Toward Robot Humanization: Exploring Relational Dynamics & Perceptions of Robots & Artificial Intelligence

Kate Mays
Doctoral Candidate, Division of Emerging Media Studies
March 2020

Society is currently facing two big technological changes: Robotization, which has the same dramatic potential for change in people’s lives as has the computer/Internet revolution; and Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration to existing technological applications. As this technology continues to develop, it is being designed to assimilate socially and serve as a communicative entity in its own right. Simultaneously, to a large degree robots and AI are put forth as yet another technological tool to aid us. The value proposition for AI and robots—their interactivity and relative autonomy­—make them closer to “living” and social entities than any technology that has come before them, though. This ontological leap may create friction for people as they logically know and intend to treat robots as tools but are still confronted with their social cues that prompt emotional and social responses.

In this talk, PhD candidate Kate Mays reviews her research on the social and relational perceptions of robots and AI. Based on a series of surveys (conducted with Dr. James Katz), she draws on multiple models and theories­—uncanny valley, media equation, apparatgeist, social distance, and social identity—to develop a framework for exploring the social implications of these technologies.

Persuasion Knowledge in an Era of Covert Influence

Dr. Michelle Amazeen
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations
February 2020

With the growth of “fake news” and other digital disinformation, media consumers have been inundated at an unprecedented scale with content that seeks to influence their attitudes and behaviors­—much of it taking place covertly. Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen will highlight some of her research on the nature and effects of mediated persuasion that blurs commercial interests, journalism, and politics. Leveraging the Persuasion Knowledge Model—a theory of how people’s understanding of persuasion affects their ability to cope with persuasive attempts—her work expands what we know about the dispositional and situational factors that affect whether and when people recognize and how they respond to covert persuasion in digital news contexts. Beyond helping news consumers to identify covert persuasive attempts, Dr. Amazeen will discuss the implications of this research on the journalism industry and policymakers who seek to make our media environment less deceptive.

Technology to Support Family Caregivers

Dr. Margaret McLaughlin
Distinguished Visiting Research Scholar
December 2019

Devices such as GPS-enabled smartwatches and motion-detecting webcams are being used by increasing numbers of caregivers who want to take additional precautions to protect their loved ones when they are unable to be present or give them undivided attention. This talk focuses on family caregiver use of communication technology to cope with threats to the safety of persons living with a degenerative major neurocognitive disorder including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy Body dementia, and Frontotemporal dementia.  Results are presented from a survey of 230 unpaid family caregivers.

Video games, memory, and the human brain: The neurological affordances of gaming

Dr. Kelsey Prena
Assistant Professor of Emerging Media
November 2019

Video gaming is never an isolated event; Recent research has demonstrated how video gaming can cause short- and long-term improvements to certain forms of memory. In this talk, Dr. Kelsey Prena (Assistant Professor of Emerging Media) will share findings from her own research in this realm, specifically the behavioral and neurological evidence for these changes found in a region of the brain where reward processing memory and spatial mapping overlap. Dr. Prena will discuss how current communication theories can provide necessary context to understand these observations and how findings might inform future research.

Refugees, Cellphones, and Information Precarity

Dr. Dana Janbek
Master Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising & Public Relations
October 2019

Based on years of field research with refugees, NGOs, and volunteers, Dr. Dana Janbek gives an overview of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis and the conditions under which refugees live in urban areas and refugee camps in Jordan and Germany. The presentation explores how information and communication technologies, especially cellphones, are used during refugees’ migration journeys and while navigating displacement to overcome information precarity.

Fear and Loathing (and Enthusiasm!): A National Study of Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence

Dr. James E. Katz
Feld Professor of Emerging Media, and Director, Division of Emerging Media Studies
September 2019

Major advances in the technology of artificial intelligence (AI) have commanded great attention at both the national and international levels. Various commissions, panels, and studies have been launched to understand AI’s transformational potential for both positive and negative outcomes. Some see AI as solving major problems ranging from healthcare to transportation, while others see it as a profound threat to job security, personal privacy, individual autonomy, and even humanity itself. 

