Ed.D., Antioch University, 2024, Education

As part of comprehensive whole-family out-of-school-time programming, parent engagement and education play an important role in addressing achievement and opportunity gaps in low- income neighborhoods. Parent groups have the potential to be a unique space of social justice work by creating supportive, innovative spaces to build social capital and organize around common action goals. This photovoice study looks specifically at “Parent University,” a parent out-of-school-time meeting group that focuses on empowerment education by providing opportunities for parents to meet, engage in rich consciousness raising dialogue, identify areas in need of change, and create and implement action for social change. This study will use photovoice, a participatory action research methodology, to examine the role of an urban after-school adult education program in developing and implementing community-based needs assessment. The study will also examine the identification of community need, the process of identifying issues of concern, and the tools and action steps to create collective change. Freire's critical consciousness theory, through his four stages of raising critical consciousness, was used to develop the conceptual theoretical framework through which the data was analyzed. Data was gathered through images and narratives produced by 20 caregiver participants using the photovoice SHOWeD method (Hergenrather et al., 2009). The findings constructed from the data generated themes of Resilience, Community Restoration, Abandonment, and Hope. Thematic analysis was used to explore and evaluate the collected data to identify themes and patterns. The photographs were then used as codes/tools to facilitate a discussion. They were then decoded through the discussion, during which the ideas and thoughts from the participants' lived experiences were shared. The findings will inform educational specialists, policymakers, practitioners, and other relevant officials work (open full item for complete abstract)

MFA, Kent State University, 2024, College of Communication and Information / School of Visual Communication Design

Conflict resolution is evolving as an academic field of study, with many new developing theories and practices. Interpersonal conflict comes from interactions between people with real or perceived opposing goals, resources, or viewpoints. From there, people naturally react somewhere on a spectrum of the five conflict styles: competing, collaborating, compromising, accommodating, or avoiding, depending on their level of concern for their needs vs their concern for others' needs. Misunderstanding or miscommunication of these needs and concerns creates significant barriers to conflict resolution. In doing so, individuals may not understand or address the roots of their conflict. For successful conflict resolution, those involved must clearly identify and communicate their issues, reach an understanding, and collaboratively develop solutions to address the sources of that specific conflict. This process relies on communication and collaborative problem-solving. Visual communication design is a valuable resource for problem-solving, sharing information, and providing perspective. There are significant components of conflict resolution based on communication and awareness of an individual's needs and concerns. Miscommunication is a significant barrier in conflict resolution when individuals believe they understand the other without having all the information or understanding concerns and needs from the other's perspectives. Design can play a crucial role in displaying clear communication while creating a user journey to guide through the numerous layers that factor into conflict. Design can create a visual impact to influence new understanding and awareness on both conscious and unconscious levels. This is done by creating new perspectives or motivations through organization and visual messaging to best impact a desired goal. Utilizing interaction design as a tool for communication, can design resolve issues with miscommunication or misinformation as it pertains to navi (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, EDU Policy and Leadership

