<p>Research workflows in higher education have converged onto digital formats. While the technology to store data has improved at an increasing pace, personal and organizational behaviors have not adapted as rapidly. The study sought ways to communicate digital preservation skills to researchers to improve the permanency of their research data. This study proposes three temporal contexts digital ? short-term, long-term and trans-generational. Study questions asked selected participants about how they manage their digital data. The study used Diffusion of Innovation theory concepts within an Activity Theory construct and the Open Archive Information System to model key areas of transformation. The key areas were determined by analysis of interviews, surveys and institutional data. The model provides a new way to understand the complex set of issues that can inhibit data preservation. The study used descriptive statistics and social network analysis to elaborate ways to transmit new data preservation attitudes and behaviors more effectively. In particular, the data management plan requirement for National Science Foundation grant submissions was found to be a potentially powerful motivator for a limited number of researchers. The study found that there is an opportunity for the institution to create group activities, such as workshops, that specifically include faculty with NSF grants and those who share other grant submission experience with them. The study also found that information technology staffs need to understand research problems from the researcher perspective better to overcome some trust issues. Finally, campus leadership needs to identify their role in addressing the issue for the long-term benefit of the institution. Strategic goals are an important first step. Building a robust digital preservation environment is an iterative process dependent on many perspectives. The goal of this research is to speed the process by developing a systems-level model for exposing problem areas.

<p> This dissertation develops an approach to institutional critique that re-works Porter, Sullivan, Blythe, Grabill, and Miles&rsquo; foundational configuration. This project argues that John Dewey&rsquo;s concept of democratic communication articulated in his debate with Walter Lippmann provides a useful heuristic for developing democratic communicative practices that allow citizens and experts to communicate with one another about technical issues such as water quality and safety. Through an analysis of Michigan&rsquo;s emergency manager law, the relationship between citizens and experts that exposed the crisis, and the Flint Water Advisory Task Force&rsquo;s Final Report, this dissertation establishes that citizens must participate in technical decision-making and makes pragmatic suggestions to increase citizens&rsquo; meaningful participation. This project concludes with theoretical and pedagogical implications of a participatory institutional critique.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to uncover the perceptions of Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) project leaders and project teams regarding knowledge transfer between client and vendor partners during the opening and closing transition phases of the ITO projects. Purposeful sampling was used to identify ITO knowledge assets, including project team members as well as documents and artifacts, within the participating organizations that may provide information regarding the knowledge transfer processes during the transition phases of the ITO project. The sample criteria were ITO project team members from one US-based client organization and the US company&rsquo;s international vendor partners. The study population included project managers, analyst, developers, subject matter experts (SMEs) and other ITO knowledge workers involved in ITO project from one US-based organization. Interview and document analysis was done with the aid of NVivo Pro 11^&reg; research software. Four themes emerged from the study participants' responses including (a) KT approaches to plans and processes relative to opening and closing phases of ITO projects; (b) KT dependencies relative to IT project team members reliance on project tools, processes, and artifacts; (c) Determinants of KT success or failure relative to project team member's perceptions; and (d) The role of documentation relative to communication and distribution of KT outcomes. This qualitative exploratory case study may provide insights into additional aspects of knowledge transfer during ITO transition phases, which may be used by IT leaders and project teams to plan for successful knowledge transfer during the transition phases of ITO projects.</p><p>

