Star gazing: Transing gender communication

ABSTRACT

This activity implores students and pedagogues to engage intrapersonal gender subjectivity through the analytic practice of transing gender communication. Specifically, Yep, Russo, and Allen (Pushing boundaries: Toward the development of a model for transing communication in (inter)cultural contexts. In L. G. Spencer & J. C. Capuzza (Eds.), Transgender communication studies: Histories, trends, and trajectories. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015, pp. 69–89) suggest gender is best understood as: (1) intersectional, (2) a performative and administrative accomplishment, (3) multiple, and (4) self-determined. Students are asked to analyze their gender sense of self through each of the pillars in a hands-on creative activity. The end result is a means of narrating one’s own gender in relational tension with other gender subjectivities.

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication, Gender and Communication, Performance Studies

Objectives: Designed to accompany a sustained conversation on questions of gender and communication, this unit- or semester-long activity imparts a critical approach to gender understanding through one’s own subjective gender experience by engaging the analytic work of “transing” (Stryker, Currah, & Moore, Introduction: Trans-, trans, or transgender? WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, 2008;36(3–4):13). Further, the activity equips students with a working understanding of trans-affirming discourse including the critical capacity to de-center normative gender through lived experience. Finally, students are provided a space in which to explore and voice, through creative means, their own gender “galaxy” (Yep, Russo, & Allen, Pushing boundaries: Toward the development of a model for transing communication in (inter)cultural contexts. In L. G. Spencer & J. C. Capuzza (Eds.), Transgender communication studies: Histories, trends, and trajectories. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015, p. 70).     

Engaged Journalism and News Work: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Organizational Dynamics and Professional Challenges

ABSTRACT

Building upon the sociotechnical perspective presented by Lewis and Westlund (2015, “Actors, Actants, Audiences, and Activities in Cross-media News Work: A Matrix and a Research Agenda.” Digital Journalism 3 (1): 19–37. doi:10.1080/21670811.2014.927986), this study examines organizational dynamics, technological affordances and professional challenges of engaged journalism practices by analyzing how Hearken, one of the most celebrated audience engagement companies, and its tools and services are being implemented in 15 U.S. news organizations. This framework identifies Hearken and organizations like it as important “external actors” providing technological “actants” that are shaping how newsrooms report the news by providing ways for audiences to be brought into producing the news, particularly during the earlier phases of the reporting process. Based on in-depth interviews, we find that nearly every news organization in our sample reports some measure of success by using Hearken for involving audience members throughout the production of news. At the same time, we also identify how this implementation is significantly shaped by organizational imperatives and the models particular organizations create for producing audience-centric news work. Ultimately, this study presents a partial update to the decades-long literature on participatory journalism by suggesting that engaged journalism practices actually create opportunities for meaningful audience involvement.     

Decontamination of Biocide Treated Museum Objects of the Swiss National Museum’s Collection by Liquid CO2 Technology

ABSTRACT

A decontamination treatment using liquid CO₂ (li-CO₂) and specifically developed for the requirements of museum objects (Lombardo, T., M. Wörle, V. Hubert, E. Hildbrand, I. Mayer, C. Hinterleitner, U. von Arx. 2020. “Influence of Process Parameters on Chlorinated Biocide Decontamination by li-CO₂ on Artificially Contaminated Model Materials.” Studies in Conservation, in press, doi:10.1080/00393630.2019.1641001) was first tested on model materials of wood (with and without coating), silk, and wool with different dyes, paper, and leather in order to evaluate possible material changes. Then, selected museum objects from the collection of the Swiss National Museum were treated to determine the efficiency of biocide decontamination and any resulting chemical and/or structural changes. Results show that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), pentachlorophenol (PCP), lindane, and chlorpyrifos were successfully removed. Wool, silk, leather, and non-coated wood did not experience any detectable modifications, while moderate to major modifications were observed in wood coated with shellac and polychromy.     

