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Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis of Performance Enhancement Technologies in Sports
Title
Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis of Performance Enhancement Technologies in Sports.
Creator
Lamothe, John, Scott, Blake, Janz, Bruce, Campbell, James, Oliveira, Leonardo, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In sports discourse, the relationship between athletics and technology is often paradoxical. On the one hand, modern sports rely on technology at every level, from training and tracking of players to the equipment and apparel used by athletes to the game strategies and playing fields themselves. Nearly all of these technologies are intended to increase athletic performance on some level. And yet, certain performance enhancement technologies can be criticized for being antithetical to the...
Show moreIn sports discourse, the relationship between athletics and technology is often paradoxical. On the one hand, modern sports rely on technology at every level, from training and tracking of players to the equipment and apparel used by athletes to the game strategies and playing fields themselves. Nearly all of these technologies are intended to increase athletic performance on some level. And yet, certain performance enhancement technologies can be criticized for being antithetical to the spirit of sports, which is framed as being a strictly natural and pure human endeavor. Using a rhetorical-cultural methodological approach, popular sports discourse is analyzed to investigate how arguments in contested spaces between sports and technologies get (re)negotiated and (re)articulated to fit within a sports social language that emphasizes (")pure(") and (")natural(") ideals of sport. This often results in a dichotomy where the sport/technology relationship is either black boxed, thus being subsumed in the sport social language and becoming transparent and the relationships unarticulated, or the technology is regulated out of the sport through rules and bans. The reason for this articulation is attributed in large part to the deep humanism embedded in the sport social language. How a shift to a posthuman perspective would effect sports discourse is explored. These conclusions about underlying values in sports discourse lead to the formation of a new theoretical framework called disciplinary mythologies. Building off of Foucault's disciplinary power, Scott's disciplinary rhetorics, and Barthe's mythologies, disciplinary mythologies are discrete units of persuasion that both construct and constitute claims by drawing upon layered narratives and shifting associations that lose their context when entering the realm of myth. Two specific disciplinary mythologies are discussed(-)the level-playing-field topos and the nostalgia enthymeme(-)and it is shown how sports discourse often draws upon them to shape arguments and actions.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005970, ucf:50773
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005970
Curating culture through social media in the 21st century: Orlando as a case study for arts participation and engagement among millennials
Title
Curating culture through social media in the 21st century: Orlando as a case study for arts participation and engagement among millennials.
Creator
Givoglu, Wendy, Applen, JD, McDaniel, Rudy, Vie, Stephanie, Krick, Stephanie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The American non-profit arts sector is faced with challenges including shifting audience demographics, competition for patrons due to evolving new media and entertainment technologies, changes in donors, and the discontinuation of federal and state funding sources. Savvy arts organizations are rebooting for long-term sustainability and relevancy to their communities, while some organizations adhere to unchanged practices and modes of operation. Amidst the 21st century digital landscape, arts...
Show moreThe American non-profit arts sector is faced with challenges including shifting audience demographics, competition for patrons due to evolving new media and entertainment technologies, changes in donors, and the discontinuation of federal and state funding sources. Savvy arts organizations are rebooting for long-term sustainability and relevancy to their communities, while some organizations adhere to unchanged practices and modes of operation. Amidst the 21st century digital landscape, arts engagement that yields personal and community impact and sustainability for the future is indeed attainable. Characteristics of participatory culture and democratization rooted in emerging digital entertainment and social media communications technology, coupled with the power of the millennial generation, the first generation with access to digital technologies since birth, are two forces that can be non-profit arts organizations' biggest resources and are inherently a part of the arts. Using a mixed method approach, this project examines discourse surrounding arts engagement, focusing on the millennial generation, social media as a catalyst for potent arts participation, and Central Florida as a region demonstrating significant innovations and opportunities for growth in the arts. A survey was completed by Central Florida millennials, and with permission from Americans for the Arts, select questions replicated their 2016 National Arts Engagement survey, situating Central Florida alongside National data. Qualitatively, interviews were conducted with six executive directors of Central Florida non-profit arts organizations. Grounded theory practices yielded a synthesis of perspectives and strategic action plan for arts organizations to consider. Resulting recommendations for organizations seeking to further arts engagement with millennials via social media include: incorporating transmedia storytelling elements, considering how the arts convene and create around causes, programming with consideration of the life cycles and interests of millennials, considering diversity and cultural equity in the arts, and creating experiences that define engagement in the digital and physical worlds.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007460, ucf:52675
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007460
THE KIOSK CULTURE: RECONCILING THE PERFORMANCE SUPPORT PARADOX IN THE POSTMODERN AGE OF MACHINES
Title
THE KIOSK CULTURE: RECONCILING THE PERFORMANCE SUPPORT PARADOX IN THE POSTMODERN AGE OF MACHINES.
Creator
Cavanagh, Thomas, Kitalong, Karla, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Do you remember the first time you used an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)? Or a pay-at-the-pump gas station? Or an airline e-ticket kiosk? How did you know what to do? Although you never received any formal instruction in how to interact with the self-service technology, you were likely able to accomplish your task (e.g., withdrawing or depositing money) as successfully as an experienced user. However, not so long ago, to accomplish that same task, you needed the direct mediation of a service...
