The Ohio State University Pressbooks Catalog

Creating accessible public spaces that feel welcoming to residents and visitors can bring people together to interact across societal fault lines. Improving the symbolic nature of that space can contribute to their sense of belonging, inspire them, advance their understanding, and more. By moving proactively, leaders might also avert divisive, and sometimes violent, conflicts over flags, statues, building names, mascots, rituals, marches, holidays, commemorations, enactments, webpages and media, and other symbols and public spaces. Beyond these potential benefits of a proactive planning approach to enhancing the public environment, a collaborative process can contribute to mutual understanding and appreciation. A planning process can be most effective before conflicts over symbols divide people into opposing camps. By working proactively, leaders and others within a campus, city, region, or state – what we call here for simplicity a “community” – will also respond more constructively and collaboratively when conflicts over symbols or other divisive incidents occur. They will be able to draw on enhanced relationships and detailed plans created beforehand for responding quickly in a volatile situation.

Despite growing polarization across the country, Americans continue to trust their local leaders.

Local leaders – beginning with public officials but importantly including individuals from business and service organizations, bar associations, civil rights groups, religious institutions, youth organizations, and the like – can take advantage of that trust to help residents enhance relationships across differences and promote collaboration in the face of division. That community resiliency can significantly help reduce the likelihood of violence when conflicts divide the community. And, when conflict threatens to diminish residents’ trust of each other and with leadership, leaders’ choices can help preserve it.

Preparation ahead of conflict matters. Communities that invest in building resilience are better equipped to navigate conflict. Residents tend to treat each other with greater respect. In today’s environment, conflicts can escalate in minutes, not days. Community members urgently seeking information often trust the first source they encounter, making timely and credible communication essential. Leaders who have prepared contingent responses to crises are better equipped to help avert tragedy and support understanding across differences.

This guide offers practical strategies to help local leaders strengthen community resilience and prepare for moments when conflict may escalate into crisis. It affirms the value of leaders modeling a constructive tone that does not dismiss differing viewpoints but welcomes them and fosters an atmosphere where their expression can occur safely and respectfully. Similarly, the guide’s suggested planning practices support leaders listening broadly and efficiently to the expression of community concerns – not dilute those voices – and then respond concretely and visibly; this approach often reduces the likelihood that residents will escalate their actions in ways that could harm the community, endanger lives, or leave lasting bitterness.

Each chapter of this guide outlines potential strategies and includes real world illustrations, tools leaders can use constructively during times of crisis and calm. A comprehensive checklist at the end provides a quick reference to key ideas. An appendix lists additional resources.

Key checklists which summarize this guidance are available here.

This book embraces multilingual and translanguaging strategies for learning Spanish. It focuses on the study of Spanish use in the United States, as unique and richly diverse. It is meant to be an introductory level textbook for a mixed audience: those who are heritage and bilingual learners and those who study Spanish as a second language.

Mi idioma, mi comunidad: español para bilingües, is an open-access textbook for Heritage Language Leaners of Spanish that centers on students’ experiences with language, identity, and belonging in the Midwest through real-world applications. It uses a project-based approach that outlines how students engage in real-life applications by exploring culturally relevant topics in language use, arts, festivals, food, ethnography, oral history, digital lives, and the university. Through multimedia such as podcasts, videos, neighborhood maps, and music, we promote interactive exploration of culturally relevant content while supporting students’ language maintenance and growth.

Good writing skills are important in today’s competitive work environment. This is especially the case for communication-related professions such as public relations, brand communication, journalism, and marketing. Writing for Strategic Communication Industries emphasizes practical application of academic inquiry to help readers improve their writing skills. This book gives readers:

• Straightforward chapters that use real-world examples to illustrate key points.
• Discussion of different writing styles and techniques.
• Examples of communication materials such as press releases, creative briefs, feature articles, and more.
• Embedded videos of insights from communication professionals.
• Tips on pitching to the media.
• A collection of popular sources for further explanation.

This text, The Cause and Consequence of Human Trafficking: Human Rights Violations, is intended to convey the importance of understanding how the violation of human rights is a cause and consequence of human trafficking. In other words, human rights violations are egregious and they compound destitution.  They deprive the man, woman and child of their basic humanity. Whenever any dimension of one’s humanity is deprived, it puts the person in a compromised state.  Compromised states lead to some degree of impairment, distress or suffering. Impairment, distress or suffering leads to a disequilibrium in a person’s life. In an effort to quiet that compromised state, the individual may unknowingly make decisions that further compromises his or her state of being or result in human trafficking.

Chapters cover developing research questions, understanding types of sources, searching for information, evaluating sources, and avoiding plagiarism. Each chapter includes self-quizzes and activities to reinforce core concepts and help you apply them.

A textbook focused on developing both technical and professional communication skills

The study of the history of CGI (computer generated imagery) is an important part of understanding  the evolution of our discipline of computer graphics and allows us to gain a respect for the key developments that have brought us to the present state. The discipline is so recent in its early developments and continues to rapidly change and evolve. This book presents the capabilities and qualities inherent in software, hardware, animation techniques, etc. that are part of the broad, contemporary, and creative computer graphics environment. It was developed in an effort to not only record these important points in our history, but to collect in one place the appropriate stories, links, examples and other work of the many computer professionals, artists, industry experts, animation and production personnel, and institutions that have made the discipline what it is today.