In this talk, Dr. James E. Katz reports on a research project (in which he is assisted by Division of Emerging Media Studies students Kate Mays, Janey Zitomer, and Yiming “Skylar” Lei) exploring public attitudes towards AI. The project’s aim is to help build better policy by analyzing how the public perceives AI. Dr. Katz presents findings from this collaborative work, including the results of a national U.S. attitude survey conducted in 2019.

The Politics of Attention: Understanding the Currency of the Hybrid Media System

Dr. Christopher Wells
Assistant Professor, Division of Emerging Media Studies
March 2019

The attention economy, or the logics by which attention is generated and transformed into various forms of power, is coming into focus as a central feature of our political-media system. This talk by Dr. Christopher Wells (Assistant Professor, Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University’s College of Communication) is grounded in contemporary theoretical work directed at understanding attention, publicity and visibility in the hybrid media system. It then draws on evidence from several aspects of the American election in 2016, including news media treatment of Donald Trump, the “media-hacking” of far-right social media networks, and the information operations of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, to rethink what we know about political communication under conditions of the attention economy.

                    

Tech News and Tech PR: It’s Not Just Tech Anymore

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt
Visiting Research Fellow at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
February 2019

What is tech news today? And consequently, what is tech PR? Research by Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt discovered a major turning-point in both practices. Her previous study examined, “Who sets the technological agenda?” by analyzing millions of articles/posts, and deploying time series and network analyses. Her current research focuses on the role of tech PR due to the accumulating tech scandals. Her talk with summarize the rapid changes in the tech news ecosystem and provide preliminary conclusions, both theoretical and practical.

Messages from the Hill: An Updated Report on the Congressional Press Secretary

Dr. Edward Downes
Associate Professor of Public Relations
November 2018

Few in the United States realize virtually every member of Congress employs his or her own press secretary, a person dedicated to meticulously crafting and delivering that politician’s image. These individuals’ well-honed and artfully packaged messages affect our thinking; they angle our opinions; and they shape our perceptions of national and international political issues. Throughout the United States, good citizens absorb the portrayals the press secretaries create, and participate in the democratic process according to what they have learned. For good or ill, our country’s functioning depends upon their behind-the-scenes work, and our laws are built on their communications. In this presentation, Dr. Edward Downes discusses the metamorphosis of his research unraveling the motivations and practices of these professional communication managers.

Social Media Research, Measurement, and Evaluation in the Public Relations Industry

Dr. Donald Wright
Professor of Public Relations
October 2018

Dr. Donald Wright (Harold Burson Professor & Chair in Public Relations, Boston University) reveals research, measurement, and evaluation have been and are being used in contemporary public relations practice in a ten-year longitudinal study. Results are based on a larger than usual number of respondents (n=4,586) all of whom are working public reactions practitioners. Fewer than half of the study’s respondents represent organizations or clients that have measured what members of various strategic public have communicated about them via social or other digital media. Additionally, when measurement is being used, its more than likely to measure communication outputs than communication outcomes.

Dr. Lindsey Decker
Lecturer, Department of Film and Television
September 2018

In 2002, the sprinting, blood-spewing zombies in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later broke the theatrical drought for British horror films, which had been scarce since the industry crash in the mid-1970s. Dr. Lindsey Decker (Lecturer in the Department of Film and Television) will reveal how embracing transnationalism and genre hybridity helped kick-start and sustain the British horror resurgence of the 2000s and allowed filmmakers to change the conversation around horror in middlebrow British film culture.

                    

Has the Time Come to Revise §230 of the Communications Decency Act?

