Journal of Undergraduate Research - 2017-2018 Double Issue

The Journal of Undergraduate Research of The College of Saint Rose Volumes VIII & IX 2017-2018

Editorial Staff and Advisory Board Race in High Fashion: An Analysis of the Representation of People of Color Sean Gunner, class of 2017 Introduced by Ryane McAuliffe Straus

iii

1

Bridging the Gap: Analyzing Twitter Interactions between Athletes and Fans Joshua Heller, class of 2018 Introduced by Jin Kim

18

Invertebrates in Fragmented Areas and Community Gardens in Albany, New York Liana T. Morales Sizemore, class of 2019 Introduced by Brian Jensen

34

It’s for You and Me: The Reality of Sports Mediated Viewing Logan Ripley, class of 2018 Introduced by Jin Kim

42

A Place for Sympathy within the Law Jennifer L. O’Keefe, class of 2017 Introduced by Brian Sweeney

55

Media Depictions, Social Constructions, and Parental Understandings of the Gardasil Vaccine in New York State Aileen K. Burke, class of 2019

63

The Smartphone Filmmaker: Status Conferral and the Increase of the Smartphone as a Filmmaking Tool Samuel M. Lund, class of 2019

72

The Powerful and the Powerless: Does Social Media Grant Individuals Power?

Rhina Allende, class of 2018

84

Staff and Advisory Board Editor Robert R. Shane, Art History Graduate Assistant Lea DeLosa, Communication Science and Disorders Cover Design Amy Bishop, BFA Graphic Design, class of 2019 Advisory Board Cailin Brown, Communications Paul Conti, Communications Jenise DePinto, History and Political Science Risa, Fausette, History and Political Science Brian Jensen, Biology Lisa Kannenberg, History and Political Science Jin Kim, Communications Kate Laity, English Rebecca Landsberg, Biology Angela Ledford, History and Political Science Marcia Margolin, Teacher Education Ryane McAuliffe Straus, History and Political Science Karen McGrath, Communications Mary Alice Molgard, Communications Vaneeta Palecanda, English Christina Pfister, Teacher Education David Rice, English Brian Sweeney, English Kelly Weiss, English Bridget Williams-Searle, History and Political Science Elizabeth Yanoff, Teacher Education Ann Zeeh, Biology Founding Editor Ryane McAuliffe Straus, History and Political Science

iii

Race in High Fashion: An Analysis of the Representation of People of Color Sean Gunner Class of 2018 Political Science Faculty Introduction In “Race in High Fashion: An Analysis of the Representation of People of Color,� Sean Gunner has combined his interests in fashion and political science. The result showcases his talent for using traditional empirical methods in a non-traditional way, and is a model of creative, yet established, scholarly research.

Sean’s thesis, that high fashion continues to marginalize and tokenize models of color in a racially structured society, may seem at first to be only tangentially related to issues within the academy.

However, he makes a strong argument that it is not only politics, but also our everyday activities that reflect and construct the world around us. Building on and interweaving canonical literature in racial power with studies of fashion, Sean also adds his own, unique twist; he focuses on the role of social media in the portrayal and production of racial stereotypes and tropes.

After establishing a framework for analysis by discussing critical academic literature, Sean explains his methodology clearly and logically. In a classic example of empirical research methods, Sean identified a potential dataset (here, the Instagram account for Vogue Magazine), addressed how he gathered his materials (by studying every third image), and set his criteria for inclusion (the post must be a photo with Black or White models). He used this approach to narrow his group from over 2,000 images to 409. While still a very significant number, this group was also manageable enough for study.

Sean then deftly applies the academic scholarship on racial formation, racial power, and colorblindness to his dataset. His creative, unique methods lead him to a logical conclusion with solid evidence: Models of color continue to be marginalized, tokenized, and assimilated. He argues strongly that this is not only a problem for the fashion world, but it has the potential to be especially powerful with

Vols. 8 & 9

1

Instagram’s young users. As young viewers continue to see representations of people of color in these particular ways, it continues to reify the racial formation that frames our politics, our society, and our very lives.

I am extremely proud of Sean’s work in this paper. It models how to do empirical social science while also studying a topic of personal interest. It should be viewed as a significant contribution to an important academic question. Perhaps most importantly, it should caution all of us to think more critically about what we see every day, and to challenge how it reinforces our worldviews.

Professor Ryane McAuliffe Straus History and Political Science

In thinking about racial problems in modern society, one of the most obvious is the issue of inclusion, which can take myriad forms depending on venue. The issue of segregation and its assumed solution—integration—is one of inclusion: in local school systems, in professional settings, at lunch counters, on public transportation, etc. In these examples and others, our understanding of racial inclusion is bifurcated into two camps. The first is composed of the excluded racial group and perhaps the group’s allies, who argue for their inclusion (via integration) in a system or institution. The second is the group generally associated with racism in a modern context, composed of segregationists who favor exclusion. This foundation is widely applicable. Take the storied example of school segregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. The nine students and their supporters who started school in 1957 in Little Rock’s previously segregated public school system favored inclusion, while the white protesters eventually held back by the National Guard favored exclusion.

Today, the problem of inclusion is more challenging to identify than in Little Rock in 1957. The racial protest that took place outside of the high school is no longer socially acceptable in mainstream culture. Outright exclusionary policies with regard to race are banned as discrimination, struck down by court of law or by public ire. Simply put, the second group (the exclusionists), have adapted to favor quieter forms of furthering their agenda. For the American collective consciousness, this has had the effect of largely removing the problem of inclusion from the metaphorical docket. The belief that we’ve ended discrimination by putting pen to paper is widely held, and

2

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

with it comes an era in which we discuss inclusion as if it is an issue of the past—grappled with and overcome.

We do not have to look particularly hard to assess the invalidity of this assumption. In high fashion, perhaps one of the most visual of modern industries, the problem of including people of color is not only enduring but continuing to twist outside of the delineated poles of “inclusion” and “exclusion.” The National Guard cannot hold back fashion’s enemies of inclusion because they are not wearing the same badges of discrimination. Outright exclusion and distorted forms of inclusion have been woven into the fabric of an industry that continues to operate under these influences today. In high fashion, people of color are chronically underrepresented, tokenized, and assimilated into white culture.

Racial Theory in the American Context In order to understand these implications in high fashion, we must first understand their foundation as a racial problem existing within a racialized American society—the cultural context in which the fashion industry operates. Fashion did not invent race, but instead adopted it as information deemed societally important. According to Michael Omi and Howard Winant, race operates as a “master category” in the United States. That is, it is socially constructed and implemented to serve a distinct purpose in developing social hierarchy and presupposing social differences (106-107). Race consciousness has from the onset of slavery subordinated people of color in the Western Hemisphere and often globally (Omi and Winant 113). Although we have abandoned slavery as an evil of history, subordination of black people continues. In an industry built upon the categorization of people, race enters not only as a master category, but as a master category that hierarchically excludes people of color.

Despite what some supposed “idealists” may assert, the argument that our modern society has failed to move beyond these assumptions is not a difficult one to make. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva constructs it within the framework of our modern form of racism: colorblindness. Although it is a different form of racism than that of the eras slavery or Jim Crowe, our national identity is still heavily racialized. Bonilla-Silva argues that the white power structure collectively participates in four key facets that define colorblind racism: participation in abstract liberalism, naturalization, participation in cultural racism, and minimization of racism (76-77). Each of these is discussed by example within fashion later in this essay. The United States is not truly “colorblind;” race is simply discussed covertly but retains its position as a categorizing principle as Omi and Winant

Vols. 8 & 9

3

assert. In other words, racism has taken on a hegemonic and routinely unquestioned role (Omi and Winant 132). The basic assertion of colorblind ideology is that racial categorization is a problem of the past (“I do not see color [race]”). Omi and Winant argue that racial categorization has not disappeared in the wake of the last century’s partly successful civil rights movement (or more currently, the election of a black president), but instead that it has adapted to become more covert and embedded. The advent of code words allows the idea of race to be implied, as political rhetoric like “tough on crime” can be artfully used to refer to black violence without ever overtly addressing race (Omi and Winant 218). If code words have replaced outright racial slurs in at least public rhetoric, race has not been erased. It has been pushed (partly) beneath the surface.

Moreover, some racists within the white majority have coined “reverse discrimination” and “reverse racism” as an ideological precursor to colorblindness (Omi and Winant 220). Reverse discrimination doctrines assert that not only do we (i.e. Americans collectively) no longer discriminate against people of color, but we have in fact gone so far in attempts to ameliorate this discrimination that we have invited its opposite: racism on the part of people of color and their allies against whites. An example of perceived “reverse racism” is reform policies (e.ge. affirmative action) claimed to disadvantage white people in hiring or admissions. (Omi and Winant 218-219).

However, race cannot be proclaimed “neutral” (Omi and Winant 220) using the largely disproven rationales of colorblindness and reverse racism. In fact, its role as a master category persists in the form of continued “racial despotism,” the phrase used by Omi and Winant to describe the role of race in determining and maintaining power. They justify this argument of race as fundamental to power by citing the slow progress of African Americans in achieving democratic rights (e.g. voting). Further, the United States not only retains its racial despotism, but has seen examples of regression further into its grasp: namely, the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder (Omi and Winant 130).

If this is the racial context in which the global fashion industry operates in the United States and abroad, the realities of underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation seem less like a revelation and more like a logical conclusion. And these realities have notable consequences. In his chapter “The Matter of Whiteness,” Richard Dyer argues that our chronic racialization of non-whites and concurrent failure to racialize whiteness establishes white as the “human norm” (10). He goes on to say that this normalizing of

4

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

whiteness secures a position of power (Dyer 12)—not far off from Omi and Winant’s racial despotism or Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton’s “monolithic white power structure” (7) as discussed in their book Black Power.

Why does this matter to fashion? And why does fashion matter to politics? Indeed, “racial despotism” is used characterize the United States in a political framework, but the definition carries to fashion. The dictatorial supremacy of whiteness is the cause for the aforementioned symptoms; underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation of people of color evince that the power structures at play in American politics are much the same as those at play in high fashion.

And the same arguments used by oppressors to stifle continuing conversations on racism in a political context are used in fashion, too.

Colorblindness has permeated into nearly every facet of American culture, and the fashion industry is no exception (see examples in the study below). Thus, the political and the cultural are essentially united by common problems. (Under)representation and (mis)treatment of people of color in one area mirrors (and can influence) the same dynamics in the other.

Proven Problems in Fashion Let us first grapple with the issue of underrepresentation: outright exclusion of people of color in various roles in the fashion industry. In some ways, this is the easiest problem to identify because the evidence that suggests it is visually and numerically obvious, particularly among runway models for fashion’s biggest names and at its central events (e.g. season opening shows, fashion weeks).

Although people of color have always faced discrimination in fashion, the most recent trend of underrepresentation on fashion’s runways is identified by industry insiders as originating in the mid1990s. Supermodel Veronica Webb acts as one of these insiders, privy to the inner workings of the industry through her experiences as a black model. Webb painted a picture of the contrast pre- and post-1996, a year she marks as pivotal in a marked transition from partial inclusion to widespread discrimination. In shows she participated in from 1992 to 1995, Webb notes a rate of representation of black models of approximately 35 to 40 percent. She recalls the naming of black male model Tyson Beckford as the face of Ralph Lauren in 1995 as a pinnacle of inclusion, not just in runways shows but in positions of stature in the fashion world (Webb 108). Supermodel Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid (known professionally by solely her first name) corroborates Webb’s portrayal of the pre-1996 trends in fashion, noting the routine casting of black models by labels the likes of Calvin Klein,

Vols. 8 & 9

5

Versace, and Saint Laurent during the 1980s and early 1990s (Wilson 1). On the pivotal 1996, however, Victoria Webb remarked “when that year came in, we went out” (108). Riccardo Gay, a global modeling agency, had only six black models available for hire in the 1996 season.

Webb argued in 1996 that this was a “worldwide trend,” asserting that black models had to work harder to reap fewer rewards and find fewer positions in an industry that had started to close them out (108).

Did the underrepresentation Webb vilified in 1996 actually represent the “trend” she cautioned would bar models of color from mainstream inclusion? In 2008, 17-year-old model Chanel Iman Robinson described scheduling 20 casting calls and being turned away from at least five upon arrival because the agency or label was not looking for a black model (Samuels 12). Casting director James Scully describes casting for Dior’s shows as “deliberate” in its discrimination, distractingly obvious in its whitewashed composition (Wilson 1). These assertions are not without their proof.

The numerical evidence of recent underrepresentation is overwhelming. Allison Samuels presented in 2008 an argument that almost mirrors Webbs’ from 1996: she paints a picture of models excluded, put back behind barriers they thought they’d broken down.

Her most powerful example: Prada’s spring 2008 show featured only one black model alongside dozens of their white peers. It is more shocking still that this model, Jourdan Dunn, was the first person of color to grace Prada’s runways in 11 years (Samuels 12). Even more recently, 2013’s New York Fashion Week featured black models for only six percent of the looks presented, down nearly two percent from the 2012 fall season. 82.7 percent of the week’s looks were worn by white models (Wilson 1). Eric Wilson argues that this is not a phenomenon the industry is naively unaware of. Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the Council of Fashion Designers, so much as publicly urged members to be more mindful of diversity in 2008. It is clear, however, that this call went almost completely unanswered by 2012 (Wilson 1). The most recent data suggests little change. In the fall 2015 Fashion Weeks, black models represented just under eight percent of the total, while white models represented about 80 percent (Bobo 92). Underrepresentation of models of color, then, is not an isolated problem corroborated by anecdotal assertions. It is a numerically evidenced pattern that can only be described as chronic.

There are some voices who argue an alternative viewpoint.

Ling Woo Liu claims that fashion is indeed changing in favor of greater patterns of inclusion. She praises “a diverse group of beauties” who are beginning to break down barriers she admittedly acknowledges, but says are starting to fall in the onset of new attitudes in fashion (Liu 78).

6

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Liu heralds the 2008 winner of Ford Supermodel of the World, a 20year-old Korean woman named Kang Seung-hyun, as a manifestation of a “larger movement” of inclusion. However, Woo’s praise of this movement is largely one-sided, focusing on patterns of inclusion for models of Asian descent which she attributes to the greater economic participation of Asian buyers in the global fashion market. Although she claims this larger movement is at play across the industry, Woo fails to prove the trend’s positive effects on inclusion of models of color. Even she acknowledges that only a “handful” of black models are runway regulars today (Woo 78).

Beyond the issue of underrepresentation is a more complex discussion of the type, quality, and significance of representation— however insignificant in quantity-- that does exist for people of color in fashion. Tokenization of people of color is commonplace. Models are valuated not by traditional industry standards, but instead as “tokens” that are used to refute claims of discrimination or to assert particular cultural assumptions. Anjali Vats calls the latter phenomenon “raceinspired fashion” or “racial tourism/performance” (112). Vats argues that fashion designers, especially in the wake of the 2008 election of Barack Obama, began to represent race and primitivism by emphasizing “the extreme and the bizarre” (113). Appropriated African tribal designs worn by black models and even instances of blackface worn by white models are what Vats deems racial performance, normalizing racialization in fashion as an accessory, a token (118).

In a 2006 study by Jennifer Millard and Peter Grant, the nature of the inclusion of the model of color in fashion magazines is explored within the context of the nature of her pose and the implications on viewers’ assumptions. The study used photographs from Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue from 1999 to 2001—the years’ three best-selling publications— as subjects, breaking down the issues to find a more equal number of white and black models than a single issue would allow (Millard and Grant 662). The “token” models of color were featured in only nine percent of the publications’ full page photographs, while white models made up the other 91 percent (663). The study also revealed that models of color were significantly more likely to be portrayed in submissive (defined as showing a psychological cue of withdrawal or submissive position in relation to another model or the viewer) poses (Millard and Grant 659, 663). The conclusion can be drawn that because of their exclusion from the largest spreads and photographs, black models serve as “tokens,” included in smaller photographs as if to nod to diversity while still maintaining white supremacy. The disproportionately submissive posing of models of color only furthers this assertion. (Interestingly, Millard and Grant also

Vols. 8 & 9

7

write “…we expected images of White women to dominate, but not to the extent where finding women of colour was so difficult,” speaking again to the underrepresentation of models of color (670).)

The models interviewed by Eric Wilson in 2013 substantiate the idea of the token black model, reporting that they often hear “we already have our black girl” when turned away from casting calls (Wilson 1). Even in what would seem to be the apex of inclusion—an all-black issue of Vogue from 2008—the problem of tokenization is well at play. “… An all-black issue isn’t enough to make this go away.

We don’t want to be separated […]—we want to be included,” argues ex-model Bethann Hardison (Samuels 12).

Dyer’s philosophy on the normalizing of whiteness and the racialization of other groups is very much supported by and applicable to the lack of quality representation offered to black models. If the black model hears “we already have our black girl,” (s)he is immediately racialized as the exception. An all-black magazine does the same thing. White models are not carefully counted for inclusion’s sake. They are not intentionally represented in their own landmark issue. And this is not because of “reverse racism” as refuted by Omi and Winant. It is because the black model is racialized as part of his/her core identity, while the white model’s whiteness is dismissed altogether—it is simply the norm. As the norm, white becomes synonymous with power—and black models become all but powerless to resist their own racialization within that power structure.

The problem does not stop at underrepresentation or tokenization. In her study of the television program America’s Next Top Model, Amy Adele Hasinoff claims that models of color are “doubly commodified,” tokenized and represented for their eroticized physicality and their “marketable personal narratives of racial selftransformation” (324). Racial self-transformation is principally defined within the framework of white culture (i.e. not just tokenization of black, but assimilation into “white”). Ture and Hamilton describe the “monolithic white power structure” (7) and the colonial relegation of black America as “subordinated and inferior” (23). Extending their logic and Omi and Winant’s, white culture is indeed the master culture of the United States. It is the culture through which standards are created and power is exercised. Hasinoff notices this in various facets of American’s Next Top Model’s sixth season. Examples include the plot arc involving African American contestant Danielle’s accent, which is repeatedly chastised by the judges to the point where her character transition prioritizes the loss of the accent as key to her viability as a model (Hasinoff 324-325). The show went on to represent blackness as exotic, argues Hasinoff, while simultaneously representing

8

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

white models (especially blue-eyed, long-haired blondes) as “allAmerican.” The latter seems to be preferred, as almost all models of color received long, straight hair weaves (stereotypically “white” hair) as part of their initial makeovers (Hasinoff 333).

In her interviews of models and booking agents conducted in 2012, Elizabeth Wissinger discovered similar expectations for “erasing ethnicity” to appease standards dictated by the white master culture.

Models were routinely expected to use chemical straighteners and relaxants in their hair, to (in the words of one of the agents interviewed) eliminate the visual cues of savagery the “bush” of hair might communicate (in Wissinger 137). Further, Wissinger found that the more successful models of color usually tended to have a more traditionally Caucasian appearance, such as straight hair and narrower facial features (137). Conversely, model Karen Alexander described in 2015 being turned away by an agent because she was “too dark” (Bobo 92). By increasing inclusion for “whiter” models of color, the fashion industry incentivizes assimilation and acclaims white culture as the standard for beauty and success within fashion.

The underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation of models in high fashion has been proven by numerous interviews, primary articles, and studies of various media within the industry.

There is no particularly native realm for these issues; they transcend all of fashion’s venues: the runway, the television screen, the magazine, etc. Moreover, racial theory as expressed by scholars on the topic proves that modern racism continues to establish white power as supreme, and the limited and tokenized role of people of color in fashion is symptomatic of that principle. However, the current trend across commercial industries to favor digital over conventional media leaves a gap in the research. Do underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation remain present in fashion’s digital portfolio? Can the same understandings of and theories on race be applied to digital media? The study included in this essay will attempt to modernize and contextualize within the digital age the previous claims of industry insiders and scholars through analysis of Vogue Magazine’s Instagram page. An analysis of digital media (more specifically, social media) is critically absent from the studies and analyses previously conducted regarding the topic of racial inclusion in high fashion simply by virtue of the recent, rapid proliferation of digitalization.

Data and Methods Social media can no longer be pardoned from analysis but must be analyzed in their own right as a key component of modern media as a whole, with high fashion as no exception. This in mind, the analysis

Vols. 8 & 9

9

offered here explores the Instagram page of Vogue Magazine: @voguemagazine. There are many parallels between the traditional print magazine and today’s Instagram page: • • • •

•

Both showcase fashion trends visually through photographs Both include photographs with models Both include “other” material interspersed with photographs, such as text, captions, cultural content, paid advertisements, etc. (though it is not the focus) Both are not natively commercial (i.e. although they are designed to showcase trends in a commercial industry and generate sales externally, neither magazine nor Instagram page sells directly) Both have loyal viewers (for my purposes, “followers” are a modern-day equivalent to magazine subscribers)

These parallels establish the validity of Instagram as a modern medium that is central to high fashion. In fact, using Vogue’s self-reported tally of its subscriber base as of December 2015 (1,067,668*) and its number of Instagram followers (9.7 million), the point that Instagram is an increasingly relevant force in its overall brand argues itself.

Why Vogue? Firstly, the company I studied had to have print origins already examined in prior research. To determine which fashion powerhouse to use for this study, I looked back to the work done by Jennifer Millard and Peter Grant in 2001, which studied print issues of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. I compared the Instagram followings of each of these publications (9.7, 1.6, and 1.1 million respectively) and simply chose the page with the greatest numerical following (thereby the largest reach). (Millard and Grant employed this same numerical logic when choosing which print magazines to analyze in 2001.)

Within the @voguemagazine Instagram page itself, I looked at every third image of the 2,466 posts made by the page since its inception in 2012. I created my data by tallying images, not individual subjects. Not every image was relevant to my study. I only charted still images with human subjects (i.e. I ignored photos of flowers or a cityscape and omitted videos). I also did not chart images containing only subject(s) of a non-white and non-black racial background. For example, the very few images containing only Asian or Hispanic models were not analyzed for this study. I began my study at the inception of Vogue’s Instagram page in 2012 and ended it with an image posted on April 2nd, 2016. Of the 822 photos I initially examined, 409 (just under half) met my criteria (i.e. they contained

10

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

white and/or black human subjects and were not videos). These 409 images were sorted into three categories: those with only white subjects; those with only black subjects; and those images with groups of individuals of both racial backgrounds. Within the two categories of photographs containing subjects of color, I further noted how many images contained patterns of assimilation into white culture (defined below).

Results

The table below includes my analysis of 409 total images sorted into the three categories discussed above (column 1), with column 2 tracking assimilation of people of color.

Total Number of Images Containing:

Number w/ Assimilated Subjects

White Subject(s) Only Black Subject(s) Only Mixed Group

330

N/A

43

14

36

13

N

409

27

By the numbers, 80.7 percent of the photographs studied featured only white subjects. 10.5 percent featured only black subjects. 8.8 percent featured mixed groups of both black and white individuals.

In primary analysis, this data affords some interesting conclusions. Firstly, accounting for both images featuring white subjects only and images with subjects of both racial backgrounds, white subjects were featured on Vogue’s Instagram page in a total of 89.5 percent of images included in this study. Black individuals were included in only 19.3 percent, again including photographs that also contained white models.

White individuals were much more likely to be pictured alone or in groups composed of members exclusively belonging to their own racial group. 90.2 percent of images containing white subjects were white-only photos, while only 54.4 percent of images containing black subjects were featured in black-only photos. That is, just under half of the images containing black subjects placed them alongside white individuals, while the vast majority of images containing white subjects did not include subjects of color (or of any other racial background).

Vols. 8 & 9

11

The implications therein are interesting to note. Using Meriam-Webster’s standard definition for tokenism, “the practice of doing something […] to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly,” an argument that black subjects were tokenized is not beyond reason. Of course, it would be implausible to ask Vogue’s Instagram account curators whether or not they were actively tokenizing people of color per this definition and expect an unbiased answer (this is also not always an overtly conscious process).

However, the fact that black subjects were much more likely to be included only alongside white subjects indicates that their presence in and of itself is valued comparatively less than the presence of whites, who are nearly always pictured in racially homogenous photographs.

Certainly, this fits with the conclusion of racial theorists like Omi and Winant or of authors Ture and Hamilton who discuss white supremacy as a power structure. The evidence clearly shows that the presence of white individuals in an image make it a more likely candidate for appearance on the @voguemagazine page. Thus, whiteness is given power, and blackness is pictured most often within (or in this case, alongside) this power structure. Scholar Amy Adele Hasinoff would call this “commodification” of black subjects. The power given to whiteness and the commodification of blackness allows the photographs included in this study to fit within the context of “racial despotism” (Omi and Winant 130)—whiteness becomes synonymous with the hierarchical throne, both in quality and quantity of representation.

The second column of information tracks the number of images containing black individuals that are “assimilated” into white culture. To define assimilation, I used the markers of assimilation defined by Elizabeth Wissinger in her 2012 series of interviews within the fashion industry. These markers are: 1) preference for narrower facial features, 2) straightened hair, and/or 3) colored (particularly blonde) hair. I marked photos as assimilationist only if one or more of these three traits was blatantly obvious in the image’s treatment of its subject. I must note, then, that some images with markers of assimilation may not have been included. For example, if I was unable to tell whether or not a black model’s hair was left in its natural state or dyed/straightened, I did not count that image in the tally. Only images that definitively portrayed assimilation were marked. Of the 79 images containing black subjects, 27 of these images offered subjects blatantly assimilated into white culture in one or more of the key ways defined

by Wissinger. That is, in 34.2 percent of the images containing black subjects, the subjects were assimilated. (Note too that this data is not meant to incriminate subjects for “assimilating,” but simply to take

12

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

account of Vogue’s inclusion of black models who better fit into a white culture of aesthetics.) Examples of photos marked assimilationist are included below.

