I am still working on figuring out exactly the problem that I want to study for my thesis or project. I have thought about working on a professional project since I would have a tangible product to include on my resume.
One project that I have been thinking about would be developing a plan to improve the website for my wife's sister's business. She and her husband run a few skateboard shops in San Diego. They have a pretty well run brick and mortar business but their website could use some work and designing the site based on marketing, advertising, and CMC theory would be a resume building project.
As a Chickasaw, I am interested in investigating public relations or advertising issues in Native American tribes or nations. The Chickasaw Nation has multiple business enterprises. While the casino and gaming businesses are perhaps the best known, there are other ventures the tribe is involved in. CNI is a Chickasaw corporation that bids for government contract work, and Bank2, is a consumer and business bank wholly owned by the Chickasaw Nation. The Chickasaw Nation also owns and operates a radio station and even a fine chocolate retail operation. The "stockholders" in these operations are the Chickasaw people who then see the "profits" from these businesses in the form of expanded health care, housing assistance, care for elders, educational initiatives, historical and cultural preservation efforts and jobs for both native and non-native people. I first became interested in these issues in college when I spent a summer in Washington D.C.; first as an intern for former Sen. Don Nickles as a Morris K. Udall scholar then as a staff intern in the office of the Ambassador to the Chickasaw Nation.
However, I have am also interested in academic areas of study in advertising and the internet. From reviewing some of the available literature it seems like the field is wide open. User-created advertising, like the ipod Touch ad for Apple that was originally created by an 18 year old kid in Great Britain, would be a nearly unimaginable phenomenon in the pre-internet era. Advergaming, interactive activities online, social network promotions are just a few of the broad areas of interest that someone studying advertising could research.
I took Dr. Yoon's Non-Traditional Media class last semester. One of the best things about that class was the number of guest speakers from the advertising field. Almost all of the advertising professionals said that most of the people in the field knew that the internet was a different place and a different way to do business but that there wasn't yet a consensus on how the internet was different. In a lot of cases, the speakers weren't 100% exactly how people were going to get paid for providing content but everyone knew that not setting up content on the web wasn't an option.
I am going to start working for the RISE project next week as a research assistant. I wanted to work on this project in the hopes of becoming a more confident researcher. I think some of my worry about a final project or thesis is making sure I know what I'm doing. This project is studying minority students in engineering, math and science. The research group conducted a ton of interviews a couple of years ago and is now in the process of evaluating the mountains of data they collected from the interviews. The project is now using some qualitative software to sort and categorize the data and some mixed methods work to make some larger connections about how these students adapt, survive and thrive on campus as students.
Friday, February 29, 2008
My (Current) Research Topic
Taylor Newcomb
Basically, Bernays' work deals with how public relations officials (or propagandists) can affect the way people think and how they can be influenced by organizations and governments. Coombs' can fit into that by using Bernays' basic concept and using it's guidelines to influence the way people think about a certain crisis. As Bernays noted, "Modern propaganda is a consistent enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group."
I have recently become interested in how organizations and individuals deal with crises. This is an off shoot of my intense interest in such (some may think) morbid interest in airplane crashes, boat sinkings, train derailments, and general engineering disasters. What drives my interests in these events is how those involved investigate the events and then relay what they have found to the public. If I could, I would love an internship with the communications department of the NTSB because it would give me a front line understanding of how they investigate the disasters and then communicate with the public.
In the aftermath of a disaster, communicating with the public is very important and should be handled just right. For the ways to screw up such a communication, one just has to see how the local, state, and federal governments communicated with the public in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That situation could have probably been handled much better. However, I would prefer a more specific view of situations and how organizations and the NTSB responded, such as after a plane crash.
When the NTSB communicates with the public over the course of their investigation, how do they do it? Do they follow such guidelines as Coombs and express mortification at the event then explain what they have found? Or is it very dry and not very public friendly?
That as it is, is my current research topic. The NTSB is not a specific aim of my research, it is just a great example and a government organization that interests me immensely. I could also look at the specific companies involved with the disasters. However, this all (as everything does) depends on where I get an internship and what possibilities it presents.
Developing my research topic has been the toughest thing of all. I have so many ideas, but finding the best one is the biggest problem. I am interested in studying how media delivers, frames and in general handles missing person’s cases. I have recently begun to find a way to do this, perhaps by doing a case study or a compare and contrast of cases http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US. Or by perhaps studying the Amber Alert system and how the media figures into all of it.
