College of Arts & Humanities
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1611
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Black Gay and Bisexual Men, Internet Access, Memory, and Visual Culture(2021) Jiles, Robert De Von; Bruce, La Marr J; Farman, Jason; American Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Drawing from the fields of visual culture, black queer studies, black feminist theory, internet studies, and affect theory, “Black Gay and Bisexual Men, Internet Access, Memory, and Visual Culture” focuses on black gay and bisexual men who have internet access to create, view, and circulate visual representations about their own experiences and how they challenge, subvert, and reify negative and one-dimensional representations about their lived experiences. The cultural objects analyzed in the dissertation include two episodes from playwright and screenwriter Donja R. Love’s independent scripted web series Modern Day Black Gay and Darius Clark Monroe’s short film Slow. Both cultural objects were released for online viewing and can be accessed for free. As Black queer visual culture, Slow and MDBG trouble a racial and heteronormative visual field that renders black gay and bisexual men as excess. Tapping into affects such as desire, intimacy, love and pleasure, Love and Monroe use memory in the cultural objects to create visual images from the excess. In turn, the cultural objects stimulate black gay and bisexual viewers’ memories, and activate affective encounters occur Slow and MDBG use visual images to interrogate and reinscribe notions about black sexuality, black masculinity, black family and community, black love, same-sex romance, and black religion. This dissertation investigates the relationship between artists, the art objects, and the viewers and look for meaning in their creation, representation and interpretations of gay online hookup culture, gender and sexual stereotypes, and conservative homophobic Christian beliefs and practices. In addition to a textual analysis of the cultural objects, methods in the dissertation include interviews, self-ethnography, several small group screenings of the cultural objects by black gay and bisexual male participants, and group discussions following the screenings about the participants' interpretations of the material and how their experiences relate to the cultural texts.Item EXAMINING THE GET YOURSELF TESTED CAMPAIGN: HOW ONLINE INFORMATION SEEKING AND SEXUAL HEALTH PERCEPTIONS INFLUENCE EFFICACY AND COMMUNICATIVE ACTION(2013) Briones, Rowena Lyn; Aldoory, Linda; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to explore young adults' meaning construction of sexual health, sexual health campaigns, and online sexual health information through the lens of the GYT: Get Yourself Tested Campaign. A secondary purpose is to develop theory in the area of e-health. Finally, this study will offer practical recommendations to the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, one of the developers of the GYT Campaign, on how to better disseminate sexual health information to young adults via the online space. The theoretical frameworks chosen for this study are the health belief model (HBM) and the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS). Additionally, literature pertaining to campaigns, e-health and sexual health contributed to this study. The integration of these theories within this scholarly body of knowledge demonstrated the potential for merging communication theory and health behavior theory for future scholarship and practice. A qualitative research methodology was used to collect and analyze data. Specifically, 50 in-depth interviews and five focus group sessions with young adults provided insight on how they made meaning of sexual health, online information seeking, and the GYT campaign. Analytical techniques from the grounded theory approach were used to analyze these data. A constructionist/interpretive research perspective was the guiding epistemology to situate this audience-centered study. Themes emerged regarding sexual health perceptions, online information seeking, HBM/STOPS, and campaign development. Findings suggested that young adults were aware of the issue of poor sexual health, but faced a number of constraints that prevented them from reaching their optimal health potential. These were alleviated by the benefits of searching for information online. This study contributes to the scholarly body of knowledge by integrating theories and applying it to an online context. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the utility of an integrated HBM/STOPS framework in campaign planning, which was explicated through the development of the E-Health Information Management Model (E-HIMM). The findings revealed that the integrated constructs from both theories were readily present in the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of the participants, which could provide useful evidence for campaign developers when constructing messages for the young adults audience.Item Proyecto Web Brasil Papeles sueltos. Textualidades digitales y traducción(2012) Tomasini, Silvina Julia; Demaría, Laura; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Since the creation of writing, literature has been circulating in different formats, such as the scroll and codex. Nowadays, digital textualities are changing the way we read and write, and also the way texts circulate in the writing culture. For Brazilian contemporary literature, the use of Internet has become almost central for the circulation and divulgation of this vigorous and heterogeneous production. My Web project, Brasil papeles sueltos, aims to divulgate Brazilian literature in translation into Spanish in order to allow Spanish-speakers to have access to this production. The page presents literary translations and contemporary debates on literature. As digital text allows us to experiment with different ways of creating texts -using its inner characteristics, such as hyperlinks- these new textualities are a potential tool to experiment and consider new ideas about translation.Item Exploring the Empowerment Effects of the Internet on Active Publics(2007-12-10) Halvorson, Erik; Toth, Elizabeth; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the Internet on the power of active publics using qualitative in-depth interviews with 19 human rights advocates. The study examines how the participants make meaning of power, use the Internet to achieve their goals, and the extent to which they feel empowered by the Internet. The results suggested four types of power in human rights advocacy, while advocates themselves rely primarily on the power of persuasion to achieve objectives. While the Internet has led to empowerment in some limited instances, no uniform empowerment for advocates was suggested by the data. The findings suggest numerous practical uses for Internet technologies in advocacy as well as important themes and theories to be incorporated into future studies.Item "Alan Lomax's iPod?": Smithsonian Global Sound and Applied Ethnomusicology on the Internet(2007-05-08) Font, David Octaviano; Dueck, Jonathan; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The phenomenon of digital music on the Internet marks a turning point in the way human beings make, listen to, and share music. Smithsonian Global Sound is, variously: 1) a digital music download service; 2) the central hub of a network of digital music archives; and 3) the Internet branch of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Like all things vital, Smithsonian Global Sound is also developing rapidly. This thesis synthesizes a brief history of the Smithsonian Global Sound project, explores some of the vital issues related to the project, and offers a series of observations and recommendations for the project's development. Tracing the roots of Smithsonian Global Sound back to early archival efforts by music scholars, Moses Asch's Folkways Records, the acquisition of the Folkways catalog by the Smithsonian, and the development and launch of Smithsonian Global Sound, the project is examined as a example of applied ethnomusicology on the Internet.