Social Media Commons^™

The Affective Politics Of Twitter, Johnathan C. Flowers

Computer Ethics - Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) Proceedings

Given the increasing encroachment of Twitter into offline experience, it has become necessary to look beyond the formation of identity in online spaces to the ways in which identities surface through the formation of affective communities organized through the use of technocultural assemblages, or the platforms, algorithms, and digital networks through which affect circulates in an online space. This essay focuses on the microblogging website Twitter as one such technocultural assemblage whose hashtag functionality allows for the circulation of affect among bodies which “surface” within the affective communities organized on Twitter through their alignment with and orientation by hashtags which …

Rethinking Algorithmic Bias Through Phenomenology And Pragmatism, Johnathan C. Flowers

Computer Ethics - Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) Proceedings

In 2017, Amazon discontinued an attempt at developing a hiring algorithm which would enable the company to streamline its hiring processes due to apparent gender discrimination. Specifically, the algorithm, trained on over a decade’s worth of resumes submitted to Amazon, learned to penalize applications that contained references to women, that indicated graduation from all women’s colleges, or otherwise indicated that an applicant was not male. Amazon’s algorithm took up the history of Amazon’s applicant pool and integrated it into its present “problematic situation,” for the purposes of future action. Consequently, Amazon declared the project a failure: even after attempting to …

Empowering The Plus Size Body Using Dance As Therapy, Ashley Sampson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In Western society, having the “ideal” body image and size is a societal issue. It is advertised throughout media outlets that the “ideal” body is what should be desired, and any other body type is “abnormal”. This capstone thesis focused on the effectiveness of dance as therapy and changing the perspectives of all body types, to support and empower all bodies including plus-sized bodies. The use of individual interviews, in an open dialogue model, with a select few members (3) of Soul thru Sole, including the CEO of the dance company; which focuses on empowering women no matter their age, …

Rape Culture: Tools Of Oppression, William Wehrs

History Honors Papers

My project deals with rape culture and the tools of oppression. It looks at the history of rape culture from biblical times to the present. It then examines how schools indoctrinate people to participate in rape culture. It then moves to a backlash towards feminism from the 1970s to the present. The paper then connects said backlash to Men’s Activist Websites. Finally, my paper examines rape culture in the Media, such as the James Bond films or the video game, Super Seducer.

Sexualized Labour In Digital Culture: Instagram Influencers, Porn Chic And The Monetization Of Attention, Jenna M. Drenten, Lauren Gurrieri, Meagan Tyler

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The rise of digital technologies and social media platforms has been linked to changing forms of work, as well as the mainstreaming of pornography and a ‘porn chic’ aesthetic. This article examines some of the ways in which these themes coalesce, and interrogates the conceptual boundaries of sexualized labour, extending beyond traditional organizational settings and into Web 2.0. The study explores performances of sexualized labour on social media by analysing visual and textual content from 172 female influencers on Instagram. This article contributes to the literature on sexualized labour in three ways. First, by demonstrating how sexualized labour is enacted …

Communication & The Body Positivity Movement, Alyssa Cannaday

Student Scholar Showcase

The Body Positivity Movement has gained a presence on social media. In this study, social media outlets were examined (such as Twitter and Instagram) to explore the communication within the movement, both from those advocating body positivity and from individuals responding in the comments. A variety of respondents, most of whom were women, give a broad perspective of the movement as a whole. Some respondents who contribute their viewpoints have educational backgrounds in counseling or work in the field. Themes uncovered in this study reveal the Body Positivity Movement to be welcoming, open minded, and expressive of messages of self-love …

Cyberbullying And Suicide Among Lgbtq Youth: Is There A Connection?, Holly Wright, Victoria Wilson Townley

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

The suicide rate among children and teens has been rising over the last decade, and members of the LGBTQ youth population are at considerably greater risk for suicide than their heterosexual peers. LGBTQ youth are also at heightened risk of being bullied due to sexual orientation. Recent technological advancements have created a new platform for bullying, that of cyberbullying, which can contribute to feelings of depression and low self-esteem. The detrimental impact that cyberbullying can have on mental health suggests the possibility of a potential connection between cyberbullying and LGBTQ youth suicide. This qualitative study examines the possible link between …