I originally became interested in this topic about 2 ½ years ago. I believe it started in my media ethics class, at least for myself. In the class before that (not sure which one), one of my classmates did a paper on the overabundance of missing person’s cases in the media that fall into the category of what can be called, “the pretty missing white girl syndrome” http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7711.shtml.
It wasn’t until I heard Cassondra’s presentation that I even realized a problem like this existed. I began to ask her a lot of questions about the topic and decided to follow-up on it during the ethics class. After that, it became my obsession/passion. As a parent, I can’t imagine that any one person could be more important than another. Much of my research and realizations came during the heaviest media coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalee_Holloway.
About 2 months after Natalee disappeared, a young, pregnant Philadelphia mother went missing. Her name was LaToyia Figueroa; she was 5 months pregnant with, I believe a 6 or 7-year-old daughter. She was of African and Hispanic descent. Her case actually paralleled much of the Laci Peterson case( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laci_Peterson ), but LaToyia was not granted the same type of coverage.
In order to graduate with my bachelor’s, I had to do what could be called a “mini-thesis.” I chose to do a content analysis of Nancy Grace since this “monster of a woman” (sorry, I have very strong opinions of her) claims to be an advocate for missing people. She also claims that she makes sure to cover “other” people http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2005/07/01/06 (see her comments towards the end of the interview). Anyhow, Cassondra and I teamed up and presented what we found which was that in over 70% of Nancy Grace’s stories regarding missing persons were of white women and that much of her information was inaccurate.
I realize that Nancy Grace is not the end-all of anything, but it was enough to open my eyes to bigger implications in the media field. Race and culture are things we always talk about, but race and culture are not always things we concentrate on properly in the media. Much of my current research is involved in framing and media portrayals of blacks as criminals (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=16668573&site=ehost-live) and (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=24904743&site=ehost-live) are just a couple of examples of research that I have found useful so far.
As far as the theories I have looked at regarding my topic, I have used agenda-setting theory, framing, cultural studies and gatekeeping.
I originally became interested in this topic about 2 ½ years ago. I believe it started in my media ethics class, at least for myself. In the class before that (not sure which one), one of my classmates did a paper on the overabundance of missing person’s cases in the media that fall into the category of what can be called, “the pretty missing white girl syndrome” http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7711.shtml.
It wasn’t until I heard Cassondra’s presentation that I even realized a problem like this existed. I began to ask her a lot of questions about the topic and decided to follow-up on it during the ethics class. After that, it became my obsession/passion. As a parent, I can’t imagine that any one person could be more important than another. Much of my research and realizations came during the heaviest media coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalee_Holloway.
About 2 months after Natalee disappeared, a young, pregnant Philadelphia mother went missing. Her name was LaToyia Figueroa; she was 5 months pregnant with, I believe a 6 or 7-year-old daughter. She was of African and Hispanic descent. Her case actually paralleled much of the Laci Peterson case( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laci_Peterson ), but LaToyia was not granted the same type of coverage.
In order to graduate with my bachelor’s, I had to do what could be called a “mini-thesis.” I chose to do a content analysis of Nancy Grace since this “monster of a woman” (sorry, I have very strong opinions of her) claims to be an advocate for missing people. She also claims that she makes sure to cover “other” people http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2005/07/01/06 (see her comments towards the end of the interview). Anyhow, Cassondra and I teamed up and presented what we found which was that in over 70% of Nancy Grace’s stories regarding missing persons were of white women and that much of her information was inaccurate.
I realize that Nancy Grace is not the end-all of anything, but it was enough to open my eyes to bigger implications in the media field. Race and culture are things we always talk about, but race and culture are not always things we concentrate on properly in the media. Much of my current research is involved in framing and media portrayals of blacks as criminals (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=16668573&site=ehost-live) and (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=24904743&site=ehost-live) are just a couple of examples of research that I have found useful so far.
As far as the theories I have looked at regarding my topic, I have used agenda-setting theory, framing, cultural studies and gatekeeping.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
My Research Topic...This Week
-My Research Topic...This Week by Deb Wallevand
What does it mean to develop a research topic? Well, it would mean the world to me! In fact, it has almost been seven days since I came up with my latest research topic. I think this one is really going to stick. I would like to work with the OU athletic department and SoonerVision, http://www.soonersports.com/school-bio/sooner-vision.html, in developing a recruitment video or a video that highlights the success of OU women athletes.
