Tricia M. Farwell

Assessing Assessment: Evaluating Outcomes and Reliabilities of Grammar, Math, and Writing Skill Measures in an Introductory Journalism Course

This article introduces an objective grammar and math assessment and evaluates the assessment’s outcome and reliability when fielded among eighty-one students in media writing courses. In addition, the article proposes a rubric for grading straight news leads and compares the rubric’s reliability with the reliability of rating straight news leads on an “A to F” scale without the guidance of a rubric. The study found evidence suggesting all three assessments may be useful tools in evaluating student learning in basic media writing courses.

A Fifteen-Year Census of Gender-Based Convention Research: Scholarship Rates by Women within AEJMC Divisions, Interest Groups, and Commissions (1994 to 2008)

This study considers refereed scholarship and levels of inclusion by gender within and between AEJMCs divisions, interest groups, and commissions. It is a census of all blindly reviewed research accepted to the AEJMC conventions from 1994 to 2003. Women are authoring convention research at rates (49.2%) above their percentage of membership in AEJMC (between 40% in 2002 and 44.6% in 2010). Women currently author a majority of the convention scholarship on issues related to cultural and critical studies (60.8%); they have drastically increased their participation in research related to media management and economics.

Gender and Journal Scholarship in Mass Communication: How Well Are Women Doing? A Twenty-Year Content Analysis

A census of authorship (N = 9,090 articles produced by 14,348 gender-identified authors) in eighteen primary journalism and mass communication journals during 1986–2005 indicates that over the time period women produced 32.3% of the journal scholarship—a per capita rate greater than their numeric representation on journalism and mass communication faculties nationally. In recent years (2001–2005) women produced 38.7% of journal scholarship while representing about 32% of faculty. Female assistant professors produced the most (31.2%) journal scholarship.

Book Review: The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media EraThe Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era. FordSamDe KosnikAbigailHarringtonC. Lee, eds. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2011. 344 pp.

The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era. Sam Ford, Abigail De Kosnik, and C. Lee Harrington, eds. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2011. 344 pp.

50.00 hbk.

50.00 hbk.

30.00 pbk. or e-book.

30.00 pbk. or e-book.The writings in The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era explore the tensions regarding the current (dismal) state of soap operas from production to the implications of new media on the genre. With one of the goals of the book being to investigate why the shows have lost their appeal, which prompted the cancelation of the majority of U.S. soap operas, the collection raises questions of how the genre can capitalize on what makes it unique to survive. It is the elements that make the genre unique, editors argue, that make it a significant part of television programming that would be missed.To make this argument, the book presents essays and interviews regarding key aspects that help define the genre: the narrative history, the ability to experiment with production, and the audience community surrounding the shows. Essentially, the chapters work together to build the argument that the daytime serial drama does work in ways no other show has done; it can tell a story that spans generations, has a rich history, and builds a community based on the interest of a variety of age groups. One can easily imagine that the intended audience for the collection incorporates the entire soap opera community, given that the authors include a wide range of scholars and professionals who have worked in the genre.The book includes pieces by thirty-eight scholars, soap opera producers and actors, fans, and others, including essays by the three editors. Sam Ford is director of Digital Strategy with Peppercom Strategic Communications and an affiliate with both the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT and the Popular Culture Studies Program at Western Kentucky University; Abigail De Kosnik teaches in the Berkeley Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley; and C. Lee Harrington is a sociology professor at Miami of Ohio.One of the strengths of The Survival of the Soap Opera is that the collection does discuss the traditional factors of soap viewing while showing how these elements can be used to recapture the lost glory of the shows. In essence, the recommendation is what the shows have done in their story telling: build on the past while looking toward the future. Take, for example, the chapter regarding the presentation of the history of Tom Hughes of As the World Turns. This textual analysis discusses areas of contention for viewers, such as Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome (SORAS), to areas of viewer pleasure, such as using prominent characters over a significant period of time to anchor the show.As seen through several of the chapters, the genre does embrace consistency and longevity through characters and storyline, but it also reacts to change. Historically, the soap has been known for being able to embrace change on a variety of levels ranging from production to narratives of social consciousness. What many may not want to acknowledge, however, is that in the case of the serial daytime drama, change may not always have been a good thing. For example, in the chapter on daytime budget cuts, the shows adapting to the lower budget due to falling ratings affected their ability to keep iconic characters and forced some actors to take significant pay cuts. …

Introducing Students to Micro-Blogging through Collaborative Work: Using Twitter to Promote Cross-University Relationships and Discussions

The job market for communication majors increasingly expects those graduating in these specializations to not only know how to create strategic plans for using social media in both one-way and two-way communication environments, but also maintain proper social media etiquette and virtual culture norms for their clients. To better prepare students for this expectation, two faculty members at separate universities designed and implemented a course assignment intended to promote cross-university collaboration, foster discussion, and bring students to use microblogging via Twitter. This assignment was designed so that it would not only have the students construct the meaning and best practices in a social setting using social media, but also encourage them to experience Twitter from a user perspective while building relationships in a manner that their future employers may have to work with their publics or customers. Overall, the educators involved in this project did feel that it was a beneficial assignment for students in both classes. While the students may not appreciate the assignment while it is being conducted, many of them have expressed the value in it now that the assignment is completed.