Independent Woman: How a World War I Recruiting Effort Gave Rise to a Feminist Magazine • Jane Marcellus, Middle Tennessee State University • In 1918, the US War Department authorized federal funds to organize the nation’s businesswomen. As a result, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs was founded. Their bulletin, Independent Woman (IW), soon became a magazine. This paper examines IW from 1919 until its name changed in 1956, using textual analysis to discover how IW negotiated its role as club publication and activist magazine, arguing that as a feminist “crossover,” it anticipated Ms. Magazine.

From Crisis to Consensus: Advertising Practitioner Responses to the Trust Consolidation Era, 1898-1902 • Stewart Alter, McCann Worldgroup • The trust consolidation period at the turn of the twentieth century reshaped American industry in ways that had significant implications for the practice of advertising as it was then developing. An examination was conducted of the editorial coverage of these corporate consolidations in five major advertising-trade journals during the peak merger years of 1898-1902.

The Contradictions of Herbert Hoover: Positive and Negative Liberty in American Broadcasting Policy • Seth Ashley, Boise State University • As Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover helped create the regulatory framework for early American broadcasting policy. His theoretically negative approach to liberty and preference for market-oriented solutions actually took the form of government intervention in practice, helping the emerging commercial broadcasting industry to gain control of the ether. Through an historical institutionalist approach, this paper examines primary documents and secondary literature related to Hoover’s legacy, which still can be felt today.

Polemics and Pragmatism: James J. Kilpatrick’s Shifting Views on Race between 1963 and 1966 • Elizabeth Atwood, Hood College • Between 1963 and 1966, the way newspaper editor and columnist James J. Kilpatrick wrote about racial issues changed remarkably. The former segregationist editor toned down his racist rhetoric and urged blacks and whites to work together.

Print Ads in Post-World War II Publications: An Analysis of Humor • Adam Avant, The University of Georgia • In the days following World War II, advertising in the mass media reflected a new era that saw sharply-defined gender roles return.  Advertisers often employed humor to highlight this emerging cultural shift toward a traditional suburban lifestyle.  This study utilized a content assessment of humorous advertisements in popular publications between 1945 and 1955.  The findings suggest humor was primarily aimed at women while using narrative structures to provide an uplifting and lighthearted look at a future in the home.

The Evolving Bride in Godey’s Lady’s Book • Emilia Bak, University of Georgia • Today media are obsessed with the bride, but this paper examines the mediated bride in a time when women were expected marry, the 19th century. The top-circulating magazine of the time was Godey’s Lady’s Book, and as a publication targeted at women, it offers insights about the societal importance of being a bride. This examination of the bride is filtered through a feminist media studies lens and seeks to add to the history of women.

Free at last: Media framing and the evolution of free agency in Major League Baseball • Brett Borton, University of South Carolina • This study analyzes the dominant narrative about the evolution of free agency in Major League Baseball in 1976, when the game‘s long-standing reserve clause was struck down and unsigned players could offer their services to the highest bidding teams.  The author seeks to determine if the portrayals of free agent players during this period departed from the hero-myth depictions of professional baseball players employed by print journalists since the early twentieth century.

Literary journalism “tinctured with magic”: The subjectivity of William Bolitho • Brandon Bouchillon, Texas Tech University; Kevin Stoker, Texas Tech University • William Bolitho’s name remains suspiciously absent from the modern journalism lexicon. This study presents an in-depth analysis of Bolitho’s life and work, distinguishing what made him such a uniquely gifted writer. The inherent subjectivity of Bolitho’s vision and his ready acceptance of death’s inevitability color his prose. His literary talents preceded the work of writers like Tom Wolfe, and his unique sense of adventure may have influenced Hemingway’s own.

On Finding Dorothy Shaver: First Lady of Retailing and Public Relations Innovator • Sandra Braun, Mount Royal University • Dorothy Shaver was the CEO of Lord & Taylor Department Store from 1945-1959. She rose through the ranks as a communications executive. By the end of her career, she had garnered numerous awards and honorary degrees for her public relations and promotional skills. This paper traces her origins, her rise through the corporate ranks, and three key campaigns that led to her election as president of a multi-million-dollar corporation at a time when it was uncommon for women to hold such positions.

The Afro’s Ollie Stewart: Looking at American Politics, Society and Culture from Europe • Jinx Broussard, LSU; Newly Paul • This article examines the writings of Ollie Stewart, the Paris-based foreign correspondent for the Afro-American newspaper from 1949 to 1977. Articles and lively columns this expat wrote provided his and foreigners’ views about events that were shaping America. He continually addressed race, U.S. foreign policy, politics and the achievements and activities blacks abroad, thereby providing information that was not in the mainstream media and filling an important void press and American history.

On the Front Page in the ‘Jazz Age’ in Chicago: Ione Quinby, ‘Girl Reporter’ • Stephen Byers, Marquette University; Genevieve G. McBride, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee • Building a career in 1920s Chicago was hard for a woman journalist who wanted the front page, not the society page. This paper follows the career of Ione Quinby, who entered journalism in the “Jazz Age” as a “stunt girl” and “sob sister” – termed a “girl reporter” by her newspaper – but who became famed for her coverage of “murderesses” and mob molls.

American OGPU: J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and the ‘Smear Campaign’ of 1940 • Matthew Cecil, South Dakota State University • In 1939 and 1940, the FBI’s ongoing use of illegal wiretapping and its employment of “third degree” tactics in making a series of arrests in Detroit prompted critics to charge the Bureau had become too powerful.  Even before the controversies of 1939 and 1940, the dramatic growth of the Bureau’s physical footprint and legal jurisdiction during the 1930s had heightened concerns about the agency’s power.

Seize the Time: How the Black Panthers’ Early Media Strategies Shaped the Party’s Image • Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen, University of Wisconsin, Madison • Mass media was integral to the rise of the Black Panther Party, and the party’s leaders developed media strategies that used militant rhetoric, brash visuals and media events to attract the attention of mainstream media outlets. This paper analyzes newspaper coverage in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle, and examines the role mainstream California newspapers played in shaping the public image of the Panthers. Influenced by the protest paradigm, journalists created an anti-authority, anti-white and militaristic image. The Panthers’ inability to control their media portrayal ultimately limited their effectiveness.

“A Slogan of Mockery”: Never Again and the Unnamed Genocide in Southern Sudan, 1989-2005 • Sally Ann Cruikshank, Ohio University • This study examines how eight U.S. media outlets framed the conflict in southern Sudan from 1989 through 2005. A textual analysis revealed that, contrary to previous studies concerning U.S. media coverage of Africa, southern Sudan received steady coverage. Three dominant themes emerged: famine, slavery, and oil. Despite the details of the civil war being a veritable checklist for genocide, the media failed to report it as such.  The implications of these findings are discussed at length.

‘Ask what you can do to the Army’: The underground G.I. press during Vietnam • Chad Painter, University of Missouri; Patrick Ferrucci, University of Missouri • This study examined the roles of a radical press during wartime, and how the underground G.I. press served those roles during the Vietnam War. The researchers used as primary sources 22 underground G.I. newspapers published between 1967 and 1973. They found that the underground G.I. press published unreported or underreported stories, used an anti-establishment tone, attempted to build communities within the military and with civilians, and provided a forum for soldiers’ dissention and dissatisfaction.

“To End the Racial Nightmare”: James Baldwin and the Kennedys • Kathy Forde, University of South Carolina • This study explores how James Baldwin’s New Yorker essay, “Letter from a Region of My Mind,” later published as the book The Fire Next Time, shaped a national reckoning with the black freedom struggle—its meanings, realities, and policy demands—during a critical moment of the civil rights movement. Baldwin’s “readers” included ordinary American citizens and the most powerful political leaders in the United States in 1963.

A New York Tribune Reporter’s Correspondence, Captivity, and Escape During the American Civil War • Michael Fuhlhage, Auburn University • New York Tribune war correspondent Albert Deane Richardson escaped a Confederate prison after nineteen months in captivity during the Civil War. He immediately embarked on a journalistic and activist campaign to reveal Southern mistreatment and pressure the Union government to secure relief for military and civilian prisoners of war held by the Confederacy. Richardson’s memoir, articles, letters from the battlefield and prison, and testimony reveal a prominent but overlooked reporter’s experience of news work during wartime.

Mary Garber: A Woman in a Man’s World • Ashley Furrow, Ohio University • Mary Garber was one of the first full-time sportswriters at a daily newspaper in the country and became the oldest living female sportswriter. Her work earned her over forty writing awards and countless Hall of Fame inductions. But her greatest achievement is that she paved the way for other women sportswriters, who are no longer denied entrance to press boxes and no longer have to miss out on key post-game interviews because they are now allowed in locker rooms.

An Uneasy Encounter: Global Perspectives and American Journalism Ideals on Town Meeting of the World • Kevin Grieves, Ohio University • In the early 1960s, communication satellites provided a new forum for global discourse via live, international television. The Town Meeting of the World programs were the first designed specifically for this technology, and enabled live interaction between world leaders and studio audiences. The format drew on American journalistic ideals of an open exchange of viewpoints. By the late 1960s, those viewpoints from overseas had become increasingly critical of the United States, much to Americans’ consternation.

The Shenandoah Crash As Seen Through the National Magazines of the 1920s • Thomas J. Hrach, University of Memphis • The crash of the Shenandoah, a 1920s era dirigible, over rural Ohio in 1925 brought a clash of cultures that highlighted how national magazines of the time framed the issues of poverty and tragedy. At the time, the dirigible was viewed as the future of long-distance air travel, and the American military was actively pursuing the technology after seeing it successfully used by the German government in World War I.

Media, memory, and a sense of place: The nation’s first Washington • Janice Hume, University of Georgia • The tiny town of Washington, Ga., is steeped in historical memory. It was the first U.S. town named for George Washington, its citizens fresh from winning a significant Revolutionary War battle. The town’s memory and identity are products of a complex negotiation of remembrances fostered by media, scholars, Patriot descendents, historical organizations, town boosters, and citizens. This study considers that negotiation, noting how newspapers and magazines contributed to the collective memory of the “first Washington.”

Out of the Mists of Time: Newspaper Coverage of Travel to Lithuania 1988-1993 • Kerry Kubilius, Ohio University • This paper traces the trajectory of newspaper travel coverage from 1988, prior to Lithuania’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union, to 1993, the year the last Russian troops were recalled from Lithuanian territory. Travel coverage initially revealed the difficulties visitors faced during political instability; Lithuania was treated as an exciting destination for the curious. After independence, journalists described it as an obscure travel frontier, not the political hotspot it had recently been.

When a Doctor Became a Whistleblower: Dr. Henry K. Beecher and the Press, 1965-1966 • Amy Snow Landa, University of Minnesota • Dr. Henry K. Beecher’s landmark 1966 essay in the New England Journal of Medicine criticized medical experiments performed without patients’ informed consent. This paper examines Beecher’s decision to become a public whistleblower and his development of a press strategy to maximize the impact of his message. Primary sources include Beecher’s correspondence with reporters, archived with the Beecher papers at the Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard.

Lasting Scars of the JFK Assassination: The Tragedy and PTSD-like Trauma of Merriman Smith • Young Joon Lim, Ohio University; Michael Sweeney, Ohio University • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been documented at high rates among war correspondents. This paper answers a call by PTSD expert Anthony Feinstein, who urged more investigation of PTSD-like symptoms among domestic journalists exposed to the trauma of covering news routines that include violence. Using primary documents, this paper posits that Merriman Smith, UPI White House reporter who observed the assassination of John F. Kennedy, suffered PTSD-like symptoms that culminated in his suicide.

Awarding a Revolution: The Penney-Missouri Magazine Awards during second-wave feminism • Dayne Logan, University of Missouri • The present research explores the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and ’70s and magazines’ reactions to it via the Penney-Missouri Magazine Awards program, the only contest designed to honor American women’s magazine journalism during the period. It also examines the program itself and concludes that it exhibited a dynamism some scholars contend is atypical of journalism awards programs by shifting from a mere reflection of common industry ideologies to a champion of progressive journalistic practice.

For ‘the cause of civil and religious liberty’: Abner Cole and the Palmyra, NY, Reflector (1829-1831) • Kimberley Mangun, University of Utah; Jeremy Chatelain, University of Utah • This paper is the first to analyze the (Palmyra, NY) Reflector through the lens of the Freethought Movement, a philosophical viewpoint informed by science, facts, and reason. Sixty-six issues of the literary newspaper published between September 2, 1829, and March 19, 1831—the paper’s entire run—were examined using discourse analysis and narrative analysis. The newspaper advocated free speech, freedom of the press, and civil and religious liberty and contributed to the marketplace of ideas.

Congress Needs Help: The Story of NBC’s Extraordinary 1965 Documentary Critique of Legislative Inefficiency • Thomas Mascaro, Bowling Green State University • The 1965 NBC News documentary, Congress Needs Help, represents a noteworthy departure for network documentaries. NBC commissioned an external study of the U.S. Congress to assess its efficiency and recommend solutions to improve congressional effectiveness and accountability. The documentary directly influenced legislation in the House of Representatives. Congress Needs Help offers an overlooked historical benchmark of the congressional reform movement of the 1960s and of documentary examinations of the legislative body of the U.S. government.

Tributes to Fallen Journalists: The Role of the Hero Myth in Journalistic Practice • Raymond McCaffrey, University of Maryland • An analysis of New York Times tributes to fallen U.S. journalists who perished while at work from 1980 to 2012 revealed that articles were written about 82 percent of the 60 journalists who died on foreign assignment compared to coverage of about 33 percent of the 55 journalists whose deaths were in the U.S. Foreign correspondents were largely depicted in heroic terms, while those dying in the U.S. were often portrayed as the archetypal victim.

American Wartime Newsreels and Press Reaction during WWII • Stephen McCreery, University of Georgia • The WW2 American newsreel represents a media innovation that could not be ignored by the American public.  The combination sight, sound, and motion in tightly packaged narratives was neither entirely representative of overseas events, nor timely.  The American press’ reactions to these censored films presented them as more of a novelty than a rival.  An analysis of U.S. wartime newspaper articles on newsreels reveals how little was regarded for this innovation that would eventually become a main competitor for news audiences.

The Struggle for Men’s Souls: Tracing Cold War Liberation Strategy in the Crusade for Freedom Campaign • Wendy Melillo, American University • This essay considers Cold War liberation strategy themes, promoted by Eisenhower protégé and political warfare specialist Charles Douglas Jackson, in the Ad Council’s Crusade for Freedom public service advertising campaign. Liberation was a grand strategy in the Cold War using psychological warfare to encourage revolution in Eastern European countries under Soviet rule. The Crusade campaign was a propaganda tool directed at Americans to gain domestic support for the liberation strategy, and sell democracy at home.

An Enemy’s Talk of Justice: Japanese Radio Propaganda against Japanese American Mass Incarceration during World War II • Takeya Mizuno, Toyo University • This article examines how Japanese short-wave radio propaganda, as known as “Radio Tokyo,” commented on mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during the first year of World War II. As the Army began to execute the policy, so did Tokyo’s serial criticism begin. Japanese propagandists accused mass incarceration as evidence of American hypocrisy revealing the actual hollow nature of the nation’s “democratic” ideals.

RCAism: The Roots of a Rationalized Broadcasting System • Randall Patnode, Xavier University • While conventional histories treat of radio broadcasting as an outgrowth of technological development, this article decouples broadcasting from technology and connects it with the principles of rationalization that emerged in the late 19th century. The bureaucratic organizations behind broadcasting were seeking greater social control through the same industrial management techniques found in Taylorism and Fordism.

