Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) offer community spaces where players can interact and develop a diverse range of skills online, such as communication and socialization, that can be applied offline. Designing more inclusive community spaces is crucial to give a more diverse range of individuals the chance to develop these skills. One way to add diversity to an online community space is to attract players with diverse personalities and play styles. This study is a qualitative exploration of personality and play in Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV). The specific research question is: what kinds of patterns exist in player personality and in the choices players make in a massively multi-player online (MMO) game Subjects were given the Big 5 personality survey to measure the five core personality dimensions. The survey also included FFXIV-specific items about in-game preferences and play styles of the players, and it concluded with open-ended questions that allowed subjects to explain certain choices. Thematic analysis was used to find patterns in the open-ended questions. The results of this exploratory study indicate that the players in this community are mostly casual and play FFXIV for the content and social aspects of the game. They enjoyed the customization options and gameplay of FFXIV. It is important to be open to the different backgrounds of players who join the Free Company (FC) and to accommodate their preferences and choices in the game. Consistent player interactions and activities with other members in their FC help to create a sense of community.

Music is an integral part of a community's identity, and music streaming has changed the way in which people interact with popular music as a whole. While significant research has been done regarding how streaming services have impacted the way users engage with music, little has been done to account for how streaming has changed the creation of new music. Additionally, globalization in music results in unique hybrid genres rather than complete adoption of global culture, making it hard to measure the global impact on regional sounds, as chart diversity alone cannot account for this unique interaction. This research addresses this gap in literature by utilizing Spotify’s audio features to analyze regional popular music characteristics from 2010 through 2020 using the Top 100 tracks from the global, Korean, and Japanese charts. It then observes whether the chart data demonstrates a convergence or divergence in relation to the musical attributes of global popular music and the growth of music streaming, and if it is reflecting a globalization effect. The results suggest that local artists reflect global trends in already globalized markets, and that streaming may be having a heterogenization effect on popular music. Additionally, the data also suggests that observing the musical characteristics of a region may be able to measure how globalized a region's music culture is, allowing for the observation of globalization beyond looking at chart diversity and instead observing the music characteristics of domestic artists.

With a prison population that has grown to 1.4 million, an imprisonment rate of 419 per 100,000 U.S. residents, and a recidivism rate of 52.2% for males and 36.4% for females, the United States is facing a crisis. Currently, no sufficient measures have been taken by the United States to reduce recidivism. Attempts have been made, but they ultimately failed. Recently, however, there has been an increase in experimentation with the concept of teaching inmates basic computer skills to reduce recidivism. As labor becomes increasingly digitized, it becomes more difficult for inmates who spent a certain period away from technology to adapt and find employment. At the bare minimum, anybody entering the workforce must know how to use a computer and other technological appliances, even in the lowest-paid positions. By incorporating basic computer skills and coding educational programs within prisons, this issue can be addressed, since inmates would be better equipped to take on a more technologically advanced labor market.<br/>Additionally, thoroughly preparing inmates for employment is a necessity because it has been proven to reduce recidivism. Prisons typically have some work programs; however, these programs are typically outdated and prepare inmates for fields that may represent a difficult employment market moving forward. On the other hand, preparing inmates for tech-related fields of work is proving to be successful in the early stages of experimentation. A reason for this success is the growing demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent between 2019 and 2029. This is noteworthy considering the national average for growth of all other jobs is only 4 percent. It also warrants the exploration of educating coders because software developers, in particular, have an expected growth rate of 22 percent between 2019 and 2029. <br/>Despite the security risks of giving inmates access to computers, the implementation of basic computer skills and coding in prisons should be explored further. Programs that give inmates access to a computing education already exist. The only issue with these programs is their scarcity. However, this is to no fault of their own, considering the complex nature and costs of running such a program. Accordingly, this leaves the opportunity for public universities to get involved. Public universities serve as perfect hosts because they are fully capable of leveraging the resources already available to them. Arizona State University, in particular, is a more than ideal candidate to spearhead such a program and serve as a model for other public universities to follow. Arizona State University (ASU) is already educating inmates in local Arizona prisons on subjects such as math and English through their PEP (Prison Education Programming) program.<br/>This thesis will focus on Arizona specifically and why this would benefit the state. It will also explain why Arizona State University is the perfect candidate to spearhead this kind of program. Additionally, it will also discuss why recidivism is detrimental and the reasons why formerly incarcerated individuals re-offend. Furthermore, it will also explore the current measures being taken in Arizona and their limitations. Finally, it will provide evidence for why programs like these tend to succeed and serve as a proposal to Arizona State University to create its own program using the provided framework in this thesis.

