The purpose of the present study lay in considering and providing accurate descriptions of the factors known to encourage or alternatively discourage computer usage among older employees within an academic setting. Primarily, the two independent variables of the study are age-related-infirmity (W/WT), and computer-anxiety. The dependent variable of the study is barriers-to-computer-use. The literature review reveals that age–related –infirmity (W/WT), a variable with two levels with age-related infirmity and without age-related-infirmity represents impairments which come with old age and which are known to intervene with the possibility of a smooth computer interaction, for older users. Computer-anxiety, the other independent variable, is known as a common emotional response to computers. A review of the literature demonstrated that the predictor variable of the independent variable age-related-infirmity (W/WT) is age, and the predictor variables of the independent variables computer-anxiety are: age (positive or direct linear relationship) gender - represented at two levels; male (positive or direct linear relationship), female (negative or inverse linear relationship); income (negative or inverse linear relationship); education (negative or inverse linear relationship); computer -ownership represented at two levels owner (negative or inverse relationship) and non-owner (positive or direct linear relationship); (computer) experience (negative or inverse linear relationship); and the dichotomous variable disability –represented at two levels disabled (direct linear or positive relationship) and not-disabled (negative or inverse linear relationship). The research dealt with an important user group, the older adult users of computer technology. What makes the older adults an important subsection of the United States' population, and the subject matter of studies such as this one, are their expanding numbers and their growing economic strength. Despite this, however, the chasm between the older adults and information technologies continues to bother experts. The author of the study believes that technological backwardness of older adults can only harm their interests and make them vulnerable to societal discrimination and subject them to perpetual backwardness. Thus the need of the hour should be about focusing on the factors and forces which affect the possibilities of a digital divide among the potential older users of computer technology, with the ultimate aim of weeding these forces out totally. This is what this study intends to do. The research sought answers to the following questions: whether there is a dichotomous relationship between the predictor variable gender (M/F) and the variable computer-anxiety; whether there is a relationship between the variable computer-anxiety, and each of the demographic variables (on a separate basis), income, education, and (computer) experience; whether the dichotomous variable computer-ownership (O/NO) has a two-fold relationship with the variable computer-anxiety; whether the demographic variable age affects the variable computer-anxiety in a direct fashion. The first hypothesis stated that the variable age has a two-fold relationship with the variable age-related-infirmity (W/WT). The second hypothesis stated that there is a direct linear relationship between the variable computer-anxiety and the variable barriers-to-computer-use, and the third hypothesis assumed that the variable age-related-infirmity (W/WT) has a two-fold relationship with the dependent variable barriers-to-computer-use. The data for the study was collected through the use of a survey questionnaires modified from previous studies; a survey questionnaire devised by the author herself in the aftermath of reviewing the literature; and a demographic questionnaire. The study employed a stratified random sampling technique in selecting the study's sample who were Florida State University's (FSU) permanent employees in the age group of 55 years or older. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS. Data analysis revealed that for this population, the variable gender (M/F) does not have an effect on the variable computer-anxiety; it demonstrated a statistically significant negative or inverse linear relationship between the variables income and computer-anxiety; no significant relationship was found to exist between the variables education and computer-anxiety; analysis proved that there is a negative or inverse linear relationship between the variables (computer) experience and computer-anxiety; the variable computer-ownership (NO) was found to have a direct linear or positive relationship with the variable computer-anxiety, and the variable computer-ownership (O) was found to have an inverse linear or negative relationship with the variable computer-anxiety; the variable disability (D/ND) was not found to have any relationship with the variable computer-anxiety; and also the variable age was not found to be correlated with the variable computer-anxiety. However, the study was successful in establishing the fact that the variable computer-anxiety is positively related (implying a direct linear relationship) to the independent variable barriers-to-computer-use, although it failed to prove that the other independent variable age-related-infirmity (W/WT) has any relationship with the study's outcome variable barriers-to-computer-use. Any future research should replicate the study among people of varying backgrounds and employment status. The study's significance lay in endorsing the precise nature of relationships which literature review confirms as being in existence between each of the predictor variables income, (computer) experience, and computer ownership (O/NO), and the response variable computer-anxiety. At the same time the study's results were successful in proving that computer-anxiety is a barrier factor for computer technology access. This is quite important if we keep in mind the fact that the data for the study was gathered from a relatively well-off and an atypical older adult population; who differed considerably from the general older adults, in terms of their income and education. / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Information in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2008. / October 30, 2007. / Doing Techniques / Includes bibliographical references. / Corinne Jorgensen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Barbara Palmer, Outside Committee Member; Darrell Burke, Committee Member; Maria-Chavez Hernandez, Committee Member; Don Latham, Committee Member.

