Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

Community blogging is a potentially important and innovative educational tool that promotes both the cognitive and social construction of knowledge through individual postings, student-to-student commentary, and hyperlink sharing. However, the intimate nature of postings, the social nature of commentary, and the explorative nature of hyperlinking may activate entrenched relational schemas held by students that have potential to influence their community blogging activity in ways that limit their ability to benefit from an educational blogging project. In an attempt to understand exactly what impact students' relational schemas have on their community blogging activity, the present study examined the direct and indirect associations of students' attachment anxiety and avoidance with four observed measures of their community blogging activity: 1) posting activity, 2) comment activity, 3) hyperlink activity, and 4) the average length of written contributions. Data were collected from 53 undergraduate students enrolled in a 10-week introductory course in which community blogging was a central component of the course structure. Hierarchical regression analyses tested the associations between students' attachment anxiety and avoidance and their observed community blogging activity while controlling for students' self-reported GPA and Internet self-efficacy. In addition, more sophisticated analyses examined (a) whether students' relational motivation for blogging mediated these associations, and (b) whether students' sense of classroom community moderated the second leg of these mediation models and thus the strengths of the indirect effects. Overall, results demonstrated weak evidence that students' attachment was related to their observed community blogging activity, with the exception of one robust finding. Students' attachment avoidance was related to their observed hyperlink activity such that students reporting greater attachment avoidance contributed a greater combi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mitchell Schoppe-Sullivan Ph.D. (Advisor); Michael Glassman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Amy Bonomi Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Developmental Psychology; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Psychology; Educational Technology; Evolution and Development; Higher Education; Teaching; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Communication Studies

This is an exploratory attempt at understanding motherhood as layered, conditioned, and multivalent against the background of the one-child policy in China. Through close readings of blogs maintained and posted by Chinese mother bloggers at www.sina.com.cn, I foreground the complexities of their subjectivities. What is significant about blogs for the purpose of my study is that they are increasingly being used by networks of middle-class urban Chinese parents, and specifically by women. Drawing mainly from Michel Foucault and different schools of feminist thinkers, subjectivities are understood as fluid, constituted, and becoming. Therefore, this dissertation highlights the interconnectivity between Chinese nation, the discourse of population in China, Chinese women and their children, and the nexus of power and knowledge in the age of biopower. It also centers on the normative, constitutive, and regulatory power of gender and sexuality on Chinese mother bloggers as exemplified by their glorification of motherhood and everyday practices in nurturing and disciplining their young. However, in the midst of conforming and reproducing dominant discourses on gender and sexuality, Chinese mother bloggers are also engaged in the technology of the self through the diligent act of blogging, thus fostering new modes of existence and relationships and exerting their agency in context.

Committee: Radhika Gajjala PhD (Committee Chair); John Warren PhD (Committee Member); Ellen Gorsevski PhD (Committee Member); L. Thomas Andrews PhD (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 (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Media and Communication

The ongoing transition of Web 2.0 into Web 3.0 has had interesting effects of mediated communication, especially for online content creators. In the current Internet era of alternative media, this has had a great impact on the world of blogging, no longer requiring specific web development skills to be successful. This study explored non-activist alternative media content creators, who specifically create non-political content. These content creators were explored in two ways: by examining their audiences as well as their content. In this case, two research sites were explored: Angry Metal Guy and Nattskog's Blog. Both sites create blog posts containing music reviews, interviews, and live concert reviews for extreme metal bands. Genre theory, affordances, and remediation theory were important lenses which were applied to the two research sites and a qualitative content analysis was used to reveal how genre, affordances, and remediation appear on Angry Metal Guy and Nattskog's Blog. Audience interactions and their effect on content creation was explored using interviews. In total, twelve interviews occurred, lasting one-to-three hours. It was discovered that these non-activist alternative media content creators had mixed feelings concerning their perceptions of journalism, or if they consider themself a journalist. Journalistic doxa was used to help explain this phenomenon, but it is also important to note that these mixed feelings on how non-activist alternative media content creators perceive journalism may lead to lasting effects on how we define participatory journalism in the future. It was also found that in terms of audience interactions, constructive and destructive forms of criticism had the most impact on content creation. Through qualitative content analysis, 50 individual blog posts were examined in this research. It demonstrates that no new genre frameworks are present between the two research sites, but discovers genre fluidity, which I define as the cu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joshua Atkinson Ph.D (Committee Chair); Stefan Fritsch Ph.D (Other); Bailey Dick Ph.D (Committee Member); Yanqin Lu Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

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, Miami University, 2014, English

Satire, the Most Earnest Mode collects a multi-genre review of my work in satirical and subversive fiction composed during my time at Miami University. It includes examples of short story form, oral storytelling forms, and political blogging. There's a flamingo from space, there's anti-dinosaur fear rhetoric… lots of stuff. It's really kind of difficult to summarize in 200 words. Like, how would you summarize 40 Stories by Barthelme? This isn't as good as that book, but just as comparison. Wow, this is going to be embarrassing when my delay of publication runs out…

Committee: Margaret Luongo MFA (Committee Chair); Joseph Bates PhD (Committee Member); Stefanie Dunning PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

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

This thesis explores the ethical rules and regulations bloggers employ to protect their online communities. Rather than analyzing actual blog posts, as done by previous research, this paper focuses on comment policies in 100 feminist blogs to see how these policies reflect the ethical norms bloggers endorse and the ethical violations they encounter in the comments. Additionally, a survey of 113 feminist bloggers reveals how this subgroup of bloggers defines, communicates, and enforces the norms established in their comment policies. By comparing and contrasting the findings with existing research and theories, this study aims at answering the question of how comment policies get translated into reality and whether they appropriately address the moral dilemmas in this area. While the policies generally deal with relevant ethical violations, this study's findings suggest that policies should particularly emphasize bigotry, prejudice based on privilege, and fat/slut/victim shaming.

