Social Media Commons^™

Chapter 6 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Nine Months of Fear and aLifetime of Paranoia: The I-IiddenEffects of Pregnancy Manuals,Child Rearing Products, and More

Chapter 3 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The Gendered Self-Help Reel:How Romantic Comedies InstructWomen on Dating Dos and Don'ts

Conclusion - Hop Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sally Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Conclusion: Exiting the Funhouse - Challenging Society's Lessons One Stage at a Time

Introduction - How Pop Culture Shapes - Full Chapter.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Introduction: FunhouseMirrors - Popular Culture'sDistorted View ofGirl/Womanhood

Chapter 8 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Pumas, and Cougars, and MILFs,Oh My!: Popular Portrayals ofRomance and Sexual EncountersBetween 'The Older Woman'and Younger Man

Chapter 5 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Love, American Style: GenderedRepresentations of Marriagein the Media

Chapter 4 - How Pop Culture Shapes - Excerpt.Pdf, Melissa R. Ames, Sarah Burcon

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Selling Weddings and ProducingBrides: Mediated Portrayals of That'Perfect Day'

Commercial Content Moderation: Digital Laborers' Dirty Work, Sarah T. Roberts

Media Studies Publications

In this chapter from the forthcoming Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online (Noble and Tynes, Eds., 2016), I introduce both the concept of commercial content moderation (CCM) work and workers, as well as the ways in which this unseen work affects how users experience the Internet of social media and user-generated content (UGC). I tie it to issues of race and gender by describing specific cases of viral videos that transgressed norms and by providing examples from my interviews with CCM workers. The interventions of CCM workers on behalf of the platforms for which they labor directly contradict …

Through Google-Colored Glass(Es): Design, Emotion, Class, And Wearables As Commodity And Control, Safiya Umoja Noble, Sarah T. Roberts

Media Studies Publications

This chapter discusses the implications of wearable technologies like Google Glass that function as a tool for occupying, commodifying, and profiting from the bio- logical, psychological, and emotional data of its wearers and those who fall within its gaze. We argue that Google Glass privileges an imaginary of unbridled exploration and intrusion into the physical and emotional space of others. Glass’s recognizable esthetic and outward-facing camera has elicited intense emotional response, partic- ularly when “exploration” has taken place in areas of San Francisco occupied by residents who were finding themselves priced out or evicted from their homes to make way …

Digital Refuse: Canadian Garbage, Commercial Content Moderation And The Global Circulation Of Social Media’S Waste, Sarah T. Roberts

Media Studies Publications

The story of a rogue Canadian garbage barge attempting to offload illegal garbage in the Philippines opens this article on techno-trash, in order to underline both the relationships between countries of the Global North with countries of the Global South in matters of waste, as well as to reframe discussions of techno-trash as one fundamentally tied to material things. The definition of techno-trash is then expanded, to cover digital detritus created through an entirely digital set of practices I term “Commercial Content Moderation.” The attempt to offload mounds of e-waste and the similar ways in which a great deal of …

Buying Sex On-Line From Girls: Ngo Representatives, Law Enforcement Officials, And Public Officials Speak Out About Human Trafficking—A Qualitative Analysis, Sriyani Tidball, Mingying Zheng, John W. Creswell

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Federal agencies report the high level of sex trafficking of minors in the United States. This trafficking often occurs on-line with the Internet. Pimps commonly advertise children for sexual exploitation online, and they search social networking sites for young victims. Thus, the high rate of trafficking minors and the increased use of technology have led to a need to better understand purchasing young girls for sex on-line. This qualitative study focused on learning from NGO representatives, law enforcement officials, and public officials their experiences about how men buy girls on-line for sex, and the words that the men use in …

Do Black Lives Matter In American Mainstream News Media? Two Case Studies Of Police-Involved Shootings Of Black Men Explaining A Racist Media Environment, Alfred J. Cotton Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation examines two cases of fatal police-involved shootings of Black men in order to expose the power structures perpetuated through racist media narratives assuming the officers’ behavior was justified and the unarmed men the officers killed somehow were complicit in their death. In reporting on police-involved shootings, mainstream media practices that privilege elites and officials as primary sources of information may produce a dominant media narrative that masks the marginalization and mistreatment of minorities at the hands of these officials and their institutions. The two cases under consideration here examine the “floating signifier” of race in media coverage of …

Women's Professional Sports: A Case Study On Practices That Could Increase Their Profitability, Danielle H. Mcardle

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Women’s professional sports leagues have often been considered a risky business endeavor. Critics cite low attendance, lack of sponsorships, lack of media rights deals, and numerous other reasons for why women’s professional sports leagues are not profitable. In analyzing the current landscape of women’s professional sport leagues, this paper uses a case study approach to develop a strategy that will highlight lessons learned from past women’s professional sports leagues, current professional sports leagues, sponsorship agreements, fans, social, digital, and mobile marketing strategies, and management practices to show how the business of women’s sports could be made into a more profitable …