The first image is marked for exhibiting two signs of assimilation as defined by Wissinger: a model of color with both straightened (and possibly dyed) hair as well as narrower facial features. The second image features a black model with dyed, straightened hair. Therefore, these two photographs are demonstrative examples of the standards I employed in determining assimilation. On a related note, the first image can also be used as an example of the 45.6 percent of images that included people of color that did so only alongside and often outnumbered by white subjects.

I employ the phrase “white culture of aesthetics” in discussing the aims of assimilation with marked intention: to draw parallel between assimilation of black subjects on Vogue’s Instagram with the racialization of people of color described by Richard Dyer. Dyer’s argument that whites seldom experience this racialization can be proven within the context of this study. Black models in just over a third of their portrayals saw traditionally white aesthetic norms imposed upon them. Dyer would argue that this furthers the normalization of whiteness and in tandem marginalizes the racialized black individuals.

To refer again to my earlier discussion of tokenism, it would be irresponsible for me to speculate as to the exact intentions of Vogue’s content curators. However, I did note two instances where black subjects were pictured in blatantly “exotic” (e.g. jungle print) settings. Anjali Vats argues that exoticism inherently tokenizes race, especially in a modern context after, in her view, people of color became “fashionable” for “racial performance.” Her framework of primitivism and exoticism was used to select these two photographs from the 402 included in the results table, included below.

Vols. 8 & 9

13

In the first image, the use of jungle theming as background imagery as well as the tribal/themed pattern of the garments fits the definition of exoticism. The inclusion of fire and the jungle imagery in addition to the nature of the beaded attire make the second image guilty of both exoticism and primitivism. (It is interesting to note that neither of these “exotic” photographs include white models, even though just under half of the other images containing black subjects did. Again, Hasinoff would refer to this racial imagery as “commodification.”)

And finally, what of colorblind racism as discussed by Omi and Winant and Bonilla-Silva? Is there any evidence as to its applicability on Vogue’s Instagram page? This would again require speculation on my part (i.e. the images do not come with justifications for their inclusion on the page). However, Bonilla-Silva’s four tenets of colorblind racism (131) can be explained easily using hypothetical justifications for the patterns of underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation on @voguemagazine. First, the practice of abstract liberalism could be employed by arguing that giving any consideration to inclusion of models of color is unfair and unequal, and tramples upon the individual right to creative choice that Vogue’s curators are entitled to employ. Second, naturalization could be used to assert that Vogue is a historically white publication, so black models “naturally” gravitate to “their own” publications like Ebony. Third, cultural racism could assert that blacks are not as interested in appearance as their white counterparts, so fewer of them want to be models. And finally, minimization of racism might assert that while blacks are underrepresented, there are still dozens of black models shown, meaning the problem is hardly significant. Note that all of the preceding examples are purely hypothetical, and do not reflect my own

14

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

beliefs or attempt to capture those of @voguemagazine’s curators. The purpose of these explanations is to illustrate how colorblindness according to Bonilla-Silva might be used to dismiss the problems of racism on Vogue’s Instagram. And because these explanations are so readily imagined, it is clear that colorblind racism could drive either the curation or interpretation of the page.

Fashion’s Racism as a Cultural Problem Without a doubt, the evidence collected and analyzed within this study contextualizes Vogue’s Instagram page within the previous arguments laid out by industry experts and scholars. Although this study is far from fully inclusive of all social media and all fashion brands, labels, and trends, it provides an illustrative example that “new media—” in this case, Instagram—have not eliminated the problems of underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation found in more storied, traditional realms of high fashion like runway shows and print magazines. In fact, @voguemagazine exhibited the same three problems discussed by other authors and interviewees from 1996 to 2015.

In applying racial theories to this data, certain conclusions are foundational: whiteness is not only normalized, it is synonymous with power as a “monolithic structure” (Ture and Hamilton) in that it represents the force that people of color must somehow overcome or appease in order to achieve equality in fashion. White models and subjects do not have to accomplish this same feat, as they are guaranteed advantage within a structure that normalizes and empowers whiteness. This is no different on @voguemagazine than it is in print publications and on runways.

Of course, the underrepresentation, tokenization, and assimilation of black subjects is not significant solely because of its implication for fashion models of color. While I find it problematic that models are barred from shows or excluded from social media because it represents fewer jobs for people of color within the industry, I am still more concerned with the influence of these trends from a broader societal perspective. Empowerment is closely linked to representation in “powerful” roles, and high fashion is both a visually representative and powerful industry. For the general public to be presented with visuals that skew profoundly away from fairly representing people of color is for the general public to be fed easily consumed visual information that is inherently tainted with racial biases. This is especially problematic on social media like Instagram, where fashion brands like Vogue are likely reaching their youngest and most easily influenced audience. The problem must be addressed with an industry-

Vols. 8 & 9

15

wide approach; after all, Instagram is only a reflection of what we know to be broader trends. The numerically fair, culturally respectful, and visually significant representation of people of color in fashion must not be a mere concern for future development—it must be a priority for the current state of the industry that becomes entrenched as the norm as it evolves.

Works Cited Bobo, Marielle. "Race & The Runway." Ebony 70.11 (2015): 92. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism without Racists. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Print.

Dyer, Richard. “The Matter of Whiteness.” White. Abingdon Routledge, 1997. Print.

Givhan, Robin. "Where Is Our Valentino?." Essence 42.5 (2011): 196201. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Hasinoff, Amy Adele. "Fashioning Race For The Free Market On America's Next Top Model." Critical Studies In Media Communication 25.3 (2008): 324-343. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Liu, Ling Woo. "Color Lines On The Catwalk." Time 172.(2008): 78.

MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Millard, Jennifer, and Peter Grant. "The Stereotypes Of Black And White Women In Fashion Magazine Photographs: The Pose Of The Model And The Impression She Creates." Sex Roles 54.9/10 (2006): 659-673. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.

Samuels, Allison. "A New Color Clash On The Catwalk." Newsweek 152.1/2 (2008): 12. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Ture, Kwame, and Charles V. Hamilton. Black Power. New York: Random House, 1967. Print.

Vogue Magazine. @voguemagazine. 2012-2016. Instagram.

Webb, Veronica. "Where Have All The Black Models Gone?." Essence (Essence) 27.5 (1996): 108. MAS Ultra - School Edition.

Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Wilson, Eric. "Fashion's Blind Spot." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed. Aug 08 2013. ProQuest. Web. 14 Feb. 2016 .

16

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Wissinger, Elizabeth. "Managing The Semiotics Of Skin Tone: Race And Aesthetic Labor In The Fashion Modeling Industry."

Economic & Industrial Democracy 33.1 (2012): 125-143.

Professional Development Collection. Web. 14 Feb. 2016 Vats, Anjali. "Racechange Is The New Black: Racial Accessorizing And Racial Tourism In High Fashion As Constraints On Rhetorical Agency." Communication, Culture & Critique 7.1 (2014): 112-135. Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Vols. 8 & 9

17

Bridging the Gap: Analyzing Twitter Interactions Between Athletes and Fans Joshua Heller Class of 2018 Communications Faculty Introduction Ever since its introduction to the world in 2006, Twitter has enabled people to interact on one of the world’s more popular social media sites. As of April of 2014, there were approximately 974 million Twitter accounts (Koh), and according to the official Twitter website, there are “320 [million] monthly active users...as of September 30, 2015” (about.twitter.com). With this many users, it is easy to see how people have been able to establish relationships with people they only know online, and maybe have never met in real life. Twitter is used by many athletes: even the 13th-most followed person on Twitter is worldrenowned soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano), with more than 47 million Twitter followers, as of October 30, 2016. Because these athletes are so famous, Twitter users obviously can’t meet them for coffee or anything, because they are just too busy. In my research and study, I will try to answer the question: does Twitter help fans to interact with their favorite athletes? Athletes can’t really become a friend with a common fan, because their persona is just too large. This is where Twitter plays a role. Athletes and fans benefit from and find satisfaction in the use of Twitter as a relationship building agent. To test these hypotheses, I conducted research on previous literature, data analysis, some anonymous surveying, and a few interviews.

Professor Jin Kim Communications Department

18

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Abstract I present research on many examples of athlete interactions with fans on Twitter, as well as the results of my own survey and interviews to test whether Twitter has helped to bridge the gap between the common fan and professional athletes, and if it helps to make a fan feel even closer to that athlete. I had assumed that Twitter was and still is a primary form of user-participatory media. I used previous literature to observe cases of fan-athlete interaction on Twitter, as well as the benefit this can bring, which was then followed by a 19-person survey, and two interviews. The results supported my hypothesis that players felt personally closer to that athlete following their interaction. Future research could focus on whether these Twitter interactions led to a more drastic increase or decrease in Twitterfollowers Theory

Twitter can be thought of as a form of user-participatory media. Simply put, user-participatory media is a form of media in which the content is produced by users. In Twitter’s case, the site would be nothing without tweets from its millions of users. In today’s digital world, it is a common stereotype (true, in many cases) that most teenagers stay in their rooms all day and do nothing. Even if they are in their rooms, they are most certainly not “doing nothing.” Many of them are on social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. On these sites, they are always either consuming or sharing user-generated content.

This is the case for many athletes. If an athlete has an off-day (no practice, game, etc.), what are they going to do? Although many try to avoid Twitter because it has all the “haters,” a good amount actively participate on the site, as some find it entertaining to interact with both the common fan and the “troll.” For example, one man who we will focus more on later in this paper, Brandon McCarthy, loves Twitter.

McCarthy is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who missed almost all of the 2015 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) has more than 184,000 followers, and over 20,000 tweets. McCarthy joined Twitter in February of 2011, when he was about to begin his sixth season in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was active even before being sidelined for almost an entire season, and he remains active on Twitter to this day.

In the old days, many people would go to newspapers, turn on the TV, or listen to the radio to get their latest news. Now, with Twitter becoming such a big medium dependent on user participation, one doesn’t even have to leave the comfort of their own bed to stay up to

Vols. 8 & 9

19

date on current events and news, or, in the case of what will be argued later, to talk with their favorite athlete(s).

History

When Twitter started back in 2006, it was not popular right from the start. 2006 was still the era of the then-popular Facebook, as well as the slowly-fading MySpace. Twitter was a popular place for teenagers to go. It is a common conception that teenagers, by nature in the digital age, have a short attention span. The 140-character limit that comes with a tweet was found to be quite popular, and thus Twitter gained more and more users.

Before Twitter came about, sports fans had very limited ways to know more about their favorite athletes, except for their thoughts transcribed in newspaper articles written by other people, not the athletes themselves. “The sports fans could visit a team, league or athlete website and peruse the content posted on the site” (Pegoraro 502), but other than that, most information came from interviews with those athletes. But with Twitter, athletes can speak directly and instantaneously, without the need of someone like a journalist.

One of the more popular features that Twitter has now that was not very popular in the beginning: the hashtag (#). Hashtags eventually were able to bring the millions of Twitter users together in a way. Whenever you sit down and watch a TV show or a sporting event, often you will see some text in the corner. For example, when I watch New York Rangers hockey games, MSG (the TV channel) encourages its viewers to tweet with the hashtag #NYRonMSG. Some lucky few tweets are chosen by the channel, and presented to a Rangers player in between periods. If other viewers felt so inclined to, they could also search #NYR on Twitter, to see what other Ranger fans’ thoughts are while watching the game.

While Twitter has become more and more popular over the years, especially with the massive decline of social media websites like MySpace, they have made many changes to try and appeal to more users. One of their more recent additions to the app/website is “Moments.” If one were to open their Twitter app, they would see a new “Moments” tab on the bottom. In this section of the app, there is all of the possible new news in current events, sports, and politics since the last time you logged on. Twitter takes some of what they think are the most important tweets, and place them with the most important events. For example, if Donald Trump said something controversial at an event, they would put that under “Moments,” along with a tweet of what happened. If you felt so inclined, you could also swipe left and right to sort by categories, and look at what you are interested in:

20

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

sports, politics, entertainment, etc. As fewer people use sites like Facebook, it looks like Twitter and Snapchat are currently on top of the social media world; but our world is forever changing, and it is up to these companies to make changes corresponding with this evergrowing world.

A 2014 Twitter study revealed some very crucial facts regarding sports fans and Twitter. The author Aaron Moy found that 78% of those that call themselves sports fans check Twitter once a day.

Also, 61% of sports fans use Twitter as their main source of sports news. Regarding my study on fan-athlete interactions, 75% of sports fans follow their favorite athletes and/or teams on Twitter, and 57% say that Twitter makes them feel closer personally to their favorite athletes (Moy). These numbers can be crucial if an athlete is looking to boost their public perception, and can help advertising companies target who they want to represent them. Also, in Tsai and Men’s research, they found that corporation CEOs who were more active on social media sites like Twitter led to an increased feeling of a personal relationship between the CEOs and users of that social medium (Tsai and Men 4, 6, 10). So, athletes using Twitter to build their brand and public profile can prove to be beneficial to their careers.

Research Before we get into my study, let us look into some data analysis of previous tweets. According to Hambrick et al.’s study, 34% of the athletes’ tweets they analyzed were user-fan interaction (461).

Some of the “coolest” examples of athletes interacting with fans on Twitter come from Kassing and Sanderson. In their article, they cite the famous Darnell Dockett tweet of 2010. In the tweet, Dockett (defensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals) said, “Call me let’s chat, but I don’t wanna talk about football [lists phone number]” (7). After the tweet was posted, several people called in to Dockett, and had a conversation with him. This example shows how a professional athlete was apparently bored, and wanted to give back to his most devoted fans. Or, this could have been a strategic move in terms of public relations to boost his image. He didn’t want to bring up anything having to do with the game he plays for a living; but rather, he just wanted to have a normal conversation with some fans who would just love to talk with the guy. This interaction is absolutely one which would not have happened without the help of a social media site like Twitter (Playing In The New Media 7).

Along with plenty of question and answer (Q&A) sessions, there have also been some real-life meetups that started on Twitter. For example, Kassing and Sanderson noted the Brandon Phillips exchange

Vols. 8 & 9

21

in 2011. At this time, a young boy who played Little League baseball tweeted at Phillips (second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds), asking him to attend his game. The boy admittedly said, “Never in a thousand years did I think he would come.” Phillips later said that he got to meet all of the boy’s teammates, that he had a great time, and may do something like that again in the future (Playing In The New Media 8).

In David M. Sutera’s book, he brings up a fascinating case involving Twitter and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson.

Before a game against the Cleveland Browns, Johnson tweeted, “@ogochocinco #OCCNImHungryNews 1st 85 folks meet me at XO Prime Steakhouse for dinner. See you there, dinner starts at 6, drink till i get there #1Luv” (Sutera 132). Johnson took 85 people out for a dinner at a steakhouse, and brought along a video crew to record the event. Like with the Brandon Phillips situation, people may follow Johnson for his humor, but if someone living in Cleveland saw that tweet, they would get a chance to interact with a polarizing athlete, as well as get pictures and autographs. The result might be that the fan likes that athlete more because of this interaction, which would have never been possible before a social media site like Twitter (Sutera 132133).

Another positive example of how Twitter united athletes and fans cited from Kassing and Sanderson involved National Basketball Association (NBA) star Kevin Durant back in 2011. Durant tweeted that he was bored (as there was an NBA lockout at the time, so no games were being played), and was looking to play in a flag football game. A follower from Stillwater, Oklahoma, responded saying that he needed a player for that night. After many more Twitter exchanges, as well as some text messages, Durant met the young man at his home in Stillwater, and they went to the football game together. After a great football game for both men, Durant tweeted out about how much fun he had with his “new buddy,” and the Oklahoma man expressed his thanks via a tweet, as well (Kassing and Sanderson 8-9). This is another example of an athlete who was, quite simply, bored, or using Twitter as a publicity stunt. If the NBA had not been in a lockout, Durant would either have had a game or a practice of some kind, most likely, or he would have been fatigued from action the night before. Instead, Durant used Twitter to bridge the gap with a fan from Oklahoma, who was possibly also waiting for the lockout to end, to see the Oklahoma City Thunder play. Either way, in this case, Twitter helped to bridge the gap between a fan (an Oklahoma college student) and a high-profile athlete (a top-five player in the league).

In another case study, Kassing and Sanderson examined tweets from English-speaking cyclists during the 27-day Tour of Italy.

22

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The authors provided examples of how the athletes shared direct insight to their thoughts during that stage of the race. For example, Kassing and Sanderson cite a tweet from Lance Armstrong on May 14, 2009: “‘Done with stage 6. Uh…wow. That was the craziest last 30k I’ve ever seen. Long, fast de[s]cent at 80k (50mph) plus then a tight circuit’” (Fan–Athlete Interaction 120). Another example the two authors gave was a tweet from Tom Danielson on the same date as Armstrong’s: “‘Crazy finish today! Peloton [term used to refer to the group of riders] was going over 70 mph through twisty, small roads. Its [sic] safe to say the giro keeps you on [y]our toes’” (Fan–Athlete Interaction 120). These two examples show that by going to social media (even in Twitter’s “primal state” back in 2009), athletes can offer their direct thoughts on a contest to a large group of followers, instead of having to say such a thing in a post-race interview, for example. espnW also cited some examples involving female athletes.

The article portrays the fact that United States Women’s Soccer star Alex Morgan had about 10,000 Twitter followers before the 2012 World Cup, and by the end of the tournament, her follower count was all the way up at almost 100,000 (McManus).

Tying into more obscure sports, Clavio et al. researched how Twitter was used by NASCAR and IndyCar drivers, and what the drivers thought about using Twitter to improve their brand. “The results of the study suggest that drivers are not only aware of the power of Twitter, but are more than willing to put a concentrated effort into improving their interactions to further the interests of not only their own personal brand, but the IndyCar series as well” (Clavio et al.). This ties into what has been said earlier about how the interactions with fans not only improve their brands (and improve the fans’ feeling of a more personal relationship), but how being active with fans on Twitter can help the league that these athletes play in. In a smaller major United States sports league like IndyCar, it is important to make one’s league stand out, and a strong social media presence is key to that. “[T]his study was the first to show that athletes are consciously making an effort to develop personal and meaningful relationships with fans via Twitter” (Clavio et al.), and this is a main function of Twitter and why it is so great and helpful to both fans and athletes in the modern sports world.

In Canada, hockey is the main sport. Canada is known for its hockey history, including many Stanley Cups and gold Olympic medals. The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey franchise, known for its long history of winning, has more than one million Twitter followers. The six Canadian NHL teams (Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton

Vols. 8 & 9

23

Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators) have a combined following of just under four million (as of October 4, 2015) (Doyle). While hockey players are not the most popular professional athletes, they have personas as big as the other professional athletes. For example, Canadiens’ defenseman P.K. Subban has over 900,000 followers as of October 30, 2016. Another popular Canadian hockey player is Roberto Luongo, a goaltender for the Florida Panthers. Luongo has about 700,000 followers (also as of October 30, 2016). One thing to note about Luongo’s Twitter account is that much of his Twitter feed is filled with comedy. Luongo had a welldocumented brother-like relationship with backup goaltender Eddie Lack, when both men were members of the Vancouver Canucks. While on different teams now, the comedy doesn’t stop between the two. On November 24, 2015, the two men had a conversation gushing over the new Justin Bieber album that was released. Luongo has been known to make fun of himself on Twitter, as well, posting pictures of himself wearing a giant glove after giving up a terrible goal in the 2014-15 season.

So, what does all this mean? Well, the comedic antics of Luongo on Twitter are well-liked amongst the sports community. Many of Luongo’s tweets have at least 1,000 retweets, some tweets gathering nearly 4,000, and one tweet getting almost 10,000 retweets. If you are able to get an interaction from Luongo, consider yourself lucky.

Luongo has only retweeted and/or replied to three non-sports accounts (this means, not athletes, teams, sport companies, or broadcasters). This is why, I feel, many people constantly tweet at athletes like Luongo.

They are trying to prove they are worth a follow on Twitter by being able to say, “Hey, Roberto Luongo retweeted me once because I was funny!”

This ties into the research done in Doyle’s article. According to data gathered by Twitter Canada in September 2015, “Canadian hockey fans on Twitter value social media engagement with their favourite player or team 1.5x more than they value an autograph from their favourite player” (Doyle). For example, Doyle includes a tweet from @Fasojet, featuring a picture of a young girl, the caption being, “Thanks @aladd16 [Jets’ then-captain Andrew Ladd] for the puck!!

You now have a fan for life. Go @NHLJets” (Doyle). This tweet had nine retweets, one of which was from the Winnipeg Jets’ official Twitter, which led to the 70 likes. Each fan is crazy about sports in their own way. Canadians are crazy about hockey, and their passion for the sport carries over to the realm of Twitter, where a retweet, like, or reply is more coveted than an autograph.

24

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

According to Hambrick et al.’s study, “On average, athletes in the current study have written 2,462 tweets” (462). With this many tweets, there are bound to be the presence of positive tweets, but many negative ones, as well. For example, Kassner and Sanderson cited the Larry Johnson incident of 2009: Kansas City Chiefs’ running back Larry Johnson turned to Twitter to voice his displeasure with head coach Todd Haley.

Some fans in turn started criticizing Johnson, which prompted him to respond with comments such as: ‘@[Lists Twitter ID] think bout a clever diss then wit ur fag pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u’. (12) This example portrays what Kassner and Sanderson refer to as “hypermasculinity.” Hypermasculinity is not just “trash-talking” (11), but also refers to explicit name-calling. This includes the use of derogatory terms, such as “fag,” “queer,” and “douche.”

Athletes having a Twitter can not only lead to negative interactions, but also a loss of money. In Pegoraro’s article, she cites Mark Cuban tweeting negatively about officiating, which cost him $25,000, and Antonio Cromartie criticizing about training camp food, and that cost him $2,500 (501). Each professional sports league has a collective bargaining agreement, and in it, a fine is laid out for public comments that are negative to the team or league (like criticizing officiating). In the earlier days, the only way these types of comments were possible in post-game media scrums. Now, many fines that come about stem from tweets that players made without thinking through the penalties.

Following the killing of Osama Bin Laden by the United States military, an incident stemmed from a tweet that came out of Pittsburgh. “NFL Pittsburgh Steelers star Rashard Mendenhall, who was stripped of his sponsorship by sportswear company Champion after tweeting, ‘What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side …’” (Adebayo 64). After this tweet was sent out by Mendenhall, Steelers’ president Art Rooney II had to issue a statement, saying that the entire organization supported the military, as to relax the community that Mendenhall’s views did not reflect those of the whole organization.

McManus’ article also talks about Notre Dame women’s basketball star Skylar Diggins, and her tweet about negative interactions. “’Some people don't realize, I get at LEAST 50 very negative tweets a day, real life negative comments and criticism. Yours

Vols. 8 & 9

25

doesn't bother me’” (McManus). Diggins also mentions the fact that while it is impossible, she would love to answer every question and get back to every person that tweets at her. And while some of these people interact in a negative way, that’s what you sign up for when you join Twitter (McManus).

Twitter has even become a popular tool used by hosts of late night talk shows. For example, Jimmy Kimmel has a segment on his show called “Celebrities Mean Read Tweets.” In this segment, Kimmel brings in celebrities (in the past, he has brought in Barack Obama and Margot Robbie, to name a couple) to read some of the hate tweets in their mentions. In one segment’s installment this past February, Kimmel brought on players from various teams (as well as former players) to read their hate tweets, as the country prepared for the Super Bowl between the Falcons and Patriots. With each tweet, the athletes simply laugh or make a funny comment back, they never appear to be angry. While Kimmel’s segment shows the “nicer” side of “hate” Twitter, there are much worse things that simply can’t be shown on television, no matter the number of censors used.

Another negative aspect that can stem from fan-athlete interaction on Twitter is the presence of racism. With the Internet, some people have the misconception that because they are hiding behind a username and a keyboard, that they can say whatever they want. A case of racism can be seen in the case of "21-year-old Liam Stacey, who was sent to prison for 56 days in March 2012 for racist comments made via Twitter towards the Bolton mid-fielder Fabrice Muamba, who had just suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane" (Cleland and Cashmore 647). In this instance, Stacey thought that nothing would come of this incident: he could say what he wanted, and nothing would come of it. The truth is, Twitter has the power to trace down a tweet to its sender, if it were to come to that, so it doesn’t always go unpunished, as fines or even prison are possibilities, depending on the severity.

Another incident of Twitter and racism includes the study of P.K. Subban and Boston Bruins’ fans. In the 2014 NHL playoffs, Subban’s Canadiens squared off against the Bruins. Subban played very well in the series, including some big goals and one goal which came in overtime. But after Subban scored a power play goal in one game, the real racists showed themselves on Twitter. They didn’t mention Subban’s username directly in the tweet, but they were still talking about him in awful ways. Some examples include, “The Bruins will come back but Subban will always be a [expletive]” (@sonof100maniacs), and the more explicit, “[Expletive] YOU [expletive] I WOULD BE FINE IF IT WAS ANYONE ELSE

26

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

[expletive] YOU SUBBAN I [expletive] HATE YOU” (@c0dyMick).

Subban would receive these tweets quite often (you can still find them in the dark corners of Twitter), but he never took action. Instead, people rallied around Subban and supported him (Fagerberg). After all, he is an amazing hockey player, and the color of his skin should not matter.

This is another example of people who think they can hide behind a keyboard, and no one can get hurt. But yet again, the sad truth is that someone is always on the other side of any digital interaction.