To plead our cause” and make a profit: The competitive environment of the African American press during World War II • Earnest Perry, University of Missouri School of Journalism • In an undated speech given sometime after what general historians call the modern Civil Rights Movement, John Sengstacke, publisher of the Chicago Defender discussed the role of the African American press. He did not fawn over the militancy of the press during World War II or speak glowingly of the journalists who risked their lives to cover the trials, marches and sit-ins of the 1950s and 1960s.

Framing of Women Pharmacists in Mainstream and Trade Press During Second-Wave Feminism • L. Michael Posey, University of Georgia • This study analyzes framing of the feminization of medicine and pharmacy during the feminism’s second wave and how trade media framed women’s emergence in pharmacy (1963–87). News articles, research, editorials, and special reports were analyzed. Both media presented similar frames, changing over time. These included stereotyping (gender roles, antifeminism, economic rights); role modeling and networking (feminism); and social/structural changes. Mainstream media largely missed the rapid emergence of women pharmacists in a male-dominated profession.

A New Medium at War: The Importance of Foreign Radio Reports in Portugal during World War II • Nelson Ribeiro, Catholic University of Portugal • The article describes the importance of radio reporting by the Reichs Rundfunk Gesselschaft (RRG) and the BBC in Portugal during World War II. After a brief contextualisation explaining the reasons that led these foreign broadcasts to become the main source of war news in Portugal, the article analyses the distinct strategies implemented by the German and the British stations to mould the Portuguese public’s perception of the war.

“A Strange Absence of News”: The Titanic, The Times, Checkbook Journalism, and the Inquiry Into the Public’s Right to Know • Ronald Rodgers, University of Florida • This study explores the controversy around allegations the Titanic’s surviving wireless operator and the operator aboard the rescue ship held back news detailing the disaster so they could sell their stories to The New York Times. Those allegations and a Senate inquiry into news suppression as part of the Titanic investigation raised questions about the ethics and/or the propriety of the then-accepted practice of journalists paying for news – an issue with resonance a century later.

“Just Plain Jimmy”: Magazine Coverage of Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Campaign • Amber Roessner, University of Tennessee; Natalie Manayeva, University of Tennessee • On January 19, 1976, Jimmy Carter defeated early presidential favorite Birch Bayh in the Iowa caucus. In doing so, he captured the attention of America’s media. Over the next 42 weeks, Time, Newsweek, and the U.S. News & World Report, the nation’s three leading newsmagazines, chronicled Carter’s rise from semi-obscurity. This study takes a closer look at more than 200 articles to consider how the three publications portrayed Jimmy Carter throughout the 1976 campaign.

Young Guns: How firearms advertisers targeted children in magazines of the early 1900s • Marshel Rossow, Minnesota State University, Mankato • This study examined techniques firearms dealers used to sell guns to children in the early 20th century. Millions of tiny “boys’ rifles” aimed at a child market were manufactured between 1900 and World War II. These were not toys but potentially lethal weapons. An examination of more than 150 ads from the early 1900s found at least seven major categories of “sales pitches” used in the marketing of these firearms to children and their parents.

Raised on the Radio: The 1920s and America’s First Media Generation • Annie Sugar, University of Colorado-Boulder • America’s print media both documented and promoted youth participation in radio in the 1920s. The endorsement of the new broadcast medium influenced social acceptance of radio in the family-centered culture of the post-Progressive Era decade. As a result, radio created America’s first generation to shape the media as much as the media shaped them in return and a youth cohort with a newly elevated status in both the family and society at large.

“Not Exactly Lying”: The Life and Death of the “Fake” in Journalism and Photography, 1880-1910 • Andie Tucher, Columbia Journalism School • Around the turn of the 20th century, at the high tide of American realism, a lively discourse arose concerning “faking” in newspapers and photography. Advocates defined the practice as the harmless embellishment or improvement of minor details and insisted that a fake could actually be truer to life than anything that was mindlessly accurate.

Bringing Politics to the Living Room: The Kefauver Hearing and the Debate on the Democratic Potential of a New Medium • Bastiaan Vanacker, Loyola University Chicago • This article studies the debate on the use of cameras in government proceedings in the wake of the Kefauver Crime Hearings of 1950-51. The live broadcasts of some of these hearings were an unprecedented success and brought life to a virtual stand still in the cities were they were broadcast. As a result, these hearings produced a society-wide debate on the use of cameras during government proceedings.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Faculty

Connecting with Audience through Social Media: An Analysis of Social Media Use in Broadcast News Stations in the U.S. • Victoria Zeal; Eunseong Kim, Eastern Illinois University • Online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have gained an alarming popularity in the past few years. As news organizations recognize the increasing popularity of these sites, and as they seek out ways to attract younger audiences, news organizations began to incorporate social networking sites in their practice (Baggerman et al., 2009; Gazze, 2009; Lowery, 2009). Previous studies identified that news stations may use social media for various reasons, including delivering news, developing social ties, seeking sources, and promoting stations.

Partisan and Structural Bias: Broadcast, Cable and Public Networks’ Coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election • Arvind Diddi, State University of New York at Oswego; Frederick Fico; Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State University • Broadcast, cable and public network evening news shows gave more prominence, time, and attention to Republican John McCain than to Democrat Barack Obama in their 2008 presidential election coverage. Public network (PBS) was more balanced in its aggregate attention to the candidates than were the cable and broadcast networks. Partisan balance of broadcast networks favored McCain more when compared to cable and PBS networks.

How Journalists Perceive Influence: A Qualitative Assessment of Local Television Reporters’ Ethical Decision-Making • Beth Concepcion, SCAD • This study examines television journalists’ perceptions of situational challenges and the factors that influence their ethical decision-making processes. Specifically, qualitative, in-depth interviews, conducted with individual journalists at small market television stations, offered insight into the sources that influence the stories that the journalists decide to cover and the manner in which they cover them.

Analyzing Story Tone in the Network TV News Coverage of Bush vs. Obama • Dennis Lowry, Southern Illinois University; Ben Eng, Southern Illinois University; Bob Katende, Southern Illinois University; Rajvee Subramanian, Southern Illinois University • Network TV presidential opinion poll stories dealing with Republican George W. Bush (N = 85 stories) and Democrat Barack Obama (N = 82 stories) were analyzed with two lexical analysis software programs (Diction 6.0 and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007) to look for relative news bias in the treatment of the two presidents. Even though Bush had significantly higher public approval scores, the verbal framing of the news stories was exactly the opposite.

Ideology Trumps Meteorology: Why Many Television Weathercasters Remain Unconvinced of Human-Caused Global Warming • Kris Wilson, University of Texas-Austin • TV weathercasters are a potentially important source of climate change information: they are a widely trusted source; they have frequent access to large audiences; and most have discussed climate change as part of their duties. Previous research, however, has shown that a significant minority of TV weathercasters disagree with the consensus science.

The Effect of Kuwaiti Online Readers’ Comments On Sectarian & Tribal Issues: Case Study Alaan Online Newspaper • Ali Dashti, Gulf University for Science and Technology • One of the dilemmas of online newspapers is reader’s comments. The interactive character of the Internet encouraged many online users to express their ideas, feelings and opinions freely without any fear of negative outcomes crossing the freedom’s boundaries that set either by the government or online editors. Arab online editors do encourage their readers to comment on their news contents, but censoring what they may consider offensive, anti-nationalism or Blasphemy Islam.

New Perspectives from the Sky: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Journalism • Mark Tremayne, University of Texas at Arlington; Andrew Clark • Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are a technology now impacting many fields, including journalism and mass communication. Also referred to as “drones” these small remotely-guided aircraft are now being purchased and put to use by commercial organizations and private citizens. Traditional journalists and citizen journalists alike are using drones to obtain aerial footage in a variety of locations around the world.

Twitter: Journalism Chases the Greased Pig • Desiree Hill, University of Central Oklahoma • Summing up Twitter is like trying to catch a greased pig. Research becomes outdated as the social network evolves in a viral-like fashion. For journalism the shapeshifting of social media has now become an endless pursuit for the industry. This study seeks to find a benchmark of Twitter usage within the traditional media. A study targeting a medium-sized media market (Tulsa) is the backbone of the research.

The Use of Online Innovations by Large-Market Television and News Radio Stations: A Content Analysis of Station Homepages • Tim Wulfemeyer, San Diego State University; Amy Schmitz Weiss, San Diego State University • Online news consumption and the viewing of online video are increasing dramatically (ComScore, 2010). In fact, as of May, 2011, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 71% of online adults often watch online videos (Moore, 2011). It seems clear that there is a developing “screen generation” where users of digital media are now spending multiple hours a day in front of a screen—whether it be a computer screen, a mobile device screen or a tablet.

Agenda Trending: Reciprocity and the Predictive Capacity of Social Network Sites in Intermedia Agenda Setting across Issues over Time • Jacob Groshek, Erasmus University; Megan Clough Groshek, sosmedialab • In the contemporary converged media environment, agenda setting is being transformed by the dramatic growth of audiences that are simultaneous media users and producers. Indeed, the rise of the media “produser” has altered conceptions of where media agendas begin and end in relation to the public agenda.

Tweeting in the dark: A comparative analysis of journalists’ usages of Twitter during a crisis • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University; Judith Fusco, SRI International, Center for Technology in Learning • In a new media world, social networks may provide journalists with an immediate platform to disseminate and obtain content, particularly in breaking news situations. This study analyzed the differing roles broadcast, print, and nonprofit journalists played through their use of Twitter during a widespread power outage. Findings show the majority of journalists normalized traditional, top-down practices onto the platform; males and television journalists were the least likely to adapt to the more participatory nature of Twitter.

Sex and Violence in Billboard’s Most Popular Songs: A Content Analysis of Sexual and Violent Content in Mainstream Music Lyrics • Stacey Hust; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Kathleen Rodgers, Department of Human Development • Listening to music continues to be a popular activity among young people. Research has identified that music content contains more sexual content than other medium. Portrayals of sexual activity, violence and derisive terms against women are prevalent in music media. Most previous research, however, has focused on the prevalence of sexual and violent content in rap/Hip-hop music.

Story, Music, and Disposition Theory • Mark Shevy, Northern Michigan University; Lauren Larsen; Carolyn Tobin; Aubrey Kall • Disposition theory states that moral evaluation of characters and perceived justice are central factors in determining enjoyment of media. Music psychology provides evidence that music can influence evaluation of characters. This is the first study to empirically investigate the role of music in disposition theory. Initial results from an experiment suggest that music does influence variables central to disposition theory. The effects of the music can vary based on the ending presented in the story.

De-spiritualization, de-contextualization, and the “politics of repression”: Comparing The/Whale Rider’s competing texts • Robert Peaslee, Texas Tech University • This paper seeks to couch Niki Caro’s film Whale Rider (2002), especially in comparison with the novel from which it was adapted (The Whale Rider, published in 1987 by Witi Ihimaera), in an ongoing tradition in New Zealand film which Martin Blythe (1994) terms the “politics of repression.”

The Kardashian Phenomenon: News Interpretation • Amanda McClain, Holy Family University • The name “Kardashian” is a contemporary cultural touchstone, regularly connoting warrantless celebrity, voluptuous beauty, and a flash-in-the-pan marriage. The appellation is scattered throughout mainstream press, recurring in seminal newspapers and tabloid magazines alike. Regardless of this apparent popularity, media coverage of the family is often adverse. Through a discourse analysis, this paper explores the ostensible media backlash and paradoxical popularity, seeking to understand how the mainstream press interprets the Kardashian cultural phenomenon.

What Happens to the “Cream of the Crop”? The Representative Anecdote in AMC’s Mad Men • Erika Engstrom, UNLV • The author employs the representative anecdote to examine how disparate narratives of highly capable women in the period drama “Mad Men” combine to tell the story of gendered relationships, particularly marriage. Although the experiences of these characters are not exactly identical, the “variations on a theme” contained in their experiences return their disparate texts form a common story tells us of the negative consequences for women who choose to make their careers life priorities.

I know you are, but what am I? Adolescents’ third-person perception regarding dating violence • John Chapin, Penn State • A survey of adolescents (N = 1,646) documented third-person perception regarding media depictions of dating/relationship violence. It also contributes to the growing literature documenting optimistic bias as a strong predictor of third-person perception and draws from the optimistic bias literature considering new variables including self-esteem, self-efficacy, and experience with violence.

From Heroic Hawkeye to the Morgue Playboy: Shifting Representations of Health Professionals and Patients in 1970s and 1980s Television • Katie Foss, Middle Tennessee State University • From the 1930s until the 1960s, film and television consistently depicted doctors as infallible heroes who almost always cured their patients. By the 1970s, the cultural climate had begun to shift, as people moved from celebrating to criticizing modern medicine and the healthcare industry. This research explored how Marcus Welby, M.D., M*A*S*H, Emergency!, and St. Elsewhere constructed medicine in the midst of this changing environment.

The Kardashians made me want it: The effects of privileged television on emerging adults’ materialism • Emily Acosta Lewis, Western New England University • A survey was given to 18-29 year olds (N = 733) to examine the relationship between privileged TV (shows that glamorize wealthy lifestyles) and materialism in young adults by looking at mediating processes of this relationship. The results show that there is a positive relationship between privileged television exposure and materialism and that the there are many complementary mediating processes that can help to explain this relationship (e.g. upward comparison and materialistic learning).

Scripted Sexual Violence: The Association between Soap Opera Viewing and College Students’ Intentions to Negotiate Sexual Consent • Stacey Hust; Ming Lei, Washington State University; Weina Ran, Washington State University; Chunbo Ren, Washington State University; Emily Marett, Mississippi State University • Sexual assaults are frequently portrayed on soap operas in ways that reinforce rape myths and may perpetuate sexual assault. Research has identified that viewing soap operas is associated with sexual behaviors in general. However, little research has investigated the association between viewing soap operas and the sexual consent negotiation behaviors that play a crucial role in reducing sexual assault.

“Get Rich or Die Buying:” The Travails of the Working Class Auction Bidder • Mark Rademacher, Butler University • By documenting working class bidders consuming used goods circulated through an alternative marketing system during an economic downturn, this essay argues the reality program “Storage Wars” represents a “potentially disruptive” cultural text. However, its emphasis on the formal and economic aspects of auction bidding, the economic value rather than use or aesthetic value of used goods, and the limitations of working class cultural capital the program ultimately reinforces rather than disrupts the dominant consumption ideology.

Is Fat the New Black?: The Impact of Multiple Exposures of Mike & Molly on College Students Attitudes Toward Obesity and Body Image • Cynthia Nichols, Oklahoma State University; Bobbi Kay Lewis, Oklahoma State University • The study examines on college students’ opinions about obesity and body image based on the after watching the CBC program, Mike & Molly. Using a quasi-experimental design, college students’ attitudes toward obesity and body image were measured through pre- and post-testing. Participants (N=135) were either in a single-exposure or a multiple-exposure group.

The Greatest Entertainment Ever Sold: Branded Entertainment and Public Relation Agencies’ Role in Product Placement • Kathy Richardson, Berry College; Carol Pardun • The use of product placement as a publicity tactic has exploded, as Spurlock’s 2011 documentary “The Greatest Movie Every Sold”—and its lead sponsor POM Wonderful demonstrated. But brands have moved from their satirized and now almost routine appearances in feature films into genres including television shows, video games, books, plays, music recordings, music videos, blogs and social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, even in “advergames” that may be accessed online, creating a strategy Jean-Marc Lehu (2007) has called “branded entertainment, …entertainment by or in conjunction with a brand” (p. 1).

