation. For caregivers, however, few resources exist that provide reliable information on others’ experiences. We collected the narratives of caregivers’ experiences of caring for someone with a …

Lindenwood Digest, April 21, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

The Demographic Profile For Female Textile-Design Bloggers, Khadijah Baaqil

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A review of existing literature demonstrates the need for additional research on female home-based business owners. This study aimed to partially fill the literature gap by exploring the demographic profile of female home-based textile-design bloggers, a unique segment of the female home-based business world.

The findings of the qualitative content analysis of the 30 designers’ blogs and 138 blog posts included the findings of their age, nationality and ethnic identity, current place of residence, family status, educational background, occupation, and socioeconomic status. These findings were then reduced into numbers and percentages. Findings of the analysis show that designers vary from …

Expression And Reception: An Analytic Method For Assessing Message Production And Consumption In Cmc, Kang Namkoong, Dhavan V. Shah, Bryan Mclaughlin, Ming-Yuan Chih, Tae Joon Moon, Shawnika Hull, David H. Gustafson

Community & Leadership Development Faculty Publications

This article presents an innovative methodology to study computer-mediated communication (CMC), which allows analysis of the multi-layered effects of online expression and reception. The methodology is demonstrated by combining the following three data sets collected from a widely tested eHealth system, the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS): (1) a flexible and precise computer-aided content analysis; (2) a record of individual message posting and reading; and (3) longitudinal survey data. Further, this article discusses how the resulting data can be applied to online social network analysis and demonstrates how to construct two distinct types of online social networks—open and targeted …

Lindenwood Digest, April 18, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Media Industry History And Practice Flm/Com 417, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Divided We Fall: A Look Into American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson And How The Media Creates Reality, Angela G. Flanagan

SCOM Undergraduate Research Conference

This event is an undergraduate research conference for undergraduates in the School of Communications at James Madison University.

Lindenwood Digest, April 11, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Who R U? Identity Theft And Unl Students, Marcia L. Dority Baker, Cheryl O'Dell

Information Technology Services: Publications

How can academic institutions help educate their students about the risks of identity theft? Or teach students to better understand how one’s online presence can hold so much joy and angst? For one campus, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the opportunity came from a middle school teacher engaging his students in a future problem-solving activity. UNL had the opportunity to create a 45-minute presentation on identity theft for local public school students who would be spending the day on campus researching this topic.

While preparing the presentation, we realized a top 10 list on identity theft for UNL students would be …

Social Awareness Campaigns: Raising Awareness On Human Trafficking In India, Neha Pondicherry

Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Conference

Human trafficking is a persistent international problem that results in the subjugation of over 1 million people annually. The mass exploitation and abuse of humans for personal gain has taken many different forms over the span of history, including slavery, domestic servitude, labor bondage, etc. Many social media campaigns are not successful in India because they do not take into account the lack of education and minimal access to technology and other methods of communication. Rural villages actually respond most effectively to media use. In my research, I devised an entirely new social awareness campaign to be executed in India …

Lindenwood Digest, April 7, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Volume 112 Issue 21, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

The Southwestern - Archive

No abstract provided.

Lindenwood Digest, April 4, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

We Don't Hope That Helps: Satirical Facebook Pages As Counter-Institutional Resistance, Gavin Lawrence Kirkwood

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Through the examination of a satirical Facebook page called Hope that Helps (HTH) this study filled a gap in communication research on humor and resistance within online communities. The qualitative content analysis of the HTH page showcased satire’s role in acts of resistance. Using jokes, impersonation, and ridicule HTH resisted large corporations, government institutions, messages from public figures, and entitled American consumers. HTH also used humor to resist social constructs including Whiteness, transphobia, and American nationalism. Along with page creators, HTH followers were active participants in the humor and resistance acts on the page. HTH served as a space for …

What Are People Tweeting About Zika? An Exploratory Study Concerning Its Symptoms, Treatment, Transmission, And Prevention, Michele Miller, Tanvi Banerjee, Roopteja Muppalla, William L. Romine, Amit Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Background: In order to harness what people are tweeting about Zika, there needs to be a computational framework that leverages machine learning techniques to recognize relevant Zika tweets and, further, categorize these into disease-specific categories to address specific societal concerns related to the prevention, transmission, symptoms, and treatment of Zika virus.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relevancy of the tweets and what people were tweeting about the 4 disease characteristics of Zika: symptoms, transmission, prevention, and treatment.

Methods: A combination of natural language processing and machine learning techniques was used to determine what people were …

A Review Of 57 Zone: A Social Media Network For Tb Consultation And Communication In Kunming, China, India Medaris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Yunnan, a predominantly agricultural province in southwest China, is a province with a high rate of both tuberculosis (TB) and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB), with nearly 25,000 cases of pulmonary TB reported each year. Former TB/MDR TB patients in Yunnan, with the support of Family Health International 360 NGO (FHI) are trying to combat this problem. They have created a social media network for TB consultation and communication, 57 Zone, where TB patients can talk about their medication, adverse drug effects, and nutrition and psychosocial concerns. The goal of this study was the look at what aspects of the …