In a New York Daily News article, Ebenezer Samuel looks at New York Giants players on Twitter, and the negative interactions they must put up with. For example, running back Brandon Jacobs had to deal with Twitter death threats. “@gatorboyrb FULFILL MY ORDERS STATED IN THE PREVIOUS TWEET OR THAT’S YO LIFE BRUH AND IM NOT PLAYING,” Twitter user @DMMeBoo tweeted at Jacobs, stemming from a poor fantasy football performance (Samuel).

Victor Cruz, a Giants wide receiver, received a tweet from @Jesse_Thekid saying, “@foxnation @TeamVic #VictorCruz is a moron. Play football or go back to the #hood,” to which Cruz responded, “Sorry if I offended you” (Samuel). Samuel also quotes young Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle, who says he simply cannot quit Twitter because of all the possibilities to make money, and help his own brand. These examples show that even though there are many negatives to having a Twitter, players see the opportunity that can come with a Twitter account, and decide that the pros outweigh the cons (Samuel).

One player who has taken the brunt of tons of criticism is Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Joffrey Lupul. Lupul has been known throughout his career for being “injury-prone,” and this was always a major critique of him. If you were to look at Lupul’s Twitter page and look at his likes, you would see just how much hate he gets. For a brief time in April of 2015, Lupul was getting a lot of backlash, and being blamed for the team’s bottom-five finish in the 2014-15 season. Some of the tweets that Lupul “liked” include, “@JLupul No one likes you. #overpaidbum” (@LairryD), “@JLupul glad to see you didn't break any bones crashing into the boards #fragile #donottouch #handlewithcare #nhlshighestpaideggshell” (@brkbiggs3), and, “@JLupul Patting yourself on the back sounds dangerous for you.

Serious risk of injury.” (@LiamBlack8), just to name a few of many.

Lupul, instead of being combative and coming back at the “trolls,” simply “likes” the tweet. This shows the sender that Lupul has read it, but frankly doesn’t care enough to reply to it.

While Lupul is an example of an athlete who interacts with fans minimally, the opposite can be said of Brandon McCarthy.

Vols. 8 & 9

27

McCarthy, as mentioned above, has over 18,000 tweets since February of 2011. McCarthy is known for his interaction with fans on Twitter.

For example, I looked at a span of 100 tweets from November 10, 2015 to November 29, 2015. In those 100 tweets, 87 of them were tweets that were either replies, retweets, or mentions. The remaining 13 tweets were mostly comedic tweets. For example, on November 12, 2015, McCarthy tweeted about the New York Jets football game, saying “The Jets passing game treats the first down marker less like a firm line and more like a suggestion”. This tweet garnered 123 retweets and 274 likes, as of December 9, 2015. “Frequently updating social media accounts is often cited as a strategy for engaging followers and relationship building” (Watkins and Lewis 854), and since McCarthy tweets so much, this is why you often see people referencing McCarthy as one of the “must-follow” athletes on Twitter.

As I mentioned earlier, the most followed athlete in the world, and the 13th-most followed person on Twitter, is Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo differs from McCarthy on Twitter in one significant way. As noted, McCarthy replies and interacts with other Twitter users. Meanwhile, if one were to look at Ronaldo’s Twitter feed, it is mostly endorsements and advertisements, and some tweets having to do with his soccer career. For example, in the month of November, 2015, Ronaldo sent out 27 tweets from his Twitter. Of those 27, 24 of them were some kind of endorsement for a product of his own, an acquaintance, or another business. The remaining tweets included tweets about the Paris terrorist attacks, and two about his football team back at Real Madrid.

With so many tweets about products from the Twitter of such a high-profile celebrity, his followers are bound to take notice. Jin and Phua conducted a very extensive study on endorsements from athletes on Twitter, and everything that stems from a simple tweet about a product: Using celebrities to endorse a product is a popular strategy for advertisers because of their significant influence on consumers’ brand awareness and loyalty (Miller and Laczniak 2011). In 2006, $2 billion was spent on celebrity advertising in the United States alone (White, Goddard, and Wilbur 2009); and in 2011, Nike spent $2.4 billion on celebrity endorsements (Cendrowski 2012). (182) Ronaldo, a Nike athlete, is an excellent example of how companies will spend a lot of money to have a well-known celebrity endorse their product. Ronaldo is a favorite athlete of many people around the world.

28

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Therefore, if some kids see Ronaldo wearing a certain product, they too would want this product, because they want to be just like Ronaldo.

Children and teenagers look up to big-name celebrities, and want to be just like them, which is why so many companies use celebrities for their endorsements.

I grew up in a small town in upstate New York, just 15 minutes away from a school which was rocked by tragedy back in December 2012. At this time, two students from upstate New York passed away after the car they were in was hit by a drunk driver, while two others were injured. In order to raise the spirits of the injured, people used Twitter to reach out. One student, Matt Hardy, was a huge Tim Tebow fan, while the other student, Bailey Wind, loved Missy Franklin. The hashtags #TebowCallMatt and #MissyCallBailey were started on Twitter, and even spread to people nationwide. Eventually, the hashtag started trending, and the athletes took notice. Tebow actually did call Hardy, and they had a nice conversation. Shortly after, word came out that Missy had called Bailey. Hardy and Wind were going through unimaginable heartbreak, as their significant others had just passed away in an accident. Tebow and Franklin were able to lend their support to two hurt teens, and something like this never would have happened if not for Twitter (Busbee).

My Study For my study, I sent an anonymous survey out (via Facebook and Twitter, nonetheless) to anyone who would respond and help me out. The survey can be seen in Appendix A. A total of 19 people answered the survey, and 16 of those 19 had a Twitter account. Of the 16 people with Twitter accounts, 14 said they followed at least one professional athlete, and three of those 14 said they had an interaction with one of these athletes. The three interactions were with Rakeem Christmas, former Syracuse basketball star and currently in the NBA, and Eddie Johnson, member of the United States’ Men’s National Soccer Team (the third participant could not recall who the athlete was). While only three of the surveyed reported an interaction, seven of the 16 that follow an athlete have seen an athlete have an interaction with someone else. Two participants reported previously-mentioned Brandon McCarthy have an interaction, while one mentioned Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour pro Keegan Bradley. Lastly, of the seven that had witnessed an interaction, four said that this interaction made them want to follow that particular athlete.

Vols. 8 & 9

29

Analysis First, my results show what was already perceived, that Twitter has become one of the most popular social media sites, as only three people I surveyed did not have an account. Next, sports have one of the biggest followings in the world, as only two of the people surveyed with a Twitter don’t follow an athlete. The fact that only three of the fourteen reported an interaction shows how coveted an interaction like this can be. Finally, the numbers show that even though a person didn’t have an interaction themselves, and just witnessed one, shows that these athletes can become more likeable, solely based off a 140-character tweet.

Along with the survey, I also interviewed two people, who had in-depth answers which they thought should be in the interview instead of the survey. Logan, a college student, said that he had a Twitter interaction with aforementioned PGA tour pro Keegan Bradley.

According to Logan, he sent Bradley a picture on Twitter of his home golf course in Vermont. Bradley responded, “telling me that he remembers how hard it was.” I asked Logan how he felt about Bradley after this conversation and he had this to say: “Yes, he was somewhat my favorite before because he is from Vermont, but when he responded it strengthened him in my eyes [and] he became more of an idol. For a pro athlete to respond to just a fan, it created a sort of connection and I think they take time out of their busy schedule just for that reason.”

The second interview I had was with Brady, another college student. Brady said that he had interactions with four athletes: Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Jamarca Sanford (Minnesota Vikings), Harrison Barnes (University of North Carolina and Golden State Warriors), and Kendall Marshall (University of North Carolina and NBA point guard). According to Brady, he was able to get replies from Curry, Barnes, and Marshall because all three posted a Q&A session, and he was just lucky enough to get a reply to his questions. With Sanford, Brady said that he was “just trying to get a reply because he played for my favorite team.” After the interviews, Brady said he felt “starstruck mostly, but I suppose I did feel more of a connection with them, especially because all of them at the times didn’t have many followers.” The two interviews show that when people are lucky enough to get a reply from their favorite athlete(s), they feel very proud, and feel a little more personal with such a high-profile person.

Discussion From my research, study, and analysis, evidence shows that my thesis that Twitter helps to bridge the fan-athlete gap is supported.

If not for Twitter, events like Brandon Phillips going to a Little League

30

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

game and Darnell Dockett talking to fans on the phone would never have happened. Every Twitter account has its own little “fandom� (a.k.a., their followers), who eagerly await the day their favorite athlete responds to their tweet. This isn’t a totally rare occurrence, however.

The people in my survey and those I interviewed were just my friends in real-life and on social media, not famous events involving a Twitter interaction. If you get lucky, you too can get a mention, retweet, or like from your favorite athlete, and feel a sense of pride as both a fan of that player, and a user on Twitter.

The next step in improving this study will be to survey out to an even larger sample and demographic and conducting additional interviews. An interesting future study could look at the percentage of followers gained and/or lost following a Twitter interaction, as my research shows that interactions generally make these athletes more appealing to the rest of the Twitter community. Twitter has not stopped changing since its inception in 2006. But through all the change, one thing remains: fans are still giddy when they get a reply on Twitter from an athlete, and some of these athletes are glad to interact with their fans in ways that were never possible before.

Appendices

Appendix A. Survey distributed on social media, answered by 19 people.

Vols. 8 & 9

31

Works Cited Adebayo, Diran. "Eye On The Stars: Twitter And The Sporting Hero."

Index On Censorship 42.1 (2013): 62-65. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

Busbee, Jay. "Tim Tebow, Missy Franklin Call Accident Victims after Seeing #TebowCallMatt, #MissyCallBailey Hashtag." Yahoo!

Sports. Yahoo!, 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Clavio, Galen, Patrick Walsh, and Ryan Vooris. “The Utilization of Twitter by Drivers in a Major Racing Series.” International Journal of Motorsport Management 2.1 (2013). Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Cleland, Jamie, and Ellis Cashmore. "Fans, Racism And British Football In The Twenty-First Century: The Existence Of A ‘Colour-Blind’ Ideology." Journal Of Ethnic & Migration Studies 40.4 (2014): 638-654. SocINDEX with Full Text.Web. 5 Dec. 2015.

Doyle, Christopher. "Twitter and the Canadian Hockey Fan." Twitter Blogs. Twitter, 9 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Fagerberg, Jerard. "Boston's Shame: Racist Tweets About P.K. Subban a Disgrace." Boston.com. N.p., 2 May 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Hambrick, Marion E., Jason M. Simmons, Greg P. Greenhalgh, and T. Christopher Greenwell. "Understanding Professional Athletes' Use of Twitter: A Content Analysis of Athlete Tweets."

International Journal of Sport Communication 3 (2010): 45471. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

Jin, Seung-A Annie, and Joe Phua. "Following Celebrities’ Tweets About Brands: The Impact Of Twitter-Based Electronic WordOf-Mouth On Consumers’ Source Credibility Perception, Buying Intention, And Social Identification With Celebrities."

Journal Of Advertising 43.2 (2014): 181-195. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.

Kassing, Jeffrey W., and Jimmy Sanderson. "Fan–Athlete Interaction and Twitter Tweeting through the Giro: A Case Study."

International Journal of Sport Communication 3.1 (2010): 113-28. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Kassing, Jeffrey W., and Jimmy Sanderson. "Playing In The New Media Game Or Riding The Virtual Bench: Confirming And Disconfirming Membership In The Community Of Sport."

Journal of Sport & Social Issues 39.1 (2015): 3-18.

PsycINFO. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

32

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Koh, Yoree. "Report: 44% of Twitter Accounts Have Never Sent a Tweet." Digits. Wall Street Journal, 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

McManus, Jane. "Female Athletes Connect with Twitter." EspnW. ESPN, 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Moy, Aaron. "Three Tips to Engage Sports Fans on Twitter." Twitter Blogs. Twitter, 3 June 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Pegoraro, Ann. “Look Who’s Talking – Athletes on Twitter: A Case Study.” International Journal of Sport Communication 3.4 (2010): 501-514. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Samuel, Ebenezer. “Death threats and vile hate are price athletes pay to reach fans and promote their brand on Twitter.” New York Daily News 2 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Sutera, David M. Sports Fans 2.0: How Fans Are Using Social Media to Get Closer to the Game. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2013. Print.

Tsai, Wan-Hsiu Sunny, and Linjuan Rita Men. “Social CEOs: The effects of CEOs’ communication styles and parasocial interaction on social networking sites.” New Media & Society (2016): 1-20. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

Watkins, Brandi, and Regina Lewis. "Initiating Dialogue On Social Media: An Investigation Of Athletes' Use Of Dialogic Principles And Structural Features Of Twitter." Public Relations Review (2014): 853-855. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.

Vols. 8 & 9

33

Invertebrates in Fragmented Areas and Community Gardens in Albany, New York Liana T. Morales Sizemore Class of 2019 Biology Faculty introduction The Capital Region of New York, Albany, is known for its many different types of ecosystems into one (Edinger et al., 2014). Urban environments allow the existence of natural ecosystems in cities by having areas with different climates, good water and air quality, and biogeochemical cycles which allow for the survival of invertebrates (Grimm et al., 2008). This urban community includes environments like public ponds, fragmented areas, manicured gardens and community gardens. The two areas we shall focus on are on fragmented areas and community gardens of Albany. Fragmented areas are parts of an ecosystem that have been reduced in size by urbanization or industrialization. These areas are reduced into small corners of habitat, being replaced by big man-made or manufactured areas. Parking lot borders are considered fragmented areas because they are built from open land spaces, into small outlines (in this case with greenery) along the sides of parking lots. These organisms are found within the leaf litter of these habitats. They survive in these areas due to the presence of different natural environments regardless of urbanization.

According to various sources, a decrease in species in an environment can occur by reducing the amount of habitat space of an organism and isolating this area, causing a decrease in interaction with other organisms (Heloise and Dieter, 2002). Also, habitat fragmentation from urbanization causes a decrease in the diversity of organisms (Fattorini, 2016). This supports the claim that fragmentation has negative effects on diversity and the number of organisms in an environment.

In addition, community gardens are areas maintained by people in the community. These areas are either shared or individually used sections of land. Many are used for personal use, but many of these gardens are set up to create union amongst individuals in a

34

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

community and to increase community empowerment, development, and health (Armstrong, 2000). As observed in the study by Bang and Faeth (2011), arthropods are known to survive better in environments that replicate their surrounding native environments. The locations of the community gardens are within the landscape of the city, so the diversity within these community gardens may decline due to the native organisms of Albany being “city bugs�.

To compare these both altered habitats in the urban community, a third environmental variable was added in the comparison. Using Buckingham Pond, a conserved area in Albany, we could compare the two altered areas with a relatively untouched and unaltered habitat of the urban community.

This experiment was conducted in order to determine which environment has greater species abundance, and the data we collected provided evidence that fragmented areas have greater species diversity.

In order to do this, we had to compare different invertebrates in two different habitats and observe the diversity and the relative amount of these organisms in their ecosystems.

Professor Brian Jensen Invertebrate Zoology

Abstract Albany, New York, is known for its many different types of ecosystems with various invertebrate diversities and abundances. Two specific invertebrate habitats in Albany include the leaf litter of fragmented areas and the leaf litter of community gardens. These two environments have distinct invertebrate compositions, which were observed by picking up samples from four different areas and grouping them into classifications of fragmented area invertebrates vs. community garden invertebrates. After collecting and quantifying our data, we could observe that species diversity in these two environments was almost identical, but the number of organisms in these environments varied broadly. This experiment allowed us to observe and compare the species diversity and the number of species in these two specific areas with each other and an untouched control location in Albany, New York. This study also provided us new curious observations for possible future research. The observations of these environments included, but were not limited to, the Coleoptera (beetles), which seem to be more abundant in fragmented regions with trees, and Hymnoptera (ants), which seem to be more abundant in vegetated and disturbed areas (community gardens).

Vols. 8 & 9

35

Materials and Methods Seven groups of two students collected leaf litter samples from community gardens (one on the College of Saint Rose Campus, the other in a public Albany garden in Ridgefield Park) and fragmented areas (two adjacent parking lot borders in the same area: the Lasalle parking lot of The College of Saint Rose). Both of the community gardens observed were open, non-shaded gardens in the middle of grassy areas and both of these fragmented areas included a fenced edge, grass, and trees shading the area.

Each leaf litter sample was placed into its own Berlese funnel with a wire filter to keep leaves and extra material from falling into our preservation jar. The Berlese funnels were placed under a 75-watt incandescent lamp in order to disturb the invertebrates and direct them into the funnel. Under the Berlese funnel we placed a jar that contained 70% ethyl alcohol in order to preserve our samples. We left the leaf litter-filled funnel under the light for one week.

The invertebrates we collected were counted under a dissecting microscope. We then classified the types of invertebrates we had seen in each sample into their respective groups. Each group considered was put into simplified classes based on their appearance (ex. hairy-backed springtail, etc.). We decided to place all the classes observed into simplified main groups (ex: hairy-backed springtails fall into springtails).

After initial analysis of the data we decided to compare the invertebrate communities in community gardens and highly fragmented areas using Buckingham Pond as a pristine control. We included the seven separate samples of Buckingham Pond we collected because it is a governmentally conserved area. Buckingham Pond is a pond within streets of various neighborhoods. This habitat includes moister soil nearer to the pond and drier soil extending from the pond toward the street. Although a street is on the outside perimeter of the pond, trees and shrubs are along the perimeter.

Since sampling effort was greater at Buckingham Pond (seven samples) than at the other locations (two samples for community gardens and two samples for fragmented areas), I had to standardize my data based upon unit effort. One unit effort was defined as two samples. The Shannon diversity indices were calculated from pooled data.

Results

Our results came from grouping the organisms into respective identities due to morphological and phylogenetic similarities. After this

36

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

grouping, the total number of organisms were totaled and observed in a graph. In total, we had 172 invertebrates placed into 14 different classifications. In Figure 1, we can see the locations of the community gardens, fragmented areas, and Buckingham pond relative to their specific locations in Albany. Also, we get an overview visual representation of each environment. In Figure 2, there is a comparison between the averages per samples of invertebrates in the community garden, fragmented areas, and Buckingham pond. From the information, we could derive a Shannon diversity index for each environment. In Table 1, we derived the diversity index from our information. Our Shannon Diversity indices resulted as 1.35 in the community garden sample, 1.50 in the parking lot border sample, and 2.77 in the Buckingham pond sample. In Figure 3, we see the total number of invertebrates within their groups. We can observe that we had 25 invertebrates from our fragmented area samples, 40 were from our community garden samples and 107 in our Buckingham pond sample.

‘

Figure 1. Geographic location and visual images of the three different locations observed in this study

Vols. 8 & 9

37

Figure 2. The average number per sample of invertebrates per unit effort in the community garden, fragmented area, and Buckingham pond

Table 1. Shannon Diversity between the three habitats

Figure 3. Number of Organisms per unit effort present in the three habitats observed in the study 38

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Discussion Urbanization in different places can affect species in negative or positive ways depending on different variables like location, history, and economic factors. (McKinney, 2008). In Albany, New York unlike other places, species richness and diversity is present in fragmented areas, community gardens and undisturbed areas of the city. In our data we see that diversity and richness is still present due to the different types of species and the number of these species in both environments.

From looking at Table 1, we can conclude that invertebrates are almost identically diverse in fragmented areas and community gardens. Both areas have almost the same range of diversity, varying minimally in their Shannon diversity index. What was collected proves that an environment that matches the native environment of an arthropod results in more survival success for the organism (Bang and Faeth, 2011). Even though this supports what our study showed, that being in a fragmented area might mean success for Albany-living invertebrates, it does not reflect on the fact that a community garden could also have arthropods that will survive and eventually reproduce as well. This is also supported by our control, Buckingham Pond sample, from our experiment having a higher diversity index than the fragmented area and community garden samples. A conserved pond does not match the ecosystem of an urban environment, but invertebrates can still survive to reproduce. From Figure 3 we can see that there are more invertebrates in the community garden samples and in our control than in the fragmented area samples. It can be concluded from this data that an organism in an urban community can live in an un-urbanized area within this community and survive.

Looking at the highest number of organisms in Figure 2, we see that the highest number of organisms to survive in fragmented areas are Coleoptera (beetles). In the study of beetles done by Lomolino and Creighton (1996), beetles are abundant in many diverse habitats, but they tend to avoid open areas like grasslands. Although fragmented areas had large trees they were not open spaces like the community gardens were. This might be why the abundance of beetles extends all other organisms in the fragmented areas and also within our control sample.

In addition, we can observe from Figure 2 that the most organisms in the community garden samples were Hymnoptera (ants).

This result can be supported by the claim made by King, et al. (1998), the abundance of a series of ants in one environment were highest in environments which were disturbed and vegetated (King, et al., 1998).

This statement can support our observations in the fact that community gardens are disturbed and vegetated and had the most ants. Also, our

Vols. 8 & 9

39

control Buckingham Pond did not have an abundance of ants possibly due to this area being a conserved, undisturbed site. A vegetated and disturbed site should have a high abundance of ants, which is what could be seen in Figure 2.

Even though habitat fragmentation in urbanized areas is known to be a threat in the diversity of species (Fattorini, 2016), the fragmented area is still more diverse than the community garden we observed. There may have been a decline in diversity during urbanization, but there are other areas that are less diverse (like the community garden) than the fragmented areas of Albany. Buckingham Pond proved to be more diverse than the two disturbed samples possibly because of its undisturbed nature. It can be inferred that the less disturbed the area over time, the more diversity present in the environment.

While observing these data it is important to take into account that our data was based off of small sample sizes (our sample sizes were too small to conduct appropriate statistics). There are other organisms living within these environments that should have been taken into consideration as well. Also, this data only takes into consideration three specific types of invertebrate habitats within to about two miles of The College of Saint Rose area. Albany includes many other habitats with different compositions and surrounding environments.

In conclusion, the diversity of invertebrates in fragmented areas and community gardens differ minimally. Diversity does not seem to be dependent on their native habitat. Also, the abundance of specific invertebrates seems to be dependent on the human alteration of the land. The more people meddle with the environment, the less abundant or more abundant specific they will be in that area.

Citations Armstrong, D. 2000. A survey of community gardens in upstate New York: implications for health promotion and community development. Health and Place 6:319-327 Bang, C., Faeth, S.H. 2011. Variation in arthropod communities in response to urbanization: seven years of arthropod monitoring in a desert city. Landscape and Urban Planning 103:383–399.

Edinger, G.J., D.J. Evans, S. Gebauer, T.G. Howard, D.M. Hunt, and A.M. Olivero (editors). 2014. A revised and expanded edition

40

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

of carol reschke's ecological communities of New York state.

2:1-160 Fattorini, S. 2016. Insects and the city: what island biogeography tells us about insect conservation in urban areas. Ecology 16:41-45.

Grimm, N. B., Faeth, S.H., Golubiewski, N.E., Redman, C.L., Wu, J.G., Bai, X. M. 2008. Global change and the ecology of cities.

Science 319:756–760.

Heloise, G., H.F. Dieter. 2002. Habitat fragmentation in an urban environment: large and small fragments support different arthropod assemblages. Biological Conservation 106:91–100 King, J.R., Andersen, A.N. & Cutter, A.D. 1998. Ants as bioindicators of habitat disturbance: validation of the functional group model for Australia's humid tropics. Biodiversity and Conservation 7:1627–1638 Lomolino, M.V., Creighton, J.C. 1996. Habitat selection, breeding success and conservation of the endangered American burying beetle nicrophorus americanus. Biological conservation 77:235-241 McKinney, M.L. 2008. Effects of urbanization on species richness: A review of plants and animals. Urban Ecosystem 11:161–176

Vols. 8 & 9

41

It’s for You and Me: The Reality of Sports Mediated Viewing Logan Ripley Class of 2018 Communications Faculty Introduction The viewing process of sports can be done in a multitude of ways from ‘live’ to ‘mediated,’ to just hearing about it from friends, family, or coworkers. The process in which you choose to view a game is entirely up to you and varies from person to person. But the way in which it is presented to you, is not always your choice. The mediated viewing process is made specifically for you and the rest of the viewership for one sole reason, ratings. Mediated viewing loses its reality when compared to the actual experience of the stadium, concessions, and other fans because ultimately it is a show put on for entertainment.

There seems to be a big decision to be made on which one is better and this paper analyzes the history, the present, and real experiences of NFL fans and their thoughts on ‘live’ and ‘mediated’ viewing. It is my thought that the ‘mediated’ reality is taking over for the ‘live’ viewing because of the higher costs of attending games, the time it takes to travel, and stress put on by lines and waiting for basic essentials at games.

Professor Jin Kim Communications Department Abstract The use of mediated sports viewing is causing a transition that has been slowly emerging over time. From the mid 1950s to present day, the live attendance of games has decreased while the viewership has grown, causing the shift in sports viewing from ‘live’ to ‘mediated’. This paper goes into the changes that took place, why it is prevalent, and who is benefiting from the change. Examined in the study were eight subjects,

42

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

all who are in college or formerly were. This survey gives a humane look at reasons behind less attendance, and the impact of mediated viewing through technological advances and the use of “for-anyone-assomeone structure.”

For “You” and “Me” A structure in which you and another person have been given an experience totally your own is one that describes Paddy Scannell's “For-anyone-as-someone structures.” Scannell depicts the process as, “an obvious conclusion to draw from this is that the media must be organized in such ways that anyone and everyone can use and understand them” (Scannell 5). Therefore, certain media can use personal connectivity and present them to a wide range of people while still making the viewer think they are the only person watching.

