Research

Studies on strategic visual political communication on social media have taken various cultural turns globally. This chapter uses a visual rhetorical approach to analyze 277 photographs of the President of Ghana’s Facebook page (H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo) after he was sworn into office in 2021. Considering the thematic, conceptual, and thought-provoking implications of visual rhetoric, the findings indicated that the President of Ghana constructed national images of Ghana’s rich cultural heritage, its decorous political sphere, Ghana’s security preparedness, as well as its commitment to ethics, legal, and moral uprightness. The chapter discusses the finding’s broader implications for strategic communication and argues that visual rhetoric contributes to the praxis of strategic political communication. 

This book chronicles the transformative impact of CMOS sensor technology on the global DIY filmmaking community. Through the lens of an ethnographer and outsider filmmaker, the author explores how digital cameras have democratized the art of filmmaking, allowing amateurs to create professional-quality films on a shoestring budget. The journey begins with the author's own experience creating Aspirin for the Masses, a feature film shot for just $500, and extends into the broader world of no-budget filmmaking. Key concepts include the rise of the "Am-Auteur," the role of film festivals in identity creation, and the cultural capital of low-cost cinema. The book examines how digital technology has redefined notions of media dissolution and creation, offering new pathways for identity formation. It also delves into the performative aspects of film festivals, where outsider artists gain socio-cultural status. This book is essential for scholars, filmmakers, and anyone interested in the intersection of technology and art. It offers a unique perspective on how digital cameras have reshaped the filmmaking landscape, empowering a new generation of creators to challenge traditional norms and redefine what it means to be an auteur in the digital age.

The present study examines the factors influencing international students’ intentions to use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Our results showed that attitude toward GenAI use, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, enjoyment, subjective norms, novelty, trust in technology, perceived value, and AI literacy were positively associated with intention to use GenAI. Fear of plagiarism had a negative relationship with intention to use GenAI. Our mediation analysis suggested that trust in technology, perceived ease of use, fear of plagiarism, perceived usefulness, and AI literacy indirectly influenced GenAI usage intention via attitude and perceived value, underscoring both the appeal and concerns of GenAI in learning. This study contributed to the TPB, VAM, and TAM frameworks by incorporating fear of plagiarism, trust in technology, and AI literacy to demonstrate how cognitive, affective, and value-based factors collectively influence the adoption of GenAI technologies among international students.

The study examines local newspaper coverage of Afghan resettlement in the U.S. after the end of America’s ‘longest war’ in 2021. The papers are prominent news outlets of the counties where the military bases housing evacuees are located. We use a mixed-methods approach to examine news articles collected over an eighteen-month period. The study will analyze prominent sources, characteristics of evacuees, and themes in coverage. Themes were derived using both inductive and deductive methods. ‘America as land of opportunity’ and ‘moral obligation’ were dominant themes. Study results will provide a temporal marker that allows researchers to measure future changes in community attitudes towards evacuees. Thematic analysis demonstrates linkages between discourses such as moral obligation, migrants as threats, and process and how they help maintain U.S. power and hegemony. Rendering a critique of news coverage by analyzing how articles deployed and resisted these dominant themes, the study hopes to contribute towards a more nuanced approach towards media coverage of forced migration.

Instagram has become an essential platform for youth engagement and political campaign discourse. This study builds on this strand of knowledge by analyzing how the U.S. Vice President and the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, employed the platform during the 2024 campaigns over 5months by assessing the narratives as well as user fantasies. Findings indicated that the narratives emphasized her administration’s political achievements and positions, her commitment to amplifying every voice, her personal and social identity, as well as global voice and initiatives. These narratives generate two fantasy themes around her personalized leadership style, impact, and ideological positioning. Harris’s campaign discourse on Instagram conformed to the identity expectations of the American electorates and the youth-dominated platform dynamics, positioning her as an advocate for equity.

Intercultural Public Relations: Insights from the Middle East is co-authored by UMD COMM Associate Professor Dr. Ganga Dhanesh along with Dr. Ruth Avidar, Senior Lecturer at Yezreel Valley College. This book explores how culture shapes public relations in the Middle East, focusing on Israel and the UAE. Using the Global Public Relations Framework (GPRF), it examines how political, economic, social, and organizational cultures influence key PR practices such as identity, reputation, listening, and engagement. Through an interpretive, inductive approach, the book highlights the interplay between local and global cultural forces, offering fresh insights into PR in non-Western contexts. It’s a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and students of global PR, intercultural communication, and Middle Eastern studies.  