The Dove Real Beauty Campaign: How Does It Wash, Jessica Dieny

Journalism

This study analyzes the Dove Real Beauty Campaign including branding successes and failures, corporate responsibilities, and the evolution of the brand development and management through a two-way symmetrical model. It analyzes the DRBC from a marketing and public relations perspective as well as a women’s and gender studies perspective. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign sprung from the idea that all women are beautiful and it sought to change the status quo by showing the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. As the power of the Dove Real Beauty initiative appears …

Gender, Personality, And Self Esteem As Predictors Of Social Media Presentation, Heng Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an age when people make and maintain relationships in online environments, creating and sustaining impressions online becomes equally important. For a better understanding of social networking sites usage, the present study examines the influence of gender, personality, and selfesteem on social media presentation. The goal of this study is to investigate individuals‘ expressions through social media in order to determine if they reflect the author‘s gender, personality, and levels of self-esteem. Quantitative analysis was used in this study through survey and SPSS content analysis. The researcher found that neuroticism was related to selfpresentation, and agreeableness is related to Facebook …

The Digital Gap: An Investigation Into The Access And Use Of Internet In Matagalpa, Nicaragua, Kayla Steinberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although still less than 20 percent of the Nicaraguan population has access to the internet, in the years preceding 2012, internet in Nicaragua grew by 113 percent. This rapid development of internet in the country generates several questions, including: “Who has access to the internet in Nicaragua?,” Where are they using the internet?,” and “How are they using it?” This paper answers these three questions and investigates how the answers differ between different demographic groups, especially between young and older people and women and men, through the results of a survey distributed primarily in a public park with free wifi …

Fearless Friday: Tiarra Riggins, Christina L. Bassler

SURGE

As we conclude Yik Yak Awareness Week, we’d like to recognize Tiarra Riggins ’17, the fearless organizer behind this week’s events. ”People don’t realize how words can damage a soul,” says Tiarra. Her efforts this week have been aimed at stopping cyberbullying and changing the culture of Yik Yak to a more positive and uplifting space. The events during this past week ranged from a discussion on the effects of cyberbullying to daily CUB tables, encouraging students to sign a banner against cyberbullying and the negative aspects of Yik Yak. [excerpt]

Bloggers And Their Impact On Contemporary Social Movements: A Phenomenological Examination Of The Role Of Blogs And Their Creators In The Lgbt Social Movements In Modern United States, Bobby K. Huen

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The Internet is a ubiquitous feature in everyday life, but its application to social movements has yet to be completely understood. This phenomenological study examines the lived experiences of bloggers who focused on the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement in the United States to understand the impact bloggers and their work as online activists have on existing LGBT social movement organization and operation. Data collection is gathered from semi-structured and open-ended interviews with four social movement bloggers using web-conference software over the course of three months. The results of this study indicated that internet has empowered individual activists, …

We Need To Talk, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Posting about gender issues and Yik Yak from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/we-need-to-talk/

Student-Directed Blended Learning With Facebook Groups And Streaming Media: Media In Asia At Furman University, Tami Blumenfield

Asian Studies Publications

Furman University prizes itself on being an engaged learning, liberal arts institution with extensive faculty-student interaction. 96% of students live on campus, leading some to question whether reducing face-to-face instructional time makes any sense pedagogically. Coming from a different institution that encouraged faculty to create hybrid courses, and seeing the creativity and freedom that offered, I wanted to experiment with the format in this new institutional environment. Would it still be effective? What adaptations would be necessary, and how would students react to this different course format?

In Fall 2013, I taught a carefully designed blended learning course that met …

Reconsidering Childfreedom: A Feminist Exploration Of Discursive Identity Construction In Childfree Livejournal Communities, Julia Moore

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This article employs participant definitional analysis, sensitized with feminist poststructuralism and critical ethnography, to understand three identity construction processes that members of childfree LiveJournal communities participate in: (a) naming childfreedom, (b) negotiating childfreedom, and (c) enacting childfreedom. I argue that childfree identities are contested and sometimes activist. Ultimately, I call for scholars to reconsider the definition of childfree to account for the complex and nuanced identities constructed by individuals who identify as such.