#metoo 2.0 to #meNOmore: Analysing Western Reporting About Sexual Violence in the Music Industry

ABSTRACT

In October 2017, #metoo 2.0 reinforces the gendered sexual violence in the creative sector [Marghitu, 2018 Marghitu, Stefania. 2018. “It’s Just art: Auteur Apologism in the Post-Weinstein era.” Feminist Media Studies 18 (93): 491–494. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2018.1456158[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]. “It’s Just art: Auteur Apologism in the Post-Weinstein era”, Feminist Media Studies, 18(93): 491–494] Building on this movement, on 11 November that year, 2912 women “testified about the situation in the Swedish music industry”, signing an open letter condemning sexual violence [Nyheter, 2017. “2192 Women in the Swedish Music Industry Behind Appeal Against Sexism.” Dagens Nyheter, November 17. https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/2192-women-in-the-swedish-music-industry-behind-appeal-against-sexism/]. After the Swedish initiative, on 12 December 2017, the #meNOmore hashtag was established by 1000 women who signed an open letter to the Australian music industry speaking out against similar behaviour [Whyte, 2017a Whyte, Sarah. 2017a. “Artists Speak Out Against Sexual Harassment in the Music Industry.” AM – ABC Radio, December 13. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/sexual-harassment-in-the-music-industry/9253956. [Google Scholar]. “Artists Speak Out Against Sexual Harassment in the Music Industry.” AM – ABC Radio, December 13. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/sexual-harassment-in-the-music-industry/9253956]. Using a content analysis framework, this study examines the media framing of 26 stories about #meNOmore by the Western press from 22 November 2017 (height of the Swedish campaign) to 21 December 2017 (a week after the hashtag surfaced in Australia). Research from journalism studies and musicology highlights that sexual violence is historically engrained in the media and music industries. However, findings from our study of the first month’s coverage of the #meNOmore content analysis in 2017 reveal that media reports about women and sexual violence were framed around addressing gender inequality and systemic structural issues in the music industry. This raises the question, has the media has turned a corner when covering sexual violence in the post #metoo era?     

Building Calgary’s New Central Library

Abstract

This article summarizes the key elements that led to the successful 2018 launch of the New Central Library in Calgary, Alberta. The perfect marriage of innovative architecture and innovative programing would not have been possible without an innovative approach to planning. It began with a clearly articulated vision, bold leadership, and the coming together of a collaborative project team. A human-centered design process dovetailed with a flawlessly executed operational readiness plan to produce an overall visitor experience that has set a new standard for libraries—named by Time magazine as one of the “Greatest Places 2019” (Davies, 2019 Davies, W. (2019). Greatest places 2019 Central Library (2019). Retrieved from https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2019/5654128/central-library-calgary-canada/ [Google Scholar]).     

Mediated images of success: Hegemonic media representations and social justice

This activity highlights the concept of cultural hegemony, illustrating it by a reflection on the images of success and successful people portrayed in the media. The purpose of the exercise is to introduce students to this concept, and for them to examine how hegemonic views of others and the self affect the way they conceptualize success and perceive who a successful person is. Students will understand the role of the media in reproducing hegemonic representations of reality in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, and so on, and how these representations limit their world view and are detrimental for those who do not abide by the dominant stereotypical images. The exercise also intends to expose students to complex narratives of what success may mean beyond accumulation of wealth, competition, nationality, whiteness, and patriarchal values, and for them to reflect upon intersectionality, by challenging and critiquing dominant portrayals of human achievement.

Courses: Introduction to Media Studies, Introduction to Media and Culture, or any introductory communication course discussing media representation.

Objectives: Students will (1) identify the role of cultural hegemony in the mediated construction of success; (2) understand and critically evaluate how hegemonic media representations of gender, class, race, ethnicity, physical ability, national origin, and so on limit people’s world views about human achievement; and (3) self-reflect on their own representations of success and reframe “success” moving beyond hegemonic representations attached to patriarchy, heteronormativity, whiteness, physical ability, competition, and capitalist accumulation.     

Stealing fame: lifestyle celebrity and the dubious cultural politics of Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring

ABSTRACT

In this essay, I theorize the lifestyle celebrity as a figure whose fame is premised on their aspirational status. I offer lifestyle celebrity as a complementary analytic to ordinary celebrity that allows for more precise distinction between celebrity figures. I engage Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring as a film that positions the desire for lifestyle celebrity as dangerous and irresponsible. I argue that the film places the burden of maintaining a “healthy” relationship with celebrity culture entirely on consumer-participants and affirms the class and gender performance hierarchies that structure the valuation and distribution of lifestyle celebrity.     