Committee: Debatin Bernhard (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism

MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism

This thesis describes the results of research conducted to explore whether the well-established types of motives in uses and gratifications theory can be expanded, especially in the study of social media, to incorporate motives gleaned from other theories, specifically impression management or self-presentation theory. The research conducted explored whether motives drawn from impression management theory and from uses and gratification theory can be identified among individuals writing personal and professional blogs, how bloggers articulate their motives for blogging and whether different motives might obtain for each.

Committee: Danielle Sarver-Coombs Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Communication

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2010, Journalism

The purpose of this project was to examine my role as a journalist covering a community of interest through the creation of a website that enriches dialogue about the barrel racing and rodeo community in the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia region. The website provides a space for works of journalism that cover barrel racing events and issues in the area, and my research included a thorough analysis of the role of community journalism in a community that is both virtual and regional.

Committee: Cary Frith (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2010, Journalism

This thesis demonstrates the need for standardized online corrections policies through a critical analysis of several news outlets' current corrections policies, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, and Christian Science Monitor. An examination of why corrections policies are necessary, including a look at the ways the internet has changed modern journalism, prefaces this critical analysis. There is an ethical discussion of how certain online corrections policies do or do not support the traditional journalistic principles of accuracy, transparency, accountability, and credibility. Finally, a typology was created to rank several news outlets' current online corrections policies. Ultimately, it was found that the emergence of online journalism has affected the way in which journalists correct their mistakes. The transitional timeframe, in addition to the lack of a guarantee that readers will ever return to an online news article (or even the news outlet's website in general), means that mistakes and their ensuing corrections can quite literally become lost in cyberspace. These changes indicate that it is time to address the issue of how best to deal with corrections in online journalism. Moreover, it was found that the current state of online corrections policies is a wildly inconsistent situation, and some sort of standard is vital to the journalism industry.

Committee: Bernhard Debatin PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism; Technology

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

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

PHD, Kent State University, 2011, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This dissertation examines the construct of literacy sponsorship within the context of online literacy practices of soldiers blogging from Iraq and Afghanistan between 2008 and 2010. While existing treatments of the literacy sponsorship construct are situated within print-based modes of textual production, I argue that the new media context poses significant complications for current assumptions central to the construct; namely, that individuals pursue literacy practices as a means of socioeconomic empowerment, and that institutional definitions of literacy reproduce institutional ideologies. The case of military blogs is of particular import given current Department of Defense efforts to maintain information security during wartime. Additionally, this study extends current understandings of sponsorship by situating the study of sponsorship within actual discourse practices of sponsors and soldiers. This study draws on a multi-method approach of data collection and analysis in the forms of document collection from the Department of Defense, email interviews with nine currently deployed soldiers, and textual analysis of the soldiers' blogs. The research design, in the form of a case study, provides a framework in which researcher-generated data and participant-generated data are compared. Data analysis for this study takes the form of three conceptually overlapping parts; analysis of the development for regulations that authorize soldiers' blogging practices, comparative analyses of soldiers' rhetorical knowledge about their blogs and blog post content, and a sample case study of one soldier's blogging practices. Results from this study reveal individuals acting on behalf of the sponsoring institution to read and regulate soldiers' blog content maintain idiosyncratic processes for doing so. These disparate forms of sponsorship are in part due to the new media context, which allows soldiers to define their own rhetorical situations, and which makes identifying sol (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Pamela Takayoshi Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Brian Huot Ph.D. (Committee Member); Patricia Dunmire Ph.D. (Committee Member); Alexa Sandmann Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Composition; Literacy; Military Studies; Rhetoric; Web Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Psychology/Clinical

In the last decade, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has increased dramatically as a format for social interaction, particularly among adolescents. Despite this increase, little research has focused on the types of behaviors occurring in CMC. The purpose of this study was to address questions regarding adolescents' CMC use (specifically ratings of use of instant messaging and blogging, and aggressive and prosocial behaviors engaged in while online), the relation between CMC behaviors and face-to-face behaviors, and the relation between ratings of use and both CMC and face-to-face behaviors. Participants were 484 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students who completed a survey about their CMC use and online and face-to-face aggressive and prosocial behaviors as agents and recipients of those behaviors. Most adolescents reported engaging in some form of CMC at least a few times a week. Females reported a higher rate of CMC use than males. Adolescents reported engaging in more online prosocial behavior than online aggression and endorsed being the agents of online behaviors more so than being the recipients. Males and females were similar in their reports of online aggression but females were higher in online prosocial behaviors. Engaging in online aggression and prosocial behaviors was related to engaging in corresponding face-to-face behaviors. Adolescents reported being agents of prosocial behavior and recipients of aggression and prosocial behavior more when face-to-face than when online. Seventh-grade males reported the highest rates of being recipients of aggression, across contexts. Eleventh-graders reported being the recipients of prosocial behavior less than 7th and 9th graders. Adolescents' CMC use was related to all online behaviors and to face-to-face prosocial behaviors. CMC use predicted adolescents' online behaviors above and beyond their face-to-face behaviors. Limitations of this survey study included limited generalizability of results because of the age (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Eric Dubow (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Clinical