Student

New Media in the Newsroom • Eric White • The findings suggest that TV and newspaper reporters were adopting social media at high rates; however, TV reporters were heavier social media users. In addition, journalists primarily used social media as promotional tools. Furthermore, perceptions of the “competition’s” use of social media followed by the news manager’s social media expectations successfully predicted journalists’ overall social media use. Additionally, news managers’ perceptions of their reporters social media uses did not align with reporters’ actual uses.

Man-on-the-Street or Man-on-the-Tweet? Using Social Network Site Comments as Vox Pop in Television News • Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • Meaning voice of the people, vox pop consists of presenting the commentary of ordinary citizens in the news and has typically been embodied in man-on-the-street (MOS) interviews. The present study explores the effects of replacing MOS interviews with Twitter and Facebook comments to assess how viewers perceive this new information source.

A Digital Juggling Act: New Media’s Impact on the Responsibilities of Local Television Reporters • Anthony Adornato, Missouri School of Journalism • This case study explores the dramatic transformation new media—from a station’s website to social networking platforms—is having on local television journalists’ job responsibilities. Through in-depth interviews with reporters and participant observation at a television station in the northeast US, this research details how reporters’ tasks are evolving in three areas: dissemination, newsgathering, and the relationship with the public. Lessons learned from this research are helpful to others in the industry and journalism educators.

Fueling the debate: Predictive relationships among personality characteristics, motives and effects of animated news viewing • Wai Han Lo; Benjamin Ka Lun Cheng, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University • Melodramatic animated news is a new news reporting format by some media organizations that have drawn huge viewership online. This study adopts uses and gratifications theory and surveys 312 college students to investigate their viewing of animated-news. Seven motives were identified, through factor analysis, for viewing such animated-news videos.

At Face Value: Considering the Audience for Fox News’ Opinion Programming • Penina Wiesman • Thus far, it appears audiences of Fox News’ opinion shows are treated by much research as simply passive victims, uncritically accepting whatever these sources offer. Yet little effort has been made to thoroughly examine this group in greater depth. Through qualitative interviews, this paper looks at some of the audience members of these shows. Results suggest that stereotypical assumptions of audiences about Fox News opinion shows may not be entirely accurate or fair.

Dynamic v. Static Infographics in Online News: Impact of Format on Perceptions, Memory and Consumption • Patrick Merle; Coy Callison, Texas Tech University; Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications • Graphics accompanying online news articles were manipulated between static and dynamic formats. Eyetracking, perception and memory data was collected as was participants’ arithmetic aptitude. Results suggest that although dynamic graphics are negatively evaluated, high arithmetic aptitude participants attend and recall dynamic graphics more so than those with lower AA, who are drawn to and recall better static visuals. Memory and attention to graphics detracted from memory and attention to story text and vice versa.

Changes in Content Characteristics of Nontraditional Media after Partnering with Traditional News Providers • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University • This paper examines how the content of the website FiveThirtyEight changed after the blog entered into a licensing agreement with The New York Times. Various factors are analyzed including length of posting, variety of topics, number of hyperlinks and multimedia, and multitude of authorship. The content analysis compares and contrasts the content from 2009 and 2011, the individual calendar years before and after the convergence.

Real or Fiction? Perceived Realism, Presence, and Attitude Change in Reality Programming • Emily Dolan; Laura Osur, Syracuse University • This study investigates the effects of perceived realism and presence on attitude change from both first and third person perspectives. Furthermore, this study aims to extend the scholarship on presence and attitude change to the realm of reality television. Results indicate that viewing a show that is perceived to be reality, as opposed to fiction, does not lead to higher levels of presence.

Buffy the Stereotype Slayer • Nichole Bogarosh, Washington State University • Great strides have been made in breaking down barriers and stereotypes – in deconstructing what it means to be a woman and a man – in our society. However, despite these strides, there is much yet to be done. Stereotypes remain and women are still constructed within our society as the weaker sex – the not-powerful, subject to the rule and whims of men. Stereotypes still promote the subordination of women by men.

Judging a book by its cover: Using Q Method to examine millennials’ perceptions and expectations of classic novels • Katherine Patton • The purpose of this study is to explore the ideas of what makes an effective book cover and what attempts have been made to pull in a new, younger audience. This research examines the different types of millennials and their interests in reading and/or purchasing classic novels based solely on the visual presentation of the book cover.

It’s Still All In Your Head: Revisiting the Parasocial Compensation Hypothesis • Phillip Madison; Lance Porter • In America socializing with friends is now a functional alternative to watching television. This study draws from research on intrapersonal communication and media effects, to ask “What functions and characteristics of parasociability predict compensation for real-life interaction?” We combined data from two surveys, arguing that parasocial thinking, when functioning as internal rehearsal and self-understanding, and is characterized by variety and self-dominance, predicts parasociability as compensation for human interaction. Retroactive parasocial thinking negatively predicted compensation.

Breaking Drug War Hegemony or Reinforcing the Bad? Illicit Drug Discourses in AMC’s Breaking Bad • Katrina Flener, Temple University • This paper examines the first four seasons of AMC’s critically-acclaimed series Breaking Bad in terms of its representations of illicit drug use, the drug trade, and associated policy considerations. Relying on critical discourse analysis, this research attempts to understand how the basic cable series supports and/or challenges dominant ideology about illicit drug use, the drug trade (both here and in Mexico), and the United States’ drug war policies.

Is Cheating a Human Function? The Roles of Presence, State Hostility, and Enjoyment in an Unfair Video Game • J.J. De Simone, University of Wisconsin — Madison; Li-Hsiang Kuo; Tessa Verbruggen • In sports and board games, when an opponent cheats, the other players typically greet it with disdain, anger, and disengagement. However, work has yet to fully address the role of AI cheating in video games. In this study, participants played either a cheating or a non-cheating version of a modified open source tower defense game. Results indicate that when an AI competitor cheats, players perceive the opponent as being more human.

Gloomy Euphoria or Joyous Melancholy? Nostalgic Experiences of MMORPG Players in China: A Qualitative Study • Hang Lu, Marquette University • As predicted by Newman (2004) one of the three modern trends in future gaming is retrogaming. Retrogaming is a subculture in which gamers return to play some old computer games, including the most popular genre of online games, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). In order to examine gamers’ psychological motivation for returning to some old MMORPGs and their psychological experiences in retrogaming from the perspective of nostalgia, this study interviewed 65 Chinese gamers of a classic MMORPG, StoneAge.

Have We Ever Experienced Remade Fan Video as Visual Poaching on YouTube? • Keunyeong Kim, Pennsylvania State University • As media technology develops, it became harder to avoid the convergence of cultural studies and medium theory (Meyrowitz, 2008). In fact, the advance of interactive new media has accelerated fan cultures by providing a vast proliferation of both text-based and image-based spaces (Jenkins, 2006a, 2006b). The result of which has been the equally simultaneous, yet divergent modes of fan culture response.

All This Has Happened Before: Battlestar Galactica as a Dialogue on the War on Terror • Laura Osur, Syracuse University • The purpose of this study is to explore how Battlestar Galactica addresses issues related to the War on Terror. As science fiction critics Darko Suvin, Carl Freedman, and Frederic Jameson have suggested, the genre has a unique ability to address sociopolitical situations. Through a textual analysis, I find that Battlestar Galactica pushes the audience to reconceptualize war and terrorism by presenting multiple perspectives on questions related to violence, terror, and humanism.

The reality of it all: Navigating racial stereotypes on Survivor: Cook Islands • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Margaret Duffy, Missouri School of Journalism • This study investigates how race was depicted on Survivor: Cook Islands. This particular season of the reality television program divided contestants by race into four distinct tribes. Television helps people make sense of the world around them and informs their understanding of the unfamiliar. Racialized depictions may amplify racism and polarization.

Animation Growing Up: Hollywood is Adding Adult Humor in Children’s Animated Films • Chelsie Akers, Brigham Young Uniersity; Giulia Vibilio • Children’s animated films have held a lasting influence on their audiences throughout the decades. As adults co-view such films with their children Hollywood has had to rewrite the formula for a successful animated children’s film. This study concentrates on the idea that a main factor in audience expansion is adult humor. The results show that children’s animated films from 1995-2009 are riddled with many instances of adult humor while in films from 1980-1994 use adult humor sparingly.

May Self-Efficacy Be With You: Self-Efficacy in Star Wars Online Fan Communities • Alexis Finnerty, Syracuse University; Dan Amernick • We examine the role of creative and technical self-efficacy in the online fan community. By surveying producers of fan-made Star Wars music videos to find out how their self-efficacy levels relate to the number of videos they upload, we conclude that creativity is more important to fan video producers than technical skills. We found a slight positive correlation between higher creative self-efficacy levels and uploads, and a negative correlation between uploads and technical self-efficacy.

Traditional vs. Entertainment News: A Study of Framing and Format Effects on Consumer Perceptions • Holly Miller, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and University of Minnesota Law School; Whitney Walther, University of Minnesota • Entertainment media make up a multi-billion-dollar industry, and celebrity news has seeped into traditional news sources, such as network nightly newscasts, 24-hour cable news channels, and widely circulated publications. More people report knowing about Lindsay Lohan’s 90-day jail sentence for violating her probation than the Prime Minister of Israel’s visit to the White House.

Dancing with the Binary: Heteronormative Expectancies and Gender Inclusiveness on Dancing with the Stars • Betsy Emmons; Richard Mocarski; Rachael R. Smallwood, University of Alabama; Sim Butler, The University of Alabama • The celebrity-based television reality show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) has been praised for having a diverse cast during its reign as a favorite prime-time competition show. Using a content analysis of gender performance based on Trujillo’s (1991) tenets of hegemonic masculinity along with a femininity binary opposite, this study affirms that heteronormative behavior persists on the show, even while varying genders are included.

Portlandia Tracks the Music Industry into the Age of Digital Media • Elia Powers, University of Maryland-College Park • Portlandia, an Independent Film Channel (IFC) comedy series that affectionately satirizes Portland, Oregon’s hipster culture, represents an unprecedented success by individuals to use the web to turn a video project into a network television series. Its format, niche-oriented content and narrative structure fit with the way that increasingly fragmented audiences consume media in the digital age.

The cathartic effects of narrative entertainment through contemplation: Examining the mediating role of self-perceptions on health outcomes after fictional drama exposure • Guan-Soon Khoo • In response to its disputed status in communication research, a new catharsis theory for media psychology is examined in a controlled experiment. One hypothesized model was tested, and two exploratory models were investigated. Mediational analyses found weak trends towards the hypothesized effects through unfavorable meta-emotions and self-compassion as mediators. Further, significant indirect effects were found via emotional self-efficacy. Results provide initial evidence for the cathartic effects of cinematic tragedy and human drama.

Men on The Wire: A textual analysis of ‘the most realistic depiction of a newsroom ever’ • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Chad Painter, University of Missouri • This study investigates how fictional print journalists were portrayed on The Wire. Portrayals of journalism on television could influence audience perceptions of real-life journalists. The researchers used a cultural studies approach focusing on contextualization to analyze the text of all 10 episodes aired during The Wire’s fifth season, paying special attention to latent meanings of verbal and visual features.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Faculty

Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the Speculative as Public Memory • Phil Chidester, Illinois State University • By at once making direct and intentional intertextual references to 1968’s The Planet of the Apes and taking significant departures from that template work, The Planet of the Apes (2001) remake and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) prequel forge a powerful transcendent argument about America’s ongoing racial struggles. In doing so, the films also establish the original as a vital and influential example of the speculative as public memory.

“They dangerously confuse the concept of personhood and citizenship:” An analysis of media representations of immigrant women and families in the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 • MaryAnn Martin, Independent • As a predecessor to many similar laws passed nation-wide in recent years, news discourses surrounding the passage and implementation of the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, or HB 1804, are one site to investigate the relationship between representations of immigrant women and families and definitions of citizenship and the nation-state. This study examines representations of immigrant women and families in two state newspapers, the Oklahoman and the Tulsa World.

From breaking to traditional news: How journalists craft resonance through storytelling • Victoria LaPoe, LSU; Amy Reynolds, LSU • Through qualitative content analysis of breaking and traditional news coverage of the balloon boy hoax, this paper expands on research that explores how journalists craft resonance through storytelling. Scholars haven’t applied resonance to breaking news, yet it is an important context in which to study resonance – news values and routines differ, and the impact on audiences is greater. Because journalists apply different news values and storytelling techniques in breaking news, this storytelling context heightens resonance.

Death in Waikiki: The Significance of the Geo-­cultural Context in News Media Framing • Ann Auman, University of Hawaii • This study applies a “geo-cultural” frame to determine the significance of culture clash in 15 stories and 767 reader comments in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about a death in Hawai‘i days before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November 2011. Symbolic language in stories influenced reader conversations, with culture clash in second place after discussions about the facts of the case in which a federal agent allegedly fatally shot a “local” man.

Framing as Media Ritual: Fox News Network Covers the Bristol Palin Pregnancy • Frank Durham, University of Iowa; Lee Hye-Jin, University of Iowa • This study analyzes how the Fox News Network (FNN) devoted its coverage of the 2008 Republican Party Convention to reframing the teen pregnancy of Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s daughter in a positive light. By contrasting the frames that were used to discuss Bristol Palin’s pregnancy with the historical-cultural frame of “teen pregnancy” associated with the Reagan-era “Black welfare queen,” this critical text analysis of relevant FNN transcripts treats the re-framing process in terms of media ritual.

Empowered Leaders and Alone in Community: Stories of Romanian Roma Health Mediators • Adina Schneeweis, Oakland University • This article presents the stories of nine Romanian women, Roma health mediators who work in communities to build bridges between Romani patients and the public health system. The women narrate stories of successes in their profession, of discrimination, of empowerment, and of identity shifts towards hybridity and contextual alliances. Although a sense of entitlement makes sense in the context of much responsibility and power on the women’s shoulders, speaking for their ethnicity may become problematic, this study suggests.

“Makmende is so powerful he showed us who we truly are:” Kenya’s Collective Reimaging and a Meme of Optimism • Brian Ekdale, University of Iowa; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa • In this paper, we explore the Makmende meme that rose to prominence in Kenya in 2010. We argue the original video triggered a moment of nostalgia and participation among young, urban Kenyans who pride themselves as technological innovators. Further, we claim their participatory playfulness created a meme of optimism through which they collectively reimagined a patriarchal hero who could lead the country toward political and economic stability at home and cultural and technological dominance abroad.

“Where Buzz is Born”: South-by-Southwest, Blogging, and Media Conduction • Robert Peaslee, Texas Tech University; Stephanie Miles • This study seeks to develop the theoretical framework of media conduction (Peaslee, 2011) by examining the interactions between bloggers and readers in the context of the 2010 South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival. Media conduction refers to the transfer of information along a “circuit of power” represented by individuals’ access to a valuable commodity – in this case the artists and unique festival experiences accessible at SXSW – and the resulting flow of information to those with less access, both within and outside the social space of the festival.

“Coloured TV”: The 1960s Conferences and BBC Television Programming • Darrell Newton, Salisbury University • This institutional case study examines how the BBC polled West Indian community leaders on ways the Television Service could help to quell racial tensions exacerbated by increased immigration from the West Indies. According to documents examined at Caversham, audience research reports conducted during the 1950s and 60s helped to initiate broadcast policies, underscoring their importance as historiographic resources..