“For you and me” is found in both areas that I am researching (‘live’, ‘mediated’). When looking at stadium atmosphere in live viewing and group watching in mediated viewing you see a correlation of wanting to connect with the fans. In Alice E. Hall’s, “EntertainmentOriented Gratifications of Sports Media: Contributors to Suspense, Hedonic Enjoyment, and Appreciation”, she examines the emotional response fans have to sports games. In this article Hall says, “Watching sports can allow viewers to feel that they are part of group with a shared wish or goal, even if the game is lost and it is not fulfilled” (Hall 263), meaning that watching a sport gives off emotions and when at the game it increases. Mediated viewing is trying to encompass what live viewing already has and it has done a good job of that. Mediated viewing has used many tactics to create this altered viewing such as technological uses, camera aesthetics, and multi viewing process. Many have the belief that TV doesn't do a good job of bringing you to the game as if you are there but Scannell goes on to say in her article that, “television did not end the personal mode of communication; they reopened it” (Scannell 22). This structure of “for you and me” wasn't always there though, viewing had a history that was only meant for who was there and if you weren't then you missed it.

If you weren't here, you missed it A time in history where TV was relatively new and most of the people found out the scores of the big game from the local or national newspaper. This time period consisted of higher attendance to games such as the New York Yankees in the Bronx or the Boston Celtics in Boston, Massachusetts. When both these teams were winning titles in the 1950s and into the 1960s, attendance was a given. People would always go the games to see the greats like Yogi Berra of the

Vols. 8 & 9

43

Yankees and Bill Russell of the Celtics. TV back in this time was not very special and was mostly in black and white, leaving the viewing process not near same level as attending a game. Other key factors that took place back then was the pricing of the tickets. For a 1960 playoff game with the New York Knicks, a good seat was $10, and for a higher up row it was around $5. Sports back then were big but not as big as they are now. Ticket prices have gone up along with the increase of stadium size leading to more people at the games. This ties in to what Yair Galily said in his article “When the Medium Becomes ‘Well Done’: Sport, Television, and Technology in the Twenty-First Century.” Galily goes on to say this about stadium viewing, “[t]he hard plastic seats with no leg room. The obnoxious drunk sitting next to you, spilling his beer all over your shoes. The stupid kid behind you who won’t stop kicking you in the neck. The terrible weather. The long lines for food and toilets. The lack of replay. Never being able to get a phone signal to see what everyone is talking about on Twitter. The two hours it takes to get out of the parking lots” (Galily 719). These are just some of the hardships that were and are still faced in stadiums, and one of the reasons why mediated viewing has been created and why it will stay the dominant viewing process.

‘Live’ Viewing along with Hybridization To start with ‘live’ viewing would mean divulging the reason behind CBS investing in TV football. Back in 1956, the first full season telecasted on CBS, ratings caused a drastic change in coverage for the station, one that would revolutionize professional sports and mediated viewing. Dale L. Cressman and Lisa Swenson go into more depth in the discussion about how this major viewing day came to be. “[l]ow ratings led CBS to become interested in professional football. Frank Stanton, president of CBS, Inc., expressed concern to Sig Mickelsen, vice president responsible for news, over how few CBS television affiliates were accepting the network’s Sunday afternoon public affairs block, consisting of political and religious programs” (Cressman, Swenson 483).

Some weaknesses that have embodied live viewing can also be looked at as the experience. If you're the sentimental type, then maybe you are one of the people that believe you can’t get the full experience of a football game if you're not in your season ticket seats to the New York Giants that have been passed down throughout your family for years. There really is something about being a part of the crowd in sporting events, having that exciting feeling you could witness history ‘live’, like the amazing Carlton Fisk home run in the 1975 World Series, or the not so good Bill Buckner between the legs play which

44

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

lost the Red Sox’s game six of the 1986 World Series. These were two opposite plays almost ten years apart that are staples in Red Sox history and if you talk to someone that was at one or both of the games, they would tell you they were great experience and that they would never forget it, for the good or bad.

Most of these unforgettable experiences reside with the fact that the fans have created such an atmosphere that it gives you pleasure, suspense, and a sense of involvement with the sport. Hall talks about “the live viewing process of a sport gives of an hedonic feeling that translates to pleasure. These emotions can be good or bad depending on what is happening with your experience” (262). Being at the stadium makes you a part of the team and lets you have the ability to impair the opposing team through chants and screaming. The sense of being a part of the team is evident in today’s sports, leading to attendance still being high in some sports and in some teams. For the Golden State Warriors, the 2015 NBA Champions, they have a strong following and even into this season as they are one of the best teams in the Western Conference regarded as one of the loudest places to play. In the ESPN article by Tom Haberstroh Pelicans player Anthony Davis is quoted saying, “[i]t’s definitely a different level, a different atmosphere," Davis said of the Oracle Arena. “It's so loud I can't hear my teammates or my coaches.” This first round game brought a hefty crowd that had a big involvement in the outcome of the game and, since the fans cannot play, this is there only way to get as close to the action as possible.

Talking more about the subject of sound and use of it in ‘mediated’ and ‘live’ viewing process, Mack Hagood and Travis Vogan’s paper on, “The 12th Man: Fan noise in the contemporary NFL”, shows the fandom and its part with sound. “[f]an noise constitutes a powerful reverberation that can feed back into the game that inspires it, serving as a sonic signature for fan groups and the cities they represent, affecting on-field events, becoming a character in media coverage, and shaking up—literally and figuratively—the built environments of league play” (Hagood, Vogan 30).

In a more modern sense of ‘live’ viewing that wasn't always there, we look at the hybridization of stadiums and arenas. Like referenced earlier in the paper, the only thing that game attendees would see would be the game itself. But because of the advancements made in technologies stadiums are now equip with jumbotrons. Most people know about these nowadays as they are in most stadiums and a part of most sports from NFL, NBA, and even PGA. In the article, “The mediated live experience and the spatial reconfiguration of the sport act” by Diana-Luiza Dumitriu, she states that, “moreover, the portability which defines this technological era provides you the means

Vols. 8 & 9

45

for a multilayered live experience: what you can see on the field, what you can see on the big screens above the field and what you can see on your own phone or PC tablet” (Dumitriu 38). This is telling us that even though you are at a Dallas Cowboys game, you are not necessarily losing the mediated part of the viewing process all together. You can still receive some replays and also stat lines that are in the game, but instead having multiple things to focus on. Even with these technologies, there is still a chance you will experience the unpleasantries of the time it takes, the weather, the view, and of course the pricing.

The Technological advances leading to ‘Mediated’ Viewing The main goal of the producer’s crew behind the cameras is to make the viewing process from home to look and feel like you are actually at the game. Not only did they find a way to bring the field to your home but began to build on it through technological advances and innovation. One of the first examples of this is NFL Films in the 1960’s, where Travis Vogan lays out the first, real, mediated NFL experience. “Since 1964 the NFL’s subsidiary film production company NFL Films has documented each of the league’s games and produced hundreds of dramatic made-for-television films that mythologize it by representing its players and coaches as “legends of autumn” who partake in “cruel rites of manhood” on the “100-yard universe” of professional football” (Vogan 74).

NFL Films did a great job at catching the little things, and transferring them over to audiences. In R. Glenn Cummins, Justin R. Keene, and Brandon H. Nutting’s article, “The Impact of Subjective Camera in Sports on Arousal and Enjoyment,” we see an analysis of the advancements that sports mediation has been through and are going through. Cummins, Keene, and Nutting state that, “[m]ediated sports events are of a distinct character from their live counter-parts, in which producers ‘consciously create something different from reality’” (Cummins, Keene, Nutting 76). The mediated experience is presented by someone else for you and for someone else. “Though it is personal it is also impersonally” (Scannell 22). Because the game is being mediated it implies that it can be edited and changed to fit a certain platform or story. The advances in the 21st century have allowed the producers of CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN to put a certain spin on the game. In the article “Coaches, Drama, and Technology: Mediation of Super Bowl Broadcasts from 1969 to 1997,” by Lawrence J. Mullen and Dennis W. Mazzocco, there is a different type of broadcast being discussed. Mullen and Mazzocco state that, “The way the producers do it is by adopting the classic storytelling tools of literary artists by using

46

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

heroes and villains to convey messages about life and the human condition to their audiences” (350). Now that is where the term ‘mediation’ came from, because it is entertainment that is not just what you would see if you went to the actual game. There is much more that makes up mediation of sports games and the story line is just the first part to it.

As said before the technological advances of the 21st century and a little before have allowed the transition from the ‘live’ viewing to the ‘mediated’ viewing of sports games. Firstly, the problems that can come about when attending a live game discourage fans from going often as discussed in the “‘Live’ Viewing along with Hybridization” section above, but the faults of the live experiences is not the reason why some prefer the mediated choice, it is because of advancements in the field. In Galily’s article he says, “sport broadcasts on television in the twenty-first century do not merely provide a sophisticated view of what take place at the stadium but a new creation with unique characteristics” (Galily 718). He goes on to talk about the new viewing process as, “not being a reproduction of the game being played but a whole new thing. It encapsulates many uses of camera, graphics, and verbal production to get the viewer engaged” (719).

The technological advances being talked about are great, including the camera and the lens types. Mullen and Mazzocco state that the camera “helped bring the game closer to the audience, and the camera angle from which the television viewer sees the game. The zoom lens's ability to create close-up images of the various players, coaches, and fans is one of its more powerful attributes” (Mullen, Mazzocco 351). Going back to the mediation being a spectacle of sorts, the camera lets you see the reaction of players, coaches, and also fans.

The zoom on the camera gives you the personal connection with these people, which is lost when you attend the game live. Though you can see how the fans react usually you are too far away to see the players and the coaches, while this technology gives you that rare look. Also discussed in Mullen and Mazzocco’s article is the “creation of the high and eye level angle. The high angle presents the same look on TV as you would see at the game because of the usual high level seats that people have. Recently there was an eye level angle put into effect which makes you have the view of the players. Making it even more as if you were there or if you were even apart of the team” (352).

Another feature being used in the mediated viewing is instant replay which has been a staple in modern sports and even changing rules in the NFL where coaches are allowed two challenges to go back and look at a replay and see if the officials were wrong in real time.

According to the article, “Re-presenting Sport: How Instant Replay and

Vols. 8 & 9

47

Perceived Violence Impact Enjoyment of Mediated Sports” by R. Glenn Cummins and Dustin Hahn, “there are two types of time when watching a game, the real time, and the transform time” (792). As the plays run in the real time and the officials make calls in the real time there can be a ‘transformation’ to the slower time or replay. Cummins and Hahn also talk about how the mediated experience is better than the live because, “[f]or example, consider a contested call where one perspective could provide evidence that differs with what’s presented from an alternate vantage point. Thus, directors hold at their disposal numerous representations of this event, and these multiple perspectives do a better job than just one in explaining aspects and features of the exemplified entity” (793). This means that the mediated part of the game has a chance to show you a multitude of sides and angles to the play, giving you more of the play and more information than you would receive if you were at the stadium without anything.

Another key point made when talking about the advantages of mediated viewing is one by Dumitriu when she says, “[y]ou can enjoy panoramic views over the stadium, multiple angles perspective of an action or even multiple replays of it. Slow motion or fast draft, high or low volume, suddenly your mediated live experience be-comes richer than the genuine one. When actually present in the arena you seem to miss this sense of clarity and focus and may find yourself thinking that the genuine live experience is actually less accurate than the mediated one” (37). The focal point of the quote is when the words “richer” and “genuine” are used to describe the experience from home. Mediation acts a clear and in-depth mode of viewing and you don’t miss a lot of details.

On the other hand, when talking about ‘mediated’ viewing and technological advance you have the ‘home feel’ of watching the game.

“Fans dressed up in their team’s uniforms and acting as they would if they were at the game—cheering, cursing, and screaming—add realism to the viewing experience. People watching the game on TV at home are there with—at most—several people, usually their family members.

In addition, they are often interrupted by various factors at home, for example, living rooms’ bright interior lighting, and people moving about in the living room (Kim, Kim, Cheong 391). The writers show the good of the technological advance, therefore making it feel as if they are in the stadium. But they also show the distractions that can go along with it.

Other technological advances for television viewing described

by Galily is “the first down lines in the NFL. In the NHL they have a new virtual highlighter that follows the puck around making it easier to view. Also in Olympic swimming they have the world record pace line

48

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

and the Olympic world record line” (721). These examples from Galily present not only the advancements but the adaptation to the new analytical world. Baseball has seen a new age of analytics that is not transforming to other sports. Now television is using ‘graphics’ to present even more information to viewers. I talked to Jim Kaat who is analyst for MLB Network and former pitcher for the New York Yankees. We talked about the ‘graphic’ addition of Stat Cast that was put into the viewing process of MLB games on MLB Network. Kaat said that he like the addition and found it cool to see the speeds of the runners and the best route taken to the baseball when in flight. He also said its becoming more of a focal point for the MLB Commentator crew.

Coming off graphics and going to commentators is a perfect transition to talk about the verbals of the mediated sports. Commentator have been around for a long time dating back to the beginning of radio but in the present they are more prepared and given many statistics and background information. Again, we see the “for you and me” within this because they are talking directly to you or the group that you are watching the game with and also the millions that are watching the same station. Mullen and Mazzocco talk about the use of commentators and how they “shouldn't be taken lightly” (353). In their study they talk about how the “U.S. broadcasts of the 1992 Winter Olympics, Riggs, Eastman, and Golobic (1993) found that political nationalism was woven into the things they were saying that induced a manufactured sense of inter-national conflict between nations” (Mullen, Mazzocco 353). Although the commentators usually sum up what the play was or the call, they do clarify a lot of misunderstood details which include cutting to a former official like Mike Pereira who works as rules analyst for Fox Sports and chimes on most of their games being broadcasted.

Though these are just studies done in different time periods and with different sports they do set the stage for the study that I have done. This analysis of different article has given the background on the technological mediated viewing and the live viewing which has allowed me to come up with questions of my own to ask the people closest to me at school and abroad.

The choice between ‘live’ or ‘mediated’ is a struggle Concerning the question “Is ‘mediated’ viewing taking over for live viewing?”, we turn to eight participants. Originally I contacted around fourteen people with the question, “You mind if I ask you a few questions about a paper I'm writing, it’s about sports.” Right away I

Vols. 8 & 9

49

told them that the paper was about sports, and that opened the floodgates for many interesting answers.

I will give you the following questions that I asked each subject. No names will be used throughout my study and only certain details will be disclosed about them. These are the following questions that I asked: 1) Would you rather attend a football game at the stadium or stay home and watch it?

2) Would you say you would rather stay home because of the technological advances that the NFL and other leagues have made to make it feel like you are actually there?

3) Would you say there is a case to be made that home viewing is trying to mirror the actual experience at the stadium?

I asked the first question to every participant, but the second and third question were dropped in depending on how the first question was answered. Here is what I found.

Analysis Subject one who’s a college student, is an avid sports fan and stays up to date with the latest sports news. His answer to the first questions was, “Most of the time I would rather stay home to watch an NFL game but I would rather attend an NCAA football game.” When I asked the next question his answer didn’t relate to the technology but more so the time-consuming efforts of traveling to the places to watch a game.

The second person I asked is also a college student and is a student-athlete. His answer to the first question was, “To be completely honest I would rather stay home and watch, with like a big group friends and make a lot of food and stuff.” This was the first answer that had to do with a community or group feel while being at home. His answer to question number two was, “Yeah I would say that has a little something to do with it,” meaning that the technological advances of the mediated television viewing gave him a feeling that it was somewhat better to stay home rather than go to the actual game.

Subject three is a college student, his answer to the first question was, “I would rather stay home because I like listening to the commentators and seeing the instant replay up close.” I didn’t have to ask either the second or third question in this case as he supported my thesis.

50

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Subject four is also a college student. His answer to the first question was, “Probably stay home. It’d depend how good the seats were.” So I told him that the problems with transportation and money are a part of the question when talking about ‘live’ viewing and he's said, “Yeah if I was wealth then I’d prefer sweet seats, and the atmosphere is fun at games. But for the view I’d generally wanna be home for replays and good angles etc…” Again it is evident that the participants are choosing to stay home rather than go the game. Money, transportation, and time are all problems residing with the ‘live’ viewing process.

Subject five was blunt and to the point, he said, “stadium,” so I followed up with the things that go along with going to the game and he still said that he would rather go to the game rather than stay home.

He is also a college student.

The sixth participant was the only female in this study. She is twenty-four years old and out of college and has a steady well-paying job. Her answer the first question was, “I’d rather be at the stadium.”

So I followed the answer with, “would you say there is a case to be made that home viewing is trying to mirror the actual experience at the stadium,” she responded saying, “They want to make it as realistic as possible. I would say the atmosphere would be different. unless you're around a bunch of people that are all rooting for the same team. Most people would probably say that you can see better and get the whole viewing experience more so at home.”

For the seventh participant they are a college student. He answered the first question saying, “That’s tough. For me, it depends on ticket prices. If I can find cheap, good tickets, then I would definitely go, as I love the NFL atmosphere. But if tickets are really expensive, I would just rather sit at home. I don’t get the same atmosphere, but I still get to watch a sport I love.” I then asked him the second question and he said, “While I love to actually be at the game, I feel like you can experience the feel of a game right from your couch.

With Twitter, Periscope, and other apps, people can share their own experiences from the bleachers, and we are able to experience it with them.” This made a lot of sense to me and made me think about why people really watch game on television.

The eighth and final participant is a college student. He answered the first question by saying, “Well it's free to watch at home...so home.” So I went and asked the second question and this is what he had to say, “There is nothing like being at the game, can't get the same atmosphere on TV but it's to expensive to go to.” Again you see the limitations of the ‘live’ rather than the ‘mediated’ experience being so powerful it overshadows it.

Vols. 8 & 9

51

Discussions Of the fourteen surveys that I sent out, I only received eight responses back. All but one of the participants were male which may have screwed the answers. From the sources and answers that I received through my, one to three questions asked, I found that ‘Mediated’ viewing is shadowing the ‘live’ experience. It has taken the old and made it new but that isn't always the first choice for everyone.

In my study there are some people that still prefer going to the game, even though there are many limitations to that choice. Though some chose the ‘live’ experience the majority chose the ‘mediated’ experience because of the community feel. Many channels offer coverage of one team and that creates a sense of involvement with that team. You have the same commentators every game, the same analysis, and of course the same players. It is something that can considered religious, and it is for you and also for the millions of other Celtic fans, for example. You can use other forms of media also to follow your team, such as periscope and twitter, but the main medium being, watching as many games as possible. Unless you live in the respected city of your favorite team, which many fans do not, then you resort to the TV. There were some limitations with the process I took for my study. It could have been improved with more research done in the area of ‘live’ viewing as it seems the paper focuses more on my main argument with little on the side of the rebuttal. My personal study could have had more diversity in male and female and also with age, money, and where they lived. Also I could have created a questionnaire rather than personal interviews to gain more quantity to my study. Even though the interviews presented good quality facts.

Either way, I found that the ‘live’ experience is slowly dwindling because of rising prices, the time it takes to get to a game, and the limitations that affect you when you finally arrive, thus opening a path for ‘mediated’ viewing to step into. More and more people are choosing the comfort of their own home rather than the atmosphere of the Boston Garden. Like Paul Smith stated in his article, “The regulation of television sports broadcasting: a comparative analysis”, “[i]n both of these realms – the economic and the sociocultural – the media, and particularly television, has played a vital role in shaping the nature of contemporary sport” (721). The use of ‘contemporary,’ shows the transition that is happening. We are at a point in time of ‘mediated’ viewing, and it will continue to adapt and innovate the medium till it reaches a time where ‘live’ viewing will become history.

52

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

References Cummins, R. Glenn, and Dustin Hahn. "Re-Presenting Sport: How Instant Replay And Perceived Violence Impact Enjoyment Of Mediated Sports." Mass Communication & Society 16.6 (2013): 787-807. Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

Cummins, R. Glenn, Justin R. Keene, and Brandon H. Nutting. "The Impact Of Subjective Camera In Sports On Arousal And Enjoyment." Mass Communication & Society 15.1 (2012): 7497. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

Dumitriu, Diana-Luiza. "The Mediated Live Experience And The Spatial Reconfiguration Of The Sport Act." Romanian Journal Of Communication & Public Relations 16.3 (2014): 35-45. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Galily, Yair. "When The Medium Becomes “Well Done”: Sport, Television, And Technology In The Twenty-First Century."

Television & New Media 15.8 (2014): 717-724.

Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

Haberstroh, Tom. "Monty Williams Says Oracle Arena Noise 'out of Hand'" ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

Hall, Alice E. "Entertainment-Oriented Gratifications Of Sports Media: Contributors To Suspense, Hedonic Enjoyment, And Appreciation." Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 59.2 (2015): 259-277. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Mullen, Lawrence J., and Dennis W. Mazzocco. "Coaches, Drama, And Technology: Mediation Of Super Bowl Broadcasts From 1969 To 1997." Critical Studies In Media Communication 17.3 (2000): 347. Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Scannell, Paddy. "For Anyone-As-Someone Structures." Media, Culture & Society 22.1 (2000): 5. SocINDEX with Full Text.

Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

“2015 NFL Rulebook.” 2015 NFL Rulebook. National Football League, 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

Smith, Paul, Tom Evens, and Petros Iosifidis. "The Regulation Of Television Sports Broadcasting: A Comparative Analysis."

Media, Culture & Society 37.5 (2015): 720-736.

Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Kim, Kihan, Yunjae Cheong, and Hyuksoo Kim. "The Influences Of Sports Viewing Conditions On Enjoyment From Watching

Vols. 8 & 9

53

Televised Sports: An Analysis Of The FIFA World Cup Audiences In Theater Vs. Home." Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 60.3 (2016): 389-409. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Vogan, Travis. "NFL Films And The Art Of Selling Football." Popular Communication 11.4 (2013): 274-288. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Hagood, Mack, and Travis Vogan. "The 12Th Man: Fan Noise In The Contemporary NFL." Popular Communication 14.1 (2016): 30-38. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Cressman, Dale L., and Lisa Swenson. "The Pigskin And The Picture Tube: The National Football League's First Full Season On The CBS Television Network.� Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 51.3 (2007): 479-497. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

54

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

A Place for Sympathy Within the Law Jennifer L. O’Keefe Class of 2017 English Faculty Introduction Jen O’Keefe’s “A Place for Sympathy within the Law” was written for my literature course “Love, Money, and Sympathy in the Early American Novel.” In this course, a liberal education course open to all Saint Rose undergraduates, students study the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century origins of literary and moral sentimentalism, as well as contemporary instances of sentimental art and ethics. The course begins with readings from The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), a treatise written by the economist Adam Smith. Here, Smith, best known to us as the theorist of laissez-faire capitalism, implies concern that a society built on ceaseless competition between self-interested individuals might not prove to be a stable or compassionate one. As though to reconcile capitalist economics with the social good, Smith posits that all human beings possess an innate desire to see others free from pain. From this basic premise, Smith elaborates an ethical system that makes sympathy—the ability to “chang[e] places in fancy” with another—a powerful check upon one’s conduct and a spur to benevolent action. Smith thereby provides a moral philosophy to complement his economic theory: both make the self-regulating individual the basis for a prosperous and compassionate society.

Proceeding from Smith to the analysis of a series of sentimental narratives, we arrive towards the middle of the course at Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (18511852) and Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film Philadelphia, which concerns a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) against a law firm that fired him for contracting AIDS. Both the novel and the film deploy sentimental conventions and draw upon the logic of sympathy to protest and counteract social dehumanization. Eliciting the viewer’s sympathy by depicting scenes of physical and mental suffering, they endeavor to lead even the most indifferent viewer to recognize and acknowledge the full humanity of

Vols. 8 & 9

55

members of a socially marginalized group. In analyzing these narratives, we discuss both the power and the problematic limitations of a morality and an artistic practice rooted in sentimentalism.

One issue that usually arises when I teach Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Philadelphia concerns the relationship of sympathy to law. In Stowe’s novel, the law is depicted in insistently negative terms, as a pseudo-objective discourse whose euphemisms and abstractions serve mainly to justify the unconscionable. The well-known scene in which Senator Bird, having just come from voting for the Fugitive Slave Law, finds his support for the bill instantly fade when an actual fugitive slave literally arrives on his doorstep, dramatically conveys Stowe’s view that true justice emerges from the sphere of feeling, not of law. In Philadelphia, this sentimental contrast between law and sympathy becomes blurred. Because it is in the courts that the injustice of Beckett’s firing is ultimately rectified, the film seems to express faith in the law to see that justice is done. Yet by nesting a courtroom drama in a highly sentimental narrative designed to produce transformative emotional experiences in the viewer, the film implies a lack of faith in the law alone, unaccompanied by changes in the private realm of individual feeling, to produce a more just society.

The film’s curious mixture of sentimental narrative and courtroom drama is at the heart of Jen O’Keefe’s insightful reading of key scenes from Philadelphia. What I most admire about the essay is its application of Adam Smith’s writings on sympathy to an analysis of Demme’s direction that is admirably attentive to elements of cinematic form. By moving back and forth between Smith and the film, O’Keefe analyzes in fine detail how particular directorial and editing choices— shot types, camera angles, flashbacks—translate Smithian sympathy into the language of cinema.

Brian Sweeney Associate Professor of English The 1993 film Philadelphia, directed by Jonathan Demme, was one of the first mainstream United States films to explore the subject of HIV/AIDS as well as to feature a gay protagonist. The film’s lengthy court trial demonstrates the measures to which one lawyer will go in order to achieve justice for not only his client, Andy Beckett played by actor Tom Hanks, but the entire gay community as well. Two significant scenes that take place during the trial evoke sympathy and deep emotion from both the court’s jurors and the film’s audience.

