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Vol. 21, No. 1 Sponsored by:
Milwaukee, WI -- Dear Mass Communication Division Members, Hope your new year has started well! First, I would like to wholeheartedly thank our previous Chair, Srividya Ramasubramanian, for her terrific leadership. I would also like to thank all our MCD officers for their untiring service to the division. I would also like to offer special thanks to our outgoing web editor, Nick Bowman, for his incredible efforts with the newsletter and social media activities for the division over the past few years. A very welcome as well to our new web editor, Zac Gershberg who has already started working hard with the webpage. The 102nd NCA convention will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Nov 10-13, 2016. We have a truly exciting convention theme this year “Communication’s Civic Callings.” With this theme we hope to ignite conversations about our various roles as teachers, scholars, and public servants situated within different kinds of communities. “Civic Callings” encompasses overlapping layers of communication in action, engendered by our multiple roles as members of educational communities; our interactions with governments both at the local and the national level; our synergistic connections with NGOs and other organizations; our collaborations with colleagues from around the world; and, last but not the least, our association with issues that transcend nation-states. Keeping this in mind, this year, we are inviting papers and panel submissions that would expand thought about Communication as a form of civic action which could have a powerful impact on students and colleagues, multiple national communities, and global constituencies. As my term as MCD chair draws to a close, I would like to thank all of the MCD officers. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the MCD Research Committee, particularly: Meghan Sanders (Research Chair), Hugh Phillips Curnutt, and James Durbin. They have done a phenomenal job of putting together a fantastic line-up of sessions, along with the Vice Chair, Sumana Chattopadhyay. Special thanks to MCD officers Sumana Chattopadhyay, Nick Bowman, Lissa Behm-Morawitz, and Narissra Punyanunt-Carter for their leadership in creating the interactive display for our unit. Submissions are now being accepted for our division. Please keep the deadline of March 30 (11:59 PM PACIFIC) in mind while planning to submit to the 2016 convention. More details about the convention can be found here. One of the strengths of the MCD division over the years has been our diversity in scholarship spanning a wide range of topics, theoretical perspectives, and methodologies. We accept individual competitive papers, paper sessions, and panel discussions. Please read our convention call for papers here. Please be sure to select MCD as one of your membership divisions when you renew your NCA membership this year. Your membership makes a big difference to the division. It provides the division benefits such as more sessions at the convention, greater number of representatives at the NCA Legislative Assembly and the best times/venues for our division's sessions. I look forward to meeting you in Philadelphia! In the meanwhile, I would encourage you to keep up with MCD events and happenings through the Gatekeeper online, our MCD Facebook page , and twitter account (remember to add the hashtag #ncamcd to your tweets). Please do share any news and announcements that would be of relevance and interest to our members! Please feel free to write to me if you have any questions or ideas relating to our division. See you in Philadelphia!
Pocatello, ID -- It's an honor to be elected to edit and publish The Gatekeeper. I would like to thank both the leadership and the membership of the Mass Communication division for its support, if not its confidence, in furnishing me with such responsibility. I also wish to credit Dr. Nick Bowman, who expertly piloted The Gatekeeper the last six years, both for his service and with providing me some much needed advice as the transition has taken place. "It was a pleasure working with MCD as the web and social media content manager," he recently said when reached for comment in Austin, Texas, having presented at the South by Southwest conference. "These last six years have given me the opportunity to meet so many of our members and to really draw inspiration from their work and successes." Energized, apparently, by all the free time he has on his hands now that he's retired from The Gatekeeper, Bowman recently co-edited a new book, Fantasy Sports and the Changing Sports Media Industry, which drops this month from Rowman & Littlefield. "It'll be nice to submit some works [to NCA] of my own for a change as well," he added. "I'm really focused on my work that looks to better understand the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social demands of technology - and I'm eager to develop that area." In the end, we wish Nick well moving forward. Though he can never truly be replaced, my hope is to carry the torch and invest The Gatekeeper with an interesting mix of news, notes, and analysis for the MCD community of NCA in my three-year term. With that, and in an effort to put my own stamp on The Gatekeeper, I'm excited to introduce something new for each issue: Gatekeeper Scholar Chat, a profile and interview with an accomplished scholar in the field of mass communication. Our first interview, which you'll find below, is a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Mary Beth Oliver from Penn State University. Looking ahead, please consider nominating someone, even yourself, to be the subject of an upcoming Gatekeeper Scholar Chat by contacting me at gerszach@isu.edu. I want to encourage you to send any feedback you have on my first issue of The Gatekeepeer as well. Additionally, please pass along any announcements of relevance to the field or division throughout the year that you would like to see included in future issues-from department and publication news to conference calls. As editor, I'm open to covering any topic pitched my way from the membership. Once again, thank you for entrusting The Gatekeeper in my care and taking the time to read our latest issue. Also, a final thanks to all of those who contribute, both by their scholarship and their service, to the Mass Communication division of NCA.