“Reading” The Apprentice: Culture and the Manufacturing of Reality • Sharon Terrell, University of South Alabama • This study examines the six original seasons of the reality television series The Apprentice as a postmodern, cultural artifact that may provide a guide to ideological beliefs through Trump’s paradigm of living. Grounded in Burke’s (1967) theory of literary content representing “equipment for living,” and Brummett’s (1984) consideration that televised content is literature, the theory then evolves to “televised discourse as equipment for living.”

Pakistani women as objects of fear and ‘othering’ • Bushra Rahman, University of the Punjab • The study employs Said’s concept of Orientalism and van Dijks concept of socio-cognitive processes to analyze the framing of Pakistani Muslim women in the news magazine Time from 1998-2002. A critical discourse analysis of the selected articles of the magazine follows Fairclough’s and van Dijk’s guidelines.

Putting Music Videos (and You) to Work: How Vevo turns Publicity and Participation into Profits • Heather McIntosh • Music videos used to represent an industry-related promotional expense. Through Vevo, a multi-media, multi-platform distribution outlet, music videos become a form of revenue through content monetization via licenses and copyright, through the labor of user participation, and through the data mining of user interactions. Through Vevo, users get access to their favorite music videos, but ultimately, the music industry controls the content, the access, the participation, and the profits.

Participation beyond Production: Reception and Ritual in the Study of Activist Audiences • Jennifer Rauch, Long Island University, Brooklyn • In an era of social media technologies, instrumental goals such as networking, organizing and information sharing hold great sway over the study of activist culture. Researchers often conceptualize activists’ media use as participation in message production and dissemination while overlooking practices related to reception and interpretation—i.e., activists as audiences.

If I Were a Belle: 
Performers’ Negotiations of Feminism, Gender, and Race in Princess Culture • Rebecca Hains, Salem State University • Hundreds of women have earned a living performing as Disney Princesses on Disney property or on stage, embodying their characters for weeks, months, or years at a time. Considering the cases of women who have played a) the role of Belle from Beauty and the Beast or b) her generic counterpart, Beauty, at children’s birthday parties, this essay investigates performers’ negotiations of princess culture’s problematic aspects, with special attention to race, gender, and feminist conscience.

A News Negotiation of a State’s “History”: Collective Memory of the 2011 WI Protests • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sandra Knisely, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mitchael Schwartz, The University of Wisconsin-Madison • This essay seeks to tell the collective mnemonic story of the 2011 Wisconsin protests as it was forming at the anniversary in February and March 2012. In particular, the paper explores how online interactivity encourages new kinds of remembering and how journalists and citizens might turn those memories into some kind of cohesive narrative.

The Complexity of Immaterial Production: Toward a Political Economy of Crowdsourcing • Ruben Ramirez, University of Puerto Rico, School of Communication • The phenomenon of crowdsourcing has been critiqued for its exploitation of a new type of productive subject, the “worker-consumer,” contributing to a political economy of immaterial production that places the producing audiences of the web within traditional notions of labor, production, and exploitation. I argue that these notions are not only insufficient for a critique of crowdsourcing but that they obscure the material conditions of production that underlie networked capitalism beyond collective intelligence.

Student

Apotheosizing Jobs, mythologizing America: Consumerism and the liberalist media in China • Zhengjia Liu, The University of Iowa; Daniel Berkowitz • When covering foreign news lacking in geographic proximity, journalists bring resonant cultural meanings to an otherwise little understood occurrence. In this study, we analyzed the “Steve Jobs fever” in the Chinese liberalist media. The media anthropological approach allows us to understand the society’s consumerist culture, which is associated with other on-going cultural themes, such as nationalism, technological progress and liberalism, and also indicates the rise of the bourgeoisie class.

Construction of Minnesota Muslim Identity: A Critical Analysis of Twin Cities Media • Ruth DeFoster, University of Minnesota; Natalie Hopkins-Best, University of Minnesota • In this paper, the authors examine the ways in which Minnesota Muslim identities and communities are constructed in Twin Cites newspaper coverage of Muslim communities in Minnesota. The authors use critical discourse analysis of 90 articles published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, loosely centered around four recent high-profile issues or events pertaining to the largely Somali-American Muslim community in Minnesota, finding several common themes and discursive practices present.

Urban or Rural? An Analysis on the Stereotypical Media Depictions of Phoenix Guys in China • Li Chen • This paper analyzed the stereotypical media depictions of Phoenix Guys in China, a group of people who are members of the city middle-class but were raised in underdeveloped rural areas. The purpose of this study was to understand how media, especially television series, convey dominant cultural ideology through constructing the stereotypes of Phoenix Guys.

Ain’t 3-D Women Hot?: The Female Body in Three-Dimensional Film, Avatar • Jungmin Kwon, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign • Film is an object of sight. And the female body has always been seen in movies. Seeing is how film makes good on its claim: physical reality. By enhancing this reality through technological development, the female body is better seen as an object of male gaze. This development of cinematic apparatus enriching physical reality seems to peak with the reemergence of 3-D movies, triggered by the megahit Avatar (2009).

Signifying AIDS: How Media Uses Metaphors to Define a Disease • Ammina Kothari, Indiana University • This paper employs a semiotic analysis to examine how the Tanzanian media employs metaphors and related imagery to report on HIV/AIDS. My analysis indicates that the use of war metaphors, accompanied by photos mostly featuring men, vivifies the HIV/AIDS epidemic and valorizes the stakeholders who engage in battling the “virus.” These stakeholders include government officials, international donors and heterosexual men and exclude women and other disenfranchised groups, such as homosexuals and the elderly.

The Voice of Capital: CNBC and the Representation of Finance Capitalism • Aaron Heresco, Pennsylvania State University • In the wake of financial disasters, how is it that capital is able to so quickly repair itself and its image? CNBCs Rick Santelli famously blamed the recent economic crisis on “losers who can’t pay their mortgage” – a speech that gave rise to the Tea Party and set the stage for austerity discourses through much of the past three years. A culture congealed around the crisis, and that culture was framed and shaped through business news sources such as CNBC.

“Metro’s very own West Side Story”: Gangs and Metaphor in Contemporary Canadian Newspapers • Chris Richardson, University of Western Ontario • For half a century, Canadian journalists have turned to West Side Story to describe the activities of youth and street gangs. While knowledge of these groups has changed significantly, the allusions have not. Employing a theoretical framework based on Pierre Bourdieu’s notions of habitus and symbolic violence, this paper outlines what is at stake in this metaphorical language, highlighting the problematic assumptions journalists are making about both their readers and the individuals they cover.

Sociology After Society: Emile Durkheim and “The Walking Dead” • Bryan Carr, University of Oklahoma • This paper contends that The Walking Dead, one of the most popular examples of the zombie genre, represents a specific sociological worldview and cultural context. Using the classical lens of Durkheimian theory, representations of totemism, anomie, and other concepts are found within the text of the program. Using these program elements, the author argues that The Walking Dead and similar post-apocalyptic media provide unique and important opportunities for pedagogy and media literacy.

The Structuration of Crisis Management: Guiding a Process of Repair • Erin Schauster, University of Missouri • Crisis communication, in response to a threatening event, is intended to both inform and persuade. However, the approaches to crisis management may be contradictory at times. Structuration is the theory of enabling and constraining features of an organizational environment or situation in which action can have unintended consequences. Through a rhetorical criticism of press releases issued by BP in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the enabling and constraining features of crisis management are presented.

Myth Interprets the Bandung Conference: The Black Press’ Narrative of the Other World • Jinx Broussard, LSU; Ben LaPoe, LSU • This article examines African-American foreign reporting and interpretation of the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955. Because the black press accomplished a major milestone it its history by fielding twenty-eight correspondents overseas during World War II to provide a narrative and fashion an image of the black troops on the warfront, this paper wanted to determine whether the medium continued to cover international affairs after the war and what the narrative meant.

My Gun Dirty, My Brick Clean: Postmodern Representations of New York City in Late-Night Cinemax Series • Pietro Calautti • This paper examines the recreation of New York City as a postmodern simulacrum in two late-night series, Life on Top and Lingerie, that began broadcast on Cinemax in 2009. Looking specifically at the first seasons of each series, totaling 26 episodes together, the elements of pastiche present reconstruct a hyperreal New York, in the process imparting a tourist gaze upon the audience.

The resurrection of Yamato Damashii in the Japanese postwar memory • Jaehyeon Jeong, Temple University • An anime film Space Battleship Yamato defines the resurrection of Yamato Damashii as fundamental to the restoration of Japan. Yamato Damashii—an emperor-centered-worldview—is demonstrated through the revival of Bushido and the ritual of Mizusake. It is represented as a cultural heritage and functions as a monumental history as well as contributes to social integration. The stress on Yamato Damashii naturalizes individuals’ sacrifices and conceals the violent power of the nation-state.

The Victim and the Trickster in the Other World: Myth in CNN’s Coverage of the Rwandan Genocide • Sally Ann Cruikshank, Ohio University • This study examines coverage of the Rwandan genocide on CNN. It analyzed CNN’s coverage from the perspective of myth, using three master myths, the Other World, the Victim, and the Trickster. Evidence of all three myths was found in CNN’s coverage. CNN routinely depicted Rwanda as a dark and forbidding place, while Rwandans themselves were portrayed as Victims or the Trickster. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Islamic Awakening or Pro-Democracy Movement: How Iranian and U.S. Governments Framed the Egyptian Uprising • Esmael Esfandiary • In this paper, framing theory will be used to illustrate the frameworks through which top U.S. and Iranian leaders try to portray recent Middle Eastern revolutions, specifically in Egypt. This will show how both leaders try to define the reality within their own political narratives in order to secure their regional influence and interests for the future.

Pre-9/11 stains on Pakistan’s character: American and British newspaper coverage of the Kargil War of 1999 • Sagar Atre, Ohio University, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism • The U.S.-Pakistan alliance has always been tumultuous, especially after the death of Osama bin Laden and the drone strikes last year. This study analyzes the coverage of the Kargil War of 1999 between India and Pakistan in two American and two British newspapers and finds that the mistrust towards Pakistan was subtly present in the Western press before 9/11 and before the discovery that some Islamic fundamentalist organizations in Pakistan were active allies of Al-Qaeda.

Queer as a Football Bat: Hegemonic Gayness and Homophobic Narrative in Out Magazine’s ‘Sports Issue’ • Robert Byrd, University of Southern Mississippi • Out magazine featured a shirtless Michael Irvin on the cover of its August 2011 sports issue. The former Dallas Cowboy is clad only in leather football pads and chinos that are strategically tugged by his thumb to reveal the waistband of his briefs—not your typical sports photograph. This paper analyzes the stories and photographs from the Out sports issue to discuss the hegemonic gayness, which includes issues of masculinity and race, portrayed to the readers of a national gay and lesbian magazine.

Heteroglossia, Polyphony, and Unfinalizability: Examining a White House Press Briefing Through the Theories of Mikhail Bakhtin • Sarah Cavanah, University of Oklahoma • Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin described the ideas of heteroglossia, polyphony and unfinalizability as a response to the limitations of systematic approaches. Heteroglossia can be summarized as voices within voices, polyphony as finding truth through the expression of many voices without synthesis, and unfinalizability as the idea that utterances do not ever end. A White House press briefing is used as an opportunity to explore how these concepts appear in a non-literary communicative event.

Environmental Policy and Public Participation: How ‘Election Day’ Democracy Defines NEPA • Ritch Woffinden • The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Federal agencies to prepare an environmental analysis that integrates the input from stakeholders impacted from major land-use proposals and emphasizes that the “public” should act as consultants in these decisions. Using critical theory the researcher examined the Colorado Roadless Rule (CRR) which exemplifies the participation of stakeholders over federal land use. Print media was used as a discursive space to understand the participation process of the CRR.

“The Kids Are Not Alright”: The Symbolic Functions of Children in Anniversary Memory of September 11 • Carrie Isard, Temple University; Carolyn Kitch, Temple University • This analysis of American journalism commemorating the September 11 attacks identifies the main themes of news narrative a decade later, focusing on one type of symbolic news character—children—through which the event’s lasting meaning was explained. Ironically, the most coherent, and therefore “useful,” memory story about September 11 emerged from the accounts of children who cannot remember the event, whereas older children with memory of their own trauma disrupted journalistic attempts at narrative closure.

The Battle for Constructing Meaning of the 2008 Korean Candlelight Protest • Wooyeol Shin, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities • This study examines how the past events were used by the three Korean conservative newspapers to influence the construction of the protesters’ identities in their news coverage of the 2008 Korean Candlelight Protest. This study found that the conservative newspaper used several past events – such as the 2002 Korean Candlelight Protest, the 2002 Presidential election, and the Roh Administration – as frames for describing the “real” identities behind the current dilemma, the 2008 Korean Candlelight Protest.

Madame C.J. Walker: Educational practice, media and culture • Loren Saxton • This analysis considers Madam C.J. Walker, a self-educated businesswoman during the early twentieth century, as an exemplar of how African Americans conceptualized and attained alternative forms of education. It will examine how newspapers, as cultural artifacts, positioned and characterized Walker as a means to construct conceptualizations of self-educational practice. Ultimately, this study finds that Walker’s coverage, as both a medium and message, produced conceptualizations of self-educational practices as political activism, social agency and entrepreneurship.

“Pure F***ing Armageddon”: Theorizing the Transgressive in Black Metal Subculture • John Sewell, Georgia state University • “This essay examines black metal, the extreme variant of heavy metal subculture associated with Satanism, church-burnings, suicide and murder. Linkages of black metal with crime are often understood by participants as denoting authenticity. Still, black metal’s transgressions are primarily symbolic. Black metal provides a realm for carnivalesque inversions, its transgressive enactments often simulacra. Delivering the abiding abiding “truth” of death itself, black metal symbolically annihilates the self, all the while providing an experience of transcendence.

Illusory Empowerment: Representations of Korean Women in Television Series, All-American Girl and Lost • Jiwoo Park, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This paper investigates Korean female representations, Margaret Kim (Korean-American) in All-American Girl (1994) and Sun Kwon (Korean) in Lost (2004), in relation to media constructions of nationality, femininity, and family. While both are important representations of Koreans on American television, research shows that empowerment for both is illusory. This paper explores the history of Korean female representations on American TV, questions shows’ claims of authentic Korean(-American) experiences, and argues that “Koreanness” is equated with “Asianness.”

Who Are Journalists? Presentation of self on the microblog “We Are Journalists” • Michael Clay Carey, Ohio University • Using Erving Goffman’s (1959) notion of a theatrical “presentation of self” as a framework, this textual analysis explores the overarching images that emerge in the self-portrayals of journalists who blog at the Tumblr microblog “We Are Journalists.” Journalists complain about the industry and discuss their work and professional motivations on the microblog. The analysis found major themes of self-presentation that aligned closely with cultural and ideological icons common in literature on the industry.

Mutiny on the Bay: Investigating the Presentation of the Scott Olsen Police Assault on the Websites of San Francisco Bay Area Local Television Stations • Sean Leavey, Rutgers University • In the fall of 2011, the Occupy Wall Street protests emerged, becoming a global movement. In the US, the Occupy Oakland demonstrations witnessed instances of police violence, most notably in the injury of Scott Olsen, an Occupy Oakland supporter and former US Marine who was struck by a police projectile. This paper investigates the presentation of the Olsen injury, on the websites of five major local television stations in the San Francisco Bay area.

Analyzing News as Myth: An Analysis of the Basement of Horror Story • Kathryn Beardsley, Temple University • This paper assesses the way American news media narrated Linda Ann Weston’s kidnapping and torture of four cognitively-disabled adults. The paper focuses on the myth and stereotypes that journalists drew upon to explain the how and the why of the victims’ captivity. The paper argues that, although myth and stereotype were journalistically useful for quickly narrating the chaotic details of the case, they also problematically reinforced discriminatory cultural narratives about black womanhood and cognitive disability.

