Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2009, Journalism (Communication)

As blogging becomes a rising component in the world of media, credibility of journalistic blogs has been drawing more and more attention and contention. Through different ways of improving writer credibility and gate-keeper credibility, journalistic blogs were classified in five categories in this thesis. Two cases were analyzed as an illustration of the classification. The impacts of Uses and Gratifications were discussed also.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin PhD (Committee Chair); Hong Cheng PhD (Committee Member); Robert K. Stewart PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2012, Communication

This is a qualitative study that employed the uses and gratifications theory. The purpose of this study was to understand why mothers use mommy blogs and the gratifications they get from that use. This study focuses specifically on the mommy blog readers and not the authors of the blogs. Through using the constant comparative method six themes emerged. They were (1) convenience, , (2) community, (3) entertainment, (4) information, (5) ability to relate, and (6) inspiration/motivation. Through these results, it was discovered that the participants were able to gratify specific needs through mommy blogs.

Committee: Val Pipps Dr. (Advisor); Patricia Hill Dr. (Committee Member); Therese Lueck Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This dissertation examines the effectiveness of blogging to improve student writing fluency and writing self-efficacy in ninth-grade English courses at Mount St. Mary Academy. Utilizing a case study approach with convergent mixed methods, a paired samples t-test found no statistically significant changes in pre- and post-assessments of general and writing self-efficacy over an eight-week period. A bivariate correlation revealed a moderately positive linear and statistically significant relationship between SESAW (pre- and post-assessment) and WCVALUER scores—indicating a strong association between initial self-efficacy and writing fluency development. Furthermore, specific blogging activities, such as reflective pieces following a communal class retreat, showed significant correlations with the SESAW and WCVALUER. The qualitative analysis revealed both positive and negative perceptions of writing among students, highlighting areas of stress and anxiety alongside opportunities for engagement and growth. Implications for practice include program refinements and tailored interventions to meet student needs, supported by ongoing faculty development programs. Future research could explore unique correlations observed in this study, particularly relating to communal experiences like the class retreat. While this study adds to the understanding of blogging as a tool for enhancing student writing outcomes, continued research and refinement of instructional practices are essential for maximizing its effectiveness in educational contexts.

Committee: Kevin Kelly (Committee Chair); Karen Kuralt (Committee Member); Meredith Wronowski (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Composition; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Educational Software; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Language Arts; Literacy; Neurosciences; Secondary Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, English

Setting the Table: Ethos-As-Relationship in Food Writing employs methods from rhetoric and technical and professional communication to argue that the rhetorical mode of ethos should be understood as fundamentally relational, rather than as a more discreet property of communication synonymous with the rhetor's authority or character. I argue that reconceiving ethos-as-relationship better accounts for the rhetorical strategies used by the food writers who identify as women, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and/or as part of the LGBTQ+ community whose texts I analyze, which include food memoirs, decolonial cookbooks, and food blogs. Food writing is a valuable place to examine the development of ethos because food writers are especially attuned to hospitality, a structural metaphor that all rhetors can use as a framework for understanding their relationship to their audience. A key focus of my analysis is the development of these food writers' textual personas, or their self-portrayal within the text. Textual personas are crucial to the development of what I call the ethotic relationship between writers and readers because a reader is unlikely to meet the writer in person, and an ethotic relationship can only be formed with another party. Ethos-as-relationship has important implications for understanding expertise and professional identity, especially for those rhetors who occupy historically-marginalized positionalities, as they must often work harder to negotiate a position of authority in relation to their audiences.