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Call for ReviewersMontclair, NJ -- As chair of the Research Committee, I look forward to receiving your submissions for the 2016 convention. Each year the committee endeavors to feature our members' excellent research in panels that foster dialogue and engagement across our discipline's broad range of interests and methodologies. Of course, this is only possible because of the generosity of members who agree to serve as reviewers at this busy point in the academic year. As the deadline for submissions is near, reviewers can expect to get their assignments soon and should plan on having approximately three weeks to complete their reviews. On behalf of the division, I would like to thank in advance everyone who serves in this capacity for their time and hard work.
Unit Fair at NCA 2016Milwaukee, WI -- NCA started the 'NCA Interest Group Fair' (also referred to as the 'Unit Fair') at the 2015 Las Vegas Convention. At the Interest Group Fair, each unit is assigned a spot to showcase the incredible work that members of the units are doing. If you have any innovative ideas about how to best represent our division at the Unit Fair, or if you would like to volunteer to help out at the Unit Fair, please drop an email to Sumana Chattopadhyay sumana.chattopadhyay@marquette.edu, Punyanunt-Carter n.punyanunt@ttu.edu, or Zac Gershberg gerszach@isu.edu. <<back to top>>
State College, PA -- Dr. Mary Beth Oliver, a distinguished professor and co-director of the media effects research laboratory in the College of Communications at Penn State University, agreed to an interview for our first ever Gatekeeper Scholar Chat. Oliver earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin; served as chair of NCA's Mass Communication division during the 2000-2001 academic year; won a Fulbright to study media and Maori populations in New Zealand in 2006; and was elected as a Research Fellow by the International Communication Association in 2014. Her published research includes numerous journal articles, edited books, and book chapters focusing on media effects, social cognition, and entertainment psychology. She and her work haven been quoted in the popular press by CNN, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. In addition to teaching undergraduate and grad courses in media effects at Penn St, Oliver finds time to scuba-having done so in Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef, among other locales-as well as strum the ukulele and play poker with colleagues. The following conversation was conducted by a remote-video conference call through Google Hangout. Gatekeeper: Your research explores media effects across multiple media formats and you are now part of a $1.95 million grant looking at "inspiring media content." Can you define that for us? MBO: Most of the research people have done in entertainment has been about enjoyment and hedonic needs like pleasure. What we have been looking at over several years leading up to this grant is the idea that there is often more to it. Sure, a big chunk of change in entertainment is enjoyment, but certain forms of media can be deeply, deeply meaningful to people. It might help us contemplate big human condition questions and grapple with the human condition. But it also might inspire us deeply when we look at portrayals of other people doing astoundingly courageous things or kind things or self-sacrificing things that can motivate us to be better people as well. Gatekeeper: Do you anticipate this research could challenge uses and gratifications theory? MBO: I don't really think it's inconsistent at all. It's just an additional motivation. In the humanities people have been studying this for a very long time; it's the social scientists who are late to the party, in my opinion, and I think it complements "uses and grats." Gatekeeper: Let's talk about your research in video games. Can you describe some of the findings you've published? MBO: Sure. It's not an area that I've studied a lot, but fairly recently was motivated to largely because that particular form of entertainment is stereotyped as completely hedonistic-as a mere diversion which cannot be art and is low on the totem pole of artistic media. We were interested in looking at whether that's the case. When you start to talk to gamers about what they find meaningful...we found that it's largely the storyline that was predicting meaningfulness. Nick Bowman and I did an AMA on Reddit and it was really fun and very enlightening to get responses. One of things we're looking to explore next is broadening the aspects of the games that might be particularly meaningful. We're interested in the emotion of awe, this feeling-in-awe which is different from being inspired by a different person or a landscape or game technique. Gatekeeper: Speaking of awe, you've also published on the consumption of film and motion pictures. Can you speak to the findings on enjoyment and appreciation in that medium? MBO: Initially, when we first started doing this-and I have a number of terrific collaborators-we were thinking largely that appreciation was a function of genre, or at least as one indicator. This was partially in response to foundational theories on media enjoyment. Our work kind of shifted that to consider meaningful films and asking what is it about these films that make them meaningful. We were able to identify real broad themes like human virtue, courage, resiliency, overcoming-the-odds-things like that. Underdog stories were common, as were stories that ultimately stressed love over material gain. Most