<< 2012 Abstracts

Faculty

The Role of Content Enjoyment in Effects of Sexual and Romantic Media Primes • Francesca Dillman Carpentier, University of North Carolina; Scott Parrott, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Temple Northup, University of Houston • This study tested how enjoyment of content featuring an overtly sexual prime or a romantic prime (versus control) moderates priming effects on social judgments, especially if the context of the judgment did not readily lend itself to a sexual lens. In this study, sexual primes worked best when the evaluation most related to the primed concept. Enjoyment enhanced priming effectiveness when the prime was not as relevant to the evaluation context.

Diffusing Deviant Behavior: A Communication Perspective on the Construction of Moral Panics • Bryan Denham • Although mass media play an important role in defining and amplifying deviant behavior, much of the research on the construction of moral panics, or exaggerated responses to social problems, has originated in disciplines other than communication. This article offers a conceptual explanation of how media amplify deviance, drawing on previous work grounded in exemplification theory and news icons before addressing how amplification processes stand to follow – and deviate from – an S-shaped logistic curve.

Measuring Public Opinion Formation: Assessing First- and Second-Level Agenda Setting through Salience Measures • Jennifer Kowalewski; Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas • Although scholars have measured both first- and second-level agenda setting often using open-ended response, more close-ended measures might assist in measuring the theory, adding to the rich data. This experimental study directly compared open-ended responses shown to gauge an agenda-setting effect with close-ended responses to enhance the assessment of both first- and second-level agenda setting. The findings identified five close-ended scales that add to the precision of measuring the salience of issues and attributes.

Tradeoffs between Webcam, Chat, and Face-To-Face Focus Groups on Dimensions of Data Quality and Richness • Katie Abrams, University of Illinois; Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, University of Florida; Gina Song, University of Illinois; Zongyuan Wang, Department of Advertising, College of Media, UIUC; Chanju LEE, Department of Advertising, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This study offers an examination of data quality (topic-related data, unrelated data, data richness) and logistical tradeoffs between face-to-face, text-only chat, and webcam focus group mediums. Two focus group sessions were held for each type of medium. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Differences were observed among the mediums on word counts, topic-related and unrelated passages, and data richness. Recommendations for medium selection and future research are provided.

Information-Seeking Self-Identity: Scale Development and Validation • Sonny Rosenthal, Nanyang Technological University • This study developed a scale to measure people’s self-identities as information seekers. Novel scale items drew on prior research of self-identity in behavior. Scale validation resulted in seven- and four-item versions (α > .85) of an information-seeking self-identity (ISSI) scale. Concurrent validation affirmed the scale’s psychometric properties on four criterion variables: openness to experience, need for cognition, desire for control, and innovativeness. As well, the scale differed significantly between respondents who seek information and those who do not.

Developmental Provocation: Youth Prompting of Purposeful Political Parenting • Mike McDevitt, University of Colorado; Spiro Kiousis, University of Florida • This study represents the first attempt to conceptualize and measure purposeful parenting as a dependent variable in political socialization. A model of development provocation captures contributions of youth to parenting in families of low socioeconomic status. Adolescent-parent dyads in Arizona, Colorado, and Florida were interviewed after the 2002 and 2004 elections. Youth news attention, opposition to Iraq war, and first-time voting contributed to gains in purposeful political parenting across election cycles.

Multiplying Incongruence: How the Emotional Response to Diverse Sources of Incongruent Messages Mediates Participatory Intentions • Emily Vraga, George Washington University • During a campaign, individuals are exposed to messages that invoke their partisan identification. Using a series of two experiments, this study tests participants’ emotional arousal when faced with two competing sources of incongruent information: a test refuting their party identification and campaign messages, such as political advertisements and news coverage. The positive and negative emotions that result from exposure to political attack and messaging differentially influence whether and how individuals desire to participate in politics.

Searching for Salience: The Interplay of Media Coverage and Online Search Behavior during the BP Oil Disaster • Matthew Ragas, DePaul University; Hai Tran, DePaul University; Jason Martin, DePaul University • In an effort to advance agenda-setting theory online, this longitudinal study employed a series of content analyses of news content paired with aggregate search behavior data to explore the over-time relationship between media attention and search interest in BP during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. The study results provide strong evidence of agenda-setting linkages between media coverage and search trends – even after controlling for possible explanatory variables.

Excitation Transfer Effects between Semantically Related and Temporally Adjacent Stimuli • Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications; Wes Wise; Brandon Nutting, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications • Although excitation transfer theory has been supported in numerous contexts, questions remain regarding transfer of arousal between events that are semantically and temporally related. This paper summarizes two studies exploring excitation transfer between such events. Study one failed to support the theory, instead suggesting contrast effects between stimuli. A follow-up study demonstrated that arousal may transfer between semantically related, temporally adjacent events.

Behavioral Pluralism of the Third-person Effect: Evidence from the News about Fukushima Nuclear Crisis • Ran Wei, University of South Carolina; Ven-hwei Lo, Chinese U of Hong Kong; Hungyi Lu, National Chung Cheng University; Hsin-Ya Hou • This study focuses on examining the behavioral component of the third-person effect by exploring how perception of the influence of nuclear pollution news predicts taking multiple actions — such as “corrective,” “protective,” and “promotional” — in a situation where the nuclear pollution news has already been widely reported and others have already been influenced by the news.

Does Automatic Attention Allocation to Auditory Structural Features Habituate? • Robert Potter, Indiana University; Matthew Falk, Indiana University; Soyoung Bae, Indiana University; Teresa Lynch, Indiana University; Nicholas Matthews, Indiana University; Ashley Kraus, Indiana University; Sharon Mayell, Indiana University • Past research shows that structural changes in the auditory environment cause people to briefly but automatically pay attention to auditory messages such as radio broadcasts, podcasts, and web streaming. We also know that the voice change–an example of such an auditory structural feature–elicits automatic attention across multiple repetitions.

Incorporating Motivated Cognition into the Extended Parallel Process Model: An Integrative Theoretical Essay • Glenn Leshner, University of Missouri; Paul Bolls, University of Missouri; Anthony Almond, U of Missouri • The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical extension of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) that includes the role of emotional message features and their impact on message processing. Specifically, we attempt to demonstrate how recent research informs how emotional message features and emotional responses impact individuals’ processing of information about health content communicated through television messages.

Explicating time: Toward making content analysis research describing time frames more meaningful • Julie Andsager, University of Iowa; Joseph Schwartz, Northeastern University • This study examined the extent to which scholars explicate time intervals used to track changes in messages in content analysis. We analyzed 218 content analysis-based studies published in two leading peer-reviewed media communication journals to understand the status of explication of time. Of 78 studies using time intervals, nearly half left time intervals unexplicated. We presented two case studies demonstrating how meaningful time intervals produce more nuanced, theoretically meaningful results compared to non-explicated time frames.

Elaboration or Distraction? Knowledge Acquisition from Thematically Related and Unrelated Humor in Political Speeches • Jorg Matthes, University of Vienna • There is an ongoing debate in public opinion research as to whether traditionally serious political issues are better learned by the public when they are connected to humor. This paper adds to this debate by proposing a moderated mediation model of humor-based learning effects. Humor is theorized to increase or decrease knowledge acquisition depending on humor-message relatedness and individual differences in need for humor (NFH).

A Comparison of Three Approaches to Computing Information Insufficiency: Challenges and Opportunities • Sonny Rosenthal, Nanyang Technological University • Models of information seeking often concern information insufficiency. Common methods to compute this construct have a tendency to produce bias in model estimates in conditions of high multicollinearity among dependent variables. This article (1) describes the analysis of partial variance per Cohen and Cohen’s (1983) original derivation that is necessary to compute information insufficiency and (2) contrasts this method with existing alternatives using analyses of simulated data and secondary analysis of real data.

Talking about Healthcare: News Framing of Who Is Responsible for Rising Healthcare Costs in the United States • Sei-Hill Kim; Andrea Tanner, University of South Carolina; Soo Yun Kim, University of South Carolina; Caroline Foster, University of South Carolina • Our content analysis examines how the American news media have presented the problem of rising healthcare costs, looking particularly at the question of who is responsible. More specifically, we examine how often the media have discussed five major causes, including patients, healthcare providers, insurance companies, the government, and pharmaceutical companies. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.

A Reliability Index (ai) that Assumes Honest Coders and Variable Randomness • Xinshu Zhao, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Journalism School, Fudan University • The available indices of reliability assume either zero chance coding or maximum chance coding by dishonest coders. Some chance-adjusted indices, including the often-used Cohen’s κ, Scott’s π and Krippendorff’s α, also assume that coders apply quota, while the other chance-adjusted indices assume coders equate the number of categories in a coding scale with the number of marbles in a urn.

The Dualities of Social Network Sites • Kyu Hahn, Seoul National University; Hyelim Lee • In this analysis, we addressed the validity of various popular conjectures concerning representativeness and polarization on social network sites (SNS’s), using the U.S. and South Korea as test cases. In doing so, we modeled Twitter followership as a bipartite network and estimated ideological positions of individual Twitter users “following” members of the 111th U.S. Senate and the 18th Korean National Assembly.

Conceptualizing the Intervening Roles of Identity in Communication Effects: The Prism Model • Maria Leonora (Nori) Comello, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill • This paper reviews conceptualizations of identity from the social identity perspective and other psychological perspectives on the self. Across these various models, identity is characterized as dependent on context and as composed of multiple components, with the components varying in both accessibility and weight as a function of contextual stimuli.

Attitude change in competitive framing environments? The moderating role of open/close-mindedness on framing effects about global climate change • Erik Nisbet, Ohio State University; P. Sol Hart, American University; Teresa Myers; Morgan Ellithorpe, Ohio State University • Scholarship on framing effects about policy issues has primarily focused on either how competitive message environments alter framing effects or how individual differences moderate the impact of frame exposure. This study combines both of these focal areas of research by examining how individual open/close-mindedness moderates framing effects about climate change within competitive and non-competitive framing contexts.

Student

The gates around the book: Applying gatekeeping theory to Facebook • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; Adam Maksl, University of Missouri • Traditionally, gatekeeping theory has only been tested on mainstream journalism outlets such as newspapers and television. This study applies the popular mass communication theory to Facebook. Using a diary method, participants recorded everything they did or did not do on Facebook for a full week. It was found that participants did in fact gatekeep their own profiles in similar ways as journalists. Participants chose to share or not share information based on a series of influences.

Erring on the conservative side?: Assessing psychological conservatism as integrated latent predictor of selective exposure • Angela M. Lee, University of Texas at Austin; Thomas J. Johnson, University of Texas at Austin • Previous studies examining whether conservatives are likely to practice selective exposure offer mixed findings, and only examine conservatism in terms of political conservatism. This research fills in these gaps in the literature through secondary data analysis of the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey (N=19,234). This study proposes psychological conservatism as an integrated latent predictor of selective exposure, which comprises four components: political conservatism, ethnocentrism, militarism, and religious conservatism. Implications of this study are also discussed.

Aggregating agendas: Online news aggregators as agenda setters • Paige Madsen, University of Iowa • This study examined the agenda-setting influence of online news aggregators, such as Google News, which use a computer algorithm rather than human editors to make story selection decisions and produce no original content. The study found significant differences between aggregators and traditional news sources in the topics of top stories, their use of photographs, and the use of wire services in reporting international stories. Findings suggest important implications for the agenda-setting function of news.

Hearing the Other Side Revisited: Toward a Unified Theory of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy • Hoon Lee; Nojin Kwak; Scott Campbell • This study seeks to shed light on the highly publicized democracy dilemma signaling that encountering disagreement tends to promote deliberative democracy, while the same experience can dampen a citizen’s motivation to participate. By assessing the processes wherein the interplay of cross-cutting discussion and strong tie homogeneity is simultaneously associated with the outcomes of deliberative and participatory democracy, we provide a number of key insights into the puzzling quandary.

In the mood for learning: How mood, pacing, and semantic difference influence learning of children’s education television programming • Michael Devlin, University of Alabama; Natalie Brown, University of Alabama; Cynthia Nichols • The purpose of this study investigated the impact that induced mood had on children’s ability to learn from E/I television programming. This study used an experimental method to assess how a child’s induced mood affected the cognitive processing and encoding ability of television content when pacing and semantic difference between educational and narrative content were manipulated. Results showed that children in positive moods were more likely to encode information than children in sad moods regardless of semantic difference.

Testing the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model: Context-specific and construct-related extensions • Jessica Willoughby; Jessica Myrick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Data indicate that people seeking health information online look for something specific. We therefore conducted a survey (N= 963) to test and extend the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model, a general model. The model fit well for the topics of cancer and sexual health, but not all paths were significant. Extending the model with paths that increased the roles of risk and affect improved model fit, supporting extension of search theories based on emotion theory.

The hostile media effect and political talk: Expanding the corrective action hypothesis • Matthew Barnidge, University of Wisconsin – Madison • A developing theory called “corrective action” proposes that perceptions of media bias prompt people to seek out avenues for political expression. This study hypothesizes that people who have higher HME will have larger political talk networks, talk politics more often, and will be exposed to a wider array of viewpoints. Analysis of survey data from a national representative sample of Colombian adults largely supports these hypotheses.

An evaluation of social conformity theory: understanding cross-discipline extension and relevant to computer-mediated communication • yan shan, University of Georgia • Social conformity theory came from Asch’s famous experiments in the 1950s, and has existed for almost sixty years. It predicts the modification of individual opinion and behavior caused by exposing to large group pressure. Specifically, in communication field, it provides theoretical contribution in studying the formation of public opinion, as well as the attitude changes.

Spirals Into Fragmentation: Rethinking the Spiral of Silence for Reference Groups in the New Media Environment • Andrew Pritchard, North Dakota State University • The new media environment has empowered groups to produce media for their members, and spiral of silence theorizing must account for differences in internal media among groups. Suggested theoretical modifications include the realization that in-group media likely will be more influential than the mass media on group members; increased emphasis on the powers of media as media; and the likelihood of multiple, contradictory spirals of silence on a topic rather than one society-wide effect.

Modeling Longitudinal Communication Data with Time Series ARIMA • Hanlong Fu; Jun Wang; Arthur VanLear • Although it is a truism that communication is a process, communication researchers, for years, grappled with analyzing longitudinal data. In recent years, linear models such as multilevel models greatly expand the analytic “toolbox” of communication researchers in dealing with longitudinal observations. However, these models are often limited because they usually assume a linear trend in longitudinal change and simple error structures.

Gains or losses, or gains and losses? Expanding the conceptual boundaries of prospect theory • Jessica Myrick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sri Kalyanaraman • We attempt to extend our understanding of prospect theory by examining the conceptual importance of mixed-frames—the juxtaposition of both gain and loss frames in the same message. An experiment (N = 108) measured participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a health issue (skin cancer) after exposure to a gain-only, loss-only, or gain-and-loss framed messages. Results revealed the mediating role of credibility and discrete emotions information processing and intentions, suggesting promising directions for future research.

Evaluation of the Theory of Planned Behavior • Kuan-Ju Chen, University of Georgia • The study explicates the theoretical constructs of the theory of planned behavior along with its empirical applications in diverse research realms. The theory of planned behavior is evaluated based on the criteria of theory evaluation such as explanatory power, predictive power, parsimony, testability, internal consistency, heuristic provocativeness, and organizing power (Chaffee & Berger, 1987; Heath &Bryant, 1992). The boundary condition and limitations of the theory are also discussed. This paper is a submission for student paper competition.

