Digital Citizenship Tools for Cause-Based Campaigns: a Broadened Spectrum of Social Media Engagement and Participation-Scale Methodology
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2018 Digital Citizenship Tools for Cause-Based Campaigns: A Broadened Spectrum of Social Media Engagement and Participation-Scale Methodology Jennifer Miller University of Central Florida Part of the Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Miller, Jennifer, "Digital Citizenship Tools for Cause-Based Campaigns: A Broadened Spectrum of Social Media Engagement and Participation-Scale Methodology" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 6022. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6022 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP TOOLS FOR CAUSE-BASED CAMPAIGNS: A BROADENED SPECTRUM OF SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION-SCALE METHODOLOGY by JENNIFER ROTH MILLER B.S. University of Central Florida, 2000 M.A. Rollins College, 2002 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Texts and Technology in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2018 Major Professor: Stephanie Vie © 2018 Jennifer Roth Miller ii ABSTRACT Digital Citizenship Tools for Cause-Based Campaigns: A Broadened Spectrum of Social Media Engagement and Participation-Scale Methodology develops and applies two new tools for understanding, measuring, and recursively adjusting small to medium-size social media- based philanthropic campaigns to better foster participation and engagement—in other words, democratic digital citizenship. First, a theoretical model is offered broadening current binary conceptions of success and failure or impact of campaigns, situating specific participant actions in social media on a spectrum. Then, from that model, a new methodology is provided to measure participation and engagement generated by campaign posts. Recommendations are also offered for recursively adjusting campaign posts to better foster democratic digital citizenship. These tools were developed from data generated by #TheFaceOffChallenge, a research project representative of a typical small to medium-size cause-based campaign. #TheFaceOffChallenge also serves as a sample for analysis illustrating how to use these tools. While explicating these tools, this dissertation explores a broad range of topics related to better understanding democratic digital citizenship: online philanthropy, awareness, and digital activism; viral and memetic transmission; tensions between consumption and creation of ideas, content, and knowledge; public(s), counterpublics, and counter-efforts; literacies and access for engagement and participation in algorithmic environments; and visual communication and semiotics. iii This dissertation is first and foremost dedicated to digital citizens in general and all of the issues they care about. My hope is that the knowledge generated from this research will further their efforts making the world a better place. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’d like to thank my committee members: Stephanie Vie, chair; J. Blake Scott; Madelyn Flammia; and Kirk St.Amant. I deeply appreciate your mentorship, direction, support, and feedback. I’d also like to thank each of my other professors in the University of Central Florida (UCF) Texts and Technology Doctoral Program. You have each shaped and inspired my work on this topic in some important way. Additionally, I owe sincere gratitude to the UCF Colleges of Arts and Humanities and Graduate Studies for funding my research by awarding me the Doctoral Research Support Award. Last, but definitely not least, I’d like to recognize my family for their endless support, understanding, and sharing of my attention during this project. My husband, Travis, in particular, supported, encouraged, and assisted me unconditionally; managed the household while I attended night classes, conferences, and worked at odd times; and listened as I talked endlessly about the topics of this work. I owe sincere gratitude to both my parents and in-laws for helping with the grandchildren, and I’d like to specifically recognize my mother and father for teaching me to always be giving to others and to “focus on my studies.” Similarly, I hope my work will be an inspiration to my children, Ella and Quinn, that it’s our duty to be the best we can be and be giving to the world around us, using our talents to make it better for all. I also thank my children for sharing their mother’s attention with the various stages of this work during a significant part of their childhood. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO: RIBBON PHILANTHROPY ........................................................................... 8 History: Viral, Memetic, and Genre Characteristics ................................................................... 9 Mainstream Conception of the Pink Ribbon ............................................................................. 14 The Pink Ribbon Individual Breast Cancer Health Simulation ............................................ 15 The Pink Ribbon Collective Breast Cancer Philanthropy Simulation .................................. 16 Ribbon Philanthropy: Strengths and Criticisms ........................................................................ 17 CHAPTER THREE: VIRALITY, MEMETICS, AND DIGITAL ACTIVISM........................... 26 Internet Memes as a Genre for Digital Citizenship: Slacktivism to Activism .......................... 26 Digital Activism Campaigns, Slacktivism, and Social Impact ................................................. 28 Prescribed Participation ........................................................................................................ 31 Viral, Meme, and Remix ........................................................................................................... 32 Semiotics and Simulacra ........................................................................................................... 35 The Affective and Personalization = Grassroots Force ............................................................ 36 CHAPTER FOUR: MOVING TOWARD DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP #THEFACEOFFCHALLENGE .................................................................................................... 39 The Public, Counterpublics, and Nomadic Activism................................................................ 42 Wake Up about Makeup: #TheFaceOffChallenge .................................................................... 47 vi Ribbon Cutting, A Game for Breast Cancer Awareness ........................................................... 55 CHAPTER FIVE: WORKING IN ALGORITHMIC ENVIRONMENTS AND ACCESS TO DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP ............................................................................................................. 58 Rolling Out #TheFaceOffChallenge ......................................................................................... 58 Working in Algorithmic Environments .................................................................................... 59 Access: If You Build it, Will They Come? ............................................................................... 62 CHAPTER SIX: A BROADENED SPECTRUM OF ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION- SCALE METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 71 A Broadened Spectrum of Engagement .................................................................................... 79 Introduction to Participation-Scale Methodology ..................................................................... 89 CHAPTER SEVEN: APPLYING PARTICIPATION-SCALE METHODOLOGY ................... 94 Extracting Data for Participation-Scale Methodology .............................................................. 95 Participation-Scale Methodology Instructions .......................................................................... 98 The Control Group .................................................................................................................. 101 Calculating Control Group Averages for Engagement ....................................................... 108 The Experimental Group......................................................................................................... 110 Measuring Campaigns and Phases of Campaigns as a Whole ................................................ 131 Visual Communication, Recommendations, and Final Thoughts .......................................... 135 APPENDIX: POST CONTENT AND DATA ........................................................................... 144 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 171 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Example