This study evaluates perception differences of male and female narrators in video game tutorials. Video games have long been considered a masculine pursuit, and because of this, women have endured unpleasant surroundings and interactions in gaming and related communities. With the proliferation of technologies like Twitch and YouTube gaming, gaming is more communicative than ever, increasing potential for problematic interactions. Recent booms in these technologies emphasize the importance of understanding how varying demographics are perceived, as these perceptions influence interactions, potentially limiting the likelihood of women and others' involvement and interest. Involvement in technology during youth is associated with interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers--all fields with disparities in women's employment. Measures included confidence, credibility, performance, trustworthiness, and leadership ability to better understand how the integration of communicative technologies into gaming influences perceptions based on cues--in this case, specifically voice. Male narrators were hypothesized to be evaluated as more confident and credible than female narrators overall, while performance, trustworthiness, and leadership evaluations were hypothesized to be moderated by one's own gender identity. No significant differences emerged, which suggests a positive change in climate for female gamers and leaders in the industry.

On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists’ use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists’ resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective identities via alternative news media’s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration’s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists’ collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists’ collective identities. As such, the UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence.

The internet is a major communication channel for universities. It makes sense to insure that a Web presence of a university is representative of the university's brand and is consistent throughout all Web sites within the university. This project researches and develops Web design tools that can provice standarized resources to Web designers, specifically for California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB).

Scientific evidence that the ocean plastic crisis is larger in scale and more sinister than previously thought continues to mount, but the rate of plastic production is only rising. What will it take to decisively turn the tide against plastic? We need scientists, politicians, and industry changemakers to continue producing knowledge and positive change in the industry, but we need to go further still. This thesis explores art as an alternative visual communication strategy with the capacity to encourage curiosity, empathy, and positive engagement with the issue of ocean plastics. The series of work explores bacterial bioluminescence as an artistic medium in juxtaposition with objects of found ocean plastic. The photographs in the series build on the concepts of mutualism, illumination, critical densities, and interspecies communication to reimagine how we might further the discourse around ocean plastic.

The tourism industry in the United States is constantly changing and being influenced by social media, specifically Instagram. Culinary brands use Instagram to advertise their restaurants and dishes in a creative, visual way. As a result, Instagram is now being used as a tool by tourists and both potential and current customers to share their dining experiences and find these locations based on the visual appeal. This study provides a content analysis of Instagram account information and photo composition within eight popular culinary tourism destinations by examining the strategies used by the accounts. 50 randomly selected photos were used from eight popular culinary tourism locations. Framing, Uses and Gratifications, and Diffusion of Innovation theories were the theoretical framework for the study. The results of this study indicated key characteristics of some of the most popular culinary tourism destinations on Instagram.

This dissertation examines the relational implications of the presence of mobile technology within the basic communication course. To guide the research and interpret the results Mottet, Frymier, and Beebe’s (2006) rhetorical and relational goals theory is utilized. To investigate this phenomenon a survey design was employed, and participants were asked to respond to open-ended, closed-ended, and descriptive questions. Results of this study shed light upon how and when university students use technology, as well as the positive and detrimental results such usage has upon the development and quality of their relationships in the classroom, both with instructors and other students. Results from this dissertation revealed that students are frequent and heavy users of mobile technology (particularly “social” applications), but generally do not feel as if they are dependent upon their devices. In open-ended responses, students described ways in which mobile technology facilitated out of class relationships with peers and instructors, but hindered the development of relationship with peers in the classroom; these descriptions aligned with the fact that students who exhibited or experienced phubbing (snubbing someone with one’s phone) described less classroom connectedness than their peers. While differing perceptions of classroom connectedness among students were correlated with differing experiences of phubbing, perceptions of rapport with instructors did not differ significantly among participants. Further, students who were more relationally oriented experienced higher perceptions of classroom connectedness than their more rhetorically oriented counterparts. Finally, students in this study generally prioritized rhetorical instructor attributes over relational ones. These results are further explored in the discussion portion of this dissertation.