As far back as I can remember I have always been very passionate about sports and sports broadcasting. Most children dreamed about being in the Olympics, while I dreamed about covering the Olympics. The movie A League Of Their Own had a profound effect on me as a ten year old and I became very interested in the history of the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League, http://aagpbl.org/. That movie was probably the root of my interest in women's sports. During my undergrad I researched the effects of Title IX, http://www.titleix.info/ . Now at the graduate level my studies have focused on media coverage and the language used to describe women athletes and women's sports.
I have not really scratched the surface as far as my current research topic is concerned, but I would like to begin reading the research about sports highlights, sports psychology, feminist sports psychology, and sports recruitment. I'm curious how this new research fits in with my interest in women's sports. Additionally, I'm excited to combine this research with videography and editing techniques.
I think what really gets me excited about this new research topic is the fact that my master's project could help me land a job after school. I feel I would have a few paths to follow including working with a university in-house production studio such as SoonerVision, , a cable sports channel like ESPN, http://espn.go.com/, or a non-profit organization such as the Women's Sports Foundation http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org or Girls Are Champions http://www.girlsarechampions.org/. This web video about the WSF is a good example of what I would like to do because it includes sports, video and promotes women's athletics. I want my work to educate and inspire and not just entertain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhE9M5i-KZc
So far this process of determining a research topic has been pretty frustrating because every other week it seems like I'm changing my mind. It feels like I'm a six-year old who wants to be a doctor, the president, and an astronaut. However, I do think I'm on the right track finally. I guess the key word is "develop" a research topic. I will continue to read articles and hopefully fine-tune a topic that I'm passionate about.
What does it mean to develop a research topic? Well, it would mean the world to me! In fact, it has almost been seven days since I came up with my latest research topic. I think this one is really going to stick. I would like to work with the OU athletic department and SoonerVision, http://www.soonersports.com/school-bio/sooner-vision.html, in developing a recruitment video or a video that highlights the success of OU women athletes.
As far back as I can remember I have always been very passionate about sports and sports broadcasting. Most children dreamed about being in the Olympics, while I dreamed about covering the Olympics. The movie A League Of Their Own had a profound effect on me as a ten year old and I became very interested in the history of the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League, http://aagpbl.org/. That movie was probably the root of my interest in women's sports. During my undergrad I researched the effects of Title IX, http://www.titleix.info/ . Now at the graduate level my studies have focused on media coverage and the language used to describe women athletes and women's sports.
I have not really scratched the surface as far as my current research topic is concerned, but I would like to begin reading the research about sports highlights, sports psychology, feminist sports psychology, and sports recruitment. I'm curious how this new research fits in with my interest in women's sports. Additionally, I'm excited to combine this research with videography and editing techniques.
I think what really gets me excited about this new research topic is the fact that my master's project could help me land a job after school. I feel I would have a few paths to follow including working with a university in-house production studio such as SoonerVision, , a cable sports channel like ESPN, http://espn.go.com/, or a non-profit organization such as the Women's Sports Foundation http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org or Girls Are Champions http://www.girlsarechampions.org/. This web video about the WSF is a good example of what I would like to do because it includes sports, video and promotes women's athletics. I want my work to educate and inspire and not just entertain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhE9M5i-KZc
So far this process of determining a research topic has been pretty frustrating because every other week it seems like I'm changing my mind. It feels like I'm a six-year old who wants to be a doctor, the president, and an astronaut. However, I do think I'm on the right track finally. I guess the key word is "develop" a research topic. I will continue to read articles and hopefully fine-tune a topic that I'm passionate about.
Developing a research topic
For me, determining the topic of my research has been a simple thing to do. Since I heard a story by a coworker nearly seven years ago, I have been convinced that I wanted to learn more about the effects journalists experience as a result of covering traumatic events.
The story came from my friend, Ann DeFrange, a columnist at The Oklahoman. She told me about how about a month after she was one of the first reporters to arrive on the scene of the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing she started to cry when the newsroom received a care package from a newspaper in Rockford, Ill. DeFrange said the experience was so moving to her because she thought finally someone really understood what the reporters were experiencing.
She also told me about the events of the month and how they affected her and her coworkers. They spent weeks at the office with little time off, even for sleep. They ate in the newspaper’s dining commons or in the newsroom, and showered in the fitness center locker room while relationships with family and friends and their physical and mental health fell apart.