Through the use of camera angle, Andy’s flashback and crossexamination convey the defense’s key focus, which is to evoke a level

56

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

of sympathy from the viewer and jury members in a way that will influence their final verdict and recognize the wrongdoing of a powerful law firm.

Andy Beckett is a senior associate at Wyant & Wheeler, a large corporate law firm located in Philadelphia. Andy chooses to hide his homosexuality from his colleagues in fear that the truth would jeopardize his professional career. However, during a late night at the office a partner in the firm notices a lesion on Andy’s forehead. In the days following, Andy’s position at the law firm is terminated. The firm justifies their decision to fire Andy by stating that his work performance has been increasingly unsatisfactory. Determined to take his case to court, Andy believed that the firm’s decision to fire him is a means of discrimination due to the fact that they discovered his homosexuality and that he contracted AIDS. After denied support from multiple lawyers to represent him in court, Andy contacted a colleague of his who specialized in injury law, Joe Miller played by actor Denzel Washington. Initially, Joe was hesitant to take on such a controversial case as he carefully considered his professional reputation and personal homophobia. In spite of Joe’s homophobia, Andy is able to persuade him to represent him in court.

It is evident from the start of the trial Joe’s primary goal is to defend his client by striving to evoke sympathetic emotions from the courtroom in order to prove to the jury members that Andy was fired unlawfully. In the opening statements of the trial, Joe addresses the courtroom by stating, “Let’s talk about what this case is really all about. The general public’s hatred, our loathing, our fear of homosexuals” (Demme, Philadelphia). Joe shows no apprehension or trepidation in desensitizing the topic of sexual orientation, as it was a topic not openly discussed during this period of history.

Throughout the film, Andy is discriminated against for his sexuality and his contraction of AIDS, making it clear that Andy chose correctly not to disclose his personal life at work. As the trial progresses, Andy is asked a number of questions during his crossexamination pertaining to his life at the law firm. Andy then recounts an example of discriminatory culture while working under Wyant & Wheeler. Although the date of flashback is unclear, Andy explains the event in great detail as if it occurred the day before. Andy informs the courtroom that he had planned on telling his law partners that he was gay, however, he changed his mind after an incident that occurred at the Racket Club. The flashback is set in a sauna room as Andy and his partners sit, soaking in the steam with towels draped loosely over their laps. While the men talk amongst one another, a few partners make homophobic jokes. As the other men laugh in response to the jokes, the

Vols. 8 & 9

57

camera quickly cuts to Andy who is staring at the floor. In film this is known as a reaction shot. These particular camera shots cut away from the speaker or main scene to show the reaction of another character. A reaction shot has a strong ability to evoke sympathy from the viewer as it allows them a chance to try and feel the emotions of that character.

According to the essay, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, written by Adam Smith, this is a significant piece in evoking sympathy from others. Smith writes: The compassion of the spectator must arise altogether from the consideration of what he himself would feel if he was reduced to the same unhappy situation, and, what perhaps is impossible, was at the same time able to regard it with his present reason and judgment (Smith 11).

Smith believes that in order to feel sympathy for another, one must place themselves in the other’s position. In doing so, the person is then able to experience and more importantly, feel what it may be like to be in a similar position and begin to sympathize for the other. In this scene, the viewer sympathizes with Andy as they put themselves in his position while he narrates his flashback experience.

The choice of camera angle within a given scene can greatly affect the message a film or particular scene wishes to portray. Film is a visual medium, giving the directors and cinematographers of Philadelphia an important role in conveying the flashback in a way that is meaningful to the viewer. The article, “The Influence of Camera Angle on Comprehension and Retention of Pictorial Events” by Robert Kraft, examines the influence such camera angles have on the viewer.

Kraft writes, “Every choice of angle, lighting, or perspective may affect the viewer’s understanding and subsequent memory for the pictorial event” (291). Within this flashback scene, the viewer observes Andy’s reaction shot prior to hearing a joke that is humorous to all in the sauna room but him. As he stares at the floor, Andy’s face expresses a look of astonishment mixed with relief that he did not tell his partners the truth concerning his homosexuality. As the joke is told, the camera shifts from a view of the men in the room and zooms in on Andy’s face during his reaction shot. It is important to note the zoom function of the camera in this scene. The article, “Camera Movement in Narrative Cinema-Towards a Taxonomy of Functions” by Jakob Nielsen writes that zoom is used as “a dynamic way to focus audience attention on a dramatically important facet of the scene” (14). While the jury members are limited to strictly hearing the flashback as it is told, the viewer is able to visually watch as the events unfold.

The article, “Organization-Representation: Work and Organization in Popular Culture” written by John Hassard and Ruth

58

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Holliday discusses this particular flashback scene in great detail.

Hasssard and Holliday write, “Andrew bears the emotional cost of homophobia. This is tinged with relief in this particular instance at not having already told Charles Wheeler that he is gay, something that he had earlier intended to do” (104). The viewer sympathizes with Andy as we attempt to imagine our personal emotions if we ourselves were sitting in the sauna room. Adam Smith believes that although we may not be able to fully comprehend the other’s situation, doing our best to place ourselves in their situation may just be enough to experience sympathy for them. Within, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith states: We sometimes feel for another, a passion of which he himself seems to be altogether incapable; because, when we put ourselves in his case, that passion arises in our breast from the imagination, though it does not in his from the reality (7).

In other words, we as the viewer may not be homophobic or even be offended by the jokes told by the partners, however by placing ourselves in Andy’s position, we are able to experience his particular situation on a more personal level. This trial scene largely conveys Joe Miller’s goal of evoking sympathy from the jury in order to influence their final verdict. Although the jury members themselves are not watching the flashback in the same way that the viewers are, they are listening to Andy’s description and emotional response to the event.

The members of the jury imagine themselves in Andy’s position and sympathize with his experience as they listen to him explain and remember what transpired that day inside of the sauna room.

A second crucial scene in sentimentalizing gay identity and evoking sympathy from the viewer and jury members occurs when Andy is on the witness stand. Throughout the trial it is revealed that the partner who had spotted Andy’s lesion had previously worked with a woman who had AIDS. This woman had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and, in this partner’s eyes, was an innocent victim.

The law partner argues that Andy is not an innocent victim as he contracted AIDS through promiscuity and homosexual intercourse. The scene opens with Joe asking to borrow the mirror from Wyant & Wheeler’s defense. Joe then asks Andy, “Do you have any lesions on your body at this time that resemble the lesions that you had on your face at the time that you were fired?” (Demme, Philadelphia). At this point in the film, it is clear that Andy’s health is rapidly deteriorating as he responds to Joe’s question with heavily labored breathing. Andy responds that he currently has lesions located on his torso that are similar to the one that was detected on his forehead. Joe then asks if Andy could remove his shirt. In doing so, Joe believes that if the

Vols. 8 & 9

59

lesions on Andy’s torso are as visible as the lesion on his face, the partner must have recognized the AIDS induced lesion as he had previously seen them on a former co-worker. Wyant & Wheeler object to Joe’s request to have Andy remove his shirt but Joe argues that he would like the jury members to receive an accurate description of the lesions located on Andy’s body. According to the article, “Nationalizing the Gay Body” written by Robert Corber, it is during Andy’s time on the witness stand when, “He endures a humiliating cross-examination about his sexual history that causes his condition to deteriorate noticeably” (Corber 118). Corber continues by stating that it is not strictly the disease of AIDS that kills Andy, rather than the stress and emotional exhaustion of having to publicly defend himself and his sexuality in front of the court as well as close family and friends.

The judge allows Joe to proceed to ask Andy to remove his shirt. While Andy begins to loosen his tie, a number of reaction shots follow. The first reaction shot is of Andy’s former law partners at Wyant & Wheeler. One of the partners mutters under his breath, “Oh my God, what a nightmare” as another partner responds by stating, “He asked for it” (Demme, Philadelphia). The camera focuses back on Andy as he slowly and weakly unbuttons one button of his shirt at a time. The camera then cuts to the rest of the courtroom. First, the camera shows Andy’s partner, Miguel. Next, the camera turns to the jury members, many of whom have a look of disgust as they turn their heads away from Andy. After, the camera then cuts to a headshot of Andy’s mother. However, during this particular headshot the camera does something different. Andy’s mother is the only reaction shot in the entire scene that is shot head-on, in other words, an eye-level shot. The viewer is forced to look into the eyes of Andy’s mother and witness her emotional heartache. According to Kraft: The source of camera angle effects may lie in our experience with the natural visual world. The meanings associated with each different camera angle, rather than resulting from film literacy or learned convention, may be derived from the actual visual relationships between the viewers and the depicted characters... For example, an eye- level shot places the viewer faceto-face with the actors, producing visual parity (305).

As Andy’s mother watches her vulnerable son unbutton his shirt, viewers are forced to look directly into her eyes. The viewer tries to imagine her thoughts and feelings as she sees her son on the witness stand, exposed to the room. Adam Smith argues that we as the spectator derive sorrow from the sorrow of others and it is through that deep emotion we are able to develop sympathy for them. The camera then shifts to Andy’s sister whose eyes are filled with tears watching her

60

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

little brother. Showing the reactions of Andy’s family members play an important role in evoking sympathy from the viewer. Throughout the film it is made clear that Andy’s family has accepted Andy for who he is and supports his decision to take his case to court. As viewers and jury members watch the emotions of Andy’s family, they themselves begin to think of their own brother, sister, or mother and develop sympathy for them on a personal level. While Andy’s torso becomes more visible to the courtroom, the camera returns to the reaction of the law partners, many of whom also have looks of disgust, as they gasp and turn their eyes down to the floor. Doing so suggests that the partners of Wyant & Wheeler are beginning to show a form of pity or compassion for Andy as he sits with his shirt exposed on the witness stand. Adam Smith writes, “Pity and compassion are words appropriated to signify our fellow-feeling with the sorrow of others” (Smith 5). The partners however, still homophobic, are beginning to sympathize with Andy whether they would like to or not.

When the last button on Andy’s shirt is undone, Joe holds the mirror to face Andy’s torso. The camera moves in and out of focus, suggesting that Andy is sacrificing his sight in order for the jury to see for themselves (Corber 118). Utilizing this visual technique builds the tension of the spectator as we first see the reactions of the courtroom before we ourselves are able to see Andy’s lesions. This decision provides the viewer with a predetermined idea of what is to come and how we may then react. Joe’s eyes begin to focus downward on Andy’s torso as he holds the mirror, tilting it to allow the viewer to receive a small glimpse of the lesions. In film, this angle is known as a highangle shot and according to Kraft: A high-angle shot allows the viewer to look down on the actors, providing a higher vantage point and placing the viewer in a position of visual dominance. These physical relationships between camera and actor may engender a particular connotative meaning, either via some sort of metaphorical operation or via a more direct, literal perception of that connotative meaning” (305).

Kraft continues his statement by suggesting that when using a highangle shot, the camera is physically looking down at an actor, which translates into looking down on that actor. While this may be true in some angle shots within this film, this is not one of them. The film had to make a decision either to have the viewer watch the unveiling of Andy’s lesions from Joe’s perspective and through the mirror or to place the camera straight on Andy’s torso. The viewer never sees the lesions straight on. It is only through the reflection of the mirror that the viewer can see the lesions. It is as if the lesions are too sickening for the viewer to see with their own eyes. As a result, the viewer is left

Vols. 8 & 9

61

then to imagine just how grotesque seeing the entire torso covered in lesions head-on would be, as the members of the court experienced.

The scene comes to a close as Andy softly smiles at Joe, suggesting that he has defeated Wyant & Wheeler and that Joe has successfully proven that Andy was fired unjustly.

The lengthy trial scene within the film, Philadelphia, demonstrates how far one lawyer will go to achieve justice for both his client and the gay community. Andy Becket’s flashback scene as well as his cross-examination scene elicits sympathy and strong emotions from the film’s viewers as well as the jury members. Through the use of camera angle these two scenes use the power of sympathy to influence the final verdict and uncover the wrongdoing of Wyant & Wheeler.

Works Cited Corber, Robert. “Nationalizing the Gay Body: AIDS and Sentimental Pedagogy in Philadelphia”. American Literacy History 15.1(2003): 107-133. Web. Hassard, John, and Holliday, Ruth. “Organization- Representation: Work and Organization in Popular Culture” London: SAGE Publications, 1998. Web. Kraft, Robert. “The Influence of Camera Angle on Comprehension and Retention of Pictorial Events.”

Iowa: Memory & Cognition 15.4 (1987): 291-307. Web. Nielsen, Jakob. “Camera Movement in Narrative Cinema - Towards a Taxonomy of Functions.” University of Aarhus: Department of Inf. & Media Studies (2017): 14. Web. Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington. Hollywood Films.

1993. Film.

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Sixth ed. 1790. Library of Economics and Liberty.

16 January 2012. http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS1.html. Web.

62

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Media Depictions, Social Constructions, and Parental Understandings of the Gardasil Vaccine in New York State Aileen K. Burke Class of 2019 Political Science Summer Research, Dr. Ryane McAuliffe Straus Introduction Information is easier than ever to access in today’s fast-paced society.

The material that fills newsfeeds and different physical publications spans a rather large dichotomy, so when the time comes to find facts it can prove difficult for even the savviest members of the attentive public. It stands to reason that parents as a specific demographic are therefore more inundated than ever with this information as they need to make decisions for their own families. One example of a major parental decision is whether or not to vaccinate their children. This decision is especially contested when it comes to vaccinations such as the Gardasil Vaccination, a vaccination that is commonly referred to as the “HPV vaccine”.

Gardasil is a vaccine created by the pharmaceutical corporation Merck, used to prevent specific Human Papilloma Virus strains (strains 6, 11, 16, 18), which can cause cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, anus, throat, and oropharynx (tonsils). From herein Human Papilloma Virus may also be referred to as HPV. The Gardasil vaccination is heavily targeted towards young females, and has only recently been widely administered to young males as per the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the United States of America. Gardasil and similar vaccinations are highly debated despite the recommendation of most medical professionals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In order to examine the decision that these parents face, this research examines the social construction of vaccinations in the state of New York between two regions of the state; Upstate or the Capital Region and New York City. Using the ideas found in the paper “Media

Vols. 8 & 9

63

Images and the Social Construction of Reality” (1992) by William A. Gamson et al., I use qualitative analysis to help examine the depiction of vaccinations, specifically the Gardasil vaccination, in the national news media over the last five years. I originally proposed that through interviews and qualitative analysis one can determine what region of New York State is more likely to have their children vaccinated. In my original estimation, New York City as a region would be more likely to vaccinate their children due to the population’s ready access to a large variety of immediate information and the closely interwoven communities that historically lend themselves to existing in the five boroughs; this hypothesis was rejected upon analysis. The top three variables that influence an individual’s stance on optional vaccinations are their gender, age, and occupation as shown by female majority’s references during individual interviews.

Literature Review There is current research surrounding the Gardasil vaccine, its ethics, and its politics that readily address the controversy that comes with discussing said vaccination, but the overall body of work does not reach back extensively. Nonetheless, the work that does exist is thorough. By way of illustration, Dr. James Colgrove states in “The Ethics and Politics of Compulsory HPV Vaccination” that ethical analysis is essential to mandating the Gardasil vaccine (2006). He argues that the debate surrounding this vaccination is more than just a debate among scientists, it is about the perception of Human Papilloma Virus as a women’s health issue and people’s philosophical and religious objections. Furthermore, “Methodological and ethical issues in research using social media: a metamethod of Human Papillomavirus vaccine studies” (2014) examined the use of Social Media and how use of such platforms spreads misinformation about the Gardasil vaccination. The study showed that the behaviors regarding information-sharing were exclusive to the use of a virtual community, but what explains the behaviors in a person’s everyday decisionmaking? Does the socioeconomic climate of an area affect information sharing and or accuracy? This project aims to examine this idea.

Furthermore, what are the concerns of parents and or guardians? What do they know about the vaccination, or believe that they know? What could the government and or national news media do better to spread the truth or dispel myths? William A. Gamson et. al argues in “Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality” (1992) that “...a media system suitable for a democracy ought to provide its readers with some coherent sense of the broader social forces that affect the conditions of their everyday lives. (373)”

64

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Other work in the sphere of mass media argues that when the media portrays something a certain way, the public takes it as a cue and the antecedent group responds accordingly. This phenomenon is apparent in Kellstedt’s “The Mass Media and the Dynamic of American Racial Attitudes” (2003). On page 132, Kellstedt asks “Ought we to conclude from this influence that the media are somehow guilty of manipulating public opinion, that somehow they decide what messages to send, and the public in some automatic reaction accepts what the media tell it to believe? Is the public merely some kind of echo chamber that repeats whatever the media tell them?” This cannot be answered as simply as we would like it to be, and answers vary depending on the topic being presented.

This research illuminates subjective experience about a rather specific and sometimes sensitive topic. The settings, groups, and individuals examined cannot be pre-selected; no one I made initial contact with had to respond to my call for participants. Furthermore, the outcomes of the research cannot be specified in advance of the analysis.

Methodology I recruited the sample through convenient referral and canvassing at Washington Square Park, Cloves Lake Park, and Flushing-Meadows Corona Park in Albany, Staten Island, and Queens, New York respectively. I shared an Institutional Review Boardapproved contact speech with those interested in participating. The overall sample size for the preliminary work [6 weeks] in the project was sixteen [16] individuals. The referrals came from personal contacts that were conveniently members of the target demographic.

The context of these interviews was non-medical. Other than asking for a participant’s understanding of the Human Papillomavirus, there was no other medical conversation or technical terminology used.

The participants all had at least a high school diploma and had seemingly healthy social circles that they referenced their interactions with during these interviews. The institutions they interact with vary, from their workplace to their choice in finding stories through national news media.

Principles of Selection Interviewed individuals had to be parents with children who were the recommended age or above to receive the Gardasil vaccination living in the Capital Region of New York State and or New York City (all five boroughs; Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.) Age, gender, and occupation were all

Vols. 8 & 9

65

considered as factors while the interviews were taking place but did not prevent anyone from participating in the study.

Those potentially interested in participating in the study from referrals and the canvassing locations were given a contact speech outlining the project and providing. The speech is located in the appendix. If contact was reciprocated, an interview was set up and the following guide was used for conversation: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What is your current understanding of the Gardasil Vaccination?

Do you have children? a. If so, have they had the Gardasil Vaccination? If they are not the age recommended for the vaccination, have you thought about it? b. Discuss talks you have had with your Doctor, if any. c. Are you involved in your child’s healthcare decisions?

Have your friend’s children received the Gardasil Vaccination? a. If so, do you know what went into their decision?

What conversations have you had with other parents about the vaccinations, if any at all.

What is your current understanding of the Human Papilloma Virus?

Analysis When participants were asked what news outlets they followed for information, no participant cited a local news outlet. The included channels and or newspapers were CNN, Fox News, NBC, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Sun, etc. Since the stories accessed through these outlets are the same across the country, the current living situations of all participants did not affect their thoughts on HPV or HPV vaccinations.

As the researcher it is also important to note as an item of potential bias that I have a pro-vaccination stance, regardless of the vaccination in question. This information was not disclosed to participants before or after their respective interviews. Furthermore, this did not factor into selecting participants. The only requirement for participation was the aforementioned idea that the participants needed to be parents that have encountered the HPV vaccine. Position on the idea of vaccination, whether it be an HPV vaccine or otherwise, did not prevent anyone from participation in the study.

66

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

There was great similarity in what participants explained to me during their interviews. Even if they did not know exactly what HPV was, they knew that “you never know who has what, or what is where. There are immunocompromised people, there are people who don't practice safe sex… you can never be too sure.” There were some participants who had less formal education than others, but the majority of the participants still held the same ideas pertaining to HPV and vaccination.

An overwhelming amount of the participants were women; they were self-titled primary health care decision makers for their families. The sole male participant’s female spouse was also the primary decision maker for their family. This trend reflects the traditional idea of women taking care of the children in their family.

Additionally, they all seemed to view HPV as a women’s health issue or as the referenced it more informally; a “girl’s problem.” The overall difference between these women and their decisions came with their jobs and age. These two things seemed to be particularly important when it came to their healthcare decision making and feelings towards [the Gardasil] vaccination.

Three participants were women in healthcare careers. As people who are exposed to all different manifestations of the Human Papillomavirus, they were extremely aware of what the manifestations look like and lead to. As one participant stated: “I have worked in healthcare for twenty-six years. I have seen the oral manifestation countless times and am extremely familiar with it. It is nothing that I wish on anyone.”

As a result, these three women held the least reservation when it came to vaccinating their children. They all knew others who had received the Gardasil vaccination, and they all had conversations with their respective pediatricians about the vaccine, but they knew the decision was ultimately up to them. Their opinions were not influenced by outside sources, including national news media. None of them noted reading specific news stories on the topic. Their individual experiences were more important to them than any other stories they consumed from other outlets. Due to the similarity of their answers, it can be concluded that their current living situations have nothing to do with their thoughts on HPV or HPV vaccinations.

The oldest member of this informal healthcare group turns to Fox News to receive information. When it comes to the idea of the Gardasil vaccine she says “I have heard of other people having trouble and debating this specific vaccine, but that does not change how I feel about it.” Another member primarily uses MSNBC, and she also says “The reactions [to vaccinations] may be subjective, but the idea of their

Vols. 8 & 9

67

being preventative outweighs that.” Another member concurring: “I am a little jaded, because a person can have a reaction to anything. They can have a reaction to ibuprofen. There is always a risk, and a person’s body is always changing. Like, why have I been able to take sulfa drugs and now I can't? How could I eat seafood my whole life and then develop an allergy at 37? It all depends.”

Participants outside of the grouping of the three healthcare workers were a little more unsure of their feelings regarding the vaccination. One of the participants said “I understand the need for the vaccinations when the kids are first born. I would need to know other people and hear their stories before my children received a vaccine like this. It just doesn't seem entirely necessary.” The other participants were more likely to take the opinions of their peers and or family into consideration. The younger the mother, the more this idea seemed to be true. One participant from the Capital Region stated “My daughter always asks me what to do with her kids. I had to learn by myself, so I try to give her some of my knowledge that I have developed over the years from making the same kind of choices but the choice is ultimately up to her. She has to talk to her Doctor about the risks and potential benefits.”

A case with evidence that might refute these aforementioned cases and overall conclusions was an interview with a 53-year-old housewife and mother of an eighteen year old male who had never heard of the Gardasil vaccination. Her only exposure to the idea of the vaccine was an advertisement from Merck that is still currently running on many national news stations. She would take him to a physician whenever he needed medical attention but never had the discussion as to what the Gardasil vaccine is/was, or what could put her son at risk for developing HPV. She said: “I have honestly never heard about it or thought of it until you just asked, other than this one commercial where a kid asked ‘Did you know, Mom?’ And I felt harassed. How dare they question my parenting?” Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s suggestion that the Gardasil vaccine be administered to both sexes was made as recently as 2016, it is atypical for someone to not know what HPV is at all and what the implications are for someone who develops it.

One participant with two associate degrees stated: “It was not a question. Her [the daughter’s] paternal grandmother had cervical cancer at age 42. Anything I could do to help my child prevent cancer I am going to consider. Even if this vaccine isn’t all encompassing.”

Nonetheless, another participant with a high school diploma was able to concur: “There are celebrities pushing agendas… like Jenny McCarthy.

I am not saying that it has to be one way or another, but it is surprising

68

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

what people will say in 2018. I think that vaccination is a good thing. A lot has changed over time... the decision is ultimately up to parents, but I wouldn't tell my kids not to do it.”

Conclusion Although some people disagree with the act of vaccination on the whole, and some people do not even know what HPV is or its overall implications, there is no direct tie to their current living situation influencing individual opinion. When discussing what does impact the thoughts of individuals in their day to day lives, they are more likely to reference their occupation or other people that they interact with rather than their environments. Examples of stories about HPV and the Gardasil Vaccination are few and far between in the national news media, and stories shared on personal social media accounts are typically overlooked by the average individual. News media certainly helps formulate opinion on a multitude of topics, but not on the Gardasil vaccine.

It is also more common for women to have to consider the options pertaining to this choice than men due to traditional societal roles that are not formally enforced but become present when discussing HPV and the HPV vaccine(s). Many individuals view HPV as a women’s health issue, and that is a large misconception. Men are carriers of the Human Papillomavirus, and always have been.

Moreover, people who support administration of the Gardasil vaccine are typically also in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that both males and females receive the Gardasil vaccine.

All of the participants mentioned how important it was to perform research on your own time when it comes to vaccinations, especially the Gardasil vaccination. Some people have “blind trust” in their family physicians, but if something along the lines of a vaccine is not entirely mandatory parents should be able to take their time and decide what they really want for their children. No one confirmed a belief that a vaccine of Gardasil’s nature should be mandated by the federal government, but they did all believe in mandatory vaccination otherwise. The government and its agencies still need to take an active role in dispersing factual information pertaining to and vaccines or medication that they decide are important to citizen health.

Additionally, participants stated almost unanimously that the most important considerations people make when researching and or administering the Gardasil vaccination are the potential oncological benefits. Even if they are not all encompassing, to them it is better than

Vols. 8 & 9

69

choosing to do nothing at all given family health histories and personal experience.

Appendix Contact Speech: Hello, my name is Aileen Burke and I am conducting independent research at the College of Saint Rose on mass media and social constructions and depictions of the Gardasil Vaccination. I am looking for participants who have children that are the suggested age to receive the Gardasil Vaccination, or parents of people who already have. There is a lot of coverage within the mass media on this specific vaccination and the idea of vaccinations in general and I would love to be able to talk to you about it personally. We would talk about the Human Papillomavirus and the Gardasil Vaccination for about a half of an hour, and all of our information/discussions would remain absolutely private.

