x, 160 p. : ill. (some col.) / Although the web appears to be a welcoming space for women, online spaces--like offline spaces--are rendered female through associations with the personal/private, embodiment, or an emphasis on intimacy. As such, these spaces are marked, marginalized, and often dismissed. Using an explicitly interdisciplinary approach that combines cultural studies models with feminist theory, new media studies, and performance, Beyond Resistance uses fandom as a way to render visible the invisible ways that repressive discourses of gender are woven throughout digital culture. I examine a variety of online fan practices that use popular media to perform individual negotiations of repressive ideologies of sex and gender, such as fan-authored fiction, role-playing games, and vids and machinima--digital videos created from re-editing television and video game texts. Although many of these negotiations are potentially resistive, I demonstrate how that potential is being limited and redirected in ways that actually reinforce constructions of gender that support the dominant culture. The centrality of traditional notions of sex and gender in determining the value of fan practices, through both popular representation and critical analysis, serves as a microcosm of how discourses of gender are operating within digital culture to support the continued gendering of the public and private spheres within digital space. This gendering contributes to the ongoing subordination of women under patriarchy by marginalizing or dismissing their concerns, labor, and cultural tastes. / Committee in charge: Priscilla Ovalle, Chairperson; Kathleen Karlyn, Member; Michael Aronson, Member; Kate Mondloch, Outside Member

abstract: This study tested the preliminary effectiveness of a health belief and text messaging intervention for parents of five- to eight-year-old children to determine whether health beliefs and influenza vaccine receipt differ when compared to a text messaging control group. Children are almost four times more likely to be infected with influenza than adults (Belshe Piedra, & Block, 2009), shed the greatest quantities of influenza virus, and have been recognized as vectors for spread of disease (Neuzil, Mellen, Wright, Mitchel, Jr., & Griffin, 2002b). The influenza immunization rate for school-age children is less than 56% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). Reasons for the low vaccination rate include parents’ misperceptions of influenza disease and vaccinations (Bhat-Schelbert et al., 2012; Taylor et al., 2002). There are few theory-based interventions for increasing influenza vaccination rates of school-age children; however, promising results have been found when using the constructs of the health belief model (HBM) (Chen et al., 2011; Coe, Gatewood, Moczygemba, Goode, & Beckner, 2012). Mobile technology using Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging may increase vaccination rates to a greater extent than traditional vaccine reminders (Daley et al., 2002; Grajalva, 2006). Prior to starting this study, only one randomized controlled trial testing text messaging to increase children’s influenza vaccination rates was found (Stockwell et al., 2012). In this study, text messaging was effective in promoting behavioral changes leading to a 4% increase in influenza vaccination (27.1% vs. 22.8%, RR = 1.19, p < .001). This study was a randomized controlled trial using a two-group pre- and posttest experimental design. This study found that a theory-based intervention (SayNo2Flu) guided by the HBM and combined with the use of mobile technology (SMS text messaging) did change parents’ influenza vaccination perceptions. It had an overall increase of 38.1% in Influenza vaccination rates in the intervention group (OR: 4.46, 95% CL, 1.705-11.706, p < .001). These results offer some insight into the use of theory-based preventative interventions for parents of young school-age children. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2015

abstract: Public organizations have been interested in tapping into the creativity and passion of the public through the use of open innovation, which emphasizes bottom-up ideation and collaboration. A challenge for organizational adoption of open innovation is that the quick-start, bottom-up, iterative nature of open innovation does not integrate easily into the hierarchical, stability-oriented structure of most organizations. In order to realize the potential of open innovation, organizations must be willing to change the way they operate. This dissertation is a case study of how Arizona State University (ASU), has adapted its organizational structure and created unique programming to incorporate open innovation. ASU has made innovation, inclusion, access, and real world impact organizational priorities in its mission to be the New American University. The primarily focus of the case study is the experiential knowledge of administrative leaders and administrative intermediaries who have managed open innovation programming at the university over the past five years. Using theoretical pattern matching, administrator insights on open innovation adoption are illustrated in terms of design stages, teamwork, and ASU's culture of innovation. It is found that administrators view iterative experimentation with goals of impact as organizational priorities. Institutional support for iterative, experimental programming, along with the assumption that not every effort will be successful, empowers administrators to push to be bolder in their implementation of open innovation. Theoretical pattern matching also enabled a detailed study of administrator alignment regarding one particular open innovation program, the hybrid participatory platform 10,000 Solutions. Creating a successful and meaningful hybrid platform is much more complex than administrators anticipated at the outset. This chapter provides administrator insights in the design, management, and evaluation of participatory platforms. Next, demographic assessment of student participation in open innovation programming is presented. Demographics are found to be reflective of the university population and provide indicators for how to improve existing programming. This dissertation expands understanding of the task facing administrators in an organization seeking to integrate open innovation into their work. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration 2016

