Browsing by Author "Kodrich, Kris, committee member"
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Item Open Access Designing and evaluating participatory cyber-infrastructure systems for multi-scale citizen science(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Newman, Gregory John, author; Laituri, Melinda Jean, advisor; Stohlgren, Thomas J., committee member; Moore, John C., committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberTo view the abstract, please see the full text of the document.Item Open Access James M. David: the composer, his compositional style, and a conductor's analysis of Symphony No. 1 - Codex Gigas(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Loyd, Sheridan Monroe, author; Phillips, Rebecca L., advisor; David, James M., committee member; Grapes, K. Dawn, committee member; Kenney, Wes, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberThis thesis provides the first formal study of James M. David and analysis of his compositions. Through extensive interviews with the composer, the author provides a biographical account of the composer's musical development and approach to composition, as well as a thorough description of the elements that constitute David's unique compositional voice. His musical background cultivated an extensive knowledge of modernist and post-modernist compositional techniques. By applying these methods within a tonal landscape, David creates works that are enjoyable for both musicians and audience. This document provides theoretical and rehearsal analyses of David's Symphony No. 1 - Codex Gigas (2019). This study is unique, in that interviews with David were conducted as he was composing the symphony, offering insight into his compositional approach throughout the experience. The author observed the duration of David's creative process, from initial sketches of the work to its completion in December 2019. David intended the work as a tribute to Czech-American composer Karel Husa, drawing inspiration from Husa's Music for Prague 1968 (1968) and Apotheosis of this Earth (1970). Music for Prague 1968 presents a message of protest and hope for the fate of the Czech people during a time of political uncertainty and fear. Apotheosis of this Earth warns of mankind's imminent destruction of the environment. David uses thematic, tonal, timbral, and rhythmic elements from both works as the foundation for his symphony. A second layer to Symphony No. 1 - Codex Gigas is its historical inspiration from the Codex Gigas, a medieval manuscript shrouded in mystery. Considered an attempt to contain all of the world's knowledge in one location, the Codex Gigas represents for David a persistent search for truth and wisdom. The book contains two large drawings: a vivid depiction of the devil lies opposite a separate image of the city of heaven. The unclear motive behind the drawings resulted in the book's nickname, the "Devil's Bible." David creates a musical representation of these dualities: good and evil, darkness and light, even enlightenment and ignorance. He considers the Codex Gigas a metaphor for the preservation of knowledge, and how information can be used for the good of society as well as for individual gain. With modern technology, information is available at the push of a button. However, the increased accessibility of information creates the opportunity for misinformation, often obscuring truth. David uses rational rhythms and diatonicism to portray knowledge and reason, while irrational rhythms and chromaticism portray ignorance and poor intentions. Altogether, the symphony manifests a new work presented within a historical context to communicate the underlying message that, in the face of disinformation, truth and enlightenment will prevail. Throughout Symphony No. 1 - Codex Gigas, David applies a contemporary approach to established compositional techniques from bygone musical eras, transforming them into innovative musical ideas. The work displays ingenuity in craftsmanship regarding David's treatment and variation of motives, meticulous creation of mathematical patterns, and detailed treatment of timbres and percussion voices. Although the basis for many of David's compositional techniques is very academic, their application within the work remains accessible to the listener. Through repetition and variation, David allows the listener to digest the alteration of themes and rhythmic ideas over the course of the work. Together, the four movements create a memorable musical experience, sure to take performers and audiences alike on an emotional journey.Item Open Access Mostly one shade of green: Sierra magazine and the discursive exploitation of "authentic nature"(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Walker, Brittany A., author; Champ, Joseph, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Cross, Jennifer, committee memberEnvironmental discourse from the mainstream environmental movement often relies on nature-based schema and a human-nature dichotomy in describing the environment, which can prioritize natural spaces over human-occupied spaces. It can also run counter to the aims of the environmental justice movement to protect vulnerable humans from harm. The goal of this research was to better understand how the largest environmental organization in the U.S. conceptualizes nature and the environment, and how these conceptualizations may be informing the priorities of the Sierra Club and the environmental movement more broadly. The research question of this study was: How does the Sierra Club, in the discourse represented by its magazine, present a nature-based schema and a human-nature dichotomy which indicates a preference for the idea of nature protection at the expense of protection for the human sphere? This study aimed to answer this question by performing a critical discourse analysis of six issues of Sierra magazine from 2011-2016, a publication popular with, and influential to, environmentalists. Findings indicate that Sierra magazine reveres authentic nature more greatly than other spaces and that authentic nature is exploited for profit. Authentic nature experiences are also discursively reserved for the elite, rather being presented inclusively. Sierra heavily emphasizes nature protection and the enjoyment of nature, while alternative perspectives are rarely featured and make Sierra's focus on authentic nature stand out even more.Item Open Access Social media and political participation: the case of the Muslim Council of Britain(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Burford, Allison, author; Cavdar, Gamze, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberIt has been suggested by