Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor"

Browsing by Author "Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor"

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Open Access
Adolescents and nutrition information-seeking: the role of the Internet
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Larsen, Jessica Nicole, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Anderson, Jennifer, committee member; Seel, Peter Benjamin, committee member
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the ways adolescents find and make sense of nutrition information, giving special attention to the role of the Internet in that process. Adolescents' behaviors and opinions relevant to finding nutrition information were investigated using Kuhlthau’s (1993) iterative model of information-seeking as a theoretical foundation. Since many skills are required to search, engage with, and use online information sources and information, the information-seeking process was investigated in relationship to an applied context of eHealth literacy (Norman & Skinner, 2006a), referred to as eNutrition literacy. From six in-depth interviews and a brief paper-and-pencil questionnaire with seventy-nine adolescents aged 12-16 two trends emerged: 1) these adolescents were primarily presented with and fulfilled nutrition information needs in formal settings such as school and 2) these adolescents used the Internet to fulfill primarily personal needs. Therefore, a conflict existed between the ways they used the Internet and the ways they were presented with a nutrition information-seeking task. Nutrition-specific information literacy, media literacy, health literacy, and scientific literacy, created challenges in stages of the information-seeking process as well. Fundamentally, this affected their overall engagement with online nutrition information and their ability to receive the maximum benefits from the online information-seeking process.
Open Access
Human-technology relationality and self-network organization: players and avatars in World of Warcraft
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Banks, Jaime, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Rouner, Donna, committee member; Champ, Joseph, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Folkestad, James, committee member
Massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, or MMOs, present an increasingly popular digital media experience whereby identity emerges as players contribute materially to play but contributions are governed by affordances and constraints of the game. Unique to this medium is the player's ability to create and control a digital body - an avatar - to represent the Self in the immersive gameworld. Although notions of identity and the Self in digital games have been examined through a number of approaches, it is still unclear how the way one sees the avatar in the uncanny situation of having two bodies - one digital, one physical - contributes to a sense of Self in and around these games. Further, it is unclear how non-human objects contribute to human senses of Self. In that vein, this study examines two research questions: How do players have relationships with their avatars in a digital game? And how does the Self emerge in relation to those relationships? Toward understanding how nonhumans play a role in the emergence of the Self, this study approaches these questions from an actor-network perspective, examining how human, nonhuman, material, and semiotic objects exist in complex webs of relations and how those relations give rise to particular senses of Self in relation to particular gameplay situations. Tracing the history of the construct of "Self" from romantic and singular to postmodern and pluralistic, I argue for an approach to Self that accommodates postmodern perspectives that embodiment is only one way that the Self is signified across spaces. Actor-Network Theory principles are integrated with postmodern notions of identity to propose a Network Model of Self. In this model, the Self is a network of personas that are, themselves, complex networks of objects. Following, I present a research approach called "object-relation mapping" that integrates phenomenology, Actor-Network Theory, social network analysis, and Grounded Theory to accommodate network structures and multiplicities of the Self as it is signified across spaces. To address the questions of how the Self emerges in relation to different player-avatar relationships, I conducted in-depth interviews with 29 players of the online digital game World of Warcraft. Transcripts of those interviews were analyzed via thematic analysis for patterns in player-avatar relationships and via object-relation mapping for semantic and structural patterns in how object-relations give rise to persona- and Self-networks. Through this analysis, a four-point typology of player-avatar relationships emerged, characterized by variations in emotional intimacy, self-differentiation, perceived agency, and primary gameplay focus. It is interpreted that the different relationships are the result of sense-making processes in response to the uncanny situation of having two bodies - one digital and one physical. Analysis revealed that players of different relationship types "activated" different types of personas, resulting in a Self that was more or less complex and consistent across game and non-game spaces. Further, players of each relationship type differently approached particular objects in crafting those personas. Ultimately a model of active Self-organization is presented, where players work with the affordances and against the constraints of objects in sense-making practices in order to maintain and protect preferred senses of agency and to achieve personal gameplay goals. These findings suggest that players see avatars as objects that are, to different degrees, both human and technological, and as resources in the purposeful organization of a Self that serves individual psychological, social, and functional purposes. Different phenomenal accounts of the player-avatar relationship emerge as players work to make sense of human-technology interactions and to maintain agency and Selfhood in the face of technological constraints. Implications for human-technology relationships, more broadly, are discussed.