Committee: Kimberly Emmons (Advisor); T. Kenny Fountain (Committee Member); Vera Tobin (Committee Member); Mary Grimm (Committee Member); Christopher Flint (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Rhetoric; Technical Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, East Asian Languages and Literatures

This dissertation addresses contemporary Chinese poetry's socio-cultural relevance through an investigation of a “crossover” (shige kuajie 诗歌跨界) trend that has loomed large in the past two decades, against poetry's paradoxical condition of being at once revered but barely read by the general public. This trend, in which practitioners simultaneously experiment with aesthetics and expand poetry readership by innovatively fusing poetry with other arts and forms of entertainment and communication, engages an extensive body of established and emerging poets, poetry texts and artworks, and various technologies. As the first systematic research into this long-existing, far-reaching, interdisciplinary trend, this dissertation not only offers insights into individual cases, but also challenges the theoretical and methodological limits to our vision of poetry's standing in contemporary Chinese life. This dissertation analyzes the following: the conversation between poetry and new folksong in a concert called In Ancient Times; the transference of poetry into paintings in the We Poetize itinerant exhibition and songs in the Sing a Poem for You television show; the integration of poetry into the documentary film The Verse of Us and the experimental theatre piece Following Huang Gongwang on a Visit to the Fuchun Mountains; and the interaction between poetry and social media in Li Cheng'en's personal poetry blog. Instead of viewing poetry as texts to be read in isolation, these cases call out for a reading of poetry as a multifaceted medium in constant interaction with other forms and media. Through the perspective of intermediality studies, which sees medial characteristics as both materially conditioned and historically conventionalized, all media as intersecting with and relying on each other, and medial borders as real but fluctuating, I illustrate common features of the crossover cases, chart out major ways in which medial borders are elicited and crossed, and demonstrate ho (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kirk Denton (Advisor); Mark Bender (Committee Member); Meow Hui Goh (Committee Member); Robyn Warhol (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Literature; Asian Studies; Film Studies; Gender; Mass Media; Performing Arts; Theater

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 Science (MS), Ohio University, 2014, Journalism (Communication)

The thesis is based on uses and gratifications theory to compare users' behavior and gratifications gained on Weibo and Chinese news websites. The researcher conducted an online survey with snowball sampling. The participants were recruited online. The study finds more respondents use Weibo each day than use news websites each day. They spent significantly more time on Weibo than on news websites. Respondents considered Weibo to be significantly more helpful than news websites for obtaining news gratifications. The study also find there is no correlation between time spent on Weibo and personal gratifications gained on Weibo. The numbers of accounts followed on Weibo has no correlation with personal gratifications gained. The researcher found males considered Weibo less helpful than females for both news and personal gratifications. Respondents considered Weibo and news websites more helpful for news gratifications if they are required to follow news by their occupations.

Committee: Hugh Martin (Committee Chair); Hong Cheng (Committee Member); Hans Meyer (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Web Studies

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Music

From July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, I composed a new one-minute work every day for my podcast/blog project 60x365. My goals for this project were to compose more music more often and to compose music specifically for Internet. The use of a blog form, with one new post every day and the cataloging of posts with tags, was ideal for meeting these goals. Throughout the year I would say that I was composing “for the Internet” without a clear idea of what that meant. I thought that composing for the Internet was somehow different than the composing I had done before, that it was different than composing for other venues. Throughout the project year I had a sense that there was a real difference, but I was never able to articulate what that was. My assumption was that the Internet was having an effect on the process of composition. The process was different—I worked faster and experimented more—and it was easy to attribute that difference and its effects to the Internet. On reflection it is more complicated than that. What does it mean to say I was composing for the Internet? What effect does the Internet have on music composed for it? This document investigates these questions and highlights some of the ways that composing for the Internet differs from other kinds of composition.

Committee: Marc Ainger (Advisor); Jan Radzynski (Committee Member); David Bruenger (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2009, Computer Science and Engineering

Online interactive media such as blogs, discussion forums etc. present many challenges as organizations and individuals attempt to analyze and comprehend the collective opinion of others using information technology. We address the need for an open source sense-respond cyberinfrastructure framework that an organization could apply to extract and analyze the ‘voice of the customer', from blog comments, helping decision makers develop strategic, tactical and operational planning initiatives. As a step in this direction, we design an opinion mining tool that integrates information extraction and document search and analysis techniques to provide a concise representation of comments to the user. The tool interface is designed by adopting a cognitive engineering methodology in order to effectively abstract out the complexity of the underlying analysis techniques, allow easy navigation and present information to the user in a coherent manner.