In situations in which an indiscretion can be revealed to another party, a person has the ability to either divulge the information first or wait until he or she is confronted. Divulging the negative information first – i.e., stealing thunder - has been supported as a way to minimize the impact of the negative information. The following study coupled stealing thunder with attribution theory in an attempt to determine how stealing thunder affects perceptions of causality. Stealing thunder was associated with increased credibility ratings but did not result in greater external attribution or lower probability of guilt ratings. Credibility was positively correlated with external attribution, regardless of thunder condition. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2004. / June 14, 2004. / Persuasion, Interpersonal communication, Cheating, Infidelity, Stealing thunder, Attribution theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Laura Arpan, Professor Directing Thesis; Davis Houck, Committee Member; Arthur Raney, Committee Member.

This study examines the current Internet café phenomenon in a modernizing country – the People's Republic of China. Internet cafes emerged worldwide in the 1990s, and use of the Internet in cafes varies from country to country. This investigation adopts a critical and cultural studies framework to explore the complex relationships among information and communication technology (ICT), the nation state, and the individual user of Internet cafes. Chinese language interviews, observations, and survey research are used to collect data, in addition to the collection of Chinese media and telecommunications policy documents. The Chinese government tries to monitor individual use of the Internet through different means, including technical design, monitoring software, regulations, administrative and legal measures, and continuous political education. Local zoning actions, such as limiting "net bar" business hours, imposing age restrictions on users, assigning café owners the job to watch their customers, running fire prevention programs, "sweeping" bars frequently, and posting regulations in bars, are taken to control and regulate Internet use. In the bar environment, most users, especially youth, perceive the new medium as a way to pass time and to socialize with others. They use the Internet primarily to send email, to play computer games, to chat with others, and to watch movies. Their attitudes toward regulations are ambivalent and ignorant. Additionally, net bar owners and managers serve double roles as regulators as well as the regulated. These contradictory behaviors perhaps reflect a transitory time, when the Chinese Communist culture is in conflict with and co-existing with new capitalist social forms. While there is a widened gap between state use and civilian use in net bars of the Internet technology, the control over and monitoring of Internet use has reinforced the unquestioning compliance with authorities and with the status quo of existing social, economic, and political systems. This may have helped produce political apathy among Internet users, especially young people, whose use of the Internet is observed as largely entertainment oriented. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2003. / June 20, 2003. / Internet policy, Internet usage, China / Includes bibliographical references. / Paul R. Hensel, Outside Committee Member; Gary R. Heald, Committee Member; Kartik Pashupati, Committee Member.

In understanding why people enjoy media content, disposition-based theories of media enjoyment have shown to be practical and helpful guides for researchers (Raney, 2004). In broader terms, this theoretical framework posits that enjoyment of media content is a function of viewers' affective dispositions toward media characters, and whatever happens to those characters. However, one of the bigger gaps in the theory concerns the formation of dispositions. That is, how we come to like certain characters and why we form dispositions toward them is still a question. Therefore, more factors need to be identified that may induce formation of dispositions. The purpose of this study was to extend the disposition theory by identifying new factors that may induce formation of dispositions in the context of sports spectatorship. In two separate experiments, the study particularly examined the role of morality and physical attractiveness of athletes in formation of dispositions. Study 1 has applied Raney and Bryant's (2002) Integrated Model of Enjoyment for Crime Drama in the context of sports, and findings suggested that when athletes are concerned, the moral judgment of athletes is a factor in formation of dispositions as well. Utilizing the interpersonal attraction theory, Study 2 tested whether physically attractive athletes have an effect on disposition formations for the spectators. Physical attractiveness was not found to be significant predictor of formation of dispositions. Because of the varied results in the first two studies, the researcher conducted a third study to investigate whether morality and physical attractiveness together stimulate formation of dispositions. The results revealed that morality has an additive effect on physical attractiveness regarding the formation of dispositions. Findings of this dissertation have implications for disposition theory, team identification literature and interpersonal attraction theory. A discussion of these implications is provided, and suggestions for future research are provided. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2007. / July 20, 2007. / Disposition Formation, Physical Attractiveness, Morality, Media Effects, Disposition Theory, Entertainment Theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Arthur A. Raney, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Hofacker, Outside Committee Member; Gary Heald, Committee Member; Laura Arpan, Committee Member.