Dr. T. Barton Carter
Professor, Communication and Law
February 2018

In the 22 years since it was passed, § 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives providers of interactive computer services broad immunity from liability for content posted by third parties, has had a profound effect on the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls it, “the most important law protecting Internet speech.” Others, however, argue it encourages and enables extremely harmful speech including defamation, invasion of privacy, sex trafficking, revenge porn, online bullying, doxing, and death threats, leaving victims with little or no recourse. This has led to numerous efforts to reduce the immunity provided by § 230. Given the changes in the Internet since it was passed, Dr. T. Barton Carter asks in this presentation, is it time to revise §230?

 

Toxic News: Media Coverage of Pediatric Environmental Health & How Moms Respond

Dr. Susan Mello
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Northeastern University
March 2018

Now more than ever, the medical and scientific communities are concerned with how exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment – including pesticides and bisphenol A – impact the health of our children. Dr. Susan Mello has been studying how the media presents these health risks to the public and how new and expectant moms, in particular, react. In this talk, she’ll discuss how the media prioritizes certain risks over others, how it frames responsibility for protecting children from harm, and how those editorial choices impact mothers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses.

The Branding and Identity of the Nobel Prize

Dr. Stephen Greyser, Professor Emeritus of Marketing/Communication at Harvard Business School
Dr. Mats Urde, Associate Professor of Brand Strategy at Lund University, Sweden
December 2017

This talk by Dr. Stephen Greyser and Dr. Mats Urde will review recent research conducted with the cooperation of the Nobel Foundation, encompassing interviews with a range of Nobel Prize stockholders including Nobel Foundation management, heads of the awarding entities, selection committee members and laureates. This work represents the first (and only so far) field-based research on the topic. The complexities of the Nobel organization and the management, branding, communications and reputation issues confronting “the world’s most prestigious award” will be covered.

From Social Networks to Neural Networks: The Case of a Shrinking Earth

Dr. Michael Elasmar
Associate Professor of Communication
October 2017

This presentation summarizes a research program about the influence of social networking on users’ mental representation of distances on planet earth. Dr. Michael Elasmar reports a consistent finding in measurement across years that links social media usage with a shrinking of the cognitive distances present in the minds of social media users. He discusses a theoretical framework that might explain and predict this perceptual effect and draws implications that stem from the relationships that this effect embodies.

Social Media Use in Public Relations: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Dr. Donald K. Wright
Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
September 2017

This talk by Dr. Donald K. Wright will review the results of a twelve-year longitudinal analysis trend study involving more than 5,500 public relations practitioners. Findings have found that the use of social and other digital communication media in public relations practice has continued to increase each year. This has provided unique opportunities not only for those who practice public relations but also for a wide variety of strategic publics who have been given dynamic new communication vehicles many are using effectively with a variety of internal and external strategic audiences. Results of this 2017 study include benchmark comparisons reflecting the opinions of those who practice public relations – and an analysis of how these opinions have changed during the past twelve years.

Motivational Messaging to Promote Health Behavior Change in Public Health Contexts

Dr. Belinda Borrelli
Professor, Department of Health Policy & Health Services, and Director, Behavioral Science Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine
April 2017

This talk by Dr. Belinda Borrelli will focus on developing and testing health behavior interventions that are theory based, co-designed with the target population, and focused on motivating change, particularly among those who are not ready to change. The talk will be followed by a discussion of how health psychologists and communications scholars approach health behavior change paradigms in similar and different ways, and points for synergy and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Television & Authoritarianism

James Shanahan
Dean, The Media School, Indiana University
March 2017

Recent political developments in the U.S. have raised the spectre of an authoritarian threat to democracy. This presentation by James Shanahan reviews previous research on the role of media in creating and maintaining authoritarian attitudes. Recent data on television viewership and support for Donald Trump concludes the presentation.

