Communication and Technology

The Stanford Department of Communication has been a pioneer in studying the relationship between people and digital media for decades. In the early nineties, Clifford Nass and his graduate students were among the first in the world to empirically examine constructs such as agency and anthropomorphism. Soon thereafter Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass published their landmark book, The Media Equation, which set the stage for a new research paradigm based on the notion that the brain has not evolved to differentiate mediated experiences from actual ones. Indeed, one of the fastest growing divisions of the International Communication Association, Communication and Technology, is substantially based on the work of Stanford scholars.

Currently, the area focuses on a number of ways in which digital media affect people. Byron Reeves utilizes physiological measures to understand media effects in multiplayer game technology, and develops applications for using those networked games to address critical issues such as global warming. Jeremy Bailenson directs the Virtual Human Interaction Lab and studies the phenomenon of digital human representation, especially in the context of immersive virtual reality. Fred Turner studies digital media from a historical perspective, focusing on the relationship between counter-culturalists and technologists.

The area also draws a huge amount of synergy with other departments on campus. Current communication faculty have active collaborations with scholars in computers science, education, psychology, engineering, linguistics, the business school, and MediaX. Moreover, being in the heart of Silicon Valley, the department draws constant visitors and interest from “dot.com” and “social networking” researchers.

Faculty

Jeremy Bailenson	Jeff Hancock	Byron Reeves	Fred Turner

Ph.D. Students

Jakki Bailey	James Cummings	Lorin D. Dole	Megan French	Fernanda Herrera	René Kizilcec
Jamy Li	David Markowitz	Dave Miller	Mike Nowak	Catherine (Soo Youn) Oh	Christine Rosakranse
James Scarborough	Ketaki Shriram	Andrea Stevenson Won	Leo Yeykelis

Selected Graduates

• Youngme Moon
  Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School
• S. Shyam Sundar
  Distinguished Professor, Penn State University
• Leila Takayama
  Researcher, Willow Garage
• Kwan Min Lee
  Associate Professor, University of Southern California
• Katherine Isbister
  Associate Professor, Polytechnic Institute of New York
• Eun-Ju Lee
  Associate Professor, Seoul National University
• Nick Yee
  Research Scientist, Palo Alto Research Center
• Jesse Fox
  Assistant Professor, Ohio State University
• Grace Ahn
  Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
• Vanessa Vega
  2010 — Lecturer, UC Berkelely, Dept. of Media Studies