In a country with a majority of the population belonging to the Asian race, we investigate why Japanese advertising commonly portrays individuals with characteristically Caucasian physical traits. With a focus on how women are portrayed in advertisements, we look at how Japanese advertising has changed since Western culture became accessible and integrated into mainstream Japanese society. The forced trade agreement during the late Edo period opened the borders for wider cultural interaction. Trade created a powerful stimulus for the adoption of foreign cultures. Prior to the trade agreement, the Japanese ruling classes instituted periods of isolation creating a distinct and homogenous culture. An increase in cultural exchange occurred following World War II and during the American occupation of Japan. Adapting to the foreign ideologies of the West appealed as they were seen as more modern and superior. We argue that globalization has changed the media image of Japanese women through the incorporation of Western ideals. Japan has a long history of adapting foreign ideas to create their own unique version. Within Japan, modern and traditional values exist, creating a dichotomy. Advertising reflects important societal values. The integration of Western archetypes into Japanese advertising relays the importance of this cultural exchange. Globalization continues to reinforce acculturation.

The news media can be a veritable battleground in which concepts of race, nation and gender compete in the public imagination. This is demonstrated in ways that the murder of transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude is framed by American and Filipino news reports. This paper argues that the framing of the Jennifer Laude case serves to support the dominance of the U.S. Military and to perpetuate a gendered “othering” of Filipinos. For this study, Todd Gitlin’s model of media framing analysis is used to evaluate six of the most popular texts by mainstream American news media as well as six of the most popular texts by mainstream Filipino news media published two days after the crime. A comparison of trends in each news media shows that while Jennifer Laude is framed more as a deceitful sex worker in American news reports, she is seen more as a victim of a hate crime in Filipino news reports. Both American and Filipino news reports also discuss the case vis-à-vis the current ambivalent political and military relationship between the two nations, albeit in varying terms. While Filipino news reports tend to contextualize the case as part of a long string of crimes committed by members of the U.S. military in the Philippines, it is found that through framing devices such as Trivialization, Polarization, Marginalization, and Delegitimization, the American news media disempowers the Jennifer Laude case from creating any meaning that might be regarded as oppositional by the dominant ideology of U.S. Supremacy.

Masculinity in the military is culturally influenced by what it means to be an ideal soldier. From advertising images of soldiers, promoting specific leaders, and living among a community that actively portrays masculinity, the pressure to be masculine to be the ideal soldier has depended on violating the presence of women and femininity. Sexual assault in the military has been prevalent but in 2012, a Department of Defense statistical compilation showed that about 26,000 servicewomen experienced some kind of sexual assault, and of those cases only 3,374 were officially reported. This project examines how sexual assault against women soldiers is related to the image of the ideal soldier identified through a close reading of patterns and dynamics of 7-10 military court transcripts, signed documentation of concluded convictions, and court appeal papers. Various sources will ultimately provide specific answers about every case (i.e. what are the ranks, who are the jury members, what is the final conviction, what kind of diction is used, etc.) and look at the aftermath of military culture. This paper argues that regardless of whether female sexual assault victims win their cases, the military maintains its enforcement of masculinity. Results may suggest different preventive measures can be taken by the military to limit the enforcement of masculinity and future violence.

We review literature regarding communication and information sharing by teams in different industries. Our insights through research and personal experiences reveal different types of teams need and use different approaches to information sharing. Specifically, approaches differ in information accuracy, information completeness and dissemination method. For example, law enforcement teams require greater information accuracy and information completeness before sharing information than technology teams, where information is continuously edited and developed towards completeness as it is being shared. Additionally, the literature suggests teams use at least three different dissemination methods. First, teams dealing with critical situations, like the law enforcement teams, were found to use verbal communication that creates synchronous sharing where information is received instantaneously. Second, teams working in less critical situations but still working to meet milestone deadlines co-develop documentation in a wiki approach where information is asynchronously shared such that workers can read and edit information at different time periods. Third, teams with rotating members, such as hospital teams, provide a context where both types of dissemination methods are used. Our review will provide propositions for future research opportunities.

Uses and gratifications is a media effects theory focused on populations' media uses and the gratifications behind these uses. The theory has had a lengthy history of scholarly research and application within the field of Communication. The purpose behind my research is to apply this well-researched theory to an under-researched population: formerly incarcerated individuals. Specifically, this research is being conducted through semi-structured interviews with roughly ten formerly incarcerated individuals who served their sentences in prisons under the Washington State Department of Corrections. Formerly incarcerated individuals represent a significant, growing population in the U.S., especially given the rise in prison release rates over the last several decades. Often studies on the prisoner reentry process focus on a variety of important, broader socioeconomic and social factors impacting reentry. This research aims to look at a specific aspect of the lives of the formerly incarcerated and how they navigate reentering a society where media use is increasingly relevant and influential. The study is guided by two broad research questions: what media are used by formerly incarcerated individuals and what gratifications are they fulfilling through this use? And how do they compare their media uses and gratifications as formerly incarcerated individuals to their media uses and gratifications when they were incarcerated? Ultimately, through asking these individuals to compare their media uses in two distinct settings, a dialogue will be facilitated to help better understand a specific set of experiences of the formerly incarcerated.