U.S. Music Studies in a Moment of Danger

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/10.1525/jams.2011.64.3.689.No abstract is available for this item

Swing: From Time to Torque (Dance Floor Democracy at the Hollywood Canteen)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/DAED_a_00243#.U6m2QSj5dj4The Hollywood Canteen (1942–1945) was the most famous of the USO and USO-like patriotic nightclubs where civilian hostesses jitterbugged with enlisted men of the Allied Nations during World War II. It is also the subject of much U.S. national nostalgia about the “Good War” and “Greatest Generation.” Drawing from oral histories with civilian volunteers and military guests who danced at the Hollywood Canteen, this article focuses on the ways that interviewees navigated the forceful narrative terrain of national nostalgia, sometimes supporting it, sometimes pulling away from or pushing it in critical ways, and usually a little of each. This article posits a new interpretative method for analyzing struggles over “democracy” for jazz and swing studies through a focus on “torque” that brings together oral history, improvisation studies, and dance studies to bear on engaging interviewees' embodied narratives on ideologically loaded ground, improvising on the past in the present

The Influence of Perceived Food Risk and Source Trust on Media System Dependency

Consumers regularly identify food safety as an issue of great concern. They also consistently rank mass media as a primary source of food safety information. The purpose of this study was to investigate Ohioans’ levels of media system dependency and to assess the role of source trust and perceived food risk factors in influencing this dependency. Mail survey techniques were used to collect data from a sample of 7,976 Ohio residents. Data are reported for 4,014 respondents, for a 56 percent response rate. Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, were perceived by respondents to be the most helpful among the media formats assessed. Moderate levels of perceived risk were found for the food safety items assessed. Pesticide residues in food and contamination of drinking water generated the highest levels of perceived risk. Relative to perceived source trust, physicians and scientists were evaluated most favorably, ahead of farmers and growers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Extension. Regression findings indicate that perceived trust in government and expert sources were the two best predictors of media dependency, followed by perceived food safety risk. Findings have implications for food safety communicators and journalists communicating with at-risk audiences about the safety of their food supply

AUMI-Futurism: the Elsewhere and "Elsewhen" of (Un)Rolling the Boulder and Turning the Page

This article discusses two performances that used the movement-to-music technology known as the "Adaptive Use Musical Instrument" or AUMI to allow differently-abled participants to collaborate with one another: (Un)Rolling the Boulder: Improvising New Communities, a multimedia, mixed-ability improvisation that was staged at the University of Kansas in October 2013 and Turning the Page, an interdisciplinary musical theatre piece premiered in Ottawa, Canada in April 2014. We theorize these performances as examples of "AUMI-Futurism”, combining insights gleaned from two different sources: the Afrofuturist philosophy of composer, improviser, and bandleader Sun Ra, and the work of disability studies scholar Alison Kafer. This essay examines the collaborative, improvisatory processes that surrounded (Un)Rolling the Boulder and Turning the Page, focusing in particular on the role that the AUMI software played in imagining and performing new communities

Level of Preparedness for Managing Crisis Communication on Land-Grant Campuses

Crisis situations can occur in any organization. Because they attract media attention and public scrutiny, crises demand effective intervention and response. Despite their importance, there has never been an inventory of crisis communication readiness at land-grant universities. This study used mail survey techniques to query communication administrators at 1862 and 1890 U.S. land-grant colleges of agriculture as to the level of preparedness that exists for handling crisis situations at their institutions. A major finding was that only about 60 percent of land-grant universities have a central crisis communication plan. Nearly one third of the respondents were unaware of a crisis communication plan at their university. Official crisis plans were most often found at the university level, followed by extension. Experiment station crisis plans were reported by fewer than one fourth of respondents, an alarming finding since research programs and facilities are considerably more susceptible to public outcry or threats from fringe groups. It was determined that faculty and staff are often not aware of crisis plans in place at their institutions and that communication professionals have limited involvement in the development of such plans. Findings highlight the need for communication professionals to be more proactive in assuring that crisis communication plans are in place and that they are involved in their development

Enhancing Professionalism in Academic Agricultural Communications Programs: The Role of Accreditation

Enhancing professionalism in agricultural and applied communications has been an important topic of discussion among ACE members in recent years. Developing strategies to increase prestige and recognition of this specialized field are of particular interest to ACE members involved in administering academic programs in agricultural communications and agricultural journalism. One of the measures under consideration to bolster recognition is the development of accreditation standards and procedures that would allow for “certification” of academic programs. Among the often-cited advantages of accreditation are increased uniformity of curricula and the development of formal quality- control mechanisms. However, if accreditation standards and procedures are to be implemented successfully, more information is needed on the overall accreditation process, how it has been used in other disciplines, and what factors should be considered in applying it to agricultural communications. This paper attempts to fill this void by providing an overview of the accreditation process and a review of the accreditation literature to identify important issues in developing and implementing such programs. In addition, results from an electronic mail survey of academic agricultural communications program faculty are provided to document their perceptions of the need and role of accreditation in this field. The authors argue that development of a structured accreditation process is not in the best interest of agricultural communications at this time. The paper concludes with a set of discussion items and recommendations for agricultural communications faculty to consider in weighing for themselves the merits of national accreditation standards

Studying U.S. Music in the Twenty-First Century

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Consciousness in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Discussions from the Hall Center for the Humanities Fall Faculty Colloquium 2011

This volume contains a collection of discussions from the 2011 Hall Center for the Humanities Fall Faculty Colloquium, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Practice-Based Research in Three Personal Turns

In this contribution to the forum on Practice-Based Research (PBR), the author reflects on PBR "moves" throughout her career, identifying three moments when she could feel her practice change, in very personal and embodied ways. She reflects on the "personal turns" and the unanticipated methods and information that emerged