Media and Communication, M.S. Professional Project Collection

Permanent URI for this collection

https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/handle/mtsu/6636

The Professional Project Collection is part of the College of Media and Entertainment, School of Journalism and Strategic Media community.

These projects are a culminating capstone option for candidates in the Media and Communication master’s program. Within the professional project track, candidates pursue a creative approach to journalism/media-related topics, producing an alternative format to an academic study, such as a documentary, series of journalistic articles, or a public relations campaign. The other option, a thesis, is currently stored in JEWLScholar's Theses and Dissertations Collection.

Professional projects are usually composed of a written introduction, the product (e.g. documentary, series of journalistic articles, public relations campaign book and materials), and a written conclusion.

Sponorsing Organization: College of Media and Entertainment, School of Journalism and Strategic Media, M.S. in Media and Communication program. To learn more, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/programs/media-communication-ms/

Resources: Submission instructions for students (forthcoming) and how to use your thesis/capstone once it's published.

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Browsing Media and Communication, M.S. Professional Project Collection by Title

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    A Wealth of Suppression
    ( 2022-05-12) Bryan Staples
    “A Wealth of Suppression” is a documentary that examines the role an individuals’ socioeconomic status plays in their participation in an election. In the fall of 2020, despite a global pandemic, one hundred and fifty-eight million Americans voted in our country’s presidential election (uselectionatlas.org). Even though there was a record turnout of American voters, there were still twenty-three percent of Americans age eighteen and older who didn’t participate in the election (census.gov). Is it possible that an individual’s socioeconomic status has influence on whether that individual decides to vote, not for one particular candidate or another, but did they actually cast a ballot in that election?
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    Decoding Spotify Audio Features Data: Helping Artists Utilize Big Tech-Optimizing Touring Using Valence and Algorithm
    (College of Media and Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University, 2022-12-01) Paul W. Zielenski
    Creating an initial “how to” for artists to access and understand the information available via the API would put them in a position to create a positive trajectory for themselves. This project has developed, tested and published a computer script capable of extracting and analyzing key data from the Spotify API’s musical valence algorithms. The project also explores using data to optimize live shows, discusses the benefits such exploration might provide for artists, and outlines possible later expansion of the script’s capabilities and uses.
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    Hoosier Basketball Magazine Social Media Project
    (College of Media and Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University, 2024) Samuel Flynn
    Hoosier Basketball Magazine provides the most comprehensive coverage of Indiana high school basketball in the state. This is a physical magazine with minimal social media presence. Until this project, Hoosier Basketball Magazine only had Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). Neither were active accounts. While media are increasingly consumed online, Hoosier Basketball Magazine is in danger of falling out of the public eye by only being available in physical form. This project combines physical media and social media to promote the magazine and reach a new generation of customers. While posting on social media platforms for the six-month basketball season, a larger following was built with regular engagement from the audience. Use of these platforms led to a nearly 20% growth in audience to promote the release and distribution of the physical copy of the magazine.
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    Improving Parent-Child Communication To Prevent Child Sexual Abuse/Prevent Child Sexual Abuse Through Using Correct Terms
    (College of Media and Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University, 2022-11-30) Elena Georgieva Cawley
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    Media's Depiction of Women and How it Influences the Church: A Podcast
    ( 2022-12-01) Jeri Bozeman
    According to a poll from 2017, approximately 23% of adult churchgoers are single, either never married or divorced (Chiu, 2017). While single people make up almost a quarter of active church attendees, single women make up 53% of the US population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). Chiu (2017) writes that the church needs to develop a better way to reach the single community by addressing ways to incorporate single members into leadership roles, connect them to married members, and provide a safe space where they feel noticed and served. Due to the structure of many church communities, single women sometimes feel pushed to the periphery of the church’s population experiencing exclusion from social gatherings and other activities (Gaddini, 2019). The marginalization of single women in the church can feel even more isolating in an environment that was meant to provide an alternative family. By including women from different church backgrounds, Gaddini found that women felt excluded from social gatherings or that they continued to fight against the norm of women’s roles in the church. Yet, as single women have expressed, staying in the church can help to change the status quo, broadening the community to be more inclusive (Gaddini, 2019). Thus, more attention to single women in the church is needed. As such, this professional project explored single women in the church through a series of podcast episodes. Specifically, the podcast episodes addressed the roles of media representations as connected to single women in the church.