Matching Items (31)
Description
Science fiction themed video games, specifically Role Playing Games (RPGs) like Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR), that focus on an emerging technology, contain features that help to better inform anticipatory governance. In a game like DX:HR, players vicariously experience human-enhancement technology and its societal effects through their in-game character. Acting as the character, the player explores the topic of human-enhancement technology in various ways, including dialogue with non-player characters (NPCs) and decisions that directly affect the game's world. Because Deus Ex: Human Revolution and games similar to it, allow players to explore and think about the technology itself, the stances on it, and its potential societal effects, they facilitate the anticipatory governance process. In this paper I postulate a theory of anticipatory gaming, which asserts that video games inform the anticipatory governance process for an emerging technology. To demonstrate this theory I examine the parts of the anticipatory governance process and demonstrate RPG's ability to inform it, through a case study of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
ContributorsShedd, Jesse Bernard (Author) / Wetmore, Jameson (Thesis director) / Fisher, Erik (Committee member) / McKnight, John Carter (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Numerous studies have examined the attachments individuals have to the places they visit, and that those attachments are formed through experiencing a place in person. This study is unique in that it examines pre-trip place attachment formation via the use of mobile technology and social media. It proposes that media experienced through the use of a participant's smartphone can foster the development of positive emotions, which in turn, facilitates greater mental imagery processing that ultimately influences pre-trip place attachment formation. An experimental design was constructed to examine how text and video on a destination's Facebook page influences an individual's emotions, mental imagery, and subsequently attachment to that destination. Specifically, a 2 (narrative text vs. descriptive text) x 2 (short, fast-paced video vs. long, slow-paced video) between-subjects design was used. A total of 343 usable participant responses were included in the analysis. The data was then analyzed through a two-step process using structural equation modeling. Results revealed no significant influence of textual or video media on emotions although the choice in text has a greater influence on emotions than choice in video. Additionally, emotions had a significant impact on mental imagery. Finally, mental imagery processing had a significant impact on only the social bonding dimension of place attachment. In conclusion, while media had no significant impact on emotions, the effect of previous traveler's retelling of personal accounts on the emotions of potential travelers researching a destination should be examined more closely. Further, the study participants had no prior experience with the destination, yet emotions influenced mental imagery, which also influenced social bonding. Thus further research should be conducted to better understand how potential traveler's image of a destination can be affected by the stories or others.
ContributorsPlunkett, Daniel (Author) / Budruk, Megha (Thesis advisor) / Lee, Woojin (Thesis advisor) / Wetmore, Jameson (Committee member) / Wise, Greg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In 1890, the State of Nevada built the Stewart Indian School on a parcel of land three miles south of Carson City, Nevada, and then sold the campus to the federal government. The Stewart Indian School operated as the only non-reservation Indian boarding school in Nevada until 1980 when the federal government closed the campus. Faced with the challenge of assimilating Native peoples into Anglo society after the conclusion of the Indian wars and the confinement of Indian nations on reservations, the federal government created boarding schools. Policymakers believed that in one generation they could completely eliminate Indian culture by removing children from their homes and educating them in boarding schools. The history of the Stewart Indian School from 1890 to 1940 is the story of a dynamic and changing institution. Only Washoe, Northern Paiute, and Western Shoshone students attended Stewart for the first decade, but over the next forty years, children from over sixty tribal groups enrolled at the school. They arrived from three dozen reservations and 335 different hometowns across the West. During this period, Stewart evolved from a repressive and exploitive institution, into a school that embodied the reform agenda of the Indian New Deal in the 1930s. This dissertation uses archival and ethnographic material to explain how the federal government's agenda failed. Rather than destroying Native culture, Stewart students and Nevada's Indian communities used the skills taught at the school to their advantage and became tribal leaders during the 1930s. This dissertation explores the individual and collective bodies of Stewart students. The body is a social construction constantly being fashioned by the intersectional forces of race, class, and gender. Each chapter explores the different ways the Stewart Indian School and the federal government tried to transform the students' bodies through their physical appearance, the built environment, health education, vocational training, and extracurricular activities such as band and sports.