The Emergent Information Commons: Philosophy,Models, and 21st Century Learning Paradigms

ABSTRACT

The learning support role of the Information Commons exhibits emergent properties characteristic of organizational learning theory. The literature review highlights four articles from the United States, one from Germany, and one from Japan to illustrate the issues involved. The philosophy of the commons extension across physical, virtual, and cultural domains and the development of the Learning Commons as a collaboration among multiple learning support units, including libraries, are traced from theoretical origins through real-world examples. “Integrative learning” is offered as one example of a 21st century learning paradigm being supported by such collaborations, as evidenced by the development of commons-based e-portfolio systems.

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 50, Issue 1, pages 7–26, 2010. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930820903422347.     

Violence and identity politics: 1970s lesbian-feminist discourse and Robin Morgan's 1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference keynote address

This essay examines 1970s lesbian-feminist identity rhetorics to interrogate the exclusionary logics of visibility and gender normativity. Lesbian-feminists used such logics to exclude women living “in the closet,” performing gender in nonnormative ways, or avowing a transgender identity. Those struggles form a dynamic context to situate and critically analyze Robin Morgan's keynote address at the 1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference, “Lesbianism and Feminism: Synonyms or Contradictions?” Though Morgan's address exemplifies rhetorical violence of identity politics and transphobia within lesbian-feminist communities, I explore its radically queer possibilities to shed fresh light on persistent struggles that shape contemporary queer politics.     

Living the Future: Organizational Performance Assessment

ABSTRACT

Organizational performance assessment is a practice-based framework that builds on the synergy between planning and assessment, and results in the discernment of impact and value. It promotes a set of practices that enables the library to effectively integrate planning, strategy, performance, assessment, and organizational development in order to advance the parent institution's mission. This article discusses some foundations of organizational performance assessment, useful practices, and examples from libraries that are “living the future.”

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 51, Issues 7–8, pages 618–644, 2011. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2011.601267.     

News framing of adolescents’ use of Facebook in Taiwanese newspapers

ABSTRACT

While media frames reflect the dominant discourse about an issue, frame analysis can elucidate how they affect public perception. ¹ 1 William A Gamson and Andre Modigliani, “Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach,” American Journal of Sociology 95, no. 1 (1989): 1–37. Employing content analysis of news coverage of adolescents’ use of social media in mainstream newspapers (n?=?323) from 2014 to 2017, supplemented with secondary data from two national surveys of adolescents, this study investigates how news media construct the reality of adolescents’ use of social media; how the constructed reality differs from the subjective reality reported by adolescents’ themselves; and how news media reflect the elite discourse in terms of adolescence’s nature, agency, and needs in the context of using social media.     

You’re not you when you’re in a snickers’ ad: Celebrity,intertextuality, and masculinity

Snickers’ “you’re not you when you’re hungry” (YNY) campaign premiered in 2010. Ad agency BBDO, New York (2017 BBDO, New York. (2017). Retrived from http://www.amvbbdo.com/work/campaign/snickers/yourenotyouwhenyourehungry [Google Scholar]) designed the ads as the centerpiece of an expensive, celebrity-filled Super Bowl promotion. This rhetorical analysis interprets the ads in terms of celebrities serving as intertextual messages that not only sell nut-filled chocolate bars but also reinforce identity stereotypes. In particular, the ads reinforce stereotypes of traditional sex roles. The ads reward viewer knowledge that plays into these stereotypes.     

Bookstores - Los Angeles

“Larry Edmunds Cinema and Theater Bookshop”, Inc. 6658 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Calif. 90028: This bookstore was mentioned earlier in BBB under cinema [I:6:5 and II:4:6]

“Acres of Books”, 240 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, Calif. 90802: Dr. Kittross described this bookstore in an early issue of BBB [I:4:3]

“The Book Shelf”, 1217 South Hawthorne Blvd., Hawthorne, Calif. 90250.

“Gene de Chene Bookseller”, 11552 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90025.

“Dawson's Book Shop”: 533 North Larchmont, Los Angeles, Calif. 90004.