Open Access
I'm fairly credible, don't you think? A study of the effects of gendered language on source credibility and persuasion
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Blickenstaff, Ashley Ellen, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Plaisance, Patrick Lee, committee member; Griffin, Cindy L., committee member
As the Internet introduces new ways of communicating, these fast and reliable forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) have saturated offices, homes, airports and any other location with wireless Internet. Communicating in an instant, with one or with many, has become a staple in today's world. However, the technology once deemed "the great equalizer" has now raised concerns about inequalities and how these differences are manifested and perceived in a world where few cues are portrayed. Concerns about gender discriminations give rise to the question, What is the relationship between perceived gender and online perceptions? An online survey with 25 participants provides insight into gender cues and perceptions in one of the worlds most-used resource for communication: email. The results from this survey suggest that users form perceptions of a message's source and the message's persuasiveness through the linguistic cues given, even though cues are reduced in CMC. Participants read two stimuli messages created to simulate a common email message. Messages were attributed to a female writer, but were written using either masculine or feminine language. Analysis of source credibility and message persuasiveness scales suggest that the use of feminine language creates more positive perceptions of the source and more persuasive messages written using masculine language. Analysis of psychological gender suggests that users who are high in masculine characteristics but low in feminine characteristics are more likely to view all sources as having low credibility, but all messages as being highly persuasive. As CMC continues to grow in uses and popularity, businesses, employers, and every-day users are creating perceptions of themselves through the limited cues they are able to provide given the medium. However, users do base perceptions of the source and message from these cues. For women using CMC as a daily function, understanding how these cues are perceived can help them succeed in a gender-biased world.
Open Access
Misbehavior in virtual worlds: breaking the rules for social benefit
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Shiflett, Kevin, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Champ, Joseph, committee member; Folkestad, James, committee member
This thesis uses Gidden's (1984) Structuration Theory as a guiding framework for examining the causes and consequences of misbehavior in virtual worlds. Misbehavior is clearly delineated from more commonly studied cheating behaviors to examine the possibility that certain unintended behaviors (those that break coded rules, semiotic rules, and emerging social norms) may be productive and even beneficial behaviors for social groups in online spaces. Data was gathered at a private island within Second Life as part of the larger SCRIBE project. Therefore, this thesis conducted a secondary analysis of qualitative data and found that participants were primarily able to misbehave by transgressing boundaries created by structures of domination, legitimation, and signification if the group identity of detective trainees was salient over the individual identities of present participants. Such findings are consistent with the social identity model of deinviduation effects (Lea & Spears, 1991). Further findings are discussed in detail using supporting literature and theory.
Open Access
New participation, new perspectives? Young adults' political engagement using Facebook
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Van Wyngarden, Katharine E., author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Seel, Pete, committee member; Carcasson, Martin, committee member
This thesis was designed to explore how young adults understand and experience political engagement on Facebook. Some scholars suggest that traditional, active forms of political participation may be declining, creating an uncertain future for democracy. However, other findings suggest that young adults may be choosing to engage in politics through non-traditional avenues, including social networking websites. To explore this possibility, this thesis used 20 in-depth interviews to investigate the nature of youth's political participation on Facebook. The data suggest that Facebook is a meaningful space for political engagement among youth, but that engagement on Facebook is not necessarily comparable to traditional definitions of participation. Rather, it is helpful to think about Facebook as a place for political expression and talk. In addition, the data suggest that scholars should not assume study participants share the same definition of politics with each other or with researchers. As a result, this study argues that scholars should adjust their measures of political engagement on Facebook to account for its features that make political participation unique, rather than assuming that non-traditional participation via social networking websites has limited value or meaning.