Evidence of a widening political divide between the Democrat and Republican parties creates concern over the possible ramifications of this phenomenon. One method of assessing dissonance between political parties is through a medium that is shaped by personal beliefs: online dating. Previous research finds that political choice homophily, or a preference for those who are politically similar, is relevant in online dating settings. Researchers find that individuals are significantly more likely to be attracted to or pursue others who have similar political views to themselves. There is, however, a gap in knowledge regarding online dating that occurs separately from conventional online dating sites. Mobile dating apps, applications that are highly popular amongst young adults, have not been thoroughly explored with political choice homophily in mind. The current study aims to test the correlation between dating preference and political beliefs, using the mobile dating app Bumble as a template for a mock (fake) dating app scenario. In the dating app survey that was distributed to 132 ASU students, participants completed a simulated “matching” section where they matched with a list of 15 fabricated Bumble profiles. The fake Bumble profiles randomly contained politically charged or politically neutral statements in the basic info section. Political affiliation of the participant was measured using a sliding scale that quantifies the unidimensional conservative-liberal spectrum on a 0-100 numerical scale. Findings of the survey show that there was no significant difference between participant preference towards politically charged vs. politically neutral mock profiles.

The introduction of this thesis explains that, though celebrity culture is a pre-existing phenomenon, the digital age has posed new, dehumanizing challenges for physically unattainable famous figures. Some people feel a stronger sense of love for celebrities, believing that the Internet connects them on a deeper, personal level, whereas others participate in increasing hate and decreasing fear of consequence of online behavior. The main goals of this project were to analyze in what ways online harassment toward celebrities differs according to gender, as well as what types of online harassment celebrities face on social media platforms.

Social media posts included in the discussion were taken from Twitter and explored using the qualitative research-based Grounded Theory. Four celebrities were selected as case studies to illustrate hate that popular music artists receive. These celebrities were Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Before the data collection process transitioned to Twitter for specific examples, Google Search was effective in providing background information on each celebrity's controversies. With open coding as the chosen stage of data analysis, tweets were grouped with those containing similar content (e.g. two tweets using the same insult).

Social media users can uncover problematic tweets and refuse to forgive celebrities for past mistakes, send threatening messages that encourage celebrities to kill themselves, shame celebrities for their physical appearances and sexualities and so forth. All of these concepts are observed within the respective literature review and discussion sections. The types of online harassment included are insults, devotion defending, threats and hacking.

The gathered data found that difference in the online harassment that female pop stars receive versus that toward male pop stars often lies in how people perceive their sexualities and physical appearances, as well as the distance perceived between the social media user and the celebrity. In the examples provided, women were regarded as “whores” for wearing certain clothing and blamed for issues in their relationships, whereas men were not seen as the problem and criticized for appearing too "feminine."

It is recommended that people become more aware of the consequences of online harassment in general, but particularly toward celebrities who are viewed as being unaffected by hate comments. Due to the limitations of this study, future research within this area should include people of color and various sectors of the entertainment industry.

Social media has been extensively researched, and its effects on well-being are well established. What is less studied, however, is how social media affects romantic relationships specifically. The few studies that have researched this have found mixed results. Some researchers have found social media to have a positive influence on relationship outcomes, while other have found social media to have a negative influence. In an attempt to reconcile these discrepancies, the current thesis study explored possible mediators between social media use and relationship health outcomes which, to my knowledge, has not been investigated in previous literature. Three moderators were explored: type of social media use (active use versus passive use), relationship-contingent self-esteem, and social comparison orientation. The baseline portion of the study had 547 individuals, recruited from Arizona State University’s SONA system as well as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, who were in a romantic relationship for at least three months; the follow-up portion of the study had 181 participants. Results suggest that women who passively use social media exhibit a negative association between hours per day of social media use and baseline relationship satisfaction. Men who passively use social media exhibited a negative association between hours per day of social media use and follow-up relationship satisfaction, as well as a negative association with baseline commitment. While relationship-contingent self-esteem did not moderate the association between hours per day of social media use and relationship health, it was positively related to both men and women’s baseline relationship satisfaction and baseline commitment. Social comparison orientation (SCO) produced minimal results; women low on SCO exhibited a negative association between social media use and baseline relationship satisfaction, and higher SCO for men was associated with lower baseline commitment. Finally, exploratory post-hoc mediation models revealed that relationship comparisons mediated the association between hours per day of social media use and baseline relationship, as well as baseline commitment, for both men and women. Previous research supports the findings regarding passive social media use, while the findings regarding relationship-contingent self-esteem and relationship comparisons add new findings to the romantic relationship literature.