Much investigation has explored the potential effects of video games in adolescence. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of social video game play and individual and relational well-being in adults. The Social Organization Theory of Action and Change (SOAC) may be a helpful way to examine social behaviors (like gaming) and how they relate to well-being. This exploratory study will utilize the SOAC to examine social gaming behaviors in adults, and examine the relationships between these behaviors and adult individual and relational outcomes (e.g., loneliness, relationship satisfaction). Descriptive statistics and correlations are provided. Regression analyses will be performed. Results will be used to discuss the viability of applying the SOAC to online, social gaming contexts. Implications for social video game play in adults will be provided.

Research has shown that individual members of traditional support groups gain a sense of identity and community and feelings of respect and support. Online support groups provide individuals avenues to find medical information and thus learn more about a given condition or illness. Little has been studied about the learning and instruction that occurs in online social support groups, especially in groups about chronic pain. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of members who participated in one open social support group. Siemen's constructivism theory served as the basis for comprehending the learning and instruction that took place in this group, and the research questions focused on the support group members' perceptions of this learning and instruction. Data were collected from 10 individuals who participated in a Facebook Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy support group. Yin's case study framework provided additional support data analysis. Data were collected through individual, semistructured telephone interviews and observations of online discussions. A combination of open and axial coding was used to support content analysis. Themes identified were learning, knowledge, persuasion, and acceptance of underlying negativity. Online social support group participation involved shared experiences that facilitated learning and instruction; these findings could influence the structures of other support groups. Positive social change occurs when individuals are knowledgeable and well educated about social support groups because it is in these groups that trends, issues, and new information are learned. Informal learning occurs with the increased digital skills, especially within a person's virtual support networks

Members of society today embrace multiple communication media for various purposes and intents. Text messaging has been identified as the medium of choice for continual relationship maintenance and text messaging from mobile devices overshadows all other media forms for the support of social connections. Text messaging is changing everything from how operators market their plans to how advertisers and service providers reach consumers. But just as technology usage of social media and internet access are different across generational boundaries, text messaging usage and habits may also be different for various generational groups. The majority of peer-reviewed research regarding text messaging usage habits has focused on adolescent and young adult users with less attention on text messaging usage habits by older adults; there is a scarcity of peer-reviewed research examining cross-generation text messaging habits and texting usage patterns. The primary goal of this study was to assess the similarities and differences in text messaging usage habits, purposes, and support of social connections differentiated by five of the commonly designated generational groups in America; the Post-War Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. A mixed methods study provided data on the text messaging usage habits of members of the generational groups using a pool of adult college students, members of the researcher’s LinkedIn network, and data from a survey service to determine to what extent differences and similarities exist between users’ text messaging usage habits within each generational group. Results indicated generational group membership has a significant effect on a participant’s messaging volume (UV), text messaging partner choices (TMPC), and text messaging social habits (SH), regardless of gender, education level, or employment status. The older the generational group, the more likely they are to prefer talking over texting and to have issues with the device interface. The Post-War Silent generation texts their spouses the least of any group, while Generation X texts their spouses the most, and all generational groups with the exception of Generation Z would limit texting while driving. Generational characteristics seem to have some influence over texting behaviors. Contributions to the existing body of knowledge in the human computer interaction field include an investigation of factors that contribute to each generational group’s willingness to embrace or reject the text messaging medium, and an investigation into the into how each generation views and exploits the texting medium.

The following paper examines the growing fear and discrimination currently projected towards Islam and Muslims in the United States. This thesis will specifically focus on what role the U.S. mainstream media has played in either increasing or decreasing Islamophobia amongst the American public post September 11, 2001. The research collected to conduct this study came from theories of political science, conflict resolution, international affairs, psychology, sociology, and personal interviews. I conclude that Islamophobia has increased in the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and that Islamophobia, due to the mainstream media, is more pervasive in the U.S. culture the initially assumed.