the media and scholars alike that social media might be a potential solution for problems of political participation. To test this hypothesis, this thesis examines the content of political participation by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) as reflected in its Twitter posts for the period of January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2011. Furthermore, I compare traditional sources of political participation in the MCB (i.e. newsletters and press releases) from the years 2005 and 2011, with the political participation through Twitter. The findings indicate that political participation over social media occurs with substantially more frequency, and with a significant change in tone, while traditional participation shows very little change in tone or frequency.Item Open Access "Symbol of pride": subjugation of journalism under power(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Muhammad, Huzaifa, author; Wolfgang, David, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Stecula, Dominik, committee memberThis study explores the influences journalists encountered in Bangladesh, a developing country under an "authoritarian" regime while covering the opening of 6.15 kilometers long Padma Bridge. Using Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchy of influence model, Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model, and Bourdieu's field theory, it seeks to answer the question: How does the Bangladeshi media's coverage of the Padma Bridge opening reflect forms of government influence on journalists? Drawing on 12 in-depth interviews with reporters and news managers working from four media outlets, the findings suggest that, in the case of the coverage of the Padma Bridge opening in the Bangladeshi media, the government used several tools to influence. This reflected the authoritarian nature of the government, the censorship, and the self-censorship of the media, which ultimately resulted in the media's inability to provide any critical or even objective coverage of the Padma Bridge and its inauguration.Item Open Access The best alternative? The use of alternative media in the occupy movement(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) O'Connell, John T., author; Switzer, Jamie, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Mahoney, S. Pat, committee memberThis research study explores the use of alternative media among the Occupy social movement. A combination of factors, including emerging media technology and an antagonistic relationship with mainstream media has led many social movement actors to use alternative media to mobilize participation. The study looks into the participants' perspectives concerning mobilization through alternative media. Qualitative interviews with participants of Occupy Denver revealed insight into methods of mobilization, users' relationships with mainstream media sources, and vulnerabilities of alternative media use. The findings revealed that mobilization has been observed to occur successfully using open, interactive forms of online alternative media. Despite several risks identified with alternative media use, participants explained that Occupy Denver continues to prefer mobilizing through alternative media due to opportunities for horizontal structure, control, and independence from the mainstream media.Item Restricted The body my mother gave me(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Riedl, Morgan, author; Thompson, Deborah, advisor; Sloane, Sarah, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberThis collection of personal essays investigates the theme of identity, specifically identity in flux, how and why it changes, paying particular attention to the influence of relationships. Mostly memoir, these essays experiment with form and structure, often in the genre of the lyric essay, using braids, collage, and a hybrid style. The intention of this narrative choice is to allow for form and structure to be in conversation with the construction of meaning. This collection is organized around the body and its perception, so the individual essays study body parts responsible for sensing or interacting with the world to understand the self as separate from others but also its connection with others, with a keen eye on gender. The collection is most interested in the question and exploration of the one responsible for creating this self, physically and metaphorically. Thus, much of this body of work concentrates, directly and indirectly, on my relationship with my mother. This collection takes a special interest in the complication that, while the body and mind are connected and inseparable, they are not always congruent, much like relationships, both personal and with society as a whole. A smaller vein running throughout is the influence of both time and space—however unknowable and uncontrollable—in the creation and understanding of self in the context of something greater.Item Open Access The digital preservation of research at Colorado State University: a case study of three departments(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Peyronnin, Edgar U., author; Seel, Peter B., advisor; Cross, Jeni, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Paschal, Dawn, committee member; Trumbo, Craig, committee memberResearch 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.Item Open Access The failure effect: why you think she can't win(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Brandon, Melissa R., author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Wolfgang, David, committee member; Vasby Anderson, Karrin, committee member; Khrebtan-Horhager, Julia, committee memberThis dissertation analyzes how modern media coverage and framing of women political candidates reinforces and sustains what I term the Failure Effect. The Failure Effect is a complex combination of gender-based expectancies and cognitive processes including cultural cognition, motivated reasoning, and pragmatic bias, which are amplified and reinforced by media framing techniques that ultimately disadvantage women candidates. I argue the Failure Effect causes voters to doubt a woman candidate's electability even when she is an otherwise qualified candidate, resulting in voters choosing a man candidate at the ballot box because they believe She Can't Win. Despite progress toward gender parity in politics, women continue to hold a significantly smaller portion of political offices than men, particularly at the executive level. Investigating this issue, I examine the history of women candidates in the U.S., gender-based social role expectations, journalistic norms, the attention cycle model, and