Browsing by Subject "Civic engagement"
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Item City of Austin’s data culture still under construction(2015-05) Boria Gonzalez, Laura Marina; McDonald, Christian; Chen, GinaMost open government initiatives across the United States focus on transparency, where local governments publish information online about its operations. By giving people access to the data used to run government operations, others can use that data to solve city problems or create additional services, like the congressional tracking website GovTrack. This project is an attempt to understand the issues surrounding the City of Austin’s initiative to open up its data. The city joined the open data movement with the selection and launch of their Socrata portal in 2011. But the local government didn’t just come up with the idea of launching an open data portal by itself. Austin’s open government data movement has been largely led by grassroots efforts.Item Civic engagement analysis of select open data portals(2015-05) Hadjigeorge, Nicholas George; Flamm, Kenneth, 1951-; Greenberg, Sherri RGovernments and non-profit institutions increasingly are publishing data on the Internet in databases known as open data portals. The data is freely available, accessible, and used by citizens and application developers. However, there is little research about the relationship between open data portal characteristics and their effect on civic engagement. In addition to an overview of open data portals, user behavior, and civic applications, this report analyzes portal-level panel data across 36 months and 14 portals to estimate the effects of portal characteristics on civic engagement. Results show that portals with frequently updated data experience more civic engagement. These empirical findings validate the open data principle of timeliness, and are important for policy- makers designing open data policies to maximize the potential for users to add value to open data.Item Civic engagement in a mobile landscape : testing the roles of duration and frequency in learning from news(2015-08) Molyneux, Logan Ken; Poindexter, Paula MaurieConsuming the news is often seen as preparing a person to participate in a democracy by giving them the information they need to make choices and provide input. This relationship has varied depending on the ways in which news is delivered, with different news platforms delivering different results in terms of learning from the news. As society changes and people's news consumption habits shift toward mobile, it is necessary to re-examine this relationship in a mobile age. This dissertation conducts surveys of two samples of U.S. adults one year apart in order to examine civic engagement in a mobile news landscape. Study 1, given to a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in 2014, tests the Mobile News Dependency Model. The model predicts that reliance on mobile devices for news consumption will lead people to consume news in shorter, inattentive sessions, which should have detrimental effects on news knowledge and therefore civic engagement. Study 2, given in 2015 to a different sample of U.S. adults, refines the tests conducted in Study 1 using updated measures to identify those who snack on the news and compare them with those who get news in larger portions. Results show that news sessions on smartphone are indeed shorter than on other platforms, and that smartphone news use is associated with snacking on the news. But those who get news from smartphones are not significantly less knowledgeable and are in fact slightly more civically engaged than those who do not. Links between smartphone news use and short sessions or snacking are supported, but the overall Mobile News Dependency Model is not supported. The overall relationship between mobile news use and civic engagement appears to take a different path than the one specified. Finally, results show that most people consume news on multiple platforms, perhaps normalizing the effects of any one platform on knowledge. Implications for news consumers, news producers, and democracy in a mobile age are discussed.Item From class to club : an exploration of high school civic-minded student organizations from 1996-2011 in Corpus Christi, Texas(2012-05) Noyola, Sonia Adriana; Field, Sherry L.; Davis, O. L. (Ozro Luke), 1928-Our educational system has long claimed that preparing students to be active citizens is one of its main goals. With high-stakes testing pressures, schools with high minority enrollment have been found to cut back social studies programs and/or implement a drill and practice fragmented teaching style. (Center on Education Policy, 2007; McNeil and Valenzuela, 2000). This research project seeks to understand how civic engagement opportunities were provided for, the impact of these opportunities on students and community members in Corpus Christi, Texas, during the last 15 years, and the ways in which these opportunities may serve to maximize civic engagement for today’s Latino/a student. Using oral histories and archival data as a means to uncover the history of civic-minded organizations in Corpus Christi, Texas, on high school youth and their community, this research project will investigate the founding of the organizations, the people involved in them, and the impact of these organizations as it is perceived by alumni and those with direct experience of the organizations. While a study of this type may not be highly generalizable, it will provide new insights into promising civic education and engagement for previously marginalized groups of students. The findings of this research should add to the educational and social science literature by providing a nuanced understanding of how civic engagement opportunities may be tailored to fit into the learning environment of the high school civics classroom and beyond.Item Museums that care : socially responsive art museum practices and motivations(2010-08) Schneider, Abbey Lynn; Mayer, Melinda M.; Bolin, Paul E.This research study provides answers to questions pertaining to current practices in the art museum field regarding socially responsive programming and the motivations for developing and implementing such programs. Socially responsive programming is programming that encourages dialogue and debate about social, economic and political issues in order to promote honesty, fairness, concern for the rights and welfare of others, empathy, and