In a recent conversation with the department chair at a school I didn't get hired at he said "Oh. You're the guy who is too computer science for communication and too communication for computer science." The comment summarizes the unique perspective I bring to the study of communication, which is being radically transformed by the rapid emergence of a wide range of new computer-mediated communication systems, including E-Mail, Computer Conferencing, Instant Messaging, Web Sites, Blogs, Electronic Commerce systems, Cellular Telephones, Cellular Text Messaging, Collaborative Composition sites, and more. It may also distinctly summarize a problem that search committees face in evaluating my application. These media aren't just research areas for me. They have been the subject of software design, architecture, and programming. I have built software in support of almost all of these media (see my hypermedia resume for more detail), applying the best communication theory I could find while doing so. I believe, moreover, that the media design process that I have participated in professionally is something we should be teaching within the field of communication. I have proposed course sequences and programs in this area and will continue to do so.
My computer industry media design experience, research interests, and teaching interests are intertwined like the strands of a piece of rope. I teach, at least in part, because teaching informs my research. I prefer to teach courses that are related to the theoretical and heuristic spaces in which I spend my research time. This is important to note, because my considerable industry background in the computer industry (see my hypermedia resume for more detail) would allow me, if money were my primary motivation, to teach a fairly wide variety of courses in the generally higher paying Computer Science curriculum. I have taught a variety of Computer Science courses in the past. Full courses have included introductory programming ("You Already Know How to Program: You just don't know you do"), Assembly Language Programming ("IBM PC Assembly Language Programming"), and C language programming. Short courses have covered dozens of topics, including object-oriented programming, Java language (my second favorite programming language) programming, and Rexx language (my favorite computer language) programming. While I love programming (its a great tool for research and presentation), I see computers and programs as tools rather than as research interests, and I choose to teach courses in the field of communication because they tie into my research in useful ways.
I think its important for college students to see their professors research programs in action. Most of them will never engage in serious research in communication or any other field, but all of them will lead richer lives if they see that they can tie their life passions into the work they do. My research is my life passion, and bringing my research into the classroom allows them to see at least a little piece of that passion and how it translates into their lives. Second, for my research to matter it must tie in with the broader fabric of knowledge in our field. Teaching that fabric forces me, on a continuing basis, to confront connections between my work and the work of others. I do that best when I teach courses that introduce students to well established theory and research in the field of communication. It is amazing how many interesting extensions of my research program emerge this way. Third, students learn best when challenged, and I like to give them assignments that require them to digest existing literature and talk about it in a different way. Often those assignments explore an interesting research direction I'm looking at (more on some of those assignments below). Bottom line: teaching is a tool that extends research; research is a tool that extends teaching. My research and teaching interests are inevitably intertwined. Its hard for me to do either without doing the other.
My primary research interests are associated with the structure and process of communication media (particularly computer-based media). My current research focus is a theory of media invention and evolution that I have been developing. I am currently working on two books that describe elements of that theory. Both are described in more detail in my statement of research program. That theory, which started in some extrapolations of observations I made as a result of a decade long observation of the growth of computer conferencing in IBM (see my Ph.D. dissertation), is fundamentally about communication at the levels of relationships, groups, organizations, communities, and social systems. It is a "media theory" and therefore fits into a tradition of research that is typically associated with the Media Ecology Association (of which I am a member) such well known names as Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, Joshua Meyerowitz, Sue Barnes, and Paul Levinson (who may be even better known for his science fiction; another passion of mine). More importantly, however, it is communication theory that is grounded in, extends, and integrates the more traditional vertical interest areas in the field of communication, including Interpersonal Communication, Organizational Communication, Systems Theory, and Mass Media. I teach in all of those areas, and every course I teach informs my research in interesting ways such that I actively develop new courses that explore those research interests.