Other Communication Commons^™

Debris, Diatoms, And Dolphins: Tracking Child Engagement At A Public Science Festival, Kaya Van Beynen, Theresa G. Burress

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

Visitors to public science festivals have a tremendous amount of free choice to decide how to navigate through the festival, as well as when, where, and how long to stop at an exhibit. This study examines how elementary-aged children individually or collaboratively engaged with festival exhibits at a public science festival in St. Petersburg, Florida. Although many exhibit activities are designed to appeal to children, no research has been done with regard to child engagement with one-day, outdoor science festivals, such as this one. Engagement can be measured by unobtrusive observation of the behavior and interactions of children. Factors that …

Music To Mend Heartache: Song Choices To Match, Change, And Distract Mood, Rhiannon Kallis, Anna V. Ortiz Juarez-Paz

The Qualitative Report

Romantic turmoil is something that most people experience in their life. When faced with an upsetting event, such as a breakup or fight with a partner, a person may turn to music to achieve a more desirable state of mind. The current study extended past research on music and coping by focusing specifically on a person’s use of music when they have emotional distress due to a romantic event. Ten interviews revealed the major theme “Music as a Tool,” regarding how people use music as social support. The first subtheme, Alliance with Mood, describes how participants used music as a …

Watching Online Videos At Work: The Role Of Positive And Meaningful Affect For Recovery Experiences And Well-Being At The Workplace, Sophie Janicke, Diana Rieger, Leonard Reinecke, Winston Connor Iii

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, positive affect—and an expanded concept of meaningful affect (including elevation and gratitude). An online experiment with 148 full-time employees in the United States was conducted to investigate the unique role of positive and meaningful affect eliciting YouTube videos (compared to neutral control video) on recovery experiences and vitality and work satisfaction in …

Assessing The Influence Of Career-Linked Experiential Opportunities On The F-1 Undergraduate Student Enrollment Decision-Making Process, Harrison Fuerst

Capstone Collection

International mobility efforts in the United States have garnered increased attention and funding in recent years, with such government-led initiatives as Generation Study Abroad and 100,000 Strong driving up inbound and outbound student numbers. Recent inbound mobility reports from the Institute of International Education show double-digit percentage increases in international student enrollment. Other countries also experiencing an influx of international students continue to research these trends to shape their own education strategies. Research conducted by the International Education Association of Australia points specifically to hands-on professional experience and enhanced employability as key factors important to Australia’s international student population. As …

Look To Our Campuses For Focus And Inspiration, Kathleen F. Mcconnell

Faculty Publications

Forum: Communication Activism Pedagogy. Response. Connecting students with broader social movements is a good way to inspire them. We should also recognize that many students arrive at college with a stake in social justice work and many engage in activism while in college. Supporting those efforts is another way of mentoring future social justice advocates.

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 …

The Stories We Tell, Abigail A. Hoekstra

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of Dorothy Allison as she comes to terms with her past and strives to move beyond it, to be empowered and embodied by it. In this short memoir, Allison explores the relationship she has with her mother and how that relationship has influenced her individuality and character, whose complacency has restricted Allison. Allison breaks away from the stories she has been told to tell a new story of abuse and disembodiment in which she finds love, and in turn, embodiment; the unification of her body and spirit. Story-telling and …

Waves Of Feminism And The Media, Tayllor Blair Johnson

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The feminist movement has gone through many different stages, three to be exact. Each stage, or as they are called in the academic world, “waves”, had its own history and unique defining qualities. Media played a role in the movement in the past, and continue to do so today. My research focused on how the two, feminism and media, intertwine with one another and the affect the movement had, and continues to have, on mainstream media. With the recent news of sexual assault allegations in the media industry, the two seem to go hand-in-hand, now more than ever before.

The …

The Role Of Facebook In The Exhibition Of Subclinical Narcissistic Traits, Megan Gramm

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several psychological processes motivate the use of Facebook. The correlation between subclinical narcissistic traits and Facebook use has been examined, but the results have been inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Facebook use and the exhibition of subclinical narcissistic traits. The method for this study was meant to improve upon previous studies that used self-reported data by providing researchers with a technique to collect Facebook data from the personal pages of participants, with informed consent. Social learning theory provided the theoretical foundation for this study. This theory posits that new patterns of behavior can …

Subjectivity Filtering: Finding Cognitive Authority In Online Social Media Opinion Posts, Laurie J. Bonnici

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The technological explosion of information ushered in by the Internet, and more so with online social media (OSM), has provided a forest of personal opinions from which hunters forage. Personal opinions abound in OSM, serving as secondhand knowledge sources that inform everyday decisions. This research proposes a new lens, Cognitive Authority Framework – Quality Information Source (CAF-QIS), to explore the nature, tone, intentions, and believability of OSM postings. The conceptual framework is informed by Wilson’s four dimensions of cognitive authority (CA) combined with the five traditional criteria used as a common (unnamed) model for the identification of information quality in …

The Captivity Of Opportunity: The Conversation Surrounding Church-Going Hispanic Immigrants, Nicolet Hopper Bell