“Cosmopolitan Book Shop”: 7007 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90038.

“West Los Angeles Bookstore”, 1670 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90025.

“Wilshire Books”, 3018 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, Calif. 90406.     

Intermedia Attribute Agenda Setting in the Context of Issue-Focused Media Events

On April 24, 2015, Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner confirmed her transgender identity on the 20/20 Special: Bruce Jenner—The Interview with Diane Sawyer and started her own reality show, I am Cait. This study identifies patterns of second-level intermedia agenda setting in the framing of transgender issues, examining the extent to which Jenner’s high-profile planned media events about her gender transition influence how national print newspapers and television report transgender-related stories and the salience of certain story attributes. More specifically, through a comparative quantitative content analysis, this study found that transgender-related reports appearing after Jenner’s interview were more likely to (1) mention alternative non-binary gender discourses to highlight transgender subjectivity, (2) take the intersectionality perspective to address the complexity of transgender issues from the aspects of race, class, and sexuality differences, (3) differentiate transgender issues from LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) issues, and (4) take in-depth approaches to report the stories.     

6. FOREIGN/INTERNATIONAL

The following essay updates my TABLOID JOURNALISM: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ENGLISH‐LANGUAGE SOURCES (Westport, CT: Greenwood “Bibliographies and Indexes in Mass Media and Communications, Number 10,”; 1996—$65.00, ISBN 0–313–29544–1, 187 pp.)

A. U.S. print journalism

IT'S ALIVE! HOW AMERICA'S OLDEST PAPER CHEATED DEATH AND WHY IT MATTERS by Steven Cuozzo (New York: Times Books, 1996—$25.00, ISBN 0–8129–2286–7, 342 pp.)

“Reversing the Romance: Class and Gender in the Supermarket Tabloids,” by Theron Britt (Prospect, 21: 435–451 [1996])

“Virgins, Vamps and the Tabloid Mentality,” by Linda Fairstein (Media Studies Journal, 12: 92–99 [Winter 1998])

SCOOPED! MEDIA MISS REAL STORY ON CRIME WHILE CHASING SEX, SLEAZE, AND CELEBRITIES by David J. Krajicek (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998—$24.95, ISBN 0–2311–0292–5, 230 pp., bibliographical references)

B. U.S. television

“The World Outside: Local TV News Treatment of Imported News,” by Raymond L. Carroll and C. A. Tuggle (Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 74: 123–133 [1997])

“Tabloid TV, Courtesy of the Education Department,” by Steven Drummond (Teacher Magazine 9: 14–15 [April 1998])

THE JOURNALISM OF OUTRAGEOUSNESS: TABLOID TELEVISION NEWS VS. INVESTIGATIVE NEWS by Matthew C. Ehrlich (Journalism and Mass Communication Monographs, No.155 [1996])

“Presumed Innocent? A Comparative Analysis of Network News, ‘Newsmagazines’ and Tabloid TV's Pretrial Coverage of the O. J. Simpson Criminal Case,” by Steven A. Esposito (Communications and the Law, 18: 49–72 [December 1996])

“Tabloid and Traditional Television News Magazine Crime Stories: Crime Lessons and Reaffirmation of Social Class Distinctions,” by Maria Elizabeth Grabe (Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 73: 926–946 [1996])

TABLOID TELEVISION: POPULAR JOURNALISM AND THE “OTHER NEWS” by John Langer (London: Routledge “Communication and Society,”; 1998—$24.99, ISBN 0–4150–6636–0, 192 pp., appendix, bibliographical references)

“Human Nature and Crime Control: Improving the Feasibility of Nurturant Strategies,”; by Bryan Vila (Politics and the Life Sciences, 16: 3–21 [1997])

C. Legal implications

‘Get That Camera Out of My Face!”: An Examination of the Viability of Suing ‘Tabloid Television’ for Invasion of Privacy,” by Eduardo W. Gonzalez (University of Miami Law Review 51: 935–953 [1997])

“Punishing the Press: Using Contempt of Court to Secure the Right to a Fair Trial,” by Stephen J. Krause (Boston University Law Review 76: 537–574 [1996])

