Master of Arts, Miami University, 2016, English

This thesis introduces “counterpublic intellectualism” to the field of composition and rhetoric as an oppositional mode of intellectual public engagement. I argue that power differentials complicate public intellectualism and its modes of publicity. After building the theoretical foundation and outlining the participatory research design, I offer findings from two case studies on feminist counterpublic bloggers on Tumblr. I introduce “Farrah” of Feminist Women of Color. She uses agitational rhetoric to provoke consciousness-raising. Drawing upon Black feminist autoethnography, I argue that Farrah offers an interactional model for feminist counterpublic intellectualism. The second case study involves Liz Laribee of Saved by the bell hooks. She uses mashup memes of Saved by the Bell stills and bell hooks quotes to invoke consciousness-raising. Drawing upon Kristie Fleckenstein's visual antinomy, I argue that Laribee offers a thematic model for feminist counterpublic intellectualism. Lastly, I discuss the broader theoretical, pedagogical implications for the field.

Committee: Jason Palmeri (Committee Chair); Katharine Ronald (Committee Member); Tim Lockridge (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Rhetoric

MA, Kent State University, 2016, College of the Arts / School of Art

As readership of fashion blogs has increased, so too has their influence on ordinary people, or so one would believe. The objective of this research is to gain a better understanding of the perceived influence of fashion bloggers through examination of several industry-recognized “influential blogs” and a survey of blog reader's perception of influence. This study seeks to identify the key elements of blog content that fashion bloggers must possess at a minimum to have any significant degree of influence on their readers. Four key elements have been identified as fundamental to having and sustaining influence among blog readers, in general; (1) Trustworthiness (2) Expertise (3) Personal Relevance and (4) Authenticity. A survey of 159 fashion students at Kent State University's Fashion School was conducted to gain further insight into the fashion blog readers' perceptions of influence in the context of these four key elements. The presence (or absence) of the four elements do appear to positively (or negatively) impact influence on a typical fashion blog reader or subscriber. The essential findings from the survey demonstrate that a blog's influence remains linked to readers' perceptions, particularly in the context of these four elements, and may well be evaluated and ranked on such key elements. This study also found that fashion bloggers are progressively more influential as a result of the interactive elements of prevailing social media platforms and the proliferation of digital technology, which tend to increase electronic word-of-mouth and further contribute to the fashion blogger's level of influence. The practical implications are clear for fashion bloggers and personal style bloggers who strive to have any degree of influence on readers and subscribers to their blogs, as well as those who seek to attract and sustain an audience as a successful business model within the increasingly competitive world of fashion blogs.

Committee: Kim Hahn Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Personal Relationships

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, East Asian Languages and Literatures

The PRC media has experienced great change in the thirty years since reform and opening up, but there is still much room for improvement. In 2008 while preparing to host the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government and media were faced with natural disasters and man-made incidents which challenged the ability of the leadership to control information. By comparing the government's response to the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 to the Wenchuan earthquake and analyzing the control of information in the politically sensitive “3.14 Incident” in Lhasa, we can see both improvements in press freedom and transparency in reporting and areas in which the government and media are still falling short. By examining the growing popularity of blogs and new media as a way to organize grassroots activism, we see a growing source of dissent and force for change in reporting in the PRC.

Committee: Galal Walker PhD (Advisor); Jianqi Wang PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Communication

Web blogs, as alternate sources of political opinion and analysis, have enabled new voices that can empower netizens and democratize information access. Their larger social contribution may be that they increase manifold the ideas available in the marketplace, in theory challenging any information hegemony of an increasingly consolidating corporate media. Bloggers, citizen journalists and others of the fifth estate have joined the social conversation by acting as watchdogs of not just government but also of the corporate media. Libel law, as a determinant of freedom of expression, also defines the democratic values of individual self-fulfillment, marketplace of ideas, and empowerment. Libel lawsuits, however, impose a chilling effect, a chill which is exacerbated for the fifth estate by the challenge of multiple personal jurisdictions – a netizen can be hauled before a court whose location, laws and procedures are hard to predict. The dissertation addresses that express challenge by proposing a separate common jurisdiction for libel cases that emanate in the information society. Specifically, it delineates a normative, inductive, theoretical framework for that common jurisdiction after analyzing the fundamental principles of freedom of expression characterizing jurisprudence. The framework comprises (1) a proposal to extend a reconsidered actual malice doctrine to the fifth estate, (2) a set of recommendations, situated in the libertarian scholarship of Thomas Emerson and John Milton, to define a norm of freedom of expression for the information society, and (3) a model law to deliver the framework to a libel litigant of the fifth estate. The study does not describe the new jurisdiction's executive powers or the treaty terms from which it would draw its authority. That jurisdiction, asserted by an Internet Empowerment Agency born out of international treaty, would decide information society libel cases. The study employs traditional legal analysis and inductive r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Prabu David (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2011, Journalism (Communication)

This study compared depictions of chronic pain in newspapers and magazines with blogs by people with chronic pain. Using critical discourse analysis, the study identified and compared frames, definitions of people with chronic pain, symbols and metaphors, and depictions of otherness/unhomelikeness. Marked differences were found among blogs and mainstream print media, with lesser differences between newspapers and magazines. By defining people with chronic pain by their illnesses, downplaying the impact of persistent pain on everyday life, and relating chronic pain to character or mental fortitude, magazines and newspapers contributed to the stigmatization and otherization bloggers described. Mainstream print media authors also portrayed chronic pain as less impactful, less agonizing, and less real than bloggers' descriptions. As such, newspapers and magazines made chronic pain more palatable to readers, but deprived them of the knowledge people with chronic pain glean through the lived experience of illness.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin Ph.D. (Advisor); Michael Sweeney Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joseph Bernt Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Health; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Social Research