Open Access
Sharing health-related stigma through selfies and its perceived potential for de-stigmatization
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Allen, Marie Sherrill, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Dunn, Thomas, committee member; Long, Marilee, committee member
This study explores the impact of posting selfies on perceptions of stigma surrounding health conditions. Using Goffman's stigma theory, it examines the communicative role of posting selfies that explicitly portray signs and symptoms of health conditions. The study uses eight one-on-one interviews with creators of what this thesis calls stigma signaling selfies (SSS) posted on the social media platform Instagram. It focused on people with cancer who posted SSS in order to understand motivations for and perceived consequences of posting. Interviews revealed that posting SSS provided a low-pressure way to disclose their cancer diagnoses and treatments, helped creators build closer relationships with others who have cancer, and promoted conversation about and normalization of cancer in public communication on the social media platform. In these ways, selfies fulfill each role of what stigma theory proposes revealing stigma plays for stigmatized individuals: disclosure, identity construction, and de-stigmatization. As one of the first formal research projects to study SSS, this study aims to create a starting point for future work at the intersection of selfies and stigma.
Open Access
Strategic fundraising communication plan for the Office of International Programs at Colorado State University
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Gerber, Anna Sprunger, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Seel, Peter B., committee member; Bruyere, Brett, committee member
As a globally-focused American institution of higher education, Colorado State University aims to bring international education opportunities to all 33,000 of its students. In 2017, CSU had more than 2,000 international students from 110 countries studying on-campus in Fort Collins. Nearly 17 percent of CSU students have an international experience – study, research, internship or service-learning opportunity abroad – before they graduate. To participate in international programs, students often incur substantial costs beyond what is required for regular class enrollment, including airfare and travel, fees, and additional tuition. These costs prevent some students from participating, and often result in higher student debt upon graduation for those who do. Additional financial resources, beyond those currently provided by the university, will allow the Office of International Programs to expand its offerings and services, increase program access to include more students, and ease the financial burden on participants. To sustain and grow CSU's international programs long-term, private funding from alumni is crucial. To facilitate fundraising that supports initiatives within the Office of International Programs and contributes to CSU's overall fundraising goals, OIP must work to solicit funds from donors through a cohesive, theory-driven fundraising communication strategy and plan for implementation. At present, communication from the university does not tap into the overwhelmingly positive experiences of CSU's education abroad alumni. This affinity group is willing to give so that future students can have international experiences, but they do not know how – more than a third do not realize that their financial support can make a difference. Using theories of fundraising success, donor motivation, and persuasive media as a foundation, this project investigated ways to engage potential donors to financially support initiatives of the Office of International Programs at Colorado State University. Research methods included informal meetings with project stakeholders, an analysis of existing data related to international student satisfaction, and the collection of an original survey that examined attitudes toward international experiences and fundraising among 499 education abroad alumni. This research determined that focusing on alumni attitudes and social norms is the most effective path to stimulate philanthropic behavior. The study found that 46% of participants think that financial contributions from people like them help make education abroad possible for CSU students, and 55% would give to the Office of International Programs if they could. Further, almost all participants had overwhelmingly positive experiences abroad, and more than 95% of them would recommend the experience to future students. These insights and others were used to develop a theory-driven, empirically-based communication plan that lays the groundwork for a successful and sustainable fundraising campaign. The plan focuses on engaging participant attitudes toward education abroad and seeks to change attitudes about giving, including social norms around giving. It proposes an approach that relies on storytelling in its communication materials to tap into alumni emotions and nostalgia. The present report provides conceptual background and previous research, an analysis of data collected for this project, and recommendations for implementation and future expansion. A separate communication plan document provides key findings and recommendations for CSU administration and staff so that they can integrate the goals and strategies of the university's overall communication, fundraising, and international strategies.