Master's Theses

Immigration is a long-standing topic of discussion in the United States. Hispanic immigrants, or families of Hispanic immigrants, living in America face unique challenges. Through focus group interviews, participants from a predominantly Hispanic Protestant church narrated their experience of living in the United States. Guided grounded theory data analysis revealed three categories and 14 subcategories, or themes of conversation, surrounding this hot topic. Participants shed light on the distinctive challenges they faced, how these challenges affected them, and how they attempted to overcome these difficulties. By exploring these results through the lens of social stigma theory (Goffman, 2009) and intergroup …

Communication Structures Of Supplemental Voluntary Kin Relationships, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jenna Stephenson, Julia Moore, Katie Brockhage

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Although scholars have constructed typologies of voluntary (fictive) kin, few have considered challenges and opportunities of interaction and relationships between biolegal and voluntary kin. This study focused on one type of voluntary kin, supplemental voluntary kin, relationships that often arise because of differing values, underperformed roles, or physical distance from the biolegal family, and wherein relationships are maintained with biolegal and voluntary kin. We examined how these family systems are constructed via interactions in relational triads of “linchpin” persons between biolegal family and voluntary kin. From in-depth interviews with 36 supplemental voluntary kin, we examined themes in the linchpins’ discourse …

Understanding How Intentionally Unplugging From Cell Phones Shapes Interpersonal Relationships And The Undergraduate College Experience, Jadelin P. Felipe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what motivated college students—the Unplugged Students—to intentionally use their cell phones less and how they understood the impact that unplugging had on their interpersonal relationships and college experience. Nine undergraduate college students from four private schools were interviewed in one-on-one semi- structured interviews. These students, considered non-users, provided a particularly useful perspective as these students made a conscious choice to counteract social norms and experienced both being plugged in and unplugged. Cell phones and the act of unplugging proved to make up a complex and more nuanced topic than …

A Discourse Analytic Approach To Accusations Of Infidelity In Romantic Couples' Natural Conversations, Neill Korobov

The Qualitative Report

This study uses a discourse analytic approach to examine how twenty young adult heterosexual romantic couples (ages 19-26) formulate accusations and insinuations of infidelity in their unstructured natural conversations. The analyses demonstrate how accusations of infidelity among romantic partners work to pursue and avert relational trouble. They indirectly index local interactional breaches that may, if left unattended, lead to non-affiliative interactional outcomes. Unlike mainstream psychological work that would treat talk about infidelity as a sign of emotional insecurity or jealousy, the present study posits that accusations of infidelity may function as a brief but effective way for one partner to …

Why Does Film And Television Sci-Fi Tend To Portray Machines As Being Human?, Edward Brennan

Conference Papers

This paper identifies, and attempts to explain, a lack of diversity in the way that cinema and television science fiction represents robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Through a qualitative content analysis of recent film and television portrayals, it is argued, that a limited and limiting vision predominates. This limitation may serve to ideologically reinforce the power of corporate elites. It may also hamper discussion and debate around technological possibilities and their relationship with society.

There has been a slew of entertainment productions since 2013 that represent AI and robotics. This work examines Her (2013), Transcendence (2014), Interstellar (2014), Chappie (2015), …

Facilitating Effective Communication Between First Responders And Older Adults During Fall Incidents: An Educational Intervention, Krystin M. Beeman, Erica L. Berger, Isabel A. Cabezas, Nicole M. Mathews

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

PURPOSE. The purpose of this project was to provide first responders with communication strategies for older adults that may help when responding to fall- related calls. General information was also provided to First Responders on working with older adults with a focus on the aging process, fall risk factors, and communications strategies.

METHODS. A series of educational sessions to first responders at a local fire district were developed and presented by occupational therapy students. Materials were developed by presenters from evidence-based resources and tailored to the target population. Each presentation focused on statistics about older adults, the aging process, fall …

Love On - The Life Of A Suicide Survivor: A Performance Autoethnographic Study, Patricia R. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide touches the lives of millions of people each year in this country alone, yet conversations about suicide loss and survival after a loss remain taboo and often do not happen. The story I performed for this performance autoethnographic study centers on my life as a survivor of suicide. It provides a starting point for dialog regarding trauma, grief, and suicide loss. The narrative was constructed directly following the sudden death of my father, which had a direct effect on my ability to produce artistic work. The development, staging and performance of the story were altered to account for the …

Mission Statements As Naming Proposals: An Rsi Approach, Susan K. Opt

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study explores the communication process used to generate and express communication program mission “names.” It argues that the process that underlies the creating, maintaining, and changing of names, ranging from the specific to the ideological, also generates academic unit “mission.” Viewing mission texts through the lens of the rhetoric of social intervention model reveals how the texts reason rhetorically as they propose and provide evidence for the “appropriateness” of a unit’s constituted mission name. Awareness of the rhetorical-reasoning pattern can help unit members make sense of mission-building or -revising work and provide a practical way for them to organize …

Dialogic Education In An Age Of Administrative Preening, Ronald C. Arnett

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Text of the address given by Ronald C. Arnett, recipient of the 2016 Paul H. Boase Prize for Scholarship, granted by the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University for outstanding scholarship in the field of communication

