Graduate Speaker Series
Wednesday, Feb. 14
2 p.m.
About the Lecture
In the 1990s, Stanford University researchers demonstrated some surprising ways that people using desktop computers responded to the devices as they responded to other humans. The researchers proposed the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm to explain and explore the phenomenon. Today, we have many more technologies that can, and often are designed to, evoke these responses, including smartphones, digital assistants, and humanoid robots.
Matthew Lombard and media and communication alum Kun Xu, KLN '18, proposed the Actors (MASA) paradigm in a 20 Media Are Socia21article in Human-Machine Communication to account for the technological advances and refine earlier explanations for CASA results. This informal talk will describe the MASA paradigm, including how different social cues evoke medium-as-social-actor perceptions and social responses, the roles of individual differences and contextual factors in these responses, and why it’s essential to understand better our social responses to increasing social technologies.
About the Speaker
Matthew Lombard is an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies and Production and a faculty member in the Media and Communication doctoral program. He teaches introductory and advanced media theory and research methodology courses, emphasizing content, experimental and survey analytic methods, and statistical analysis.
Lombard’s research centers on individuals’ psychological and physiological processing of media presentations and experiences, focusing on the concept of (tele)presence, the illusion of being in and/or with people in a mediated environment. His work has appeared in journals including Communication Research, Human Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Behaviour & Information Technology, and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. He co-founded and is president of the International Society for Presence Research.