<p> Growing polarization of political discourse in America has resulted in a populace and representatives that are ineffective in persuasive rhetoric and are in many cases at an impasse. With more politicians&mdash;and more Americans in general&mdash;using computer mediated social media to discuss politics, these media are no doubt having an effect on the way we conduct our political discourse. This study is an examination of the interactions related to four different posts on the social media Twitter and Facebook. The study includes a rhetorical analysis to determine how social media users engage in persuasive rhetoric according to Aristotle. The ensuing analysis demonstrates how social media have affected users as technological determinism suggests, and discusses behavioral markers and indicators. This analysis increases understanding of persuasive rhetoric and the effect of computer mediated social media. </p><p>

<p> Stories in released games are still based largely on static and predetermined structures, despite decades of academic work to make them more dynamic. Making game narratives more playable is an important step in the evolution of games and playable media as culturally relevant art forms. In the same way interactive systems help students learn about complicated subjects like physics in a more intuitive and immediate way than static texts, more dynamic interactive stories open up new ways of understanding people and situations. Such dreams remain mostly unrealized in released and playable games.</p><p> In this dissertation I will describe a number of design and technical solutions to the problem of creating more expressive and dynamic storygames, informed by a practice-based approach to game production. I will first define a framework for the analysis of games, including especially the terms <i> storygame</i> (a playable system with units of narrative where the understanding of the interconnectedness between story and system is crucial) and the notion of <i>narrative logics</i> (the set of processes that define how player input affects the next unit of story presented by the system). I will exercise this framework on an existing and well-known storygame genre, the adventure game, and use it to make a number of claims about the mechanics and dynamics of narratives in this genre that are borne out by an analysis of how contemporary games adopting some of its aesthetics succeed and fail. I will then describe three emerging storygame modes that are still in the process of being defined, developing a critical framework for each informed by close readings and historical analysis, and considering what design and technical innovations are required to fully realize the new mode's potential. These three modes I discuss are sculptural fiction (which shifts the focus from navigating to building a structure of narrative nodes), social simulation (games that explore the possibility space created by a set of simulated characters and rules for social interaction), and collaborative storygames (in which the lexia are generated at least in part by the participants during play). Each theoretical chapter is paired with a case study of one or several fully completed and released games I have created or co-created in that mode, to see how these design ideas were realized and technical advancements implemented in practice. I will conclude each section with applied advice for game makers hoping to work in these new spaces, and new technological developments that will help storygames continue to evolve and prosper.</p><p>

<p> Jeffery K. Tulis authored a book entitled <i>The Rhetorical Presidency</i>, in which he argues the role of the United States chief executive now centers on his, or her, ability to speak over Congress and directly to the public. A modern or contemporary president&rsquo;s ability to accomplish roles typically associated with the executive office is principally dependent on his/her implicit role: to appeal to public opinion. Presidential power comes from how effectively the chief executive can employ rhetorical discourse to affect change from the audience. This is an interesting concept for consideration, especially as it relates to contemporary President John F. Kennedy. In a 2013 <i> Gallup</i> poll, Americans rated Kennedy as the most outstanding, above average president in the contemporary era&mdash;the inception of which came around the turn of the 20<i>th</i> century. The primary inquiry, &ldquo;why is this so,&rdquo; can be answered through an examination into Kennedy&rsquo;s rhetorical discourse, specifically his foreign crisis speeches. This thesis&rsquo; primary analysis centers on Kennedy&rsquo;s address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 20, 1961 following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion on Cuba. Utilizing a unique analytic framework provided from the theoretical understandings of Lloyd F. Bitzer&rsquo;s <i> rhetorical situation</i> and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson&rsquo;s <i>rhetorical hybrids</i> model, with supplement aide from scholars such as Bonnie Dow and Denise Bostdorff, the aim is to provide value to the subject of rhetorical communication by researching, studying and analyzing an area of interest that has not received much to any scholarly emphasis in the past.</p><p>

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Johannesburg, 2018 / Environmental communication in media has been studied largely in American and European contexts, since the 1990s. These studies have revealed the trends in reporting on the greatest environmental threats of our time, and the predominant framing of environmental risks, most notably those posed by climate change. Despite the crucial role that media plays in developing environmental narratives, few studies on environmental media reporting in developing nations, especially African nations, have been conducted. This research thus evaluates the media role in communicating environmental issues and environmental science in the South African media context. By conducting coverage and content analysis on three environmental issues at the core of the industrial development that underpins the South African economy: acid- mine drainage, fracking and climate change and energy, in five commercial newspapers, it is shown that South African media coverage of environmental issues is still limited by demographic factors which influence the news agenda of publications; that social framing of environmental news is important to environmental journalists and raising the environmental agenda in the newsroom; and government voices speak loudest on these important environmental issues / MT 2019

