Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

Barriers To Fanfiction Access: Results From A Usability Inspection Of Fanfiction.Net, Jayne C. Lammers, Nicholas P. Palumbo

Journal of Media Literacy Education

As researchers encourage teachers to bring fanfiction into classrooms, questions remain about whether online fanfiction communities are accessible to all students. This paper presents results from a practitioner-oriented usability inspection of FanFiction.net, investigating challenges students with disabilities might encounter as they participate. Operating this website with screen reader assistive technology reveals navigation, social connection, and reading barriers users may face when trying to engage in typical fanfiction practices. This study offers implications for media literacy educators to consider as they work to bring online media into classrooms without further marginalizing students with disabilities.

Digital Media Production To Support Literacy For Secondary Students With Diverse Learning Abilities, April Marie Leach

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Producing digital media is a hands-on, inquiry-based mindful process that naturally embeds Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into literacy instruction, providing options for learning and assessment for a wide array of students with diverse learning abilities. Video production learning experiences acknowledge the cognitive talents of some students labeled “disabled.” For some, the discovery of personal abilities activated when learning through the production process may motivate deeper learning. Although challenges of access, quality of teacher preparation and assessment strategies represent significant challenges, digital media production learning experiences offer diverse learners a rich, socially interactive environment that models open communication and …

Universal Design For Learning: Guiding Principles To Reduce Barriers To Digital & Media Literacy Competence, Elizabeth M. Dalton

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework for designing instruction to address the wide range of learner variation in today’s inclusive classrooms, can be applied effectively to broaden access, understanding, and engagement in digital and media literacy learning for ALL. UDL supports constructivist learning principles. UDL strategiesand methods encouragedevelopment of expert learners though personal engagement and motivation. UDL transforms one-size-fits-all instruction into diverse, multiple, and accessible learning opportunities that embrace student variation. UDL principles and guidelines offer a unique way for educators in digital and media literacy fields to ensure that their work will benefit the widest range of learners, …

Beyond Accessibility: How Media Literacy Education Addresses Issues Of Disabilities, Yonty Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This special issue on media literacy and disability provides a variety of examples and case studies to showcase the importance of addressing issues of disability in the media literacy community. The literature on the intersection of media literacy and disability is slender but suggests four distinct uses of media for students with disabilities. However, none include applying a critical lens to the use of media for students with disabilities. By connecting the practice of critical media literacy with disability theory, this paper offers a theoretical and practical framework for media literacy educators, extending NAMLE’s principles of media literacy education to …

Lindenwood Digest, November 3, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Usability Of A Smartphone Application To Support The Prevention And Early Intervention Of Anxiety In Youth, Ryan D. Stoll, Armando A. Pina, Kevin Gary, Ashish Amresh

Publications

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric problems in youth, fail to spontaneously remit, and place some youth at risk for additional behavioral and emotional difficulties. Efforts to target anxiety have resulted in evidence-based interventions but the resulting prevention effects are relatively small, often weakening over time. Mobile health (mHealth) tools could be of use to strengthen the effects of anxiety prevention efforts. Although a large number of mHealth apps have been developed, few have been evaluated in terms of usability prior to clinical effectiveness testing. Because usability is one of the main barriers to mHealth usage and adoption, …

Lindenwood Digest, October 31, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Lindenwood Digest, October 27, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Public Media At 50: Commemorating The 50th Anniversary Of The Public Broadcasting Act, Michael Huntsberger

Faculty Presentations

“The Politics of Public Media" was the theme for the 2017 Jim Joyce Symposium on Political Communication at the University of Nevada-Reno. The symposium, co-sponsored by KNPB Public Television and KUNR/Reno Public Radio, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act. The Public Broadcasting Act was signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on November 7, 1967; it established the framework for public broadcasting in the United States, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and leading eventually to PBS and NPR. These prepared remarks from Dr. Michael Huntsberger (associate professor of Mass Communication at Linfield College) speak to the …

"When Words Become Unclear": Unmasking Ict Through Visual Methodologies In Participatory Ict4d, Caitlin M. Bentley, David Nemer, Sara Vannini