abstract: Data from a total of 282 online web applications was collected, and accounts for 230 of those web applications were created in order to gather data about authentication practices, multistep authentication practices, security question practices, fallback authentication practices, and other security practices for online accounts. The account creation and data collection was done between June 2016 and April 2017. The password strengths for online accounts were analyzed and password strength data was compared to existing data. Security questions used by online accounts were evaluated for security and usability, and fallback authentication practices were assessed based on their adherence to best practices. Alternative authentication schemes were examined, and other security considerations such as use of HTTPS and CAPTCHAs were explored. Based on existing data, password policies require stronger passwords in for web applications in 2017 compared to the requirements in 2010. Nevertheless, password policies for many accounts are still not adequate. About a quarter of online web applications examined use security questions, and many of the questions have usability and security concerns. Security mechanisms such as HTTPS and continuous authentication are in general not used in conjunction with security questions for most web applications, which reduces the overall security of the web application. A majority of web applications use email addresses as the login credential and the password recovery credential and do not follow best practices. About a quarter of accounts use multistep authentication and a quarter of accounts employ continuous authentication, yet most accounts fail to combine security measures for defense in depth. The overall conclusion is that some online web applications are using secure practices; however, a majority of online web applications fail to properly implement and utilize secure practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Combination of Security Practices / Coded Account Data for 282 and 230 Web Applications / Password Recovery Statistics and Graphs / Password Policies Statistics and Graphs / Security Question Statistics and Graphs / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2017

abstract: En el siglo XXI nuestra vida se está cruzando constantemente con la tecnología, tanto que algunos declaran que nuestro mundo se ha hecho posthumano, ya que no se puede separar al ser humano de la máquina. Aunque algunos se sientan amenazados por estas tecnologías, otros están abrazando la Red Mundial, aprovechándose de las infinitas oportunidades que ofrece. Uno de estos elementos fundamentales que internet posibilita es la capacidad de comunicarse directamente con otras personas. El blog por ejemplo, o bitácora en español, permite que los usuarios se proyecten a sí mismos o a sus pseudo-identidades, sus pensamientos e ideas a través del texto que escriben en internet. También sus lectores pueden responder a estos autores inmediatamente. Los posts publicados--entradas en una página web--, aunque aparecen cronológicamente, son episodios fragmentados. Pero el blog no se limita a la producción de un texto sino que el autor puede también "jugar" con el cuerpo del texto para añadir hipervínculos y multimedia. Esta forma de escribir está cambiando lo que se considera "válido" como texto, incluso lo que se considera literatura. El objetivo de este trabajo no es estudiar la literatura digital en su totalidad, sino específicamente en algunas obras escritas por mujeres en internet. Si se considera la escritura digital como una forma de arte marginalizada, se podría decir que la escritura realizada por mujeres en internet experimenta una doble-marginalidad debido al hecho de que la literatura de mujeres siempre ha sido marginal al canon. Este estudio tomará un punto de vista transatlántico, incluyendo en el mismo a varias escritoras hispanohablantes de diferentes edades, experiencias y con variados motivos en su trabajo que publican sus obras en internet. Estas autoras incluyen las blogueras Almudena Montero (española) yMaría Amelia López Soliño (española); la periodista ciudadana Yoanis Sánchez (cubana); y la poeta digital/crítica Belén Gache (española-argentina). En esta tesis he explorado y considerado la noción de que el internet sirve como un medio de democratización puesto que, hasta cierto punto, las fronteras de género y nacionalidad desaparecen. Por esta razón, este trabajo va a considerar varias teorías tales como el postmodernismo, las teorías sobre la escritura de mujeres y teorías sobre la democratización de la tecnología para analizar la literatura que se encuentra en la red. Aunque las escritoras analizadas en este proyecto son distintas, y usan la tecnología de maneras diferentes, tienen una misma meta: expresarse libremente y comunicarse directamente con sus lectores al conectarse a internet. Mi hipótesis de trabajo consiste en que estas mujeres escriben de una manera particular--es decir, que no escriben igual a los hombres que escriben en internet--y que la red ofrece una plataforma única a las mujeres: en este espacio ellas son más activas--en oposición a la literatura tradicional-- en cuanto a compartir y publicar su propio trabajo e ideas. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Spanish 2013