This paper offers a rhetorical analysis to read the San Francisco “Comfort Women” Column of Strength memorial within the context of the United States’ historical violence against Asian women with white sexual imperialism as a theoretical lens. Utilizing in situ rhetorical field methods and critical rhetorical criticism, I contend that the San Francisco “Comfort Women” Column of Strength memorial illuminates how the medium of a public memorial faces certain constraints and difficulties in being able to name and critique U.S. imperialism as a historical narrative to be publicly remembered in dominant national memory. I offer transnational global memoryscape, extending Phillips and Reyes’ global memoryscape, as a concept that necessarily draws our attention specifically towards unequal forces of power across borders, such as Western imperialist forces in Asia. Ultimately, a critical, transnational lens on public memory is imperative to situate national public memories within a global context as memories flow across borders.

In "Why Diplomacy Demands More Than Intelligence," Lamia Zia and Andrew Rolander grapple with important issues relating to diplomacy. Situating their arguments in historical context, the researchers describe how diplomacy and intelligence share a symbiotic relationship, where one informs the other and neither can operate alone. Zia and Rolander ultimately argue that, "Diplomacy’s true power lies not just in what you know, but in how you use it to connect, persuade, and lead." 

New book, Diversifying the Space of Podcasting: Access, Identity, and Reflective Practices, written by Alexis Romero Walker and COMM Lecturer Tegan Bratcher was published by Rowman & Littlefield. 

The publisher states, "As the podcast studies field continues to gain momentum both within academia and in practice, scholars have been mapping and exploring the podcasting landscape from a variety of perspectives. This edited volume highlights the diverse spaces that podcasts embody and create, amplifying the unique and understudied perspectives and voices of podcasting. Through a multitude of interdisciplinary approaches, contributors explore the various cultural, racial, and identity-based markers undergirding the richness of the platform and argue that by understanding diverse content and content creators, we enrich the field of podcast studies as a whole. Scholars of media, communication, cultural, podcast, and critical race studies – among others – will find this book to be particularly useful."

The book features a chapter by COMM Assistant Professor, Briana Barner, on Black podcasting. Congrats to all on this excellent anthology! 

Digital health has become integral to public health care, advancing how services are accessed, delivered, and managed. Health organizations increasingly assess their digital health maturity to leverage these innovations fully. However, existing digital health maturity models (DHMMs) primarily focus on technology and infrastructure, often neglecting critical communication components. This systematic review addresses gaps in DHMMs by identifying deficiencies in user communication elements and proposing the digital health communication maturity model (DHCMM). The DHCMM integrates critical health communication dimensions such as satisfaction, engagement, personalization, and customization to provide a comprehensive evaluation framework.
 

We followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines to conduct a systematic review of studies selected from 3 databases: EBSCO, PubMed, and ProQuest. Studies were screened and included based on their focus on digital health maturity and communication elements, with the final selection limited to English-language research addressing DHMMs. Of the 1138 initially identified studies, 31 (2.72%) met the inclusion criteria. Current DHMMs heavily emphasize infrastructure while overlooking user engagement and communication; for instance, only 35% (11/31) of the reviewed models incorporated user satisfaction, and less than one-fifth (6/31, 19%) addressed personalization or customization. The DHCMM addresses these gaps with 7 maturity levels, ranging from initial to engaged, and emphasizes user-centered metrics and governance. Quantitative analysis showed substantial variations in communication metrics, with satisfaction metrics incorporated at an average rate of 22% (7/31) across the reviewed models.
 

The DHCMM shifts the focus of digital health maturity assessments by emphasizing communication and user engagement. This model provides health care organizations with a structured framework to enhance digital health initiatives, leading to better patient outcomes and system-wide efficiencies. The model delivers actionable insights for organizations aiming to achieve advanced digital maturity by addressing underrepresented dimensions. Future research should implement and refine the DHCMM across diverse health care contexts to enhance its effectiveness. The adoption of this model could result in more equitable, user-centered health care systems that integrate technological advancements with human-centered care.