Benjamin Burroughs | University of Nevada, Las Vegas (original) (raw)

Papers by Benjamin Burroughs

During the 2012 presidential campaign an explosion of photo-shopped images circulated that depict... more During the 2012 presidential campaign an explosion of photo-shopped images circulated that depicted President Obama as unpatriotic. The ‘crotch salute’, ‘left-hand salute’, and ‘Veterans Day non-salute ’ serve as case studies for understanding the role of trolling in the public sphere and Internet politics in an era of social networks and circulation. This paper tracks the cultural practices and logics of ‘sharing ’ political memes and conceptualises memes as part of an agonistic public sphere and media ecology. Obama trolling is facilitated through the techno-cultural affordances of memes, which can only become public because of their mimetic form and sterilised partial anonymity. The paper seeks to conceptualise trolling as a broader cultural practice, which can be considered political. Normative assumptions about these memes would portray this trafficking as destructive to deliberative democracy but when understood as a generative cultural practice, trolling becomes central to ar...

PubMed, 2023

Purpose: This study sought to assess the validity of several heart rate (HR) monitors in wearable... more Purpose: This study sought to assess the validity of several heart rate (HR) monitors in wearable technology during mountain biking (MTB), compared to the Polar H7® HR monitor, used as the criterion device. Methods: A total of 20 participants completed two MTB trials while wearing six HR monitors (5 test devices, 1 criterion). HR was recorded on a second-by-second basis for all devices analyzed. After data processing, validity measures were calculated, including 1. error analysis: mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean error (ME), and 2. Correlation analysis: Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). Thresholds for validity were set at MAPE < 10% and CCC > 0.7. Results: The only device that was found to be valid during mountain biking was the Suunto Spartan Sport watch with accompanying HR monitor, with a MAPE of 0.66% and a CCC of 0.99 for the overall, combined data. Conclusion: If a person would like to track their HR during mountain biking, for pacing, training, or other reasons, the devices best able to produce valid results are chest-based, wireless electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors, secured by elastic straps to minimize the movement of the device, such as the Suunto chest-based HR monitor.

Journal of Sport and Social Issues

This research aims at unpacking the discourse of “stick to sports,” which audiences and industry ... more This research aims at unpacking the discourse of “stick to sports,” which audiences and industry wield to police social and cultural boundaries involving corporate control, race, gender, and politics. The “stick to sports” discourse is increasingly prevalent in sports discourse, but also national political discourse, and is used to dictate who can and cannot speak and what kinds of discussions are appropriate concerning sports and politics. In this article, the sports media franchise ESPN and their “No-Politics” policy, media personality Clay Travis’ PragerU polemic, Dan Le Batard, and Jemele Hill are analyzed as sites for understanding how corporations leverage this discourse to claim neutrality or unity while disciplining employees for veering too far politically. This paper analyzes “stick to sports” through industry practices and textual extensions of the discourse, calling for sports media and communication as a discipline to incorporate a critical sports media industry studies...

Culture, Theory and Critique, Feb 27, 2019

ABSTRACT Black Mirror combines sensation and critique in an affective formalism that, we argue, y... more ABSTRACT Black Mirror combines sensation and critique in an affective formalism that, we argue, yields a proliferation of possible viewer responses. Our analysis focuses on this unique combination of affect and form, in order to examine the relations between mediated affect and the question of the political. Through its refrain of mediated publicity as the tragedy of the viewing commons, Black Mirror offers a pointed social critique realised through narrative strategies of inoculation and traumatised witnessing. We argue that Black Mirror’s signature narrative tactic, the traumatic twist, yields a proliferation of possible viewer responses that exceed the easy parameters of acceptance and rejection; and we suggest that the question of the political is addressed through Black Mirror’s multiplication of ‘maybe’.

Games and Culture, May 1, 2014

This article seeks to build a digital ritual framework for the analysis of social gaming and soci... more This article seeks to build a digital ritual framework for the analysis of social gaming and social networking. The architectural design that intertwines Facebook and FarmVille is heightened by the formal and informal participation in ritual practices, which we theorize as digital rituals. Facebook and FarmVille provide a substantive case study that delves into the topical blurring of lines around the game space or magic circle. Through digital ethnographic methodologies the article identifies a number of digital ritual engagements that fit well with Grant McCracken’s (1986) four different kinds of consumer rituals: exchange rituals, possession rituals, grooming rituals, and divestment rituals. Social gaming is contextualized as the extension of digital third places complicating distinctions between social network and social networking sites. Beyond simply phatic communication or decompression, FarmVille and Facebook through digital ritual participation are increasingly the manifestation of our networked interests, communities, and lives.