abstract: This dissertation research analyzes the vernacular cosmopolitan praxis of Muslim women in transnational cyberspaces related to topical and collective action networks, in an effort to detangle cosmopolitanism from its Western biases and to move away from studies of online Muslim populations based on geographical locations or homogenous networks, linking individuals through their religious practices or consumption of religious knowledge. Through highlighting praxes rather than contexts, this dissertation disrupts the East/West binary and challenges stereotypes ascribed to Muslim women. One of the research questions related to the cosmopolitan praxis of Muslim women is the following: in what ways do Muslim women engage with "others" online and contribute to bridging dissimilar people? Findings suggest that the social media use of Muslim women contributes to their subtle resistance against communal norms and, although it can serve as an extension to their voices, some of their voices are more readily mediated than others. I employ a connective content analysis methodology to put various datasets associated with topics and collective actions related to Muslim women into conversation. The methodology not only highlights consistencies in the qualitative themes that were iteratively developed through the analyses of the datasets, but also more tangible connections related to social media users, topics, and content. Consequently, this thesis is as much concerned with recasting Western-oriented conceptualizations of cosmopolitanism as it is with how networks dynamics foster and constrain cosmopolitan praxis because digital networks have the extraordinary capacity to link dissimilar people beyond any other type of medium. One of the research questions related to the methodology is: how do network dynamics facilitate and constrain cosmopolitan praxis? The substantive chapters related to the datasets discuss various forms of cosmopolitan praxis that were identified in the analysis: social media use by Muslim women that expands the connective memory, which could contribute to dispelling stereotypes ascribed to them; activism that addresses universal concerns related to women's rights regardless of context; dialogically devising basic standards of social conduct and gender relations; and expressions of tolerance toward divergent views, including alternative interpretations of Islamic beliefs and practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Justice Studies 2014

No description available.

This study investigated self-regulated learning in online learning environments and how well students adapt learning strategies from face-to-face courses to online courses. This study examined student perceptions of self-regulated learning skills, instructor immediacy behaviors and curricular design in online learning environments. Data was collected from three focus groups of college students from a mid-sized private university in California who had completed online college courses. The results indicated that students sought to manage their learning in online courses through intrinsic, interpersonal and/or regulated motivational strategies. Students also provided useful suggestions for instructors to enhance immediacy behaviors when teaching through online platforms. In addition, the students emphasized models and feedback as effective instructional strategies for online courses.

This study examines the social networking website, Facebook and uses an experimental design to determine the relationship between two variables: self-esteem and social comparison. The study also examines the relationship between the variables of identification and similarity as a process of social comparison. Sixty-five students from a small, private University located in the northwestern United States participated in a classical pretest-posttest experiment consisting of two groups. The treatment in this study was a Facebook account that was designed to induce feelings of upward social comparison amongst the participants through the use of status updates, photos and comments from a female college student. The self-esteem and social comparison levels of the participants were measured after viewing the Facebook treatment to determine whether or not the participants experienced a change in their self-esteem, as a result of engaging in upward social comparison with the Facebook treatment. The degree to which the participants identified with the Facebook treatment and also the degree to which the participants viewed the Facebook treatment as someone who was similar to themselves was also measured to determine whether or not identification and similarity play a role in social comparison. The results revealed that the participants did not experience a significant decrease in self-esteem after viewing the Facebook treatment. Furthermore, a correlation analysis indicated no significant relationship between the identification and similarity variables and the self-esteem and social comparison variables. However, additional findings revealed a significant correlation between high self-esteem and downward social comparison. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed regarding the relationship between self-esteem and social comparison on Facebook.

This study explored the cultural knowledge and analysis needed for the successful localization of websites in two different countries—the U.S. and Mexico. Localization is defined as linguistically and culturally adapting a product for the target language in the local area, region, or country where it will be marketed, sold, or used. The focus of the study was on the Latino/Hispanic and Mexican markets as two separate targets. I considered issues of cultural identity, language preference, and acculturation to determine how to adapt websites for each group and compared how localization plans are different and what leads to such differences. It examined how localization professionals working with either of the two target markets define effectiveness, and it evaluated and compared four different websites considered localized for their intended audiences based on literature review and interview findings. I utilized qualitative in-depth interviews of localization professionals and a visual assessment of four websites' cultural values and linguistic preferences for targeted markets based on what is considered effective. Localization professionals function as interpreters who apply their role to their work as Internet/website/technical specialists. For instance, the basic qualifications for Localization Project Managers are fluency in more than one language, experience with translation tools, familiarity with software applications, and experience working internationally and with other cultures. The interview questions were open ended in order to gather and codify aspects of general themes while allowing interviewees to bring up topics and issues that I did not include on my questionnaire. This way, they were more open to sharing their individual perspectives. I gathered information on past research on the topic through the literature review in order to create the questions for the interviews. In the discussion of results and conclusion, I compared the literature with my findings.