Air Traffic Communications In Routine And Emergency Contexts: A Case Study Of Flight 1549 ‘Miracle On The Hudson’, Angela Garcia

Natural & Applied Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper is a conversation analytic investigation of Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications with U.S. Air Flight 1549 and other flights before, during, and after a critical emergency in which the plane (safely) landed in the Hudson River. While foundational conversation analytic research on air traffic communications has already been done, this method has not yet been systematically applied to air traffic communications during actual emergencies. This project will therefore fill a gap in previous research by analyzing ATC/plane interactions during an actual emergency and investigating whether routinized procedures alone are the most effective when emergency situations occur. I will …

Family Dinner Across Generations: My How Times Have Changed?, Dayna E. Parrett

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

In an effort to determine differences between family dinners across generations, this study examined typical family dinners of participants and how they have changed across the four generations addressed. Previous qualitative research has been conducted to determine communication frames that occur during family dinners and the effect of parenting styles on family dinners, but little research connecting generational differences to family dinners has been published. Data were collected from a homogeneous sample of twenty-four women living in three counties across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. By asking open ended questions during interviews, similarities and differences between family dinners across generations were …

The Role Of Self-Awareness In Developing Global Competence: A Qualitative Multi-Case Study, Stacy D. Shipman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The current era of globalization and unprecedented global migration is creating the need for schools to educate students for global competence (GC). Multiple researchers (Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011; Hunter, 2004; Hunter et al., 2006; Morales & Ogden, 2013) suggest that self-awareness is the core dimension of GC, but about which very little is known. This paper considers the demonstrations of self-awareness in the development of GC. Using Kim's (2008) Intercultural Personhood Theory and the specific components of personal and social communication processes, self-awareness was investigated in East African immigrants. Findings suggest that the construct of self-awareness dimensionalizes differently for …

The Power And Importance Of Emotional Investment In Scholarly Research: An Ethnographic Account Of San Luis Obispo County Juvenile Hall, Claire E. Shannon

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Fearless Friday: Our Founding Insurgents, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

Two years ago, four amazing women huddled together brainstorming the best way to popularize justice by making it applicable to college students and within hours Surge was born. Their vision, humor, and amazing fearless spirits have enabled hundreds of individuals to write over 200 blog posts which collectively have been viewed almost 180,000 times. [excerpt]

Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study investigates undergraduate students' perceptions of the content, difficulty, and value of the Communication major. Students in majors other than Communication from two universities indicated that the content of the Communication major was valuable and, in some cases, involved difficult tasks. However, the major was perceived as easier than any other compared discipline. The students surveyed demonstrated low to moderate belief in most popular “myths” regarding Communication as an academic field. A number of potential strategies to increase awareness of the value of a degree in communication are provided, which can be adapted for use with existing departmental marketing …

When Actors Don’T Walk The Talk: Parasocial Relationships Moderate The Effect Of Actor-Character Incongruence, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The study examines the effect of a narrative that featured an actor playing a counterattitudinal role. Participants read an online magazine interview with a popular comedian and then watched a sitcom in which this actor played a role that was either consistent or inconsistent with his personal views. Parasocial relationships with the actor moderated the effect of actor-character incongruence. Specifically, incongruence was associated with lower support for narrative-related attitudes, but only among viewers with weak parasocial relationships. These results provide evidence of the existence of vicarious cognitive dissonance, wherein witnessing another person’s hypocritical behavior produces attitude change in the observer.

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 34, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

The Power Of Creativity: How Web-Based Parody Encourages Chinese Civil Participation, Amber Boczar

International ResearchScape Journal

This article investigates that relationship between e’gao (parody using web-based media) and Chinese civil participation. E’gao (恶搞 EUH-gow) uses videos, images, and text based campaigns that use humor to remove fear of political commentary and action. By detailing the development of China’s internet use, and the creation of the e’gao movement, I argue that e’gao removes the fear of participating in campaigns and movements, which criticize government policy and actions on both local and state levels, by using humor and anonymity of large online numbers. E’gao can provide a way for the common citizens to mold policy, and hold authority …

From Grapes To Wine To Brands To Culture: A Qualitative Study Of Kentucky Wineries And Kentucky Wine Producers, Benjamin J. Triana

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The Kentucky wine industry has grown from six wineries in 1999 to more than sixty wineries as of 2013. However, the industry has reached a crucial point in its development as funds allotted from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement ended in 2014. As a result, Kentucky wine producers must navigate the demands of local, regional, national, and international wine markets without the same amount of economic support provided in the early stages of the industry’s development.

The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) how Kentucky wine producers use cultural associations to manage their brands, (2) communicate with multiple …

Chaos, Reports, And Quests: Narrative Agency And Co-Workers In Stories Of Workplace Bullying, Stacy Tye-Williams, Kathleen J. Krone

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examined narratives that targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work experiences along with how co-workers were framed in these narratives. Three different narrative types emerged from their accounts: chaos, report, and quest narratives. Co-worker responses of support or lack thereof were related to the construction of various narrative forms and the level of narrative agency evident in target accounts. The study has important implications for the difference co-workers can make in a target’s ability to withstand bullying and narrate his or her experience.