Lgbt+ Teens, Social Media Use & Depressive Symptoms, Megan Curtis, Danielle Ryder

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Sexual and gender minority youth are statistically more likely to face severe mental health challenges than their cisgender, heterosexual peers; they consistently comprise a disproportionate percentage of youth who report experiencing depression, suicide ideation and attempted suicide in the United States every year (e.g. Abreu & Kinney, 2018). The aim of this study was to fill a gap in the current literature base by investigating the effects of social media use on sexual and gender minority youth mental health. The researchers conducted an online anonymous questionnaire targeted toward American LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.) youth ages 14 to 18, …

Revenge Pornography: An Analysis Of Privacy, Obscenity, And The First Amendment, Kamrin Baker

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

An important issue in modern communication law and policy is the emergence of harassment via the Internet and social media. One form of such harassment is revenge pornography, the sharing of sexual images or videos without the consent of the individual depicted, usually at the hands of an ex-lover. In punishing the posters and purveyors of revenge pornography, perpetrators are often convicted of unrelated crimes such as identify theft or fraud, furthering the silence of revenge pornography. This new challenge in law raises some serious questions about the intersections of obscenity, privacy and the First Amendment in the effort to …

미투 운동은 성매매도 포함하여야 한다 (#Metoo Must Include Prostitution), Melissa Farley

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Online Blaming And Intimate Partner Violence: A Content Analysis Of Social Media Comments, Jason Whiting, Rachael Dansby Olufowote, Jaclyn D. Cravens-Pickens, Alyssa Banford Witting

The Qualitative Report

Social media has become a ubiquitous form of interacting and sharing information. However, comments on social media sites are often aggressive and contemptuous, especially when topics are controversial or politically charged. For example, discussion of intimate partner violence (IPV) tends to provoke strong reactions from outsiders, who make angry or blaming remarks about those involved. Although IPV is common, it has not been widely discussed in popular media until recent years when high-profile cases of abuse have come to light. In 2016, a celebrity accusation of domestic violence led to thousands of comments on social media, with outsiders weighing in …

An Analysis Of Sports Talk Radio’S Effect On Social Issues, Rehana Power, Elham Mohamud, Brandon Mcroy, Cleandre Robinson

Concordia Journal of Communication Research

Professional athletes are becoming more vocal about their stances on different social issues like Black Lives Matter, MeToo and more. The researchers chose to investigate the effects that sports talk radio has on listeners perceptions of different social issues. Participants of the study hailed from a Lutheran, faith-based institution of higher education in an urban area of the Midwestern United States. The study thoroughly addressed the relationship between consumers of sports talk radio and their opinions on professional athletes addressing social issues.

Gender Differences In Social Media Use And Cyberbullying In Belize: A Preliminary Report, Grace Mariko Kasahara, Daniel Houlihan, Collin Estrada

Psychology Department Publications

Cyberbullying is a global issue that usually occurs with increased social media usage. A number of studies have found significant gender differences in social media use and cyberbullying, although gender differences are not consistent across studies. Despite the increase in access to cellphones and Internet in Belize, no studies have investigated how adolescents are using these resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences involving how adolescents in Belize are using social media and if cyberbullying is a problem. Results provide preliminary information about social media use and cyberbullying in Belize. It indicates that gender differences exist …

Hybrid Media Activism: Ecologies, Imaginaries, Algorithms, Dorothy Kidd

Media Studies

Review of Treré, Emiliano. Hybrid Media Activism: Ecologies, Imaginaries, Algorithms. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-138-21814-7.

