PHD, Kent State University, 2016, College of Communication and Information / School of Communication Studies

This study investigated the use of iPods or similar digital portable music players under tenants of mood-management theory. Participants filled out measures and listened to any song on their personal music players. When examining variables individually, the type of music participants selected was related to their mood, anticipation of future activities, and motives. When investigating a model of song selection, mood, gender, anticipation of future activities, and motives all predicted the type of song participants selected. These findings confirm and contradict portions of mood-management theory and the mood adjustment approach.

Committee: Paul Haridakis PhD (Advisor); Catherine Goodall PhD (Committee Member); Mei-Chen Lin PhD (Committee Member); Danielle Coombs PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Communications

Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2017, Art

The Napster revolution at the turn of 21st century toppled recorded music revenue streams as peer-to-peer file-sharing and piracy tore listeners away from music retailers and left a power vacuum at the center of the music industry. From 2008-2016, streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube emerged as the de facto leaders in the free culture of recorded music. This paper examines the impact of streaming services on local musicians and explores possible design interventions to improve financial returns of streaming for local acts. Streaming revenues accounted for 51% of recorded music revenue in 2016, but local artists, without the financial resources of major record labels, are not enjoying the financial revival. Favoring regional talent in streaming algorithms and incorporating existing plugins or widgets into the user interface of streaming platforms can funnel more revenue toward local artists.

Committee: Dennis Cheatham (Committee Chair); Richard Campbell (Committee Member); Diane Fellows (Committee Member); Chris Strobel (Other); Glenn Platt (Other) Subjects: Fine Arts; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Multimedia Communications; Music; Performing Arts; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

The current study investigated whether four Deaf students with developmental disabilities could learn a chain of independent living skills and follow activity schedules using a combination of the two iPod Touch applications (apps): inPromptu and First Then Visual Schedule. Using a multiple probe across participants design, the study examined the effects of the intervention on skill acquisition and generalization to untrained independent living skills and novel sequences of activity schedules after the students mastered the use of the two iPod apps. All participants successfully acquired a variety of independent living skills using video prompting. Three of the four participants were able to follow varied and novel activity schedules after they were trained to follow the fixed order activity schedule. Multiple exemplars were needed for one participant to master varied and novel activity schedules. In addition, all participants successfully followed activity schedules in an untrained setting (e.g., school dorm). This study extended the current literature on video prompting and activity schedules by incorporating both approaches and testing their generalization effects. As such, the study provided new practices that may increase functional independence for Deaf students with developmental disabilities.

Committee: Joe Wheaton (Advisor); Helen Cannella-Malone (Committee Member); Peter Paul (Committee Member); Margaretha Izzo (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2010, Computer Science and Engineering

Presently, The Ohio State University (OSU) routinely uses email and websites to communicate with students. These approaches do not provide real-time communication and they also contribute to a student's current information overload. Under the present system students cannot receive immediate and cost-effective notification of emergencies or upcoming campus events. One instance of the above problem occurs while new and prospective students are presented with a great deal of information during orientation programs on campus. This is burdensome for tour guides, who must remember all this information, and is also prone to error. For instance, they might lead a group of students past the recently renovated library but might forget to mention the renovations. Connected Campus (CC) provides a new platform that enables free, instantaneous communication. CC sends push notifications via OSU Wireless to students' mobile devices, each of which is uniquely tied to an OSU username (name.n), and is free for use by any OSU affiliate. CC comprises of a mobile device application, which receives the notifications, and a web application, which transmits them. CC thus overcomes the limitations of existing university communication systems and also satisfies the need for a cost-effective, real-time communication platform. From a student perspective, it is desirable to simply receive pushed information on a mobile device than having to reach out and pull the information from email or the web. The pushed information will be transmitted as short notifications to quickly capture student's attention and deliver content. Orientation leaders can distribute CC-equipped mobile devices to new and prospective students. As they pass a particular location on campus with OSU Wireless access, the CC server can send push notifications to student's devices informing them about that building's purposes, policies, and upcoming events, based on the location details sent from the device. This reduces the b (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Dong Xuan PhD (Advisor); Dr. Feng Qin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; School Administration

PHD, Kent State University, 2010, College of Communication and Information / School of Communication Studies

Despite college students' widespread use of portable MP3 players, personal stereo research has been lacking and, thus, our understanding of MP3-player use has been limited. Furthermore, some critics have raised concern that listening to music on MP3 players is displacing users' social interaction. However, some reports have suggested that MP3-player use can facilitate some types of social interaction. I examined college students' MP3-player use and social interaction to address the aforementioned criticisms and to bolster our understanding of the process and outcomes of MP3-player-music listening. Uses and gratifications theory guided my study because it explains how people's background characteristics, reasons for using media, media exposure, and activity with media content work together to influence subsequent behavior. Specifically, I examined some relationships among college students' loneliness, motives to listen to music on an MP3 player, time spent listening to MP3-player music, activity (i.e., attention and elaboration) with MP3-player music, and four types of social interaction (i.e., time spent socializing, participation in social activities, post-listening discussion of music, and music file-sharing). Based on uses and gratifications theory, I developed research questions and hypotheses regarding college students' MP3-player use and social interaction. A principal component factor analysis revealed seven reasons college students listened to MP3-player music: entertainment/relaxation; boredom alleviation; companionship; social utility; learning; social avoidance; and fashion/status. Partial correlations, controlling for students' age, gender, grade level, household income, and number of roommates, were used to examine some relationships among background characteristics, MP3-player-use motives, time spent listening, activity with MP3-player music, and some types of social interaction. Students' time spent listening to MP3-player music, attention to music, a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Haridakis PhD (Advisor); Danielle Coombs PhD (Committee Member); Janet R. Meyer PhD (Committee Member); Stanley T. Wearden PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Media; Music

Master of Education, Cleveland State University, 2010, College of Education and Human Services

Accurate measurement of energy expenditure, distance, and speed are desired by many runners. There are many commercially available devices for measuring these components in overground running. Purpose: The purpose of this research study was to compare the accuracy of distance, speed, and energy expenditure of overground running with two different devices: the Garmin Forerunner 405CX GPS and the Nike + iPod. Methods: Subjects consisted of 15 runners recruited from the Cleveland running community. The subjects were composed of 9 males and 6 females ranging in age from 18-55 years old. After a quarter mile calibration, the subjects ran a 3 mile measured course on an outdoor path. All devices were started simultaneously and compared. Inferential statistics (one-way ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Results: A significant difference for energy expenditure was seen between the GPS and indirect calorimeter (p=.007) and also between the GPS and the Nike (p=.008). A significant difference in distance was seen between the Nike and the measured distance (p=.0001) and the GPS to the Nike (p=.0001). Conclusion: The GPS unit can be an accurate measuring tool for distance and the Nike can be accurate for measuring energy expenditure in overground running.

Committee: Kenneth Sparks PhD (Committee Chair); Kathleen Little PhD (Committee Member); Sheila Patterson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Energy; Health; Recreation

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