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Polymedia, transmedia, and spreadable media are all relatively new foundational theories of mediated communication in need of further interrogation and examination. The panelists examine various aspects of these theories, through differing case studies within popular culture. The examinations in this panel include what it means to “own” players in fantasy football, the language based critical comedy of George Carlin, the flows and “traces” in the Whedonverse, and the phenomenon of Sharknado.

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In this piece the author takes a journey into the meaning of quests through the philosophical terrain of existential phenomenology and authenticity. Unlike quest narratives in literature and popular culture, our life narratives are not yet finished, but ongoing. Comparing the idea of existential homelessness with its undeniable and constant change to that of autoethnographic writing, he examines narrative and memory and how current life events change our understandings of past narratives and our sense of identity. Our life narratives are made up of fragmented thoughts and ideas, the stories others told before we were born—and will tell about us after we are gone.

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This roundtable discussion offers insights from first-year and recent faculty members about the ups and downs of the transition from graduate student to faculty member. While uch of the last year of graduate school is focused on finding a job that fits, adjusting to that job requires a shift in self-identity and role competence in addition to the physical relocation. The expectations and responsibilities as a faculty colleague, instructor, and advisor are greater. Unlike graduate school, you may be the only new person in the department, and so must acclimate to a new culture and navigate new departmental politics alone. And of course, the tenure clock starts ticking. The presenters will each discuss an aspect of the transition based on their own experiences and offer strategies for surviving and thriving in a new position.

Job satisfaction results from a workplace meeting individual needs for income, belonging, and professional growth. Accordingly, core factors contributing to satisfaction vary across individuals and groups. Deaf people have traditionally located satisfying employment among enclaves of other deaf people working within the predominantly manufacturing oriented economy of the 20th Century. With the current shift toward more spatially distributed service industries in the 21 stcentury, there is little research on factors that contribute to job satisfaction among deaf people engaged in this new workforce. Operating from a theoretical perspective of worker/environment fit proposed by Alderfer, the exploratory correlational study investigated relationships linking the degree of hearing impairment, use of computer mediated communication (CMC), choice of employment sector, and level of job with job satisfaction. A web survey was used to gather 343 questionnaires from deaf workers; questionnaires included items related to degree of hearing impairment, demographics, use of specific CMC technologies in the workplace, and job satisfaction. The relationships linking individual differences, types of CMC to elements of job satisfaction were analyzed using stepwise multiple regressions. Results were used to document that email and video relay services specific to customers and supervisors were significant predictors of job satisfaction. The implications for social change include informing specific guidelines related to the education, and program needs to prepare deaf people to be competitive in securing satisfying employment in the 21st century.