Information Science Faculty Publications

Across the globe, our work and social lives are increasingly integrated with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), yet massive disparities in the values, uses and benefits of ICT exist. New methods are needed to shed light on unique and integrative concepts of ICT across cultures. This paper explores the use of visual methods to facilitate critical engagement with ICT—defined as situational awareness, reflexive ICT practice and power and control over ICT. This definition of critical ICT engagement is informed by a cultural identity lens, and intends to improve participatory methods in ICT for Development (ICT4D) and community technology design and …

Lindenwood Digest, October 24, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

An Analysis Of Media Use And Public Opinion Toward The Affordable Care Act, Matthew Cain

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The author tests a number of hypotheses regarding views of the Affordable Care Act. Using a regression model and a variety of other data sources, the author finds support for the argument that the debate was forged by partisanship and ideology, along with age.

Critical Digital Literacies Across Scales And Beneath The Screen, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Digital technologies and education scholarship tend to focus on either individual creative design or analysis of the political economy. To better understand how ideologies travel across networks, critical digital literacies must focus on enactments beneath the screen, as the linguistic constructs known as software can enact interests across scales of activity to “disembed” local actions and meaning. Investigations of these mobilities and disembedding effects challenge popular notions of digital technologies as neutral, rendering overt the ways that algorithms can naturalize manifestations of power and social arrangements. Such a framework allows for descriptive analyses of the ways hegemonic discourses are enacted …

Lindenwood Digest, October 20, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Mobile Banking As A Mechanism To Increase Access To Financial Services, Luisa Blanco, C. Andrew Bosque, Xizhu Wang

School of Public Policy Working Papers

We study the determinants of mobile banking adoption, with a special interest on how mobile banking can increase access to financial services among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. In our analysis, we use survey data from two different sources: 1) Survey of Consumers' Use of Mobile Financial Services (SCUMFS) We conduct a regression analysis and Oaxaca Decomposition to determine the explanatory factors of racial and ethnic gaps in bank account ownership. We find that minorities are less likely to use mobile banking than Whites in the NSUUH, but more likely to adopt mobile banking according to SCUMFS, …

Lindenwood Digest, October 17, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Using Tablet Technologies To Engage And Motivate Urban High School Students, Nicol R. Howard, Keith Howard

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In this two-year study, researchers examined the impact of using tablet technologies across content areas in an urban high school setting. Class observations provided notable examples of how student motivation and learning appeared to be enhanced by use of the iPads in conjunction with opportunities to collaborate and be creative in the context of their learning. Interviews from a set of teachers with a range of classroom teaching experience provided multiple perspectives of the program’s impact. The opportunity for teachers and students to have the flexibility to select the apps they believe achieve curricular and/or learning goals supports the shift …

Lindenwood Digest, October 13, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Mobile Data Roaming And Incentives For Investment In Rural Broadband Infrastructure, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Mobile broadband Internet access is highly important to the American economy and millions of users. There were almost 200 million mobile broadband connections by the end of 2013 in the United States, far more than the number of fixed broadband connections (FCC, 2014a, Table 1). The economic activity created by the provision and usage of mobile broadband is sizeable, and has been documented at the national level (Gruber and Koutroumpis, 2011; Thompson and Garbacz, 2011; Katz, 2012) and specifically for rural areas (Whitacre, Gallardo, and Strover, 2014). The benefits of mobile broadband—and indeed the entire broadband ecosystem—depend on investment in …

Lindenwood Digest, October 10, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Developing A Supportive Communication Climate For Virtual Task Groups, Brent Kice

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This class activity places students in virtual teams to assess Gibb’s (1961) defensive or supportive behaviors as a means of reinforcing trust among virtual task-group members. A worksheet offering a fictitious online chat transcript is provided for group analysis; student directions for creating unique team names are also given. This activity helps students to establish positive climates for virtual task groups.

A New Frontier: Lessons Learned From Ndla's First Online "Un-Conference", Kristen Borysewicz, Merete Christianson, Jessica D. Gilbert Redman, Dawn Hackman, Erika Johnson, Laura Trude

Librarian Posters and Presentations

NDLA’s Health Science Information and Academic & Special Libraries Sections held its inaugural fully online “un-conference” using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. A fully online conference can be a robust, low-cost alternative to a traditional conference that could be an advantage to librarians looking for professional development opportunities in this rural state. In this session, the planners will discuss creating this experience and lessons learned.

