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- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
- Creators: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Creators: Department of Information Systems
Description
This ethnography outlines the live storytelling culture in Phoenix, Arizona, and what each of its sub-cultures contributes to the city's community. Phoenix's live storytelling events incorporate elements of an ancient art form into contemporary entertainment and sophisticated platforms for community building. These events are described and delineated by stylistic, structural, and content-based differences into the following categories: open-mic, curated, scripted, non-scripted, micro-culture, and marginalized groups. Research presented in this report was collected by reviewing scholarly materials about the social power of storytelling, attending live storytelling events across all categories, and interviewing event organizers and storytellers. My research developed toward an auto-ethnographic direction when I joined the community of storytellers in Phoenix, shifting the thesis to assume a voice of solidarity with the community. This resulted in a research project framed primarily as an ethnography that also includes my initial, personal experiences as a storyteller. The thesis concludes with the art form's macro-influences on Phoenix's rapidly-expanding community.
ContributorsNorton, Maeve (Author) / Dombrowski, Rosemarie (Thesis director) / McAdams, Charity (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Social impact bonds (SIBs) are a multi-year contract between social service providers, the government, and private investors. The three parties agree on a specific outcome for a societal issue. Investors provide capital required for the service provider to operate the project. The service provider then delivers the service to the target population. The success of the project is evaluated by outside party. If the target outcome is met, the government repays the investors at a premium. Nonprofit service providers can only serve a small community as they lack the funding to scale their programs and their reliance on government funding and philanthropy leads to a lot of time focused on raising money in the short-term and inhibits them from evolving their programs and projects for long-term strategic success. Government budgets decline but social problems persist. These contracts share risk between the government and the investors and allow governments to test out programs and alleviate taxpayer burdens from unsuccessful social service programs. Arizona has a severe homelessness problem. Nightly, 6000 people are homeless in Maricopa County. In a given year, over 32,000 individuals were homeless, composed of single adults, families, children, and veterans. Homelessness is not only a debilitating and difficult experience for those who experience it, but also has considerable economic costs on society. Homeless individuals use a number of government programs beyond emergency shelters, and these can cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Rapid rehousing was a successful intervention model that the state has been heavily investing in the last few years. This thesis aimed to survey the Arizona climate and determine what barriers were present for enacting an SIB for homelessness. The findings showed that although there are many competent stakeholder groups, lack of interest and overall knowledge of SIBs prevented groups from taking responsibility as the anchor for such a project. Additionally, the government and nonprofits had good partnerships, but lacked relationships with the business community and investors that could propel an SIB. Finally, although rapid rehousing can be used as a successful intervention model, there are not enough years of proven success to justify the spending on an SIB. Additionally, data collection for homelessness programming needs to be standardized between all relevant partners. The framework for an SIB exists in Arizona, but needs a few more years of development before it can be considered.
ContributorsAhmed, Fabeeha (Author) / Desouza, Kevin (Thesis director) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
As an important part of the movement for local and sustainable food in our cities, urban farming has the potential to actively involve urban dwellers in environmental, social, and economic issues of a global scale. When assessed according to a three-pillar model of sustainability, it can offer solutions to many of the major problems associated with the industrial food model that currently dominates the United States market. If implemented on a larger scale in the Phoenix metropolitan area, urban farming could improve overall environmental conditions, stimulate the local economy, and help solve food access and inequality issues. Through interviews with both amateur and established local urban farmers, this thesis attempts to identify and analyze some of the main barriers to the widespread participation in and incorporation of urban agriculture in the Phoenix Valley. Problems encountered by newcomers to the practice are compared with the experiences of more successful farmers to assess which barriers may be circumvented with proper knowledge and experience and which barriers specific to the Phoenix region may require greater structural changes.
ContributorsRay, Emily Catherine (Author) / Puleo, Thomas (Thesis director) / Peterson, Greg (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
PHXmuraltour is an app for iPhone and Android that guides users through the plethora of mural art in downtown Phoenix. It can be found and downloaded from iTunes and the Android app store. Before the artists began drawing people downtown for events like First Fridays and ArtDetour during the 1980s, Phoenix was notorious for having a deserted city core. The art community brought life, color and vibrancy to the downtown landscape. The website giving more information about the project can be found at http://kristenhwang.com/PHX-mural-tour.html. This project aims to widen the reach of the mural art in downtown Phoenix. Public art has the unique ability to foster a conversation between people who may not think of themselves as art connoisseurs, but like all kinds of art the message can sometimes be mysterious to passersby. Many of the murals downtown portray Hispanic or Native American themes, make political statements, document historic events and people, or serve as visual spice. They are emblems of the values the downtown community identifies with--values like creativity, enterprise, civic responsibility and diversity. This project hopes to make these messages more prominent to people in downtown Phoenix. It is important for the students, workers, shop owners and residents downtown to have the opportunity to learn more about the mural art because the art community surrounding Roosevelt Row played an integral role in shaping the culture and texture of their daily lives.
