Natalie Brown-Devlin, Ph.D.
Account Analyst, Conversant Media
Research
In April 2013, I received the College of Communication and Information Sciences "Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student" award.
Several University of Alabama doctoral students pose with Dr. George Daniels at the 2012 AEJMC Midwinter Conference in Norman, OK.
My first academic publication
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Graduation with two members of my dissertation committee
ACCEPTED PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES (16):
Billings, A.C., Brown, K.A., & Devlin, N.B. (2015). Sports draped in the American flag: Impact of the 2014 Winter Olympic telecast on nationalized attitudes. Mass Communication & Society, 18(4), 377-398.
Brown, K.A., Billings, A.C., Mastro, D., & Devlin, N.B. (2015). Changing the image repair equation: Impact of race and gender on sport-related transgressions. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(2), 487-506.
Billings, A.C., Bissell, K., Smith, L.R., & Brown-Devlin, N. (2015). Where the boys and girls are; Where the boys and girls ‘should’ be: Attitudes about sport gender typing. Modern Sport Communication, 1(1), 130-151.
Brown, N., Brown, K., & Billings, A. C. (2015). “May no act of ours bring shame:” Fan-enacted crisis communication surrounding the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Communication & Sport, 3(3), 288-311.
Billings, A.C., Brown, N., & Brown, K. (2015). Everyone loves a winner?: Relationships between medal counts, media exposure, and nationalism within a six-nation composite. Journal of Sports Media, 10(1), 101-118.
Billings, A.C., Moscowitz, L.M., Rae, C., & Brown, N. (2015). The art of coming out: Traditional and social media frames surrounding the NBA’s Jason Collins. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(1), 142-160.
Devlin, M.B., Brown, N., Billings, A.C., & Bishop, S.H. (2014). ‘Ultimate’sponsorship: Fan identity, brand congruence, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 14(1-4), 96-115.
Smallwood, R., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (2014). Female bodies on display: Attitudes regarding female athlete photos in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue and ESPN: The Magazine’s body issue. Journal of Sports Media, 9(1), 1-22.
Billings, A.C., Angelini, J.R., MacArthur, P.J., Bissell, K., Smith, L.R., & Brown, N. (2014). Where the differences really reside: The ‘big five’ sports featured in NBC’s 2012 London primetime Olympic telecast. Communication Research Reports, 31(2), 131-143.
Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. (2013). It’s All About Helping the U: Sports Fans as Crisis Communicators on Social Media Web sites. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 74-81.
Billings, A.C., Brown, N., Brown, K.A., Guo, Q., Leeman, M., Licen, S., Novak, D., & Rowe, D. (2013). From pride to smugness and the nationalism between: Olympic media consumption effects on nationalism across the globe. Mass Communication & Society, 16(6), 910-932.
Brown, N. & Cheong, Y. (2013). Measuring the advertising efficiency of the top U.S. sports advertisers. Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science, 23(1), 23-40.
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Brown, N. (2013). 5,535 hours of impact: Effects of Olympic media on nationalism attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 57(4), 579-595.
Brown, N., Devlin, M., & Billings, A. C. (2013). Fan identification gone extreme: Sports communication variables between fans and sport in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. International Journal of Sport Communication, 6, 19-32.
Lee, J., Ruihley, B.J., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (2013). The effects of fantasy football participation on team identification and NFL fandom. Journal of Sports Media, 8(1), 207-227.
Brown, N., Billings, A. C., & Ruihley, B. J. (2012). Exploring the change in motivations for fantasy sport participation during the life cycle of a sports fan. Communication Research Reports, 29(4), 333-342.
Accepted Book Chapters:
Billings, A. & Brown, N. (2013). Understanding the biggest show in media: What the Olympic Games communicates to the world. In P. Pederson (Ed.) Handbook of Sports Communication.
Brown, N., Brown, K. A., & Dickhaus, J. (in press). Crisis Communication in the era of social media. In A. C. Billings & M. Hardin (Eds.) Handbook of Sport and New Media. New York, NY: Routledge.
Brown, K.A., & Brown, N. (under contract). Responding to criminal accusations: An experimental examination of Aqib Talib's 2011 aggravated assault case. In J. Blaney (Ed.), Putting image repair to the test: Empirical approaches to image restoration strategies.
Additional Research Responsibilities:
Brown, N. Assistant Editor, The Handbook of Sport and New Media. A.C. Billings & M. Hardin (Eds.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Brown, N. Research Assistant, The Fantasy Sport Industry: Games within Games. A C. Billings, & B. Ruihley.
Note: I have also been invited to revise and resubmit two journal articles. I have an additional four currently under review at various outlets. They will not be listed here to protect the blind peer review process.
Publications
Social Media Research
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I have developed a strong passion for research about the recent growth of social media. Yet, I believe that social media research should continue to develop and explore the traditional communication theories that have served as the foundation of our field. My social media research applies a variety of theories, including Tim Coombs' Situational Crisis Communication Theory, Bill Benoit's Image Repair Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory, and Two-Step Flow Theory.