compassion (Desai & Chalmers, 2007). The study engaged a mixed methods approach by utilizing a survey and three case studies. The purpose of the survey was to gauge the position of the field in relation to their values and support of socially responsive programs. Janes’ and Conaty’s (2005) four characteristics of socially responsive museums: seeing social issues and acting to create social change (idealism); building and sustaining strong relationships with the community (intimacy); investing time for reflection and resources to fully understand social issues (depth); and judging the museum’s worth, not based on building size, prestige of collections, or attendance numbers, but on the quality programs a museum provides to the community (interconnectedness) guided the construction of the survey and served as an analytical tool for the case studies. The survey sample resulted from distributing the survey through major museum-themed listservs. The survey also aided in identifying three exemplars of socially responsive museum. These institutions, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, comprised a purposeful sample in order to further investigate museum staff members’ motivations for creating and instituting socially responsive art museum practices.Item Political and civic engagement of agriculture producers who operate in selected Idaho and Texas counties dependent on irrigation(Texas Tech University, 2007-08) Pauley, Patrick Stephen; Baker, Matt; Smith, James H.; Paton, Valerie O.; Doerfert, DavidPublic policy is something that affects all citizens that are governed by the civilization that they live within. We in the United States of America have elected to establish and maintain a system of government called a Democratic Republic. This system relies on the adherence to a set of premises as a basis of policy development and implementation. The first of these is that no policy may contradict that of a higher governing authority. In our country the highest governing authority and ideal is prescribed by the Constitution of the United States. The constitution among other things maintains that the wishes of the majority may not violate the rights of the minority. This is largely the motivation that results in a rather lengthy process that takes place to the end of a policy being implemented. Early phases of the process are commonly initiated as a result of some form of public discontent over an issue. When sufficient attention is drawn to this discontent the investigative phase of policy development will begin. This study was conducted to ascertain the scope and extent to which professional agriculture producers in selected counties of Idaho and Texas engage in processes that influence the crafting of public policy. The predominant criterion for selecting the counties of interest was the extent that irrigation water was relied upon for production. In accordance with focusing on counties that are highly watered, the survey instrument specifically inquired of historic producer action pursuant to water policy development.Item Relational reinvention : writing, engagement, and mapping as wicked response(2012-08) McCarthy, Seán Ronan; Syverson, Margaret A., 1948-; Davis, Diane; Ferreira-Buckley, Linda; Hodgson, Justin; Selfe, Cynthia LThis multimedia dissertation, situated in Rhetoric and Composition, Digital Media Studies, and Civic Engagement, articulates a sustainable, agile approach to “wicked problems.” These complex, definition-resistant, interlocking problems (such as racism or climate change) aren’t ultimately solvable; rather than wicked problems being “acted upon,” they can only be creatively and rigorously “responded to” by networks of committed individuals and institutions. This dissertation posits that a wicked problem necessitates a “wicked response”: a sustained, emergent, and fluid strategy that focuses on changing relationships – to people, to space, and to knowledge. In order, to make this argument, I present the case of Mart, a small, formerly prosperous town in East Texas that has been in decline over the last half of a century. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze the ongoing efforts of the Mart Community Project (MCP), a cohort of Mart residents, international artists, and students and instructors from a variety of departments at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past two years, the MCP has engaged in over twenty-five discrete projects, all with the aim of helping the Mart Community reimagine itself in the face of its primary wicked problem: a lack of civic cohesion. In the first chapter I explore how language fails to define or describe a wicked problem, yet is still necessary in order to transform it. I illustrate this contradiction in part through the Chambless Field mural, a successful MCP community arts project that by “writing community” became a productive response. My second chapter examines service learning and demonstrates how university/community partnerships and “participatory engagement” can be part of a nuanced approach to a wicked problem. Using the work of UT students in design-oriented and civic engagement classes, I demonstrate in the third chapter how “mapping” can be both a savvy pedagogical tool and a key element in reinventing the relationships of people to space and to one another. This dissertation offers up these diverse strategies with the sincere hope that the particulars of the MCP’s wicked response might be productively generalized to aid others participating in similarly challenging civic engagement work on wicked problems.Item A retrospective on civic life in Texas(2013-08) Einsohn, Emily Rachel; Stolp, Chandler; Streeter, Calvin L.Civic life in its healthiest state is a dynamic, open, and reflective system that serves the needs of the public and improves the quality of life for all its members. A vibrant civic sphere helps citizens become less vulnerable to exploitation, hardship, harm, and allows everyday voices access to the powers that influence their lives.Yet most citizens today feel that the political arena has become too hostile, irrational, and polarized to expend their energy trying to affect it. Texas in particular is experiencing some of the lowest levels of civic engagement in the nation. The framework of this report holds on to both the notion that a healthy civic sphere is vital to the social fabric of our nation and to idea that citizens have legitimate reasons why they do not currently