Survey Data Analysis with Continuous Moderator Variables in Multiple Regression Modeling • Mohammed Al-Azdee, Indiana University School of Journalism • Some methodologists recommend that a continuous moderator should be recoded as a categorical variable in Moderated Multiple Regression (MMR) modeling of survey data. We argue that changing a variable’s scale from continuous to categorical can cause severe elimination of meaningful interpretations. Our goal in this study is to introduce and apply an alternative methodology. We use survey data to build and compare two multiple regression models.

The Reader’s Willingness to Comment on Online News Articles: A Study of the Individual’s Behavioral Responses in light of Media Effects Theories and Online News • Soo-Kwang Oh, University of Maryland; Xiaoli Nan • This study applies what is known about the current workings of media effects theories (hostile media effects, third-person effects, influence of presumed influence) to online news to investigate factors that influence the individual’s willingness to engage in behavioral responses (leaving user comments). Findings suggest that media effects theories in conjunction with each other may result in an increased willingness to leave comments and that existing user comments may also be a significant factor.

Who (or What) Sets J-bloggers’ Agenda? A Comparison Between the Political J-blogs of Newspapers and Television Networks • Jihyang Choi, Indiana University • “The present study attempts to explore how the shifting media environment affects media agenda setting by asking the question “who (or what) sets j-bloggers’ agenda?” J-blogs, written by journalists affiliated with mainstream media outlets, provide an interesting setting to examine the changes in the individual journalists’ selection of agendas, since journalists are less likely to be influenced by organizational norms when writing on blogs. The study employed link analysis to examine the scope and directionality of agenda setting.

The impacts of message framing and risk type in skin cancer prevention public service announcements (PSAs) • Hannah Kang, University of Florida; Moon J. Lee, University of Florida • This study examined the impacts of message framing and risk type on the persuasiveness of skin cancer prevention public service announcements (PSAs). To examine the persuasiveness of message framing and risk type, we measured attitude toward the message, attitude toward using tanning beds or sunbathing, and behavioral intent of avoiding tanning beds or sunbathing.

Player Agency, In-Game Behaviors, and Effects: Toward Developing a More Robust Theory of Video Games • J.J. De Simone, University of Wisconsin — Madison; Justin Mozer • The two leading video game theories, the General Learning Model and the General Aggression Model, conceive of games as uniform in content. Thus, the effects process is one-dimensional; game content directly influences non-virtual world behaviors. While the GAM and GLM possess merit, they ignore several important components, including player agency and in-game behavioral practices.

The Roles of Emotions and News Media on Political Participation • Doo-Hun Choi, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Michael Cacciatore, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sei-Hill Kim • Analyzing data from the 2008 ANES, this study explored the role of emotions and media use in the political process. More specifically, it examined how news media interact with political ideology to arouse discrete emotions in individuals toward the U.S. federal government. This study also examined how discrete emotions interacted with one’s political ideology to facilitate political participation. The results showed that people’s cognitive appraisals, including perceptions the economy, are the most influential factor in eliciting emotions.

Examining news quality on Twitter • Ashley Kirzinger, Manship School, LSU; Johanna Dunaway, Louisiana State University; Kirby Goidel, Louisiana State University • Social media journalism is a significant part of today’s media environment. This project uses content analysis to examine how organizational factors influence the quality of news on Twitter. An examination of 4136 tweets from 77 journalists demonstrates that political news on Twitter does not adhere to the same institutional practices as traditional political journalism. Political news on Twitter is a high quality news product focusing on hard news stories and is less concerned with horse-race election coverage.

Exploring “the World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads”: A Network Agenda Setting Study • Hong Tien Vu, University of Texas; Lei Guo, University of Texas at Austin; Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas • This study tested the Network Agenda Setting Model, asserting the salience of network relationships among issue can be transferred from the news media to the public’s mind. Conducting network analyses on the secondary data – the Project for Excellence in Journalism news indexes and the Gallup Polls in 2009, 2010 and 2012 -, this study found significant correlations between the media and public network agendas regarding the most important issues facing the country in three years.

Beyond Content: Framing through the Roles of Journalists • Lea Hellmueller; Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; Tim Vos, University of Missouri • This study aims to make a theoretical contribution by conceptualizing framing as a manifestation of journalists’ role conceptions. Based on a survey of Washington correspondents and a content analysis of those same journalists’ news stories we analyzed how journalists’ role conceptions affect journalists’ tendencies to frame stories. Our findings suggest that the relationship between role conceptions and news frames is not particularly straightforward. Results are discussed within the framework of gatekeeping theory and framing research.

Multiple opinion climates in online forums: Role of website source reference and within-forum opinion congruency • Elmie Nekmat, University of Alabama; William Gonzenbach, University of Alabama • This study examines Yun & Park’s (2011) postulation of the presence of multiple layers of opinion climates online that affects individual’s willingness to post messages in online forums. Framed according to the Spiral of Silence theory, a between-groups 2 (reference source: activist website versus news website) x 2 (opinion congruency: majority- versus minority opinion position) online-based experiment was carried out. Results showed no significant differences in individuals’ willingness to post messages between different website sources.

Depriming Hypothesis: A Theoretical Exploration of the Reverse Phenomena of News Priming Effects • ByungGu Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study focuses on cognitive mechanisms involved in priming processes and on the bidirectional nature of news priming. Based on the psychological literature on knowledge activation and knowledge use, this study provides the theoretical background for the possibilities that media treatments of issues can decrease weights attached to issues in constructing political evaluation standards, a notion labeled “depriming hypothesis.”

An Examination of Social Network Theory • Eun Sook Kwon • The social network has been studied for over 100 years. Beginning in rudimentary stages simply emphasizing patterns of interaction and communication, social network research has expanded, popularized, and developed into its own theoretical paradigm. By shedding light on the research using social network analysis, this paper examines how social network theory has developed and how strength of ties has been applied in sociology, anthropology, and marketing communication.

Filling in the Blanks between Corporate Communication and Financial Performance: Corporate Associations and Customer Satisfaction • Weiting Tao, University of Florida • This study attempts to explore the causal linkage between corporate communication and corporate financial performance (CFP). Its purpose is to 1) explain whether corporate communication could attain financial returns for corporations; 2) explain why corporate communication and CFP could be causally related; and 3) discuss what communication strategies corporations should utilize in order to improve their CFP. To this end, a theoretical framework was offered; its theoretical and practical contributions were then introduced.

<<2012 Abstracts

Open Papers

A Wii, a Mii, and a New Me? Testing the Effectiveness of Wii Exergames in Increasing Children’s Enjoyment, Engagement, and Exertion in Physical Activity • Cui Zhang; Charles Meadows; Kimberly Bissell • Although previous studies have noted that exergames increase physical activity and physical exertion compared to sedentary videogames, no empirical studies have compared the differences between types of exergames in relation to physical exertion and perceived enjoyment. This pilot study investigated the perceived enjoyment, engagement, and overall exertion of children and adolescents while playing Wii exergames through an experimental design.

Cancer Talk on Twitter: Community Structure and Information Sources in Breast and Prostate Cancer Social Networks • Itai Himelboim, University of Goergia, Telecommunications; Jeong Yeob Han • This study suggests taking a social networks theoretical approach to predict and explain patterns of information seeking among Twitter prostate and breast cancer communities.  We collected profiles and following relationships data about users who posted messages about either cancer over one composite week.  Using social network analysis, we identified the main clusters of interconnected users and their most followed hubs (i.e.: information sources sought).

Doing it all: an exploratory study of personality predictors of media multitasking • Gunwoo Yoon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Chapmaign; Zongyuan Wang, Department of Advertising, College of Media, UIUC; Jun Ha Lee, University of Illinois; Jen Moss, University of Illinois; Brittany Duff, University of Illinois; Gunwoo Yoon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Chapmaign; Zongyuan Wang, Department of Advertising, College of Media, UIUC; Jun Ha Lee, University of Illinois; Jen Moss, University of Illinois; Brittany Duff, University of Illinois • Media multitasking is increasing among media consumers.  This is thought to be due to increase in media content options and the availability of those options on multiple mediums due to rapid technological advancements.  While there has been initial research in other areas such as computer science or cognitive psychology on multitasking as a general behavior, there has been less work on media multitasking.

Engagement with News Content in Online Social Networks • Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch; S. Shyam Sundar, Pennsylvania State University • This study explores how sharing and discussing news stories through social networking sites may engage readers. 333 participants were randomly assigned to use Facebook to share a news story using the site’s various features or respond to a friend’s shared news story. Results show that the effects of sharing news content depend heavily on network feedback. Social features, such as posting on another friend’s wall and tagging friends, are key to engaging with news content.

Exploring the Elaboration Likelihood Model in Cancer Communication: Extending Experimental Testing of Attitudes to Organizations and Blogs • Paula Rausch, National Cancer Institute • Using Elaboration Likelihood Model as a framework, this 2x2x2 experiment investigated the message processing that occurred among consumers of novel cancer treatment messages disseminated through a health organization-sponsored blog and their effects on previously untested attitudes toward the organization and the treatment blog. To some extent, involvement, source credibility and argument strength each influenced these attitudes, showing some support for ELM’s central and peripheral processing hypotheses in this context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring the Knowledge Production Gap in the Chinese Micro Blogosphere • Lu Wei, Zhejiang University; Mengdi Wang • Lu Wei, Zhejiang University; Mengdi Wang • Microblog sites provide the users with an unprecedented platform of knowledge production, and offer social researchers a great opportunity to investigate this new phenomenon. Taking the microblog discussion about nuclear power after Japan’s tsunami in 2011 as an example, this study seeks to explore the knowledge production in the Chinese microblogosphere from the following aspects. First, what are the forms and content of knowledge produced by Chinese microbloggers? Second, are there any differences in the knowledge production and how to explain these differences? Third, do knowledge producers have different social influences in the microblogosphere?

Patterns of participation in new media in China: Analysis from a public health crisis • Fangfang Gao, Zhejiang University  • The rise of citizen engagement in information production and dissemination creates a new realm for grassroots public discourse, providing broader implications for the flow of information in China’s traditionally controlled media environment. This study examines the Chinese Internet users’ patterns of participation in new media such as blogs and discussion forums during a public health crisis, the tainted milk formula scandal in China from 2008 to 2011, showing the growing influence of new media in China. The implications of the findings were discussed.

Pills and Power-Ups: Substance Use in Video Games • Ryan Rogers; Jessica Myrick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sri Kalyanaraman; Eric White • In contemporary video games, it is not uncommon for a player’s avatar to take painkillers, get drunk on virtual alcohol, or chug an energy drink. The presence of substance use in video games has been studied to some degree. Yet, noticeably absent are analyses of fantasy substance use, despite its ubiquity in modern video games.  The valence of substance use consequences is similarly ignored in analyses, despite substance use being a common mechanism in video games to enhance the players’ ability to reach in-game goals and objectives.

Predicting Communal and Connective Public Goods Contribution in SNS: Network Incentives and Social Value Orientations • Wang Liao, Tsinghua University; Yusi Liu, Tsinghua University; Jianbin Jin, Tsinghua University • As benefit to the public, the public goods were easily damaged by free ridings. Thus it was crucial to encourage the user-generated content (UGC) contribution, especially on the social networking sites (SNSs). Drawn upon the communication public goods theory, based on a combination of the online questionnaire and mined data (N = 728) from a Chinese social networking site, this paper explored how the prestige and the social embeddedness had become network incentives to encourage the SNS users with three categories of social value orientations to contribute to both communal and connective public goods.

Rethinking the dynamics of new media adoption: The case of smart TV • Sungjoon Lee, Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Cheongju University • The purpose of this study is to build a more effective integrated adoption model for new media technologies than the existing frameworks, and to test its usefulness. The newly proposed model consists of six major constructs drawn from the diffusion of innovation theory (DIT), the technology acceptance model (TAM), and the model of innovation resistance (MIR), as applied to the context of smart TV adoption in South Korea.

Some effects of Internet access among rural and small-town respondents • Adam Maksl, University of Missouri; Alecia Swasy, University of Missouri; Esther Thorson, University of Missouri-Columbia • The purpose of this study is to build a more effective integrated adoption model for new media technologies than the existing frameworks, and to test its usefulness. The newly proposed model consists of six major constructs drawn from the diffusion of innovation theory (DIT), the technology acceptance model (TAM), and the model of innovation resistance (MIR), as applied to the context of smart TV adoption in South Korea. To collect data, an online survey was used.

Tagging and Identity Construction Online: Taking Tag Usage on Sina Weibo Microblog for Example • Xuan Xie, Hong Kong Baptist University • Microblogging sites have been one of the main online spaces for individuals in Chinese society. Users perform multiple aspects of themselves through static elements and dynamic activities and construct multiple identities. With the reference to identity theories, this study took tag usage on microblogging site Weibo for example to discuss identity construction by identity markers online. With a content analysis on self-imposed tags in selected profiles, it was found that personal identity was more salient than social identity in general.

The Effects of Internet Use and Internet Efficacy on Offline and Online Engagement • Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University; Sherice Gearhart, Texas Tech University • This paper examines the effects of Internet use, social network site use and Internet efficacy on online and offline participation using the 2010 Pew Internet and American Life Project ‘Social side of the Internet’ survey (N = 2,303). Results show that general Internet use and social network site use enhance online participation. However, neither of them increases offline participation. Individual Internet efficacy enhances online and offline participation, but group Internet efficacy decreases offline participation. Implications of the findings of this study for democratic engagement are discussed.

The Efficacy of State Health Departments to Promote Public Health Messages: The Case of Twitter • Bobby DeMuro, University of Memphis; Erin Willis, University of Memphis; Courtney Meeks, University of Memphis • The proliferation of social media websites provides opportunities for health information to be easily and inexpensively disseminated, especially Twitter – the fastest-growing social media site with more than 175 million users. Online communication has proven successful in supporting public health intervention efforts. This study applied textual analysis (N=1,245) to examine how state health departments use Twitter to communicate with their publics. Practical implications are discussed for health promotion and education.

The Political Implications of Media Repertoires • Su Jung Kim, Northwestern University • This study investigates media use patterns across platforms (i.e., media repertoires) and the differences in user background characteristics, total news consumption, political interest, political knowledge, and voter turnout among representative users of each media repertoire group. This study identified five distinctive media repertoires (TV-oriented Entertainment Fans, Internet Maniacs, Traditional News Seekers, Tabloid Newspaper Readers, and Cable Junkies) and found significant differences in age, gender, education, and political variables associated with each media repertoire group.

Understanding User Adoption and Behavior of Smartphone: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model • Sangwon Lee, Central Michigan University; Moonhee Cho, University of South Florida; Euna Park, University of New Haven • This study examines the behavior of South Korean smartphone users based on an integrated theoretical model, which employs the extended technology acceptance model, uses and gratification theory, theory of reasoned actions, and diffusion of innovations. A national smartphone user survey conducted in South Korea found that perceived usefulness affects the formation of attitude toward smartphone use and actual smartphone use. The results of the structural equation modeling analyses also suggest that perceived ease of use had a significant impact on perceived usefulness.

Young Journalists Today: Journalism Students’ Perceptions of the Ever-Evolving Industry • Stephanie Daniels • Today’s journalism students are learning in a time in which new technology innovations, including online news sites, blogs, and social media, have become a prominent part of the journalism industry. Whether it’s newspapers, public relations, or broadcast, technology has become a part of every area of journalism. While several studies have focused on how journalism classes should be taught in lieu of this change, how students are learning and how they feel about this changing industry has yet to be shared.