DeFrange said she thought the work conditions were the most traumatic thing the journalists experienced, although she admitted that the reporters “over achieved,” going beyond what editors and supervisors asked them to do. DeFrange knew people who were in the bombing, but they were not family members. She owed them nothing, but she and her colleagues did what they thought the journalism code required them to do – they pretended not be affected, not to grieve, and did the job.
I worked in the newsroom and saw how these same reporters responded to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center. It was an amazing array of emotions that I didn’t then fully understand. I saw many of them seep back into a depression that had been lingering under the surface while others became angry about New York stealing their title for “worst terrorist attack.” I didn’t fully understand the emotions or comments at the time, although I recognized some of them from my initial research into journalists suffering from trauma.
I began studying trauma through a Victims in the Media course at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. I took the course as part of my emphasis in journalism during my education master’s work. The course was sponsored by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which is the primary resource for information on the topic. Through my studies I discovered that one of my editors at The Oklahoman, Joe Hight, is extremely involved in the Dart Center and actually helped UCO obtain the grant to teach the class. He has become a wonderful resource for me in my quest for knowledge on the topic.
It was in the same class that I was introduced to the textbook Covering Violence by William Cote and Roger Simpson (2006). The book provides a foundation for thinking about covering violence and how it affects those who are covered and the reporters covering it. Reading the textbook helped me identify three main researchers in the field: William Cote’, Roger Simpson and Frank Ochberg. From continuing to read works by those scholars and cross-referencing their reference pages I have found a variety of scholarly works on the topic. I also have identified a variety of articles in Quill, the Society of Professional Journalists’ magazine, that have been useful in identifying scholars in the field.
My biggest concern at this point is not what I’m going to study but how I’m going to study it. I previously believed that I had identified a worthy research topic in simply discovering if journalists could become victims of trauma based on the stories they cover. However, since I identified this topic there have been a variety of professional and scholarly works that have presented it as fact. Now I am faced with trying to take a topic I am passionate about and determine what the real questions are that must be asked.
The story came from my friend, Ann DeFrange, a columnist at The Oklahoman. She told me about how about a month after she was one of the first reporters to arrive on the scene of the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing she started to cry when the newsroom received a care package from a newspaper in Rockford, Ill. DeFrange said the experience was so moving to her because she thought finally someone really understood what the reporters were experiencing.
She also told me about the events of the month and how they affected her and her coworkers. They spent weeks at the office with little time off, even for sleep. They ate in the newspaper’s dining commons or in the newsroom, and showered in the fitness center locker room while relationships with family and friends and their physical and mental health fell apart.
DeFrange said she thought the work conditions were the most traumatic thing the journalists experienced, although she admitted that the reporters “over achieved,” going beyond what editors and supervisors asked them to do. DeFrange knew people who were in the bombing, but they were not family members. She owed them nothing, but she and her colleagues did what they thought the journalism code required them to do – they pretended not be affected, not to grieve, and did the job.
I worked in the newsroom and saw how these same reporters responded to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center. It was an amazing array of emotions that I didn’t then fully understand. I saw many of them seep back into a depression that had been lingering under the surface while others became angry about New York stealing their title for “worst terrorist attack.” I didn’t fully understand the emotions or comments at the time, although I recognized some of them from my initial research into journalists suffering from trauma.
I began studying trauma through a Victims in the Media course at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. I took the course as part of my emphasis in journalism during my education master’s work. The course was sponsored by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which is the primary resource for information on the topic. Through my studies I discovered that one of my editors at The Oklahoman, Joe Hight, is extremely involved in the Dart Center and actually helped UCO obtain the grant to teach the class. He has become a wonderful resource for me in my quest for knowledge on the topic.
It was in the same class that I was introduced to the textbook Covering Violence by William Cote and Roger Simpson (2006). The book provides a foundation for thinking about covering violence and how it affects those who are covered and the reporters covering it. Reading the textbook helped me identify three main researchers in the field: William Cote’, Roger Simpson and Frank Ochberg. From continuing to read works by those scholars and cross-referencing their reference pages I have found a variety of scholarly works on the topic. I also have identified a variety of articles in Quill, the Society of Professional Journalists’ magazine, that have been useful in identifying scholars in the field.
