Faculty Research, Creative Activity and Service

Elon's communications faculty remains intellectually active through publication, presentation and creative activity. Here are some recent faculty works and service activities:

Associate Professor Byung Lee and Elon business professor Wonhi Synn authored "Investors' Response to Online Stock Trading: A Study Using Q Methodology" in Operant Subjectivity (24:3, 2001), the journal of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity.








Dean Paul Parsons and Singapore colleague Xu Xiaoge authored "News Framing of the Chinese Embassy Bombing by People's Daily and The New York Times" that appeared in the Asian Journal of Communication (11:1, 2001) in September 2001.








Associate Dean Brad Hamm and UNC colleagues Donald Shaw and Robert L. Stevenson wrote "Agenda Setting Theory and Public Opinion Studies in a Post-Mass Media Age" for the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) in Rome, Italy, in September 2001. Stevenson presented the paper in Rome. Hamm led a three-hour session for the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association in Winston-Salem on Oct. 12, 2001. He spoke on "Understanding News: A Seminar for Employees Outside the Newsroom." This was the inaugural seminar of the SNPA's "traveling campus" concept.



Faculty members Gerald Gibson and Ray Johnson and student Tim Archibald are working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to produce a Web site for the VA museum in New York City. The museum contains exhibits that trace the evolution of the VA. This endeavor is part of the agency's Digital Divide Project that partners with universities to use new technologies to disseminate information to American veterans. Some video and still images have been shot, and preliminary Web pages have been designed. Elon now is waiting for the VA to locate all of the original photos and other materials used in the museum. The final project will contain a virtual tour of the museum with photos and streaming video.


When the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack became evident, Assistant Professor Tom Nelson mobilized Elon students into preparing a 30-minute local reaction show that aired on campus that evening. School of Communications faculty member Brooke Barnett and staff member J. McMerty helped the students produce the show on deadline. The Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) cited Nelson's work afterward. Nelson had made plans to accompany six students to the RTNDA convention in Nashville the week of the terrorist attack, but the convention was cancelled.



Assistant Professor Connie Book co-authored a research paper about a Georgia mental hospital that for four decades let patients produce an institutional newspaper as work therapy. The paper titled "The Builder: An Institutional Newspaper, 1938-1978" appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of the Georgia Historical Quarterly. Faculty members Book, Michael Frontani and Joan Nelson are researching early predictions about the Internet, with a grant from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Students are working with the professors to determine what predictions were made and which ones have come true. The project is designed to identify the best and worst predictions about the impact of the Internet on American life. The project is based on a prior study that examined the social impact of the telephone.

Faculty members Byung Lee and Janna Quitney Anderson wrote "Different Types of Internet Adopters: An Analysis of Assimilators, Hoppers and Sensors" for the annual Q Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity on Oct. 18-20, 2001. Lee presented the paper at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Anderson, director of Internet projects for the School of Communications, is serving as a consultant for the Online News Association's Digital Credibility Study. She is working in conjunction with Howard Finberg of the Digital Futurist Consultancy and Martha Stone of Whole Media Consulting, who have been awarded a $225,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Assistant Professor John Duvall has produced a seven-minute promotional video for the United Way of Alamance County. The video includes segments publicizing the activities of the local Red Cross, Meals on Wheels and Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club. The video serves as the centerpiece of the United Way's fund-raising campaign for 2001-02. Assisting Duvall on this production were Anita Duvall and broadcast student Eryn Jennings.





Instructor David Loomis is serving this year as one of the two vice-chairmen of the Civic Journalism Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Loomis will attend AEJMC's mid-winter meeting in Dallas, Texas, starting Nov. 30.








Associate Professor George Padgett is leading the School of Communications effort this year toward providing greater diversity through guest speakers. He will be inviting media professionals to campus to contribute to the diversity of voices needed in the classroom.