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Research on metaphors has established a relationship between the verticality, brightness, and distance of stimuli and affect. This project expands the literature on metaphors by exploring the connection between pitch and valence. Specifically, the pitch-valence hypothesis assumed that receivers of spoken messages associate higher pitches with positive valence and lower pitches with negative valence. A study was conducted recording participants' reaction times in identifying positive and negative words in high and low pitches to see whether the pitch of a word significantly affected their response latency and accuracy and found some support for gender impacting participants' ability to associate high pitches with positive words and low pitches with negative words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces a discussion session titled "Communication and Technology Division Top Papers" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Papers in Sports Communication" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Student Papers in Public Relations" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Intergroup Communication Interest Group Top Papers" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Instructional and Developmental Top Paper Panel" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Media, Sex, and Porn" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Mass Communication Research at the Systems Level" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "International Communication Association (ICA) Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session III" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Faculty Papers in Ethnicity and Race in Communication (ERIC)" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Four Papers in Interpersonal Communication" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Promising Student Papers" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article offers information on the Plenary Interactive Paper and Poster Session of the International Communication Association on health communication, information systems and mass communication.

The article announces a discussion session titled "ICA Affiliate Journals: Communicationand Society" and "Studies in Communication/Media"-Presentation and Top Papers" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Student Papers in ERIC" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "CCA and KACA Joint Paper Session" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Papers in Organizational Communication" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Papers in Global Communication and Social Change" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Papers in Health Communication" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Best Papers in Information Systems Division" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "KACA & CCA Joint Research Paper Session: Complexity of Asian News: Government and Engagement" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article offers information on the discussion titled "Top Papers in Intercultural Communication," to be held during the International Communication Association's 2016 annual conference, featuring topics such as community storytelling in a Californian Ethnoburbia, and intercultural research.

The article announces a discussion session titled "ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session 1" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Competitive Papers in Global Media and Culture" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Top Faculty Papers in Public Relations" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session related to game studies to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Media-Related Health Communication Research" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "Audience Engagement With News" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

The article announces a discussion session titled "What Generates News Content?" to be held during the conference of the International Communication Association in 2016.

This paper is in response to calls for individually based, time-series analyses of Internet usage data in Canada. Drawing from the 1997-2001 Household Internet Use Surveys (HIUS) and the 2000 General Social Survey, previous research (by this author) has demonstrated that the HIUS can in fact be disaggregated, after which, they reveal a statistically significant gender gap in Canada. Cross-tab analysis has showed that the access gap between men and women grew between 1997 and 2002, and logistic regression analyses revealed that men were more than 50% more likely than women to access the Internet from home on a daily basis. This paper represents a continuation and expansion of the previous research, and will use the recently released 2002 and 2003 HIUS data to create a seven-year long time-series analysis of Internet usage in Canada, comparing men and women with location and frequency of access. Furthermore, it will create an individually based examination of online Information seeking practices of Canadian men and women. Finally, the paper will include a critique of the HIUS survey design and corresponding reports, and suggest that they have been ultimately inadequate for accurately determining how Canadian women have been using the Internet, in particular with respect to measurement beyond mere "access". ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various stakeholders have debated whether and how the Internet may become a diversified and tiered medium with different levels of service quality and transmission speeds. Incumbent telecommunications companies, which control the major Internet transmission backbones, want an unfettered option of diversifying Internet services even at the risk of balkanizing and tiering service. Advocates for network neutrality have grave concerns that such flexibility will provider carriers the ability to extort additional compensation and to engage in anticompetitive tactics. This paper will consider the lawfulness of telephone company management strategies to tier, brand and diversify the Internet, including the elimination of a "one size fits all" best efforts routing system. Differential pricing based on quality of service and other factors makes sense to "Bellhead" corporate officers who hope to capture rents that otherwise would accrue to content providers. On the other hand "Nethead" strategies for promoting "best efforts" Internet routing has achieved widespread access and has contributed to successful adoption of this new social and commercial medium. The article also will examine the clash of Bellhead and Nethead cultures with an eye toward identifying the stakes involved when Internet access pricing and interconnection primarily follows a telecommunications infrastructure cost recovery scheme in lieu of different commercial relationships favored by most Internet ventures. The paper identifies both lawful and unlawful discrimination. It concludes that most Bellhead cost recovery models are lawful even though they will reduce for most consumers the real or perceived value proposition offered by an unmetered monthly Internet access subscription. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While communication scholars suggest that the Internet can serve as an important resource for social movement communication, few studies examine whether and how social movements actually use the Internet. This paper examines social movement Internet use by surveying how national social movement organizations utilize this communication resource at one of its most visible points of access, the World Wide Web. Drawing on alternative media studies, the paper develops a typology that identifies the communication functions most central to social movements and surveys the Web sites of social movement organizations (SMOs) to determine the degree to which their Web-based activities and attributes perform these functions. The survey results suggest that the majority of national SMOs are not utilizing the Web to its full potential and posits a number of reasons why this might be the case, including organizational objectives, organizational resources, and the structure of the larger Web-based networks of which SMOs are a part. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past year witnessed an event unprecedented in modern telecommunications history. An otherwise obscure telecommunications policy debate spilled outside the rarefied airs of Congressional Committees and the Federal Communications Commission's eighth floor to rage across the Blogosphere, major newspapers, YouTube and episodes of The Daily Show. This contentious discussion centers on an issue known as "network neutrality," defined broadly as the non-discriminatory interconnectedness among data communication networks that allows users to access the content, and run the services, applications, and devices of their choice. As Congress debates whether network neutrality protections should be written into current legislation, the battle lines have been drawn between large telecommunications companies who own the pipes, on one side, and Internet content companies and public interest groups, on the other. This paper contextualizes recent events in relation to historical telecommunications antecedents. In doing so, we critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current network neutrality debate and offer a set of guidelines for a new understanding of network neutrality. The paper concludes with an exploration of the social and political ramifications of this broader conception of network neutrality. We suggest that this "new network neutrality" provides a proactive foundation for creating a more democratic Internet. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently a need for a standardized theory that describes how relationships between the self and self-representations operate across contexts. The present paper draws from the fields of neuroscience, embodied cognition, psychology, and presence to explicate the theory of self-presence, which is broadly defined as the extent to which the self is present (relevant) during media use. This theory is expanded using a framework of the holistic self, which is comprised of the body, emotions, and identity. Building on this explication, the paper proposes the Self-Presence Questionnaire as a measurement tool for the concept of self-presence. A factor analysis indicates that this tool aligns with the theory. Preliminary validity tests, including comparison by game genre and social presence, also support the theory. The paper then speculates about additional validity tests and the wider relevance of self-presence. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve a rising legitimacy crisis, the Chinese government appeals to nationalism and proposes a Go Out of the Door policy, which includes building a media empire composed of Chinese TNMCs and export TV programs. This paper examines how the CCP regime readjusts its TV drama importation policy from protectionism to a co-optation policy by allowing foreign investment in the television program production industry. The second transition is that the CCP regime expanded its concern from national to regional by granting Hong Kong and Taiwan coproduced TV drama the same status as Chinese TV drama in order to situate itself as the leader of the emerging Chinese cultural-linguistic market. This paper analyzes the impacts of these transitions, including the expansion of the symbiotic market-authoritarian interest group, mass production of entertainment-oriented TV drama, and how modern media gives China a modernity image to attract young audiences and strengthen nationalism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frames do not naturally occur on their own; they are embedded in wider, often strategically crafted narratives. This paper proposes a conceptualization which contextualizes frames, highlighting functional relations, semantic coherence, and compositional overlaps between frames. It criticizes existing frame-analytic methodologies based on their preoccupation with the individual, artificially isolated frame, and suggests an alternative approach that retains the context of frames. Implementing this approach using techniques adapted from the semantic network analysis (SNA) of discourse, the paper investigates the framing strategies advanced by Dutch political parties in the EU constitutional referendum campaign. The analysis finds a differentiated center-periphery structure in the alignment of frames in strategic discourse: While the core argument is typically defined by two contrasting, central frames, various peripheral frames further elaborate the core's situation definition and causal explanations. Frames thus react in systematic ways to the discursive environment in which they appear. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that a new form of racialization is being produced in the information age through developments and innovations in communication technologies. Increasingly, racial knowledge is being constructed from seemingly neutral and unrelated pieces of information, which are collected, sorted, and analyzed through two key technologies: databases and the Internet. I call this interaction between technology and identity the informationalization of race. As a mode of representation, a structuring device, and as a biological category, race is undergoing a significant transformation in the digital age. I ground this concept in a case study of the next Human Genome Project, the HapMap Project, to understand how technologies are being shaped in a specific institutional setting. Advances in human genomics has recently re-invigorated scientific research into the relationship between race and biology. Where the HGP concluded that humanity is similar at the genetic level, the HapMap Project began by looking for differences between white, African, and Asian groups. The findings from the HapMap project have been promised to help in developing pharmaceuticals that can target common diseases, such as cancer. However, this development also opens the door to old biological conceptions of race and a new phase of the biopolitics of the human body. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995) is consistently classified as a key component of the cinéma des banlieues genre that arose during the late 1980's in France, its core theme is a subject of dispute. One consistency, though, to the film's critical reception reads the film's contribution to the social critique of current economic and racial tensions and its classification of the central Jewish character as "white." This paper strives for elaboration of this perspective. In its juxtaposition of black, Arab, and Jewish characters, La Haine performs a postmodern form of blackface that works to deassimilate tough Jewishness from mainstream whiteness. By result, this reading encourages reconsideration of the performative spectacle and cultural style of blackness as a repository for proposing and positioning deassimilatory identity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communications policymaking increasingly relies upon large-scale databases manufactured and marketed by commercial organizations. These data providers supplement the limited data gathering capacity of government bodies and thereby bring a greater quantity of relevant data to bear on policy issues than would otherwise be possible. These data are utilized extensively by stakeholders with an interest in policy outcomes to conduct and submit studies that policymakers rely upon in their deliberations. One byproduct of this situation is that, to the increasing extent that the data relied upon in policymaking, policy analysis, and policy advocacy are provided by commercial organizations, substantial inequalities in access to these data arise. Specifically, certain actors in the policymaking process, such as academic researchers and public interest organizations, lack the resources of communications firms and industry associations to access the data that are vital to conducting thorough, reliable, and persuasive policy research. Policymakers themselves often find their research objectives inhibited by the enormous expense associated with relevant large-scale commercial datasets, and thus find themselves increasingly reliant upon the analyses conducted by those stakeholder groups with the resources necessary to gain access to such data. As a result of these information asymmetries, policy decision-making is likely to suffer, as the research inputs inevitably fail to reflect the full range of considerations across the full range of interested stakeholders. This paper illustrates these issues via a case study of the FCC's 2003 media ownership proceeding and offers suggestions for how existing disparities in access to policy-relevant data might be addressed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The institutions for the realization of democracy are national in scope, but communications industries and information flows have become increasingly transnational. In this paper we consider the implications of promoting the ideas of transnational "civil society" and "multi-stakeholder governance" as default solutions to the problem of democratizing international institutions. Specifically, we critically examine the case of the Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (the CRIS Campaign) during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). We find the CRIS Campaign's struggle to shape global norms by mobilizing civil society actors, instructive on several levels. First, it reflects a long-term attempt to formulate and apply an overarching frame that puts the social role of communication at the center of policy development. Our analysis suggests that this effort was not that successful -- but the attempt nevertheless holds important lessons for communication scholars interested in the relationship between communication studies and public policy. Second, it provides insights on theories of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and how those relate to the specific domain of communication policy. The case study also tests theories about the relationship between TANs and international organizations, revealing the interdependence of the needs of international institutions for legitimacy and participation and the needs and incentives of advocacy groups. Last but not least, the results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of multi-stakeholder governance, and raise important questions about institutional changes at the international level motivated by this default solution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The societal advances that have taken place in terms of the types of technologies now available have not gone unnoticed by those dedicated to education and pedagogy. Educators have not been last in line in using technological aides to create a more stimulating learning environment. Building on the ideas posited by John Dewey decades earlier about using the tools to further inquiry, we now find ourselves in a world where classrooms are no longer thought of as a physical space with set meeting times. The ideas of classes and classrooms now have expanded definitions that point to online learning as a means of gaining educational experience. Following Dewey's precepts this paper looks at the question of technology in education from a communication perspective, and attempts to make the case for a more human-centered approach. Concepts of social presence, engagement and interactivity are identified as key variables and the relevance of these are theorized in order to answer the question "what is the influence of social presence, teacher presence and interaction & engagement on student satisfaction in online courses?" Of primary concern is the learner's satisfaction rather than the learner's academic performance, since a lot of other personal factors, including intelligence, affect performance. Learner satisfaction on the other hand is a more direct consequence of the mediating environment. The results of a study carried out to explore the effects of these variables on student satisfaction in an online course are encouraging. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide; the differential possession of Internet skills. Two large-scale performance tests were conducted to measure both medium related (basic operations and navigation and orientation) and content related (information searching and using the Internet for personal benefits) Internet skills. Using structural equation modelling, the results showed that age has a negative influence to medium related skills. The younger generations performed better on these skills. However, age positively contributes to the level of content related skills, meaning that older generations perform better than the younger. Educational attainment appears significant for both medium and content related Internet skills. Internet experience only contributes to the medium related skills. It appears that content related skills do not grow with years of Internet experience and amount of time spent online weekly. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages feminist standpoint as both theory and method in defining effective ICT use for women in West Virginia. Through a 14-month ethnographic study of participants in beginner computer and internet courses, this study examines why West Virginian women are at the lower end of America's digital divide. It examines how patriarchal forces that marginalized these women in education and employment and engineered them into traditional domestic roles prevented them from accessing computers and the internet for a significant portion of their lives, thus relegating them to the peripheries of the information society. It then present participants' views of computers and the Internet, and discuss how their reasons for adopting ICTs are articulations of their standpoints that are linked to their everyday consciousness. Understanding their standpoints helps establish definitions on what effective and meaningful ICT use means to these Appalachian women. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on past studies of virtual community by illuminating the effect of offline gatherings ("meetups") on physically dispersed virtual communities. While research to date has examined the way in which online interaction affects offline community, the question of how offline interaction affects online community has largely been ignored. Non-obtrusive analysis of over eight years of user activity from a large, active online community suggests that the development of multiplex relationships -relationships maintained both online and off -enhances attendees' engagement with the online community as a whole, strengthens ties to other attendees, and contributes to the creation of bonding social capital. However, weak ties with non-attendees dissolve and bridging social capital is sacrificed as those who meet offline favor interaction with other attendees. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since it became involved in telecommunications during the nineteenth century, the state has played several roles: owner-operator, regulator, stopgap for private sector deficiencies, and facilitator. During the past two decades, direct state involvement in telecommunications has been reduced, but renewed demands for state intervention and a return of the state have been articulated recently. Ownership and regulation have historically been considered as institutional alternatives to address problems of market failure and deficiency but they also have complementary functions. Likewise, the roles of the state as facilitator and stopgap overlap with these other roles and complement them. Privatization, liberalization, and the associated trust in unregulated market forces are reassessed in the wake of the recent economic crisis. This paper reviews the different roles of the state, weighs their advantages and shortcomings, and assesses the state's future involvement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous analyses of the information technology (IT) adoption have focused on a single application. Despite different vendors offer similar software, studies in IT adoption seldom look at the effects of alternative applications. In this paper, we review different models - which examine comparison processes -- from communication technology, consumer behavior, information systems and marketing fields. We summarize these studies into three comparison processes, and based on these theoretical developments, we set our hypotheses. The study is set in the context of two instant messaging technologies: MSN and Yahoo Messenger. From the enrollment database of more than 15000 names and email addresses, we filter out respondents who have not installed and used these messengers. Based on a survey from about 300 instant messaging users, the result shows that the effects of the competing products should be considered. Important contributions to research and practice from this finding are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1918, the Finnish people became entrenched in what would be a bloody three-and-a-half month civil war. This event left the Finnish people bitterly divided. In order to maintain social cohesion, General Mannerheim's 1932 decree solidified an official policy of forgetting; public remembrance of the event was discouraged. Decades later, on the 90th anniversary of the conflict, there were several important initiatives of public remembrance in Tampere, the site of the war's most decisive battle, which aimed at bringing the fighting of 1918 "back into the streets." The context of the Finnish Civil War, particularly in the city of Tampere, provides a fruitful location in which to examine the complexities, and imbricated nature, of collective remembering and forgetting and the role of place and space therein. This paper ultimately shows that even in bringing the fighting of 1918 back into the streets of Tampere, Mannerheim's decree persists. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fewer than 10% of recording artists become profitable; the few who do constitute a form of labor in short supply. Labor shortage favors employees by increasing their bargaining power and mobility. The recording industry presents a stark example of employer response to labor shortage. In 1987 record companies obtained a "carve-out" of recording artists from a statutory 7-year limit on employment contracts, singling out recording artists from all other California workers, effectively exposing them to unlimited contractual bondage. My paper analyzes this under-studied moment in the history of the recording industry and argues that the contractual relations of "imperfectly substitutable" creative workers make visible the generally obscured regulatory rigidities that undergird today's increasingly "flexible" labor markets. It argues that, as a "limiting case" of employment in contemporary market society, recording artists' treatment in law and by employers illuminates the harsh politics at the core of the institution of employment. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of the niche and concepts from time geography are used to create a framework for the study of interpersonal media---the cell-phone, land-line phone, instant messaging and text messaging as well as e-mail. One hundred forty-two college undergraduates completed a time/space diary for a randomly assigned week-day in which they recorded their contacts or "bundles" with members of their personal network. Analysis of the data show that interpersonal media coexist because they are differentiated from each other in their usage patterns. Each medium is used in different time/space/network relationship contexts. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of popular music as an entrée for discussion in college classrooms is nothing new. Critical analysis of explicit and implied messages in lyrics, track collections, and cover art can cultivate student interest while bringing issues as diverse as political action, sustainability, white privilege, inter-racial and inter-SES communication, and violence in popular culture to the forefront. "Poverty of Philosophy" provides a powerful message to students whose lives have often not required them to confront these issues. This project explores ways in which teachers may use, students might relate to, and outcomes can be affected by the pedagogical introduction of music as social criticism and call to action. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]