International Journal of The History of Sport, Apr 28, 2014

International Journal of Sport Communication, Jun 1, 2023

Federalism-e journal, May 1, 2007

To fully comprehend how the political safeguards of federalism actually guard federalism and pres... more To fully comprehend how the political safeguards of federalism actually guard federalism and preserve the Constitutional balance between State and national government, we must chart its history in order to better ascertain the implications of political safeguards in our day. In contrasting the work of Wechsler and Kramer with that of Smith, we are able to view the complexities concerning the debate as to how political parties and judicial reviews function to safeguard federalism. In building off Kramer’s views that informal means such as political parties constitute a political safeguard of federalism, we draw attention to the potential obstacles that interest groups pose to the safeguarding process [...]

Sociology of Sport Journal, 2023

The NHL has a long-standing, problematic relationship with race. The North American sporting and ... more The NHL has a long-standing, problematic relationship with race. The North American sporting and racial climate have brought even more attention to this reality. A notable tactic to counter the accusation of reinforcing racism within sports corporations, including the NHL, is publicly associating themselves with minoritized organizations. This often occurs through formal partnerships or the acquisition of minoritized-founded entities, initiatives, and organizations. This paper considers how salient discourses of race and Blackness are articulated by the hosts and contributors of NHL Studio’s Soul on Ice: The Podcast (SOIP) as an acquired NHL entity. The NHL aims to reposition itself on issues of race and the portrayal of Black members within hockey through SOIP. The podcast gives a platform to empower Black voices within White hockey culture but also problematically enmeshes the NHL within the commodification of Black culture and hardship. The acquisition of Soul on Ice: The Podcast by the NHL is used to sanitize and shield the league while reinforcing the normative Whiteness of hockey. Further, the consequences of the leagues’ commodification of Blackness and the nuanced experiences of Black NHL players and community members shared via the podcast are unpacked.

Adam Rugg (with B. Burroughs) is a contributing author, Periscope, Live-Streaming and Mobile Vide... more Adam Rugg (with B. Burroughs) is a contributing author, Periscope, Live-Streaming and Mobile Video Culture . Book description: How do global audiences use streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer? How does the experience of digital video change according to location? What strategies do people use to access out-of-region content? What are the commercial and governmental motivations behind geoblocking? Geoblocking and Global Video Culture explores the cultural implications of access control and circumvention in an age of VPNs. Featuring seventeen chapters from diverse critical positions and locations – including China, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Cuba, Brazil, USA, Sweden and Australia

Communication, Culture & Critique

This research critiques Western approaches to social media by using an Indigenous theoretical too... more This research critiques Western approaches to social media by using an Indigenous theoretical tool/concept, the Moanan (Pacific Islander) conception of tā and vā, to center Indigenous knowledge through an analysis of the Kū Kiaʻi Kahuku community movement (an Indigenous and ecological stand for environmental justice to protect native species and push back against colonial development in the form of giant wind turbines (568 feet high) placed over schools and the homes of community members and Kanaka Maoli in Kahuku, Hawaiʻi). We argue that Kū Kiaʻi Kahuku’s livestreaming inspired movement within the space of digital connectivity, a civic rhythm, forging symmetry and reciprocity within sociospatial ties. Moanan peoples inscribed within social media a distinct Moanan rhythm. In this case, the vibrations of the protecting, an affectively charged tā, engaged the community and diaspora in a moment of rupture—opening up a space for symmetry within the dissymmetry of colonial capitalism.

Journal of Promotion Management

With the popularity and success of food-related social media content, food marketers have begun u... more With the popularity and success of food-related social media content, food marketers have begun utilizing social media influencers to promote their food brands. In particular, mukbang—video broadcasts of individuals eating copious amounts of food—is a prominent genre of public social media food exhibition that can provide opportunities for food-related social media influencer marketing. The present study examines how parasocial interaction (i.e. nonreciprocal interpersonal relation-ships formed with media personalities) with a mukbang social media influencer impacts advertising effectiveness and information credibility. A total of 404 U.S. participants completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling found that partici-pants’ parasocial interactions with mukbang social media influencers predicted perceived source trustworthiness, perceived source expertise, and credibility of the information regarding the food content posted. Furthermore, influencer source credibility and information credibility positively impacted consumer brand and video attitudes, as well as behavioral intentions to consume the foods featured in the social media content. Study results provide evidence-based implications for food-related social media influencer marketing strategies and insight into the important role of information credibility on eating behaviors of social media consumers.