This study investigated the visual attention characteristics in 125 children between 18 and 24 months of age: 50 with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), 25 with developmental delays (DD), and 50 with typical development (TD). Systematic observation was used to examine visual attention within behavior samples. There were significant group differences on 8 of the ANOVA omnibus tests. The Dunnet T3 post-hoc tests detected significant differences between the ASD group and the DD and TD groups on 4 measures and between the ASD and TD group on 2 additional measures. The amount of times the children looked at a person's face as well as the duration and frequency measures of the children's ability to shift attention from a target object to a person's face were the most distinguishing visual attention characteristics among the 3 groups based on effect sizes. The findings of this study have important implications for continued research on the role visual attention can play in early identification of very young children with autism spectrum disorders. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2007. / June 24, 2007. / Visual attention, Autism / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Wetherby, Professor Directing Thesis; Juliann Woods, Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member.

In 1998, a group of radical media makers and social justice activists opened the Independent Media Center in an abandoned storefront in downtown Seattle to provide street level news coverage of a large-scale mobilization protest against a meeting on the World Trade Organization, what later became known as the "Battle in Seattle." In the years following this event, Independent Media Centers have been established in over 150 locations around the world, creating a primarily online network of autonomous radical media outlets, linked by a commitment to radical democratic principles such a decentralization, open-publishing and complete transparency of process. This analysis advances the central argument that the Indymedia movement is more than just an alternative media outlet; it represents an attempt to harness the potential power of the globally networked Internet to create a new public sphere. It is a space not only for the production and dissemination of alternative content but a truly new public sphere where alternative methods of organizing that do not rely on traditional notions of hierarchical structure, leadership and decision making can be developed, not only intellectually but through direct practice. In order to advance this argument, this study employs a multi-method, multi-sited approach using a descriptive analyses of various Indymedia artifacts, an examination of the structures of the North American Indymedia network and an ethnographic as well as auto-ethnographic examination of a single IMC within the North American Network. The IMC is examined trough the lenses of Downing's theory of Radical Media, Atton's theoretical framework of alternative media, the idealized Public Sphere and Theory of Communicative Action of Jürgen Habermas and various applications of Autonomous Marxism. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2009. / December 12, 2008. / Radical Media, Alternative Media, Public Sphere, Media Criticism / Includes bibliographical references. / Andrew Opel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Doug Schrock, Outside Committee Member; Stephen C. McDowell, Committee Member; Donna Marie Nudd, Committee Member.

Motion picture advertisements often include cues referencing previous top-grossing films, such as "From the makers of Cast Away," in efforts to boost viewing intention. However, previous research has suggested that the "makers" of films, such as the directors, writers, and producers are not influential in increasing viewer intention to see a film. The following study investigated the use of these cues in motion picture advertising, using the Elaboration Likelihood Model to determine if and under what circumstances these cues are being processed by consumers. Results suggest those consumers who are more involved with movies are not necessarily more likely to centrally process cues referencing previous top grossing movies. Additionally, in this study the inclusion of such cues had no effect on viewing intention of the film or on liking of the film advertisement. Liking of genre was revealed to be an accurate predictor of viewing intention and liking of the advertisement. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2005. / April 4, 2005. / motion picture, film, elaboration likelihood model, heuristic-systematic model, advertising, viewing intention / Includes bibliographical references. / Arthur Raney, Professor Directing Thesis; Laura Arpan, Committee Member; Barry Sapolsky, Committee Member.