 

Preachy TV: 7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel, and Middlebrow Television

Dr. Charlotte Howell
Assistant Professor, Media Studies, Television Studies
March 2017

The broad audience appeal of 7th Heaven (The WB, 1996-2007) and Touched By An Angel (CBS, 1994-2003) at the end of the neo-network era caused the shows to be held as exemplars of religious television within the Hollywood television industry. As the TV industry began more thoroughly shifting away from broad appeal and toward targeting upscale niches in the twenty-first century, these two shows ossified the association of religious television with increasingly denigrated middlebrow tastes, causing the idea of “religious television” to become something to be avoided by television creatives outside of overtly religious channels. This presentation by Dr. Charlotte Howell (Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Television Studies, Boston University) traces how taste cultures in the 1990s and early 2000s interacted with the discourse of religion within the television industry.

(Meta-)Design Research and the Future of Creative Communication

Brad Tober
Assistant Professor, Design + Visual Analytics
February 2017

The increasing democratization of design and creative technologies is enabling more individuals than ever before to envision, implement, and communicate expressions of their imaginative ideas. While there are significant positive implications of this phenomenon, it also places professional practitioners in the problematic position of decreased disciplinary control. What is design if (professional) designers are no longer primarily responsible for defining the future direction of the system in which they work? This talk by Brad Tober will introduce the concept of meta-design as an area of design research investigating potential responses to this question. In particular, meta-design will be examined as a disciplinary shift transitioning the role of professional practitioners from that of merely executing processes in which the objective is producing finalized creative output to engaging directly with the development of tools facilitating the creative processes of others.

Telling Stories: Negotiating Political and Consumer (Mis)Information in the Digital Age

Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
November 2016

In our mediated world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between news, entertainment, and advertising, Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen will highlight some of her research involving misinformation and corrections. With examples from both political and commercial advertising campaigns, she uses a political economic approach to explore how the evolving media landscape is cultivating a culture of misinformation. Her experimental studies provide empirical evidence of the consequences of this trend on public attitudes toward brands and publishers. She argues that the emergence and global spread of the fact-checking industry is a continuation of the U.S. consumer reform movements of the Progressive Era and serves as a check on the transparency and accountability of modern media content creators who construct the meaning of not only the products we consume, but also the politicians we elect and our national identities.

 

Theorizing about Publics and Relationships: How Public Relations May Help Address Key Health, Political, and Social Issues

Dr. Arunima Krishna
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
October 2016

Public relations, theory, and social issues are not terms that most people would generally associate with each other. Notions of corporate reputation, image, brand, etc. are more likely to come to people’s minds when thinking about public relations. Dr. Arunima Krishna discusses another side of public relations scholarship, one that seeks to understand public behavior about social issues. Specifically, Dr. Krishna draws from her own work on vaccine-negative and homonegative publics to begin to understand what factors contribute to individuals’ attitudes about key social issues.

                   

The 2016 RNC & DNC: How the Coronation Became a Battlefield Again

Dr. Tammy Vigil
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
September 2016

For three decades political pundits and scholars complained that the national nominating conventions by major U. S. parties had become overly predictable events that served as little more than “coronation parties” for predetermined nominees. Arguing that these campaign events offered little by way of surprise or even newsworthy events, critics often waxed nostalgic for what they claimed were more eventful and interesting conventions of the past and longed for more exciting contemporary gatherings. In 2016, they got their wish. Between Donald Trump’s unexpected popularity among Republican voters (but not the GOP establishment) and Hillary Clinton’s second challenged “inevitable” nomination, the 2016 RNC and DNC offered a great deal of historically important moments. In this presentation, Dr. Tammy R. Vigil, author of Connecting with Constituents: Identification Building and Blocking in National Convention Speeches, will examine the various facets of the 2016 Republican and Democratic national conventions. She will focus on the communicative elements of the conventions and the ways each party tried to build the case for a candidate not all party members were excited about.