“The Confluence of Sensationalism and News: Media Access to Criminal Investigations and the Public's Right to Know,” by Jimmy R. Moye (CommLaw Conspectus, 6: 89–99 [1998])

D. International perspectives

“Public Discourse/Private Fascination: Hybridization in ‘True‐Life‐Story’ Genres,” by Ib Bondebjerg (Media Culture &; Society 18: 27–45 [1996])

“Anthropology in the Body Shop: Lords of the Garden, Cannibalism, and the Consuming Desires of Televisual Anthropology,” by Rosalind C. Morris (American Anthropologist, 98: 137–146 [1996])

“The Media's Impact on International Affairs, Then and Now,” by Johanna Neuman (SAIS Review, 16: 109–123 [Winter/Spring 1996])

“Core of the Problem: Newspaper's Fate Will Gauge More Than Press Freedom,”; by Andrew Sherry (Far Eastern Economic Review, 160: 61–63 [3 July 1997])     

4Ps: A purposeful introduction

The 4Ps activity provides a unique approach to first-day class introductions and creates a positive classroom climate that encourages student engagement. The assignment generates initial self-disclosure that facilitates interpersonal and group communication throughout the semester. Additionally, the activity can be used as a unit activity with a follow-up assignment that introduces foundational public speaking concepts.

Courses: Public Speaking, Interpersonal, and other communication courses.

Objectives:

• To promote connectedness within the class from the first meeting forward

• To extend the usual “icebreaker” in a meaningful way by incorporating a public-speaking assignment

• To provide a basis for discussion of key communication concepts such as self-disclosure, relational development, and stereotyping.

  Materials: 4×6 note cards

     

It's HBO: Passionate engagement,TV branding,and tourism in the postbroadcast Era

This paper contends with how postbroadcast television branding subsumes viewers’ affective interactivities with place to produce brand value. Focusing on the HBO series Treme, I argue that Treme engendered HBO's postbroadcast brand mutation by producing “passionate engagement,” where viewers were invited to interact with the show by touring New Orleans, thus adding place to online interactivity and multiscreen engagement as a means of constructing an “authentic” brand identity. The desire for viewers to connect to New Orleans’ culture is thus transformed into a vehicle for profit making for HBO and an assurance to shareholders that the brand still holds value.     

Boys Don't Cry and female masculinity: reclaiming a life & dismantling the politics of normative heterosexuality

–This analysis argues that Kimberly Peirce's film Boys Don't Cry can be read as a liberatory narrative that queers the centers of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity by privileging female masculinity and celebrating its differences from heterosexual norms. My critique emphasizes how the narrative strategically challenges heteronormativity and, in turn, “narrative's heteroideology” (Roof, 1996), in four ways: 1) by dismantling the myth of “America's heartland”; 2) by problematizing heteromasculinity; 3) by centering female masculinity; and 4) by blurring the boundaries of female masculinity. I argue that the articulation of each subversive strategy within the narratives of Boys Don't Cry can serve a liberatory function, whereby the privileged subjectivities of heterosexuality and hegemonic masculinity are dismantled and, simultaneously, female masculinity and gender fluidity are privileged and normalized. I conclude that the narrative structure of Boys Don't Cry not only privileges gender diversity, but also exposes the inherent sexual bigotry of heteroideology and the brutal and deadly consequences of society's failure to eradicate such prejudice. I just keep on laughing Hiding the tears in my eyes Because boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. (Smith, Tolhurst, & Dempsey, 1988)     

Using You've Got Mail to Teach Social Information Processing Theory and Hyperpersonal Perspective in Online Interactions

Courses: Communication Theory; Interpersonal Communication; Computer-Mediated Communication

Objective: To illustrate the implications of social information processing and hyperpersonal perspective in CMC relationships

Time required: 1 hour

Materials needed: a DVD of You've Got Mail. scene 2 “Morning log-ons” and scene 21 “Still here” will be used     

The evolution of FM radio: 1941–1946

The following verbatim extracts from FCC Annual, Reports are part of a continuing series published in the Journal of Broadcasting that includes: “The Evolution of Television: 1927–1943” (Summer, 1960); “The Evolution of Television: 1944–1948” (Winter, 1960–61); and “The Evolution of FM Radio: 1935–1940” (Spring, 1961).