Faculty Papers

Like me plz: Examining influence and social capital within the Knight News Twitter discourse • Julie Jones, Gaylord College of Journalism; Aimei Yang, Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communication; Adam Saffer; Jared Schroeder, University of Oklahoma • Influence within social groups is often conceptualized as information flow through key actors to a larger collective (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1948; Merton, 1949) or, similar to finding value in real estate ventures, dependent on location (Barabási, 2001; Burt, 1992; 1999). Both approaches, though, value the role of bridging actors as a means of connection between core groups. In social network terminology, bridging actors fill structural holes. This study examined how structural holes were associated with social capital, namely endorsement of grant proposals.

Alternative Media in a Digital Era: Comparing Information Use Among U.S. and Latin American Activists • Summer Harlow, University of Texas at Austin; Dustin Harp, University of Texas at Arlington • As activists use the Internet to bypass traditional media gatekeepers, disseminate their own messages, and mobilize protests, this study explores how activists in the U.S. and Latin America view activism in relation to mainstream and alternative media, particularly online media. Survey results show activists distrust corporate media and most frequently get their news online. Also, despite the digital divide, they view the Internet as an alternative public space for staying informed and for waging activism.”

Ban it or Use it? The Impact of Smartphone on Student Connectedness and Out-of-class Involvement • Xun “Sunny” Liu; Nancy Burroughs, California State Univeristy, Stanislaus; VIckie Harvey, California State University, Stanislaus; Qing Tian • In the current study, we investigate the roles of smartphones on student connectedness and out of-class involvement. Based on the technological acceptance model and the involvement theory, this study examines factors that will impact educational smartphone use, and how this specific type of smartphone usage, will determine student connectedness in the class and their out-of-class involvement. 267 college students were surveyed and a structural equation model was developed to explain out-of-class involvement.

Blinded by the Spite? A Path Model Exploring the Relationships among Partisanship, Polarization, Reliance, Selective Exposure and Selective Avoidance of Blogs, Social Network Sites and Twitter on Democratic Measures • Thomas J. Johnson, University of Texas at Austin; Barbara Kaye, University of Tennessee at Knoxville • Despite fears that selective exposure and selective avoidance could deepen polarization and negatively affect the democratic process, few studies have directly studied this phenomenon. This study explore whether selective exposure and avoidance to blogs, social network sites and Twitter directly influence confidence in government, political interest and political knowledge or more indirectly through polarization. Selective exposure and avoidance proved weak indicators of polarization. Instead, partisanship is the stronger predictor of confidence, knowledge and interest.

Blog credibility: examining the influence of author information and blog “reach” • Porismita Borah • By using two experiments, the present study examines the influence of two factors: identity of the blogger (ordinary blogger vs. journalist blogger) and reach of the blog (low vs. high) on blog credibility. Findings show that in case of the general audience the journalist blogger was perceived as more credible. Results also show that reach of the blog influenced blog credibility only in the case of the ordinary citizen blogger. Implications are discussed.

Bridging People, Building Knowledge: An Examination of Chinese Web Users’ Adoption of Social Media for Knowledge Sharing • Yu Liu; Cong Li • A large number of Web users today are using social media platforms (e.g., Wikipedia) to share knowledge online. To further advance theoretical understandings of such a phenomenon, this study examines why certain Chinese Web users “accept” Wikipedia for knowledge sharing based on the Technology Acceptance Model. A total of 248 Chinese consumers are surveyed. It is found that when people perceive using Wikipedia to share knowledge is useful and easy, they tend to form a favorable attitude towards it, which in turn leads to actual usage behavior.

Diffusion of news services and political news in mobile media: A time budget perspective • Xiaoqun Zhang, Bowling Green State University; Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University; Sung-Yeon Park, School of Media & Communication, Bowling Green State University; Korea University, Seoul, ROK • This study applied the time budget perspective to explore the diffusion of mobile news services and political news. It highlighted the uniqueness of mobile media in terms of enhancing the time availability for news usage. The findings showed that people with tight time budget get more mobile news services than people with loose time budget, and people who are interested in political news spend more time on mobile news than people who are not.

Digital Conversion: Social Media, Engagement, and the “I am a Mormon” Campaign • Brian Smith • Religion and social media represent a unique context for exploring communication and relationship cultivation. The relationship between religious organizations and their publics (i.e. members, converts) is arguably deeper than other organization-public relationships, and social media facilitates communication towards relationship cultivation through real-time response and digital interactivity. This study, an analysis of social media efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) via its social platform www.Mormon.org, explores the ways in which members use communication technology to represent their beliefs and values online.

Does Twitter Make Us More Knowledgeable? The Moderating Role of Need for Orientation • Eun-Ju Lee, Seoul National U; Soo Youn Oh, Seoul National University • A web-based survey (N=306) examined how Twitter use affects individuals’ news knowledge, in conjunction with the need for orientation.  The longer high NFOs had used Twitter, the better informed they were of hard news, but the time spent on Twitter daily was negatively associated with their soft news knowledge.  Additional analyses suggested that the ability to process public affairs information, rather than the information-seeking motivation, accounts for the widening gap in hard news knowledge.

Effects of Three Dimensions of Web Navigability on Attitudes and Perceptions of an Organizational Site • Bartosz Wojdynski, Virginia Tech • This study examines the differential effects of three distinct dimensions of Web site navigability (logic of structure, clarity of structure, and clarity of target) on perceptions of a non-profit organization’s Web site. A 2 x 2 x2 factorial between-subjects experiment (N=128) examining the distinct contributions of these dimensions showed that logic of structure and clarity of structure influenced perceived navigability, while logic of structure and content domain involvement affected attitudes toward the Web site.

Fighting death: The effects of punitive difficulty on video game enjoyment, immersion and need satisfaction • Mike Schmierbach; Brett Sherrick, The Pennsylvania State University; Mu Wu, Pennsylvania State University • Although many theoretical accounts focus on the importance of properly balanced challenges for video game enjoyment, little empirical scholarship tests the effects of difficulty. Using an experiment, this study demonstrates the consequences of player death and remaining challenge on feelings of competency and flow. Results show death inhibits both, while less skilled players enjoyed a challenging game more after accounting for number of deaths.

Get in the Game: Customization, Immersion, Autonomy and Enjoyment • Keunyeong Kim, Pennsylvania State University; Julia Woolly, The Pennsylvania State University; Mike Schmierbach; Julia Daisy Fraustino, The Pennsylvania State University; Mun-Young Chung • Games increasingly allow players to adjust their experience, whether through modifying settings, changing their appearance, or selecting ways to advance their character. We present the results of an experiment in which players could customize their spaceship avatar between levels, demonstrating that this enhanced enjoyment in several ways. Players felt more autonomous, had greater feelings of control, and were more immersed when able to customize, compared with a control condition.

Imagining the Future of Journalism Through Open-Source Technology: A Qualitative Study of the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership • Nikki Usher; Seth Lewis, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities; Todd Kominak, George Washington University • This paper examines how journalists and technologists engaged in a high-profile partnership to re-imagine news for the digital age. We qualitatively analyzed a series of online videos (N=49) pitching group members’ open-source solutions for news. In light of the literature on journalism innovation and open-source technology and culture, and in the context of this connection between “hacks” and “hackers,” we identify key themes that articulate the future of news as process, participation, and social curation.

Influencing public opinion from corn syrup to obesity: A longitudinal analysis of the references for nutritional entries on Wikipedia • Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University; Marcia DiStaso; Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Shana Meganck, Virginia Commonwealth University; Scott Sherman, Virginia Commonwealth University; Sally Norton, Virginia Commonwealth University • The collaboratively edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia has continuously increased its reliability through a revised editing and referencing process. As the public increasingly turns to online resources for health information, this study analyzed the potential impact and the development of the referencing as the basis for Wikipedia content on nutritional health topics between 2007 and 2011.

It’s Not Easy Trying to Be One of the Guys: The Effects of Avatar Attractiveness, Avatar Gender, and Purported User Gender on the Success of Help-Seeking Requests in an Online Game • T. Franklin Waddell, Pennsylvania State University; James Ivory, Virginia Tech • Although research suggests that offline stereotypes guide online interactions, fewer studies have examined whether users’ responses to avatar traits differ depending on avatar owners’ gender. This experiment measured effects of avatar attractiveness, avatar gender, and purported user gender on the assistance users received during 2,300 interactions. The most attractive avatars received more assistance, and female users were assisted less if their avatar was male or unattractive. Implications for sex roles in virtual environments are discussed.

Making a Kinection: Competitive and Collaborative Multiplayer Gameplay in Exergames • Wei Peng, Michigan State University; Julia Crouse, Michigan State University • Although multiplayer mode is common among contemporary video games, the bulk of exergaming research looks at participants on an individual basis. Additionally, the play space is virtually an unstudied area. To fill the gap in the literature, the current study investigated different modes of multiplayer features and the play space in exergames and their effects on enjoyment, future play motivation and actual physical activity intensity.

Mobile Communication Competence and Mobile Communication usage: Based on College Students’ Analysis • Fan-Bin Zeng, Jinan University; Zhang Rong • Based on a survey on college students in XX University (N=1218) using mobile communication at present, this study develops a measure of college students’ mobile communication competence and mobile communication usage. By conducting an exploratory factor analysis on mobile communication competence, this study identifies three latent constructs: technique -efficacy factor, preference-affection factor and communication-appropriateness factor; along with conducting an exploratory factor analysis on mobile communication usage, this study identifies two latent constructs: leisure-entertainment factor and communication – interaction factor.

Mortality salience effects on selective exposure and cognitive processing on the Web • Robert Magee, Virginia Tech; Bartosz Wojdynski, Virginia Tech • A factorial experiment (N = 215) produced patterns of interactions that illustrate the relationship between dispositional and situational factors that drive selective exposure. Individual’s issue-related attitudes appeared to drive their Web site browsing behavior, as a match between an individual’s issue-related attitudes and the content of the Web site resulted in a greater number of page views. However, this relationship between content domain involvement and selective exposure appeared to occur only when individuals were not primed to reflect on their own mortality.

Motivations to contribute to commons-based peer production: A survey of top English-language Wikipedia contributors • Yoshikazu Suzuki, University of Minnesota; Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota • This study examined the motivations of functional peer production, and tested the relationship between different motivation dimensions and satisfaction. Results from a survey of the top Wikipedia contributors identified eight distinctive motivational factors, and suggest that contributing to Wikipedia is driven by both individual and social motivations focused on benefitting both the self and the others. The creative stimulation factor was significantly and positively correlated with satisfaction gained from contributing to Wikipedia.

Multitasking and Social Television: Use of Television and Social Media in a Multi-Platform Environment • Jiyoung Cha • Recognizing the multi-video platform and individualized video viewing environment, this study examines why people watch television, how people consume social television, and why people seek social television. Results suggest that people feel affection for television as a medium itself—a feeling that is independent of the content available on television. The motives for seeking social television include sense of community, social bonding with existing networks, reinforcement of online persona, entertainment, information sharing, social movement, self-documentation, and incentives.

My Whole World’s in My Palm!: Teenagers’ Mobile Use and Skill • Yong Jin Park, Howard University • Mobile communication has emerged as a new channel for increasingly networked teenagers. While some celebrate new possibilities for autonomy, others are concerned that the increased use of mobile-based communication can lead to social disparities in digital skill and status replication. Using a national survey dataset (n = 552), we examined how mobile-mediated behavior among teens (12-17) interacts with the characteristics of socio-demographics and mobile access to predict levels of diverse mobile use and skill and consequences of skill-use differences.

Networking for Philanthropy in Social Network Sites • Yoojung Kim, City University of Hong Kong; Wei-Na Lee • Social Network Sites (SNSs) provide a unique social venue to engage a large young generation in philanthropy through their networking capabilities. This study attempted to develop an integrated model that incorporates social capital into the Theory of Reasoned Action. Consistent with the theory’s predictions, volunteer behavior was predicted by volunteer intention which was influenced by attitudes and subjective norms. In addition, social capital, produced by the extensive use of SNS, was as an important driver of users’ attitude and subjective norms toward volunteering via SNSs.

Online Health Communities and Chronic Disease Self-Management • Erin Willis, University of Memphis • This research used content analysis (N=1,960) to examine the computer-mediated communication within online health communities for evidence of chronic disease self-management behaviors, including the perceived benefits and perceived barriers to participating in such behaviors. Online health communities act as informal self-management programs led by peers with the same chronic disease through the exchange of health information. Online health communities provide opportunities for health behavior change messages to educate and persuade regarding arthritis self-management behaviors.

Personalized News: How Filtering Shapes News Exposure • Michael Beam, Washington State University; Gerald Kosicki, The Ohio State University • This study is designed to contribute to understanding the impact of technologies that facilitate selective exposure on news reading and public opinion. Specifically, this study investigates attitudinal and behavioral differences between users and non-users of personalized news filtering systems. Results from a series of regression analyses of secondary survey data collected from national random samples of U.S. adults show a positive relationship between using personalized news systems and increased exposure to offline news.

Political Television Hosts on Twitter: Examining patterns of interconnectivity and self-exposure in Twitter Political Talk Networks • Itai Himelboim, University of Goergia, Telecommunications • This study takes a social networks approach to studying the Twitter talk of users and media evoked by politically oriented cable television hosts.  Two potentially socially beneficial implications of these user interactions are examined: the interconnectedness of users as an indication for an exchange of opinions and information, and exposure to a political diversity of information sources.  Twitter data was captured for four hosts, the conservatives Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, and the liberals, Rachel Meadow and Keith Olbermann.

Predicting Internet Risks: A Longitudinal Panel Study of Gratifications-sought, Internet Addiction Symptoms and Social Media Use • Louis Leung, Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study used longitudinal panel survey data collected from 417 adolescents at two points in time one year apart. It examined relationships between social media gratifications-sought and social media use measured at Wave 1 and Internet addiction changes in Wave 2. In addition, we also explored relationships between social media gratifications-sought, Internet addiction symptoms, and social media use measured at Wave 1 and Internet risks changes in Wave 2.

Psychological Individual Differences and the U&G of Facebook: The relationship between personality traits and motivational reactivity and the motivations and intensity to use Facebook in Taiwan • Kanni Huang, Michigan State University; Anastasia Kononova, American University of Kuwait; Yi-hsuan Chiang, Shih Hsin University; Saleem Alhabash, Michigan State University • A cross-sectional survey from Taiwan (N = 3,172) explored the relationship among psychological individual different factors, the motivations to use Facebook, and the intensity to use Facebook. Our findings indicated extraversion, resiliency, and originality/talent were the strongest predictors of the motivations to use Facebook. Aversive system activation (DSA) significantly predicted information sharing, entertainment, passing time, and medium appeal. All motivations to use Facebook significantly predicted the intensity of its use.

Should I Trust Him? Effects of Profile Cues on eWOM Credibility • Qian Xu, Elon University • A 2 (number of trusted members: small, large) x 2 (profile picture:  without, with) x 2(review valence: negative, positive) between-participants experiment was conducted to explore how two profile cues, i.e. the reputation cue and the picture cue, on a consumer review website individually and interactively affected consumers’ cognitive trust and affect trust in the product reviewer. The psychological mechanisms for the cues’ influence on perception of review credibility were also examined.