Accepted Social Media Research Publications:
Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. (2013). Sports Fans as Crisis Communicators on Social Media Web sites. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 74-81.
Award winning conference papers:
Brown, N. (August 2012). Tweeting every touchdown: Analyzing the twitter use of sports fans through the uses and gratifications theory. Top Three Student Paper. Communication Technology Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Brown, N. (August 2012). Tweeting every touchdown: Analyzing the twitter use of sports fans through the uses and gratifications theory. Top Three Student Paper. Communication Technology Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Invited Conference panelist:
Brown, N. (November 2013). Opportunities and challenges: Transforming public relations through social media. Conference panel session. National Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Crisis Communication Research
Standing with Dr. Michael Devlin, Dr. Andrew Billings, and Dr. Kenon Brown at BEA 2013. Dr. Billings, Dr. Brown, and I presented our Penn State study, which won the Sports Interest Group's Top Paper Award.
One of my primary research goals is to explore how social media has transformed traditional ideas of crisis communication by increasing the amount of power held by organizational stakeholders. Sports provides a unique realm to research this process, as sports fans are perhaps more identified with their respective sporting organization than any other type of consumer. My research has found that when crises strike, sports fans will utilize traditional crisis communication repair strategies online in order to help the party with which they identify. My dissertation will further explore this concept of fan enacted crisis communication.
I am also seeking to add to crisis communication literature by developing a sports-specific crisis theory with Dr. Kenon A. Brown. We hope our work will answer the literature's calls to develop such a theory (Wilson, Stavros, & Westberg, 2012).
Accepted Crisis Communication Research Publications:
Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. (2013). Sports Fans as Crisis Communicators on Social Media Web sites. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 74-81.
Crisis Communication Book Chapters:
Brown, N., Brown, K. A., & Dickhaus, J. (under contract). Crisis Communication in the era of social media. In A. C. Billings & M. Hardin (Eds.) Handbook of Sport and New Media. New York, NY: Routledge.
Brown, K.A., & Brown, N. (under contract). Responding to criminal accusations: An experimental examination of Aquib Talib's 2011 aggravated assault case. In J. Blaney (Ed.), Putting image repair to the test: Empirical approaches to image restoration strategies.
Award winning Conference Paper:
Brown, N., Brown, K., & Billings, A. C. (April 2013). “May no act of ours bring shame:” Fan-enacted crisis communication surrounding the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Sports Interest Group. Top Paper Award. Broadcast Education Association 2013 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, N.V.
Invited Conference Panelist:
Brown, N. A. (August 2013). Crisis Communication. Conference panel session. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Sports Research
Click Image above to access article
Click Image above to access article
My primary research interest as a doctoral student involves sports communication. I have researched a variety of issues within sports communication such as crisis communication, advertising, sponsorship, fan identification, and motivations for fantasy football participation. Currently, I am published in five peer-reviewed journals. I also have been invited to revise and resubmit to two journals and have five articles under review. I believe the rigorous amount of research I have conducted over the past three years shows my dedication to the field of academic research.
Accepted Publications:
Billings, A. C., Brown, N., Brown, K. A., Leeman, M., Novak, D., Rowe, D., Licen, S., & Guoqing, G. (in press). Cultivating nationalism? Olympic media consumption effects on nationalism across the globe. Mass Communication & Society.
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Brown, N. (in press). 5,535 hours of impact: Effects of Olympic media on nationalism attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media.
Brown, N., Billings, A. C., & Ruihley, B. J. (2012). Exploring the change in motivations for fantasy sport participation during the life cycle of a sports fan. Communication Research Reports, 29(4), 333-342.
Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. (2013). Sports Fans as Crisis Communicators on Social Media Web sites. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 74-81.
Brown, N. & Cheong, Y. (2013). Measuring the advertising efficiency of the top U.S. sports advertisers. Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science, 23(1), 23-40.
Lee, J., Ruihley, B.J., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (in press). The effects of fantasy football participation on team identification and NFL fandom. Journal of Sports Media.
Brown, N., Devlin, M., & Billings, A. C. (in press). Fan identification gone extreme: Sports communication variables between fans and sport in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. International Journal of Sport Communication, 6, 19-32.
Award-winning Conference Paper:
Brown, N. (August 2012). Tweeting every touchdown: Analyzing the twitter use of sports fans through the uses and gratifications theory. Top Three Student Paper. Communication Technology Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Conference Presentations
Brown, N. A. (November 2013). Opportunities and challenges: Transforming public relations through social media. Conference panel session. National Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., Brown, N. A., & Avery, A. (November 2013). Everyone loves a winner? Relationships between medal counts, media exposure, and nationalism within a six-nation composite. Mass Communication Division. National Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Brown, N. A., & Brown, K. A. (August 2013). When crises change the game: Establishing a Theory of Sports Crisis Communication. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Billings, A. C., Brown, N. A., Brown, K. A., Leeman, M., Novak, D., Rowe, D., Licen, S., & Guoqing, G. (August 2013). From pride to smugness and the nationalism between: Olympic media consumption effects on nationalism across the globe. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Billings, A. C., Angelini, J.R., MacArthur, P.J., Bissell, K., Smith, L.R., & Brown, N. (August 2013). Where the differences really reside: The ‘big five’ sports featured in NBC’s 2012 London primetime Olympic telecast. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Brown, N. A. (August 2013). Crisis Communication. Conference panel session. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Brown, N. A. (June 2013). 5,535 hours of impact: Effects of Olympic media on nationalism attitudes. International Communication Association 2013 Annual Conference, London, U.K.