ContributorsThompson, Bonnie (Author) / Iverson, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Susan (Thesis advisor) / Green, Monica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Indian gaming casinos are now a common sight around Arizona. The study of the history of the Arizona Indian Gaming establishments is the topic of my thesis which focuses on the conflicts in 1992, between J. Fife Symington, governor of the State of Arizona, and the Arizona Indian tribes, particularly the Fort McDowell Yavapai Indian Community. In order to learn more about this small band of Yavapai, my thesis examines the early history of the Yavapai and some of its remarkable leaders, along with the history of Indian Tribal gaming in America and Arizona following the blockade by the Yavapai. My thesis examines how the Modern Political Economy Theory (MPET) framed Yavapai survival and identity along with their determination to achieve economic self-sufficiency. My research extended into use the legal court system the by American Indian Tribes to achieve their economic goals, that culminating in the Supreme Court ruling in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (1987) confirming the rights of Indian tribes to conduct gaming on tribal reservation lands. Congress followed with the "Indian Gaming Regulatory Act" of 1988, (IGRA) to regulate the conduct of gaming on Indian lands, including the stipulation that states negotiate in good faith with the state's Indian tribes. Arizona Governor Symington refused to negotiate the necessary compacts between the State of Arizona and the Arizona Indian tribes. The dispute reached a climax on May 12, 1992, when Attorney General of the U.S., Linda A. Akers, ordered a raid on Arizona Indian gaming casinos and the Fort McDowell Yavapai countered with a blockade to prevent the removal of their gaming machines. The result of this action by the Yavapai blockade opened compact negotiations between Governor Symington and the Arizona Indian tribes. This resulted in the growth in tribal gaming casinos along with increased political and economic influence for the Arizona Indian tribes. My conclusion explains the current state of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Indian Nation and describes the benefits from Indian casino gaming in the greater Phoenix area.
ContributorsAlflen, Louise (Author) / Fixico, "Donald L (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Susan (Committee member) / Rush, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between architecture and history in Virginia from 1607 to the eve of the American Revolution to create a complete historical narrative. The interdependency of history and architecture creates culturally important pieces and projects the colonist's need to connect to the past as well as their innovations in their own cultural exploration. The thesis examines the living conditions of the colonists that formed Jamestown, and describes the architectural achievements and the historical events that were taking place at the time. After Jamestown, the paper moves on to the innovations of early Virginian architecture from Colonial architecture to Georgian architecture found in Williamsburg. Conclusively, the thesis presents a historical narrative on how architecture displays a collection of ideals from the Virginian colonists at the time. The external display of architecture parallels the events as well as the economic conditions of Virginia, creating a social dialogue between the gentry and the common class in the colony of Virginia.
ContributorsChang, Hosu (Author) / Gray, Susan (Thesis director) / O'Donnell, Catherine (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The purpose of this project was to document and explain what and why the 2014 School of Human Evolution and Social Change study abroad group experienced what they did in Fiji. Fiji is a third world country and it lacks important infrastructure that prevents many in Fiji form accessing basic medical supplies and medical treatment. Lack of infrastructure and, therefore, medical access and supplies is a result of the tumultuous ethnopolitical atmosphere that prevails in Fiji. Living with the Fijian locals in Votua Village made their struggle personal to the study abroad group. As a result, the group returned inspired to US determined to make an impact on the people that had made such a lasting impact on them. A new campus organization was created and nearly $4,600 was raised in order to help provide medical aid to the villagers in Fiji. The student's reaction in Fiji was westernized, but the program is not a complete and utter failure; students work directly with the villagers to acquire items they actually need. This ensures little waste and that the money collected is used efficiently. However, the student's project is not entirely sustainable; the implementation of the Funds For Fiji response has the potential to create lasting, unintended consequences. To make the program more sustainable, students need to figure out a way to broaden project involvement and to broaden the scope of the project to impact more people on the island of Fiji. Video Link https://youtu.be/9asWtj1u2BQ
ContributorsHowell, Colby Lee (Author) / Wetmore, Jameson (Thesis director) / Eder, James (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
ABSTRACT The early twentieth century saw changing attitudes in gender roles and the advancement of the "New Woman." Despite the decline in the availability of homesteading land in the US West, homesteading still offered a means for women to achieve or enact newfound independence, and the letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Elizabeth Corey, and Cecilia Hennel Hendricks offer a varied view of the female homesteading experience. This dissertation focuses upon the functionality of epistolary discourse from early twentieth century homesteading women within a literary and historical framework in order to establish the significance of letters as literary texts and examine the methodology involved in creating epistolary identities. Chapter one provides background on the history of the letter in America. It also as introduces a theoretical framework regarding life writing, feminism, and epistolary discourse that inform this study, by scholars such as Phillipe LeJeune, Leigh Gilmore, Janet Altman, Julie Watson, and Sidonie Smith. Chapter two delves into the published letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart and the way in which her writing, when situated within a US western literary framework, serves as a reaction to the masculine western hero. Chapter three considers the epistolary relationships evident in the letters of Elizabeth Corey and the construction of gender identity within epistolarity. Chapter four focuses upon Cecilia Hennel Hendricks and the historical and feminist context of her letters, with a particular emphasis upon the "love letter." The conclusion examines the progression of the letter in the twentieth century and forms of online discourse that can be directly linked to its evolution. Far from being simply a form of communication, these letters reveal the history of a time, a place, a people, function as narrative literary texts, and aid in developing identities. For readers and scholars they tell offer a glimpse into life for women in the early twentieth century and highlight the significance of letters as a literary form.