Communication & Popular Culture, Marita Gronnvoll

Syllabi

This course examines popular culture and the emergence of mass culture in the United States. Itstarts from the premise that popular culture, far from being a frivolous or debased alternative to“high culture”, is in fact an important site of popular expression, social instruction, and culturalconflict, and thus deserves critical attention. We examine theoretical texts that help us to “read”popular culture, even as we study specific forms and artifacts of popular culture: from televisionshows to Hollywood movies, graphic novels to advertisements, and popular music to fiction.Throughout the course, we ground what we call “culture” in political, economic, and socialcontexts. We pay …

Social Interaction, Samantha Szczur

Syllabi

Human beings employ an array of communicative symbols to craft selves, identities, groups, and reality more generally.  This graduate seminar is dedicated to examining the myriad ways humans create and negotiate realities and identities through social interaction.  As such, we will attend to the individual, groups, cultures, larger social formations, and the inter-­relationships among these arenas.    Studies of social interaction are interdisciplinary and emerge from an array of research methodologies. Consequently, our readings reflect a diversity of perspectives on disciplinary and methodological levels. 

"Mystery Meat" And "Bulldyke": Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson

Masters Theses

Most of the sports industry is a male dominated space where women are very rarely accepted. We see men in the field, whether they work or play, defend the space and tell women reporters to “stay in their lane.” This study focuses on an online news-sharing site, reddit, and examines how sports fans take it upon themselves to defend sports as a male space. Reporters, such as Sarah Spain, Jemele Hill, and Doris Burke, are subjected to hundreds of comments that silence them and discipline them based on their gender. This study emphasizes the need for gender equality in what …

The Ethics Of Identifiers And Causal Relations In Journalism, Alycia Wilson

Honors Theses and Capstones

The AP Stylebook, a guide used by many journalism organizations to inform editorial decision making, says identifiers such as race should be included in news stories when "pertinent." But how do we determine when an identifier is pertinent? My analysis of news stories demonstrates that sometimes identifiers can suggest a causal relation between an identity and an event. For example, journalists will identify race in any story involving a white police officer shooting a black suspect, even if the facts of the story suggest that the shooting was justified. Journalists also widely reported the sexual orientation of the victims in …

2019 Icrcc Proceedings Table Of Contents, Conference Organizers

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

These proceedings are a representative sample of the presentations given by professional practitioners and academic scholars at the 2019 International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference (ICRCC) held March 11-13, 2019. The ICRCC is an annual event that takes place the second week in March in beautiful sunny Orlando, Florida. The conference hosts are faculty and staff from the Nicholson School of Communication. The goal of the ICRCC is to bring together prominent professional practitioners and academic scholars that work directly with crisis and risk communication on a daily basis. We define crisis and risk broadly to include, for example, natural …

Homeland And Ethnic News Consumption Among Ghanaians In The Washington Metropolitan Area, Kwabena Boateng Bediako

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Among the many applications of the Internet is its use for news. Ghanaian immigrants, like others living away from their country of birth, use the Web to access news from home via ethnic media in their host country or homeland media or both. Employing online surveys and telephone interviews, this study explores the daily use of online media by Ghanaians resident in the Washington metropolitan area to obtain news about their native country. It assesses how factors like demography, length of stay abroad and devices used affect time spent daily on the Internet looking for news as well as the …

The Legitimation & Networked Unification Of #Nodapl: Diverse Discourses Of Value Validate A Collective Identity, Jacqueline Marie Ouellette

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

NoDAPL was, first and foremost, an Indigenous-led resistance against the construction of a pipeline in North Dakota. It was also a movement that built solidarity, bridging networks between international Indigenous peoples, Black Lives Matter activists, veterans, and feminists. This discourse analysis of social media and digital texts addresses the networked publics, collective identities, social capital, and intersectionality in applying Van Leeuwen’s (2007) understanding of legitimation. In doing so, the practice of reproducing and extending the values, themes, and images of various algorithmic imaginaries will be explored, as they relate to network homophily, identity construction, and mobilization. This study will argue …

How To Maximize Your Small Business's Impact On Social Media, Brianna J. Arnaud

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be a learning tool to help small businesses use free social media accounts as business marketing tools. The manual is broken down into chapters highlighting the importance of “Knowing your Audience,” “Branding,” “Constructing a Post,” “Using Visual Rhetoric,” and “Expanding your Audience.”. This thesis is inspired by scholars of English, internet linguistics, journalism, gender theory, professional writing, and rhetoric. It is also inspired by a survey of 18 small businesses in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. The survey helped to focus my research on the social media issues of small businesses in the southern region of …