Lindenwood Digest, October 6, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Simulated Creative Collaboration: Experiencing Challenges To Innovative Virtual Teaming In The Classroom, Brian C. Britt, Kristen Hatten

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity provides students with in-depth experience working as part of an innovative virtual team, which will enable them to better understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to creative collaboration in different contexts. Participants are divided into groups, which must then solve an assigned problem using a specified communication technology and creative process from the literature. The instructor will introduce a variety of obstacles to communication using each technology, which may inhibit students’ creative processes. Following the activity, the class will discuss these challenges, participants’ responses, and the range of experiences with different collaborative processes and technologies.

An Exploratory Study Of Mobile Messaging Preferences By Age: Middle-Aged And Older Adults Compared To Younger Adults, Alexis Kuerbis, Katherine Van Stolk-Cooke, Frederick Muench

Publications and Research

Introduction: Mobile technologies, such as short message service or text messaging, can be an important way to reach individuals with medical and behavioral health problems who are homebound or geographically isolated. Optimally tailoring messages in short message service interventions according to preferences can enhance engagement and positive health outcomes; however, little is known about the messaging preferences of middle-aged and older adults.

Methods: Utilizing secondary data, global messaging preferences were examined to inform the development of short message service interventions for adults of all ages. Two hundred and seventy-seven adults were recruited through an online labor market. They completed an …

Connection And Avoidance In Campus Spaces: A Student Cell Phone Uses And Gratifications Study, Rick Malleus

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This study explored student campus cell phone use by asking “What are students on campus doing with their cell phones?” One hundred and ninety-one student volunteers completed a qualitative questionnaire. Viewed through a uses and gratifications lens, results suggest student cell phone use on campus meets several different needs. Respondents reported that cell phones make their lives easier, but their attitudes toward campus cell phone use mix positive and negative valence. They stated that being connected in various campus spaces to friends, immediate family, and university personnel was important to gratifying their needs. Nearly half of the respondents reported faking …

Lindenwood Digest, October 3, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

Listening To Pictures: Converging Media Histories And The Multimedia Newspaper, Katie Day Good

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This article revisits the early twentieth century as an overlooked period of media mixing and technological convergence in newspapers. Comparing a short-lived audiovisual form of journalism— the Radio Photologues of the Chicago Daily News—with contemporary audio slideshows produced by online newspapers, it argues that newspapers have long been meeting grounds for experimental combinations of existing and emerging media. It calls for a broader historical perspective in discussions of convergence in digital journalism by drawing attention to the complex intermingling of media forms, sensory engagements, and storytelling conventions that have appeared in newspapers in times of technological transition. Additionally, it highlights …

Developing Ict Skills Of Stem Teachers In Mexico: The Key Role Of The Tutorial Function, Alexander N. Chen, David Mccalman, Mark E. Mcmurtrey, J. Gabriel Domínguez Castillo, Víctor Manuel Cab Pech

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

It is well documented in distance education literature that one of the factors that are considered essential to the success of an online course is the tutorial function. The role of counselor consists of assisting and encouraging students, building learning activities, and developing support strategies for the use of technology. The tutor thus was assessed as one element of great importance in on-line education, and, to some, an essential feature of this mode. In this paper, the importance of the tutorial function and its effect on the development of skills for using information and communication technology (ICT) in science, technology, …

12+ Years An Ir Manager, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Survey of the history of the UNL DigitalCommons institutional repository: background, mission, usage, contents, trends, popularity, segments by series type, relative performance, IR assets, voluntary participation, faculty trust, results vis-a-vis SSRN, ResearchGate & Academia.edu, allies, obstacles, complaints, collection vs. service, gatekeepers, inclusiveness, ease of participation, feedback, disorder, the joy of giving, supplemental files, watermarking, encryption, customizations, base expansion, alerts, tracking faculty productivity, student workers, "Putting lipstick on the post-prints," packaging, publishing, journals, monographs, opportunity, publisher propaganda, the future, asymmetric contests, Elsevier as T. rex, innovation, disruption, control, Borges on the unknowables, pie chart of the universe, the physics of information, …