This study asked what elements should be included in a cognitive accessibility heuristic framework for parent-educators to compare STEM educational video games for K-5 level autistic children who require substantial supports? To provide an answer to this question, two component questions were asked: 1) “which computer learning game environment and affordance considerations should be included in a cognitive accessibility heuristic framework?” and 2) “which elements of which evidence-based practices should be included in a cognitive accessibility heuristic framework?” A heuristic framework was created that poses questions regarding autism cognitive accessibility considerations for game settings, user interface elements, and user interaction feedback elements that align with evidence-based practices for autism. A small group of 10 participants were parent-educators of autistic children who met the study question criteria and were solicited by convenience and snowball sampling. The heuristic was tested against two STEM-based computer learning games at the K-5 curricular level, specifically Box Island and Peg Plus Cat – Music Maker). Participants were asked to evaluate the heuristic against these games based on how they thought their autistic children would perceive the game experience. Data showed that the list of questions included in the heuristic appropriately considered autism cognitive accessibility when evaluating computer STEM-based computer learning game settings, when reviewing the game environment interface, and when responding to user interaction. The study concluded that participants considered all questions were valuable and should be included. Since the relative importance of some questions differed amongst participants, the heuristic also demonstrated sufficient flexibility to accommodate varying needs of the participants' autistic players. Participants indicated that stepping through the heuristic provided heightened awareness of autistic percept (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This portfolio-style dissertation includes four articles on topics in fanfiction studies and queer theory, ready to be submitted for review and publication in academic journals. Each article addresses aspects of transformative writing and fan engagement in the 21st century, including: 1. How fans transfer social media tagging practices to the curated folksonomy of Archive of Our Own to create new genres of short form writing, and how fan writers have developed new ways to use digital platforms and technologies in their transformative writing. 2. How fans use the conventions of fanfiction microgenres to critique the canon media, and how they use these fan works to communicate this critique or to form communities with one another. 3. How and when fans engage with or communicate queer readings to increasingly more accessible media creators, and how media creators respond to queer readings and/or accusations of queerbaiting. 4. How fan works and transformative writing fit into, influence, or reinterpret the broader culture surrounding media texts. In addressing these topics, I explore fan practices and analyze transformative works from three fandoms, Good Omens, Leverage, and Pride and Prejudice.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Transmasculine identities on the social media app TikTok have recently popularized use of the app's video-centered format to perform masculinity in more fluid and/or anarchistic ways. One result is an increase in femme expressions of transmasculinity which minimize or even directly contradict hegemonic masculine norms. To explore how femininity is constructed to assert one's transmasculinity, I will analyze the ways TikTok's multimodality as well as creators' visual gendered performances serve as tools for constructing an online trans identity beyond a gender binary. This thesis defines multimodal constructions of transmasculinity, theorizes potential effects of femme transmasculinity, and assesses how differences in racial identity influence presentation of femme transmasculinity. In doing so, I determine that the multimodality of TikTok allows transmasculine TikTok creators to construct counter-hegemonic performances that guide viewers on how to read and interpret gender existing beyond the gender binary.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines how three major American newspapers reported on paleontology during the 1990s. Paleontology experienced a popularity spike in the 1990s with the Jurassic Park films breaking film records and bringing dinosaurs to the forefront of the public consciousness. A number of important specimens were found and improving technology revolutionized the field, leading to numerous discoveries. This study documents which topics within paleontology the media reported on the most and what news values drove this reporting. Additionally, this study analyzes the occurrence rate of a few common tropes, metaphors and mistakes often associated with paleontology within news articles. This thesis examines USA Today, The New York Times, and The Associated Press's coverage of paleontology due to their status as being amongst the largest news organizations and running wire services which distributed their work across the United States. This study applies the revised news values proposed by Harcup and O'Neill to gauge which news values are used by reporters and editors when covering paleontology and to determine if these revised news values are applicable to science journalism.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Music History

This dissertation examines the social contexts for music livestreams, in order to lay the groundwork for future studies of both livestreaming as a whole and individual case studies. No frameworks currently exist for analyzing music livestreams. Although the technologies of livestreaming have been evolving over the past few decades, there have been no organized or successful attempts to standardize the ways we understand and study this fast-growing medium for music performance. Chapter 1 provides basic definitions of livestreaming, and then emphasizes the framework of liveness, arguing that although livestreaming technologies developed relatively recently, the practice of transmitting and receiving live music has been developing since the late-nineteenth century. I examine livestreaming as a continuation of broadcast media wrapped up with conceptions of liveness that have been constantly transforming over the long twentieth century. Chapter 2 connects livestreaming with the social media platforms that have emerged in the past two decades. I also position livestreaming within discussions and anxieties surrounding attention and distraction in the context of digital media. In Chapter 3 the discussion of attention extends into the realm of joint attention, and the ways livestreaming engages our attentive capacities in groups to facilitate specific modalities of participation—observational, reactive, and generative. Finally, the conclusion pulls these frameworks together to demonstrate their use in an analysis of music livestreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the patterns of behavior and audience engagement, conceptions of liveness during the pandemic, and the effects of these factors on the social aspects of live music.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Studies, Xavier University, 2023, Leadership Studies and Human Resource Development