Open Access
The affect and effect of Internet memes: assessing perceptions and influence of online user-generated political discourse as media
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Huntington, Heidi E., author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Anderson, Ashley A., committee member; Burgchardt, Carl R., committee member; Long, Marilee, committee member; McIvor, David W., committee member
In our modern media environment characterized by participatory media culture, political internet memes have become a tool for citizens seeking to participate actively and discursively in a digital public sphere. Although memes have been examined as visual rhetoric and discursive participation, such political memes' effects on viewers are unclear. This study responds to calls for research into effects of internet memes. Specifically, this work represents early, foundational research to quantitatively establish some media effects of internet memes as a form of political, user-generated media. This study focuses on memes' influence on affect, as well as perceptions of internet memes' persuasiveness to look for evidence of motivated reasoning in consuming political memes. To establish effects of viewing political memes, an online, post-test only, quasi-experimental design was employed to test the relationships between viewing political internet memes, affect, and perceived persuasiveness of memes. To better attribute results to specific genres (e.g. political vs. non-political) and attributes of memes (i.e., the role of images), the main study (N = 633) was comprised of five experimental conditions – to view either liberal political memes, conservative political memes, text-only versions of the liberal memes, text-only versions of the conservative memes, or non-political memes – with a sixth comparison group, who did not view any stimuli at all. Before running the main study, a pilot study (N = 133) was conducted to determine which memes to use as the stimuli in the main study, based on participants' ratings of the memes' political stances and similarity to their text-only versions. Results indicate that political internet memes produce different effects on viewers than non-political internet memes, and that political memes are subject to motivated reasoning in viewers' perceptions of memes' persuasiveness. Specifically, viewing political internet memes resulted in more feelings of aversion than did viewing non-political memes, and political internet memes were rated as less effective as messages and their arguments were scrutinized more than were non-political memes. However, non-political memes were significantly discounted as simple jokes more than were political memes. This suggests that participants understood political memes as attempts at conveying arguments beyond mere jokes, even if they were unconvinced regarding memes' effectiveness for doing so. Additionally, participants whose own political ideology matched that of the political memes they saw, as well as those who stated they agreed with the ideas presented by the memes, rated the memes as being more effective as messages and engaged in less argument scrutiny than did participants whose ideology differed from that of the memes, or than those who disagreed with the memes. This finding indicates that memes are subject to processes of motivated reasoning, specifically selective judgment and selective perception. Political memes' visuals, or lack thereof, did not play a significant role in these differences. Finding the memes to be funny, affinity for political humor, and participants' meme use moderated some of these outcomes. The results of this study suggest that political internet memes are a distinct internet meme genre, with characteristics operating in line with other humorous political media, and should be studied for effects separately or as distinguished from non-political memes. The results of this study also indicate that user-generated media like political internet memes are an important influence in today's media environment, and have implications for other forms of political outcomes, including concerns about opinion polarization, civic discourse, and the public sphere. The study presents one method for conducting quantitative research with internet memes, including generating a sample from existing internet memes, and for considering political memes' effects as media. Suggestions for future research building on this work are offered.
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 member
This 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.