recently, in an archival study, we looked at over 500 titles and tried to predict box office success, which, by the way, is a function of genre: action films. That's not all that surprising, but we also looked at what predicted critical and user acclaim. We controlled for a lot of things and what we were using to predict critical acclaim was the characteristics of the films as described on movie databases. What we were finding was that emotional, often dark, films were the ones that are predicting meaning. We deeply appreciate entertainment films, music, games and media that help us grapple with these large existential questions, even if, sometimes, they are a little bit sad. We're looking at that because it might not only be consequential theoretically, but also therapeutically: what does that do to us? How does it motivate us to be more altruistic? Gatekeeper: In terms of the NCA Mass Communication division, there are media effects researchers, such as yourself, and critical/cultural scholars, among other methodological approaches. Where do you see that relationship, if any, between social science and critical theories? MBO: Unfortunately, it used to be the case that there was a very deep divide that kept us from learning from each other. I have an understanding of the history of that divide and have an understanding of the ideological issues that might motivate that divide. But I'm also very happy to see that that is disappearing, especially as younger scholars are interested in doing mixed research methods in their work. If we can be appreciative of, and willing to hear, the perspective of someone using a different approach, we're going to all be better off. That's easier said than done because there's a lot of institutional factors that perpetuate it, from conference panels to the literature we read, and it's hard to have everything for everybody, but at least being open is a step in the right direction. Gatekeeper: I know you contribute to the International Communication Association as well, but where do you see the Mass Communication division of NCA, both now and moving forward? MBO: I am deeply committed to the Mass Comm division, for sure. It's one of the largest divisions at NCA, and that is wonderful. One of the things I'd like to see-and I know it's not the mission, but I think it would be useful-is to have more international scholars come. That, of course, is the benefit of ICA, but we have a lot of international collaborations and to the extent we could have a welcoming approach to getting international scholars to come over and check out what we're doing at NCA, that'd be great. We also have a lot of scholars who publish in media effects whose home base isn't necessarily in communication, but psychology. It's interesting to talk to psychologists who are doing what I would say is media effects, but they would say I'm doing psychology. Grant-getting benefits from interdisciplinary collaborations. Gatekeeper: Do you have any advice for young scholars or grad students who have joined NCA and the Mass Communication division? MBO: Get involved! Don't be nervous about going up to talk to scholars; go to the business meetings and ask questions. It's just an amazingly, welcoming group. Talk to other grad students. It's a wonderful network that will help you throughout your career. Gatekeeper: Do you plan on attending NCA's convention in Philadelphia this year? MBO: Absolutely. I'm definitely going. Gatekeeper: Is there any work you anticipate submitting that you can preview for us? MBO: Ha, now watch me, I'll say I'm going to do this and it won't be accepted. But in an ideal world, we'll be presenting some of the work from this grant and we've also been looking at how we can encourage people to use mobile phones to notice the beauty around them. It was a really fun study with some fantastic collaborators and the data look interesting. Gatekeeper: It sounds like one of those Apple iPhone commercials, where people snap shots in bustling, international cities and across exotic landscapes. MBO: People are sucked into their phones and not looking at what's around them. We thought we could challenge them where the theme was-even if you have to look through your phone-to look at what's around and notice more. I don't think I've ever been part of a study where people were so appreciative. So obviously, I'm jazzed up about that. Gatekeeper: Is there anything in terms of your work or your relationship with NCA we've missed and you'd like to address? MBO: I guess I'd just like to end by saying thank you to all who are a part of the Mass Comm division. To people who take on leadership roles, which is a huge commitment and a whole lot of work, I know I have benefitted tremendously. So I want to say thank you and I want to encourage people who are considering getting involved to jump in. If you have any experiences like I've had, you'll be glad. Gatekeeper: Finally, since you admit to an interest in poker, do you have any strategies you can share, or are there any tells your colleagues should be aware of? MBO: Speaking of different methodological approaches, here I am, a statistician, and I should have one, right? But it's my colleagues and friends in the humanities who are sitting around the table taking my money week after week, so I obviously have a tell. I don't know what it is, but they're on to me.
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Dr. Zac Gershberg
Vice Chair-Elect
Secretary
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Graduate Student Rep.
Vice-Chair ('16)
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