Students investigate online communities by contributing to Wikipedia in innovative course

COM 481: Online Communities, taught by PhD candidate Kaylea Champion, offers students a hands-on experience contributing to online communities such as Wikipedia by incorporating research conducted by the Community Data Science Collective (CDSC), a research team that employs empirical research methods to understand and inform the design of collaborative online communities. The course explores computer-mediated … Read More

Alumni of Distinction and Hall of Fame 2022

Every year, the UW Department of Communication honors outstanding alumni who are making a difference in their careers and communities by inducting them into the Department’s Alumni Hall of Fame. We also recognize the exceptional work of recent graduates through the Outstanding Early Career Award, as well as celebrate the invaluable contributions of those who … Read More

Kirsten Foot’s Team Produced a Toolkit for Journalism on Human Trafficking

Dr. Kirsten Foot, the Dart Endowed Professor of Trauma, Journalism, and Communication, has released an open-access Toolkit for Hope-Based and Solutions-Oriented Journalism on Human Trafficking. Dr. Foot co-produced the Toolkit with Deborah Pembrook, Sharan Dhanoa, and Dr. Nicole Dahmen, with contributions from Department members Meg Spratt and Tommy Ferguson, as well as journalists, human trafficking … Read More

UW Communication Alum Receives $1 Million National Science Foundation Award

Alexa Bednarz (UW Communication, 2012) spent seven years working in Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation before founding her own social enterprise, Eco-Shelter Inc. Eco-Shelter is increasing access to affordable and sustainable building materials for low-income consumers in emerging markets. Their pilot product, the Eco-Roof Panel, is made from resin-coated bamboo mats … Read More

Note from the Chair

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”  — Laura Ingalls Wilder Dear Friends, I hope you’re enjoying some old-fashioned fresh air and sunshine this spring. I don’t need to tell you that it has been a difficult couple of years, and that many of our shared challenges have yet to … Read More

Introducing Megan Buxton

We are happy to introduce our new Outreach and Alumni Relations Manager, Megan Buxton! Megan received her Bachelors of Arts in Communication from Boise State University and completed her Masters in Education at Texas State University. She has worked in Alumni Relations and/or Annual Giving at nonprofits and institutions including Texas State University, Southwestern University, … Read More

UW Com Welcomes Assistant Professor Dr. Yuan Hsiao

UW Com is delighted to welcome Dr. Yuan Hsiao as our newest Assistant Professor. Hsiao will offer courses in Political Communication and Communication Technology & Society. In addition to his teaching, Hsiao is a researcher, a sociologist, and an activist. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from National Taiwan University, Hsiao received his PhD … Read More

Media Choices And Biases In Online Information

ABOUT THE EVENT The abundance of media options is a central feature of today’s information environment. The currentmedia landscape is extremely decentralized, with information simultaneously flowing through manyparallel channels (i.e., the web, social media, TV). In this talk I will discuss recent research in which wetackle the challenge of measuring news exposure in a complex … Read More

For the Black Girls Who Don’t Code: Tracing the Black Feminist Technoculture

ABOUT THE EVENT Coding has been positioned by many as a corrective or missing tool to usurping the racism that has precluded Black women’s inclusion in the digital revolution. However, Black girls and women have long possessed the technological expertise necessary for the future. In this talk, Steele traces a Black feminist technoculture, beginning long … Read More

Technology of the oppressed: Inequity and the digital mundane in favelas of Brazil

ABOUT THE EVENT Nemer draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork to provide a rich account of how favela residents engage with technology in their everyday lives. Their stories reveal the structural violence of the information age. But they also show how those oppressed by technology don’t just reject it, but consciously resist and appropriate it, and … Read More