Honors Projects in Communication

A New Definition of Reading: Exploring Media Literacy in a Changing World

Theresa Navarra — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:17:59 PDT

The purpose of this study is to look at media literacy and how it is taught. Considering the rapid advances in technology which have led us to read more than just books, this research argues for a new form of literacy. Through focus group discussions and an analysis of a background questionnaire in support of those discussions, this study discovered that media literacy education in its current state may be having more of a negative effect on students than it anticipates. This research demonstrates the students who have taken media literacy courses, in direct comparison with those who have not, are more likely to demonstrate cynical attitudes toward media and be impacted by the third-person effect. The consequences of this, as well as suggestions for improvement, are discussed in relation to interaction versus dismissiveness and cynicism versus skepticism.

Twitter: Businesses Increasing Their Revenues 140 Characters at a Time

Adekemi O. Oyalabu — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:00:15 PDT

With the consumer market becoming more competitive by the day, businesses must find innovative yet cost effective means of reaching their target markets and steadily increasing their revenues. While businesses compete with one another to remain the best, they must have a strategic market plan that differentiates their products and/or services from their competitors. In an effort to do this, many businesses have begun using social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn as a means of reaching their target markets. Such sites have opened businesses to a new level of advertising where they reach consumers faster, have the ability to be more innovative, and spend less money than they would with conventional means of advertising. In addition to these social networking sites, Twitter has emerged, gaining interest from businesses looking to get their products and/or services out to consumers through a new medium. With the number of users increasing daily and the ease of passing information along from one user to the next, businesses have begun to see their new found means of advertising on Twitter as the way to increase their revenues 140 characters at a time. This project highlights how the understanding of the benefits of social media marketing is essential to businesses venturing into the use of Twitter. This understanding allows businesses to frame the use of Twitter to successfully fit their business strategies, while the Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) shows the connection between the use of social networking sites by businesses and how it relates to the manner in which consumers are receptive to the information such sites provide. Various studies conducted on the use of Twitter by companies along with a case study on FM Global, a mutual insurance company, highlight how Twitter can be used by businesses as a marketing tool for branding purposes and increasing revenues.

OMG! The Gossip Behind One Program's Effects on Interpersonal Relationship Expectations

Cailin Rocco — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:07:42 PDT

This research investigates the effects of media on the interpersonal relationship expectations of television viewers. The study sought to better understand the implications of this topic in addition to determining whether one television program can affect the mindset of viewers. Through the use of an online survey, a focus group, a cultivation analysis of the television show Gossip Girl, as well as an analysis of the show’s fan pages this research discovered that television viewing has an impact on viewer expectations of relationships (as well as a general desire for themes within television programs in reality). This research demonstrates the impact that media messages have on viewers’ everyday lives.

Where Were the Media in the Financial Crisis of 2008, and Have We Seen This Trend Before?

Margaret Dickinson — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:31:17 PDT

In the fall of 2008, the United States and the rest of the world experienced significant financial turmoil. The financial industry as we knew it crumbled before our eyes. After experiencing this event and the media's fragmented and inconsistent coverage of it, I felt an interesting topic to look into was the financial press' failed coverage of the finance industry, both today and in the past. In looking at this event, I will focus on both the financial press that failed to cover the happenings of the financial industry, as well as those that did recognize the issue at hand. In doing this, I will include a content analysis of the relevant sections of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In addition, I will also look into past financial crises, including the Enron scandal, the Savings and Loan crisis, and the Technology Bubble to see if the financial press' recent failure is the continuation of a long trend. After discussing the fragmented nature of the financial press, I will then discuss why the financial press had little effect on individuals, despite some actually good coverage existing. In discussing this issue, I will focus on topics such as the media’s lack of objectivity and the audience's unwillingness to accept the situations they are presented with. Finally, I will suggest ways to rectify this situation, such as news consumers becoming more media literate.

Gender Advertisements: Replication of a Classic Work Examining Women, Magazines, and Facebook Photographs

Erica Lawton — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:59:56 PDT

In 1979, Erving Goffman published Gender Advertisements, the seminal work in critiquing gender displays in advertising. Goffman noted seven major phenomena that demonstrated the cultural infantilization of women and their ritualized subordination in advertisements. This study, conducted in Goffman’s phenomenological tradition, investigates modern commercial advertisements to update Goffman’s work and determine the presence of a new phenomenon, the mechanization of women. Advertisements were collected and studied based on Goffman’s five coding categories: relative size, feminine touch, function ranking, ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdrawal. In addition, Facebook photographs were analyzed based on the same coding categories to find whether women portray themselves in personal yet publically available photographs in the same way as women are displayed by others in advertising images. The results indicate that modern advertisements portray women in much the same manner as in the 1979 advertisements from Goffman’s original study, and evidence can be found that supports a new advertising pattern of the mechanization of women. However, in Facebook photographs, women tend to display themselves with greater individuality than the way they are portrayed in commercial advertisements. These findings have greater implications on the future of gender displays in advertising and women’s self-portrayal, particularly in relation to the creation of a new feminist movement.