 

Mean Girls, Stealth Girls, Sidekicks, and Targets: A Thematic Analysis of Female Characters in Tweencoms

Dr. Patrice Oppliger
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
March 2016

At 25 million strong, tweens (approximately 8-14 year-olds) are a sizable and influential market of television viewers and consumers in the United States. Cable giants Disney and Nickelodeon’s original programming capitalizes on the coming-of-age challenges, particularly of adolescent female characters, in the genre of tweencoms. While it may initially appear that these shows are innocuous comedies, researchers have found that over 90% of episodes contain instances of social or relational aggression. From the stereotypical mean girl to the most likable girl-next-door, characters regularly deliver snarky lines directed at adults, friends, and vulnerable targets.

This talk by Dr. Patrice Oppliger will focus on a thematic analysis of character tropes depicted in these highly popular tweencoms from Clarissa Explains It All (1991-1994) to K.C. Undercover (2015-present). It will also explore the implication of such representations in the context of relational aggression.

 

The Affect Agenda: How Image and Emotion Influence Voters

Dr. H. Denis Wu
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
February 2016

When facing complex political decisions, voters tend to rely on their first impression and visceral reaction to form their opinion, but then endeavor to come up with a “rational” reason to justify it. Dr. H. Denis Wu presents studies of recent U.S. presidential elections showing that images of political candidates indeed influence voters at both aggregate and individual levels. Other topics such as the role of visual and verbal cues in communicating affective information, whether positive or negative tone is more powerful, and the role of emotion in agenda-setting effects will be discussed.

 

Media Without Borders: Task-Switching on Personal Computers

Dr. Jim Cummings
Associate Professor, Division of Emerging Media Studies
November 2015

Media content is increasingly consumed in combination with other information. People switch tasks extensively, both within products (e.g., between different shows or websites) and between media and external reality. As a result, various media messages and the rest of life get jumbled into a single experience that crosses many boundaries, both cognitive and commercial. This talk by Dr. Jim Cummings will review research about switching during media use, including descriptions of the frequency of switches and how psychological responses like autonomic arousal predict when switches will occur. It will also review the practical need for new methods to observe switching in natural settings as well as implications of switching for the effective design of entertainment, education and advertising.

Violence and Vitriol: Emerging Media in Social Conflict

Dr. Jacob Groshek
Assistant Professor, Division of Emerging Media Studies
October 2015

This presentation by Dr. Jacob Groshek will cover a variety of topics where social media users express conflicting viewpoints to examine which users are active opinion leaders, and whether mobile or web-based content tends more toward incivility and impoliteness. These findings will also be situated in a larger context of what internet and mobile phone access has meant for instances of political conflict that turned either violent or ended non-violently. Implications for the changing role of journalism and media in democratic civil society are also introduced.

“Censorship We All Abhor, But…”: Viewer Complaints and the Demand for Government Intervention in Early TV Content

Dr. Deborah Jaramillo
Assistant Professor, Department of Film & Television
March 2015

Many stakeholders traveled the road leading to the 1952 Television Code—the industry’s self-censorship document—but none was more powerless than the TV audience. Having no investment in the TV industry, viewers were equipped with two resources: their purchasing power and their citizenship. Activating that citizenship, angry viewers flooded the Federal Communications Commission with letters of complaint, decrying the abundance of murder, mayhem, and nude women on TV. This presentation by Dr. Deborah Jaramillo examines the perspectives of viewers who chafed at trends incompatible with their understanding of what TV should be. By subscribing to a very specific definition of decency—one rife with sexism and heteronormativity—and by openly pleading with the government to censor TV, these viewers inserted themselves into the fight over early TV regulation.

The Media War over Crimea and Consequences for Russian Public Opinion

Dr. Erik C. Nisbet
Associate Professor, School of Communication, Department of Political Science, & the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University
November 2014

How did the frame contest between Russian and Western media over the conflict in Crimea influence Russian attitudes about Russian intervention in the Crimea? Did mediated public diplomacy through the Western media outlets about the potential costs of Russia’s foreign policy have any impact? Was the strategic promotion of Russian nationalism and historic empire-building by the Russian media effective? What were the consequences of these dynamics for support of Putin’s regime in the short and long-term? Are there any lessons for mediated public diplomacy moving forward?