In this rhetorical biography of Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), I explore the early construction of her philosophical and moral frameworks and the demographic factors which constrained and enabled the construction of her political identity. I proceed to address the question of identity construction as it relates to gender and political stereotypes and as it is enacted in various rhetorical situations. I examine Mikulski's conformance to female and male gender and political stereotypes, her use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric, her identity construction during campaign and debate, and the co-construction of her political identity by the media, opponents, and supporters. And finally, in each of these analyses, I assess the salience of gender. My findings indicate that Mikulski conforms to female stereotypes relating to substance and to male stereotypes relating to style. This pattern of conformance mitigates the double bind experienced by women in the political arena. Mikulski's use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric reveals a consistent pattern of usage during her twenty-four years in Congress. Several characteristics of the feminine style are more prominently featured on women's and constituent issues, and her usage appears to be responsive to two additional factors, length of speaking time and placement within the legislative process. In situations of campaign and debate, Mikulski approaches identity construction by recasting negative definitions and by relying heavily on reconstructing her relationship with constituents, even during anti-incumbent years. The media and supporter constructions of Mikulski's political identity are consonant with her constructions of self and, again, center on recalling and reestablishing relationships with various constituencies. Gender is found to be a significant variable in all aspects of the construction of Mikulski's political identity, but the constraints imposed by gender are met successfully by Mikulski with rhetorical strategies which either diminish the significance of gender or recast her gender as an asset.

Orientador: Daniel Martínez-Ávila / Banca: Suellen Milani / Banca: Carolline Luvizotto / Resumo: Objetiva-se com este estudo compreender o domínio feminista a partir da produção científica brasileira indexada pela base de dados Scopus e entender como o feminismo vem sendo abordado pela comunidade científica brasileira. Através da Análise Bibliométrica identificou-se a produção científica da informação de natureza feminista e/ou que utilize o feminismo enquanto objeto, tomando por fonte a base de dados Scopus, onde sob o recorte cronológico de 1999 a 2018, identificou-se os documentos indexados pela base de dados que apresentam o termo Feminism em seu título, palavras-chave e resumos. Com isso, se pode vislumbrar as principais vertentes da pesquisa acerca do feminismo, como também visualizar como o mesmo vem sendo trabalhado nos mais diversos campos de estudo, de forma a reconhecer o aspecto social presente na produção do conhecimento. Compreende-se que a produção sobre a temática feminista está fortemente ligada aos movimentos sociais para além dos ganhos políticos, econômicos e culturais advindos das demandas de tais movimentos, que adentram a academia e se consolidam de forma a auferir um maior espaço e com isso uma maior visibilidade para a temática. Ressalta-se casos como o da Universidade de São Paulo - USP, sem dúvida a instituição com número de publicações, onde com o intuito de implementar trabalhos direcionados à igualdade de gênero contribui socialmente e academicamente com produção acerca da temática impulsionada pelo movimento feminista onde de forma singular... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The aim of this study is to understand the domain of feminism based on the Brazilian scientific production indexed by the Scopus database, as well as to understand how feminism has been approached by the Brazilian scientific community. Using Bibliometric Analysis, we identified the scientific production on feminism in the Scopus database, limited to the period 1999-2018, that include the term Feminism in its title, keywords or abstracts. Provided this, it was possible to identify the main characteristics of the publications on feminism, as well as to visualize how this topic was studied in the different fields, also allowing to recognize the social aspect that are present in the production of knowledge. We understand that the scientific production on feminism is strongly linked to social movements that go beyond the political, economic,and cultural advancements that arise from the demands of such movements, which also permeate the academia and are consolidated in order to gain a larger space and greater visibility for the topic There are cases such as the University of São Paulo (USP), the institution with a greater number of publications, in which the objective to implement works aimed gender equality contributes socially and academically to the production on the topic promoted by the feminist movement. These cases, in a unique way, presente democratic spaces in these institutions that result in a wide production and a characteristic performance in the areas of teaching, re... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, August 2014. / The science teacher’s language, in the science classroom, has become a new language built with familiar Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) words, in this case English. This research study investigated the learners’ ideas and understanding of simple everyday words when used in the physics classroom. The study focused on bringing to light the existence of the problem of contextual meanings of everyday words in the physics classroom language. The participants in this study were mainly English second language learners and educators from 5 high schools in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, selected on the basis of their accessibility and socio-economic backgrounds. These consisted of 105 high school learner participants of physical science, (84 grade 11 learners and 21 grade 12 learners) and 5 physical science teacher participants (one from each school). The methods of data collection used were the questionnaire and the interview. The questionnaire items were developed using simple everyday words to test the learners’ understanding of every words when used in a physics context. The learners were interviewed soon after the questionnaire was marked. The respective physical science teachers were also interviewed to further probe on their learners’ answers. The findings in this study suggest that the learners have difficulties with the contextual meanings of everyday words when used in the physics classroom. The types of difficulties included learners assuming that certain words they meet in everyday life situations still carried the same meanings when they are used in physics contexts. The sources of the difficulties were that the learners thought they understood the science classroom language and the teachers also assumed that their learners understood this language. The findings also showed that the educators fail to notice that what seems clear and simple to them may be difficult and vague to their learners.

