Dark Awakening: Transmedia and Narrative Transportation

Media convergence has led content creators to produce narratives that stretch across platforms, known as Transmedia. A Transmedia narrative titled Dark Awakening was created using three different platforms: A short film, an interactive short story, and a text based role playing game. All of these share overlapping themes, characters, and settings. Each narrative platform was designed to be taken and understood on its own, or viewed in conjunction with the others. A study of audience response to the Transmedia experience of Dark Awakening has been planned. The conditions for the study include the order in which the media are consumed, and previous exposure to the media types will serve as a moderator. The participants will be randomly assigned either one, two, or all three of the narrative media types and then asked about their reactions to the created narrative world. We expect that exposure to a narrative unfolding across multiple platforms will result in greater narrative transportation, which in turn will lead to increased understanding, cognitive engagement, emotional reaction, and enjoyment within the viewer. We anticipate that a greater degree of attention will be required than traditionally has been found, and that identification/empathy with characters will moderate impacts.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2014/1032/thumbnail.jp

Incarcerated Mothers: What Role Does Communication Play in Successful Family and Community Reintegration?

The Incarcerated Mothers Project (TIFF--Transitioning Incarcerated Females & Families) is a four-tiered investigation into the subject of incarcerated mothers and how communication affects parental dynamics. The first tier of research included an earlier pilot study of 53 incarcerated mother. The second tier involved an experiment assessing the impact of exposure to a documentary narrative about the impact of a mother’s incarceration on her family; results showed significant knowledge gain and empathetic responses among general receivers. This summer, additional footage was added to the documentary, with instrumentation ready for a Fall 2014 data collection. Also this summer, progress was made on the third tier, which involved speaking with various experts and professionals in the field of incarceration and reintegration. These interviews established that both family and community support are vital preventatives toward preventing recidivism. The fourth tier of the project includes developing additional interview questions to continue the pilot study both with the established group of research subjects and extending that research pool for a more expansive data set. Data collected will be used to develop programs in communication, including family communication education modules video education modules for incarcerated and reintegrating populations.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2014/1011/thumbnail.jp

Criticism or Praise? The Impact of Verbal versus Text-Only Computer Feedback on Social Presence, Intrinsic Motivation, and Recall

The Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm asserts that human computer users interact socially with computers, and has provided extensive evidence that this is the case. In this experiment (n = 134), participants received either praise or criticism from a computer. Independent variables were the direction feedback (praise or criticism), and voice channel (verbal or text-only). Dependent variables measured via a computer-based questionnaire were recall, perceived ability, intrinsic motivation, and perceptions of the computer as a social entity. Results demonstrate that participants had similar reactions to computers as predicted by interpersonal communication research with participants who received text-only criticism reporting higher levels of intrinsic motivation, perceived ability, and recall. Additionally, the computer was seen as more intelligent. Implications for theory and application are discussed

Nondiegetic YouTube Advertising: An Eye-Tracking Investigation

YouTube is an online media site with over one billion hours of user-generated content, and a monthly worldwide viewership averaging over six billion hours. This volume motivates advertisers to reach out to this enormous audience. Advertisers wish to capture the attention of an audience, avoid causing annoyance, and minimize intrusiveness. In this study, a YouTube video tutorial has been used to create five conditions testing reactions to nondiegetic advertising. Participants will be shown one of five versions of the tutorial. Each version includes either no advertisements, or one of the following: A TrueView video advertisement that is not skipped, a TrueView video advertisement that is skipped, a banner advertisement that is not cancelled, or a banner advertisement that is cancelled. Both type and level of intrusiveness of the ad have been manipulated. During viewing, eye-tracking analyses will monitor fixations in specified look zones, and elsewhere onscreen, testing ad attraction and distraction. After viewing, participants will complete a questionnaire designed to elicit their reactions to the advertisement, and ascertain the effect that the advertisement may have had upon their memory/recall, whether or not the level of intrusiveness decreased their enjoyment of the tutorial video, and other advertising and video outcomes.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2013/1008/thumbnail.jp

Parameter estimation validity and relationship robustness: A comparison of telephone and internet survey techniques

With the expansion of telecommunication and online technologies for the purpose of survey administration, the issue of measurement validity has come to the fore. The proliferation of automated audio services and computer-based survey techniques has been matched by a corresponding denigration of the quality of traditional phone survey data, most notably as an outcome of falling response rates. This trend, combined with the introduction of screening technologies and answering machines, represents a barrier to the proper execution of survey research. Whereas the question was once, “can technology-assisted surveys achieve the same level of validity as traditional phone surveys?”, the question now becomes, “what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of technology-assisted and phone surveys?” Each has its own challenges and opportunities, and this paper begins to explore these. The present study provides further insight into the validity of telephone and Internet survey data, and explores whether or not the robustness of relationships between variables varies by survey mode. Study data were provided by two surveys, the first of which was conducted in a metropolitan area of the Midwestern US, with interviews of 505 adults using a computer-aided telephone-interviewing (CATI) system. The second was a national survey of 2172 respondents conducted over the Internet by a commercial research firm that sends requests to a diverse set of potential respondents, who logged onto the survey site to participate. Results suggest that weighting in an attempt to achieve parametric matching does seem to increase robustness of relationships and, in this age of poor response rates, this seems to demand an increased use of parametric weightings. Implications of study findings for telematic survey practitioners are discussed

Worship styles, musicand social identity: A communication study

This quantitative study investigates music and worship style preferences. A survey measured participants\u27 worship and music preferences in order to further examine the relationship between the two. Multiple and logistic regressions were significant indicating that preferred music genres can be used to predict one\u27s worship style preference. Further investigation used Social Identity Theory to examine the conflict that often occurs within churches over music and worship styles. Therefore, the survey included the Identification with a Psychological Group scale to measure participants\u27 identification with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Multiple regression results showed a significant overall prediction of organizational identity, indicating that Missouri Synod Lutherans who prefer traditional or formal worship components identify more strongly with the larger organization, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS)

The Influence of Communication and Cosmopoliteness on Quality of Life Perceptions

The Influence of Communication and Cosmopoliteness on Quality of Life Perception

The Influence of Communication and Cosmopoliteness on Quality of Life Perceptions

The Influence of Communication and Cosmopoliteness on Quality of Life Perception

Lick the Blade: The Implications of Performance and Narrative Music Videos

Since MTV\u27s introduction in 1981, music videos have shaped popular culture in various ways. Transitioning from television/cable to online platforms, thousands of music videos are viewed daily by millions through streaming sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. As a collaborative group, we wrote and produced a music video in collaboration with the metal band Lick the Blade, focusing on their original piece, “Blood Soaked Majesty.” Footage was produced for both a performance video, showing only the band performing their piece, and a narrative video, featuring a story line that parallels the lyrics. An audience will be able to view a performance video, a narrative piece, or a “concept” video that links images from the narrative piece with the performance video, without providing a true story line. The produced footage allows us to edit various versions of the music video in order to study different outcomes of music video exposure, with three goals: (1) Compare spectators’ involvement and interpretations for performance vs. narrative video versions; (2) investigate outcomes of different levels of violent content and victim gender; (3) examine the impact on reception of non-synchronous sound editing. Results from these studies could lend insight to producers of music videos.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2014/1006/thumbnail.jp