<p> This research study examines the dynamics of student-to-student interpersonal mediated communication motives within asynchronous discussion forums. The objective is to determine the interpersonal mediated communication motives and communicator style of students enrolled in fully asynchronous community college courses with the intention to supplement, enhance, and refine the existing research in online education through the application of relevant theories and methods from the field of communication studies. Specifically, the study seeks to determine students' communication motives for consensus-building and agonistic oriented purposes. A mixed methods approach has been utilized through the implementation of a 5-point Likert scale survey, comprised of forty questions, which was provided towards the end of a traditional 16 week semester to 125 students enrolled in five fully asynchronous courses. In an attempt to discover whether students respond to their classmates' asynchronous discussion forum posts for consensus-building motives or for purposes of engaging in agonistic confrontations, a discourse analysis of various forum responses was performed after completion of the asynchronous courses. Previous studies of community building within asynchronous contexts and interpersonal communication motives research suggest that students enrolled in fully asynchronous courses will engage in student-to-student interpersonal mediated communication for the purpose of pleasure, affection, inclusion, control, companionship, habit, receiving information, participation and functional purposes. Through the implementation of the 5-point Likert-scale survey, I discovered six interpersonal mediated communication motives (inclusion, participation, affection, receiving information, functional and pleasure) of student-to-student responses within fully asynchronous discussion forums and four communicator styles (friendly, attentive, communicator image and impression leaving). The findings from the discourse analysis overwhelmingly revealed that the student-to-student interpersonal mediated communication motive for responding to discussion forum posts was most frequently correlated with the students' rationale for consensus-building as opposed to exhibiting a rationale for agonistic pluralism.</p><p> <b>Key words:</b> interpersonal mediated communication motives, communicator styles, asynchronous discussion forums, higher education, consensus-building, agonistic confrontation.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the acceptance and use of Artificially Intelligent Autonomous Self-Governing Technology (AIASGT). AIASGT will give machines full autonomy, allowing them to make independent decisions without any human intervention. No empirical research has been found regarding the impact of what has been described as technology creep associated with the assimilation of sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into autonomous systems. The focus of this study was on the assimilation of AI into self-governing systems that are utilized by members of the American Legion (AL). The AL sample pool was of those who have used self-governing technology. Data collection began with a general search for a purposeful sample of 10 retired or separated military personnel from the AL. The expectation was that the study would show that the rules and regulations currently in place for technology assimilation and development do not adequately address AIASGT. The analysis of the findings of the study revealed the effect of AIASGT may have on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The recommendation is to specifically consider AIASGT in all technology acceptance models. Another recommendation is for the creation of a regulatory commission that will monitor and control AIASGT. The consequence of not having the right constraints in place may become increasingly difficult to correct.</p>

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Tailoring messages is the process of customizing messages that are more relevant for the receiver, with the aim of improving the recipient’s engagement with and understanding about information in the message. Little research has been done to look at tailored messages in technical communication about healthcare technology, even though the use of technology in healthcare, and the complexity of that technology, continues to increase. Research was performed to investigate if students who plan to work in the healthcare technology field can demonstrate an understanding about tailoring messages and can tailor messages in their technical communication. A four-phase Action Research Cycle for inquiry into teaching and learning was used to modify course materials and analyze work for six assignments submitted by 14 students enrolled in Technical Communication for the Health Care Professions, TCM 38000, during the 2015 spring semester. Although TCM 38000 has always been open to students in other majors, the majority of students who take the course are in the Health Engineering Technology Management (HETM) program at Purdue’s School of Engineering and Technology on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis. Overall, the modifications made to TCM 38000 were successful in helping students begin to learn about tailoring messages and create messages tailored for a specific end-user in their technical communication developed for some course assignments. In their Reflections for a User Manual assignment, the majority of students explained that they used what they learned through course materials and discussions to reach beyond their learning and come up with techniques for tailoring messages on their own. Students used word choice, information content and role-play techniques to determine the end-user’s information needs and then to tailor messages in their manuals to address those needs. After reflecting on the results of the research, some course materials will be modified so that students can gain a deeper understanding about tailoring messages and can have more opportunities to practice writing tailored messages in course assignments. Research implications expand beyond the classroom into workplace training for organizations that have both technical and non-technical employees that must effectively communicate.