Then, the potential participant received appropriate contact information.

Works Cited Barbour, William. Mass Media : Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, c1994., 1994. Opposing viewpoints series (Unnumbered). EBSCOhost.

Colgrove, James. “The Ethics and Politics of Compulsory HPV Vaccination.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 355, no.

23, July 2006, pp. 2389–2391., doi:10.1056/nejmp068248.

Gamson, William A., et al. "Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality." Annual Review of Sociology, 1992, p. 373.

EBSCOhost.

Gustafson, Diana L. and Claire F. Woodworth. "Methodological and Ethical Issues in Research Using Social Media: A Metamethod of Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Studies."

BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 14, no. 1, Dec. 2014, pp. 1-18. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/1471-2288-14-127.

“Human Papillomavirus (HPV).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 May 2018, www.cdc.gov/hpv/parents/vaccine.html.

70

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Kellstedt, Paul M. The Mass Media and the Dynamics of American Racial Attitudes. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

EBSCOhost.

Soss, Joe. "Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy." American Political Science Review, no. 4, 2000. EBSCOhost.

Vols. 8 & 9

71

The Smartphone Filmmaker: Status Conferral and the Increase of the Smartphone as a Filmmaking Tool Samuel M. Lund Class of 2019 Communications COM 398, Professor Jin Kim Abstract This paper examines studies into audience perception of the smartphone as a filmmaking tool, and looks into how smartphone companies such as Apple, Samsung, or LG are using status-conferral by advertising the smartphone as a camera more than a cellphone. In the age of smartphones, more and more people are using them as a tool for filmmaking rather than using name-brand high-quality cameras.

Examining the evolution of the smartphone beyond just a tool to make phone calls, this paper brings insight into the idea that smartphones are phasing out and replacing many tools of society by focusing on the replacement of high-quality name brand cameras. To exemplify the use of status-conferral, I analyze two advertisements from Samsung and Apple, and examine the message conveyed, how the shots were taken and edited, who the audience was, and the method in which the respective companies present their products.

Keywords: status-conferral, smartphones, advertisements, cinematography, cameras, filmmaker.

Introduction Filmmaking is one of the most prominent forms of entertainment that exists in today’s society, and the ways in which films or videos are created are evolving at an exponential rate. From the cinématographe projector and camera, to High-Definition Cameras, to Smartphones, there is a clear pattern that can be seen in relation to the method and tools used to create films or videos. Name brand highquality cameras, such as Canon, JVC or SONY, have been the “norm”

72

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

for up and coming students and/or filmmakers aspiring to work in media production as a career. Yet, as smartphones are becoming smarter, there is a decline in high-quality name brand camera usage, and an increase in smartphone usage for content-creation. This increase raises a few questions, which will be researched in this paper. One, what makes good and bad content? Two, which is better: name brand cameras, such as JVC, SONY, or Panasonic; or smartphones, such as iPhone, Samsung, or LG? The most substantial question to ask, however, is if the smartphone’s status is conferred through the advertisements created to make content creators believe smartphones are the best tools to use for filmmaking. Also to note is if the use of status conferral is making smartphones more important filmmaking tools than they ought to be. To answer these questions, we will look at specific examples of smartphones usage in relation to content creation, user perception of high-quality cameras versus smartphones, and what advertisements by companies such as Samsung or Apple are conveying to their audience.

Status-Conferral Function Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton define three functions of mass media in their article, “Mass Communication, Popular Taste, and Organized Social Action.” The three functions they describe are status-conferral, enforcement of social norms, and the narcotizing dysfunction. Enforcement of social norms deals with mass media confirming or re-affirming social norms which are enforced by the “…acknowledgment by members of the group that these deviations have occurred, [and] requires each individual to take such a stand” (Lazarsfeld and Merton 237). The narcotizing dysfunction, however, makes the mass mistake knowing for doing. For example, they may see and then share a post about a natural disaster on Facebook believing they are actually taking part in the relief efforts for the disaster.

Although both of these functions of mass media are part of Lazarsfeld and Merton’s research, the function of mass media that is most relevant to the topic of the emergence of smartphone usage to create content is the status-conferral function. The status-conferral function is described as the idea that mass media give “…prestige and enhance[s] the authority of individuals and groups by legitimizing their status” (Lazarsfeld and Merton 235). Because of status-conferral, people may believe that if you are in the limelight of the media, for instance in a commercial on television, you must be important; yet the function works conversely, as well, meaning if you are important, you must to be in the limelight of the media.

Vols. 8 & 9

73

The main concept of the status-conferral function is that it boosts public confidence in the social objects media set in the limelight.

According to Peter Simonson, assistant professor of Communication Arts at the University of Colorado: Via the status-conferral function, media contribute to the social processes of confidence by boosting the public standing of the ideas, institutions, and people they portray.

Media give these social objects a metaphorical aura that recommends them as grounds for public confidence.

(Simonson 109) Although Lazarsfeld and Merton only speak of the statusconferral function in regards to persons, public issues, organizations, and social movements, Simonson extends the idea to objects. Simonson illustrates the status-conferral function by saying, “Appearance in public is also appearance before the public, both open exhibition and display before the whole body of people” (Arendt, 1958; Habermas, 1962/1989; Peters,1995, 1997). Media can tie the objects they represent to both of these normatively charged ideas” (Simonson 113). This idea of appearance in the public, or the media, being displayed before the whole body of people is the popularity of its subject. Smartphones are in the media much more than high-quality cameras, such as JVC or SONY. Many students today are introduced to filmmaking in school at very young ages. In a research study by Nicolas A. Gromik where he conducted both a qualitative and quantitative method with pre- and post- survey questions as well as non-structured interviews on students, he was looking into the effect of using the smartphone video camera as a tool to create stories. Although his study focused mainly on the student’s growth or decline in speaking ability because of their assignments to record videos, Gromik also looked at whether the participants made improvements and felt more confident when dealing with video recording features of their smartphones. Gromik found that participants are receiving access to smartphones at young ages, and they: “…develop prior knowledge and familiarity with using certain features over others” (Gromik 74). Although many students were unfamiliar with the video camera feature on their smartphones, they did notice an increase in their confidence and ability to use the feature. He explains in his research that: …mobile technology enables subscribers to have access to all the tools and information at their fingertips to construct new meaning through inquisitive and deductive reasoning in order

74

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

to produce new documents or artifacts anytime, anywhere, and at any-pace. (Gromik 65) We are constantly surrounded by media in today’s world. In his article, Mark Deuze describes the modern society as always being immersed in the new world, where media and real life are constantly intertwined with each other. Deuze writes, “Part of media life means coming to terms with a super-saturation of media messages and machines in households, work- places, shopping malls, bars and restaurants, and all the other in-between spaces of today’s world” (Deuze 327). Because of this constant immersion within the media world, the consumers of media are exposed to many advertisements every day. These consumers are “… emotionally engaged with all their media, and the cross-platform digital data generated in media life promises precise targeting of skillfully crafted promotional messages to eager consumers” (Deuze 327).

According to iSpot.tv, a television advertisement statistics website, from April 1, 2017 to April 30, 2017, the Apple iPhone has one-hundred (100) nationally aired Television ad campaigns to date, with five-hundred and seventy-four (574) airings ("Apple iPhone TV Commercials"), Samsung Mobile has one-hundred and ninety-one (191) nationally aired television ad campaigns to date, with threethousand nine-hundred and two (3,902) airings ("Samsung Mobile TV Commercials"), and LG Mobile has twenty-five (25) nationally aired Television ad campaigns, and has had four-thousand seven-hundred and ninety-one (4,791) airings ("LG Mobile TV Commercials").

Altogether, the three major smartphone manufacturers have aired ninethousand two-hundred and sixty-seven (9,267) commercial advertisements in that thirty-day period. For smartphones, it is definitely apparent there is a limelight being shown upon them. Stated

by Elihu Katz, a sociologist and media scholar, “[t]he role of the media in ‘conferring status’ follows obviously as an agent of conformity” (Katz 273). This conformity Katz is describing is similar to the idea that if a product is in the limelight, or in the media, then that product must be important, which would then lead to the action of the audience to go out and purchase the product to fit in to the social norms depicted in the media. Given the availability and accessibility of video making tools and editing tools, more people are able to take part in the process of filmmaking, but the availability of these digital technologies allows the users to have a lot control of “image manipulation and editing…than was available with old technology” (Buckingham 42).

With this, researchers recommend that educational institutions use digital means with students to promote both print-based and

Vols. 8 & 9

75

multimodal literacies. But what determines whether content such as films, short films, or videos are quality content or bad quality, and is the smartphone’s status conferred through the advertisements created to make content creators believe smartphones are the best tools to use for filmmaking?

Perhaps the reason why more and more smartphones are being used as filmmaking tools today is because of the fact that smartphone companies such as Apple, Samsung, or LG are putting out more advertisements featuring the great qualities of its devices, mainly the cameras, than the high-quality name brand cameras. For example, Apple recently released the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. The advertisements shown on television for these new smartphones featured the ability of the smartphone to be used in the rain, and to take photos in low light and 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution. The advertisements Apple uses places more emphasis on the Apple iPhone’s function as a camera, rather than as a mobile device typically used to make phone calls. By doing this, it could potentially attract filmmakers or content creators that are new to the industry to purchase the device, with intended purposes to create films and/or videos. To Apple, this scenario would be “Practically Magic” (“iPhone 7 - Midnight”).

Quality of Filmmaking Tools Filmmaking has been around since the early 1900s. Beginning in the previous century, British photographer by the name of Eadweard Muybridge pioneered and basically created the first “film” by using multiple series of cameras to record a horse's gallops to prove that all four of the horse's feet were off the ground at the same time.

Muybridge was able to put the images together and create the illusion of movement, similar to a flip book (Dirks). This illusion was considered a special effect, as the audiences had never seen movement on screen. After this realization, filmmakers have emerged and continue to attempt the creation of new techniques and methods for their ever-growing audiences. What constitutes as a good film, however, is a subjective question, as people can interpret film in different ways; much like language and art as seen through separate perspectives. The authors of the article, “What makes a youth-produced film good? The youth audience perspective,” Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, Damiana Gibbons, Shelby Copeland, Alon Andrews, Belen Hernando Llorens, and Michelle B. Bass, researched, as the title suggests, what makes a film made by young people, particularly students, good; and what factors the youth believe are included in the filmmaking process. In the article, the researchers asked the Youth respondents to analyze films based on the type of film being made,

76

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

such as documentary, experimental, and auto-biographical. Some evaluations involved a question about the story of the films, and evaluate what they thought it was supposed to be about; then the Youth were asked to respond to the question of how well the filmmaker told the story, based on the narrative, genre, tools, mediums, and methods used to create the film, of which the authors called, ‘creative decisions’ (Halverson et al. 386-403).

One of the films critiqued in the study was called “Thanksgiving,” which featured a family during Thanksgiving, but it was made with a lot of home video compiled together. Some viewers in a focus group of thirty-eight enjoyed the film because they “appreciate being with [their] family so it was like something that really hit [them] personally” (Halverson et al. 398). For many, the quality of the film is not in the quality of the image that is seen on screen, but the emotions that the story causes the viewer, such as this one, to feel and connect with.

Editing style was also critiqued among the focus groups, where some didn’t like the fact that text was used on a film instead of the voiceover, and that some of the footage didn’t match what was being said. A close up that was used in a film called, Jewmaican, according to the study group, did not further the story the subject was telling or “…[fell] within the usual expectations about interviews in documentaries; therefore, it was a deal breaker that ruined the movie” (Halverson et al. 398). It is evident here that editing is a key role in deciding if a film is good or not, which means that using a smartphone as a camera would have no effect on the post-production aspect of the filmmaking process. In the article, it is seen that the technique and art of making the film is one of the most important parts of the process. At the end of the study, the researchers saw that the criteria being evaluated to make a good film was how unique it was, if the story was special, and connected with the viewer, and if the film was believable by using proper filming techniques such as lighting, assembly editing, shot framing, music composition, quality of the image and other variables that go into the filmmaking process. Yet, this is grounds for the conclusion that that the smartphone can still produce a good film, by using these standards for what a good film is.

When thinking about what makes a film “good” isn’t the judgement of experts in the field, such as the filmmakers who know more about the filmmaking techniques than someone not in the industry; yet is deemed “good” or “bad” based on the judgement and opinions of a mass audience. This can be seen by the emergence of film review websites such as Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB. These websites

Vols. 8 & 9

77

give the audiences or perspective audiences the ability to gain an overall consensus and mass opinion of the film.

In an article written by siblings, Erik Eriksson & Yvonne Eriksson, sixty-one Swedish audience members were asked to watch three almost identical films shot on three different cameras: the ARRI Plus, which won an award for best cinematography at the 2011 Oscars, the Canon EOS 5D mk III, which is typically used for still photos, but can also record video, and an Apple iPhone 4S. After viewing the films, the audience members were to then vote on which version looked best, which they would want to view in a movie theater, and which film sounded best (even though the soundtracks were the same). In the result, most people said that the Apple iPhone 4S had the best image quality, and “by inference, then, the highest in production value” (Eriksson and Eriksson 147), however, “[w]hen comparing the three versions, some audience members did not notice any differences in terms of image quality” (Eriksson and Eriksson 147). This means that although a majority thought that the Apple iPhone 4S had better quality, many didn’t notice a difference. The authors of this article addressed the results as a cognitive matter, that “…when watching the iPhone-film something remains between the viewer and what ought to be a transparent and seamless experience” (Eriksson and Eriksson 149).

They say because of the depth-of-field the iPhone 4S has added an emphasis on the pixel grain or visual noise, conversely (Eriksson and Eriksson 148). Overall, it is clear that a smartphone can be used to create films and/or videos and the audience will still receive the message, if shot with the proper filmmaking techniques.

Yet, many people in the film industry see error in using a smartphone as a camera, based on the preconceived notion of the device not having as much quality in the image, and the idea that it restricts the user (Seo 49-60). It is shown that the geometric accuracy of the smartphone camera is lower than or less stable than that of the DSLR camera. In an investigation on the quality of a camera, such as name-brand Nikon, versus the smartphones, such as Galaxy Note S 2, LG Optimus Pro, and the LG G4, the study found through different tests that images can be taken on smartphone and deemed to be of good quality if their “…camera calibration has geometric accuracy comparable to a DSLR camera” (Seo 59). Geometric accuracy or calibration is when the camera software corrects the image from lens distortion, measure the size of an object, or figure out the location of the camera in the particular shot (see figure 1). All digital cameras have a form of geometric accuracy, and the performance of camera software can determine how good the picture is received.

78

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

In an article written for Time Inc., author Lisa Eadicicco writes that the end is near to the “megapixel war” for the smartphones, due to the lack of physical space needed. Yet, the article talks about how what they lack in megapixels they make up for in other features, such as being able to focus faster than a high-quality camera. In an interview with Brian Blau, a research director for Gartner, which is a research firm for IT, told Eadicicco that “[o]ne of the things that camera makers in general are focusing on is image quality…,” and he further states that if smartphone manufacturers have to, they will enlarge the device itself (Eadicicco). To understand the use of statusconferral to sell the smartphone more as a camera, rather than a phone, we must analyze at least two commercials to get a deeper meaning behind the message, its intent, and how it may be interpreted by an audience.

Method

To understand the way status-conferral is used to sell the smartphone as a camera, I used a qualitative research method to analyze two separate advertisements for smartphones: the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy. I chose two videos from the respective companies YouTube Channel for their recent releases of their smartphones. The first video I analyzed was the from Samsung, titled “The Rest of Us,” which has a total runtime of one (1) minute and one (1) second. The video has five- million, thirty-six-thousand, and threehundred and seventy-nine (5,036,179) views as of October 27th, 2017.

The second video I analyzed was from Apple, “Take Mine.” This video has a total runtime of one (1) minute. The video has six-million, twohundred and sixty-five thousand, eight-hundred and eighty-one (6,265,881) views as of October 27th, 2017. While analyzing the two video advertisements, I focused on their message, how their shots were taken, who their audience was, and the method in which both companies present their products.

Results and Discussion The Samsung Galaxy commercial titled “The Rest of Us” begins with Casey Neistat in a suit and tie walking up to a microphone, introducing “[t]he rest of us” (Samsung Mobile USA 00:04). The title of this advertisement refers to those who are the directors, who are creators, and “don’t use budgets or fancy cameras…” (Samsung Mobile USA 00:04), who are the innovators and use their cameras with ingenuity or clever tricks to make the shot look the way they want. The commercial puts together a montage edit, showing all of the different ways that users are creating amazing content, but mostly showing off

Vols. 8 & 9

79

how users are creating the content using their smartphones. By taping it to a bike, by adding accessories to make it do more things, like have a fish eye lens, or mount to a helmet, it shows off how users who buy similar products, such as the Go Pro, can do the same thing and have more features. In the description of the video on YouTube, it reads as, “Introducing the makers, the directors and the creators of this generation. When we're told we can’t, we all have the same answer” (Samsung Mobile USA). To sell their product, Samsung does something very smart: They challenge the audience of this commercial to do something they are being told they cannot do, which is that they cannot be “…makers, filmmakers, the directors, [or] the creators of this generation.” This commercial puts the Samsung Galaxy in the limelight and sells it as a camera. The audience is likely to purchase a smartphone like this, because it can do so much, and because the advertisement challenges the audience, which would only want them to prove the message that “they can’t” wrong.

With no use of the English language used in its advertisement, Apple sells the iPhone 7 Plus as “professional looking” camera. The commercial opens up with a young girl meeting her grandmother in another country. She has the brand-new iPhone 7 Plus, and shows her grandmother the beautiful photos the smartphone takes in portrait mode —creating a depth effect that drives everyone wild. Soon after the grandmother sees the photo, as well as others, they surround her and ask her to take their photo all around the city. Everyone is shocked to see this amazing device, as no-one else around has it, and it causes awe whenever she snaps a photo. This commercial is showing off, not the applications or software of the iPhone, but rather the seemingly endless possibilities of the camera, that it can render depth-of-field, and achieve sharp focus. Text appears at the end of the commercial, saying “Portrait Mode, made on the iPhone 7 Plus…practically magic” (“iPhone 7 Plus - Take Mine” 00:55). The main idea conveyed by this advertisement is that the iPhone 7 Plus is magic, and therefore everyone would want to go out and by it to cause shock and awe amongst the people around them and their community. To have an iPhone 7 Plus is to be able to show off and have people be amazed at what you have (and what they don’t), and want to go out and buy one themselves to have the same effect.

Conclusion Status conferral is a powerful function that can be used by companies or media to put anything in the limelight, and have an audience feel it’s important. Throughout history advertisements have been used to make people believe their product is more important and

80

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

reliable than similar products, and it is clear that this is still the case today. As smartphones are becoming “smarter,� and more advanced, many people will be in shock and awe at what it can do, and be urged to go out and buy them. After analyzing the different commercial advertisements by Samsung and Apple, their messages to their audiences are to sell something that they do not currently have the ability to do, and to challenge them to break out of the box with creativity by using their products, suggesting that high-quality cameras are holding creators and innovators held back from their work. With this increase in smartphones being used as a filmmaking tool, it allows for more content creators, however amateur. As more and more people begin filmmaking with their smartphones, it can be considered a steppingstone to bigger things. The content made on a smartphone can be perceived by the audience as cinematic, if shot correctly, and it can be good practice for content creators to try out different angles and lighting techniques. In this paper, we talked about the differences between DSLR and smartphones, yet, there are a lot of differences between the two. Smartphones have gotten so advanced that the differences in quality compared to name brand cameras are minuscule, that it would be in best interest to use a smartphone because of its ease of use and accessibility, rather than using the heavy high-quality name brand cameras. Further studies into this topic would be necessary to fully understand the scope and the usage of smartphones being used as filmmaking tools instead of high-quality name brand cameras. Using methods such as in-depth interviews and surveys would be useful in gathering this data, and analyzing it would provide insight into those questions, and perhaps reveal more.

Vols. 8 & 9

81

Appendix:

Figure 1 - (“What Is Camera Calibration? - MATLAB & Simulink Mathworks United Kingdom")

Works Cited "Apple Iphone TV Commercials". Ispot.tv. N.p., 2017. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

Apple. Iphone 7 - Midnight. 2016. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Apple. Iphone 7 Plus - Take Mine. 2017. Web. 2 May 2017.

Buckingham, D. "Media Education In The UK: Moving Beyond Protectionism." Journal of Communication 48.1 (1998): 3343. Web. 26 Oct. 2017.

Dirks, Tim. "Film History Before 1920". Filmsite.org. Web. 11 Apr. 2016 Eriksson, Erik, and Yvonne Eriksson. "Syncretistic Images: Iphone Fiction Filmmaking And Its Cognitive Ramifications".

Digital Creativity 26.2 (2015): 138-153. Web. Halverson, Erica Rosenfeld et al. "What Makes A Youth-Produced Film Good? The Youth Audience Perspective�. Learning, Media and Technology 39.3 (2012): 386-403. Web. 1 May 2017.

Katz, E. "Lazarsfeld's Map Of Media Effects". International Journal of Public Opinion Research 13.3 (2001): 270-279. Web.

82

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Lazarsfeld, Paul Felix, and Robert King Merton. Mass Communication, Popular Taste And Organized Social Action. 1st ed.

Indianapolis, IN.: Bobbs-Merrill, College Division. Print.

"LG Mobile TV Commercials". Ispot.tv. N.p., 2017. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

"Samsung Mobile TV Commercials". Ispot.tv. N.p., 2017. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

Samsung Mobile USA. Samsung Galaxy - The Rest Of Us. 2017. Web. 2 May 2017.

Seo, Suyoung. "Investigation On Image Quality Of Smartphone Cameras As Compared With A DSLR Camera By Using Target Image Edges". Korean Journal of Remote Sensing 32.1 (2016): 49-60. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Simonson, P. "Mediated Sources Of Public Confidence: Lazarsfeld And Merton Revisited". Journal of Communication 49.2 (1999): 109-122. Web. "What Is Camera Calibration? - MATLAB & Simulink - Mathworks United Kingdom". Mathworks.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 May 2017.

Deuze, Mark. "Living in Media and the Future of Advertising." Journal of Advertising, vol. 45, no. 3, July 2016, pp. 326-333.

EBSCOhost, doi 10.1080/00913367.2016.1185983.

Gromik, Nicolas A. "The Effect of Smartphone Video Camera as a Tool to Create Gigital Stories for English Learning Purposes."

Journal of Education and Learning, vol. 4, no. 4, 01 Jan. 2015, pp. 64-79.

Vols. 8 & 9

83

The Powerful and the Powerless: Does Social Media Grant Individuals Power?

Rhina Allende Class of 2018 Political Science POS498, Dr. Ryane McAuliffe Straus Introduction Power is a concept often difficult to define. Although it is a commonly used word in the English language, it is difficult also to determine what is the source of power or what determines who has power. Many scholars have attempted to define this word and develop methods to study it, but it has proven to be a multifaceted and complex concept to study. If one believes that a power structure exists, they must find a steadfast way to study it while accounting for each person in any given situation. One must consider both the powerful and the powerless, decisions both seen and unseen, and both public and private discourse. Over the last 60 years, scholars have vigorously debated this topic, and while scholars can agree that power exists and plays a role in the American political sphere, each scholar brings a new perspective on who has power and where it comes from. Some scholars believe that power is blatant and observable; they argue that power comes with decision making 1, and thus finding the source of power in the American political sphere is as simple as finding out who is making decisions. 2 Other scholars debate this idea and feel as if power is more covert 3; these scholars argue that power lies in agenda making 4 and that power is not something observable to the naked eye. Additionally, this debate began a conversation about who has power. In a democratic Robert A. Dahl, Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005 [1961]).

2 C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000 [1959]).

3 Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz, "Two Faces of Power," American Political Science Review 56, no. 04 (1962):.

4 E. E. Schattschneider, The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America (Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960).

1

84

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

society power should ideally lie with the American people, but some scholars have gone as far as to claim that the masses are completely powerless. 5 As time has passed and technological advances have taken place, conversations about power have changed significantly. The rise of modern technology, and more specifically, the rapid increase of social media use in the United States, has caused scholars to ask new questions about whether or not social media gives the lower strata of Americans an increased amount of power and influence. I will be exploring how the common man utilizes social media in a time of national crisis, and whether or not social media actually gives them power. I argue that social media allows the lower strata to have more influence over public discourse, but the conversation that starts online seldom turns into real world action, and thus is not an indicator of true power.

Literature Review While the idea of power is discussed frequently in everyday conversation, once scholars began to define it, it became a multilayered concept with both observable and unobservable traits. If looking specifically at observable traits of power, one would be observing the first face of power. Two pioneers in this field of thought are C. Wright Mills and Robert Dahl; these scholars analyzed power through researching decision-making and came to two vastly different conclusions. On one hand, Mills’s research led him to discover a power elite which makes all American political decisions while rendering the masses powerless. He found that the power elite has influence over three main spheres: political, economic, military. 6 According to Mills, “As each of these domains has coincided with the others, as decisions tend to become total in their consequence, the leading men in each of the three domains of power—the warlords, the corporation chieftains, the political directorate—tend to come together, to form the power elite of America.” 7 This means that the power elite is able to manipulate resources in all three spheres in order to make decisions that impact all Americans; these three separate spheres are interdependent. One might question why the American people allow this power elite to exist, but Mills addresses this by stating that the masses are simply distracted by inconsequential nonsense like celebrities and media. 8 Dahl disagreed with Mills’ perspective entirely; he instead presented a pluralist argument in which the masses have power and C. Wright Mills.

