Matching Items (21)
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- All Subjects: Social Media
- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
- Status: Published
Description
In a world where tweets, texts, posts, likes and favorites are a part of our daily lives, it's hard not to believe everything we see. Every little detail of one's personal life is easily shared with the world with the click of a button. And because of this, the beauty standards that society has created is jumping from the pages of magazines and TV shows to apps such as Instagram and Facebook. The majority of social media users are young teens and adults, but the popularity of these apps is rising among kids as young as five years old as well. These are some of the most impressionable years of one's life. So, by seeing these standards that qualify someone as "beautiful," individuals are likely to strive toward these standards. And while some may seem impossible to attain, individuals are willing to go to extreme lengths to get there. Qualities like the "thigh gap" are slowly becoming more popular, and are putting individuals at risk. In a country where the ideal woman is skinny, and most of the celebrities and models showcase these nearly impossible standards, it's hard not to fall into the trap. With the addition of editing software and filters to already existing social media applications, the ability to edit and enhance photos is in the hands of the user. Photos can be edited so dramatically different from the original that what we're seeing doesn't even exist. This project explores the false reality that social media is creating and the negative effects it has on young girls and women. It also offers a solution to the problem.
ContributorsHenry, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Sanft, Alfred (Thesis director) / Heywood, William (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Although previous research has explored the relationship between social media use and well-being, many studies are contradictory of each other and conclude varying findings relating to social media use and outspokenness. This study explores the relationship between active and passive social media use, perceived social media expertise, and outspokenness using the potentially mediating variable of perceived social acceptance. 162 participants, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and ASU’s SONA systems, completed a survey relating to their own use of social media, perceived social acceptance, and outspokenness. Contradictory to my first hypotheses, no significant correlations were found between social media use and social media expertise. However, correlation analyses revealed that active social media use is related to an increased amount of perceived social media expertise (r = 0.23, p < .004). Perceived social media expertise was significantly positively correlated with outspokenness (r = 0.19, p < 0.015); however, it was not correlated with perceived social acceptance. When examining these relationships separately by gender, a strong association was found for males between active social media use and outspokenness, whereas passive social media use and outspokenness were negatively correlated for females. The results of this study add to previous research in the field of social media and outspokenness and lend new ideas for future research on these topics, such as exploring the gender differences that are associated with these variables. Further research in the area is needed for a more complete understanding of how one’s social media use affects his/her outspokenness and how gender modifies these effects.
ContributorsRubino, Kelli Erika (Co-author) / Rubino, Kelli (Co-author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis director) / Halavais, Alexander (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Dale and Edna is a hybrid animated film and videogame experienced in virtual reality with dual storylines that increases in potential meanings through player interaction. Developed and played within Unreal Engine 4 using the HTC Vive, Oculus, or PlayStation VR, Dale and Edna allows for players to passively enjoy the film element of the project or partake in the active videogame portion. Exploration of the virtual story world yields more information about that world, which may or may not alter the audience’s perception of the world. The film portion of the project is a static narrative with a plot that cannot be altered by players within the virtual world. In the static plot, the characters Dale and Edna discover and subsequently combat an alien invasion that appears to have the objective of demolishing Dale’s prize pumpkin. However, the aliens in the film plot are merely projections created by AR headsets that are reflecting Jimmy’s gameplay on his tablet. The audience is thus invited to question their perception of reality through combined use of VR and AR. The game element is a dynamic narrative scaffold that does not unfold as a traditional narrative might. Instead, what a player observes and interacts with within the sandbox level will determine the meaning those players come away from this project with. Both elements of the project feature modular code construction so developers can return to both the film and game portions of the project and make additions. This paper will analyze the chronological development of the project along with the guiding philosophy that was revealed in the result.
