Please join us for an introduction to some of our newer faculty members’ research.
Dr. Devon Powers, associate professor in the Department of Advertising
Trends, Inc
“Trend” is the name we give to changing fashions, shifting attitudes and evolving technologies; a company’s approach to a trend can mean the difference between relevance and obscurity, profit and loss. This talk aims to show how trends themselves are also a business. Through exploring the history and current practice of trend forecasting—a hidden but influential industry that trades in cultural prediction—I will explore how trends evolved into powerful force in global consumer culture.
Soomin Seo, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism
Virtual Foreign Bureaus, Global Advocacy Organizations and Limits of Entrepreneurialism
This paper explores the relationship between virtual foreign bureaus (VFBs) — digitally native news startups specializing in foreign news — and global advocacy organizations and NGOs funding them. These NGOs often act like venture capital investors by demanding proof of “impact” and progress towards financial independence. Some NGOs like the Gates Foundation have oligopolistic power. As a result, the logics and practices of Silicon Valley entrepreneurialism pervade the world of the VFBs as well as their funders in a way that challenges their mission and raison d’être.
Dr. Logan Molyneux, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism
Social media and personal branding among journalists
Social media give everyone a personal brand, and in the case of professional journalists, this brand has multiple dimensions, including the individual, organizational and institutional. How they navigate these territories has implications for audiences, employers and an already fractured journalism profession.
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