Brown, N., Brown, K., & Billings, A. C. (April 2013). “May no act of ours bring shame:” Fan-enacted crisis communication surrounding the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Sports Interest Group. Top Paper Award. Broadcast Education Association 2013 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, N.V.
Devlin, M., & Brown, N. A. (April 2013). UFC Experiment. Broadcast Education Association 2013 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, N.V.
Brown, N., & Devlin, M. (March 2013). Facing an extreme crisis: Analyzing fan-enacted crisis communication response within the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Sixth Summit on Communication and Sport, Austin, T.X.
Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. (November 2012). It’s all about helping the U: Sports fans as crisis communicators on social media web sites. Public Relations Division. National Communication Association, Orlando, F.L.
Billings, A. C., Bissell, K., Reichart-Smith, L., & Brown, N. A. (November 2012). Where the boys and girls are; where the boys and girls “should” be: Attitudes about sport gender-typing. North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, New Orleans, L.A.
Brown, N., Devlin, M., & Billings, A. (August 2012). When fan identity goes extreme: Exploring fan identification among UFC fans. Sports Interest Group. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Devlin, M., Brown, N., Zhou, S., & Nichols, C. (August 2012). In the mood for learning: How semantic difference, arousal, pacing, and mood effect cognitive processing of children television programming. Communication Theory and Methodology Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Brown, N. (August 2012). Tweeting every touchdown: Analyzing the twitter use of sports fans through the uses and gratifications theory. Top Three Student Paper. Communication Technology Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Lee, J., Ruihley, B.J., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (August 2012). The effects of fantasy football participation on team identification and NFL fandom. Sports Interest Group. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Brown, N., & Zhou, S. (August 2012). When the war on drugs is fought on the field: Exploring newspaper coverage of drug and alcohol deviance of college athletes from 1970 to 2010. Newspaper Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Smallwood, R., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (August 2012). Female bodies on display: Attitudes regarding female athlete photos in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and ESPN: The Magazine’s Body Issue. Magazine Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Devlin, M., Brown, N., & Billings, A. C. (August 2012). “Ultimate” sponsorship: Fan identity, brand congruence and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Advertising Division. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, I.L.
Billings, A.C., & Brown, N. (July 2012). Understanding the biggest show in media: What the Olympic Games communicates to the world. International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport, Glasgow, Scotland.
Brown, N. (April 2012). How UFC and Mixed Martial Arts are becoming mainstream and are tipping points in sports and audience research. Conference panel session. Broadcast Education Association, Las Vegas, N.V.
Brown, N. (April 2012). All the day’s top plays in 140 characters or less. Paper presented to the Mass Communication Division. Southern States Communication Association, San Antonio, T.X.
Brown, N. (April 2012). Renee Walker as a reinforcement of Jack Bauer’s hegemonic masculinity in 24. Gender Studies Division. Southern States Communication Association, San Antonio, T.X.
Brown, N. (March 2012). Why we tweet that touchdown: Sports fans’ use of social media through the uses and gratifications theory. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Norman, O.K.
Daniels, G. & Brown, N. (March 2012). Using the two-step flow to value voices in Twitter talk. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Norman, O.K.
Devlin, M. & Brown, N., & Zhou, S. (March 2012). In the mood for learning: How semantic difference, arousal, pacing, and mood affect cognitive processing of children’s television programming. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Midwinter Conference, Norman, O.K.
Brown, N., Watkins, B., & McCracken, L. (March 2012). Tweeting from the endzone: Examining how athletic organizations utilize social media. Fifth Summit on Communication & Sport, Peoria, I.L.
Billings, A., Ruihley, B., & Brown, N. (March 2012). The Fantasy Sport Trade Association: An inside look into a billion dollar industry. Fifth Summit on Communication & Sport, Peoria, I.L.
Devlin, M., Brown, N., & Billings, A. (March 2012). When fan identity goes extreme: Exploring fan identification among UFC fans. Fifth Summit on Communication & Sport, Peoria, I.L.
Brown, N., & Cheong, Y. (March 2012). Measuring the advertising efficiency of the top U.S. sports advertisers. American Academy of Advertising, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Daniels, G., & Brown, N. (March 2011). The suffocating ethicist: A model of journalistic ethical constraints. Southeast Colloquium of the Association for Journalism and Mass Communication, Columbia, S.C.
Dissertation Committee
Dr. Andrew C. Billings
Committee Chair
Dr. Jennifer Greer
Dr. Ken Wright
Dr. Lance Kinney
Note: All faculty pictures are official UA photos
Dr. Kenon Brown