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
ContributorsKemp, Adam Lee (Co-author) / Kemp, Bradley (Co-author) / Kemp, Claire (Co-author) / LiKamWa, Robert (Thesis director) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Thunderbird School of Global Management (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This study looked at the Women's March's use of social media to communicate their organization's mission. Data was collected from their official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Facebook posts were collected manually, Twitter data was collected with a Google Sheets add-on and Instagram was collected by Picodash. All the posts were shifted through multiple times to identify the key narratives of the Women's March. These narratives were then compared to the stated "Unity Principles" of the organization to see if they aligned with what the Women's March attempted to fight for. The five narratives were "everyone should have access to affordable health care," "women should have access to positions of power and be respected," "immigrants should be welcomed within the United States," "society will be stronger if it addresses issues intersectionally," and "everyone should be safe in the world and treated as equals." Analysis showed that each of these narratives reflected the "Unity Principles" in some form. While certain narratives were related to more principles than others, it does not diminish the importance of each message.
ContributorsLuckey, Alessandra Noel (Author) / Gilpin, Dawn (Thesis director) / Thornton, Leslie-Jean (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate a tool used for assessing games for design features that teach players a basic understanding of systems. In order to prepare for my evaluation of both the games and the rubric, I researched multiple articles about the effectiveness of games in teaching, the concepts of systems thinking, and the importance of systems thinking. I evaluated five different games, following the rubric for whether the five games met the specific criteria laid out in each section and suggested improvements for how the games can meet any criteria that they fell short in. I then evaluated the rubric itself for ease of use, clarity, and effectiveness and suggested improvements on how to make the tool more clear and understandable. I conclude that the tool is indeed useful and does achieve its purpose of helping game designers and developers understand the criteria needed to teach a basic understanding of systems, but the rubric could be improved in order to make it more useable.
ContributorsMorrow, Rachel Elizabeth Kaye (Author) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Thesis director) / Gee, James (Committee member) / Siyahhan, Sinem (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
The action/adventure game Grad School: HGH is the final, extended version of a BME Prototyping class project in which the goal was to produce a zombie-themed game that teaches biomedical engineering concepts. The gameplay provides fast paced, exciting, and mildly addicting rooms that the player must battle and survive through, followed by an engineering puzzle that must be solved in order to advance to the next room. The objective of this project was to introduce the core concepts of BME to prospective students, rather than attempt to teach an entire BME curriculum. Based on user testing at various phases in the project, we concluded that the gameplay was engaging enough to keep most users' interest through the educational puzzles, and the potential for expanding this project to reach an even greater audience is vast.
ContributorsNitescu, George (Co-author) / Medawar, Alexandre (Co-author) / Spano, Mark (Thesis director) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Guiang, Kristoffer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This creative project aimed to combine knowledge, qualifications, and experience in networking and marketing to host a live music event. As a social media industry employee, an avid concertgoer, and a digital marketer, I felt sufficiently able to complete this task. The process included working within the Barrett budget to secure a venue and acts with the option of paid marketing for the event. Once I secured The Graduate Hotel and three acts— bands Study Habit and Moose Titans and DJ/emcee Malcolm Alexndr—it was time to publicize the event. I found a photographer and organized a photo shoot then created social media profiles and a website with these photos. In total, the attendance was roughly 100 people, and the night was a smash success.
Keywords: event planning, social media, music
Keywords: event planning, social media, music
ContributorsGilliam, Taylor Mikel (Author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / Hultsman, Wendy (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
A combined examination of the Charlie Hebdo attacks on January 7, 2015 and the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris yields a social media movement that evolved within the 10 months between the attacks, a comparison between these terrorist attacks and those of September 11, 2001 and parallels between American First Amendment principles and France’s free expression laws.
The Charlie Hebdo attacks fueled an online debate over freedom of expression and religion, whereas the purpose of social media evolved into a humanitarian one following the November 13 attacks in Paris. This research looks into the individual evolutions of the related hashtags that surfaced in 2015, including #JeSuisCharlie (and its opposites, such as #JeNeSuisPasCharlie), #DonDuSang, #PorteOuverte and #RechercheParis, among others. Another research point was with the September 11 attacks—with the 9/11 attacks against the United States, few to no channels were available for the kind of immediate discussions and support seen after the Paris attacks. After spending time in Paris during the spring 2015 semester and researching the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the history of the publication, the conclusion rests on the idea that the online discussions perpetuated by both supporters and dissenters of the magazine contribute to a more robust, open democracy supported by these social media platforms.