ContributorsSkipper, Alicia (Author) / Horan, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / Gray, Susan (Committee member) / Wertheimer, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
This paper uses Facebook as a case study for other technological and social media companies given factors presented by the Digital Age. Three different pillars are used to analyze the company. First an examination of the manipulation of users on Facebook by Russian actors is presented. Next, the paper examines whether Facebook is promoting civic participation for good. Lastly, an analyzation of the rising trend of hate speech and extremists using the site is presented. This examination of Facebook then posed three questions regarding companies in the Digital Age as a whole. The first was "What is the extent of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Age?" The second was, "What special obligations do for-profit companies have when it comes to safeguarding the privacy of individuals, or at least insuring that their stored information does not harm them?". The last question presented was, "How Can the Profit Motive and Corporate Morality Co-Exist in the Digital Age?" The findings of this case study showed that due to different factors that are presented in the Digital Age, these ideals of Corporate Social Responsibility, Privacy and Corporate Morality may be even more challenging to uphold during this Age of Information. Due to this fact, companies such as Facebook have an even greater responsibility to abide by these ideals of Corporate Social Responsibility, Privacy and Corporate Morality. This is because of an even larger potential for negative effects due to technological change. Regardless of the possibility for regulation by government, third-party organization or by the organizations themselves, Digital Age Corporations have the duty to protect their users from harm and maintain these three ideals.
ContributorsBrandt, Madeline (Author) / Zachary, Gregg (Thesis director) / Wetmore, Jameson (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This essay explores the role of religion, science, and the secular in contemporary society by showing their connection to social and political legitimacy as a result of historical processes. In Chapter One, the essay presents historical arguments, particularly linguistic, which confirm science and religion as historically created categories without timeless or essential differences. Additionally, the current institutional separation of science and religion was politically motivated by the changing power structures following the Protestant Reformation. In Chapter Two, the essay employs the concept of the modern social imaginary to show how our modern concept of the political and the secular subtly reproduce the objectified territories of science and religion and thus the boundary maintenance dialectic which dominates science-religion discourse. Chapter Three argues that ‘religious’ worldviews contain genuine metaphysical claims which do not recognizably fit into these modern social categories. Given the destabilizing forces of globalization and information technology upon the political authority of the nation-state, the way many conceptualize of these objects religion, science, and the secular will change as well.
ContributorsBianchi, Joseph Anthony (Author) / Bennett, Gaymon (Thesis director) / Wetmore, Jameson (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This study, using personal experience as a basis for curiosity, seeks to explore why some portion of engineering students change their majors, whom I am calling "switchers." Another set of students are "persisters," or students who are still currently enrolled in engineering but have considered other paths. In collecting data, two students from each set, within the author's social network, were interviewed. Articles primarily concerning attrition and retention within engineering education were surveyed in this study. The literature's reasons for leaving engineering were tabulated and used to code these interviews, then the trends outside of this table were studied. The literature and all interviewees both stated that engineering students struggle with poor teachers, poor teaching methods, poor curriculum, and a lack of time. Outside of the literature, job prospects caused the interviewed students to feel trapped in engineering. Whether to take this study beyond the exploratory stage, and how to do that, is being considered currently.
ContributorsBaskin, Arizona Gray (Author) / Wetmore, Jameson (Thesis director) / Garbee, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School for the Future of Innovation in Society (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12