The Queer Blogger: Interrogating The Commodification Of Identities, Anne Lacy

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Using Queer blogs found throughout American blogging networks, while drawing upon Marxism, Michel Foucault’s notions of confession and coming out, and Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, this project is a materialist analysis that unveils how Queer identities are being consumed and commodified. In contemporary American society a phenomenon is occurring online: Queer blogs are acting as a platform where subjectivities are attempting to resist hegemonic notions of identity while they are simultaneously being incorporated into a capitalistic agenda of subject formation. This project ultimately calls upon an act of resistance, as these Queer blogs are in fact a negotiable space for …

Take Off Your Masc: The Hegemonic Gay Male's Gender Performance On Grindr, Duncan Shuckerow

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

The hegemonic Grindr clone is a gay male Grindr user who enforces the privileging of traditional masculine gender performance and condemns effeminacy. Through this project’s own field work along with the website “douchebagsofgrindr,” the hegemonic Grindr clone is here within analyzed. Drawing upon the theory ofhegemony articulated by Gramsci, a historical analysis of the 1970s urban gay male clone, and contemporary analysis and research, the project argues that the hegemonic Grindr clones, while only a minority group of Grindr users, rules over the cyberspace as sexual gatekeepers. Hegemonic Grindr clones maintain their privileged status on the application through depicting and …

Sexting Unleashed: The Social Phenomenon According To Youth Sexters, Jessica Marie Mcgraw

Dissertations and Theses

What is missing from academia and society at large is a more holistic picture of youth sexting. Not adequately understanding youth sexting has stunted previous attempts to effectively educate young people on its potential consequences. As such, the social and legal consequences of sexting gone viral have negatively impacted countless individuals. This study offers a preliminary glimpse of the sexting phenomenon by highlighting the experiences of 20 young people. I explore emergent themes regarding the nature of youth sexting as well as the interrelations amongst privacy, relationships, and sexting. Two distinct forms of sexting emerged from participant narratives, opening the …

Abusive Online Conduct: Discrimination And Harassment In Cyberspace, Andra Gumbus, Patricia Meglich

WCBT Faculty Publications

Discrimination and harassment that were once committed in real time have now moved to the online environment. Discrimination and harassment on the Internet take many forms and can be more damaging and insidious than the face-to-face forms of abuse. This conceptual paper looks at two types of abusive online conduct that have emerged due to the proliferation of the Internet in our lives: Weblining and cyberbullying. These topics are examined from an ethical perspective with a focus on gender and racial discrimination issues.

Trayvon Martin And Election 2012 Social Media Messaging: An Analysis Of Framing, Rhetoric, And Media Types In Online Messages By Civil Rights Organizations, Riva Renee Brown

Dissertations

This content analysis study explored framing, rhetoric, and media types used by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Urban League, National Action Network, and ColorOfChange.org in website and social media messages posted during the Trayvon Martin case and Election 2012. It also examined the mainstream print news media coverage these civil rights organizations generated.

On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman, a 28 year old White and Hispanic male, fatally shot Martin, a 17 year old Black male, in Florida. After authorities did not charge Zimmerman with the teenager’s murder, these organizations drafted petitions and staged rallies …

Social Media And The Transformation Of The Humanitarian Narrative: A Comparative Analysis Of Humanitarian Discourse In Libya 2011 And Bosnia 1994, Ellen Noble

Political Science Honors Projects

Within humanitarian discourse, there is a prevailing narrative: the powerful liberal heroes are saving the helpless, weak victims. However, the beginning of the 21^st century marks the expansion of the digital revolution throughout lesser-developed states. Growing access to the Internet has enabled aid recipients to communicate with the outside world, giving them an unprecedented opportunity to reshape discourses surrounding humanitarianism. Through a comparative discourse analysis of Libyan Tweets, 1994 newspaper reports on Bosnia, and 2011 newspaper reports on Libya, this paper analyzes whether aid recipient discourse can resist the dominant humanitarian narrative and if that resistance can influence dominant …

Self-Disclosure And Self-Efficacy In Online Dating, Andrew Christopher España

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores online dating by studying the relationship between self-disclosure and self-efficacy in an online dating environment. This research study examines the way self-disclosure, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and gender interrelate in an online dating environment. This study includes, but is not limited to, discussion of the type of correlation between self-efficacy and self-esteem, the relationship between self-disclosure and self-efficacy, and the differences between men's and women's self-disclosure in an online dating environment. From conducting this study, the researcher was able to determine that there is a statistically significant relationship between gender and how it relates to self-disclosure and self-efficacy. With …

Why Don't I Look Like Her? The Impact Of Social Media On Female Body Image, Kendyl M. Klein

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this paper is to understand and criticize the role of social media in the development and/or encouragement of eating disorders, disordered eating, and body dissatisfaction in college-aged women. College women are exceptionally vulnerable to the impact that social media can have on their body image as they develop an outlook on their bodies and accept the developmental changes that occurred during puberty. This paper provides evidence that there is a relationship between the recent surge in disordered eating and high consumption of social media. I examine the ways in which traditional advertising has portrayed women throughout history, …

The Personal, Political, And The Virtual? Redefining Female Success And Empowerment In A Post-Feminist Landscape, Linda Elizabeth Chardon

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.