Show moreDo you remember the first time you used an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)? Or a pay-at-the-pump gas station? Or an airline e-ticket kiosk? How did you know what to do? Although you never received any formal instruction in how to interact with the self-service technology, you were likely able to accomplish your task (e.g., withdrawing or depositing money) as successfully as an experienced user. However, not so long ago, to accomplish that same task, you needed the direct mediation of a service professional who had been trained how to use the required complex technology. What has changed? In short, the technology is now able to compensate for the average consumer's lack of experience with the transactional system. The technology itself bridges the performance gap, allowing a novice to accomplish the same task as an experienced professional. This shift to a self-service paradigm is completely changing the dynamics of the consumer relationship with the capitalist enterprise, resulting in what is rapidly becoming the default consumer interface of the postmodern era. The recognition that the entire performance support apparatus now revolves around the end user/consumer rather than the employee represents a tectonic shift in the workforce training industry. What emerges is a homogenized consumer culture enabled by self-service technologies--a kiosk culture. No longer is the ability to interact with complex technology confined to a privileged workforce minority who has access to expensive and time-consuming training. The growth of the kiosk culture is being driven equally by business financial pressures, consumer demand for more efficient transactions, and the improved sophistication of compensatory technology that allows a novice to perform a task with the same competence as an expert. "The Kiosk Culture" examines all aspects of self-service technology and its ascendancy. Beyond the milieu of business, the kiosk culture is also infiltrating all corners of society, including medicine, athletics, and the arts, forcing us to re-examine our definitions of knowledge, skills, performance, and even humanity. The current ubiquity of self-service technology has already impacted our society and will continue to do so as we ride the rising tide of the kiosk culture.
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Date Issued
2006
Identifier
CFE0001348, ucf:46989
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001348
Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies
Title
Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies.
Creator
Powell, Daniel, McDaniel, Rudy, Campbell, James, Brenckle, Martha, Arnzen, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed an abundance of change in the areas of textual production, digital communication, and our collective engagement with the Internet. This study explores these changes, which have yielded both positive and negative cultural and developmental outcomes, as products of digital dissonance. Dissonance is characterized by the disruptive consequences inherent in technology's incursion into the print publication cultures of the twentieth century...
Show moreThe first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed an abundance of change in the areas of textual production, digital communication, and our collective engagement with the Internet. This study explores these changes, which have yielded both positive and negative cultural and developmental outcomes, as products of digital dissonance. Dissonance is characterized by the disruptive consequences inherent in technology's incursion into the print publication cultures of the twentieth century, the explosion in social-media interaction that is changing the complexion of human contact, and our expanding reliance on the World Wide Web for negotiating commerce, culture, and communication.This study explores digital dissonance through the prism of an emerging literary subgenre called technohorror. Artists working in the area of technohorror are creating works that leverage the qualities of plausibility, mundanity, and surprise to tell important stories about how technology is altering the human experience in the twenty-first century. This study explores such subjects as paradigmatic changes in textual production methods, dynamic authorial hybridity, digital materiality in folklore studies, posthumanism, transhumanism, cognitive diminution, and physical degeneration as explored in works of technohorror.The work's rhetorical architecture includes elements of both theoretical and qualitative research. This project expands on City University of New York philosophy professor No(&)#235;l Carroll's definition of art-horror in developing a formal explanation of technohorror and then exploring that literary subgenre through the analysis of a series of contemporary texts and industry-related trends. The study also contains original interviews with active scholars, artists, editors, and librarians in the horror field to gain a variety of perspectives on these complicated subjects.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006642, ucf:51231
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006642
An Analysis of the Readiness and Confidence of High School Administrators to Provide Instructional Leadership in Digital School Environments
Title
An Analysis of the Readiness and Confidence of High School Administrators to Provide Instructional Leadership in Digital School Environments.
Creator
Shepherd, Andrew, Taylor, Rosemarye, Doherty, Walter, Johnson, Jerry, Border, Harold, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceived knowledge and confidence of high school administrators to lead in a digital school environment. This study utilized an exploratory mixed-methods case study analysis along with the 62-item Digital Instructional Leadership Readiness Instrument (DILRI)(&)copy; to measure school administrators' knowledge and confidence to lead in a digital school environment. High school administrators within the target school district were requested to...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to analyze the perceived knowledge and confidence of high school administrators to lead in a digital school environment. This study utilized an exploratory mixed-methods case study analysis along with the 62-item Digital Instructional Leadership Readiness Instrument (DILRI)(&)copy; to measure school administrators' knowledge and confidence to lead in a digital school environment. High school administrators within the target school district were requested to complete the DILRI(&)copy; at two separate points in time: September 2016 and June 2017. Based on these two administrations, this study's six Research Questions were answered. Research Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 were addressed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, along with two MANOVA analyses for Research Question 6. Research Question 5 was answered qualitatively by examining open-ended responses found within the DILRI(&)copy;. Based on the data collected, Experience Supervising Others and Colleagues were two factors ranked highest by administrators as influencing their knowledge and confidence. Additionally, high school administrators perceive themselves to be knowledge and confident in recognizing Student Engagement and Student Collaboration, and in developing digital school culture factors of Leadership Teams, Empowering Teachers, and Shared Vision. Overall means increased for knowledge and confidence on each scale between the September 2016 and June 2017 DILRI(&)copy; administrations. Much research relating to the digital school environment has only focused on the preparation required of teachers; therefore, this study provides administrators, directors, school boards, superintendents, and other school district leaders with relevant information relating to the self-reported readiness of high school administrators to lead in a digital school environment.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0007295, ucf:52173
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007295