Os museus existem desde a Grécia Antiga, mas apenas recentemente, principalmente a partir da metade do século XX, é que se começou a dar importância para a dimensão educativa que esses espaços podem desenvolver. Desde então, as exposições passaram a se preocupar em ressignificar os objetos expostos, pensando no conteúdo que eles podem carregar consigo. Entre a intenção dos idealizadores de uma exposição e as possíveis interpretações dos visitantes há um espaço, e cabe aos mediadores fazer a ponte entre esses dois pontos. Esses mediadores, em geral, são estudantes de graduação, que atuam muitas vezes improvisando, criando um repertório de exemplos, analogias e explicações para aproximar o conteúdo científico de uma exposição do visitante. Este trabalho analisou os mediadores da Estação Ciência (USP), quais os recursos por eles utilizados e com quais intenções eles produzem esses discursos, para então compreender o processo dessa produção na tentativa de comunicar o conhecimento científico. Buscamos nos apoiar nas teorias da Transposição Didática (Chevallard) e do Discurso Pedagógico (Bernstein), entendendo que o museu é um espaço que promove a formação de conceitos e que favorece as interações sociais capazes de promover a aprendizagem, numa referência à concepção de aprendizagem vigotskiana. Os resultados dessa análise permitiram-nos concluir que diversos discursos e saberes influenciam na construção do discurso de um mediador, no entanto, o processo de produção desse discurso mostrou-se pouco consciente e reflexivo quando se trata de comunicar algum conhecimento, e isso aponta para a necessidade de se investir na formação desses profissionais. / Museums have existed since Ancient Greece, but only recently, mainly starting in the 20th century, people have begun to notice the educational dimension that can be developed inside museums. Since then, curators have been concerned about resignifying the objects exhibited, thinking about the content they carry. There is a gap between the intentions of the creators of an exhibit and the possible interpretations of the visitors, and the role of the mediators is to bridge this gap. These mediators are, in general, undergraduate students who often improvise, creating a repertory of examples, analogies and explanations to bring visitors closer to the scientific content of the exhibit. In this paper we analyze the mediators working at USP\'s Estação Ciência (The University of São Paulo\'s Science Station), the type of resources they make use of and their intentions when building their discourses, so that we can finally understand the production process of these discourses (which try to convey scientific knowledge). For that we rely on Chevallard\'s didactic transposition and Bernstein\'s pedagogic discourse theories, with the understanding that the museum is a space that fosters the building of concepts and promotes the types of social interaction that are capable of stimulating learning, referencing Vygostky\'s vision of what learning is about. The results of this analysis enabled us to conclude that several discourses and brands of knowledge can influence the production of a mediator\'s discourse; however, the production process of this discourse is only slightly conscious and deliberative when it comes to conveying knowledge. This points to the necessity of investing in the preparation of these professionals.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Essen, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

<p> The purpose of this study is to explore global leadership communication competencies, as the communicative knowledge, skills and abilities of current business leaders do not meet the current sophisticated and fast-paced business demands of the interconnected global marketplace. Specifically, this study examines what attributes comprise communication competency for corporate leaders with global responsibilities, how those competencies are developed, and finally the impact the competencies have on organizations. A qualitative field study was conducted with two global leaders from two different regions of the world as they interacted with others from different cultures. A separate quantitative survey was administered to 95 global leaders from North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Findings from a review of the literature combined with the correlation of these two studies are as follows: (a) virtual communication efficacy may be greatly enhanced when the terms and conditions associated with non-verbal clues is deliberate and modeled by leadership; (b) foreign language competency is deemed more important by global leaders outside of North America, but all respondents report general dissatisfaction with the corporate support of foreign language competency; (c) the concept of facework, and its associated competencies, are key to working across borders but awareness and understanding of this concept is very low. The findings of this study demonstrate a business case for building global leadership communicative competency with new skills, in new ways, for new demands in the face-paced and interconnected business environment.</p>