Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Communication Studies (Communication)

In this dissertation, I examined how the capabilities of networked digital platforms enable and constrain women as public communicators. Specifically, I studied how female food bloggers can selectively embrace or reject norms of domesticity in order to further their brand and increase their digital sphere of influence (and what influence those tactics have on their audience). After a critical textual analysis of 15 women-authored food blogs and a representative subset of in-depth qualitative interviews, informed by both traditional rhetorical and mass media theories, this project aims to emphasize and strengthen the connections between traditional rhetorical studies and the burgeoning field of social media studies. Three major findings emerged during the course of this research. I discovered that bloggers use the structural capacities of their websites (including hyperlinks and site archives) to create a similar guided reading experience for a variety of visitors; the capabilities of these digital rhetorical platforms alter the processes of rhetoric, particularly invention, arrangement, and Kairos. Bloggers also express some tension between their roles as self-employed businesswomen and the public perception of women who spend the majority of their time in a home kitchen. Finally, I end this study with an exploration on how bloggers use their websites to rhetorically provoke a parasocial relationship with their readers.

Committee: Christina Beck PhD (Advisor); Stephanie Tikkanen PhD (Committee Member); Michael Butterworth PhD (Committee Member); Julie White PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender; Rhetoric; Womens Studies

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

The thesis investigates Chinese Millennial young women's notion towards feminism through fashion blogging. Fashion blogger as an emerging profession has acquired much public attention and created much social cultural influence, especially for young women. How does fashion blog as a tool to affect Chinese young women's feminist identity, confidence, and self-expression has been a fascinating concept. Through analyzing a specific Chinese fashion blogger's blazer looks and conducting related surveys, it is able to conclude that fashion is a tool for not only self-expression, but self-promotion amongst millennial women in China. Results also show that the millennial generation is more diverse and comprehensive in terms of the choice of fashion, which contributes to the zeitgeist of this era.

Committee: Peter Chamberlain M.F.A. (Committee Chair); Brooke Brandewie (Committee Member); Vittoria Daiello Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Music

Since the nineteenth century, the Russian intelligentsia has fostered a conversation that blurs the boundaries of literature, the arts, and life. Bypassing more direct modes of political discourse blocked by Imperial and then Soviet censorship, arts reception in Russia has provided educated Russians with an alternative sphere for the negotiation of social, moral, and national identities. This discursive practice has endured through the turbulent political changes of the Russian revolution, Soviet repression, and the economic anxiety of contemporary Russia. Members of the intelligentsia who believe that individuals can and should work for the moral progress of the Russian people by participating in this conversation are constructing the Russian moral project. Near the end of the nineteenth century, members of the intelligentsia unofficially established a core set of texts and music—Russian klassika—that seemed to represent the best of Russian creative output. Although the canon seems permanent, educated Russians continue to argue about which texts are important and what they mean. Even Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin (1825-1833), a novel-in-verse that functions as the cornerstone of this canon, remains at the center of debate in a conversation about literature that is simultaneously a conversation about Russian life. Pushkin is considered the founder of Russia's literary language, and Russian readers and critics have endowed him with a saint-like status. His image has become a secular icon of Russian creative potential. The heroine of his magnum opus, Tatiana Larina, has in turn become an icon of Russian morality. As Russians interpret Onegin's themes and describe its characters, they also express what matters most in their own lives. The history of Onegin reception thus reflects the development of Russian ideas about life over the course of the last two centuries. Beginning in 1844, composers, theater directors, and choreographers have adapted Pushkin's (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Danielle Fosler-Lussier Dr. (Advisor); Alexander Burry Dr. (Committee Member); Ryan Thomas Skinner Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Dance; Gender Studies; Literature; Music; Performing Arts; Philosophy; Russian History; Slavic Literature; Slavic Studies; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Mass Communication (Communication)

