MF100 Rick Seyford Collection

Items donated by Frederick Seyford, two radio programs: Music from the South: Tradition and Innovation and Ballads, Blues and Breakdowns.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ne_findingaids/1099/thumbnail.jp

Computational methods applied to mass communication research: the case of press release content in news media

In this dissertation, I apply a variety of computational methods to explore new approaches to investigate the problem of news media's use of press release content. Being used by the public relations industry in an effort to influence the media agenda, press releases often promote the organization's viewpoint on issues. Journalism scholars have expressed numerous concerns over news media using such content as a source, often without attribution. A review of previous research has revealed a number of shortcomings, with the main problem being the lack of a reliable methodology to establish a connection between a press release and an article, which is essential for such research. This deficiency is explained by the need for in-depth textual analysis on the one hand, and the requirement of large representative samples on the other - which is near impossible to achieve using traditional methodological approaches used in journalism research. I propose using computational methods to address this problem. I use computation to extract large amounts of text from web sites, transform loosely structured text into well-formatted data, and reduce a data set consisting of 6,171 press releases and 48,664 related news articles to a sample of 1,643 press release/news article pairs, showing reasonable evidence that each of the press releases has been used as a source by a corresponding news article. Such evidence is established through verbatim text matches of sufficient length. I use the constructed data sample to investigate the extent to which press release content is used by news media verbatim, how such content is used and whether proper attribution is made identifying the true source of the news. Although my findings suggest that the problem of press release content might be not as severe as presented in previous research, due to the limitations of verbatim text matching, it might be also possible that such practice remains undetected, with all content borrowed from press releases appearing in news media in paraphrased form. Finally, my investigation leads to a discovery of a "smoking gun" - a striking example of PR influence in the form of a corporation "manufacturing" statements, getting elected officials to repeat them, and the media reporting them as a regular news story

Design, creation, and evaluation of CyberSteamPunkHoverWar 2088. - A multiplayer racing exercise bicycle game.

This project is a study into exergames (exercise games) and how to design and implement an exergame that is both enjoyable and capable of replacing traditional exercise methods. Topics examined during the project included, genres of video games, existing exergames, health benefits of regular exercise, game design, and enjoyment of video games.\\ In order to conduct user-tests, a prototype exergame was designed and implemented using the Unity game engine. The prototype was a networked multiplayer competitive racing game that utilized an existing controller developed by Playpulse. The controller is essentially an exercise bicycle with button controllers fitted to the handlebars. The game was designed by examining video game genres in order to find one or more genres that would be well suited for an exergame. In addition, research into general video game design and the flow model as a measure of the enjoyment was used during the design and implementation phase. The study also examined what types of constriction the controller, exercise activity and input method placed on the game genre and the design of the game. The prototype was then put through a user-test were the subjects would be observed during play. After the session, the subjects responded to questionnaires and was put through a simple group interview in order to evaluate the game and their enjoyment of it. In addition, pulse-watches were used on some of the subjects in order to evaluate the exergames ability to function as an exercise method and its ability to replace existing exercise methods.\\ Data from the questionnaires were also used to determine if the subjects previous interest in video games and regular exercise had any major impact on how they responded to the exergame.\\ The results of the user-test indicate that the selected game genre, racing, was well suited as an exergame. However, for other game genres that also seems well suited, there was not any evidence to support that fact. The exercise equipment, activity, and input method did provide constrictions to the design of the game. This includes limiting the number of unique actions the controller can support, requiring continuous activity in order to function as an exercise method, and limiting the duration of single play sessions in order to function as an exercise method. Testing revealed that the implemented game would be able to cover the recommended amount of physical activity. The data also indicated that a majority of subjects preferred the exergame to traditional exercise methods, this means that the exergame can replace traditional exercise methods. Finally, the data showed that the level of interest in video games, as well as, a previous interest in regular exercise had no significant impact on how the subjects responded to the exergame

Release.

Unnumbered information releases accompany some issues.No. 42 and 232 have title: Panel release.Title from caption.Mode of access: Internet.Issued with: United States. Federal Labor Relations Authority. Report of case decisions