The biohacker movement is an important and modern form of activism. This study broadly examines how positive-activist-oriented biohackers emerge, organize, and respond to social crises. Despite growing public awareness, few studies have examined biohacking's influence on prevailing notions of organizing and medicine in-context. Therefore, this study examines biohacking in the context of the 2016 EpiPen price-gouging crisis, and explores how biohackers communicatively attempted to constitute counter-narratives and counter-logics about medical access and price through do-it-yourself (DIY) medical device alternatives. Discourse tracing and critical case study analysis are useful methodological frameworks for mapping the historical discursive and material logics that led to the EpiPen pricing crisis, including the medicalization of allergy, the advancement of drug-device combination technologies, and role of public health policy, and pharmaceutical marketing tactics. Findings suggest two new interpretations for how non-traditional forms of organizing facilitate new modes of resistance in times of institutional crisis. First, the study considers the concept of "pop-up maktivism" to conceptualize activism as a type of connective activity rather than collective organizing. Second, findings illustrate how activities such as participation and co-production can function as meaningful forms of institutional resistance within dominant discourses. This study proposes “mirrored materiality” to describe how biohackers deploy certain dominant logics to contest others. Lastly, implications for contributions to the conceptual frameworks of biopower, sociomateriality, and alternative organizing are discussed.

Although previous research has explored the relationship between social media use and well-being, many studies are contradictory of each other and conclude varying findings relating to social media use and outspokenness. This study explores the relationship between active and passive social media use, perceived social media expertise, and outspokenness using the potentially mediating variable of perceived social acceptance. 162 participants, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and ASU’s SONA systems, completed a survey relating to their own use of social media, perceived social acceptance, and outspokenness. Contradictory to my first hypotheses, no significant correlations were found between social media use and social media expertise. However, correlation analyses revealed that active social media use is related to an increased amount of perceived social media expertise (r = 0.23, p < .004). Perceived social media expertise was significantly positively correlated with outspokenness (r = 0.19, p < 0.015); however, it was not correlated with perceived social acceptance. When examining these relationships separately by gender, a strong association was found for males between active social media use and outspokenness, whereas passive social media use and outspokenness were negatively correlated for females. The results of this study add to previous research in the field of social media and outspokenness and lend new ideas for future research on these topics, such as exploring the gender differences that are associated with these variables. Further research in the area is needed for a more complete understanding of how one’s social media use affects his/her outspokenness and how gender modifies these effects.

Long before “fake news” dominated the conversation within and about the media, media literacy advocates have championed the need for media literacy education that provides the tools for people to understand, analyze, and evaluate media messages. That the majority of U.S. adults now consume news on social media underscores the importance for students of all ages to be critical users of media. Furthermore, the affordances of social media to like, comment, and share news items within one’s network increases an individual’s responsibility to ascertain the veracity of news before using a social media megaphone to spread false information. Social media’s shareability can dictate how information spreads, increasing news consumers’ role as a gatekeeper of information and making media literacy education more important than ever.

This research examines the media literacy practices that news consumers use to inform their gatekeeping decisions. Using a constant comparative coding method, the author conducted a qualitative analysis of hundreds of discussion board posts from adult participants in a digital media literacy Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to identify major themes and examine growth in participants’ sense of responsibility related to sharing news information, their feeling of empowerment to make informed decisions about the media messages they receive, and how the media literacy tools and techniques garnered from the MOOC have affected their daily media interactions. Findings emphasize the personal and contextual nature of media literacy, and that those factors must be addressed to ensure the success of a media literacy education program.

The YouTube Celebrity examines some of the top YouTube channels and their common methods of creation and communication. In this project I created and posted several videos and blogs discussing some common factors of success, using real world examples and the theory behind the medium and the people. I argue that successful YouTubers use a deliberate presentation as an amateur creator in order to gain authenticity. I use my experimental creation of videos and digital discussion of these ideas to develop my argument as well as applicable literature from relevant fields.