Based on an online survey of Russians conducted in late March 2014 during the midst of the Crimea conflict, Dr. Erik Nisbet examines these questions and evaluates the competing influence of Western and Russian media on Russian opinion formation about the Crimea and Putin.

A Liberal Newspaper in the U.S. Deep South

Dr. Cheryl Ann Lambert
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
September 2014

P.D. East launched The Petal Paper in Petal, Mississippi in 1953 to focus only on stories of public interest. After witnessing violent local reaction to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation as unconstitutional (Brown v. Board of Education), this White liberal editor revamped his newspaper to champion the cause of Civil Rights. In this historical case study, Dr. Cheryl Ann Lambert examines how P.D. East transitioned from journalist to civil rights advocate as an outsider living in the Deep South. Primary source material for the study comes from the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Dr. Cheryl Lambert viewed 13 editions of The Petal Paper, correspondence from East to other newspaper editors and publishers, and articles about P.D. East and the newspaper in order to complete this research study.

Good vs. Evil: The Role of Morality in Entertainment Media

Dr. Mina Tsay-Vogel
Assistant Professor of Communication
March 2014

How do audiences enjoy and appreciate entertainment? Dr. Mina Tsay-Vogel presents a series of research studies examining how portrayals of moral virtue, ambiguity, and vice impact responses to a variety of mediated experiences, including films, literature, reality television programs, and video games.

The Power of Message Networks

Dr. Lei Guo
Assistant Professor, Division of Emerging Media Studies
February 2014

Do traditional news media still lead public opinion in this digital age? Scholars have questioned the applicability of media effects models such as agenda setting in this complex, fragmented media landscape. This talk by Dr. Lei Guo will present an ambitious study that not only addresses whether media (e.g., newspaper and television) set the public agenda, but also explores whether they can do so in more complicated ways through constructing message networks. Big data analytics and network analysis were used to examine a large dataset collected on Twitter during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Visions of a Sustainable Future: Journalists as Public Intellectuals in the Climate Change Debate

Dr. Matthew Nisbet
Associate Professor of Communication and Co-Director of the Center for Social Media at American University, Washington D.C.
March 2013

In this presentation, Dr. Matthew Nisbet examines the role of prominent journalists as public intellectuals in society today. In the tradition of Walter Lippmann, these best-selling authors, essayists, columnists, and bloggers specialize in the analysis and translation of complex subjects, often also championing specific policy positions. In doing so, they influence how we think and talk, infusing the abstract with meaning, and turning the complex into a common vocabulary. Dr. Nisbet focuses specifically on journalists writing about climate change, sustainability, and economic growth, evaluating the careers and work of prolific essayist turned-activist Bill McKibben (author of The End of Nature, Deep Economy), New York Times columnist Tom Friedman (Hot, Flat, and Crowded), and New York Times environmental writer Andrew Revkin (the Dot Earth blog).

The “Dual” Role of Breasts in the Media: A Health Communication Perspective

Dr. Rhonda Trust
Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication
February 2013

Breasts for sex or feeding? In U.S. culture, breasts are often represented in the media as sexual objects. Breasts are enhanced, decreased, mutilated, and ridiculed and their actual biological role is underrepresented. Breastfeeding is a public health issue. Among other public health issues, the media’s representation of health messages (e.g., smoking, unsafe sex, and obesity) plays a large role in influencing the health behaviors of Americans. Instead of the media heavily sexualizing breasts, breasts should be recognized for preventing obesity, diabetes, asthma, cancer, colds, and the flu, and potentially saving the U.S. over $13 billion annually in preventable economic costs. This presentation by Dr. Rhonda Trust focuses on the implications of breastfeeding in the media, and also explores the role of celebrity representations and endorsements of breastfeeding. Combined with the current literature, findings from a survey of over 500 women and suggestions for future media campaigns are discussed.

