Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: Virtual worlds have roots in text-based communication. Recently, many virtual worlds have begun to integrate voice-over-IP as a form of communication. One such virtual world, Linden Lab’s Second Life, released an integrated voice client in August 2007. Second Life residents struggle with the technology and with the issues it raises about identity, anonymity, and synchronicity. This presentation will provide insight on the uses of voice in Second Life and its potential impact in online communication.

Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Abstract: Paper describes the process of using external evaluators in the classroom to evaluate oral communication competencies in a program mandated by the State of Virginia. External evaluators also evaluated the program of assessment according to state standards. Data from two different semesters will be included in the paper.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The results of the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau show that Hispanics and Asians are the fastest-growing minority populations in the United States. According to the 2000 Census the states of Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina experienced the biggest percentage point increases in minorities, and California, Texas and New York had the highest numbers of minorities. All southern states, except West Virginia, have experienced a huge increase of Hispanic newcomers. Thus, the immigration of Latin American people to the southern states of the US forces all of us to rethink the old idea of what a southerner is.

Yet many nationally representative surveys used by sociologists – like the General Social Survey – and nationally representative surveys that oversample the south – like the Southern Focus Poll – have not translated their instruments to accommodate the growing Hispanic immigrant population, most of which do not proficiently speak English. Thus there is a large gap between the existing data collected by these surveys and the information we need. Consequently, many questions remain unanswered. For example: How do the demographic characteristics of Hispanic immigrants that speak only Spanish differ from those who are bilingual? How different are the bilingual Hispanic and the monolingual Hispanic groups on their responses to important sociological issues? And, what might explain the observed differences, if any, in these substantive responses?

In this paper I will provide evidence that addresses these three questions by contrasting the responses of Hispanics who agreed to answer the Spring, 2001 Southern Focus Poll (SFP) in English and the responses of Hispanics, who did not complete the SFP, but agreed to answer the same survey after I translated it into Spanish. In sum my goals are to: (1) contrast demographics of these two Hispanic groups; (2) contrast these groups’ perceptions of how much they are a part of the group Hispanic, or their sense of cohesion (Bollen and Hoyle’s (1990)); and (3) provide rationale for observed differences in (2).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The present study examines the influence of unwillingness to communicate, self-esteem and biological sex on students’ communication apprehension levels in a public speaking classroom setting. Student participants were enrolled in basic public speaking courses at two Midwestern universities completed surveys containing a variety of measures. All variables of this study produced significant main effects while the approach-avoid element of unwillingness to communicate was the highest predictor of communication apprehension. While these findings are consistent with previous research, they require further investigation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: ?Dans un débat comme celui-ci, n'oublions pas que nous avons comme auditeurs tous les pays civilisés,' [In such a debate, let us not forget that we have all civilised countries as audience] President of the French Chambre des députés, 15.12.1922.Before electronic mass media, parliamentary debate and reporting of it played a central role in political communication and the development of national democratic public spheres. However, to what extent did parliamentary debates inter connect on a European wide level?This paper explores foreign policy parliamentary debating and speaking as means of transnational elite communication and to what extent foreign policy decision makers used national parliamentary debates and speeches consciously to communicate with a wider, European audience. It focuses on communication between foreign policy decision makers in governments, parliaments, diplomacy and military in Britain, France and to some extent Germany.This is done through a comparative study of four British and French statesmen, Aristide Briand, Austen Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and Raymond Poincaré for the first three to four decades of the 20th century. The paper discusses the search for coordination and good or bad faith concerning Anglo-French alliance policy and Franco-German rapprochement and reconciliation. It examines to what extent these elite foreign policy decision makers were aware of parliamentary debates in allied and adversary countries and influenced by the content of these debates. Equally it investigates whether the case persons sought to communicate with outside governments and parliaments from their own platform.