Committee: Dr. Rajiv Ramnath PhD (Advisor); Dr. Hui Fang PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Philip Smith PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Jay Ramanathan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2012, Journalism (Communication)

Blogs, as a new technology have influenced the journalism industry as well as journalists. It changed one-way communication to many-to-many communication. The content on journalists' personal blogs largely depends on why journalists start blogs. The motivation can be condensed into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Journalists may apply their professional work experiences and judgments while writing the posts either for the purposes of informing the audience or releasing the pressure from work. By applying Uses and Gratification Theory, Diffusion of Innovation Theory and TAM and related theories, this study aims to analyze the motivations for journalists starting personal blogs and tests the relationship between journalists' attitudes, perceived usefulness and actual behavior. In addition, the study also analyzes the content of journalists' blogs. The study can lead to further examination of the structure for journalists' attitudes, perceived usefulness and actual behavior and help us understand how a journalist's blog is able to contribute to society.

Committee: Hans Meyer PhD (Committee Chair); Michael Sweeney PhD (Committee Member); Kevin Grieves PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Media; Multimedia Communications

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2012, Journalism (Communication)

This study looks at social construction of reality as it relates to the challenges of modern news work. The goal of this study was to better understand how corporate directives and changing technology is challenging the civic responsibility of individual newsworkers and the specific jobs they do. Interviews, job shadowing, and participant observation were the primary methods used to generate data about this evolving profession. Social controls and influences are constantly at work on newsworkers as they try to master new digital skills and organizational directives in a profession that is struggling to stay viable. Many newsworkers are doing jobs, which are not related to the traditional journalism craft skills with which they entered the business. As newsrooms become smaller, reporters are challenged to do even the most fundamental tasks associated with investigative, civic, or enterprise reporting. Likewise, technology is demystifying photography and design, causing executives to see those personnel areas as over-staffed. Those who are slow to adapt are laid off, negatively labeled, and lose their professional mobility. Organizations make decisions above a ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿black ceiling¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ without newsworker influence and are actively working against older newsworkers as they restructure operations to be more streamlined. As a result, newsworkers resist organizational controls with ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Sunshine Blogs¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ that network newsworkers together. They also resist by not conforming to an encouraged culture of loyalty and organizational support. They do not trust that digital media is always the best service to readers. As conditions change, the reality of the newsworkers' function and their place in the organization becomes transparent. The cultural reality for many newsworkers is a distasteful job and they cannot be moved between tasks with commitment unless the task is perceived by them to be a civic service or a personal passion. Newsworkers find the printed-paper to be (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Marilyn Greenwald PhD (Committee Chair); Joseph Bernt PhD (Committee Member); Duncan Brown PhD (Committee Member); Gene Ammarell PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Ethics; History; Journalism; Law; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Organization Theory; Sociology

Bachelor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2010, School Of Interdisciplinary Studies - Interdisciplinary Studies

This project looks at the convergence of trends in craft and blogging to evaluate its potential as a platform for activism. As the craft movement has evolved away from the rigid boundaries of its past, a subculture of young women and men have embraced craft for its Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethics. A vast network of makers in and outside the U.S. comprises the indie craft movement, which channels ideas about sustainable living, anti-consumerism and the feminist reclamation of domesticity into handmade objects. The indie craft movement springs from the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s and is enhanced by a succession of new Internet technologies. Blogging's rise to ubiquity in the past decade provides indie crafters in disparate locations with disparate craft knowledge the ability to connect online. Craft blogs offer tutorials, inspiration and advice to their followers. The craft blogosphere's power lies in its ability to connect people through mutual creativity, making it an ideal platform for craft-related activism, or craftivism. Craft blogging offers crafters a forum for collaborative or replicable projects that can raise awareness about a cause or invoke action to end unjust practices. Craftivism blogs lead to meaningful change in a community when engaged bloggers share information. Therefore, this project includes a reflection on creating the blog Craftivista, which features craftivism-related speakers, events and projects in the area around Oxford, Ohio.