ContributorsHwang, Kristen Lee Anne (Author) / Thornton, Leslie (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
For my thesis project, I created a website, titled Noise + Heat, to serve as a guide to local music in the Phoenix area. The idea is that someone who is unfamiliar with Phoenix music can visit my site and easily be able to find the latest news, new music releases, live music venues, and be able to familiarize themselves with local artists. I designed and built the site in Adobe Edge Animate, and created all content. The website can be found at this link: www.noiseplusheat.com
ContributorsDinell, Sarah Constance (Author) / Jacoby, Jim (Thesis director) / Dodge, Nancie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Sports teams are an integral part of a city. They attract revenue to the area around the stadium and they also give a city a sense of pride. The aim of this study was to determine what makes a team successful in the area of attendance using four factors (Bernthal & Graham; Jensen; Kim, Trail & Magnusen; Edensor & Millington; Clowes & Tapp; Greenhalgh & Greenwell; Denaux & Yalcin; Paul & Weinbach & Robbins; Levin & McDonald; Lee & Kang; Drayer; L'Etang; McDonald & Rascher; Armstrong; Ross): the history of the team, the location and population of the city where the team plays, the social media following of the team and the promotional giveaways the team uses to attract fans. Using these four factors, a comparison was made among the Arizona teams and the top performing team in attendance in the respective leagues during the 2013 season. The Arizona Diamondbacks are compared with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Diamondbacks were not as equipped as the Dodgers in any of the categories. There is a more storied history for the Dodgers, the Dodgers play in Los Angeles - a significantly larger city that Phoenix, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, they use social media more frequently and more effectively, and they offer more promotional giveaways than the Diamondbacks. The Phoenix Suns are compared to the Chicago Bulls. The Suns history competes with the Bulls, but they lack in the other three categories. The Bulls have a better location in Chicago, their stadium is located in the downtown area; they have a massive social media following and their promotional giveaways are more substantial. The Phoenix Coyotes are compared to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks exceeded in all of the categories, while the Coyotes were poor performers in each of the four factors. The Blackhawks have a storied history, they share a stadium with the Bulls, they have a great social media following and they give promotional items away 30 of the 41 home games. The overall recommendations for the teams are to win, in order to help build their locations and make it fun to be near the downtown area, to use social media effectively and engage with their audience, and finally to provide more promotional giveaways to attract people to the games.
ContributorsDugan, Abby Leigh (Author) / Wu, Xu (Thesis director) / Matera, Fran (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Social media is changing the way journalists operate; their use of Twitter is potentially representational of that change. Because of Twitter, journalists can connect to stories, sources, and audiences in ways they never could before. Because this is an evolving practice, role models can be difficult to find, which presents a problem for journalism students. In broadcast journalism, the challenge is even more pronounced when it comes to finding women exemplars for female students; female students are more likely to relate to female role models.This study, using in-depth interviews and textual analysis, examines how Twitter is being used by four prominent journalists in one competitive market. The Twitter feeds of four female TV news anchors in Phoenix, Arizona, the 12th largest broadcast market in the United States, are explored in terms of content and practice. The results show that they used Twitter daily and for more than just tweeting out the day's news, suggesting that Twitter has become a standard journalistic tool and a practice worth emulating.
ContributorsMolina, Tara Lea (Author) / Lodato, Mark (Thesis director) / Thornton, Leslie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
DescriptionAn analysis and informal ethnography of the participatory culture in Phoenix, Arizona that identifies itself as "geeky" or "nerdy." Conducted through numerous interviews and academic research, the project looks at this active community under the scope of personal choice and togetherness.
ContributorsHuskinson, Harmony (Author) / Facinelli, Diane (Thesis director) / Scott, Suzanne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This honors thesis examines community gardens from throughout Phoenix, Arizona. It shows that community gardens have the potential to both support and hinder sustainability efforts, encourage community development, and increase food access. By measuring the temperature at various community gardens throughout Phoenix, AZ, community gardens were shown to minimize local effects of the urban heat island. Because they use water to survive and Phoenix, AZ is in a desert, this contributes to a depleting water supply. Interviews of gardeners from community gardens throughout Phoenix depicted that community gardens can provide sites for community development as well as promoting food access.
ContributorsBowersox, Diane Kathleen (Author) / Haglund, LaDawn (Thesis director) / Lyon, Mich (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This paper reflects on the processes and outcomes of a multimedia storytelling project on undocumented, queer individuals in Phoenix. It weaves these stories into theories of intersectionality and social movements to give them context. Extensive research has been done on the separate experiences of undocumented immigration and queerness, but little research can as of yet be found on the intersection of both. Participants in this project stand at this intersection, and their stories demonstrate how the UndocuQueer experience brings unique challenges, and thus cannot be solely constructed by existing groups and norms. The web-based project can be found at: http://undoqmented.businesscatalyst.com/
ContributorsCline, Annika Susanne (Author) / Grzanka, Patrick (Thesis director) / Cheng, Wendy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2014-05