(Very) Select Publications

Lauricella, S. (2018). Bam! Pow! Vanish? A feminist autoethography of gender performance and covert influences on Twitter.

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​Social media scholarship has acknowledged a challenging environment for women in which online harassment is both present and prevalent.  Similarly, women in academia operate in a traditionally patriarchal, misogynistic environment.  What happens when a female academic creates a vibrant online presence?  This paper is an autoethnographic account of my experiences managing a public, online gender performance as a female scholar (@AcademicBatgirl) with the more covert influences in my offline, personal life.  I argue that when dissonance exists between gender performance (Butler, 1988) and male expectation, women can be silenced; this phenomenon occurs even when women know about it and may actually expect it.  In my case, agency in my offline experience led to a liberated performance of gender both on and offline.

Lauricella, S. & Scott, H. M. (2018). Anatomy of a wedding: Examining religiosity, feminism, and weddings in Grey's Anatomy. 

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Medical drama Grey’s Anatomy features weddings as pivotal
life events and has portrayed 14 unions over the program’s 13 seasons on ABC. This article is a synthetic approach combining communication, gender studies, and grounded theory methodology to examine weddings in Grey’s Anatomy through a
feminist lens. We employ Judith Butler’s theory of gender performance and Rich’s concept of compulsory heterosexuality to examine weddings throughout the show’s extensive run. Depictions of women and weddings demonstrate dissonance between hegemonic gender performance and the potential to redefine the performance of woman in one’s own ways. Tension exists between the program’s portrayal of traditional heterosexual weddings and its progressive inclusion of a lesbian ceremony. We argue that the program’s portrayal of both traditional white weddings and ceremonies which are more private and self-defined reflect the challenges inherent in
navigating cultural expectations and personal objectives associated with performing as a woman in contemporary culture.

Lauricella, S. & Pankhurst, K-L. (2018). The safe tweet:  Social media use by Ontario fire services. 

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The purpose of this paper is to examine how fire services use social media to educate the public about safety and fire prevention. Grounded theoretical methods were employed in a rigorous qualitative analysis of five significant fire services’ Twitter accounts in Ontario, Canada. Seven main themes emerged from the data, with an overarching conclusion that tweets made by fire service organisations and professionals do not focus primarily on fire safety. This paper addresses a gap in the literature in terms of understanding how social media communicates information about all three lines of defence against fire, with a focus on the first two: public fire safety education, fire safety standards and enforcement and emergency response. The authors suggest that fire services need to employ a more segmented approach to social media posts with an objective to engage and educate the public.

Lauricella, S. (2016). The Ancient-Turned-New Concept of “Spiritual Hygiene”: An Investigation of Media Coverage of Meditation from 1979 to 2014.

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A spiritual—yet not religious—practice, meditation has been touted as beneficial to boosting the immune system, lowering blood pressure, alleviating migraines, and increasing gray matter in parts of the brain. While scientific research on meditation is beginning to quantify its benefits, there is increasing concern among the scientific community that news outlets glorify the potential benefits of meditation. This paper considers coverage of meditation in mainstream print media by analyzing 764 articles printed in English from worldwide media outlets from 1979 to 2014. Frame theory analysis is employed to better understand how meditation is presented in print media and how the perception of the practice is interpreted by readers. Results indicate that articles reflect the health and wellness challenges present in contemporary culture, together with a desire for personal relief from such issues. The paper suggests that the practice of meditation as “spiritual hygiene” is indicative of a sociocultural shift in which meditative techniques are becoming increasingly recognized, encouraged, and practiced.

Kay, R. H. & Lauricella, S. (2015). Assessing laptop use in higher education:  The Laptop Use Scale.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a research-based, theoretically grounded scale to assess student use of laptops inside and outside higher education classrooms. The Laptop Use Scale addressed four key areas: in-class academic use, in-class non-academic use, outside of class academic use, and outside of class non-academic use. Tested on 156 higher education students using laptop computers, the Laptop Use Scale showed acceptable internal reliability and good validity (face, content, construct, and convergent validity). 

Lauricella, S. & MacAskill, S.. (2015). Exploring the potential benefits of holistic education:  A formative analysis.

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This study examines both if and why university students believe that increased exposure to holistic principles would have been beneficial to their success after finishing secondary education. The overwhelming majority—on average about 70%— of participants agreed that had they had more exposure to holistic principles (personal identity, meaning/purpose, connections to the community, connections to the natural world, and humanitarian values) while in the K-12 system, they would have been more successful in university.

Lauricella, S. (2014). Mindfulness meditation with undergraduates in face-to-face and digital practice: A formative analysis.