This research broadly investigates mediated discourse and knowledge construction among media outlets commonly identified as "traditional" and "new." Specifically, this research represents a case study of fracking in the Bakken shale region of North Dakota. Using qualitative, interpretive methods this dissertation considers what knowledge(s) are constructed, upheld, and silenced in mediated representations of fracking in the Bakken. This dissertation draws upon a poststructural definition of discourse, which views knowledge and meaning as constructed realities, rather than Real in an objective sense (Castree, 2001, 2014; Foucault, 2010/1972; Hall, 1997). Although the power and resources required to produce discourse is unequal, taken-for-granted ways of thinking and doing are nevertheless always open to challenge from relatively less powerful sources. This is consistent with Foucault's (1995/1975) conception of power as circulatory and disciplinary, rather than oppressive. Data for this research come from a mix of “traditional” and "new" media sources. Some scholars argue that these distinctions become less important in a converged mediascape (Jenkins, 2006). Nevertheless, this research proceeds from the position that (1) the productive norms of traditional and new media could result in distinct knowledges and claims to truth, and furthermore (2) current research continues to distinguish between the productive norms and types of knowledge constructed by traditional and new media (e.g. Geiger and Lampinen, 2014; Kim, 2015). Scholars argue that traditional media represent objective accounts of events, whose texts are undeniably powerful shapers of knowledge, and disseminated by a professional caste culturally sanctioned to report on events, i.e. journalists (e.g. Gerhards and Schafer, 2010; Lockwood, 2011). Alternately, scholars note that new media, e.g. blogs and social media aggregators, present the lay public and under-represented organizations with productive (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lawrence Wood (Committee Chair); Jenny Nelson (Committee Member); Roger Aden (Committee Member); Harold Perkins (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Communications; Mass Media

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Music Ethnomusicology

Glee, a popular FOX television show that began airing in 2009, has continuously pushed the limits of what is acceptable on American television. This musical comedy, focusing on a high school glee club, incorporates numerous stereotypes and real-world teenage struggles. This thesis focuses on the queer characteristics of four female personalities: Santana, Brittany, Coach Beiste, and Coach Sue. I investigate how their musical performances are producing a constructive form of mass media by challenging hegemonic femininity through camp and by producing relatable queer female role models. In addition, I take an ethnographic approach by examining online fan blogs from the host site Tumblr. By reading the blogs as a digital archive and interviewing the bloggers, I show the positive and negative effects of an online community and the impact this show has had on queer girls, allies, and their worldviews.

Committee: Katherine Meizel (Advisor); Kara Attrep (Committee Member); Megan Rancier (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Music

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 Fine Arts (BFA), Ohio University, 2010, Film

In the age of constant Internet consumption, the geeky film audience demographic known as the “fanboy” is enjoying an unprecedented influence over the type of films Hollywood releases. An onslaught of superhero movies, comic book adaptations, and remakes produced in the last decade are no doubt the result of fanboys gaining credibility as critics through popular film blogs now frequented by Hollywood insiders. Instead of opening up the cinematic discourse online, however, these blogs only appear to serve as an extension of the male over female privilege nurtured by the Hollywood film industry since its inception. By focusing an overwhelming majority of attention on male centric films behind and in front of the camera, as well as fostering a community of hatred and degradation towards women in reader comments, these blogs succeed in deterring female fans from adding their perspective to the cinematic discourse, to the detriment of the quality of Hollywood films.

Committee: Jeanette Buck (Advisor); Tom Hayes (Committee Member); Maureen Wagner (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Demographics; Fine Arts; Gender; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Policy and Leadership

This dissertation is the result of a small ethnographic study of the blogs of women in graduate school. As a virtual ethnography, this study brought together current blog posts, archival data, email interviews, email conversations, comments of third parties, online field notes and a plethora of missing data. Using a poststructural framework, it examines the ways in which learning, subjectivity and agency are both constructed for and produced by the participants in the space of the blog. At the same time, it explores the genre of virtual ethnography as a method well suited to poststructural epistemology, incorporating difficult data, missing data and data-analysis, such as art, nonfiction and fiction writing. This project presents conceptualizations of learning, subjectivity and agency in the virtual space for women as a reworking of discourses with possibilities for a different kind of being. Cyborg learning and the metaphor of the blog as clone are two of the possibilities explored in this dissertation.

Committee: Patricia Lather PhD (Advisor); Jan Nespor PhD (Committee Member); Richard Voithofer PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Technology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, Arts Policy and Administration

The purpose of this thesis is to explore three threads of intertwining interest: knitting, artmaking, and qualitative inquiry. I explore the history of knitting as women's work, a creative outlet, and community activity and from this historical basis I investigate the contemporary role of knitting in women's culture. My contemporary analysis serves as the groundwork for creating a community knitted artwork. I approach this artmaking through mixed arts and feminist based qualitative methodology of A/r/tography and the corresponding methods of Autoethnography and Knitalong. To evaluate this work, I encouraged knitters to read, reflect, and revise the research findings and artmaking processes. I identify areas of resonance, transparency, communicability, and coherence throughout, highlighting ways in which this research can apply to other projects. My goal is to perpetuate knitting, engage in and encourage communal artmaking, and provide a forum for discussion about the role of knitting in the participants lives.