Open Access
The power of art for communicating complex health technologies
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Scott, Stephanie Marie, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Anderson, Charles, committee member; Abrams, Katherine, committee member
This project examines whether art can influence audience perceptions of complex health technologies, specifically, brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies. This study used an experiment to test hypotheses about differences between those who see text about the technology, text and a scientific illustration of the technology, and text with an artistic representation of the technology (compared to a control), to determine whether an artistic representation of a new health technology can serve as an effective tool for increasing trust, comprehension, and interest of N=86 students from Colorado State University. This project used text and visual representations of brain-computer interface technologies to assess whether artistic representations of BCI influence trust, interest, and comprehension of the technology. Hypotheses 3 was supported, finding that that there were some significant effects for artistic visual and textual information on participants' levels of understanding. The findings of this study help us to better understand the role of visuals in communicating science and technology in health, especially in order to improve trust in complex new technologies. It also contributes to our understanding of the role of more abstract forms of representation, such as artistic works, in perceptions of technology. Additionally, this research can help practitioners improve and broaden their communication efforts in cultivating more positive perceptions among various publics of new health technologies. Future work could focus on exploratory efforts designed to gain greater insight and further understanding towards the impact that art and images within medical spaces and communities generates. This work provides a step towards better understanding art and its persuasive goals within communicating complex information and moves research efforts closer towards recognizing how artistic content may change perceptions. Visual representations in media have the ability to transport a viewer through an abstract narrative, and considerable research has shown that visual information contributes powerfully to people's understanding of facts, ideas, and stories. However, that research almost always examines realistic or highly representative imagery such as diagrams, photographs, or sketches. In contrast, little is known about the role that more artistic and abstract visual messages might play in people's perceptions of health and health-related technologies. This study measures the impact of viewing art related to a new health technology, brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. It asks, can abstract art representations of a complex health technology increase trust in and improve individuals' understanding of that technology?
Open Access
User-generated content: an examination of users and the commodification of Instagram posts
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Macon, June Mia, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Abrams, Katherine, committee member; Garcia, Antero, committee member
The language around social media contributes to perceptions of who is posting content and why. The concept of user generated content (UGC) places an emphasis on authorship and has been defined as online content that is publically available and created by end-users in a creative effort (Dennhardt, 2013). UGC is a powerful tool for businesses because it taps into one of the most valued marketing tools: verbal consumer-to-consumer communication, which is also known as "word of mouth" (WOM) marketing. However, the tactics used by companies to integrate UGC with their own content and goals has resulted in a blurred line between sponsored content paid by advertisers and UGC independently posted by regular users. Recent attempts to regulate this distinction have struggled to determine how, exactly, audiences can be effectively alerted to paid content on social media platforms, especially Instagram. This study uses the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) as a theoretical framework to examine if and when audiences' responses to and coping mechanisms are triggered in Instagram. It argues that digital media literacy is especially challenged in UGC platforms, and draws on political economy to suggest that the relationships between producers and consumers has been blurred in favor of the producers. Online users who have a well-known or niche brand can make money from his or her brand and online community because companies use "regular people" to push products to reach a specific audience; one that a regular user has the ability to build and maintain. This is why businesses have targeted UGC and why the user interaction with this type of content needs to be re-examined. This study examines the relationships between viewer perceptions of commercial sponsorship and post content in the social media platform, Instagram. Specifically, it examines whether or not the trust and credibility generally associated with electronic word-of-mouth are affected by hashtags and other cues on Instagram posts. This project asks, Does the commodification of user-generated content change the way the content is perceived by users? It tests these relationships in an experiment that manipulates hashtags and @name text that accompany an image. The study hypothesizes that users will not be more likely to identify content as sponsored when a #promoted tag is present in the caption than when #ad or #sponsored is used; it also hypothesizes that @company_name tags were more likely to be recognized as sponsored than the hashtag text versions. Changes in advertising recognition, persuasive intent of the message, trust in the message, and credibility of the message were examined in between subjects' analyses using ANOVAs, correlations, and t-tests. The results revealed several findings. Results showed users recognized the @company_handle as an advertisement more than #ad, #sponsored, and #promoted. The results also showed no significant difference between user's perception of the hashtags #ad, #sponsored, and #promoted. Also, even when these cues were present, some participants were not aware of their presence and did not recognize any advertising on the post within the survey. It was also found that once identified as an advertisement, the trustworthiness and credibility towards the post was not affected.

Browsing by Author "Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor"

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