Sesame Street: Revolution in Educational Television

Michael Loman
Professor of Television
November 2012

Meet Big Bird, Elmo, Bert & Ernie, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster and hear how Sesame Street revolutionized educational television and children’s television around the world for over 40 years. Professor Michael Loman was the Executive Producer of Sesame Street for over ten years and analyzes how the series was conceived, why and how it evolved through the years, and what changes he made to the show during his tenure. He’ll also discuss the international companies of Sesame Street (shown in over 125 countries) and specifically, his contributions to the Chinese and combined Israeli/Palestinian productions.

Strengthening Media Relations Practice Through a Better Understanding of the Public Relations Practitioner-Journalist Relationship

Dr. Dustin Supa
Assistant Professor of Public Relations
September 2012

The relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners has traditionally been one of contention, mistrust and missed opportunities. This presentation by Dr. Dustin Supa examines that relationship through the lens of history, and using contemporary empirical data, identifies the current state of the media relations field. The impact on both public relations and journalism, as well as the importance of advancing the relationship in an era of emerging media will be addressed, along with suggestions for maximizing the public relations-journalist relationship.

Who is Safe in this Harbor? Rethinking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

Dr. Barton Carter
Chair of Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations, and Professor of Communication and Law
March 2012

When someone posts material on a web site that defames you or invades your privacy what recourse do you have? Due to a safe-harbor law passed by Congress, you can only sue the poster, not the site operator. This often leads to a situation where you can identify the one you can’t sue (the site operator) and sue the one you can’t identify (the poster). Why did Congress do this? Is a change needed and, if so, Dr. Barton Carter asks, what kind of change?

 

Public Participation in National Policy via Social Media: Hot Hope or Hip Hype?

Dr. James E. Katz
Chair, Department of Communication, Rutgers University
February 2012

Dramatic advances in social media seem to be offering citizens unprecedented opportunities to influence national policy. The prospect of widespread public involvement in policy has stimulated much excitement among activists. Leaders in the United States and many other countries have advanced some well-publicized initiatives to engage the public in decision-making through online forums. Yet despite a great deal of fanfare and media interest in these initiatives, much of the early hope for citizen empowerment via social media has not materialized. This presentation by Dr. James E. Katz discusses how the opportunities for publics to meaningfully engage their leaders via social media remain minimal at best.

Journalism + Public Relations = News Media of Taiwan

Dr. Denis Wu
Associate Professor of Communication
February 2012

This presentation by Dr. Denis Wu unveils the convergent practice in Taiwan. The findings were based on in-depth interviews conducted by the speaker with Taiwanese media professionals. It will conceptualize the controversial practice, discuss the forces behind convergence, and offer insights about the implications and ramifications for communication professionals, press freedom and democracy.

 

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Increased Use of Social and Emerging Media in Public Relations Practice

Dr. Donald K. Wright
Harold Burson Professor and Chair in Public Relations
December 2011

This presentation by Dr. Donald K. Wright examines the increased use of social and emerging media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, etc.) in public relations practice during the four-year period between 2008 and 2011. An annual trend analysis surveying more than two thousand public relations practitioners during this time period indicates that social and other new communications media continue to have a huge impact on how public relations is practiced. Implications and details of these technological trends will be discussed.

 

Serendipity: Finding What You Didn’t Know You Were Looking For

Dr. William McKeen
Chair of Department of Journalism and Professor of Journalism
November 2011

Modern life is grand. We can go online and find exactly what we’re looking for. Unfortunately, we miss all the stuff we didn’t know we wanted. Let’s talk about serendipity . . . the happy accidents that occur in research and writing that lead to breakthroughs and epiphanies (and we could all use more of those). This talk looks at serendipity in modern life and how a few of those happy accidents have affected the research and writing of Dr. William McKeen’s two most recent books – Outlaw Journalist, his biography of Hunter S. Thompson, and Mile Marker Zero, which is about the writers, artists and musicians who found their muse in Key West.

