Dr. Joe Walther will present on "Hyperpersonal and Hypernegative Processes Online: Interdisciplinary Questions"

Event Date: 

Tuesday, February 7, 2017 - 3:30pm

Event Location: 

  • SSMS 1009

The presentation reviews selected research on the social/relational qualities of online communication and important societal outcomes, including (a) aspects of social information processing theory, describing temporal and linguistic processes by which online interaction facilitates effective social interaction in education settings and teams, with new questions for online social learning; and (b) research on hyperpersonal online communication: technology-mediated interaction that facilitates greater affinity than parallel, offline communication, including applications to prejudice reduction between Israeli Muslims and Jews, and responses to social stereotypes in YouTube comments. It also raises exploratory questions about hypernegative online communication, including bullying and hate-swarming—deliberate efforts at emotional harm that technology magnifies—and its potential social, intergroup, organizational, and network-based bases; computationally-based analyses of these hypothetical causes; and multidisciplinary approaches to intervention. 

Dr. Joe Walther is the Wee Kim Wee Professor in Communication Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Associate Chair for Faculty in the School of Communication and Information, and university IRB chair for social, behavioral, and education research. He is a Fellow of the Center for Research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media at the University of Amsterdam; and a Mercator Fellow in user-centered social media at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His research focuses on computer-mediated communication in personal relations, groups, and education, to which he’s contributed several original theories and numerous empirical studies. A former chair of the Academy of Management's Organizational Communication and Information Systems division, and the ICA's Communication and Technology division, he’s held appointments in psychology, education and social policy, information science and information technology, at universities in the US and abroad.