In journalism school, reporters learn to be unbiased, impartial and objective when covering a story. They are to stay neutral and detached from their reporting. However, this standard has become unrealistic and unachievable for many journalists. "Inside Objectivity" is a five-episode podcast that focuses on what journalistic objectivity looks like in the 21st century. In this podcast, you will hear from journalists, scholars, historians, researchers and a news consumer. These guests will provide their thoughts regarding journalistic objectivity and whether this ethical standard needs to be modified. To listen to the episodes and learn more about the podcast, visit insideobjectivity.com.

A friend of mine once told me that coding is like doing magic, and frankly, I am inclined to agree. With a keyboard, a development environment, and a little bit of language skill, you can build an entire world. Despite being heavily rooted in logic, math, and science, there is a certain mystery to it, a sense of illusion and wizardry. The sense of pride and power that comes from successfully finishing an app, program, or website is like no other. I recently watched the film Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) for the first time, and I was struck by one of the lines. In thinking about the success of his creation and what that means for the world, he says, “I’m not a man, I’m God.” And although I wouldn’t say that is exactly how I feel when I turn in a coding assignment, I understand the sentiment. This thesis is going to be a bit different than the one I thought I was going to write. When I started this, I thought it would be about an amazing coding project I had completed. I would write about all the beautiful code and the nitty gritty of the technical aspects. But, the project that I intended to create is not the project I ended up with, and I couldn’t be happier. I finished with something a lot more meaningful, a lot more interdisciplinary, and a lot more me. In this essay and the accompanying coding project, I aim to take you on the journey of building my own piece of digital culture, an app titled “Exposed.” I begin by discussing how the motivation to create Exposed came from the desire to stop using an app made by an internet celebrity and how the values of Gen Z and their relationship with technology influenced and guided the creation of the app. Then I examine the relationship between code and the coder, and how external factors such as being a woman in technology impacts project development. Then I explain the results of the coding process and outline how Exposed turned out. Finally, I consider the meaning of digital culture and how it functions in the creation of Exposed. Along the way this project became extremely personal. I found that the deeper I dove into making the code work, the more I learned about myself and my relationship to technology. If I promise to be honest with you, will you promise to listen to what I have to say?

vaNILla is the connections based, partnership driven platform for collegiate student athletes and brands to pursue Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals. The program was coded in SwiftUI as a MVP (minimum viable product). I then took a look at NIL since its enactment and analyzed the financial impact of the rule change so far by creating a literary review that discusses the need for financial literacy and collectives’ influences on recruiting.

This study examines the Instagram strategies of sports betting companies Bally Bet and BetMGM for reaching their audiences. The three research questions focus on what sports bettors value in these companies and on their Instagram pages; which strategies are effective for reaching the target audience; and the importance of popular culture references, celebrity endorsements and influencers in this messaging. The researcher utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the messaging categories used by both entities. Findings revealed that sports betting companies can strategically reach their targeted audiences on Instagram by successful strategies on Instagram by creating content that engages sports fans. Because the average bettor values entertainment over profiting on bets, messaging that includes popular culture and current events references to sport are essential for achieving relevancy with the fan base. These findings set the stage for future research which includes studies surrounding messaging variation across different sports, social media strategies related to trends, spending for acquisition costs, and efforts to encourage responsible gambling.

As of 2022, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 12-24. For adolescents who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ communities, the rates of suicide contemplations and attempts are as high as four times more likely compared with their heterosexual or cisgender peers. As of 2022, 45% of LGBTQIA+ youths have contemplated suicide. LGBTQIA+ teens are also more likely to experience bullying and discrimination. Despite extensive research conducted by The Trevor Project pointing to the importance of representation in the media for these LGBTQIA+ teens, governors, state legislatures, and school boards around the United States have made it their mission to deny these teens access to literature that feature LGBTQIA+ characters. As of September 2022, one in four books that are banned across the country from school libraries contain LGBTQIA+ characters. In order to combat this lack of access to LGBTQIA+ Young Adult literature, I created a resource website that acts as a safe space for queer teens to explore literature that features teens who identify like they do. The purpose of my website is threefold. First, I aimed to create a joyous space for teens to discover LGBTQIA+ literature. Second, I provided resources and information about different sexualities and gender identities for anyone who might want more information on these topics. And third, I wanted to prove to website visitors that they are not alone, regardless of how they may be negatively treated at home or at school. To accomplish these three goals, I created specific pages on the website, such as book recommendation pages compiled with research of LGBTQIA+ YA books paired with my own knowledge and resource pages informed by outside research such as my hotlines, LGBTQIA+ terminology, statistics, and gender identity explained pages. I also include a handful of author interview pages, which highlight written interviews I conducted with a few critically acclaimed queer YA authors. I provide screenshots and explanations in the following pages.