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This paper describes the experience of a group of
undergraduate students’ (n=40) experience learning mindfulness meditation. The practice of mindfulness meditation can help individuals to self-calm, focus on the present moment, and experience physical and mental health benefits. This skill is of particular importance to undergraduate students, who often experience stress, anxiety, or depression.

Lauricella, S. (2014). Judging by the way animals are
​treated. 

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This article, published in Gandhi Marg, publication of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, outlines Mohandas Gandhi, one of the world’s best known vegetarians, and his demonstration of
 conviction and dedication to the appropriate treatment of animals in accordance with the core principles of living as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras, including the yamas and niyamas, are instructions to individuals regarding personal conduct; they outline behaviours and practices which individuals should follow in order to live a fulfilling life. This paper considers the yamas and niyamas and how their interpretation demonstrates a clear direction toward vegetarianism. Interpretations of Gandhi’s moral code are applied to modern circumstances and give relevance to his c onviction in current context.

Kay, R. H. & Lauricella, S. (2015). Investigating and comparing communication media used in higher education. ​

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This paper explores four types of communication media: email, instant messaging, text messaging, and video chat. Comfort level, frequency of use, usefulness, reasons for using these media, and differences between peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor interactions were examined.

Douai, A. & Lauricella, S.  (2014).  The “terrorism” frame or “neo-Orientalism”:  How Western media cover Islam’s Sunni-Shia sectarian relations after 9/11. 

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Sunni–Shia relations have become a topic of significant media attention; this attention is largely due to the tendency of these groups to engage in sectarian strife as well as the Islamic Shia sect’s influential rise in world politics. The inter-Islamic sectarian relations are part of extensive reporting on upheaval events currently taking place in the Greater Middle East in the post 9/11 decade. This study analyses ten years of news coverage of the Sunni–Shia relations in the Canadian Globe and Mail and the US-based Washington Post. Results indicate that rather than contextualizing sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia Islam, this media coverage overwhelmingly frames the tensions from the ‘war on terrorism’ perspective. ​

Kay, R. H. & Lauricella, S. (2014).  Investigating the benefits and challenges of using laptop computers in higher education.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits and challenges of using laptop computers inside and outside higher education classrooms. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 156 university students (54 males, 102 females) enrolled in either education or communication studies.

Lauricella, S.  (2013).  Performing spirituality:  Lil’ Wayne’s letters from a New York jail.  Urban God Talk:  Rap, Religion and a Spirituality of Hip Hop.

This chapter is in a book edited by Dr. Andre Johnson of University of Memphis.  Purchase the book here.

Baesler, E. J. & Lauricella, S.  (2013).  Teach peace!  Assessing instruction of the nonviolent communication and peace course.  

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This paper assesses the efficacy of teaching a new course in the communication curriculum entitled Nonviolent Communication and Peace. Three studies are included: two pilot studies at a large Eastern US university and a final study which also included data from a concurrent study at a large Canadian university. Results from a pre-post instructional design show modest changes in the predicted direction of greater peace for three areas of assessment: (1) greater elaboration and integration of definitions for peace, (2) more agreement with statements about peaceful beliefs and behaviors related to the practice of peace in everyday life, and (3) increased recall for the number of peace role models. ​

Lauricella, S. & Kay, R. H.  (2013).  Exploring the Use of Text and Instant Messaging in Higher Education Classrooms.

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This article examined how higher education students used text and instant messaging for academic purposes with their peers and faculty. Specifically, comfort level, frequency of use, usefulness, reasons for messaging and differences between peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor interactions were examined.

Lauricella, S.  (2012).  The lifetime of prayer:  A review of literature on prayer throughout the life course.  

Special issue of Journal of Communication and Religion.

This critical literature review considers how prayer is practiced throughout the course of life, why it is practiced, and the influences upon prayer behaviors throughout different life stages. Specific age groups considered include children, adolescents, undergraduates, adults, and elders. Comparisons and contrasts in prayer behaviors are made amongst all of the life stages. Issues of particular import include
coping, health, psychological development, learning, and familial influences. It is specifically suggested that the development of one’s prayer life is not necessarily linear, and that a variety of factors contribute to the how and why of prayer throughout the life course. Future research for each life stage is suggested.

Lauricella, S. & Alexander, M. (2012).  Voice from Rikers:  Spirituality in hip hop artist Lil’ Wayne’s prison blog.

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While incarcerated on Rikers Island, Grammy award-winning rapper Lil’ Wayne posted letters to a blog to maintain contact with fans. The blog entries and comments from fans express gratitude, positivity, encouragement, and a pervasive sense of spirituality and religiousness. This paper considers the content of Lil’ Wayne’s letters from Rikers, together with posted comments to the blog, in the context of spiritual communication and participatory media.