FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- June 12, 2015 Contact: Dr. Mark D. Johns, Executive Director Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research c/o Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA 52101 Tel: (563) 387-1347 email: mjohns@luther.edu Korn is Winner of Couch Award DECORAH, Iowa -- Jenny Ungbha Korn, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the winner of the 2015 Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Award is presented annually by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) and recognizes excellent student-authored papers. Korn's paper, "'Genderless' Online Discourse in the 1970s: Muted Group Theory in Early Social Computing," uses Muted Group Theory to examine online discourse within a rare, historic data set of users of the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system in the United States known as PLATO. Applying critical analyses of power to 1970s discourses as social artifacts reveals gendered muting processes that have persisted from then and are reproduced even now. The Couch Award was established in 2002 as the centerpiece of an extensive awards program. Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines, and winners are selected by a committee of university professors. The winner will receives a cash award as well as the opportunity to present the paper at the international conference of the Association of Internet Researchers in October. The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a non-profit organization established to promote the scholarship of the late Carl J. Couch and his academic associates. The Center provides networking opportunities for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research inspired by Couch's work. - 30 -