Ibid.

7 Ibid., 9.

8 Ibid 5 6

Vols. 8 & 9

85

there is no centralized elitist group. Dahl argued that people exist on a spectrum in which they can transfer back and forth from political to apolitical and vice versa. He used examples of real Americans who were typically apolitical; as they faced issues that were prevalent to their lives, they increasingly became more politically involved and remained political until said issue was resolved. According to Dahl, Americans penetrate the political sphere when faced with issues that directly impact them, otherwise, they are content and have no need for politics. 9 Although both Mills and Dahl were able to support their arguments with empirical evidence, methodologically, their research was flawed.

They chose research questions that would lead them to the argument they wanted to make; they entered their research with a set bias. Their conclusions were also broad enough that they could be molded around any given decision. When looking at historically significant decisions, both Mills and Dahl would be able to manipulate the situation and make it relevant to either the elitist or pluralist argument.

While the first face of power focused on tangible decision making, a new group of scholars challenged these ideas by introducing a second face of power. E. E. Schattschneider was one of the first scholars to contribute to the discussion of the second face of power. His concept of the mobilization of bias was particularly influential on other scholars. Essentially, Schattschneider argued that one has power when they are able to mobilize bias; those that set agendas and control the scope of conflict in any given situation are the people that are truly in power. 10 Bachrach and Baratz re-entered the conversation and coined the phrase “second face of power” to explain this new, covert, definition of power. They also urged other scholars to join this conversation and provide empirical evidence of the existence of this second face of power. 11 Michael Parenti then took the concepts of the mobilization of bias and the second face of power and built a strong empirical argument. He took Dahl’s earlier argument that the masses were able to move from apolitical to political and effect change with ease and disproved it. In one article, he examined Newark, NJ, a majority Black city, and showed that when faced with three political issues (housing, traffic lights, and voting), despite their efforts to move from political to apolitical, they were unable to make change due to their race. 12 Parenti used Schattschneider’s argument and stated that Black Americans were unable to broaden the scope of conflict, and thus Dahl.

Schattschneider.

11 Bachrach and Baratz.

12Michael Parenti, "Power and Pluralism: A View from the Bottom," The Journal of Politics 32, no. 3 (1970).

9

10

86

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

had no power in all three of these situations. While the first face of power shows all Americans having the capability to participate in politics, it is the second face of power that address how biases and scope impact participation beneath the surface.

When discussing power, scholars like Mills, Dahl and Parenti saw the right to vote as an important indicator of the sources of power in the American political sphere. Mills saw the right to vote as a distraction from the power elite; he saw the right to vote as a means to pacify the American people and give them a false sense of power. 13 Dahl, on the other hand, argued that the right to vote is a democratic American right and is, in fact, proof that the public has power as they can effect change through voting. Voting gives power to the masses as they decide the fate of politicians; if a politician wishes to remain in office, they need to meet the needs of the people, and thus, the people have power. While Dahl was able to prove his perspective through empirical research, Dahl focused on middle and upper class Americans only. 14 Parenti uses this point to challenge Dahl, as, when he studied the majority black community in Newark, NJ, he noted that even though the people living there had the right to vote, they were still barred from effecting change and remained powerless. Parenti argues that factors like race and social status determine and dictate one’s access to power. 15 Some Americans may have the power to effect change, but it is naive and incorrect to argue that all Americans have the same amount of access to that power.

Parenti’s views on democracy are echoed by activists fighting against injustices in society today. Parenti argued that even though a group of Black Americans in Newark rallied around multiple issues, signed petitions, and became increasingly more political over time, their needs were ignored and they remained powerless. 16 This situation is still prevalent today. When looking at issues like police brutality, it is clear that although massive amounts of Americans are organizing and protesting to effect change, their actions are often ignored. In other words, although these groups of people were able to broaden the scope the conflict, they remained powerless. Dhiraj Murthy argued that when Black Americans go out and protest around the country, they are deemed violent, called rioters instead of protestors, and are barred from effecting change. 17 Black Americans today have the right to vote, but Wright Mills.

Dahl.

15 Parenti.

16 Ibid 17 Dhiraj Murthy, Alexander Gross, and Alexander Pensavalle, "Urban Social Media Demographics: An Exploration of Twitter Use in Major 13 14

Vols. 8 & 9

87

they do not have the right to protest or protect themselves and their children from corrupt and poorly trained police officers. 18 This is similar to Parenti’s article as Black Americans had the right to vote, but not the right to live in homes with working utilities or the right to save their children from car accidents. 19 In the time of Parenti’s article, once Black Americans were unable to effect change in their neighborhoods, they had to give up as there were no other avenues for power. Today, Black Americans are able to utilize social media in order to mobilize and influence other Americans.

The rise of the digital age led to a new conversation about the power of the masses and the American First Amendment right to organize and protest. Marginalized groups are often misrepresented in the media when they protest; their protests are seen as rioting and are said to be too violent. 20 Oftentimes, the media misrepresents Black Americans and makes it hard for them to mobilize. These marginalized groups have taken to social media to address their grievances and spread their own political ideologies and beliefs. It is through social media that they are able to organize and meet like-minded individuals; they can partake in meaningful discussion and create actionable plans using social media alone. 21 Over the past few years, social media use on platforms like Facebook and Twitter have slowly declined, but Black Americans have a higher likelihood of using Twitter than all other racial groups and are actually overrepresented on social media. 22 Essentially, their heavy participation on various social media platforms allow Black Americans to influence what topics are subject to many posts over a short period of time, otherwise known as trending. As Black Americans post online, the issues faced by their communities become highly publicized and they then are able to broaden the scope of conflict through mobilizing on social media. One might read this as a sign of power, but it is actually just potential power; while these Americans bring about awareness to certain issues, they have yet to make real change.

American Cities," Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 21, no. 1 (2015): , doi:10.1111/jcc4.12144.

18 Yarimar Bonilla and Jonathan Rosa, "#Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States," American Ethnologist 42, no. 1 (2015): , doi:10.1111/amet.12112.

19 Parenti.

20 Bonilla and Rosa.

21 Murthy, Gross, and Pensavalle.

22 Ibid

88

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The introduction of social media into mainstream political conversation changed how scholars discussed and defined power.

Suddenly, power became as easy as writing a Facebook post, creating a hashtag, or posting a video online. In the article #Ferguson, Bonilla and Rosa note that the masses have the power to upload videos, inform the public, and make a specific topic on Twitter “trend.” 23 These hashtags are permanent and imperishable; one can look them up and figure out how many times any particular hashtag was used and in what context.

When looking at the murder of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, one can look up #Ferguson and watch the conversation unfold. 24 Never before was access to political issues as simple at the click of a button. #Ferguson began minutes after the shooting as the story unraveled on Twitter due to Black users and their tagging of all information related to the case. Following the news that Officer Wilson would not be indicted for Brown’s murder, social media was used to increase awareness, organize rallies and protests, and publicize an issue that might have otherwise been handled discreetly and without much media coverage. 25 This rise of political conversation on social media is not exclusive to Black Americans though. During both the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Dreamers movement, activism looked different than before. Both movements relied on social media heavily to attract participants, gain media attention, and even outwit the police. 26 Both of these movements show a younger generation of politically active Americans utilizing their resources to make a difference. All three of these movements support the idea that social media has had a positive impact on participation; Black and young Americans can sometimes struggle to have their voices heard, so they take to social media to broaden the scope of conversation and influence public discourse. These groups also support Dahl’s theory that the masses are able to switch between being political and apolitical. 27 Social media simply makes political issues more accessible to the public which then allows people to become more openly political. These groups seem to be manipulating factors in both the first and second faces of power as

Bonilla and Rosa.

Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ruth Milkman, "Millennial Movements: Occupy Wall Street and the Dreamers," Dissent 61, no. 3 (June 26, 2014). doi:10.1353/dss.2014.0053.

27 Dahl.

23 24

Vols. 8 & 9

89

they are able to move from an apolitical to political sphere 28 as they mobilize bias online. 29 Some scholars, though, believe that social media is actually hurting the American political sphere and making Americans less political. There is a similar debate today as there was with Mills and Dahl. While it is easy to support Dahl’s pluralism theory by stating that Americans are becoming increasingly more political on social media, there is a contrasting claim that social media distracts the masses and makes them less engaged in politics. 30 Social networking sites utilize formulas that show users what they want to see. They can filter out certain stories and articles, and show users political stories that align with their typical political slant. 31 Additionally, groups themselves can filter information or communicate outside of social media. Some Tea Party Facebook pages, for example, post low-level discussion topics on their group page, but used non-inclusive tools like emailing and conference calls to exclude certain members in higher level conversations. 32 This supports Mills’ theory that the masses are being distracted and given a false sense of power as a power elite makes real decisions behind the scenes. 33 Some researchers argue that online political activity merely creates a norm of online activity that does not translate into real world action and may even lower real world activity. 34 Americans may begin to believe that sharing an article or photo on social media is educating the public, and thus they do not need to protest or fight in any other way.

The debate about social media and its impact on political participation has only just begun. There are still many unanswered Ibid Schattschneider.

30 Hodgkinson in Homero Gil De Zúñiga, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastián Valenzuela, "Social Media Use for News and Individuals Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation," Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication17, no. 3 (2012): , doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01574.x.

31 W. Lance Bennett, "The Personalization of Politics," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 644, no. 1 (2012): , doi:10.1177/0002716212451428.

32 Sheetal D. Agarwal et al., "Grassroots organizing in the digital age: considering values and technology in Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street," Information, Communication & Society 17, no. 3 (2014): , doi:10.1080/1369118x.2013.873068.

33 Wright Mills.

34 Nathaniel Swigger, "The Online Citizen: Is Social Media Changing Citizens’ Beliefs About Democratic Values?" Political Behavior 35, no. 3 (2012). doi:10.1007/s11109-012-9208-y.

28 29

90

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

questions with regard to social media and its ability to shape knowledge, sway opinions, and filter out conflict. In this paper, I hope to contribute to this conversation by exploring Twitter and whether or not Twitter has given the American public actual power. I will analyze tweets all related to an issue that directly impacts different marginalized groups, and I will explore how the conversation forms on social media, who runs the conversation, and whether or not the conversation led to real world action. It is clear that social media changes the scope of conversation about political issues, but are there decisions made following these posts that lead to tangible change?

Data and Methods Studies have analyzed Twitter use surrounding the events that took place in Ferguson, so when choosing a hashtag to analyze for this paper, I choose a more recent event of a similar scale. This paper will focus on one hashtag, #Charlottesville, which was used to refer to a series of rallies and protests held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11 and 12, 2017. On Friday, August 11, a group of white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia’s campus while chanting Nazi and white supremacist slogans in response to the removal of a statue of the confederate army commander Robert E. Lee. The group consisted of white men carrying blazing tiki torches and shouting racial and homophobic slurs and phrases like “the Goyim know,” “you will not replace us” and “white lives matter.” On August 12, both protesters and counter protesters took to the streets; many protesters held confederate flags and flags with swastikas, while others were armed with semi-automatic guns and other weaponry. Many counter protesters were beaten mercilessly; one Black counter protester was shot at, and one man drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters killing one woman and injuring 19 others. These events were horrifying for the American public, and many took to social media to voice their concerns and hopefully effect change. While many felt hopeless, others used social media to stir conversation, organize protests, and directly voice concerns to politicians.

Throughout this study, I will use the social media website Twitter to determine whether or not social media gives power to otherwise powerless Americans and if this form of media makes a difference or is simply a distraction. I will do this by analyzing the top 150 tweets under the hashtag #Charlottesville on Twitter. These tweets were selected using the “advanced search” option on the homepage of the website; the advanced search terms used were: all tweets, matching “Charlottesville” From Aug 11-Aug 12, and written in English. On the website itself, one can select a button labeled “top” in order to view the

Vols. 8 & 9

91

most liked and retweeted posts under any given hashtag. I also read the profile biographies of each Twitter user represented in the top 150 tweets. The Charlottesville rallies were chosen because they are recent events which captured media attention and were widely discussed across the country. It is generally accepted that blatant racism and antiSemitism are things of the past, and thus political conversation was geared toward healing the country and condemning said behavior so these events would not be repeated. The 11th and 12th were chosen as the rallies occurred on these two days and the language was limited to English for consistency.

Twitter is an easily accessible and widely used social media platform with a following that often discusses political issues through hashtags; when exploring the power of social media, Twitter was a clear first choice with its easy to sift through content and its history of political activity. This type of data would be difficult to find using other methods of research. These tweets provide insight on how Americans from diverse racial, religious, and political backgrounds respond to hate crimes and whether or not they have the power to change.

Analysis Overall, I found that the public discourse on Twitter during the Charlottesville rallies was focused around condemning white supremacy and spreading awareness. Out of the top 150 tweets under the hashtag #Charlottesville, 23 supported and defended the rallies themselves, 6 were unrelated to the rallies, 12 were news outlets covering the story and providing updates, and 109 consisted of Americans condemning the rallies, tweeting politicians, and re-tweeting the news. This is significant because it shows that Twitter users were fairly united about this issue. While the 23 tweets supporting the rallies were retweeted and shared, those tweets were only a mere 15% of the total sample. From the 150 tweets selected, there were 3,488 words in total—the ten most used words and hashtags (other than Charlottesville) being:

92

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Word/Hashtag White Trump #unitetheright Supremacy/supremacist

# of times used 42 21 19 19

#defendcville

17

Rally

17

Hate/haters

16

Right David Duke

13 11

KKK

10

From these words alone, it is easy to discern the conversation that unfolded as the Charlottesville rallies took place.

Race was a major factor in the Charlottesville rallies, and thus “white” was the most used word throughout the set of tweets. Race is a concept that impacted the Charlottesville events in multiple ways. For starters, the statue of Robert E. Lee that provoked the protests is of a confederate commander from the Civil War. Many students at the University of Virginia and people living in Charlottesville felt uncomfortable having a supporter of Southern secession and slavery honored in their state. Secondly, when protesting, the white supremacists shouted various racial slurs including the “n” word and chanted “white lives matter,” a dig at the Black Lives Matter movement which protests police brutality in the United States. Thirdly, many of the tweets point fingers at Trump and his administration; they claim that Trump ran his election based on hate and thus Charlottesville is simply a culmination of the hate bred by the president. One such tweet by @Robyn_Resists on August 12th, demanded that Trump,

Vols. 8 & 9

93

@Robyn_Resists’s anger is highly apparent through her use of capital letters, strong language, and emojis. She is not the only American to feel this way though—across the board, many other tweets also noted the divide to which she alluded, and many felt President Trump wa\s to blame. Despite the fact that race played a large role in the culmination of events that occurred in Charlottesville, the discourse carried out on Twitter was still dominated by white Americans. In fact, only 26 of the 150 tweets were posted by people of color. This is significant because although people of color may utilize social media (Twitter in particular) at high rates, the most retweeted and shared posts are still those posted by white Americans. All marginalized groups that were attacked in the Charlottesville rallies were actually underrepresented in the top tweets on the 11th and 12th of August. Based on profile biographies, there were 5 openly LGBT accounts, 4 Muslim accounts, and 1 Jewish account.

Even when the accounts of people of color, people in the LGBT community, and people of Muslim and Jewish faith are totaled, they make up a mere 24% of the top tweets surrounding Charlottesville, and one of those tweets is in support of the rallies. Although many of the top tweets were posted by self-proclaimed “Social Justice Warriors” looking to protest against injustices in America, the tweets posted by these 36 accounts are much more personal and emotional. For example, @letsgomathias posted a video of the protesters with the caption,

94

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The post is very personal and even frightening as a large group of white men are shown in the video to be standing directly in front of counter protestors while shouting the above phrase at them repeatedly. @Fosia_omar, a black woman, posted multiple photos of the protesters carrying tiki torches and a black woman screaming while being carried away from the scene in a stretcher. She captioned it,

Vols. 8 & 9

95

The phrasing alone is incredibly solemn and really calls on other users to look back on America’s history and see how little society has advanced. The photos are also emotional and even hard to see; the amount of hate at these rallies was apparent and strong. These are just two examples of tweets posted by individuals from marginalized communities. These individuals are using Twitter to get across a political message and have their voices and the voices of their communities heard.

While race definitely played the largest role in the tensions in Charlottesville, many would argue that the next biggest factor would be President Donald Trump. Many of the top 150 tweets surrounding Charlottesville mentioned Trump and some even retweeted him directly with their complaints. Many of the posts criticized Trump for not taking a direct stance against the rally; one user, @wkamaubell, retweeted a video of Trump stating,

In the video, Trump is staring at a sheet of paper instead of looking at the camera or at the public, so @wkamaubell posted,

96

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

This user is claiming that the president does not actually believe that we are all Americans before our race and religious beliefs. He is directly calling out President Trump for his lack of a strong stance and this user is implying that President Trump actually sides with the white supremacists. This sentiment was likely shared by many other Americans, and the belief that President Trump sides with white supremacists further divides the country and could potentially lead to other events like Charlottesville. This post is a clear example of how one can use social media to mobilize bias and get a specific view to trend. @Wkamaubell was able to shape public discourse with a single 10-word tweet. This user is not the only person to find flaws in the way in which the president addressed Charlottesville. In fact, many users referenced a quote by the president which stated that things were done wrong "on many sides." Among the top 150 tweets, former vice president Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) tweeted,

This is significant because Joe Biden is an individual with power and connections; he helped run the country for eight years and felt so strongly about the words of president Trump that he actively opposed

Vols. 8 & 9

97

him in his posts on social media. The tweet itself received over 100,000 retweets, 400,000 likes, and 6,000 replies which means it circulated quite a bit. While the tweet was very short, it was bold and managed to stir up controversy on its own. While many of the replies under Biden’s tweet supported Biden for speaking out against Trump, a good number also claimed that Biden was not condemning ANTIFA and was thus in support of violence from the left.

Biden was not the only politician to take to Twitter and oppose president Trump though. Democrat Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) retweeted Trump herself with a stern and seemingly confrontational tweet which read,

Here, Pelosi is telling president Trump what she believes he should have said to the American people. This tweet alone received over 14,000 retweets, 40,000 likes, and 2,000 replies; many Twitter users agreed with her stance and felt that white supremacy was part of America’s past before Trump was elected. Across the board though, many users on both the left and right agreed with Pelosi and believe that white supremacy and racial violence have no place in the United States.

As more politicians and celebrities joined the conversation, it became apparent that they all took a similar slant. Out of the top 150 tweets, 49 were from verified users like politicians and news media outlets. These verified accounts always have large followings, so the 38 verified accounts each had thousands of retweets and reposts; these tweets became representative of the American public. Of the 49 verified tweets, 12 of them were posted by news outlets on five accounts: igd_news, FoxNews, ABC, NBCNews, and BuzzFeedNews.

Igd_news and BuzzFeedNews are both online news outlets with liberal slants. “Igd” stands for “it’s going down” and according to Twitter, their account posts “reports, podcasts, columns, and analysis of revolt and social movements from a revolutionary anarchist perspective.”

BuzzFeed is not quite as abrasive; on their profile, they claim to be “the most trusted @ username in news.” The tweets posted by these two

98

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

outlets reflect their respective political stances. For example, igd_news had 5 tweets in the top 150 and they each used phrases meant to spark controversy like “alt-right,” “we want war,” “neo-nazis,” and “noKKK,” while BuzzFeedNews tweeted once by posting an MSNBC video with the caption,

This caption is much more objective than igd_news, but it still leans to the left. Conversely, FoxNews is known for being a very conservative news source, and their 3 tweets in the top 150 reflected that perspective. For example, one of their tweets included the question, “Why are we trying to pin this on @POTUS? He came out and condemned it.” This perspective and question are very different from that of news outlets like BuzzFeed and igd; all of these sources were altering the perspectives of the common American people and giving them biased information. (NBCNews and ABC on the other hand, only tweeted once and each of their tweets were objective and meant to update the public.)

Conclusion Social media is able to give people a platform to organize and learn about issues plaguing different communities around the country and around the world, but those posts do not necessarily turn into real world action. In the case of Charlottesville, there were some individuals that urged their followers to take to the streets and protest, but there is

Vols. 8 & 9

99

no way of knowing if people actually did. A retweet does not translate into direct action. One might argue that the masses forced Charlottesville to trend, thus encouraging politicians and celebrities to join the conversation and fight for change. While that may be true, politicians and celebrities need to maintain a certain image in order to keep their following, so how can one determine whether these individuals actually side with the people? It is hard to tell from a 140character message whether or not change will happen. In terms of marginalized groups, the data very clearly shows that even when an issue directly impacts a marginalized community, the conversation will continue to be dominated by white Americans. Twitter allows marginalized communities to band together, but the bulk retweets and shares remain on posts written by the white majority. In the future, one could potentially interview different Twitter users about the activity of their followers or attend rallies that are advertised on Twitter and see what the turnout looks like. Analyzing tweets alone cannot show a researcher whether or not Twitter users have power, but it can definitely prove how easy technology makes it to mobilize bias and broaden the scope of conflict in any given situation. Although these concepts may not be forms of actionable power, they are proof that the masses are able to significantly influence public discourse and sway the thoughts and biases of others.

References Agarwal, Sheetal D., Michael L. Barthel, Caterina Rost, Alan Borning, W. Lance Bennett, and Courtney N. Johnson. "Grassroots organizing in the digital age: considering values and technology in Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street."

Information, Communication & Society 17, no. 3 (2014): 32641. doi:10.1080/1369118x.2013.873068.

Bachrach, Peter and Morton S. Baratz. “Decisions and Nondecisions: An Analytical Framework.� American Political Science Review, 57 no. 3 (1963): 632-642.

Bachrach, Peter, and Morton S. Baratz. "Two Faces of Power."

American Political Science Review 56, no. 04 (1962): 947-52.

Bennett, W. Lance. "The Personalization of Politics." The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 644, no. 1 (2012): 20-39. doi:10.1177/0002716212451428.

100

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Bonilla, Yarimar, and Jonathan Rosa. "#Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States." American Ethnologist 42, no. 1 (2015): 417. doi:10.1111/amet.12112.

Dahl, Robert A. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005 [1961].

Milkman, Ruth. "Millennial Movements: Occupy Wall Street and the Dreamers." Dissent 61, no. 3 (June 26, 2014): 55-59. doi:10.1353/dss.2014.0053.

Mills, Wright C. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000 [1956].

Murthy, Dhiraj, Alexander Gross, and Alexander Pensavalle. "Urban Social Media Demographics: An Exploration of Twitter Use in Major American Cities." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 21, no.

1 (2015): 33-49. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12144.

Parenti, Michael. "Power and Pluralism: A View from the Bottom."

The Journal of Politics 32, no. 3 (1970): 501-30.

Schattschneider, E.E. The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960.

Swigger, Nathaniel. "The Online Citizen: Is Social Media Changing Citizens’ Beliefs About Democratic Values?" Political Behavior 35, no. 3 (2012): 589-603. doi:10.1007/s11109-0129208-y.

Zúñiga, Homero Gil De, Nakwon Jung, and Sebastián Valenzuela.

"Social Media Use for News and Individuals Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Participation." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 17, no. 3 (2012): 319-36. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01574.x.

Appendix A List of the Top 150 Tweets All retweets, images, and links are listed below their corresponding tweets.

1.

Christopher Mathias Verified account @letsgomathias Aug 11 More In #Charlottesville a packed church of activists and clergy singing/praying/organizing ahead of alt-right rally

Vols. 8 & 9

101

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

102

G-co @MilitantJD Aug 11 Hey @splcenter ,want to see REAL modern day race based discrimination? Talk to Whites trying to attend a peaceful rally in #Charlottesville.

Chris Sampson @TAPSTRIMEDIA Aug 11racists are headed to #Charlottesville in fear of being erased. a various who's who of white supremacists The town braces Tactical Hausfrau @FrauTaktikal Aug 11The left: "commit demographic suicide, or else!"Let's show them what "or else" really looks like. #Charlottesville #UniteTheRight New York City Antifa @NYCAntifa Aug 11White supremacists Richard Spencer & David Duke just spotted at Boar's Head Inn in #Charlottesville. #DefendCville @BoarsHeadResort Arkonian14 ďż˝ @arkonian14 Aug 11If antifa gets violent remember to film it. It's time to show the world who the real haters are #Charlottesville #UniteTheRight Shield Maiden @title_nein Aug 11 So close! We hope to meet up w/ ppl tonight so we have friends to walk to the rally w/ tomorrow. #UniteTheRight #Charlottesville Richard đ&#x;Śƒđ&#x;Śƒ Spencer @RichardBSpencer Aug 11 C'ville's become a war zone. #Charlottesville Aileen Bartels @AileenBartels Aug 11We won't capitulate to white supremacists. #resist #Charlottesville WASP đ&#x;?¸đ&#x;?¸ đ&#x;Ľ›đ&#x;Ľ› đ&#x;Ľ“đ&#x;Ľ“ ďż˝ @AltWasp Aug 11 Major kudos to whoever called the FBI on the Cville tranny #Charlottesville Chris Suarez @Suarez_CM Aug 11 Big crowd filling #charlottesville St Paul Methodist pews fast. Prayer service featuring @CornelWest to begin in 30 #TrumpPenceMustGo @RefuseFascism Aug 11Two future contending in Charlottesville. Humanity VS White Supremacy. Which side are you on? Come to #Charlottesville #DefendCville It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 Locals reporting that KKK leader David Duke + Richard Spencer are grubbing down at the Boar's Head Resort. #DefendCville #Charlottesville It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 Alt-Right encouraging their followers to bring guns to #Charlottesville. Saying on websites "We want a war."

