Confronting Convergence:  Are Higher Education Administrators Using a Strategic Planning Approach to Mass Communication Curriculum Convergence? (open access)

Confronting Convergence: Are Higher Education Administrators Using a Strategic Planning Approach to Mass Communication Curriculum Convergence?

Professors in mass communications departments of higher education institutions continue to search for the best way to prepare graduates for the ever-changing world of print, broadcast, and online media. Business administration theories have long been used in other areas, including education. While some application of strategic planning has been documented with regards to education, there is not much to reference in this area. The study investigated the use of strategic planning in developing a course of action for curriculum convergence in mass communication programs. The study used a purposive sample to determine if administrators are utilizing this method as a part of curriculum convergence. The results indicated a use of this method among institutions involved in curriculum convergence.
Date: May 2010
Creator: Huckeba, Kristyn L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Baseball in the Digital Age: The Role of Online and Mobile Content in Major League Baseball's Media Product Portfolio (open access)

Baseball in the Digital Age: The Role of Online and Mobile Content in Major League Baseball's Media Product Portfolio

This case study evaluated Major League Baseball's (MLB) media product portfolio to identify how broadcast revenues have evolved over the past decade. This research looked back across baseball's long, dysfunctional history with broadcasters in order to recognize the significance of its ambitious use of online content. While MLB had failed to fully utilize the potential of broadcasting, the league's aggressive online strategy through its Advanced Media (MLBAM) division made it the industry leader in broadcasting live streaming sports video. MLBAM expanded its online streaming video to mobile phones and iPad, further expanding the distribution of its content. This research compared MLBAM revenue to traditional broadcast revenue while analyzing the online division's role in promoting the MLB brand. This case study concluded that while MLBAM had made a number of groundbreaking developments, the league could still improve its use of embedded, shared video clips, archived footage and international marketing in order to further extend the brand equity of the MLB, its thirty individual brands and its media product portfolio.
Date: December 2010
Creator: Hutton, Brian P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Margaret Dale, Adapting the Stage to the Screen: Aesthetic, Appropriation, and Intimacy in Ballet Programming for Post-War BBC Television (open access)

Margaret Dale, Adapting the Stage to the Screen: Aesthetic, Appropriation, and Intimacy in Ballet Programming for Post-War BBC Television

This thesis examines the aesthetic of ballets adapted for BBC Television by producer Margaret Dale, beginning with her entrance to the BBC's training program in 1955 and culminating with her commissioned work Houseparty, which aired in 1964. A historical and organizational framework is discussed regarding the BBC's cultural mission and view of arts programming, as well as general developmental milestones in programming contextualizing Dale's working conditions. Particular focus is placed upon the appropriation of Romantic narrative ballets and their significance in reinforcing an aristocratic and culturally divisive structure in the arts. Textual analyses consider issues of restaging, camera placement, and lighting, as well as television's intimacy and relationship to characterization in ballet narratives.
Date: December 2010
Creator: Escue, Jessica Margaret
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reality Television: Using Para-Social Relationship Theory and Economic Theory to Define the Success of Network Reality Programming (open access)

Reality Television: Using Para-Social Relationship Theory and Economic Theory to Define the Success of Network Reality Programming

This study seeks to use a dual-theoretical approach, through the use of para-social relationship theory and economic data analysis, to explain the success of reality television since the early 2000s. This study uses both qualitative and quantitative components to understand the growth of reality television. This study includes a literature analysis of both methodologies used. Focus groups were used to seek to find a strong level of para-social interaction in viewers of reality television. Two focus groups were conducted with participants 18-35. There were a total of 16 participants who attended the focus group sessions. The information collected suggested that viewers of reality television formed para-social relationships. It appeared that female viewers were more likely to form para-social relationships than male viewers.
Date: December 2010
Creator: Dyer, Caitlin Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Standing Up to Experts: The Politics of Public Education (open access)

Standing Up to Experts: The Politics of Public Education

In a small room in Austin, Texas, a group of 15 people are single-handedly deciding what is taught to the next generation of American children. The highly politicized 15 member Texas Board of Education is currently going through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly 5 million schoolchildren. Texas is also unbelievably influential on the standards that textbook publishers use as a basis for their textbooks nationwide. Over the last 10 years, the textbooks adopted by this board found their way in upwards of 65% of American classrooms. My goal is to shed light on this important issue and the key players in this process - I explain their goals, explore the scope of their influence, and delve into the personal motivations behind their actions, which will affect public education throughout the country.
Date: December 2010
Creator: Thurman, Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library