This study was designed to explore the relationship between normal, non-SMI Instagram users' Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) attitudes (Fiedler, 1971) and their self-reported purposes (self, social, therapeutic, and directive) for posting on Instagram, as measured by Wang's (2020) Purposes of Online Memory Sharing Scale (POMSS) assessment. A convenience sample of participants was solicited from the employees of a Midwestern marketing and data analytics company, who were also invited to post the solicitation message to their contacts on social media. Anonymous survey respondents completed the two validated assessment instruments on a secure Qualtrics server. Linear correlation analysis conducted by the dissertation advisor was used to test directional hypotheses predicting statistical relationships between LPC scores and four POMSS subscales assessing reasons for posting on Instagram: self, social, therapeutic and directive. LPC was predicted to be positively correlated with social and therapeutic motivations for posting on Instagram and negatively correlated with self and directive motivations. None of the correlations between LPC and POMSS were significant, thus none of the directional hypotheses tested were supported. LPC was found to have no utility for predicting reasons why individuals post to Instagram.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This teacher-action research project explores using critical contemplative pedagogy in an upper elementary classroom setting to determine how youth media practices can be informed with combined critical media literacy instruction and contemplative exercises. Analysis of students' media production and deconstructions reveal promising outcomes for enhancing students' media literacy as well as relationships to self and others as formed through media use. A teacher-researcher curriculum provides a structured yet flexible critical contemplative experience for students, and research outcomes are analyzed through students' responses along the Center for Medial Literacy's Five Key Questions, Tatum's Seven Categories of Otherness, and Kaufman's Five Dimensions of Critical Contemplative Pedagogy. The efficacy of a critical contemplative approach to media literacy education and the implications for educators hoping to adopt such practices, as well as potential impacts on those inside and outside of the classroom, are addressed through this year-long snapshot of a classroom.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Media and Communication

Understanding both gender and fandom as performative can help to identify and describe ways in which fans and fandom become gendered, influences of patriarchy on fandom, and how gendered hierarchies form. With an eye toward performativity, this dissertation explores gendering of fans and fandom through social and cultural forces, pressures within fandom, and influences from texts around which fandoms are built. Additionally, the dissertation examines the ways fandom spaces themselves become gendered and sometimes contested. Using theoretical frameworks of Judith Butler's theory of performativity, Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, this dissertation explores the Star Wars fandom as a gendered and contested space through the following research questions: RQ1: How is language used in Star Wars fan communities to uphold and perpetuate patriarchy and its associated phenomena of sexism and misogyny? RQ2: How is language used in Star Wars fan communities to resist patriarchy and its associated phenomena of sexism and misogyny? The dissertation employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to study textual interactions of Star Wars fans at the Jedi Council Forums. It follows James Paul Gee's methodological approach to CDA, which highlights discourse in the interest of social justice, how sentence-level analysis can reveal writers' use of language, and Gee's seven building tasks for language use: Significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems and knowledge. Because fandom is growing increasingly mainstream, this dissertation foregrounds women's stories and experiences to explain ways in which women audiences interact with and participate in media they consume and argues for future research in a political economy approach to understanding women audience members in creation of media and its subsequent marketing. It highlights an intersectional approach that considers how factors s (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, French and Italian

In the last thirty years, Italy has experienced an unprecedented demographic revolution. Today, about 10% of the Italian population, five million, are of foreign origins. Migrants living in Italy come from more than one hundred countries. Nevertheless, Italian mass media and political discourses have increasingly depicted the arrival of these persons as a crisis menacing Italy's political stability, an emergency threatening Italian society, identity, and future. In contrast, contemporary Italian documentary has produced a significant body of work that can be defined as "of migration”: documentaries that narrate contemporary migrations moving to, across, and within Italy, which engage with the complexity of human mobility. This dissertation investigates non-fiction films' audiovisual language, production, and distribution practices in Italy by showing how Italian emigration and colonial pasts influence contemporary perceptions of migration phenomena and the Italian national identity. Exploring documentaries produced between 2006 and 2019, I analyze their nuanced representations and narratives. Within the corpus of non-fiction films I discuss, a strain of non-fiction films embraces a poetics of emergency that focuses on the dramatic spectacle of the endangered bodies of the migrants and promotes a humanitarian approach to the migration ‘problem' but, in so doing, reinforces the obsession for the space of the border and the primacy of images in sense-making. The privileged space to investigate the reality of human mobility is the Central Mediterranean Route that connects sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, East African, and North Africa to Europe. Thousands of migrants cross the Mediterranean to reach the Italian (and European) shores whenever possible. Every year, thousands die during the attempt. These documentaries show you the unfolding of the humanitarian crises at sea. A second strain of documentaries embraces what I call poetics of urgency: a filmmaking approach t (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism

Streaming Killed The Radio Star: Economic and Consumer Behavior Trends in the Age of Music Streaming is a three-episode podcast that seeks to understand the current economic landscape of the music industry and consider the implications of such a landscape. Over the course of 13 interviews, we seek to understand consumer thoughts, behaviors, and opinions on topics of music streaming, artist compensation, cancel culture, and ethical consumption. Accompanying the podcast series is an academic paper explaining the theory and process of its creation.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism (Communication)

As more and more media outlets use Instagram to disseminate news it is important to examine how this novel way of presenting information affects journalistic quality. By conducting a qualitative content analysis of the Instagram accounts of six media outlets from Germany and the U.S., different quality criteria of journalism, differences between media houses, and different modes of distribution are examined in the given thesis. Results point to the conclusion that high journalistic quality is possible on Instagram. However, major differences between the media outlets are apparent: While a coherent structure in presenting news on Instagram can enhance quality, promoting corresponding online articles on Instagram, a feature commonly employed by private news outlets, results in lower journalistic quality. So far, only digital native accounts extensively make use of the new possibilities of features on Instagram like interactivity while maintaining a relatively high standard of quality. Overall, journalists need to balance maintaining a high-quality standard with adapting to the novel features offered on Instagram. Results add to the state of research on quality in digital journalism.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, Communication Studies (Communication)

As an African woman who was born in Cameroon which is in Western Africa then grew up in Kenya, an East African country, I have heard stories of different cultural practices that African women in any of the African countries that I have lived in and/or visited, face. One such practice is female genital cutting (FGC), which refers to the surgical altering or complete removal of the female genitalia. This dissertation study seeks to understand the perspectives that FGC survivors in Kenya have towards FGC and their attitudes toward the practice. 15 to 20 women who have survived FGC were interviewed over a 6-week period. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 4 million girls and women in Kenya have undergone one form or the other of Female Genital Cutting (FGC). This makes up 21% of the country's female population (UNICEF, 2020). Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the official medical term given by Western scholarship and organizations, to the intentional deformation or complete removal of the female prepuce without any medical justification. However, there has been resistance to the use of the word mutilation when referring to FGC, as that falls under the patronizing nature of the West over traditional practices from the Global South and is perceived as offensive by people who come from FGC-practicing communities. Past studies also argue that most women who have undergone FGC do not consider themselves to be mutilated. In agreement with these arguments and as an act of decolonizing the FGC discourse as well as respecting all those who are affected by FGC, I choose to use the term FGC in this study instead of FGM. I also choose to refer to girls and women who have undergone FGC as survivors instead of victims. As Njambi (2004) argues, so long as we view FGC through the eyes of the West as a barbaric and savage practice where those who undergo it are being oppressed, then we take away their agency. By referring to (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Media and Communication