 

Between Film Noir and The Woman’s Film: Gender and Marketing in the Classical Hollywood Era

Dr. Roy Grundmann
Director of the Film & Television Studies Program and Associate Professor of Film
September 2011

The creation of film genres is among Hollywood’s most important tools for defining its products and marketing them to movie goers. But rather than using genres as distinct categories, Hollywood has traditionally hybridized its genres to reach diverse audiences and maximize a film’s potential for popularity. How do these marketing strategies raise different generic expectations for one and the same product? What do their creation of fictional worlds and stereotypes tell us about American culture and society in a historically specific period? This presentation by Dr. Roy Grundmann explores a case study of the crime melodrama, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Paramount Pictures, 1946) as an example of Hollywood’s  representation of gender roles in the immediate post-World War II period.

Attracted but Unsatisfied: The Effects of Arousing Content on Television Consumption Choices

Dr. Marco Gui
Visiting Scholar at Boston University
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, at University of Milano-Bicocca
April 2011

Dr. Marco Gui

 

50 Years of Women on Television

Dr. Nancy Signorielli
Professor and Director of Graduate Program, Department of Communication, University of Delaware
March 2011

Dr. Nancy Signorielli

 

Congressional Press Secretary: The Story of Capitol Hill’s Image Makers

Edward J. Downes
Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
February 2011

Edward J. Downes

 

The Medium Makes the Message in Health Campaigns: Attendance and Avoidance among Target Publics

Cheryl Ann Lambert
Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
January 2011

Cheryl Ann Lambert

Looking Inside Their Heads: Visualizing the Thought Process of Media Consumers

Dr. Michael G. Elasmar
Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations, and Director, Communication Research Center
December 2010

Dr. Michael G. Elasmar

Stand Ups, Sitcoms, and Sarah Silverman: The Evolution of Women in Comedy

Dr. Patrice Oppliger
Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, & Public Relations
November 2010

Dr. Patrice Oppliger

From Stem Cells to Nanotechnology: The Science of Communicating Controversial Science

Dr. Dietram Scheufele
John E. Ross Chaired Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison
October 2010

Dr. Dietram Scheufele

“Dead Mexican!”: The Traumatized Suburbanite and the Violent Narcotraficante in Breaking Bad and Weeds

Dr. Deborah Jaramillo
Associate Professor, Department of Film & Television
September 2010

Dr. Deborah Jaramillo

Media Appreciation as a Response to Moral Beauty

Dr. Mary Beth Oliver
Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of Media Effects Research Laboratory at College of Communication, Penn State University
April 2010

Dr. Mary Beth Oliver

Communication Ecology and Urban Politics: The Case of Local Low-Income Housing Policy

Dr. Yong Jun Shin
Adjunct Professor, College of Communication, Boston University, and Adjunct Professor, Communication Studies, UMASS Boston
March 2010

Dr. Yong Jun Shin

Media Concentration: A European Perspective

Dr. Nikos Leandros
Associate Professor, Penteion University, Athens, Greece, and Visiting Scholar at Boston University
January 2010

Dr. Nikos Leandros

Camera Flashes in the Dark: Intelligence Services and the Media – A Framework for Analysis

Dr. Clila Magen
Instructor in Communication, Bar Ilan University, Israel, and Visiting Scholar at Boston University
December 2009

Dr. Clila Magen

The Public Image of Journalists

Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach
Professor, Department of Communication, Technical University Dresden, Germany
November 2009

Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach

Getting to the Heart of Media Enjoyment

Dr. Mina Tsay-Vogel
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations
October 2009

Dr. Mina Tsay-Vogel

Diversity of Television Exposure and its Association with the Cultivation of Concern for Environmental Risks

June 2010

Dr. Michael Dahlstrom

Ugly War, Pretty Package

December 2009

Dr. Deborah Jaramillo

Testing the ‘Proximate Casualties’ Hypothesis

November 2009

Dr. Andrew Hayes and Dr. Teresa Myers