School of Communications seniors Kellye Coleman and Lauren Kolodrubetz will present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research March 29-31 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.
Coleman did her research, titled “Human Right? Access and the Future of the Global Internet,” with Communications associate professor Janna Anderson. Her abstract is below:
“Is access to the Internet a human right? A number of global governance organizations are formalizing or considering formalizing this concept. This study of opinions of information technology stakeholders on issues pertaining to Internet access includes perspectives from people involved in government, industry, civil society, research, and academia from a variety of countries and backgrounds who were in attendance at the 2011 United Nations-facilitated Internet Governance Forum. This was the sixth annual meeting of the IGF, which addresses issues of access, critical Internet resources, diversity, openness, security, capacity building, and development. Research was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, September 26-30, 2011, at a global IGF event that attracted more than 1,000 stakeholders from 100 nations for a discussion of ideas and ideals as they relate to the future of information and communication technologies. Nearly 100 participants from a range of social, political, geographical, and economic backgrounds responded to a voluntary survey in a convenience sample gathered in the village square and hallways of IGF. The basic purpose of Internet Governance Forum is to maximize the opportunities the Internet offers, addressing risks and challenges. Researchers collected statements dozens of IGF participants who were asked to assess access issues and the future of the Internet. The study yielded a diverse sample of stakeholder attitudes about how the right to Internet access is perceived in varied global regions by a wide array of people, from the leaders of ICANN and the Internet Society to young student interns working at the event. Results reveal stakeholders hold common views and conflicting opinions as to which challenges are key to the positive diffusion of information and communication technologies and how they should be met.”
Kolodrubetz’s project, “Selling the Interstate Highway System: American Security and the Frame of Safety in Time Magazine Advertisements, 1953-1954,” was mentored by Harlen Makemson, Communications associate professor. Her abstract is below:
“For more than four decades, the Cold War dominated global politics and the media. Specifically, an emphasis on safety and security became a primary Cold War cultural theme. Scholar Elaine Tyler May found that the home offered Americans a place of protection and security since they lived in a constant state of fear from Communism and the threat of attack from the Soviet Union. The government capitalized on this culture with a campaign promoting do-it-yourself fall-out-shelters for individual homes. Similarly, the security culture in the early 1950s sparked efforts to create a national interstate highway system to not only connect all of America but also provide security in the case of an attack. Scholars have examined political development of the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 but have not studied how it gained support among the American population. Therefore, this study looked at how the interstate defense highway system became a popular idea among Americans through the advertising efforts of three influential companies.
The study utilized the content analysis method on one specific news magazine, Time, because of its wide readership across the American population. The study examined every issue of Time in 1953 and 1954 because the years not only represent the height of McCarthyism but also an imminent threat to the United States according to Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock. The study then coded every half, full, or two-page consumer print advertisement in the given years into product categories, Cold War divisions, and for themes of safety.
The study then used a semiotic analysis to examine how the campaigns of the American Trucking Industry, Caterpillar Tractors, and Portland Cement Association promoted the development of an American national defense highway system. The separate campaigns not only promoted safety across America as did other advertisements but also used specific images and language to emphasize transportation as part of a new defense system for America. The advertisements emphasized building a “stronger America” and “protecting Americans” through a safe and new highway system in the ‘atomic age.'”