ICANN, Cultural Imperialism, and Democratization of Internet Governance

Brian Gailey — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:10:22 PDT

Internet Governance has largely been managed by the United States government since its burgeoning in the 1990’s. The government has since entrusted and charged internet technical tasks and functions to ICANN. The organization along with the United States government has been the subject of heavy criticism for its inadequate international representation. Many interpret US hegemony over the internet as culturally imperialistic. The following paper explores the some of the advantages and disadvantages to multilateral Internet governance. Firstly, it will evaluate ICANN’s ability to both democratize their internal decision-making and internationalize the web by better serving foreign Internet end-users. Next, the paper examines the attitudes of Americans towards the US relinquishing control to international organizations such as the United Nations. The conclusions address both effectiveness of ICANN as well as what may be hindering the US from surrendering control to foreign governments based on nonpolitical reasons.

The Potential Use of Mobile Communication in the Classroom

Daniel Calkins — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:23:27 PDT

The emergence of technology into higher education has drastically altered the nature and quality of learning experiences. Over the past twenty years, the advancement of technology and the evolvement of computer hardware and software have shifted the needs and expectations of students and faculty in performing their educational duties. Recently, demands among higher educational communities have centered on the need for increased mobility with regards to technology. In the fall of 2008, a number of schools, namely the University of Maryland, Freed-Hardeman University, and Abilene Christian University, issued mobile hand-held devices to a group of incoming students in an effort to meet the demands for increased mobility in educational technology. With this technology, these institutions aim to enhance the learning environment as well as increase interactions between the students and the faculty.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) attempts to examine user acceptance of new technology by measuring user perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the newly issued technology. A survey taken a Bryant University in Smithfield, RI in February 2009 studied the potential student acceptance of new mobile hand-held technology. Statistical analysis found that all TAM factors measured in the survey were required to be combined in order to achieve acceptable reliability levels on the Cronbach’s alpha scale. Statistical analysis also found significant differences in the mean responses between the freshman/sophomore group and the junior/senior group of students. Also, significant differences were found between students with a Communication major and those students with Accounting, Actuarial Mathematics, and Marketing Majors.

Gender Advertisements: Replication of a Classic Work Examining Women’s Portrayal in Magazines and Family Photographs

Kristen Brekne — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:11:30 PDT

In 1979, Erving Goffman, produced the classic work, Gender Advertisements, in response to the era of feminism. Goffman then arranged his findings “with malice” into seven categories in order to demonstrate to others the apparent infantalization and subordination of women he saw present in advertising. My study is a replication of Goffman’s research designed to see if thirty years of feminism and cultural enlightenment have changed the way women are displayed in magazine advertisements. My method is grounded in phenomenology and like Goffman’s original, foregoes a random sample of advertisements in favor of a deeper understanding of the phenomenon in its original context that is the dominance of displays of female subordination and infantalization in those advertisements. This study also goes a step beyond Goffman’s original work to analyze how women portray themselves in family photographs; that is, when they are in control of themselves and their situation. In conclusion, my study demonstrates that the infantalization of women still occurs in much advertising and that women, when given the opportunity, portray themselves as strong, confident females.

Network Neutrality: What is at Stake?

Shannon Griffin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:48:57 PDT

Network neutrality is the view that Internet users should have control over what content they view on the Internet. This principle was honored until 2005 when the FCC reclassified the technology that brings the Internet to its users. The purpose of this project is to gain insight into the net neutrality debate, examine what net neutrality really means to users and the potential long-term consequences the results of this debate could produce. I intend to demonstrate the need for network neutrality by providing the context in which network neutrality can be best understood. I examine the circumstances that led to the loss of neutrality as well as the origins of the Internet and the intent with which it was made available to the public. I then recognize and discuss the viewpoints of those on each side of the neutrality debate. Next, I address the impact the debate has had thus far and the reality of a non-neutral Internet. Lastly, I state my viewpoint on the issue and discuss the significant power and freedom neutrality represents to Internet users everywhere.

The Portrayal of Powerful Women in the Media

Kristin Milligan — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:44:05 PDT

The purpose of this research is to investigate the portrayal of powerful women in the media and to gain a perspective of different ways the media tend to elaborate and focus on gender issues to a greater extent than the general public may think. I intend to demonstrate that powerful women are often portrayed unfairly in the media and that this could affect the progress they make in their careers. I hypothesize that although women are making strides in the right direction, the often negative portrayal of powerful women in the media can be unwarranted and lead to the unfair perception of women in powerful positions. First, I address background information that includes the progress professional and influential women have made in corporate America. I then discuss how many of these advancements, although they are a start, are not as substantial as they should be in the twenty-first century. Next, I investigate the possibility that the media might hinder women’s abilities to move up into positions of power due the influence that the media have on our perceptions and behaviors. To demonstrate that the media do in fact focus on gender issues when portraying powerful women, I investigated how the media portrayed three specific women in power. I chose to examine media portrayals of Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Katie Couric, anchor of CBS Evening News, and Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. By concentrating not only on women in corporate America, but also on a woman in the world of journalism, and one in the political world, I was able to gain a perspective on whether unfair media portrayals of women in corporations are parallel in their portrayals of influential women in general.