Tweeting The Ir, Paul Royster

DC-HUG '18

Social media has become an important means of keeping up to date for busy IR managers. Limited to short, pithy messages, but permitting linking and re-tweeting, the Twitter medium is both handy and powerful … when used appropriately. Alternatively, it can become a portal to fascinating, entertaining, horrifying, and time-consuming off-topic content and even an avenue for online harrassment. The presentation for DC-HUG will involve audience participation, and will include discussions of appropriate forms of identity, good and bad avatars, who to follow for scholarly communications subjects, whom to avoid for greater peace of mind, what are appropriate subjects, how …

The Media Effect And The Implications For Racial Minority Groups, Hailey E. Hoffman

Student Publications

The Media Effects Theory explains the impact media exposure can have on both the individual and societal level. Recent studies have shown that the increase in media consumption influences the perceptions an individual develops about their self and of other groups. The attitudes individuals develop become more susceptible to media influence when they are given smart technology starting in early childhood. The lack of diversity and negative stereotypes portrayed within the media magnifies the media effect experienced by minority users. The news, entertainment, fashion, and beauty industries are areas of the media that society has become particularly fixed on. These …

“All Of Our Skinfolk Ain’T Our Kinfolk;” A Triangulation Study Of The Impact Of Black Racial Identity On The Discourse Of Media Practitioners’ Coverage Of Social Justice, Political And Celebrity News, Gheni Nicole Platenburg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since its inception, in 1827, the black press worked to “plead [its] own cause.”[i] Following the 1968 Kerner Commission report, white newsrooms desegregated, and the number of black newsrooms sharply declined. Black journalists transitioning to the white press faced new editorial and psychological challenges.

Today’s black press functions as a shell of its former self, creating a vacancy for media that represent the needs and interests of the black community. Mainstream cable news programs possibly provide a solution to this void -- black journalists and pundits. Using a triangulation approach, this dissertation explores this possibility by examining the impact …

Scripted Stereotypes In Reality Tv, Paulette S. Strauss

Honors College Theses

Diversity, or lack thereof, has always been an issue in both television and film for years. But another great issue that ties in with the lack of diversity is misrepresentation, or a substantial presence of stereotypes in media. While stereotypes often are commonplace in scripted television and film, the possibility of stereotypes appearing in a program that claims to be based on reality seems unfitting. It is commonly known that reality television is not completely “unscripted” and is actually molded by producers and editors. While reality television should not consist of stereotypes, they have curiously made their way onto the …

Eggplants And Peaches: Understanding Emoji Usage On Grindr, Emeka E. Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on how gay men communicate on the Grindr dating app. Prior research has been conducted on how gay men construct their online identities, however, few studies explore how gay men experience interactions online, negotiate their relationships with other men online, and perceive other users. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 20 men who use the Grinder app, a location-based dating app used by men who have sex with men. Additional data were collected by observing user profiles on the app, which is free and public. This comprehensive, qualitative study of gay men who use Grindr provides insights …

Political Journalists Tweet About The Final 2016 Presidential Debate, Hannah Hopper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Past research shows that journalists are gatekeepers to information the public seeks. Using the gatekeeping and agenda-setting theory, this study used a content analysis of tweets from political journalists during the final 2016 presidential debate to examine social media usage in efforts to convey information to followers and whether social media has allowed for journalists to present a more transparent view of candidates to the public. This study used feminist political theory to further analyze whether the tweets from political journalists portrayed Hillary Clinton, the female candidate, with stereotypical “female” traits, such as more emotional and more trustworthy. Applying these …

Explaining Animosity Towards The Roma: A Case Study Of Twitter Communication In Italy During The Refugee Crisis, Mayuko Nakatsuka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Italy is known for hostile treatment of the Roma, one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Europe. This paper seeks to understand what is causing Italians to talk negatively about the Roma on Twitter. Statistical analysis is performed utilizing the data mined from Twitter along with other variables. The study finds that Roma population, foreign population, and number of refugees all have significant effects on the total number of tweets or the average negative sentiment of tweets. The results indicate that native Italians may group minority groups all together and regard them as “others”. Although the research design has …

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.