Impairments in social communication are among the earliest indicators of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, due to the age of usual diagnosis, relatively little is known about the communicative profiles of children with ASD younger than 2 years of age. The purpose of this study was to examine the communicative acts of 50 children between 18 and 24 months of age who were later diagnosed with ASD, compared to children with developmental delays (DD, n=23) in whom ASD was ruled out and children with typical development (TD, n=50). Precise measures of rate, functions, and means of communication were obtained through systematic observation of videotaped behavior samples from the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (Wetherby & Prizant, 2002). Children with ASD communicated at a significantly lower rate than children with DD and TD; however, differences in rate varied based on communicative function, with the ASD group communicating at a lower rate for behavior regulation and joint attention than children with TD, and a lower rate on joint attention compared to children with DD. Children with ASD who did communicate for joint attention were as likely as other children to coordinate means of communication, including vocalizations, eye gaze, and gestures. In addition, the ASD group used a significantly lower rate of total communicative gestures than the DD and TD groups, along with a lower rate and proportion of deictic gestures and a reliance on more primitive gestures. Profile analyses of communicative acts and gestures revealed that children with ASD exhibited a unique profile of communication across communicative functions and gestures. Overall, the results of this study indicated that by 18 to 24 months of age, children with ASD showed a unique profile of communication, with core deficits in communication rate, joint attention, and communicative gestures. This study will contribute to understanding the ontogeny of communication in children with ASD and aid in early detection. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / June 26, 2006. / Autism Spectrum Disorders, early identification, social communication, toddlers / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Wetherby, Professor Directing Dissertation; Chris Schatschneider, Outside Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member.

Despite attempts to improve speech recognition in noise via hearing aid algorithms, communication where there is background noise continues to present serious challenges to hearing aid users. The viability of using speech reading to augment amplification to improve communication in noise has not been fully investigated. One reason for this oversight is the assumption that the decline in speech recognition performance with decreases in S/N ratio is similar for communicative situations in which speech reading is available and for those in which it is not. In this study, comparison of speech recognition performance for auditory only (A) and audio-visual (AV) presentation of sentences was made at four signal-to-noise-ratios ranging from 0 to –6 dB. Twenty-six participants with normal hearing and vision, 20 to 30 years, responded to eight experimental conditions (A and AV presentation of speech at each of four signal-to-noise ratios). Speech recognition performance was evaluated using a 2 X 4 repeated measures ANOVA. The main effects of presentation mode and S/N ratio were statistically significant. More importantly, there was a significant interaction between these factors for speech recognition performance. The interaction revealed a growing benefit of speech reading, defined as the difference between audio-visual and auditory only performance (AV-A), with decreasing signal-to-noise ratios. This finding of increasing benefit with deteriorating listening conditions refutes the assumption that performance decline with increasing background noise is independent of presentation mode. This finding suggests that the need for individuals with hearing impairment to avail themselves of visual speech cues increases with a deteriorating listening environment. In view of these findings, hearing aid evaluations involving both A and AV presentation of speech at different signal-to-noise ratios are recommended. Such procedures allow for both objective and subjective assessment of speech recognition performance under combinations of presentation mode and S/N ratios. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2003. / October 31, 2003. / Comparison of audio with audio-visual speech recognition / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard J. Morris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Akihito Kamata, Outside Committee Member; Virginia Walker, Committee Member; Howard Goldstein, Committee Member; Lee Terrio, Committee Member.

In extending the theories of opinion leadership and seeking to the online environment, this study sought to explore whether the established theories for the offline environment would also help us understand opinion leadership in the online world. The tests of hypotheses revealed consistent patterns of opinion leadership and seeking behaviors across the online and offline environments. However, these tests resulted in insignificant relationships between online opinion seeking and offline opinion leadership levels. Furthermore, the hypothesized negative relationship between online opinion leadership and offline seeking was not only not supported, but was contradicted. That is, those who had a high level of opinion seeking in the offline environment also displayed high levels of opinion leadership in the online environment. The current study also demonstrated that some psychological characteristics such as consumer expertise, domain-specific innovativeness and media habits, as well as attitudes toward online brand communities, were significant predictors for opinion leadership in the online environment. In addition to opinion leadership, the current study explored traits of opinion seeking, suggesting that people with a high level of opinion seeking may exhibit different characteristics and behaviors from what opinion leaders exhibit. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Communication in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2005. / June 20, 2005. / Online community, Opinion seeker, Opinion leader, Online brand community / Includes bibliographical references. / Felipe Korzenny, Professor Directing Thesis; Jay D. Rayburn, Committee Member; Barry S. Sapolsky, Committee Member.