A portion of this thesis also delves into the parallels and differences between the American First Amendment and the French free speech laws—all of which pertain to the Charlie Hebdo content and the online responses to the 2015 Paris attacks.
The interviews conducted include a French art history professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris, two creators of the “Je Suis Charlie” Facebook page, an American journalist living in Paris who covered the Charlie Hebdo attack and who was present during the November attacks, and a Muslim-American doctor in Phoenix who founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. The ideas surrounding free speech, the value of art such as that found within the pages of Charlie Hebdo, the media’s treatment of religion, traditional democratic freedoms and ties to social media revolutions are all components of this research thesis.
The Charlie Hebdo attacks fueled an online debate over freedom of expression and religion, whereas the purpose of social media evolved into a humanitarian one following the November 13 attacks in Paris. This research looks into the individual evolutions of the related hashtags that surfaced in 2015, including #JeSuisCharlie (and its opposites, such as #JeNeSuisPasCharlie), #DonDuSang, #PorteOuverte and #RechercheParis, among others. Another research point was with the September 11 attacks—with the 9/11 attacks against the United States, few to no channels were available for the kind of immediate discussions and support seen after the Paris attacks. After spending time in Paris during the spring 2015 semester and researching the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the history of the publication, the conclusion rests on the idea that the online discussions perpetuated by both supporters and dissenters of the magazine contribute to a more robust, open democracy supported by these social media platforms.
A portion of this thesis also delves into the parallels and differences between the American First Amendment and the French free speech laws—all of which pertain to the Charlie Hebdo content and the online responses to the 2015 Paris attacks.
The interviews conducted include a French art history professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris, two creators of the “Je Suis Charlie” Facebook page, an American journalist living in Paris who covered the Charlie Hebdo attack and who was present during the November attacks, and a Muslim-American doctor in Phoenix who founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. The ideas surrounding free speech, the value of art such as that found within the pages of Charlie Hebdo, the media’s treatment of religion, traditional democratic freedoms and ties to social media revolutions are all components of this research thesis.
ContributorsLierle, Emily Wheeler (Author) / Rodriguez, Rick (Thesis director) / Thornton, Leslie (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This paper examines the relationship between feminism and social media and evaluates the ability of social media to function as an effective platform for the advancement of feminism's objectives. In the decades before social media became an integral part of culture, the popularity of feminism deteriorated and feminist voices were unsure that it could be revived or popularized again. However, in recent years, women have used social media as a mechanism to communicate and disseminate feminist ideas. The birth of what is called "hashtag feminism" has been a fundamental shift in the way feminism is done and advocated for in modern culture. In light of this dramatic shift in venue for feminist conversations, academic feminists are asking a series of pertinent questions: Is social media good for feminism and the achievement of feminist objectives? What, if anything, has feminism compromised in order to fit into 140 characters or fewer? This paper argues that social media has provided a platform for feminists to share their stories, which has aided in the building of feminist constituencies. This is the most important work of feminism, because it is making society more receptive to feminist principles and ideas, transforming our culture into one that can accept and fight for feminism's objectives. This paper will examine a series of case studies in which social media has hosted feminist conversations. It will analyze the impact of this social media as a venue for feminist narratives and evaluate the use of social media as a feminist platform in the movement to achieve feminism's objectives.
ContributorsGiel, Katelyn Anne (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lake, Milli (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
Social media today is a major source of not only communication, but also news and entertainment. This year, people everywhere have had to embrace virtual environments as their main sources of communication. For students, especially, the move to virtual schoolwork in 2020 has increased the amount of time spent on technology. This observational study examined, through an anonymous online survey, how college students spend their time on social media and how it affects their mental health. The 25-question survey was open to current ASU students as of 2021, and 2020 ASU graduates. Respondents’ results concluded that while students actively use social media for communication and entertainment, it can present a burden on their mental health and their productivity.
ContributorsFuentes, Alyssa Larenne (Author) / Bonilla, Luis (Thesis director) / Hawken-Collins, Denise (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05