Showing off Where I am? The Interplay of Personality Traits, Self-disclosure, and Motivation on Facebook Check-ins • Shaojung Sharon Wang, Institute of Communications Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan • This study explored how personality traits, extraversion, and narcissism function to influence self-disclosure, which in turn, impacts intensity of check-in on Facebook.  Moreover, exhibitionism as a motivation that might mediate the relationship between self-disclosure and the intensity of check-in behavior on Facebook was also investigated.  Using survey data collected through Facebook check-in users in Taiwan (N=523), the results demonstrated that although extraversion and narcissism might not directly impact check-in intensity on Facebook, the mediation effects of self-disclosure and exhibitionistic motivation were particularly salient.

Smartphone News Consumption: The Absence of Location-Based Services within Today’s Mobile News Apps • Amy Schmitz Weiss, San Diego State University • As media organizations grow their social media strategies, skills in using these platforms have become increasingly important for aspiring mass communication professionals. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how students are already using social media and what benefits they perceive from incorporating Twitter as a required course assignment in college mass communication classes. Findings show students are positive and enthusiastic about the assignment; gender was significant in two areas.

Technology Disruption Theory and Middle East Media • Ralph Berenger, American University of Sharjah; Mustafa Taha, American University of Sharjah • This paper examines media technology disruption theory and its affect on Middle East mass media and audiences. Every major information technology innovation throughout history has caused some form of social disruption, from fears that telephones would electrocute the users in a thunderstorm, to moral or media panics like the War of the Worlds broadcast in the 1930’s, to current attempts to manipulate digital images for political reasons.

The Active Citizen’s Information Media Repertoire: An exploration of local-community news habits in Madison, WI, during the digital age • Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison • Active community members such as school officials, police officers, nonprofit directors and librarians approach information about their city as a way to stay involved and improve the community. Digital technologies have reconfigured how people know about their cities, specifically what news sources they might go to. Sampling from one Midwest community’s most engaged citizens, this research details and formalizes the emerging media-information repertoires built on local news sources, including: their motivations for seeking news, the structuring conditions for particular media usage, the norms of usage they are developing, and the perceived consequences for that use.

The influence of video game controllers on game-player’s self-awareness, sense of control and enjoyment • Jeeyun Oh, Penn State University; Mun-Young Chung; Mike Schmierbach • This study investigates the impact of a motion controller upon players’ level of enjoyment and related variables. A 2 (Motion controller vs. Control) X 2 (Mirroring vs. Control) between-subject experiment has been performed with Tiger Woods PGA Tour in Nintendo Wii console. A mirror image of self inhibited the sense of control over gameplay only when it was combined with a motion controller, which was the strongest, positive predictor for both players’ feeling of presence and enjoyment.

Transported into the Twitter World: When Politicians’ Twitter Communication Affects Public Evaluations of Them • Eun-Ju Lee, Seoul National U; Soo Yun Shin, Seoul National University • In a web-based experiment, participants (N = 217) viewed either a politician’s Twitter page or his newspaper interview with identical content.  Exposure to the Twitter page heightened the sense of direct interaction (social presence), which induced more favorable impressions of and a stronger intention to vote for him, only among those more prone to get “transported” into a narrative.  Reading the newspaper interview, however, significantly enhanced issue recognition and facilitated issue-centered (vs. person-centered) message processing.

User Behaviors in Social Commerce • Don Shin • Social commerce, a new form of commerce that involves using social media, has been rapidly developing. This study analyzes consumer behaviors in social commerce, focusing on the role of social influence in social commerce. A model is created to validate the relationship between the subjective norm and trust, social support, attitude, and intention. The results of the model show that the subjective norm is a key behavioral antecedent to use social commerce.

Using a constructivist approach to teach SEO tactics to PR students • Mia Moody; Elizabeth Bates • Enough evidence is available to support the idea that students need to be equipped with search engine optimization (SEO) skills to succeed in the public relations field; however little has been written on what they actually know. Furthermore, much of what has been published on the topic has been in trade publications rather than scholarly journals. To fill this void, this paper discusses the intricacies of SEO and offers a skills assessment tool and tips for integrating the technique into PR courses.

What Are You Worrying about on Social Networking Sites? Empirical Investigation of Young Social Networking Site Users’ Perceived Privacy • Yongick Jeong; Erin Coyle • Privacy is an important issue because it shields personal information from unwanted exposure. This study examines various aspects of privacy on social networking sites (SNSs). The findings indicate that young users generally are more concerned about the information they provide to traditional SNSs (Facebook) than microblogging sites (Twitter) and worry more about people with authoritative roles (authoritarian privacy) than those they know less about (distant relations).

What Motivates Consumers to Accept User-Generated Contents on Product Review Websites? • Yunjae Cheong, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; Kihan Kim, Seoul National University; Hyuksoo Kim, The University of Alabama • This study was designed to provide insights into why people accept user generated contents on product review (UGPR) websites. Recently, UGPR has significantly transformed consumers’ purchase process in various product categories, becoming an indispensable tool for consumers and practitioners. Accordingly, this study builds a comprehensive theoretical model to explain factors that drive acceptance of UGPR websites. We examined four latent variables of UGPR message acceptance, which are perceived source expertise, message objectivity, media credibility, and self-source similarity.

When Old and New Media Collide: The Case of WikiLeaks • Elizabeth Hindman, Washington State University; Ryan Thomas • The emergence of WikiLeaks and other non-journalist information providers as major players on the political landscape raises a number of important issues for media scholars and practitioners. Among them is the advent of organizations harnessing new communication technologies to keep a watchful eye on powerful interests, a monitorial role traditionally occupied by “old media” outlets like newspapers.  This qualitative study examines U.S. newspaper editorial responses to WikiLeaks’ 2010 release of U.S. State Department diplomatic cables.

Student Papers

A Comparative Content Analysis of Dialogic Theory on Fortune 1000 Facebook and Twitter Pages • Christopher Wilson, University of Florida; Weiting Tao, University of Florida • Social media sites (i.e., SMSs) like Facebook and Twitter are more important for public relations than ever before. Many of the academic studies in public relations on the relationship-building potential of SMSs are based on Kent and Tayor’s (1998, 2002) dialogic theory for websites. However, the measures used to test the dialogic principles on SMSs have been inconsistent even on similar social media platforms, making it difficult to compare results and replicate findings.

Agenda Setting in the Internet Age: The Reciprocity Between Using Internet Search Engines and Issue Salience • ByungGu Lee, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Jinha Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study investigates the relationships between information-seeking activities on the Internet and public perceptions of issue importance. Previous research suggests that information seeking can precede perceptual decisions such as judgment about national importance of an issue. Also, evidence indicates that such judgment can lead to subsequent information-seeking activities. Simply put, a reciprocal relationship can be established between information seeking and issue salience.

Are Wikimedia Less Susceptible to Censorship than Mainstream Media? • Jim DeBrosse, Ohio University • In a case study of Wikipedia and Wikinews coverage of Project Censored’s Top 10 Censored Stories of 2010-2010, this paper found that Wikinews failed to cover any of the 10 censored stories while Wikipedia covered one story and provided partial matches for five others. Wikinews’ total failure may be attributed primarily to its lack of reporting resources and its emphasis on breaking news.

Comments on YouTube Videos: Understanding the Role of Anonymity • M Laeeq Khan, Michigan State University • In this paper, in addition to understanding the commenting behavior on YouTube videos, the role of anonymity is discussed in light of SIDE theory. Comments were categorized in four major categories—appreciative, criticisms, flames and spam. Contrary to the common belief that YouTube videos are characterized by widespread flaming, it was found that even with anonymous user names, a majority of comments posted were appreciative as compared to derisive.

Democracy, Press Freedom, and Facebook: Identifying Conditional Diffusion of Technology • Shin Lee, University of Washington • Given the global diffusion of Facebook, this study predicts democracy and press freedom to serve as its determinants beyond Internet use. Using a sample of 107 countries, this study finds support for each of proposed hypotheses: 1) Internet diffusion does not necessarily increase Facebook penetration; 2) Facebook diffusion diminishes in countries with higher levels of ICT development; 3) democratic growth corresponds to Facebook diffusion; and 4) less press freedom increases Facebook diffusion in autocratic countries.

Educating the New Media Professional: Using the Technology Acceptance Model to Investigate Professional Media Students’ Technological Adoption • Tobias Hopp, University of Oregon • Despite the fact that post-secondary departments offering instruction in the fields of journalism, communication, advertising, and public relations have increasingly emphasized the use of new media production technologies, universities across the country have generally failed to investigate the factors that impact technological adoption on the part of students.

Examining Gender Differences in Using Facebook for Social Connections: An Application of Uses and Gratifications Theory • Chen-wei Chang, University of Southern Mississippi • This study applied Uses and Gratifications theory to investigate how men and women used Facebook to interact with others in different ways and further explored the similarities and contradictions regarding their “gratifications sought” (motivations) and “gratifications obtained” from the social activities on Facebook. A paper-based survey was administered in a public southern university in March 2012.

Exploration of Online Support Community for Excessive Gamers • Seol Ki, Rutgers University • This exploratory study examined the structure of OGANON community and the emerging pattern of social support exchange among community members- excessive gamers and their close people such as friends and family. Through ethnographic observation based on grounded theory approach, communication differences between daily online chat meeting and message boards are found and discussed. Online chat meeting is a source of confession and self-help through ritualized monologues whereas message boards are main sources of exchanging mutual help with other members.

Old Dogs & New Media: Examining Age and Teaching Focus in the Debate Between Technology and Tradition in the Journalism Classroom • Jeffrey Riley, University of Florida • In this study, journalism educators at AEJMC-accredited universities were surveyed to find their opinion about the importance of traditional skills and theories versus technologically based skills and theories in the modern journalism classroom. The journalism educators were also asked to fill out demographic and characteristic information, including age and teaching focus. This study drew from in-group out-group biases, selective perception, and diffusion of innovations for the theoretical basis. A total of 652 participants completed the survey.

SNS use on mobile devices: An examination of gratifications, civic attitudes and engagement in China • Yang Cheng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Jingwen Liang • This study, based on the Mainland China context, explores the relationships between gratifications-sought, social network sites (SNSs) uses on mobile devices, civic attitudes and civic engagement in a charity credibility crisis. Through a survey research of 760 university students from the Southeast China, results show gratifications sought and civic attitudes can significantly predict SNS use on mobile devices and civic engagement. It argues that mobile-based communication plays an important role in encouraging individuals’ civic engagement.

Technostalgic Photography and Damon Winter’s “A Grunt’s Life” • Heidi Mau, Temple University • This research is a discourse analysis of Damon Winter’s 2010 publication in The New York Times of iPhone/Hipstamatic app photographs of soldiers in Afghanistan, and the subsequent disruption in the online mediasphere when this work was acknowledged by the 2011 POYi photography competition. This paper contributes to scholarly discussions concerning the evolution of photography – its tools, images and interactions with a public – with a particular focus in scholarship addressing how technological changes might affect visual meaning in photojournalism.

The Effects of Ambient Media: What unplugging reveals about being plugged in • Jessica Roberts, University of Maryland; Michael Koliska, University of Maryland • Ambient media is a way to conceptualize the information environment in which so many of us live. It is no secret that we increasingly live in a world rich in information and communication technology and media that bring us that information. Besides television, radio, newspapers and computers, we now carry devices with us — mobile devices with digital content, such as phones, iPods, and PDAs, which have become ubiquitous around the world, and provide constant access to a world of information.

The Role of Motivations and Anonymity on Self-disclosure in SNSs: A Comparison of Facebook and Formspring • Hyunsook Youn, Rutgers • Individuals have motivations when searching for platforms to fulfill their needs. Especially, advance of communication technologies offers individuals with a variety of ways they can express. This study explores individual motivations behind using different social network sites to fulfill their various needs. Also, one of the benefits online platform provides is to hide oneself behind screen although it can be considered either positive or negative. Different levels of anonymity each site offers may result in unusual degree or amount of one’s self-disclosure.

The smartphone: Next digital divide? • Joseph Jai-sung Yoo, The University of Texas at Austin • The objective of this study is to determine whether socioeconomic status influences the ownership of smartphones and compare the use patterns between smartphone users and non-users. Results indicate that SES is not a deciding factor and functions not provided in traditional mobile phone can explain the use associated with smartphones. This study examines differences in feeling life satisfaction between smartphone users and non-users. Due to wide distribution of smartphone, there were no differences.

The YouTube Platform: The Nomad in Participatory Culture • Mark Lashley, University of Georgia • This paper argues that discussions of user interactions with YouTube can be framed around theories of participatory culture, and brings to light how Montfort & Bogost’s (2009) work in “platform studies” might be applicable to explain how YouTube operates as a space where computing is enabled. To tie together these two conceptual frames, a number of postmodern precepts from Deleuze & Guattari (1987) are applied, most notably the concept of “nomadology” as it applies to users of the video sharing site. It is hoped that, in the future, this theoretical language can be used in analysis of YouTube content in order to better understand the interactions between space and user.

Tweeting Every Touchdown: Analyzing the Twitter Use of Sports Fans through the Uses and Gratifications Theory • Natalie Brown, University of Alabama • This study surveyed 217 sports fans to define which sports fans use Twitter, and how their satisfaction with social media use is impacted by their motivations for tweeting. This study adds to both social media and uses and gratifications literature by identifying the motivations for social media use that are unique to sports fans.  Results showed that sports fans primarily use Twitter for surveillance and information gathering rather than for social reasons, calling into question whether Twitter should continue to be referred to as a “social media” Web site, or whether it has evolved to bridge traditional and new media.

Tweeting Life-casting or Public Affairs?: Journalists’ Tweets, Interactivity, and Ideology • Na Yeon Lee, University of Texas – Austin; Yonghwan Kim; Ji won Kim, The university of Texas at Austin • This study examines how Korean journalists use Twitter by analyzing what topics they talk about and with whom they interact on Twitter, and investigates whether these usage patterns vary according to newspapers’ ideology. A content analysis of 494 tweets by 52 randomly selected Korean journalists showed that more than half the tweets were topics related to public affairs, such as politics and social issues, and 56% of the tweets were “in reply to” or “re-tweet” responses.

Understanding the Technological Advantages of Web Surveys: Can Response Formats Impact Data Quality? • Clay Craig; Patrick Merle • The utilization of technologically advanced web-based survey software is becoming prevalent. Along with this proliferation, advancements in survey customizations provide researchers with a plethora of visual and structural elements to compose appropriate designs, yet pose the question of the impact such technological possibilities have on data quality. This study, (N  = 188) an embedded experiment in a web survey, examines three response formats (radio button, slider scale, and text entry) to determine their influence on participants’ decisions.

What has Social Networking Service (SNS) research done for the half decade? Review, critiques, and discussion of the studies from 2006 to 2011 • Yin ZHANG, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • This study presents an extensive review of the scholarship on social networking service (SNS) from 2006 to 2011. Through a full scan and content analysis of the academic publications in six high ranking SSCI journals, seventy-four articles were identified for review. The topical, theoretical and methodological trends of current studies are summarized and discussed.

What’s on Your Mind? What Facebook Users Disclose in their Status Updates and Why • Edson Tandoc, University of Missouri-Columbia; Heather Shoenberger, University of Missouri • Studies have explored what people disclose on Facebook but not specifically what people say in their status updates, a feature that allows users to express their thoughts, opinions and feelings to their network in real time. Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study uncovers the themes that users divulge on their status updates on Facebook and the factors that drive these sometimes very intimate disclosures.

Who says what about whom: Cue-taking dynamics in the impression formation processes on Facebook • Jayeon Lee; Young Shin Lim, Ohio State University • Social information processing theory claims that computer-mediated communication users form impressions of others they encounter on the Web by taking heuristic cues available in the environment. As social media offer various cues from the sides of both the target and unknown others, however, the way people utilize cues on the Web also has become more complex.

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