Committee: James Sanders III (Advisor); Candace Stout (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Fine Arts; Textile Research; Womens Studies

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

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2010, Linguistics (Arts and Sciences)

Teachers have always been challenged to integrate technology and teaching; and with the emergence of Web 2.0, they are allowed to make use of collaborative technologies such as moodles, wikis, and blogs in their language classrooms (Bloch, 2007; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Kessler, 2009; Kessler & Bikowski, 2010). Most previous research on the blogosphere discourse was conducted in either a face-to-face classroom or blended course environment. To fill this gap, this research focuses on a blog that was established independently and not as part of any language classroom, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Language Learning Blog. This study uses Littlewood's framework to examine the interaction between teachers and learners of English in blog postings to identify learners' autonomous abilities. The results suggest that learner autonomy was not a static concept, but rather exists on a continuum. Additionally, learner autonomy was developed when learners accessed the blog voluntarily, posted questions, and replied to teachers or other learners' responses.

Committee: Greg Kessler PhD (Committee Chair); Dawn Bikowski PhD (Committee Member); Peter Githinji PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Education; Language

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2011, English

Technology is becoming an essential tool in everyday lifestyles. Daily tasks are now utilizing phones, computers, televisions, and game systems for social interaction,individual achievement or entertainment, and education. School systems are integrating more technology in classrooms and instruction to meet the demands of an expanding digital society. Twenty-three eighth grade students participated in the study, which observed how blogs can foster audience awareness and revision during students' research paper writing process. While conducting peer conferencing on research papers, students'blog posts were observed and analyzed. According to the questionnaires and blog comment analysis, students preferred peer conferencing through blogs. In a comparison of the face-to-face conferencing groups to the blog groups, blog responses had greater detail, resulting in constant dialogue and sustained problem-solving rhetorical solutions in students' peer comments. From the twenty-three participants, two case studies were developed from two students who have different learning levels, but benefited academically through the blog. The two case studies demonstrated that students attained success as writers, readers, and motivators for others through the blog. This suggests that the online discussion boards can be a useful tool for the classroom instruction of research writing.

Committee: Margaret M. Strain PhD (Advisor); Jennifer E. Haan PhD (Committee Member); Bryan A. Bardine PhD (Committee Member); Sheila Hassell Hughes PhD (Committee Chair) Subjects: Composition; Education; Educational Technology; Technology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Theatre and Film

Although Mormons have been featured as characters in American media since the nineteenth century, the study of the performance of the Mormon religion has received limited attention. As Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) continues to appear as an ever-growing topic of interest in American media, there is a gap in discourse that addresses the implications of performances of Mormon beliefs and lifestyles as performed by both members of the Church and non-believers. In this thesis, I closely examine HBO's Big Love television series, the LDS Church's “I Am a Mormon” media campaign, Mormon “Mommy Blogs” and the personal performance of Mormons in everyday life. By analyzing these performances through the lenses of Stuart Hall's theories of encoding/decoding, Benedict Anderson's writings on imagined communities, and H. L. Goodall's methodology for the new ethnography the aim of this thesis is to fill in some small way this discursive and scholarly gap. The analysis of performances of the Mormon belief system through these lenses provides an insight into how the media teaches and shapes its audience's ideologies through performance.