This dissertation seeks to understand how sports fans organize, mobilize, and interact through social media to discuss protests against sports league policies that fans believe to be unjust. In our case, Major League Soccer (MLS) instituted a new league policy in 2019 that in general, banned political speech within MLS stadiums. After reports of hateful chants and instigations of violence in MLS stadiums from far-right hate groups, MLS fans began rallying around the anti- fascist symbol of the Iron Front in hopes to deter the hate groups from entering the stadiums. Major League Soccer perceived the Iron Front imagery to fall under their prohibition of political speech and began to ban fans that displayed the symbol of the Iron Front at MLS matches. Utilizing the theoretical lenses of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Political Process Theory (PPT), Image Restoration, and Dialogic Communication, this study examines how fan-driven social movement form, how they achieve their goals, and how sports leagues respond with particular reference to MLS. Through the implementation of Critical Discourse Analysis, posts and comments relating to the Iron Front protests from MLS subreddit, r/MLS, as well as related Twitter posts were examined to monitor fan reactions. Additionally, Tweets from multiple official MLS accounts were investigated to gauge any public acknowledgement of the protests. Overall, the Iron Front protests, which I have called the New Iron Front due to their co-opting of the anti-fascist symbol, formed an anti- racist and anti-fascist social movement which incorporated several key aspects of CRT. Other findings indicated that the New Iron Front both created and took advantage of political opportunities that became available as they engaged in protests against league policy. From a public relations perspective, Major League Soccer severely underestimated the strength and longevity of the New Iron Front movement. As a result, MLS was forced into multiple strategi (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Cognitive Linguistics

Given the role of distributional semantics in child language acquisition, adult linguistic development, and the conceptualization of abstract entities, the present investigation seeks to explore if the variable frequency of linguistic utterances across clusters of users in a social network can be correlated with divergent interpretations of an ostensibly shared concept within a discursive community. Are differing rates of linguistic entrenchment within a community a marker of divergent conceptualization? To begin to address this question, this present pilot study details the socio-cognitive processes underlying entrenchment of language and concepts, and develops a method for studying divergent conceptualization in the online social media network Twitter.

Bachelor of Science of Media Arts and Studies (BSC), Ohio University, 2022, Media Arts and Studies

Prosocial video games and, by extension, non-player characters are positively associated with empathy and learning prosocial values. Therefore, if designed with believability in mind, persistent non-player characters can create unique player-focused stories that inspire real-life change. Companion is a role-playing game that focuses on cultivating believable relationships between the player and non-player follower characters to increase empathy and teach players prosocial values that will transfer into reality.

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism

On January 6, 2021, while Congress was certifying the electoral college votes that would certify Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, sitting president, Donald Trump, held a rally. The presidential election, held during the height of the pandemic, was the topic of controversy as President Trump spread lies about voter fraud from mail-in ballots. Twitter was used throughout the election season as a way for President Trump and his supporters to spread misinformation regarding the legitimacy of the election, and later, Joe Biden's win. All of the rumors and lies culminated on the day of the certification, as angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, breaching the building and causing an evacuation of staff. Many people were injured, some died, and around 800 people were charged in connection with the riot. Additionally, President Trump and 70,000 other users were banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation. This thesis focuses on the aftermath of the event and the subsequent rally held on September 18, 2021 in support of the people who were criminally charged. Using a social media analysis of Twitter from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, the aim was to analyze Twitter discourse around controversial events and compare First Amendment rights to escalation of events on social media. The findings suggest that Twitter is not a tool for escalation, rather people find like-minded groups on Twitter and tailor their content towards them, with no intention of interacting with opposing viewpoints. This creates an environment where users feel like they have the freedom to say whatever they want, no matter how aggressive or damaging, without consequence.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the production processes and practices of German podcasts and podcast episodes. For this study, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 independent German podcasters, and the empirical data was analyzed using Grounded Theory. The results show that podcasting is mainly concerned with episode production ‒ which can be segmented into pre-production, recording, and post-production stage ‒ and monetization. Each stage is composed of a variety of sub-processes and practices that influence each other throughout the episode production and monetization process. The results further show that the production of German podcasts is becoming increasingly professionalized, even though most podcasters still produce their podcasts in their spare time.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, English (Arts and Sciences)

This study explores how a single visual from an online NASA article gets used as evidence in three different online contexts. The author found these new online contexts using Google Images reverse search function. In locating these visuals in new online contexts, this study analyzes how the visual events contained within a single figure correspond to the linguistic portions of the online contexts. The resulting analysis found that the visual and linguistic connections show that the writers in these online contexts used the same figure as evidence to make different yet similar arguments. Moreover, this reverse search method was applied to junior composition course for the purpose of seeing how effectively the author's method helped composition students identify visuals as arguments.