Minority Cultures and Social Media: Magnifying Garifuna

This paper looks at social media use by the Garifuna people. It explores how they are using social media to create a supraterritorial cyberscape. Despite the claim that global media is marginalising minority cultures and causing global homogenisation, this research found that newer forms of social media are in fact creating virtual cultural cyberscapes that are extending minority cultures. The Garifuna cultural response to social media can be demonstrative of the positive impact of social media minority perspectives. The larger implication, though, is that traditional geographical models of cultural space are becoming obsolete. In this research, a total of 60 Garifuna in locations all across the United States and Honduras were selected for participation. Their access to and use of media were examined.     

Intercultural Communication Training for English Language Teachers: A Case Study of an Immersion Program for South Korean Teachers

Little research has been conducted that explores connections between the fields of intercultural communication and English-language instruction. To address this gap, we report on an intercultural communication course delivered as an integral part of a short-term professional development immersion program for English-language teachers from South Korea. Study results indicate that intercultural communication training served to enhance participants’ pragmatics awareness along with sensitivity regarding sociocultural influences on communication that they experienced in situ. After the four-week course, most of the participants expressed desire and readiness to integrate intercultural communication into their teaching in South Korea. Intercultural communication training promises to complement pragmatics instruction aiming at improving English-language learning and teaching.     

Intergroup Contact,Media Exposure,and Racial Attitudes

The present investigation uses intergroup contact and media systems’ dependency theories to illuminate the relative significance of various sources of information in shaping Caucasian-American attitudes toward African-Americans. It uses empirical data from an exploratory survey of college students to build a chain of related variables that link primary sources of information (face-to-face versus mediated) to stereotypical beliefs, perceived internal causal attributions for African-Americans’ failures, and prejudicial feelings toward African-Americans. Results suggest that face-to-face sources of racial/ethnic out-group information are more effective than mediated sources in prejudice reduction. The discussion includes theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

Cultural Diplomacy,Branding and the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20

The Global Cultural Initiative (GCI) was a flagship cultural diplomacy effort introduced by the Bush Administration in the mid-2000s; one project of this initiative was the American Film Institute's Project: 20/20, a program of 19 films from five continents scheduled to tour the United States and abroad. This paper is a historical exploration into how the Bush Administration reconstructed American identity and culture through framing, and how that framing was embedded within cultural diplomacy initiatives like the GCI. This paper contributes to an understanding of how intercultural dialogue is often based on key messages and constructed ideas.     

散财有道:基金会捐赠美国高等教育的动因探析

基金会捐赠美国高等教育的历史由来已久,贯穿了美国高等教育的发展史,对美国高等教育的产生、发展和成熟起到了至关重要的作用。本文试图从财富的集中、宗教与文化传统、社会精英论和政府的税收制度几方面来探讨基金会捐赠高等教育的动机。     

第29届奥运会中美女排技术效果的对比分析

通过对第29届北京奥运会中美女排比赛技术统计分析,结果表明：中国女排在网上进攻的实力不如美国女排,发球攻击性不强,拦网、组织配合不默契等问题,为中国女排在今后的训练中提供参考依据。     

美国篮球经典进攻战术体系形成的必然性研究

摘要：以4个美国经典进攻战术体系为研究案例,通过文献资料法、专家访谈法及实地考察法对美国经典进攻战术体系形成的必然性进行了剖析,以期对我国篮球教练员构建进攻战术体系提供参考。研究认为竞争基因是美国篮球运动发源和发展的基础,发达的社会经济和巨大的资金投入、激烈频繁的赛事、高等教育及多元化哲学思想的影响、Scouting技术和篮球规则的改变等因素的综合作用使美国篮球进攻战术体系的形成成为必然。我国应借鉴美国大学篮球的成功因素,从而推动我国大学篮球运动的快速发展。     

传播学视域下民族传统体育文化传承发展的困境与疏解*

基于传播学视角,分析民族传统体育文化传承发展的困境,主要体现在：传播主体定位存在偏差;传播路径较为狭窄;传播运行机制不畅;传播技巧缺乏创新性。提出了疏解对策,主要是：创新理念,科学定位;强化媒介,拓宽路径;完善机制、双方互动;创新方法、提升质量,推动民族传统体育创造性传承和创新性发展。     

Editor's introduction to the forum on defining applied communication scholarship

Although public meetings are a frequent method of public participation and risk communication, little research investigates what citizens think about their use in environmental management. To examine satisfaction with public meetings, residents of two neighboring communities received questionnaires following a public meeting about a local landfill. Respondents included residents who did and did not attend the meeting. Irrespective of whether respondents had ever attended a public meeting, meeting expectations and perceptions of relational/informational communication at meetings, including whether respondents thought meeting organizers were genuinely interested in participants' comments or meetings were informative, predicted satisfaction. Perceived risk associated with the recent meeting's topic and credibility of government agencies that frequently conduct meetings also predicted satisfaction.