Committee: Scott Magelssen Dr. (Advisor); Jonathan Lee Chambers Dr. (Committee Member); Lesa Lockford Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: American History; American Studies; History; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Performing Arts; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious History; Spirituality; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Communication Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine links between organization-public relationships and Millennial students'active social media behavior. The Millennial Generation is a key target audience who many public relations practitioners are certainly trying to reach. Social media tools are emerging as technology medium must-haves for public relations practitioners. This study looked at the collision of the new social media tools and the Millennial audience within the four models of public relations (Grunig and Hunt, 1984) through the relationship management framework lens. Four research questions and hypotheses were posed. Millennial students from two Midwestern universities were randomly selected to complete a survey on their relationship with the top 10 most social companies/brands as named by Ad Age, as well as the engagement with social media tools in general and specifically with those top 10 companies/brands. A total of 1,062 participants completed the survey. The break down of gender for the sample was consistent with the demographic makeup of both campuses as a whole with 43.6% male (n= 463) and 56.4% female (n= 599) completing the survey. Findings highlighted that Millennials engage with e-mail and social networking (e.g., MySpace/Facebook) more than other social media tools. For all companies/brands except CNN and Dell, as participants'general use of social media tools increased, their wanting to continue a relationship with the company/brand also increased. However, when Millennials were exposed to a variety of social media tools by each company/brand, no significant correlations were found for wanting their relationship to continue with that particular company/brand. No significant differences were found between gender and interaction with social media tools.

Committee: Terry Rentner (Advisor); Jim Foust (Committee Member); Emily Freeman Brown (Committee Member); Radhika Gajjala (Committee Member); Seth Oyer (Committee Member) Subjects: Marketing; Mass Media

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2006, English/Technical Writing

Students are motivated to use technology to write. Using this idea, teachers can assimilate what the students are already doing through personal websites/blogs and classroom content with a meaningful audience. Students, no matter gender or ability level, need to see that writing is a vehicle to show individual thought on subjects, and that this is powerful. Technology, such as web logs, can provide one part of the answer, but educators should recognize that the key to conscientious writing among students is that the students need to be a more active part of the educational community. The aim of this study is to shed light on a range of student needs, and show that the differing or ranges in levels of motivation to write with consideration for an audience can be addressed through web logs. A very real audience is out “there,” the Internet, for students to use.

Committee: Gary Heba (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2005, English/Rhetoric and Writing

This dissertation examines the public and private nature of personal weblogs written by adolescent girls. During a four-month observation period, the participants continue to post material to their weblogs and the posts during that time are available for examination and analysis. There is also an email interview and an end-of-study questionnaire that lend an inside view to the process. The reflection, collaboration, and mentoring that these blogs enable act as a feminist space as well as a personal one uniquely qualified for investigating identity. At the same time, the intersection of writing, introspection, and digital tools also lends the possibility of answering another feminist goal, that is expressed in AAUW's Tech Savvy of bringing more girls to the sciences and to make them more comfortable in digital spaces. I propose that identity development and the need for a space that is both public and private may be behind the steady increase proportionately and numerically of adolescent girls in the LiveJournal user base. From April 2004 to April 2005 the increase has been steady, with the female user base rising from 65.2% to 67.3%, the majority of those being between the ages of 15 and 21 as per the statistics on April 30, 2005. This indicates that a need is being filled and provides an important part of the rationale for my study. It is significant also because by sheer numbers, adolescent girls in personal weblogs are making the definition of what acceptable public discourse is more diffuse and inclusive.

Committee: Kristine Blair (Advisor) Subjects: Language, Rhetoric and Composition

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

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Popular Culture

Thinspiration images, meant to inspire weight-loss, proliferate online through platforms that encourage the circulation of user-generated content. Despite numerous alarmist critiques in mass media about thinspiration and various academic studies investigating 'pro-anorexia' sites, surprisingly little attention has been given to the processes of creation and the symbolic potential of thinspiration. This thesis analyzes the formal hybridity of thinspiration, and its use as an expressive medium. The particularities of thinspiration (including its visual characteristics, creative processes, and exhibition) may be considered carefully constructed instances of self-representation, hinging on the expression of beliefs regarding the mind and body. While these beliefs are deeply entrenched in popular body management discourse, they also tend to rely on traditional dualist ideologies. Rather than simply emphasizing slenderness or reiterating standard assumptions about beauty, thinspiration often evokes pain and sadness, and employs truisms about the transcendence of flesh and rebellion against social constraints. By harnessing individualist discourse and the values of mind/body dualism, thinspiration becomes a space in which people struggling with disordered eating and body image issues may cast themselves as active agents—contrary to images of eating disorders proffered by popular and medical discourse.

Committee: Marilyn Motz (Advisor); Rebecca Kinney (Committee Member); Jeremy Wallach (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Art Criticism; Communication; Folklore; Gender Studies; Health; Multimedia Communications; Social Research; Web Studies; Womens Studies

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