The increasing popularity of the social web and online communities requires the attention of researchers of conflict resolution. Although there are many ways to resolve conflict offline, the ways in which conflict takes place within a native online context have not been much studied. Are any of the tools and strategies that are used to improve communication offline used successfully online, or are some other strategies taking their place? What communication patterns occur within an online community equipped with comment moderation capabilities? This research is a case study and addressed these questions by performing a qualitative analysis of comment conversations within two diaries that discussed a conflict event known as the Pie Fight within the Daily Kos community in June, 2005. The findings of this research are organized into three sections, which discuss behaviors related to Communication Style, Conflict Minimization or Avoidance, and community members' response to Comment Moderation (Ratings). Novel communication style behaviors which were noted included the use of cut-and-paste "paraphrasing" which was used to escalate conflict rather than resolving it, medium blaming when the writer's own words were quite obviously provocative, and extended leave-taking as a means of maintaining relationships before departing from the community. Conflict minimization or avoidance behaviors included the assumption that removal of discussion about the conflict by deleting an entire diary and comments threads would somehow resolve the disagreements included in them it, the use of benign verbal aggression which seemed to bring some segments of the community together, and the temporary or permanent departure from the community by members who took part in the conflict discussion. Ratings moderation created another point of conflict when negative ratings were threatened, although negative ratings were used mainly to address unproductive language rather than punish differences of opinion. The use of positive ratings to offer silent support or appreciation to members whose reasoned comments received a dismissive response was also observed. These findings could be used in future research about the suitability of online communities as sites of deliberative discussion.

Using case study methods, four crises that were reported in the past 36 months were examined to see if university officials modified established crisis communication plans to better respond to messages and rumors on social networking. Two of the crises dealt with safety issues and two were reputational crises designed to discredit the institution. Four communication professionals were also interviewed for their opinions about social networking use during crises. The study concludes that universities should adopt a social networking aspect into crisis communication plans, including preauthorizing specific types of messages to be released during the first few minutes of a crisis without review from higher administrators. A model of this new crisis communication plan is included. Social media use is also recommended during other stages of a crisis to better inform the community of what is happening on a campus.

Throughout history, technology has evolved to help empower communities of color. In the twenty-first century, online social networking sites have changed the way people communicate with their peers, employers and the world. Online social media sites have brought demands for further exploration using social media sites. Online social media has influenced social change, and has become the voice of the new era. Facebook and Twitter have been the leading tools used to communicate world events, social gatherings, revolutions and everyday events. Communication scholars have begun to research the phenomenon of how social media sites are being used to socialize communities of color. In the digital age, researchers are using methods such as uses and gratification to understand and investigate why African-Americans are using online social media sites as a tool to communicate. Researchers focus on questions such as why are African-Americans interested in sharing personal information online, and how do African-Americans use different social media sites to engage. In this research, Facebook was one of the most popular sites used in the African-American communities to communicate by posting pictures, exchanging information and posting daily activities. There are several reasons for social online media sites in the African-Americans community, such as entertainment, socialization, information-seeking, business and education. The study found African-American young adults use social media sites to engage in daily activities and information seeking. Further explanations of observed finding were provided in the thesis.

Digital content production on user generated Internet media sites has opened up new channels for creators to publish and exhibit their work. This exploratory study uses content analysis, survey, and interview responses from the “I Love Ladies” survey circulating on YouTube, an initiative to encourage dialogue about women and digital content production, in order to identify the cultural and structural aspects of the medium which shape women’s participation and recognition. This community-driven initiative is used as an entry point into the user experiences, site structure, and socio-cultural context of YouTube to better understand how inclusion and exclusion function in discourse communities on commercial, user-generated Internet media sites. By tracking disparities between what is discussed and what is not referenced by participants of this initiative, I developed a series of possible interventions to foster more equal and meaningful participation in Internet content production. The study is therefore designed to forward the feminist agenda toward social justice and greater equality with regard to distribution, recognition, and representation for women (Fraser, 2010). This study contributes empirical evidence and actual user perspectives to work towards a more nuanced understanding of how commercial, user-generated Internet media content can enable and constrain civic engagement for historically underrepresented groups.

This thesis seeks to respond to the existing dearth of work on practical matters of intersemiotic translation in translation studies thus far by turning to other disciplines that have explored comparable phenomena in greater depth. In particular, in the current atmosphere of media convergence and transmedia production, characterized by the ubiquity of adaptations, remakes, spin-offs, and sequels in the entertainment industry, cross-media adaptation represents one of the most common and prominent forms of intersemiotic translation. Therefore, the various fields of inquiry related to current phenomena of intersemiotic translation, including adaptation studies, film studies, fan studies, and media studies in general, offer relevant and informative models for expanding our understanding of success in intersemiotic translation. The methodology employed involves an interdisciplinary descriptive approach, using examples of cross-media adaptation found in the works of one successful intersemiotic translator, Joss Whedon. Acknowledging the contextually contingent nature of any such case study, the findings of this thesis identify all three participants in cultural production—form, producer, and audience—as active contributors in the successful production and perpetuation of intersemiotic translations. In particular, this thesis explores possible causes of success in relation to specific cross-media adaptations, proposes attributes of the successful intersemiotic translator, and examines how the reiterative behaviors of active audiences, such as rereading, reinterpretation, and rewriting, help to extend a work’s success. The capacity to inspire a continuing tradition of translation is itself a key contributing factor to the success of an intersemiotic translation and is most often performed with the collaboration of a community of interpreters. Achieving success is therefore a collective endeavor and a continual process of sustaining a work’s presence in the collective consciousness by renewing its value across temporal, cultural, and semiotic systems. Based on these findings, notions of form, production, and reception in intersemiotic translation are understood by proposing a model of convergent translation, the notion of the auteur-translator, and a collaborative understanding of the construction of a text and its significance through the afterlife of translation.