engage more in the process. These new dynamics in the landscape of political life warrant a moment of reflection which this retrospective seeks to offer. This paper uses Current Population Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau to explore whether we are we asking the right questions, if we have enough information, and outlines what the data we do have is telling us about civic life in Texas.Item Seriously social : crafting opinion leaders to spur a two-step flow of news(2011-05) Kaufhold, William Thomas; Lasorsa, Dominic L.Since the 1960s, the United States has experienced steady declines in news consumption and commensurate attrition in civic engagement and political participation. Americans read newspapers at less than one fourth the rate of 60 years ago; voter turnout has fallen to the point where the U.S. ranks 23 out of 24 established democracies; signing petitions, volunteering for a civic organization like the PTA and political party affiliation are all at contemporary lows. But these indicators only tell half the story…the younger half. Because among Americans over age 50, attrition in all these areas is much milder; among those under age 30 they are much steeper. So do young adults get news? If so, how do they get news? If not, how do they find out about things? A 21-year old journalism student reported that: “I usually just hear it from friends, when I talk to friends.” The present study employed four methods: Secondary analysis of longitudinal Pew data; interviews and focus groups about news consumption and media use habits, including social media and wireless devices; a survey on social media use and its relationship to news and news knowledge; and an experiment testing a novel game as a way to convey news and civics knowledge, all involving students at three large state universities. Findings include the following: students often rank social media use, like Facebook, as their most important and most-used media; social media are negatively related with traditional news use and with news knowledge; students draw clear and important distinctions between news and information; one method of teaching (direct instruction) works well while another (a news game) works, but not as well. Of particular interest is the role of opinion leaders in the two-step flow of news, and the role of relevance and need for orientation in agenda setting. Novel contributions include a clearer definition of students’ distinction between news and important information as they define it, a framework by which to experiment with creating an interactive game using news to promote news seeking, and some provocative recommendations for future research.Item Social media and the city of New Braunfels, Texas : foundations and guidance for implementing a social media strategy(2011-05) Rogers, Jonathan David; Jarvenpaa, S. L. (Sirkka L.); Wong, Patrick, 1956-; Evans, AngelaMany municipalities are deciding how to engage their citizens through social media while, at the same time, the universe of social media applications continues to grow and evolve. As of May 2011, the government of the City of New Braunfels, Texas, is not using centralized social media to interact with its constituents. This report considers whether or not social media tools are appropriate to help the city reach three identified service goals: 1) strengthening emergency management and communications services; 2) providing the capability to serve as a direct-to-citizen news entity instead of relying on traditional media for messaging; and 3) increasing public participation and engagement. Possible options and unresolved issues associated with each goal are presented. The community demographic profile of New Braunfels, the city’s status as a small urban community, and citizen access to high-speed Internet service increases the likelihood that residents will be online and engaged with social media on a regular basis. Data regarding the ownership of mobile phones and the use of these devices to connect to the Internet, combined with growing interest in social media, supports the exploration of social media for crisis communications. Three types of social media applications (microblogs/status-sharing applications, public alert applications, and blogs) present possible options for the use of social media to support emergency communications. Existing patterns of local press coverage provide the city with the possible motivation to innovate its message delivery. Possible options that could facilitate the city’s engagement of social media for messaging include hiring a public information officer, conducting an audit of the city’s brand identity online, and examining social media applications used by the city’s market comparators, including micromedia, photo and video sharing, and blogs. While data is limited with respect to existing levels of civic engagement, establishing social media policies and metrics capable of adapting to changing technologies could provide city administrators with a reasonable perspective on the value of social media for improving public engagement and participation.Item The mayor of social media : on the intersection of the Millennial Generation, digital media technologies, and civic engagement(2016-05) Caviness, Autumn; Chen, Wenhong; Foster, Kevin MThis Master’s Report has two key objectives: (1) Add to the current dialogue, as to how the Millennial Generation defines the intersection of Digital Media Technologies (DMTs) and civic engagement; and (2) Create media content (and subsequently, disseminate this media content via on-air and online broadcasts) theoretically guided by the Academy’s work on said intersection of DMTs and civic engagement. Although, the Millennial Generation played an instrumental role in the 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections, rarely does the Academy inquire directly from this generational cohort their qualitative perspectives on the aforementioned intersection. Thus, this Master’s Report ultimately aims to fill-in such glaring literature gaps by crafting media content shaped primarily by the voices of Millennials. Completion of this Master’s Report resulted in the media production of five expert audio interviews and three radio features that aired on public radio station KUT FM 90.5 and received placement on KUT’s station website, www.kut.org and The University of Texas, School of Journalism’s Reporting Texas website, www.reportingtexas.com, during the spring of 2012.