My biggest concern at this point is not what I’m going to study but how I’m going to study it. I previously believed that I had identified a worthy research topic in simply discovering if journalists could become victims of trauma based on the stories they cover. However, since I identified this topic there have been a variety of professional and scholarly works that have presented it as fact. Now I am faced with trying to take a topic I am passionate about and determine what the real questions are that must be asked.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Research Topic Creation
For graduate students, choosing a research topic (as most have noticed) becomes one of the most important endeavors while working towards the completion of a degree. Most students, like me, are interested in a variety of often unrelated topics. Since I come from a background in international relations, if you had asked me four semesters ago what my interests were, I would have responded with an answer attempting to connect American advertising in Latin America and how it could influence U.S. foreign relations. A complex issue, but probably not best suited for graduate level research. Now that I am more familiar with the various strategies available to improve a company's brand image, I have narrowed my focus to sponsorship as a form of strategic communication.
I have read in previous posts that some students feel like they are behind in choosing a research topic. To those feeling a bit stressed, I can tell you that I didn't have any idea of what I was going to study until last semester when I finally took Dr. Gade's Research Methods and Dr. Taylor's Conceptual Issues. For whatever reason, I couldn't get into the two courses in my first year at Gaylord (new improved website). Last semester offered me the opportunity to explore theories and research topics to which I could relate. Now that I have an area of study in which I am interested, I am working to catch up so I can finish by next fall.
I'm still at a loss for why I didn't recognize sponsorship as an effective communication medium earlier in my studies. I ran competitively during my undergraduate years and have always been closely tied to the running community. Sponsorships provide runners with almost every opportunity they have in the sport. For instance, local races (5ks/10ks) on up to elite marathons (London, Chicago, Boston) are made possible through various sponsors. The sponsors can vary in size and involvement with the events. Family owned businesses enjoy becoming a part of the races and may provide services while companies like Bank of America may choose to give monetary funds. In both cases, the race benefits from the companies' contributions, the participants enjoy a higher profile event, and the sponsors improve their brand image.
I first started paying closer attention to sponsorships after becoming more involved with the Oklahoma running community. I currently work at a locally owned specialty running store that hosts the Brookhaven Run. The race proceeds help fund the cross country teams at Norman North and Norman High. Much of the race's success hinges on the participation of local businesses through their sponsorships.
It is my goal to design a research project that explores how local businesses can benefit from their event sponsorships of community events (e.g. road races). I am more interested in the sponsors' perceptions and how the business thinks it benefits from their involvement with local activities. Since it is difficult to measure exactly how sponsorship effects sales, I believe it is more pertinent to study how managers and owners feel their sponsorship is beneficial to the business. The sponsor/event relationship will continue if managers perceive their efforts in a race make difference for all parties involved.
I have read in previous posts that some students feel like they are behind in choosing a research topic. To those feeling a bit stressed, I can tell you that I didn't have any idea of what I was going to study until last semester when I finally took Dr. Gade's Research Methods and Dr. Taylor's Conceptual Issues. For whatever reason, I couldn't get into the two courses in my first year at Gaylord (new improved website). Last semester offered me the opportunity to explore theories and research topics to which I could relate. Now that I have an area of study in which I am interested, I am working to catch up so I can finish by next fall.
I'm still at a loss for why I didn't recognize sponsorship as an effective communication medium earlier in my studies. I ran competitively during my undergraduate years and have always been closely tied to the running community. Sponsorships provide runners with almost every opportunity they have in the sport. For instance, local races (5ks/10ks) on up to elite marathons (London, Chicago, Boston) are made possible through various sponsors. The sponsors can vary in size and involvement with the events. Family owned businesses enjoy becoming a part of the races and may provide services while companies like Bank of America may choose to give monetary funds. In both cases, the race benefits from the companies' contributions, the participants enjoy a higher profile event, and the sponsors improve their brand image.
I first started paying closer attention to sponsorships after becoming more involved with the Oklahoma running community. I currently work at a locally owned specialty running store that hosts the Brookhaven Run. The race proceeds help fund the cross country teams at Norman North and Norman High. Much of the race's success hinges on the participation of local businesses through their sponsorships.
It is my goal to design a research project that explores how local businesses can benefit from their event sponsorships of community events (e.g. road races). I am more interested in the sponsors' perceptions and how the business thinks it benefits from their involvement with local activities. Since it is difficult to measure exactly how sponsorship effects sales, I believe it is more pertinent to study how managers and owners feel their sponsorship is beneficial to the business. The sponsor/event relationship will continue if managers perceive their efforts in a race make difference for all parties involved.
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