AI: Cause to Rejoice or Frankenstein-like Foreboding? Artificial intelligence (or AI) has moved from science fiction to mainstream computer science. No longer is it simply the lore of Frankenstein-like creations but rather something that people use in their everyday lives. For instance, web searches using Google rely upon AI. So do the recommendation systems in […]
Back-to-School! Welcome to the Fall 2022 semester at COM’s Communication Research Center! As our fellows embark on another academic year, generating new knowledge through research and theory building, the CRC continues to facilitate these efforts to address society’s communication-related challenges. Given Boston University’s commitment to involving students in research, the CRC will once again administer […]
Letter from the Director: July 2022 Demystifying Biometrics As part of our mission, the Communication Research Center offers state-of-the art technology to facilitate our fellows’ ability to advance theory and methods in addressing society’s challenges. Some of this technology involves psychophysiological measurement and analysis tools. To help explain and demystify this technology, I’ve turned to […]
With the summer season upon us, I am reminded that college professors are often the envy of our non-academic friends who think we “get the summer off.” In reality, many of our CRC fellows work just as hard – if not harder – during the summer. To be sure, the summer months may have fewer […]
The Dark Side of Comedy When the Boston University Communication Research Center was first organized in the late 1950s, some of its earliest research involved the study of comics. Fears were so great in the U.S. about the potential harms of comic books on youth that Congress created a subcommittee to study their effects on […]
Disinformation Warfare in Perpetuating World Tensions The unfolding, grisly war in Ukraine has made clear that in 2022 – nearly a century after communication theorist Harold Lasswell’s dissertation on propaganda – battles take place not only with physical confrontations, but also continue via information warfare designed to win the hearts and minds of observers. Communication […]
Following the Playbook of Our Earliest Broadcasters The continuing concerns about the spread of misinformation are at the forefront of news again in early 2022, engulfing celebrities Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg and their employers. In Rogan’s case, accusations of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation have dogged his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that is on the Spotify […]
Communication Research in 2022 As we embark on a new calendar year, I asked some of our CRC fellows to share their thoughts on important communication research trends for 2022. For COM Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies Chris Chao Su, it is the pandemic that will continue to play a prominent role in shaping […]
As 2021 draws to a close, I asked some of our CRC Fellows to reflect on the last 12 months and share what was most noteworthy to them in the realm of communication research. Two of our Fellows observed an increased emphasis on communication efforts for social change. For Assistant Professor of Public Relations Rosalynn […]
This letter is part of a monthly series from the Director of the CRC, Dr. Michelle Amazeen. Facebook’s WALL-E Moment? When Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta last month, the Disney-Pixar movie WALL-E (2008) was the first thing that came to my mind. The sci-fi movie was about a robot left on […]