<p> This study examines whether or not empathy can be increased in school administrators through blogging. Five school administrators blogged for three months, shared posts with each other, and used narrative writing techniques. A mixed methods analysis was completed. The Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index was administered as a pre and posttest. Results were calculated using a dependent <i>t</i> test. No statistical significance was found. The quantitative analysis was completed using a computer assisted qualitative data analysis program called MAXQDA. The analysis revealed that the majority of posts included reflection, an essential element of empathy. Currently, school administrators have been tasked with the dual roles of leadership and management. Their interpersonal skills, especially empathy, must be honed to ensure their efficacy. The study was modeled on research completed in the medical field using physicians in training. Results from the medical field showed that blogging did increase the physicians&rsquo; capacity to change perspectives and to reflect. The difference between blogging for physicians and school administrators, though, is that blogging also served as an easy way for administrators to establish a communication and professional network. Perhaps, through blogging, it is possible to increase the administrator&rsquo;s capacity for reflection, perspective taking, and ultimately, for empathy for all of their stakeholders.</p>

<i>Activist Technical Communication at Girls’ Technology Camps: Building Girls’ Confidence in Digital Literacies</i> presents a mixed-method empirical study investigating the capacity of a girls’ summer technology camp, Girls Go Digital, to foster girls’ confidence and interest in STEM subjects. I build on the work of a growing number of university technical communication and composition programs hosting local digital camps for middle school-aged girls, responding to the gap in STEM confidence that grows between boys and girls after middle school. My dissertation works in partnership with a large, national, for-profit version of these camps, and I utilize a community engagement approach. Though some may see the aims of a for-profit tech camp as incompatible with engagement ethics, I argue that we ought not to ignore the potential for community impact offered by their resources and reach. With a camp design targeted to reach girls who may feel discouraged by a mixed gender setting, a week of camp at Girls Go Digital leads to statistically significant positive impacts on girls’ confidence in their technology skills, as well as attitudes relating to technology. These findings contribute not only to strategies for technofeminist interventions, but also to the growing body of technical communication scholarship with social justice aims. In order to build girls’ confidence at camp, technical instruction is intertwined with instructors’ roles as emotionally supportive mentors for their campers. Complicating technical communication’s prioritization of clarity and efficiency, my study suggests that for girls learning STEM subjects, and for many other disenfranchised audiences, truly effective technical communication must also be trust-building advocacy work.

<p> Wireless channels have significant problems like multipath fading, delay spread, frequency selective fading. Guard bands/channel equalization techniques are employed to overcome these. However, these solutions are complex and don&rsquo;t solve the issue of bandwidth scarcity. Thus, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing was introduced; a special case of Frequency Division Multiplexing where orthogonal subcarriers overlap in the frequency domain using lesser bandwidth without any inter-symbol interference. </p><p> The next challenge is to reduce the error rate in transmission. This thesis focuses on the noise created because of the non-linear input/output relationship of the power amplifier used. Different techniques used to linearize power amplifiers are compared. Predistortion was found to be most effective. Various predistortion schemes are compared and error rate performance evaluated for the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing system with and without Predistortion as well as for different modulation techniques. Dynamic Digital Predistortion paired with 8 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation was found to work most efficiently.</p><p>

<p> The literature established that online instruction consists of cognitive, teaching, and social presence. Studies on the element of social presence linked text-based delivery of instruction with learners&rsquo; feelings of isolation and disengagement. This research findings prompted this facilitator creation of five-to-seven-minute companion videos that aligned and complemented weekly text-based learning modules to ascertain students&rsquo; perceptions of these videos as a medium for channeling social presence. </p><p> Post-video viewing surveys yielded responses to pragmatic and emotional questions. Pragmatic questions were aimed at the visual impact of professor&rsquo;s delivery of information. Emotional questions gauged the students&rsquo; feelings of connectivity with the facilitator. Triangulated interpretations of student responses showed that students perceived that the videos enhanced social presence by decreasing feelings of isolation in their online course. Key results included the feeling of a real classroom and appreciation of the visuality of the videos. The viewed videos supported affective associations, learner cohesion, interaction intensity, instructor involvement, and active learning. The videos helped draw the students from their inner secluded online environment to the outside world. The research includes recommendation of the use of a larger sample size; online facilitator theatrical training, college budget to include production of video funds for further quality video productions, and video cataloging of facilitator-created subject- specific videos.</p><p>