Evan McLaren @EvanMcLaren Aug 11The complete opposite of the truth. We're encouraging our people not to carry. How desperate is antifa? #UniteTheRight #Charlottesville

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

16. #TrumpPenceMustGo @RefuseFascism Aug 11 Packed house at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in #Charlottesville 17. Nadia Drake @nadiamdrake Aug 11 Word. #charlottesville a. Photo: if equality and diversity aren't for you then neither are we 18. Ellen Meyers @ellenkmeyers Aug 11The Freedom Wall earlier today. Someone crossed out "leftists" and wrote in "racists" #Charlottesville 19. Michael Lieberman @ADLWashCounsel Aug 11Hard to resist direct confrontation w/haters#Charlottesville But better to separate & strongly reject/repudiate 20. It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 Multiple sources confirming neo-Nazis will converge at 9 PM at Jefferson Statue at UVA campus. #Charlottesville #defendcville #NoNewKKK 21. Eric Gens @BurningRomeInc Aug 11Eric Gens Retweeted Eric Gens Untie our rights. #UniteTheRight #1A #FreeSpeech #defendcville #Charlottesville #AmericaFirst #tcot #PJNET #RedNation #2A #TeaParty #Trump a. Free speech for Whites should be our rally cry until we re allowed to publicly discuss how "Diversity" is a code word for #WhiteGenocide.

22. Mojo @MojoLikeAMofo Aug 11Mojo Retweeted Unicorn Riot behold, the fucking civil war participation trophy at the center of it all. #DefendCville #Charlottesville a. Emancipation Park in Charlottesville this afternoon: calm, mostly empty, police setting up barricades & mobile units 23. Brian Cartier @Flynbryn1 Aug 11 Brian Cartier Retweeted The Hill So it is official the #NRA has sold out to the #AltRight #nationalist #WhiteSupremacists movement. Surely represented in #Charlottesville a. NRA host apologizes for suggesting North Korea should nuke California http://hill.cm/zJfRU4I 24. Arman Azaad @Corbeau15 Aug 11 #Airbnb Is DeactivatingAccounts Of People Trying 2 Attend A #WhiteSupremacistRally #Charlottesville https://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/airbnb-is-deactivatingaccounts-of-people-trying-to-attend?utm_term=.qsQgaOKd0 ‌ via @michellebvd

Vols. 8 & 9

103

25. Locke @LockeheebMartin Aug 11 Everyone's getting prepped for #Charlottesville and I'm sitting here watching this.

26. Harry L Hughes @HLHughes03 Aug 11Harry L Hughes Retweeted Meme Alert™Unlike #Antifa, garbage gets picked up, once a week. #TrashLivesMatter at #UniteTheRight in #Charlottesville #Virginia Don't pollute 27. Geoff Nesnow @DonotInnovate Aug 11Replying to @Evan_McMullin Bigotry is one of the purest forms of cowardice. #Charlottesville #racistsarecowards 28. Harry L Hughes @HLHughes03 Aug 11 #Charlottesville should get w/#FirstAmendment, or be subject to repeated $$ demonstrations. #UniteTheRight #Virginia 29. Peter MontgomeryVerified account @petemont Aug 11Preview of Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally in #Charlottesville #SummerOfHate 30. eyeslevel @eyeslevel Aug 11 Watch for the thugs and screamers to descend on #Charlottesville trying to shut down our #FreeSpeech rights #UniteTheRight 31. âœŞJames Saint-FrancâœŞ @sirjamesa12 Aug 11 May the antifascists stay safe and kick ass tomorrow in #Charlottesville. #DefendCVille 32. đ&#x;˜ đ&#x;˜ #NotMyCovfefe! đ&#x;ŒŠđ&#x;ŒŠ @HelloMittyKitty Aug 11 White Nationalists Dubbed 'Unite The Right' To Hold 'Largest HateGathering' In Decades In #Charlottesville, VA 33. Owen R. Broadhurst is not amused @OwenRBroadhurst Aug 11Owen R. Broadhurst is not amused Retweeted It's Going Down The #ACLU threatened lawsuit against #Charlottesville to help facilitate racist incitement, death threats, and a risk of armed hate crimes 34. ďż˝hoverhands @IH8URBONES Aug 11 I'd be in #Charlottesville tonight but millions on welfare depend on me working, sorry goys #UniteTheRight @TRS7thSon 35. ďż˝hoverhands @IH8URBONES Aug 11Good look to every one in #Charlottesville #UniteTheRight 36. internet sensation @NayNichelle Aug 11@Boars_Head INN in Charlottesville , VA hosted a meeting conducted by Richard Spencer and david duke today #cville #Charlottesville 37. Mykal McEldowneyVerified account @mykalmphoto Aug 11 Definitely a tense, anxious mood here in #Charlottesville currently. On a side note, what an awesome little town.

104

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

38. Linda Janeway @Janeway12004 Aug 11 Linda Janeway Retweeted Carolyn Neuman Awesome idea- fight Alt-right peacefully-by donating to AA & refugee charities for everyone that shows up at their rally #Charlottesville 39. Antifa-GB @Antifa_GB_1 Aug 11 White supremacists Richard Spencer & David Duke just spotted at Boar's Head Inn in #Charlottesville. #DefendCville BoarsHeadResort #NewBlue‌ 40. David ReeseVerified account @WXReese Aug 11 It's Friday!

Here's a look at your Evening Forecast! Have a great one! #Charlottesville 41. Mr_Tiny_Hands @MrTnyHands1 Aug 11 #SenileDonaldTrump We won't capitulate to white supremacists. #resist #Charlottesville 42. witless @witlessX Aug 11 #Charlottesville the day before 43. Sam Tyler @RadNewsMedia Aug 11 Sam Tyler Retweeted It's Going Down Attn #Charlottesville Anti-racists. a. Locals reporting that KKK leader David Duke + Richard Spencer are grubbing down at the Boar's Head Resort. #DefendCville #Charlottesville 44. Danielle de Alminana @ddealminana Aug 11 @CvilleCityHall thank you for all you're doing this weekend to stand true to what #charlottesville is truly about. #unity 45. Eliese Lissner @elieseliss Aug 11 #UniteTheRight rally planned for #Charlottesville could be the largest gathering of #whitesupremacists in over a decade. From @ADL_National: 46. Harlan @harlan_county Aug 11 Replying to @___neuro___ You're welcome! I'm an English speaker but I love most things German. Check me tomorrow @ #UniteTheRight rally #Charlottesville 47. Harry Swensen @lokis_trick Aug 11 Harry Swensen Retweeted NBC29What difference at this point, does it make? #UniteTheRight #Identitarian #Charlottesville a. JUST IN: federal judge deliberating on an emergency injunction for the Unite the Right rally expects a decision in the next few hours.

48. Harry L Hughes @HLHughes03 Aug 11 What to Expect During #UniteTheRight in #Charlottesville, #VA @DrWesBellamy hates seeing #WhitePeople https://youtu.be/lAGsPmDaQPA via @YouTube

Vols. 8 & 9

105

49. MAGA Patriot Xtian @ShaunDeray Aug 11Time to remind these monkeys and their liberals friends who's in charge now that Trump is in office #Charlottesville #cville #MAGA #tcot 50. Professional Pogslammer @SpinCircleDance Aug 11Replying to @SpinCircleDance @Hatewatch violent nazis flooding into #Charlottesville rn & the white supremacist cops refuse to do their fucking jobs. #defendcville 51. Yes, You're Racist @YesYoureRacist Aug 12 If you recognize any of the Nazis marching in #Charlottesville, send me their names/profiles and I'll make them famous #GoodNightAltRight 52. Yes, You're Racist @YesYoureRacist Aug 12 Replying to @YesYoureRacist Also spotted in #Charlottesville, Texas white supremacist @FearsWilliam #GoodNightAltRight 53. Jerry Ratcliffe @JerryRatcliffe Aug 12 Please don't judge my city #Charlottesville, but rather pray for it. This is not what Charlottesville is about. These are outsiders.

54. The Trump Train @The_Trump_Train Aug 12 RETWEET if you condemn the following hate groups: ANTIFA Black Lives Matter White Supremacy KKK #Charlottesville 55. ⛈1@ ights_on Aug 12 #Charlottesville shout out to this dude 56. William Davis @davis1988will Aug 12 New Video Shows A Car Running Into Protesters in #Charlottesville.

57. Nancy PelosiVerified account @NancyPelosi Aug 12 Repeat after me, @realDonaldTrump: white supremacy is an affront to American values. #Charlottesville 58. Paige Matthews @WickedBeaute Aug 12 What's happening at #Charlottesville is America at its core. It is what America was founded on & how America thrives. Don't be naive.

59. Emma KenneyVerified account @EmmaRoseKenney Aug 12 heartbroken and disgusted. #Charlottesville 60. Seung Min KimVerified account @seungminkim Aug 12 NEW from @SenJohnMcCain on #Charlottesville 61. John McCainVerified account @SenJohnMcCain Aug 12 White supremacists aren't patriots, they're traitors- Americans must unite against hatred & bigotry #Charlottesville 62. Pastor Mark BurnsVerified account @pastormarkburns Aug 12 #DavidDuke and his Neo-Nazi Hate Groups don't represent

106

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

us Americans that Elected @realDonaldTrump #Charlottesville K8 @keh3210 Aug 12 K8 Retweeted Hallie Jackson I'm totally cool with people hating white supremacists. #Charlottesville a. I asked the White House what @POTUS meant by "on many sides." The response, from a WH official → Hady Mendez @hadym Aug 12 Hady Mendez Retweeted gentlelady from ohio And while our attention was in #Charlottesville this was happening in #Ohio #BlackLivesMatter a. Linked to a video of a black man beaten by police in Euclid, Ohio Robby McHale @Robby42394165 Aug 12 The people of the U.S. should come to terms, unify, and work together regardless of race to make the country great #Charlottesville.

Bill ClintonVerified account @BillClinton Aug 12 Even as we protect free speech and assembly, we must condemn hatred, violence and white supremacy. #Charlottesville Adam SchiffVerified account @RepAdamSchiff Aug 12 Hate, racism and violence have absolutely no place in our country.

All must stand together against it. #Charlottesville Matt WalshVerified account @MattWalshBlog Aug 12 My thoughts on #Charlottesville a. With a link to his article “Our Kids Are Self-Pitying Cry Babies Because Our Culture Glorifies Victimhood” Larry ElderVerified account @larryelder Aug 12 Poll: Blacks admit they are MORE racist than whites http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/4/americanssay-blacks-more-racist-whites-rasmussen-/ … #Charlottesville Our RevolutionVerified account @OurRevolution Aug 12 LIVE: Hundreds more have joined emergency march in Atlanta to show up for #Charlottesville and #FightWhiteSupremacy https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalRevolution/videos/160439 9946278882/ …

Joe BidenVerified account @JoeBiden Aug 12 There is only one side. #charlottesville Fox NewsVerified account @FoxNews Aug 12 .@dbongino on #Charlottesville protests: "Why are we trying to pin this on @POTUS? He came out and condemned it." #FoxReport

Vols. 8 & 9

107

73. Alexander McCoy @AlexanderMcCoy4 Aug 12 If you go to church tomorrow and your preacher doesn't give a sermon about what happened in #Charlottesville, walk out & find a new church.

74. Kristen's Kulture @paz4u Aug 12 #Charlottesville Neo Nazis & White Supremacists Ex-KKK Leader David Duke: Racist Rally Represents Trump's Promises 75. Fox NewsVerified account @FoxNews Aug 12 WATCH NOW: Fox Report has live coverage of the unrest in #Charlottesville followed by a 2-hour "Justice" with @JudgeJeanine at 9p ET. 76. Severin Jahn @severin_jahn Aug 12 Also happened today: Real, non-violent conversations in #Charlottesville 77. Tom PerezVerified account @TomPerez Aug 12 The vile & bigoted display of hate in #Charlottesville has no place in America. We stand against white supremacy wherever it appears.

78. Carly @ChzzyFryz Aug 12 There is no way in hell defending actual Nazis and KKK members should be condoned in America. Or anywhere. Ever. #Charlottesville 79. Marco RubioVerified account @marcorubio Aug 12 Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists 80. Christopher MathiasVerified account @letsgomathias Aug 12 Clergy stand silently in front of armed militia, before breaking into "This Little Light Of Mone" #Charlottesville 81. Fox NewsVerified account @FoxNews Aug 12 .@POTUS uses his personal Twitter account to send condolences to woman killed during #Charlottesville protests http://fxn.ws/2hTH6wW 82. Curtis HouckVerified account @CurtisHouck Aug 12 Video: Here's the beginning of @realDonaldTrump's remarks about the horrors in #Charlottesville, saying no person should feel unsafe 83. đ&#x;Ž™đ&#x;Ž™Wayne DupreeVerified account @WayneDupreeShow Aug 12 I told you! @CNN probably flew former Dem Pres Nominee #DavidDuke to #Charlottesville just for this. This is red met for failing network 84. Bernie SandersVerified account @SenSanders Aug 12 The white nationalist demonstration in #Charlottesville is a

108

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

85.

86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

reprehensible display of racism and hatred that has no place in our society.

Based Operations @BasedOps Aug 12 DISAVOW! @SPLCenter Staffer @StephenLemons Assaults @BakedAlaska For Exercising Free Speech in #Charlottesville Billy BraggVerified account @billybragg Aug 12 We defeated both these flags and will do so again #AllYouFascistsBoundToLose #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/M9A5o6gVFO Hihachisu @Mugetsu800 Aug 12 #Charlottesville Sure, the people who showed up are LARPers of high powerlevels of cringe to the point of comedy. Even I shook my head.

W. Kamau BellVerified account @wkamaubell Aug 12 W. Kamau Bell Retweeted Donald J. Trump HE. HAD. TO. READ. IT. BECAUSE. HE. DOESN'T. BELIEVE. IT. #Charlottesville a. We must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are ALL AMERICANS FIRST. Ryan Schleeter @Ryschlee Aug 12 Chanting "white supremacy is terrorism," Atlanta marches to #DefendCVille. #Charlottesville (This line goes back farther than I can see.)

ABC NewsVerified account @ABC Aug 12 Horrifying images emerge from violent day in #Charlottesville. http://abcn.ws/2w1t5Tm castpixel đ&#x;’žđ&#x;’ž @castpixel Aug 12 Violent, openly neonazi march in #Charlottesville USA. See the Pepes in the poster?

Don't you dare defend the "alt-right", also unfollow me.

MichaelRapaportVerified account @MichaelRapaport Aug 12 Tiki Torch Tough Guys tried to get crunk in #Charlottesville Virginia last night Collin Rees @collinrees Aug 12 Huge march in Atlanta to stand w/ #Charlottesville against white supremacy & fascism heads toward City Hall. Silence is not an option. #NN17 Jim Ludes @JMLudes Aug 12 THREAD: There are unmistakable ties between alt-right groups in #Charlottesville and Russia. 1/ Robyn Resists @Robyn_Resists Aug 12 Replying to @realDonaldTrump Try an APOLOGY Apologize for your hateful divisiveness that directly caused this tragedy; YOUR #WhiteSupremacists base #Charlottesville Giant Mansa Chi @Dontplaydumbboy Aug 12 Everybody wants to stand up for racial justice during an incident, but

Vols. 8 & 9

109

wants to keep the same systems in place afterward. #Charlottesville 97. Joanna RobinsonVerified account @jowrotethis Aug 12 David Duke today in #Charlottesville talking how how the hate rally "fulfills the promises of Donald Trump."

98. Scott DworkinVerified account @funder Aug 12 Trump just said things were done wrong "on many sides" defending the kkk & nazis in #Charlottesville. Now he's talking employment numbers.

99. ProgressPolls @ProgressPolls Aug 12 Do you think Neo-Nazi groups have the right to protest in #Charlottesville?

100. Trendinalia ZA @trendinaliaZA Aug 12 1. #Charlottesville 2. Usain Bolt 3. #TholukuthiConcert 4. Chiefs 5. #POWERLounge 101. Islam PressVerified account @Islam_Press Aug 12 PRESS RELEASE: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA urges calm after acts of violence in #Charlottesville, #Virginia 102. #TrumpPenceMustGo @RefuseFascism Aug 12 RT! Trump says what happened at #DefendCvile #Charlottesville was "sad" - it's exactly what he's been telling them to do. #TRUMPPENCEMUSTGO 103. Bonnie Greer @Bonn1eGreer Aug 12 Bonnie Greer Retweeted Donald J. TrumpThink you've #jumpedtheshark today, Donnie. The weather's shifted. #Charlottesville a. Condolences to the family of the young woman killed today, and best regards to all of those injured, in Charlottesville, Virginia. So sad!

104. SHP @Medusaforever Aug 12 SHP Retweeted Amphitrite Plays#Charlottesville "No one is obligated to tolerate intolerance. That's not how "tolerance" works." Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, U.S. Navy 105. wumbo meow đ&#x;™€đ&#x;™€ đ&#x;?žđ&#x;?ž đ&#x;?˘đ&#x;?˘ @_NellyCat Aug 11 When the cops show up at the white supremacist rally #Charlottesville a. Picture of Spiderman accusing himself.

106. Tosca Austen @ToscaAusten Aug 12 President Trump condemns violence in all its forms in #Charlottesville. Calls for unity. Will Dems do the same and disavow Antifa?

110

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

107. Omar SuleimanVerified account @omarsuleiman504 Aug 12 #Charlottesville We have a disease in America that we're not confronting....

108. James Melville @JamesMelville Aug 12 He said he would 'Make America Great Again.' #Charlottesville 109. D1Verified account @xD1x Aug 12 Didn't know that I'm only an hour away from #Charlottesville This is reality I'm just here to play Smash and other games man‌ 110. Operation Veracity™ @OPSVeracity Aug 12 Update: Three people murdered today in #Charlottesville in the name of the Nazi movement and white supremacy. Trump is responsible.

111. NBC NewsVerified account @NBCNews Aug 12 JUST IN: Sen. Marco Rubio calls events in #Charlottesville, Virginia "a terror attack by white supremacists" 112. James Fritz @fritzisdead Aug 11 I wish cops in #Charlottesville would pretend the nazi's torches were something dangerous like a wallet or a loose cig or a bag of skittles 113. ChrisWriter @chriswwriter Aug 12 Sickened by what I just saw in Charlottesville. Violence begetts the very thing it seeks to destroy-MLK #Charlottesville 114. Khaled BeydounVerified account @KhaledBeydoun Aug 12 If a Muslim drove that car in #Charlottesville, Trump would call it terrorism and millions of Muslims would be bracing for the backlash.

115. Dungeons & Dragons & Communism @Toasterhase Aug 12 Antifas in #Bern, Switzerland take to the the streets in solidarity with antifa protests in #Charlottesville. #defendcville 116. BuzzFeed NewsVerified account @BuzzFeedNews Aug 12 President Trump ignores questions about disavowing white nationalists following violent protests in #Charlottesville 117. OpticsPolitics đ&#x;Œˆđ&#x;Œˆ đ&#x;‘Źđ&#x;‘Ź @OpticsPolitics_ Aug 12 @JoyAnnReid #MSNBC #Charlottesville August 12, 2017: Today is when we can no longer distinguish between David Duke and Donald Trump.

118. Craig StanleyVerified account @_CraigStanley Aug 12 Unidentified militia has arrived at #EmancipationPark ahead of the #Charlottesville rally with guns in tow.

119. Christopher MathiasVerified account @letsgomathias Aug 12 You heard that right. They're chanting "Fuck you faggots."

2017. #Charlottesville

Vols. 8 & 9

111

120. Philip DeFrancoVerified account @PhillyD Aug 12 Phil, sure you don't like their nazi salutes and quotes, but #Charlottesville was peaceful. Oh Really?

121. Jeremy LinVerified account @JLin7 Aug 12 #Charlottesville makes me sick...what world are we living in rn?!?

122. James Melville @JamesMelville Aug 12 America, you're drunk. #Charlottesville #trump 123. Link My Fan @LinkMyFan Aug 12 Time we spread love instead hate. Allow people to have another view without hate #Charlottesville #Findit 124. WomensMarchOnRaleigh @WomensMarchNC Aug 12 WomensMarchOnRaleigh Retweeted John McCain This is what clear condemnation of white supremacists looks like. #Charlottesville .@ncgop @DallasWoodhouse 125. AM Joy w/Joy ReidVerified account @amjoyshow Aug 12 .@RWPUSA: The #Trump admin. needs to remove from federal gov. anyone w/any association w/Alt-Right #Charlottesville 126. Liberal-Fucktard @FucktardLiberal Aug 11 Replying to @StockMonsterVIP @StockMonsterUSA @RapinBill FFS don't use the word 'Lynch' in a tweet or It'll be an on-line #Charlottesville event next! Don't trigger the left or their ((backers))!

127. It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 Unite the Right speaker pulled gun on person at WalMart today. #Charlottesville cops showed up and then let him go. #DefendCville 128. Charles McDonald @Charlottesville Aug 11 #CHARLOTTESVILLE Home $279,000 - 3 Bed, 2 Bath (Keller Williams Realty - Charlottesville) Full Details: https://www.charlottesvillesolutions.com/home/mls:565713 129. Katie @kesmith0815 Aug 11 As a #charlottesville native, I have had a difficult time finding ways that Lee is relevant to Cville/Albemarle.

130. Dem ZOOGMA boyz @zoogma Aug 11 Bump this today if you a real one. Anyone can add to it. #Charlottesville #racistssuck a. Link to “Racists Suck� spotify playlist 131. (((GouldWartofsky))) @mgouldwartofsky Aug 11 (((GouldWartofsky))) Retweeted Terry McAuliffe Ruh roh.

Governor of Virginia just pledged to deploy National Guard, State Police vs antiracist protesters in #Charlottesville #defendcville

112

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

132. Molly Frances @mrsmollybrady Aug 11 All smiles for my weekend off at home. Love spending the day with my momma. #charlottesville 133. It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 It's Going Down Retweeted Matt Talhelm #Charlottesville police say that KKK groups have told them hundreds of Ku-Klux-Klan members are coming to 'Unite the Right.' #DefendCville 134. Nightshade556 @Nightshade556 Aug 11 Y'all ready for my Twitter to be on fire this weekend?? Bring on the drama. #UnitetheRight #Charlottesville 135. Rebelutionary_ZVerified account @Rebelutionary_Z Aug 11 Rebelutionary_Z Retweeted Rebelutionary_Z Well, I'm in Virginia now..almost to #Charlottesville 136. stevesheinberg @stevesheinberg Aug 11 #UniteTheRight?

Nope: it is abt uniting haters. Check out this explainer video from @ADL_National: http://goo.gl/GfNu59 #Charlottesville 137. Simon Hay @SimonHayHealer Aug 11 Enjoying a day of healings & readings in #Charlottesville, #VA today & will be doing an event tonight.

138. #TrumpPenceMustGo @RefuseFascism Aug 11 Two future contending in Charlottesville. Humanity VS White Supremacy. Which side are you on? Come to #Charlottesville #DefendCville 139. David ReeseVerified account @WXReese Aug 11 A nice little shower is roaming north from Glendower towards Simeon and #Charlottesville. #vawx 140. VirginiaDMVVerified account @VirginiaDMV Aug 11 #Charlottesville office closed 8/12 due to large amt of vehicle & pedestrian traffic expected in area. Alt offices: http://ow.ly/Lha630elD9T 141. Harry L Hughes @HLHughes03 Aug 11 'Stay away' from #Charlottesville #UniteTheRight rally urges @GovernorVA #Antifa may resort to #violence http://via.wtvr.com/eEZFt via @cbs6 142. Nightshade556 @Nightshade556 Aug 11 Nightshade556 Retweeted How the Left views /our guys/ rolling into #Charlottesville #unitetheright a. link to a suspended account 143. Carl Dix @Carl_Dix Aug 12 white nat'list attacks in #Charlottesville show outlines of new civil war. Wake up and resist. #NoNewKKK 144. Stepmother @Fosia_omar Aug 12 You would think this was 60-70 years ago. This is #Charlottesville 2017. Deep that.

Vols. 8 & 9

113

145. jon gabrielVerified account @exjon Aug 12 If your ethnicity is the only part of your life you can be proud of, you are a pathetic failure. #Charlottesville 146. Brian M. RosenthalVerified account @brianmrosenthal Aug 12 BREAKING: The demonstrator killed in the car crash in #Charlottesville was a 32-year-old woman, per Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas 147. Stickyhammer! đ&#x;?¸đ&#x;?¸ đ&#x;?źđ&#x;?ź đ&#x;?•đ&#x;?• @stickyhammer Aug 12 #Charlottesville Reports claim car had no tags. Car did have tags & weren't Va tags. So who paid this asshole? Is Soros paying 4 BOTH sides?

148. West Metro MN United @StarshipDodie Aug 11 Replying to @StarshipDodie @SideofLove Saruman was White, but so was Gandalf. The great have strength enough to resist the allure of evil. a. Photo: Keep calm and raise better white people 149. Lura Groen @lura_groen Aug 11 Will be headed to #Charlottesville overnight to participate in #CVilleClergyCall, opposing a massive white supremacist rally there.

150. It's Going Down @IGD_News Aug 11 #UnitetheRight Organizers Encourage Guns: "We Want a War" #Charlottesville #DefendCville #NoNewKKK

114

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

To submit an article or to read past issues of The College of Saint Rose’s The Journal of Undergraduate Research, please visit: https://www.strose.edu/academics/undergraduateprograms/research/journal-of-undergraduate-research/

Vols. 8 & 9

115