symbolic annihilation in connection with women political candidates. The study conducted considers the impact of commonly used media framing techniques, specifically strategic game frames, on political outcomes and the notions voters may hold about the electability of a woman candidate. This dissertation argues that despite progress, gender parity in politics remains a distant goal. The research question posed in this study yielded results that both supported the argument of the dissertation as well as surprising results that are ripe for future investigation and potentially the future success of women political candidates. This study asks: How do media frame ideas about executive-level women candidates' electability? To investigate this question, I examined the framing of news stories in four major national newspapers in the United States and the coverage generated about the six women presidential candidates who ran during the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary. This qualitative thematic analysis found eight primary strategic game frames and several additional sub-frames that were applied to the women candidates. The results of this analysis provide support for the primary argument of this dissertation – the Failure Effect, and how media framing of these candidates causes voters to believe that She Can't Win.Item Open Access The role of readers' performance of a narrative on their beliefs about transgender persons: a mental models approach(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Sharma, Neelam, author; Rouner, Donna, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Champ, Joseph, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Sloane, Sarah, committee memberNarratives are powerful communication tools that can influence people's beliefs and attitudes. Narrative processing literature explains cognitive operations involved in information processing in terms of transportation and identification with characters. Narrative performance, however, is an unexplored construct in social science narrative engagement literature. Narrative performance is a process by which readers bring cognitions and emotions to construct distinct story worlds into which they can be transported. This study advances the narrative processing literature by going beyond narrative transportation and by examining how people's performance of a narrative affects their story-related beliefs. A three-condition experiment, with 174 voluntary participants, was conducted at a large Western university to gauge the effects of performance on viewers' beliefs about transgender persons. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrates that narrative performance can weaken the effects of narrative transportation, and performance can be a stronger predictor of viewers' story-related beliefs. The study discriminates, using construct validity tests, narrative performance from narrative transportation, demonstrating construct validity. This study uses a mental models approach as a theoretical basis, and along with operationalizing narrative performance, develops valid and reliable scales for measuring viewers' beliefs about transgender persons and their propensity to take action in socializing with transgender persons.Item Restricted Things now gone and things still here: a collection of essays(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Mueske, Todd Brant, author; Calderazzo, John, advisor; Levy, E. J., committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberIncluded in this collection of essays are four works: "Bare Ground," "The Hawk," "The Car Crash," and "The Terrible Sublime." Two of the pieces--"Bare Ground," and "The Hawk," depict my life growing up on an apple orchard/farm in Southeastern Minnesota. "The Hawk," is a piece in which the narrator, myself, tries to come to terms with the fact that his father, as well as himself, are only human, and focuses on a traumatic incident in the narrator's life in which his father was forced to shoot a beautiful creature, a hawk, and the meanings the narrator attached to this creature. "Bare Ground," on the other hand, is a piece which chronicles the history of my family's apple orchard and is an exercise in conciseness which attempts to capture the family dynamics of a rural family. "The Car Crash" is a work that does not deal with my life growing up on the farm. Instead, it depicts a moment in which a narrator observed a rather horrifying head on collision and in its presence did nothing. The piece revolves around sketching out the moral consequences that arise from a life of fear and inaction in the aftermath of not only one tragedy that the narrator could have intervened in, but many. The last piece, "The Terrible Sublime," revolves around the narrator's continued dependence on sleeping medication as well as his continued struggled with manic-depression. It's mainly about coming to terms with an affliction and finding a way to go on in spite of crushing disappointment.Item Restricted Thru: literary essays on life and long-distance hiking(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Moore, Stewart, author; Calderazzo, John, advisor; Thompson, Debby, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee member"Thru: Literary Essays on Life and Long-Distance Hiking" is a collection of three non-fiction essays centered around long-distance hiking. The goal of "Thru" is to create sample pieces for a potential literary journal dedicated to long-distance hiking. Differentiating itself from current, popular hiking magazines comprised of gear reviews, training tips, destination lists, and survival techniques, "Thru" focuses on experiences, stories, and meditations that arise while hiking for an extended period of time. The first essay, "Stray," shows the author's conflicted relationship with the national bestseller Wild by Cheryl Strayed, as the author finds parallels between his own love life and that of Strayed. However, identifying with Strayed's first husband, Paul, the author finds his history unwritten and uncertain in the face of romantic loss. The second essay, "In My Time," follows the author's thru hike of the Colorado Trail. Starting off as an amateur hiker, the author grows up on the trail through trial and error and passes on his knowledge to less experienced hikers. In this the author breaks the cycle of maturing without the guidance of a father figure, while still trusting the less experienced hikers to learn on their own. The third essay, "Hiking Super-Ultra Light," seeks to answer the question of how to proceed in the face of crippling uncertainty. Planning a future combination thru hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail and the John Muir Trail, while in the middle of a new romantic relationship, the author juggles past experience and personal "baggage" to find that while the past offers insight and knowledge, dwelling on it can hinder forward progression and enjoyment of life.Item Open Access Wheat-free for the wrong reasons? College students' attitudes and information sources pertaining to the gluten-free diet(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Walker, Anne, author; Abrams, Katherine, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Wdowik, Melissa, committee memberThe gluten-free diet has grown popular over the past years, with more people on the diet than simply celiac patients. Health professionals were concerned by the high number of people on the diet for reasons other than celiac disease because of dietary deficiencies that stem from eating gluten-free. Health scholars believed that misleading media messages touting the weight-loss and general health benefits of the diet were leading to the popularity of the gluten-free diet. However, these statements were not supported by research. In the pursuit of knowledge, research questions were developed for attitudes and information sources of the diet. Agenda setting and framing theory were used to examine survey results to better understand the possible influence media sources are having on attitudes towards the diet. To achieve a better understanding of attitudes and sources of information about the gluten-free diet, an online survey was given to 351 college students assessing their attitudes and both interpersonal and media information sources. College students were chosen as the study population based on their proclivity for fad dieting, changes in eating habits, and issues with weight. Results indicated that while students neither believed the diet was healthy nor unhealthy for everyone, they did hold negative attitudes about gluten-free as a fad diet, and believed others thought the diet was annoying and healthy. Search engine results were the most popular source of gluten-free diet information, and health type media sources were the most preferred type of media. Friends and family were the most used sources of interpersonal information, and health care providers were the least used interpersonal source of information. Students who had celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity were more likely to find gluten-free information on a search engine, on followed blogs or websites, and in magazine articles; these students were also more likely to discuss the diet with friends, family, and a health care provider. Implications and recommendations for future research were also discussed.Item Open Access When we're backed into a corner, we learn how to fly: two ways local journalism can grow, thrive, & evolve to fit the needs of a new kind of local information ecosystem(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Scaccia, Jesse, author; Humphrey, Michael, advisor; Kodrich, Kris, committee member; Carcasson, Martin, committee member; Stecula, Dominik, committee member; Luft, Gregory, committee memberThe local news industry and local information ecosystems face dual threats: collapsing business models that have taken with them traditional pipelines of community dialogue, and an often broken, divisive, still-top-down dialogue when conversation within our communities do happen. This dissertation proposes to address partial solutions for each concern in turn. First, by looking at how journalism teaching hospitals, long a steady source of news in the communities they call home, are formed and what makes them thrive. Then, in the interest of not recreating a broken system, by exploring the intersection of journalism and deliberative democracy, and proposing a method for local deliberative journalists to uncover the issues a community itself would most like to address.Item Restricted Zen and the art of conquest: a southerly misadventure with Phaedrus and other essays(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Moreno, Raul B., author; Sloane, Sarah, advisor; Calderazzo, John, committee member; Kodrich, Kris, committee memberAs the title suggests, this thesis comprises several works of creative nonfiction. First, "Zen and the Art of Conquest" presents an incomplete narrative, in six chapters, that draws inspiration from Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and other travelogues. In Chapter One, the author embarks on a road trip to Las Vegas that seems haunted by his past--that is, his Peace Corps service in Kyrgyzstan, where "the killing started" just a month ago. Chapter Two begins with a flashback from an earthquake that preceded the killing, but then moves back to the road, where the author has reached Prineville, Oregon, also a stop on Pirsig's journey. Pushing farther south, in Chapter Three, through Indian country, the author recalls childhood memories of Cathlapotle, a Chinook village described in Lewis and Clark's journals. Chapter Four profiles the author's father and grandfather, who devoted themselves to unearthing a Mayan graveyard in Guatemala. The Maya's ancestors migrated south from Asia and then Oregon, the author discovers, and this fact drives his thinking in Chapter Five. He's determined to reach Las Vegas because he wants to put questions about what happened in Kyrgyzstan to a former Peace Corps volunteer living there with his Kyrgyz wife. Chapter Five concludes with the author's arrival in Osh, the scene of the killing, and Chapter Six alternates between his approach to the Oregon-Nevada border and a village feast where Kyrgyz men butcher livestock and grill him about Amerikadan. Three essays constitute the second half of this thesis. "What Happened Yesterday in Baghdad" recounts the author's conversations with a group of Iraqi students visiting Colorado. Their wartime memories resonate with his life as a public radio producer between 2004 and 2008--a time when he assembled reports for correspondents in Baghdad and helped "voice" the words of the conflict's victims. "Exposure Time" reflects on the author's preoccupation with dying in a cycling accident, which in turn offers an entry into recollections of violence in Cartagena, Colombia, and Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The final essay, "I'd Like to Talk About the Bigger Stuff," explores the author's separation from a woman who observes, after his Peace Corps service, that he no longer has compassion for animals. This observation invites a meditation on American relationships with dogs, cats, and wildlife; the roles of dogs, goats, and horses in Kyrgyzstan; and the legacy of the Soviet Union in Central Asia.