Sport in Society

This study examines Tom Rinaldi’s work for ESPN and College Gameday and the discursive framing of... more This study examines Tom Rinaldi’s work for ESPN and College Gameday and the discursive framing of NCAA ‘student-athletes’, primarily Black athletes. The research unpacks what constitutes this ‘Rinaldi Frame’ and the implications of the frame on college sports. At the core of this frame are the familiar ‘bootstrap’ stories and the overcoming of hardship or economically depressed situations at a young age. This is part of the commodification of Black athletes–their labor and pain. To achieve the objectives of this work, the authors evaluate several seasons of ESPN’s College Gameday programming, with a specific focus on the Tom Rinaldi short story pieces. Findings suggest that there is indeed a formulaic frame and portrayal applied all too often to Black college football players in the service of sports and media institutions such as the NCAA and ESPN. Furthermore, the profiteering from these storytelling modes perpetuates misguided narratives regarding Black college football players and all college athletes.

Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

Chris Claremont, primary author of the X-Men from 1975 to 1991, introduced Judaism into the X-Men... more Chris Claremont, primary author of the X-Men from 1975 to 1991, introduced Judaism into the X-Men metaphor, in large part by making the series’ primary antagonist, Magneto, a Holocaust survivor working to prevent mutants from suffering the same plight. In 2003, Grant Morrison pushed Magneto back towards the origins of the character as a charismatic terrorist (later overruled by Claremont and others). The 2008 work X-Men: Magneto Testament rooted the character’s history in the Holocaust. Through a deep reading of these texts, we use an analogy related to Maus author Art Spiegelman depicting the ‘tug of war’ between the vulgar and the genteel in comics. Magneto embodies this struggle–the trauma of the Holocaust and the desire for reprisal by its victims. The interplay between the vulgar and the genteel, told through Magneto as a cultural icon, opens up a space for thinking through the Holocaust.

Sociology of Sport Journal

International Journal of Sport Communication

Communication and the Public

In her contribution to the Quarterly Journal of Speech’s centennial issue, “Pathologia,” Jenny Ri... more In her contribution to the Quarterly Journal of Speech’s centennial issue, “Pathologia,” Jenny Rice suggests, “pathology does not only or always reveal something broken. Rather, the experience of pathology also reminds us that rhetoric’s sensorium is working—really working” (p. 35). Yes, and in a time of pandemic turbulence, we are reminded that the sensorium of civic life works in ways that shape, even threaten, our collective modes of engagement and relationality. Rice offers “the wound” as a response to pathological publicness, noting, “I propose that we begin to theorize the wound itself as the beginning of dialogue. Only the wound can stand as pathology’s counterpart” (p. 40). Wounds focalize and materialize the pathogenic, opening up possibilities for redress while also remediating their own contaminants. Accordingly, our special issue aims to grapple with the ways contemporary publicness affects, and is affected by, civic wounds: how they are discursively produced, and produc...

Television & New Media

As COVID-19 has led to the politicization of masks and the donning of masks, the prescient commen... more As COVID-19 has led to the politicization of masks and the donning of masks, the prescient commentary that emerges from HBO’s Watchmen speaks to our contemporary moment, replete with animosity, distrust, and wounding. Race, the legacy of racial injustice, and anonymity are major themes found throughout the series, which highlight the complicated nature of social control and the infrastructural legacy of racism. The mask itself is a site of struggle with polarizing calls for freedom from the mask as tyranny and freedom through the mask as safety, all during a public health crisis. In Watchmen, the deployment of infrastructural control and the implications of masking and unmasking are enacted through racist ideologies and promises of safety through anonymity.

Communication & Sport

Under the federally mandated Title IX, NCAA athletic departments are directed to offer balanced p... more Under the federally mandated Title IX, NCAA athletic departments are directed to offer balanced promotional and informational coverage between men’s and women’s sports. This study examines how gender is represented in photographs on the Instagram accounts of prominent NCAA athletic departments. Findings indicate mixed results: female athletes, when showcased, receive similar promotional efforts to their male peers; their athleticism is highlighted; and fan engagement metrics are as high as male sports. However, female athletic achievements are overwhelmingly underrepresented, suggesting equality is still deficient.