This thesis examines the discursive arguments made by activist and advocacy organizations that are active supporters or opponents of immigration in the United States. This project especially considers the role of new media as a way for different organizations to distribute their perspectives, construct knowledge, and organize support around their stances on immigration. While old media such as television, radio, and print continue to be important in framing the issue of immigration, new media such as websites and social networking, as well as media technology such as text messaging, are starting to reorganize and expand the spaces in which these controversial debates take place. In recognition of the complexity and divisiveness of the immigration debate, this thesis takes into account a diverse group of organizations that focus on different aspects of immigration including the role of temporary migrant workers, undocumented immigrants, and legal immigrants. In the post 9/11 era controversy over immigration has been renewed and heightened. Immigrants and migrants moving from the Global South have especially been targeted by pervasive anti-immigrant rhetoric dispersed by the media, politicians, and civil society groups. This thesis analyzes how culture, the economy, and citizenship, as well as race and racism are framed by both immigration critics and advocates as a means of impacting legislation, swaying public opinion, and in constructing a vision for the future of immigration and immigrants in the United States.

The primary goal of this thesis was to provide a snapshot of the portrayal of bullying on teen television. Drawing from contextual factors studied in the National Television Violence Study (Smith et al., 1998), a content analysis of 82 episodes (representing 10 series) and 355 acts of bullying was conducted to examine portrayals of physical, verbal, indirect, and cyber bullying in terms of bully and victim social status, motivations, humor, punishments/rewards, character support for bullies, harm shown to victims, interventions by third parties, and anti-bullying episode themes. The analysis revealed significant differences across bullying types for all variables except third party intervention, with portrayals of physical and verbal bullying identified as most “high-risk” (i.e. depicting bullying in ways that research suggests increase the likelihood of negative effects), and portrayals of cyber bullying identified as least “high-risk” for the majority of contextual elements. More generally, the analysis demonstrated that a substantial amount of bullying on teen television sends some concerning messages to young viewers, including the notion that bullying can be funny, harmless, and go without punishment. Complementing the content analysis, an exploratory textual analysis of 294 online fan posts related to bullying portrayed on Glee was performed to capture a representation of potential audience interpretations and intertexts (consumed alongside the television text). The analysis pointed to four major themes across posts: categories of bullying, messages about bullying promoted by characters, contextual elements of bullying, and feelings about characters involved in bullying. In terms of audience responses, the themes highlighted how some fans think critically about bullying portrayals and their implications, distinguish between different types of bullying, and identify with characters. In terms of intertexts, the trends suggested that fans might be exposed to a variety of messages that both criticize and support high-risk depictions of bullying, and defend and rebuke bullying behavior (depending on the characters involved). Combined, the content analysis and textual analysis underlined the importance of media bullying as a topic of scholarly inquiry, revealing that teen bullying is a unique and complex media phenomenon that audiences respond to and interpret in a multitude of ways.

This study examines text messaging behavior of ETSU undergraduates. Data come from a survey of 485 students enrolled during the 2010 fall semester. The current study explores the effects of sex, age, and extroversion on (1) the volume of texts a person sends and (2) preferences for texting or calling. The study also explores the use of cell phones as a means of avoiding others during co-present interaction. Findings reveal that age is the strongest predictor of text messaging, with younger respondents being more likely to text. The study also finds that women prefer texting, while men prefer voice calls. Age affects preference as well, with younger respondents preferring texting and older respondents preferring voice calls. The study also finds that women are much more likely to use cell phones to avoid others during co-present interaction.

This thesis applies methodological and micro-sociological insights derived from the pioneering social psychologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) to the contemporary social media platform, Facebook. In opposition to previously-reported one-sided, polarized analyses (i.e. either/or, pessimistic or optimistic), this study suggests a more nuanced judgment: interaction viewed as social exchange reveals that individuality is often promoted though can occasionally be hindered; while most exchanges are ill-suited for sustaining interpersonal value, they ironically facilitate enhanced trust; and finally, the unique structure of site-based exchange generally facilitates rather than undercuts constructive conflict.

According to a 2002 National Center for Education Statistics report, 98% of schools in 2001 were connected to the Internet and 63% of public classrooms had Internet connections. According to a 2003 United States Census Bureau report, 68.3% of homes with children subscribed to the Internet. These statistics reveal the scope of access children have to the Internet. This study focused on the children's voice by investigating the children's report of their online activities and their awareness of cyber security, ethics, and safety issues. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the specific reported online activities and Internet safety knowledge of children aged 10-14 years along with their report of parental supervision of their Internet use. The study included data gathered from 446 self-administered surveys completed by 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students in a rural school district in East Tennessee. An analysis of the research confirmed that as children mature, they increase their use of the Internet and their participation in unsafe online practices. The findings indicated that the most common online practices reported by the middle-grade students included emailing, social networking (MySpace), instant messaging, publishing and sharing information about their favorite sports and activities, and using secret codes while messaging with friends. The results of this study indicated significant relationships between the household placement of the computer and the frequency of unsafe online practices; students with computers in private locations reported unsafe online practices with twice the frequency of those with computers that could be monitored. The findings reflected that, in general, students were knowledgeable about unsafe Internet practices and engaged primarily in safe practices; however, many did report practices that could potentially place them at risk. The results from this study demonstrate a need for Internet safety programs to educate parents about the dangers their children face online and how to minimize those risks and to help children to gain the knowledge, decision-making skills, and motivation necessary to make safe and responsible choices when they are using the Internet.