James D. (Jimmy) Ivory is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (a.k.a. Virginia Tech), where he has worked since 2005. His teaching and research at Virginia Tech is primarily focused on media effects and communication technologies. Ivory recently founded the Virginia Tech Gaming and Media Effects Research Laboratory (VT G.A.M.E.R. Lab) a small research facility where students and faculty investigate the content and physiological, psychological, and social effects of video games, virtual worlds, and other media technologies. For 2008-2009, Ivory serves as the head of the Communication Technology (CTEC) Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Before joining Virginia Tech, Ivory earned a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as an M.A. in Communication and B.S. in Journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Wyoming. Ivory lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife Adrienne.

How do you define mass communication?

I suppose I am not particularly concerned about any distinction between “mass communication” and any other categories of the communication pantheon (interpersonal, group, public, etc.), primarily because research seems to find time and time again that a lot of communication processes and effects occur in surprisingly similary ways across “levels” of communication. Whether we are talking one-on-one, watching television, reading a book, etc., there are consistent trends in our responses to messages and their sources. I think there are distinctions between the levels of communication, and they matter, but I guess they don’t bother me a lot given that there are often as many similarities in communication phenomena across levels as there are differences.

That said, I don’t buy into the idea that mass communication is dying or dead. Talk of social networking and user-generated content and things might prompt some to write an obituary for mass communication, but at the end of the day a lot of these formats still result in one person or corporation raking in cash generated via a lot of individuals’ media use in one way or another. Hmm. Maybe that’s a good definition of mass communication right there. [Read more...]