Committee: Dr. Sally Harrison-Pepper (Advisor); M. Katie Egart (Committee Member); Dr. Lisa Weems (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Communication; Design; Mass Media; Technology

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2009, Environmental Sciences

This practicum report is a continuation of the Myaamia Lunar Calendar Project and represents Phase II of the project. Phase II continued the background research of Phase I of the project, which performed an extensive literature search of the organisms found within the Myaamia lunar calendar. ‘Phase II: Lunar Calendar Calibration' examined other lunar calendars to discover how a lunar-based time keeping method functions and provide suggestions to maintain calibration. ‘Phase II: Using New Technology to Build Mutual Learning' explores a methodology to share the information found from Phase I and II and encourage participation with the Myaamia community and other interested parties. A website and blog was created in order to provide a technologically facilitated interface for tribe members. This project is a part of the Myaamia Project, which allows students, staff, and professors from Miami University to participate in cultural restoration projects in cooperation with the Nation.

Committee: Adolph Greenberg PhD (Advisor); George Esber PhD (Committee Member); Mark Boardman PhD (Committee Member); Daryl Baldwin (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

PHD, Kent State University, 2008, College of Communication and Information / School of Communication Studies

Weblogs (blogs) are websites maintained by individuals who regularly post entries in reverse chronological order (Herring, 2004). Personal journal blogs, or blogs that are written primarily about the internal states and thoughts of the author, are the most common form of blogs (Herring, Scheidt, Wright, & Bonus, 2005; Viegas, 2005). Because of the emergent nature of this personal, yet public forum of blogging, this type of media use is ripe for research applying existing theories to new ways of communicating. The purpose of this study was to explore the applicability of social penetration theory and the hyperpersonal perspective to blogs. Additionally, motives for blogging were revealed, as well as their impact on disclosure patterns in blog profiles and entries. Finally, the effects of individual characteristics – age, gender, loneliness, and disclosiveness as a personality trait – and audience characteristics – whether blogs are public or private, and the target audience – on bloggers' private disclosures in their blogs. The uses and gratifications perspective was employed to devise a conceptual model incorporating these components to predict the dimensions of disclosure in blogs. A cross-sectional study using online self-report questionnaires was administered to 303 personal journal bloggers. In accordance with social penetration theory, bloggers were generally more disclosive in their blog entries when they also revealed more identity management cues, such as their name, age, gender, location, and occupation. Eight motives emerged from a series of exploratory factor analyses – helping/informing, social connection, exhibitionism, pass time, archiving/organizing, professional, get feedback, and reporting details. Participants who blogged to get feedback, archive and organize their thoughts, and report details were more disclosive in their blogs. On the other hand, bloggers were less disclosive when they blogged for professional reasons and to pass time. Individu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nichole Egbert (Advisor); Jeffrey Child (Committee Member); Paul Haridakis (Committee Member); Rafa Kasim (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2013, Journalism (Communication)

This study investigates the differences in the delineation of post-traumatic stress disorder in newspapers and in military blogs. Through thematic analysis of selected newspaper articles and blog posts, the research examines the different categories and themes that exist in newspapers' and weblogs' coverage of PTSD among military members and veterans. Marked differences are found among newspaper and blogs. It further discusses the function of both media in the PTSD “imagined community.” The content of newspaper articles is focused on the overall picture of PTSD in the military society, but overlooks the individual struggles. In addition, newspaper coverage tends to frame PTSD negatively. The blog contents are more personalized and emotion-driven, providing details of daily life and experience, but could not compete with newspapers on quality journalism.

Committee: Ellen Gerl (Advisor) Subjects: Communication; Journalism